Seneca: DIALOGI

1. Quaesisti a me, Lucili, quid ita, si prouidentia mundus ageretur, multa bonis uiris mala acciderent. Hoc commodius in contextu operis redderetur, cum praeesse uniuersis prouidentiam probaremus et interesse nobis deum; sed quoniam a toto particulam reuelli placet et unam contradictionem manente lite integra soluere, faciam rem non difficilem, causam deorum agam. 2. Superuacuum est in praesentia ostendere non sine aliquo custode tantum opus stare nec hunc siderum coetum discursumque fortuiti impetus esse, et quae casus incitat saepe turbari et cito arietare, hanc inoffensam uelocita tem procedere aeternae legis imperio tantum rerum terra marique gestantem, tantum clarissimorum luminum et ex disposito relucentium; non esse materiae errantis hunc ordinem nec quae temere coierunt tanta arte pendere ut terrarum grauissimum pondus sedeat inmotum et circa se properantis caeli fugam spectet, ut infusa uallibus maria molliant terras nec ullum incrementum fluminum sentiant, ut ex minimis seminibus nascantur ingentia.

1. You have asked me, Lucilius, why it is that, if the world were governed by providence, many evils befall good men. This would be rendered more suitably in the context of a work, when we should prove that providence presides over the universe and that a god has concern for us; but since it pleases to tear a little piece from the whole and to resolve one objection with the dispute left intact, I will do a thing not difficult: I will plead the cause of the gods. 2. It is superfluous at present to show that so great a work does not stand without some guardian, nor that this assembly of the stars and their courses are the result of a fortuitous impulse, and that things which chance incites are often thrown into confusion and quickly collide, while this unimpeded velocity proceeds by the command of an eternal law, bearing so many things on land and sea, and so many of the brightest lights shining back by design; that this order is not of wandering matter, nor do things which have come together at random hang poised by such art, to wit, that the heaviest weight of the lands sits unmoved and looks upon around itself the flight of the hastening sky, that the seas poured into valleys soften the lands and feel no increase from the rivers, that from the tiniest seeds huge things are born.

3. Ne illa quidem quae uidentur confusa et incerta, pluuias dico nubesque et elisorum fulminum iactus et incendia ruptis montium uerticibus effusa, tremores labantis soli aliaque quae tumultuosa pars rerum circa terras mouet, sine ratione, quamuis subita sint, accidunt, sed suas et illa causas habent non minus quam quae alienis locis conspecta miraculo sunt, ut in mediis fluctibus calentes aquae et noua insularum in uasto exilientium mari spatia. 4. Iam uero si quis obseruauerit nudari litora pelago in se recedente eademque intra exiguum tempus operiri, credet caeca quadam uolutatione modo contrahi undas et introrsum agi, modo erumpere et magno cursu repetere sedem suam, cum interim illae portionibus crescunt et ad horam ac diem subeunt ampliores minoresque, prout illas lunare sidus elicuit, ad cuius arbitrium oceanus exundat. Suo ista tempori reseruentur, eo quidem magis quod tu non dubitas de prouidentia sed quereris.

3. Not even those things which seem confused and uncertain—I mean rains and clouds and the casts of hurled lightning bolts and conflagrations poured out from the ruptured summits of mountains, the tremors of the tottering soil, and other things which the tumultuous part of realities sets in motion around the lands—happen without reason, although they are sudden; rather those too have their own causes no less than things which, when seen in foreign places, are a wonder, such as hot waters in the midst of the waves and new stretches of islands springing up in the vast sea. 4. And indeed, if anyone has observed the shores laid bare as the sea recedes upon itself and the same covered over within a brief time, he will suppose that by a certain blind rolling the waves are now contracted and driven inward, now break forth and with great speed regain their seat; while meanwhile they increase by portions and rise greater or smaller at the hour and the day, according as the lunar star has drawn them out, at whose discretion the ocean swells. Let these matters be reserved for their own time, all the more because you do not doubt Providence but complain.

