§4Iam nunc quod ad nnecessarioremrem sententiam tuam spectet, quantum et ad ipsum ststatum tuum tendit, adfirmamus te manere post uitae dispunctionem et expectare diem iudicii proque meritis aut cruciatui destinari aut refrigerio, utroque sempiterno; quibus sustsustinendis necessario tibi substantiam pristinam eiusdemque hominisminis materiam et memoriam reuersuram, quod et nihil mali ac boni sentire, possis sine carnis passionalis facultate, et nulla ratio sit iudiiudicii sine ipsius exhibitione qui meruit iudicii passionem.
Now indeed, as regards your more urgent opinion, in so far as it also points toward your very state, we affirm that you remain after the end of life and wait for the day of judgment, and according to your deserts are destined either to torment or to rest, both of which are eternal; for the enduring of which it is necessary that your pristine substance and the matter and memory of the same human being return to you, because you can feel nothing of evil or good without the capacity of the passible flesh, and there is no reason for judgment without the presentation of the very one who deserved to suffer judgment.
ea opinio Christiana etsi honestior multo Pythagorica quae te non in bestias transfert, etsi plenior Platonica, quae tibi etiam dotem corporis reddit, etsi Epicurea grauior, quae te ab interitu defendit, tamen propter suum nomen soli uanitati et stupori et, ut dicitur, praesumptioni deputatur.
This Christian opinion, although much more noble than the Pythagorean which does not transfer you into beasts, although more complete than the Platonic which also restores to you the gift of the body, although weightier than the Epicurean which defends you from destruction, is nevertheless, on account of its name, imputed to mere vanity and stupidity and, as is said, presumption.
sed non eerubescimus, si tecum erit nostra praesumptio.
But we do not blush, if our presumption shall be with you.
primo enim, cum alicuius defuncti recordaris, misellum uocas eum, non utique ut de bono uitae ereptum, sed ut poenae et iudicio iam adscriptum.
For first, when you remember any deceased person, you call him 'poor wretch', not indeed as one snatched away from the good of life, but as one already assigned to punishment and judgment.
ceterum alias securos uocas defunctos.
Yet on other occasions you call the deceased 'secure'.
profiteris et uitae incommodum et mortis beneficium.
You profess both the inconvenience of life and the benefit of death.
uocas porro securos, si quando extra portam cum obobsoniis et matteis tibi potius parentans ad busta recedis aut a bustis dilutior redis.
Furthermore, you call them 'secure' whenever you withdraw outside the gate to the tombs with provisions and delicacies, making offerings rather for yourself, or return from the tombs somewhat tipsy.
at ego sobriam tuam sententiam exigo.
But I require your sober opinion.
misellos uocas mortuos, cum de tuo loqueris, cum ab eis longe es.
You call the dead 'poor wretches' when you speak from your heart, when you are far from them.
nam in conconuiuio eorum quasi praesentibus et conrecumbentibus sortem suam exprobrare non possis.
For in their feast, as if they were present and reclining with you, you could not reproach their lot.
debes adulari propter quos laetius uiuis.
You must flatter those because of whom you live more joyfully.
misellum ergo uocas qui nihil sentit? quid, quod ut sentienti maledicis, cuius memoriam cum alicuius offensae mmorsu facis? terram grauem inprecaris et cineri pepenes inferos tormentum.
Do you then call him 'poor wretch' who feels nothing? What of the fact that you curse him as if he were feeling, when you recall his memory with the bite of some offense? You pray for heavy earth upon him and torment for his ashes in the underworld.
aeque ex bona parte cui gratiam dedebes, ossibus et cineribus eius refrigerium comprecaris et ut bene requiescat apud inferos cupis.
Likewise, on the good side, toward one to whom you owe gratitude, you pray for rest for his bones and ashes, and wish that he may rest well in the underworld.
si nihil passionis est tibi post mortem, si nulla sensus perseuerantia, si denique nihil es ipsa Ubi corpus reliquisti, cur mentiris in te, quasi aliquid ultra pati possis? immo cur in totum times mortem, si nihil est tibi mortemendum post mortem, quia nec experiundum post mortem.
If there is no suffering for you after death, if there is no perseverance of sensation, if finally you are nothing yourself where you have left your body, why do you lie to yourself as if you could suffer something beyond? Nay, why do you fear death altogether, if nothing is to be feared by you after death, because nothing is even to be experienced after death?
nam etsi dici potest ideo mortem timeri non ut ultra quid minantemtem sed ut commodum | uitae amputantem, atquin cum et incommoda longe plura uitae pariter excedas, lucratione grauioris partis metum diluis nec iam timenda est amissio bonorum, quae altero bono id est incommodorum pace pensatur.
For although it can be said that death is feared not as threatening anything beyond, but as cutting off the convenience of life, yet since you likewise depart from far more inconveniences of life, you dissolve the fear by the gain of the weightier part, and the loss of goods is no longer to be feared, which is compensated by another good, that is, the peace from inconveniences.
non est timendum quod nos liberat ab omni timendo.
That is not to be feared which frees us from all that is to be feared.
si times uita decedere, quia optimam nosti, certe mortem timere non debes, quam malam nescis.
If you fear to depart from life because you know it to be best, you certainly ought not to fear death, which you do not know to be evil.
at cum times, scis malam.
But when you fear it, you know it to be evil.
non scires autem malam, quani nec timeres, si non scires aliquid esse post mortem quod eam mamalam faciat, ut timeas.
You would not know it to be evil, nor would you fear it, if you did not know that there is something after death which makes it evil, so that you fear it.
omittamus nunc naturalem formam timendidi mortem.
Let us now omit the natural form of fearing death.
nemo timeat quod euadere non potest.
Let no one fear what he cannot escape.
Lex alte la parte congredior laetioris spei post mortem.
From the other side I engage you on the hope of a happier thing after death.
nam omnibus fere ingenita est famae post mortem cupido.
For the desire for fame after death is inborn in almost all.
longum est reteretexere Curtios et Regulos uel Graecos uiros, quorum innumerabilia elogia sunt contemptae mortis propter postumam famamam.
It would be long to spin out the Curtii and Reguli or the Greek men, whose praises for their contempt of death on account of posthumous fame are innumerable.
quis non hodie memoriae post mortem frequentandae ita studet5 ut uel litteraturae operibus uel simplici laude morum uel ipsorum sepulcrorum ambitione nomen suum seruet? unde aniLmae hodie affectare aliquid quod uelit post mortem et tantoperLe praeparare quae sit usura post obitum? nihil utique de postero curaret, si nihil de postero sciret.
Who is there today who does not so study to keep his memory frequent after death that he preserves his name either by literary works, or by the simple praise of his morals, or by the very ambition of his sepulchers? Whence is it for the soul today to affect something which she wishes after death, and to prepare so greatly what she is to use after her decease? She would certainly care nothing for the future if she knew nothing of the future.
sed forsitan de sensu post eexcessum tui certior sis quam de resurrectione quandoqueue cuius nos praesumptores denotamur.
But perhaps you are more certain of sensation after your departure than of the resurrection at some time, of which we are branded as presumptuous.
atquin hoc quoquee ab anima praedicatur.
Yet this too is preached by the soul.
nam si de aliquo iam pridem defunctocto tanquam de uiuo quis requirat, prae manu occurrit dicere, Abiit iam et reuerti debet.
For if someone should inquire about someone long since deceased, as if about a living person, it comes ready to hand to say: 'He has gone now, and must return.'