§8.70quos illis damus ac dedimus, quibus omnia debes.
which we give and have given to them, to whom you owe everything.
§8.71Haec satis ad iuvenem quem nobis fama superbum §8.72tradit et inflatum plenumque Nerone propinquo; §8.73rarus enim ferme sensus communis in illa
This is enough for the youth whom rumor delivers to us as proud and puffed up and full of his relation Nero; for indeed common sense is generally rare in that fortune.
§8.74fortuna, sed te censeri laude tuorum, §8.75Pontice, noluerim sic ut nihil ipse futurae §8.76laudis agas.
But I would not wish you, Ponticus, to be valued by the praise of your relatives in such a way that you yourself do nothing for future praise.
miserum est aliorum incumbere famae, §8.77ne conlapsa ruant subductis tecta columnis, §8.78stratus humi palmes viduas desiderat ulmos.
It is wretched to lean on the fame of others, lest the collapsed roof rush down when the columns are withdrawn; the vine-shoot stretched on the ground misses the widowed elms.
Be a good soldier, a good guardian, and likewise an upright arbitrator.
ambiguae si quando citabere testis §8.81incertaeque rei, Phalaris licet imperet ut sis §8.82falsus et admoto dictet periuria tauro, §8.83summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori, §8.84et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas,
If ever you are summoned as a witness in an ambiguous and uncertain matter, though Phalaris should command you to be false and dictate perjury with his bull brought near, believe it the greatest sin to prefer breath to honor, and for the sake of life to lose the reasons for living.
He who deserves death is already dead, though he should dine on a hundred oysters from Gaurus and be completely submerged in the whole cauldron of Cosmus.
§8.87Expectata diu tandem provincia cum te §8.88rectorem accipiet, pone irae frena modumque, §8.89pone et avaritiae, miserere inopum sociorum:
When the long-awaited province at last receives you as its governor, put reins and limits on your anger, put them on your greed as well, and pity our poor allies.
§8.90ossa vides rerum vacuis exucta medullis; §8.91respice quid moneant leges, quid curia mandet, §8.92praemia quanta bonos maneant, quam fulmine iusto §8.93et Capito et Numitor ruerint damnante senatu,
You see the very bones of their estates sucked dry, with the marrow gone; regard what the laws warn, what the senate commands, how great rewards await the good, and by how just a thunderbolt both Capito and Numitor fell when the senate condemned them, those plunderers of the Cilicians.
§8.94piratae Cilicum, sed quid damnatio confert?
But what does condemnation profit?
§8.95praeconem, Chaerippe, tuis circumspice pannis, §8.96cum Pansa eripiat quidquid tibi Natta reliquit §8.97iamque tace; furor est post omnia perdere naulum.
Look around for an auctioneer, Chaerippus, for your rags, since Pansa snatches away whatever Natta left you, and now keep quiet; it is madness to lose your passage-money after everything else.
The groans were not the same of old, nor was the wound of losses equal when our allies were flourishing and but recently conquered.
§8.100plena domus tunc omnis, et ingens stabat acervus §8.101nummorum, Spartana chlamys, conchylia Coa, §8.102et cum Parrhasii tabulis signisque Myronis §8.103Phidiacum vivebat ebur, nec non Polycliti §8.104multus ubique labor, rarae sine Mentore mensae,
Then every house was full, and a huge heap of money stood, Spartan cloaks, Coan purples, and along with Parrhasius' pictures and Myron's statues Phidian ivory was alive, and also much work of Polyclitus everywhere; rare were the tables without a Mentor.
§8.105inde Dolabella Antonius, inde §8.106sacrilegus Verres referebant navibus altis §8.107occulta spolia et plures de pace triumphos,
Thence Dolabella, thence Antonius, thence the sacrilegious Verres used to bring back in deep ships hidden spoils and more triumphs from peace than war.
§8.108nunc sociis iuga pauca boum, grex parvus equarum, §8.109et pater armenti capto eripietur agello, §8.110ipsi deinde Lares, si quod spectabile signum, §8.111si quis in aedicula deus unicus; haec etenim sunt §8.112pro summis, iam sunt haec maxima, despicias tu
Now our allies have a few yokes of oxen, a small herd of mares, and the father of the herd will be snatched away from the seized small field, then the Lares themselves, if there is any remarkable statue, if there is any single god in their little shrine; for these indeed are in place of the greatest things, these are now their grandest.
§8.113forsitan inbellis Rhodios unctamque Corinthon; §8.114despicias merito: quid resinata iuventus §8.115cruraque totius facient tibi levia gentis?
You may perhaps despise the unwarlike Rhodians and anointed Corinth; you would despise them deservedly: what will resin-smeared youth and the smooth legs of a whole nation do to you?
§8.116horrida vitanda est Hispania, Gallicus axis §8.117Illyricumque latus; parce et messoribus illis §8.118qui saturant urbem circo scaenaeque vacantem;
Rugged Spain must be avoided, and the Gallic sky, and the Illyrian coast; spare also those reapers who feed the city that has time only for the circus and the theater.
§8.119quanta autem inde feres tam dirae praemia culpae, §8.120cum tenuis nuper Marius discinxerit Afros?
But what great rewards will you carry off from there for so dire a crime, when Marius has recently stripped the impoverished Africans?
§8.121curandum in primis ne magna iniuria fiat §8.122fortibus et miseris, tollas licet omne quod usquam est §8.123auri atque argenti: scutum gladiumque relinques, §8.125Quod modo proposui, non est sententia: verum est, §8.126credite me vobis folium recitare Sibyllae,
Care must be taken first of all that no great outrage is done to the brave and the wretched; though you may carry off all the gold and silver that exists anywhere, you will leave behind the shield and the sword; What I have just proposed is not a mere maxim: it is true; believe that I am reciting to you a leaf of the Sibyl.
§8.127si tibi sancta cohors comitum, si nemo tribunal §8.128vendit acersecomes, si nullum in coniuge crimen §8.129nec per conventus et cuncta per oppida curvis §8.130unguibus ire parat nummos raptura Celaeno, §8.131tum licet a Pico numeres genus, altaque si te §8.132nomina delectant, omnem Titanida pugnam §8.133inter maiores ipsumque Promethea ponas,.
If you have a holy cohort of companions, if no favorite sells your tribunal, if there is no guilt in your wife, nor through the districts and through all the towns does she, like a Celaeno with crooked talons, prepare to go and snatch money, then you may count your race from Picus, and if high names delight you, you may place the whole Titan battle among your ancestors, and Prometheus himself.
§8.134de quocumque voles proavum tibi sumito libro.
Take your great-grandfather from whatever book you please.
§8.135quod si praecipitem rapit ambitio atque libido,
But if ambition and lust hurry you headlong,