5. In gratiam te reducam cum dis aduersus optimos optimis. Neque enim rerum natura patitur ut umquam bona bonis noceant; inter bonos uiros ac deos amicitia est conciliante uirtute. Amicitiam dico?

5. I will restore you into favor with the gods, setting the best against the best. For the nature of things does not permit that goods ever harm the good; between good men and the gods there is friendship, virtue conciliating. Do I say friendship?

immo etiam necessitudo et similitudo, quoniam quidem bonus tempore tantum a deo differt, discipulus eius aemulatorque et uera progenies, quam parens ille magnificus, uirtutum non lenis exactor, sicut seueri patres, durius educat. 6. Itaque cum uideris bonos uiros acceptosque dis laborare sudare, per arduum escendere, malos autem lasciuire et uoluptatibus fluere, cogita filiorum nos modestia delectari, uernularum licentia, illos disciplina tristiori contineri, horum ali audaciam. Idem tibi de deo liqueat: bonum uirum in deliciis non habet, experitur indurat, sibi illum parat.

nay rather even a bond and a similitude, since indeed the good man differs from God only by time, his disciple and emulator and true progeny, whom that magnificent parent, no gentle exactor of virtues, like stern fathers, educates more harshly. 6. And so when you have seen good men and those acceptable to the gods labor and sweat, to climb by the steep, but the wicked to frolic and to flow with pleasures, think that we are delighted by the modesty of sons, by the license of house-born slaves; that the former are restrained by a grimmer discipline, in the latter license nourishes audacity. Let the same be clear to you about God: he does not have the good man among delights; he tests him, hardens him, prepares him for himself.

II.

1. 'Quare multa bonis uiris aduersa eueniunt?' Nihil accidere bono uiro mali potest: non miscentur contraria. Quemadmodum tot amnes, tantum superne deiectorum imbrium, tanta medicatorum uis fontium non mutant saporem maris, ne remittunt quidem, ita aduersarum impetus rerum uiri fortis non uertit animum: manet in statu et quidquid euenit in suum colorem trahit; est enim omnibus externis potentior. 2. Nec hoc dico, non sentit illa, sed uincit, et alioqui quietus placidusque contra incurrentia attollitur.

1. 'Why do many adverse things befall good men?' Nothing evil can befall a good man: contraries are not mingled. Just as so many rivers, so great a downrush of rains from above, and so great a force of medicated springs do not change the savor of the sea, nor do they even lessen it, so the impetus of adverse things does not turn the mind of the brave man: he remains in position and draws whatever happens into his own color; for he is more powerful than all externals. 2. Nor do I say this, that he does not feel them, but that he conquers, and, being otherwise quiet and placid, he is lifted up against things rushing in.

Omnia aduersa exercitationes putat. Quis autem, uir modo et erectus ad honesta, non est laboris adpetens iusti et ad officia cum periculo promptus? Cui non industrio otium poena est?

He considers all adverse things to be exercises.
But who, a man indeed and upright toward honorable things, is not appetent of just labor and prompt for duties even with peril?
For what industrious person is leisure not a punishment?

3. Athletas uidemus, quibus uirium cura est, cum fortissimis quibusque confligere et exigere ab iis per quos certamini praeparantur ut totis contra ipsos uiribus utantur; caedi se uexarique patiuntur et, si non inueniunt singulos pares, pluribus simul obiciuntur. 4. Marcet sine aduersario uirtus: tunc apparet quanta sit quantumque polleat, cum quid possit patientia ostendit. Scias licet idem uiris bonis esse faciendum, ut dura ac difficilia non reformident nec de fato querantur, quidquid accidit boni consulant, in bonum uertant; non quid sed quemadmodum feras interest.

3. We see athletes, whose care is for strength, clash with the very strongest and demand from those by whom they are prepared for the contest that they use their whole strength against them; they allow themselves to be beaten and harried, and, if they do not find single equals, they are exposed to several at once. 4. Virtue grows torpid without an adversary: then it appears how great it is and how much it prevails, when patience shows what it can do. You may know that the same is to be done by good men: that they should not dread hard and difficult things nor complain of fate; let them take whatever happens in good part, turn it into good; it matters not what you bear but how you bear it.

