§5.7Fata nos ducunt et quantum cuique temporis restat prima nascentium hora disposuit.
The fates lead us, and the first hour of our birth has disposed how much time remains for each.
Causa pendet ex causa, privata ac publica longus ordo rerum trahit.
Cause depends upon cause; a long order of things draws along private and public affairs.
Ideo fortiter Omne patiendum est, quia non, ut putamus, incidunt cuncta sed veniunt.
Therefore, everything must be endured with fortitude, because all things do not, as we think, happen by chance, but come by decree.
Olim constitutum est quid gaudeas, quid fleas, et quamvis magna videatur varietate singulorum vita distingui, summa in unum venit; accipimus peritura perituri.
Long ago it was determined what you should rejoice at, what you should weep for; and although the life of individuals may seem to be distinguished by great variety, the sum total comes to one; we receive what is destined to perish, being ourselves destined to perish.
Quid itaque indignamur?
Why then are we indignant?
§5.8Quid querimur? Ad hoc parti sumus.
Why do we complain? For this we were born.
Utatur ut vult suis natura corporibus; nos laeti ad omnia et fortes cogitemus nihil perire de nostro.
Let nature use her own bodies as she wills; let us, joyful and brave under all circumstances, reflect that nothing of our own perishes.
Quid est boni viri? Praebere se fato.
What is the duty of a good man? To offer himself to fate.
Grande solacium est cum universo rapi; quicquid est quod nos sic vivere, sic mori iussit, eadem necessitate et deos alligat.
It is a great consolation to be swept along with the universe; whatever it is that has commanded us so to live and so to die, binds the gods as well by the same necessity.
Irrevocabilis humana pariter ac divina cursus vehit.
An irrevocable course carries along human and divine affairs alike.
Ille ipse omnium conditor et rector scripsit quidem fata, sed sequitur; semper paret, semel iussit.
The very creator and ruler of all things, though he wrote the fates, yet follows them; he always obeys, he once commanded.
§5.9"Quare tamen deus tam iniquus in distributione fati fuit, ut bonis viris paupertatem et vulnera et acerba funera ascriberet? "Non potest artifex mutare materiam; hoc passa est.
"Why, however, was God so unjust in the distribution of fate as to assign poverty, wounds, and bitter deaths to good men?" The craftsman cannot change his material; this is what it has suffered.
Quaedam separari a quibusdam non possunt, cohaerent, individua sunt.
Certain things cannot be separated from certain other things; they cohere, they are indivisible.
Languida ingenia et in somnum itura aut in vigiliam somno simillimam inertibus nectuntur elementis; ut efficiatur vir cum cura dicendus, fortiore fato opus est.
Sluggish minds, and those destined to fall into sleep or into a waking state most like sleep, are woven of sluggish elements; but that a man worthy of being spoken of with care may be produced, there is need of a stronger fate.
Non erit illi planum iter; sursum oportet ac deorsum eat, fluctuetur ac navigium in turbido regat.
His path will not be level; he must go upward and downward, he must be tossed about, and steer his vessel in a troubled sea.
Contra fortunam illi tenendus est cursus; multa accident dura, aspera, sed quae molliat et complanet ipse.
He must hold his course against fortune; many hard and rough things will happen, but he himself will soften and smooth them.
§5.10Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros.
Fire proves gold, misery brave men.
Vide quam alte escendere debeat virtus; scies illi non per secura vadendum:
"
Ardua prima via est et quam vix mane recentes
enituntur equi; medio est altissima caelo,
unde mare et terras ipsi mihi saepe videre
sit timor et pavida trepidet formidine pectus,
ultima prona via est et eget moderamine certo; tunc etiam quae me subiectis excipit undis,
ne ferar in praeceps. Tethys solet ima vereri. "
See how high virtue must climb; you will know that it does not have to walk through safe ways: "The first part of the way is steep, and one which the fresh horses can scarcely climb in the morning; in mid-heaven it is highest, whence to look down upon the sea and the land is often a terror even to myself, and my heart trembles with fearful dread; the last part of the way is downward, and requires a sure control; then even Tethys, who receives me in her waves below, is accustomed to fear lest I should be carried headlong.
§5.11Haec cum audisset ille generosus adulescens: "Placet," inquit, "via; escendo.
"When that noble youth had heard this, he said: "The way pleases me; I ascend.
Est tanti per ista ire casuro. "Non desinit acrem animum metu territare:
"
Utque viam teneas nulloque errore traharis,
per tamen adversi gradieris cornua tauri
Haemoniosque arcus violentique ora leonis.
It is worth going through those dangers, even though I am destined to fall." He does not cease to terrify his fierce spirit with fear: "And though you may keep the way and be drawn aside by no error, yet you will have to walk through the horns of the opposing Bull, and the Haemonian bow, and the jaws of the fierce Lion.
"
Post haec ait: "Iunge datos currus! His quibus deterreri me putas incitor. Libet illic stare ubi ipse Sol trepidat.
"After this he said: "Yoke the chariot given to me! I am spurred on by these very things by which you think I am deterred.
"Humilis et inertis est tuta sectari; per alta virtus it.
It is my pleasure to stand where the Sun himself trembles." To seek what is safe belongs to the humble and the inactive; virtue goes through the heights.