§3.7Infelix est Rutilius, quod qui illum damnaverunt causam dicent omnibus saeculis? Quod aequiore animo passus est se patriae eripi quam sibi exilium? Quod Sullae dictatori solus aliquid negavit et revocatus tantum non retro cessit et longius fugit? "Viderint," inquit, "isti quos Romae deprehendit felicitas tua.
Is Rutilius unhappy because those who condemned him will plead their cause before all generations? Because he endured with a calmer mind that he should be torn from his country than that exile should be torn from him? Because he alone denied something to the dictator Sulla, and when recalled, almost instead of drawing back, fled further away? "Let them see," he said, "those whom your good fortune has caught at Rome.
Videant largum in foro sanguinem et supra Servilianum lacum (id enim proscriptionis Sullanae spoliarium est) senatorum capita et passim vagantis per urbem percussorum greges et multa milia civium Romanorum uno loco post fidem, immo per ipsam fidem trucidata; videant ista qui exulare non possunt. "Quid ergo?
Let them see the abundant blood in the Forum, and above the Servilian Lake (for that is the slaughterhouse of Sulla's proscription) the heads of senators, and the crowds of assassins wandering everywhere through the city, and many thousands of Roman citizens slaughtered in one place after a pledge of faith, indeed, through that very faith; let those who cannot go into exile see these things." What then?
§3.8Felix est L. Sulla, quod illi descendenti ad forum gladio summovetur, quod capita sibi consularium virorum patitur ostendi et pretium caedis per quaestorem ac tabulas publicas numerat? Et haec omnia facit ille, ille qui legem Corneliam tulit!
Is Lucius Sulla happy because, as he goes down to the Forum, a way is cleared for him with the sword, because he allows the heads of consular men to be shown to him, and pays the price of slaughter through the quaestor and the public tables? And he does all these things, he, the very man who proposed the Cornelian Law!
§3.9Veniamus ad Regulum: quid illi fortuna nocuit, quod illum documentum fidei, documentum patientiae fecit? Figunt cutem clavi et quocumque fatigatum corpus reclinavit, vulneri incumbit, in perpetuam vigiliam suspensa sunt lumina.
Let us come to Regulus: how did fortune harm him by making him a proof of faith, a proof of endurance? Nails pierce his skin, and wherever he reclines his weary body, he rests upon a wound; his eyes are suspended in perpetual wakefulness.
Quanto plus tormenti tanto plus erit gloriae.
The more the torment, the more there will be of glory.
Vis scire quam non paeniteat hoc pretio aestimasse virtutem? Refice illum et mitte in senatum; eandem sententiam dicet.
Do you wish to know how little he regrets having valued virtue at this price? Restore him and send him to the Senate; he will express the same opinion.
§3.10Feliciorem ergo tu Maecenatem putas, cui amoribus anxio et morosae uxoris cotidiana repudia deflenti somnus per symphoniarum cantum ex longinquo lene resonantium quaeritur? Mero se licet sopiat et aquarum fragoribus avocet et mille voluptatibus mentem anxiam fallat, tam vigilabit in pluma quam ille in cruce; sed illi solacium est pro honesto dura tolerare et ad causam a patientia respicit, hunc voluptatibus marcidum et felicitate nimia laborantem magis his quae patitur vexat causa patiendi.
Do you then think Maecenas happier, for whom, anxious in his loves and weeping over the daily rejections of his whimsical wife, sleep is sought by means of the sound of symphonies gently echoing from a distance? Although he may drug himself with neat wine, and distract himself with the sound of rushing waters, and beguile his anxious mind with a thousand pleasures, he will lie as awake on his down feathers as that other man on his cross; but for the latter, it is a consolation to suffer hardships for the sake of what is honorable, and from his endurance he looks back to the cause, while the cause of suffering vexes this man, withered by pleasures and laboring under excessive good fortune, more than the things which he suffers.
§3.11Non usque eo in possessionem generis humani vitia venerunt, ut dubium sit an electione fati data plures nasci Reguli quam Maecenates velint; aut si quis fuerit, qui audeat dicere Maecenatem se quam Regulum nasci maluisse, idem iste, taceat licet, nasci se Terentiam maluit!
Vices have not so far taken possession of the human race that it is doubtful whether, if a choice of fate were given, more would wish to be born as Regulus than as Maecenas; or if there should be anyone who dares to say that he would have preferred to be born Maecenas rather than Regulus, that same man, though he may keep silent, would have preferred to be born Terentia!
§3.12Male tractatum Socratem iudicas, quod illam potionem publice mixtam non aliter quam medicamentum immortalitatis obduxit et de morte disputavit usque ad ipsam? Male cum illo actum est, quod gelatus est sanguis ac paulatim frigore inducto venarum vigor constitit?
Do you judge Socrates to have been badly treated because he drank down that potion publicly mixed no otherwise than as a drug of immortality, and disputed about death up to death itself? Was it badly done with him because his blood froze and, with the cold gradually introduced, the vigor of his veins stood still?
§3.13Quanto magis huic invidendum est quam illis quibus gemma ministratur, quibus exoletus omnia pati doctus exsectae virilitatis aut dubiae suspensam auro nivem diluit! Hi quicquid biberunt vomitu remetientur tristes et bilem suam regustantes, at ille venenum laetus et libens hauriet.
How much more is he to be envied than those to whom wine is served in a gemstone, for whom a pathic slave, taught to endure all things, of cut or doubtful manhood, dilutes snow suspended in gold! These men, whatever they have drunk, will measure back in sadness by vomiting, tasting their own bile again, but he will drink the poison joyful and willing.
§3.14Quod ad Catonem pertinet, satis dictum est summamque illi felicitatem contigisse consensus hominum fatebitur, quem sibi rerum natura delegit cum quo metuenda confideret.
As far as Cato is concerned, enough has been said, and the consensus of mankind will confess that the highest happiness befell him, whom Nature chose for herself as one with whom she might face fearsome things.
"Inimicitiae potentium graves sunt; opponatur simul Pompeio, Caesari, Crasso.
"The enmities of the powerful are heavy; let him be opposed at once to Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus.
Grave est a deterioribus honore anteiri; Vatinio postferatur.
It is heavy to be surpassed in honor by worse men; let him be placed after Vatinius.
Grave est civilibus bellis interesse; toto terrarum orbe pro causa bona tam infeliciter quam pertinaciter militet.
It is heavy to take part in civil wars; let him campaign throughout the whole world for a good cause as unhappily as he does obstinate.
Grave est manus sibi afferre; faciat.
It is heavy to lay hands upon oneself; let him do it.
Quid per haec consequar? Ut omnes sciant non esse haec mala quibus ego dignum Catonem putavi. "
What shall I attain through these things? That all may know that these things, of which I thought Cato worthy, are not evils."