§3.1Hoc Stoicis quoque placere ostendam, non quia mihi legem dixerim nihil contra dictum Zenonis Chrysippive committere, sed quia res ipsa patitur me ire in illorum sententiam, quoniam si quis semper unius sequitur, non in curia sed in factione est.
I will show that this is also pleasing to the Stoics, not because I have laid down a law for myself to commit nothing against the dictum of Zeno or Chrysippus, but because the matter itself allows me to go into their opinion, since if one always follows a single person, he is not in a senate but in a faction.
Utinam quidem iam tenerentur omnia et in aperto confessa veritas esset nihilque ex decretis mutaremus! Nunc veritatem cum eis ipsis qui docent quaerimus.
Would that indeed all things were already held and truth were openly confessed, and we changed nothing of the decrees! Now we seek the truth with those very ones who teach it.
§3.2Duae maxime et in hac re dissident sectae, Epicureorum et Stoicorum, sed utraque ad otium diversa via mittit.
Two sects especially disagree also in this matter, the Epicureans and the Stoics, but each sends to leisure by a different path.
Epicurus ait: "Non accedet ad rem publicam sapiens, nisi si quid intervenerit"; Zenon ait: "Accedet ad rem publicam, nisi si quid impedient. " §3.3Alter otium ex proposito petit, alter ex causa; causa autem illa late patet.
Epicurus says: "The wise man will not approach the state, unless something should intervene"; Zeno says: "He will approach the state, unless something should prevent." The one seeks leisure from purpose, the other from cause; and that cause is open wide.
Si res publica corruptior est quam ut adiuvari possit, si occupata est malis, non nitetur sapiens in supervacuum nec se nihil profuturus impendet.
If the state is more corrupt than can be helped, if it is occupied by evils, the wise man will not strive in vain, nor spend himself when about to be of no profit.
Si parum habebit auctoritatis aut virium nec illum erit admissura res publica, si valetudo illum impediet, §3.4quomodo navem quassam non deduceret in mare, quomodo nomen in militiam non daret debilis, sic ad iter, quod inhabile sciet, non accedet.
If he has too little authority or strength, and the state will not admit him, if ill health prevents him, just as he would not launch a shattered ship into the sea, just as a weak man would not give his name to military service, so he will not approach a path which he knows to be unfeasible.
Potest ergo et ille, cui omnia adhuc in integro sunt, antequam ullas experiatur tempestates, in tuto subsistere et protinus commendare se bonis artibus et inlibatum otium exigere, virtutium cultor, quae exerceri etiam quietissimis possunt.
Therefore, even he for whom all things are still unimpaired, before he experiences any storms, can remain in safety, and straightway commend himself to the liberal arts, and spend an unimpaired leisure, a cultivator of virtues, which can be practiced even by the most quiet.
§3.5Hoc nempe ab homine exigitur, ut prosit hominibus, si fieri potest, multis, si minus, paucis, si minus, proximis, si minus, sibi.
For this is demanded of a human being, that he be of use to human beings; if possible, to many; if less, to a few; if less, to those next to him; if less, to himself.
Nam cum se utilem ceteris efficit, commune agit negotium.
For when he makes himself useful to others, he manages a common business.
Quomodo qui se deteriorem facit non sibi tantummodo nocet, sed etiam omnibus eis, quibus melior factus prodesse potuisset, sic quisquis bene de se meretur hoc ipso aliis prodest, quod illis profuturum parat.
Just as he who makes himself worse does not harm himself alone, but also all those whom, having been made better, he could have benefited, so whoever deserves well of himself benefits others by this very fact, because he prepares what will be of benefit to them.