5. Non uides quanto aliter patres, aliter matres indulgeant? illi excitari iubent liberos ad studia obeunda mature, feriatis quoque diebus non patiuntur esse otiosos, et sudorem illis et interdum lacrimas excutiunt; at matres fouere in sinu, continere in umbra uolunt, numquam contristari, numquam flere, numquam laborare. 6. Patrium deus habet aduersus bonos uiros animum et illos fortiter amat et 'operibus' inquit 'doloribus damnis exagitentur, ut uerum colligant robur.' Languent per inertiam saginata nec labore tantum sed motu et ipso sui onere deficiunt.

5. Do you not see how much differently fathers, and differently mothers, indulge? Those order their children to be roused to undertake studies maturely, and do not allow them to be idle even on holidays, and they wring from them sweat and sometimes tears; but mothers want to cherish them in the bosom, to keep them in the shade, never to be saddened, never to weep, never to toil. 6. God has toward good men a fatherly mind and loves them stoutly and says, “let them be harried by works, pains, losses, that they may gather true robustness.” Those fattened grow languid through inertia, and they fail not only from labor but from motion and from the very burden of themselves.

Non fert ullum ictum inlaesa felicitas; at cui adsidua fuit cum incommodis suis rixa, callum per iniurias duxit nec ulli malo cedit, sed etiam si cecidit de genu pugnat. 7. Miraris tu, si deus ille bonorum amantissimus, qui illos quam optimos esse atque excellentissimos uult, fortunam illis cum qua exerceantur adsignat? Ego uero non miror, si aliquando impetum capiunt spectandi magnos uiros conluctantis cum aliqua calamitate.

Unscathed felicity bears no blow; but he whose continual quarrel has been with his own incommodities has drawn a callus through injuries and yields to no evil, but even if he has fallen, he fights from the knee. 7. Do you marvel if that god, most loving of the good, who wishes them to be as good as possible and most excellent, assigns to them Fortune with whom they may be exercised? I indeed do not marvel, if they are sometimes seized with the impulse to watch great men wrestling with some calamity.

8. Nobis interdum uoluptati est, si adulescens constantis animi inruentem feram uenabulo excepit, si leonis incursum interritus pertulit, tantoque hoc spectaculum est gratius quanto id honestior fecit. Non sunt ista quae possint deorum in se uultum conuertere, puerilia et humanae oblectamenta leuitatis: 9. ecce spectaculum dignum ad quod respiciat intentus operi suo deus, ecce par deo dignum, uir fortis cum fortuna mala compositus, utique si et prouocauit. Non uideo, inquam, quid habeat in terris Iuppiter pulchrius, si conuertere animum uelit, quam ut spectet Catonem iam partibus non semel fractis stantem nihilo minus inter ruinas publicas rectum.

8. To us at times it is a pleasure, if a youth of constant spirit has met the rushing beast with a hunting-spear, if he has borne the lion’s inrush unafraid; and by so much is this spectacle more pleasing by how much he did it more honorably. These are not the things that can turn the face of the gods toward them—boyish diversions and amusements of human levity: 9. behold a spectacle worthy at which God, intent upon his work, should look; behold one equal, worthy of a god—a brave man matched with bad fortune, especially if he has even provoked it. I do not see, I say, what Jupiter has on earth more beautiful, if he should wish to turn his mind to it, than that he should behold Cato—his party now not once only shattered—standing nonetheless upright amid the public ruins.

10. 'Licet' inquit 'omnia in unius dicionem concesserint, custodiantur legionibus terrae, classibus maria, Caesarianus portas miles obsideat, Cato qua exeat habet: una manu latam libertati uiam faciet. Ferrum istud, etiam ciuili bello purum et innoxium, bonas tandem ac nobiles edet operas: libertatem quam patriae non potuit Catoni dabit. Aggredere, anime, diu meditatum opus, eripe te rebus humanis.

