§11Sed nos uideamur eligere fortasse peiora et studio destruendi per ea oculos tuos ducere, quorum tristis adque auersandus aspectus ora et uultus conscientiae melioris offendat: iam tibi illa quae ignorantia saecularis bona opinatur ostendam.
But perhaps we may seem to select the worse things and, from a desire for disparaging, to lead your eyes through those things whose grim and to-be-shunned sight offends the face and expression of a better conscience: now I will show you those things which worldly ignorance thinks are good.
illic etiam fugienda conspicies.
There too you will see things to be avoided.
quos honores putas esse, quos fasces, quam afluentiam in diuitiis, quam potentiam in castris, in magistratus purpura speciem, in principatus licentia potestatem: malorum blandientium uirus occultum est, et adridentis nequitiae facies quidem laeta, sed calamitatis abstrusae inlecebrosa fallacia.
What you think are honors, what are fasces, what abundance in riches, what power in camps, what beauty in the purple of magistracy, what power in the license of leadership: it is the hidden poison of flattering evils, and the face of smiling wickedness is indeed joyful, but is the enticing deception of hidden calamity.
instar quoddam ueneni, ubi in letales sucos dulcedine aspersa calliditate fallendi sapore medicato poculum uidetur esse, quod sumitur: ubi epota res est, pernicies hausta grassatur.
It is like a kind of poison, where, sweetness being sprinkled into lethal juices by the cunning of deceiving, the cup which is taken seems to be of a medicated taste: when the thing is drunk up, the swallowed ruin rages within.
quippe illum uides, qui amictu clariore conspicuus fulgere sibi uidetur in purpura: quibus hoc sordibus emit, ut fulgeat, quos adrogantium fastus prius pertulit, quas superbas fores matutinus salutator obsedit, quot tumentium contumeliosa uestigia stipatus in clientium cuneos ante praecessit, ut ipsum etiam salutatum comes postmodum pompa praecederet, obnoxia non homini sed potestati.
Indeed, you see that man who, conspicuous in brighter attire, seems to himself to shine in purple: with what filth did he buy this, that he might shine! What arrogance of proud men did he previously endure! What proud doors did he besiege as a morning visitor! How many insulting footsteps of swelling men did he precede, packed into the wedges of clients, so that afterwards a retinue of attendants might precede him who is himself saluted, subservient not to the man but to the power!
neque enim coli moribus meruit ille sed fascibus.
For he did not deserve to be honored for his character, but for his fasces.
horum denique uideas exitus turpes.
Finally, you may see the shameful ends of these things.
cum auceps temporum palpator abscessit, cum priuati latus nudum desertor adsecla foedauit: tunc laceratae domus plagae conscientiam feriunt, tunc rei familiaris exhaustae damna noscuntur, quibus redemptus fauor uulgi et caducis adque inanibus uotis popularis aura quaesita est.
When the flatterer, the bird-catcher of times, has departed, when the deserting follower has defiled the bare side of the now private citizen: then the wounds of a ruined house strike the conscience, then are known the losses of an exhausted family estate, by which the favor of the common people was bought, and the popular breeze was sought with fleeting and empty wishes.
stulta prorsus et uana iactura, frustrantis spectaculi uoluptate id parare uoluisse, quod nec populus acciperet et perderet magistratus.
An utterly foolish and vain loss, to have wished to prepare, for the pleasure of a disappointing spectacle, that which the people would not receive and the magistrate would lose.
§12Sed et quos diuites opinaris continuantes saltibus saitus et de confinio pauperibus exclusis infinita ac sine terminis rura latius porrigentes, quibus argenti etauri maximum pondus et pecuniarum ingentium uel exstructi aggeres uel defossae strues, hos etiam inter diuitias suas trepidos cogitationis incertae sollicitudo discruciat, ne praedo uastet, ne percussor infestet, ne inimica cuiusque locupletioris inuidia calumniosis litibus inquietet.
But also those whom you think rich, joining pasture to pasture and, the poor being excluded from the boundary, stretching out infinite and limitless fields far and wide, for whom there is the greatest weight of silver and gold and either built-up mounds or buried heaps of vast sums of money—even these, anxious amidst their riches, the solicitude of uncertain thought tortures, lest a robber lay waste, lest a murderer attack, lest the hostile envy of anyone wealthier disquiet them with slanderous lawsuits.
non cibus securo somnusue contingit, suspirat ille in conuiuio, bibat licet gemma, et cum epulis marcidum corpus torus mollior alto sinu condidit, uigilat in pluma nec intellegit miser, speciosa sibi esse supplicia, auro 80 alligatum teneri et possideri magis, quam possidere [diuitias], adque — o detestabilis caecitas mentium et cupiditatis insanae profunda caligo! – cum exonerare se possit et leuare ponderibus, pergit magis fortunis angentibus incubare, pergit poenalibus cumulis pertinaciter adhaerere.
Neither food nor sleep comes to him secure; he sighs at the banquet, though he drinks from a gem; and when a softer couch has received his body, worn out with feasting, in its deep fold, he lies awake on feathers, and the wretched man does not understand that these are showy punishments for him, that he is held bound by gold, and is possessed rather than possessing [riches], and—oh detestable blindness of minds and deep darkness of insane desire!—when he could unburden himself and relieve himself of the weights, he goes on rather to brood over his tormenting fortunes, goes on obstinately to cling to his penal heaps.
nulla in clientes inde largitio est, cum indigentibus nulla partitio est, et pecuniam suam dicunt, quam uelut alienam domi clausam sollicito labore custodiunt, ex qua non amicis, non liberis quicquam, non sibi denique impertiunt, possident ad hoc tantum, ne possidere alteri liceat, et — o nominum quanta diuersitas! — bona appellant, ex quibus nullus illis nisi ad res malas usus est.
There is no bounty from it to clients, since there is no sharing with the needy, and they call it their money, which they guard with anxious labor shut up at home as if it were someone else's, of which they impart nothing to friends, nothing to children, finally nothing to themselves; they possess for this purpose alone, lest it be permitted to another to possess, and—oh what a great diversity of names!—they call those things 'goods' from which they have no use except for bad things.
§13An ta uel illos putas tutos, illos saltim inter honorum infolaa et opes largas stabili firmitate securos, quos regalis aulae splendore fulgentes armorum excubantium tutela circumstat? maior illis quam ceteris metus est.
Or do you think even those are safe, those at least secure with stable firmness amidst the fillets of honors and abundant wealth, whom, shining in the splendor of the royal court, the protection of keeping-watch arms surrounds?
tam ille timere cogitur quam timetur.
A greater fear is theirs than others'. He is forced to fear as much as he is feared.
exigit poenas pariter de potentiore sublimitas, sit licet satellitum manu saeptus et clausum ac protectum latus numeroso stipatore tueatur.
Sublimity likewise exacts punishments from the more powerful man, though he be hedged in by a band of satellites and protects his closed and guarded side with a numerous retinue.
quam securos non sinit esse subiectos, tam necesse est non sit et ille securus: ante ipsos tenet potestas sua quos facit esse terribiles: adridet, ut saeuiat, blanditur, ut fallat, extollit, ut deprimat.
As much as he does not permit his subjects to be secure, so much is it necessary that he himself should not be secure: their own power holds, before themselves, those whom it makes to be terrible: it smiles, so that it may rage; it flatters, so that it may deceive; it exalts, so that it may depress.
faenore quodam nocendi quam fuerit amplior summa dignitatis et honorum, tam maior exigitur usura poenarum.
By a kind of interest of harming, the more ample the sum of dignity and honors has been, the greater is the usury of punishments exacted.