§99.9Intervallis distinguimur, exitu aequamur.
We are distinguished by intervals, and equalized by our end.
Hoc quod inter primum diem et ultimum iacet, varium incertumque est: si molestias aestimes, etiam puero longum, si velocitatem, etiam seni angustum.
This which lies between the first day and the last is varied and uncertain: if you measure it by troubles, it is long even to a child; if by swiftness, it is narrow even to an old man.
Nihil non lubricum et fallax et omni tempestate mobilius.
There is nothing that is not slippery and deceitful and more changeable than any weather.
Iactantur cuncta et in contrarium transeunt iubente fortuna, et in tanta volutatione rerum humanarum nihil cuiquam nisi mors certum est.
All things are tossed about and pass into their opposites at the bidding of fortune, and in such a tossing of human affairs nothing is certain to anyone except death.
Tamen de eo queruntur omnes, in quo uno nemo decipitur.
Yet everyone complains of that in which alone no one is deceived.
' Sed puer decessit. ' Nondum dico melius agi cum eo, qui cito vita defungitur; ad eum transeamus, qui consenuit.
'But a child has died.' I do not yet say that it is better for him who quickly finishes his life; let us pass to him who has grown old.
§99.10Quantulo vincit infantem! Propone temporis profundi vastitatem et universum complectere, deinde hoc, quod aetatem vocamus humanam, conpara immenso; videbis, quam exiguum sit, quod optamus, quod cxtendimus.
By how very little does he surpass the infant! Set before yourself the vastness of deep time and embrace the universe, then compare this which we call human lifetime with the boundless; you will see how tiny is that which we wish for, which we extend.
Ex hoc quantum lacrimae, quantum sollicitudines occupant!
Out of this, how much tears, how much anxieties occupy!
§99.11Quantum mors, antequam veniat, optata, quantum valitudo, quantum timor! Quantum tenent aut rudes aut inutiles anni! Dimidium ex hoc edormitur.
How much death, before it comes, having been wished for, how much health, how much fear! How much do either ignorant or useless years hold! Half of this is slept away.
Adice labores, luctus, pericula, et intelleges etiam in longissima vita minimum esse, quod vivitur.
Add labors, griefs, dangers, and you will understand that even in the longest life, that which is lived is the absolute minimum.
§99.12Sed quis tibi concedet non melius se habere eum, cui cito reverti licet, cui ante lassitudinem peractum est iter? Vita nec bonum nec malum est; boni ac mali locus est.
But who will concede to you that he is not better off, who is allowed to return quickly, whose journey is finished before weariness? Life is neither a good nor an evil; it is the place of good and evil.
Ita nihil ille perdidit nisi aleam in damnum certiorem.
Thus he has lost nothing except a gamble that was more certain to result in loss.
Potuit evadere modestus et prudens, potuit sub cura tua in meliora formari, sed, quod iustius timetur, potuit fieri pluribus similis.
He might have turned out modest and wise, he might have been shaped for the better under your care, but, which is more justly feared, he might have become like the majority.
§99.13Aspice illos iuvenes, quos ex nobilissimis domibus in harenam luxuria proiecit; aspice illos, qui suam alienamque libidinem exercent mutuo inpudici, quorum nullus sine ebrietate, nullus sine aliquo insigni flagitio dies exit; plus timeri quam sperari potuisse manifestum erit.
Look at those young men whom luxury has thrown from the noblest houses into the arena; look at those who exercise their own and others' lust, mutually shameless, of whom no day ends without drunkenness, none without some notable disgrace; it will be manifest that more could have been feared than hoped.
"Non debes itaque causas doloris accersere nec levia incommoda indignando cumulare.
You ought not, therefore, to summon causes of grief, nor to accumulate slight inconveniences by being indignant.
§99.14Non hortor, ut nitaris et surgas; non tam male de te iudico, ut tibi adversus hoc totam putem virtutem advocandam.
I do not exhort you to strive and rise; I do not judge so badly of you as to think that you must summon all your virtue against this.
Non est dolor iste, sed morsus; tu illum dolorem facis.
That is not pain, but a sting; you make it pain.
"Sine dubio multum philosophia profecit,si puerum nutrici adhuc quam patri notiorem animo forti desideras.
Without doubt philosophy has made great progress, if you with a brave mind long for a boy who is still better known to his nurse than to his father.
§99.15Quid? Nunc ego duritiam suadeo et in funere ipso rigere vultum volo et animum ne contrahi quidem patior? Minime.
What? Do I now advocate hardness and want your face to stiffen in the funeral itself, and do not even allow your mind to be contracted? By no means.
Inhumanitas est ista, non virtus, funera suorum isdem oculis, quibus ipsos, videre nec commoveri ad primam familiarium divulsionem.
That is inhumanity, not virtue, to look at the funerals of one's own with the same eyes as themselves, and not to be moved at the first tearing away of close ones.
Puta autem me vetare; quaedam sunt sui iuris.
But suppose that I do forbid it; certain things have their own right.
Excidunt etiam retinentibus lacrimae et animum profusae levant.
Tears fall even from those who hold them back, and having poured out, they relieve the mind.
§99.16Quid ergo est? Permittamus illis cadere, non imperemus, fluat, quantum adfectus eiecerit, non quantum poscet imitatio.
What is it then? Let us permit them to fall, let us not command them; let them flow as much as emotion casts out, not as much as imitation demands.
Nihil vero maerori adiciamus nec illum ad alienum augeamus exemplum.
Let us add nothing to our grief, nor increase it according to another's example.
Plus ostentatio doloris exigit quam dolor: quotus quisque sibi tristis est! Clarius, cum audiuntur, gemunt et taciti quietique dum secretum est, cum aliquos videre, in fletus novos excitantur.
Ostentation of grief demands more than grief: how few are sad for themselves! They groan more loudly when they are heard, and though silent and quiet while it is secret, when they see anyone, they are excited into fresh weeping.
Tunc capiti suo manus ingerunt, quod potuerant facere nullo prohibente liberius, tunc mortem comprecantur sibi, tunc lectulo devolvuntur; sine spectatore cessat dolor.
Then they lay hands upon their own head, which they could have done more freely with no one forbidding; then they pray for death upon themselves, then they roll off the bed; without a spectator, grief ceases.