10. "Granted," he says, "that all things have yielded into the dominion of one, let the lands be guarded by legions, the seas by fleets, let the Caesarian soldier besiege the gates, Cato has a way by which to go out: with one hand he will make a broad road for liberty. That iron, even in civil war pure and innocuous, will at last put forth good and noble works: it will give to Cato the freedom which it could not to his fatherland. Undertake, my soul, the work long meditated, snatch yourself away from human affairs.

Iam Petreius et Iuba concucurrerunt iacentque alter alterius manu caesi, fortis et egregia fati conuentio, sed quae non deceat magnitudinem nostram: tam turpe est Catoni mortem ab ullo petere quam uitam.' 11. Liquet mihi cum magno spectasse gaudio deos, dum ille uir, acerrimus sui uindex, alienae saluti consulit et instruit discedentium fugam, dum studia etiam nocte ultima tractat, dum gladium sacro pectori infigit, dum uiscera spargit et illam sanctissimam animam indignamque quae ferro contaminaretur manu educit. 12. Inde crediderim fuisse parum certum et efficax uulnus: non fuit dis inmortalibus satis spectare Catonem semel; retenta ac reuocata uirtus est ut in difficiliore parte se ostenderet; non enim tam magno animo mors initur quam repetitur. Quidni libenter spectarent alumnum suum tam claro ac memorabili exitu euadentem?

Already Petreius and Juba have rushed together, and they lie, each felled by the other’s hand, a brave and outstanding compact of fate, but one that does not befit our greatness: it is just as shameful for Cato to seek death from any man as life.' 11. It is clear to me that the gods looked on with great joy, while that man, the sharpest avenger of himself, provides for another’s safety and arranges the flight of those departing, while he handles his studies even on his last night, while he drives the sword into his sacred breast, while he scatters his entrails and with his hand draws forth that most holy soul, unworthy to be contaminated by iron. 12. Hence I would believe the wound was too little sure and efficacious: it was not enough for the immortal gods to behold Cato once; his virtue was held back and called back so that it might show itself in the more difficult part; for death is not undertaken with so great a spirit as it is repeated. Why should they not gladly behold their fosterling escaping with so bright and memorable an exit?

mors illos consecrat quorum exitum et qui timent laudant.

death consecrates those whose exit even those who fear praise.

III.

1. Sed iam procedente oratione ostendam quam non sint quae uidentur mala: nunc illud dico, ista quae tu uocas aspera, quae aduersa et abominanda, primum pro ipsis esse quibus accidunt, deinde pro uniuersis, quorum maior dis cura quam singulorum est, post hoc uolentibus accidere ac dignos malo esse si nolint. His adiciam fato ista sic ire et eadem lege bonis euenire qua sunt boni. Persuadebo deinde tibi ne umquam boni uiri miserearis; potest enim miser dici, non potest esse.

1. But now, as the oration proceeds, I shall show how those things are not what they seem evils: for the present I say this, that those things which you call harsh, which are adverse and abominable, are, first, for the very persons to whom they befall; next, for the universe, for whom the gods have greater care than for individuals; after this, that they befall the willing, and that, if they are unwilling, they are worthy of the ill to be so. To these I will add that by fate these things go thus, and by the same law they befall the good by which they are good. I shall then persuade you never to pity good men; for a man can be called wretched, he cannot be so.

2. Difficillimum ex omnibus quae proposui uidetur quod primum dixi, pro ipsis esse quibus eueniunt ista quae horremus ac tremimus. 'Pro ipsis est' inquis 'in exilium proici, in egestatem deduci, liberos coniugem ecferre, ignominia adfici, debilitari?' Si miraris haec pro aliquo esse, miraberis quosdam ferro et igne curari, nec minus fame ac siti. Sed si cogitaueris tecum remedii causa quibusdam et radi ossa et legi et extrahi uenas et quaedam amputari membra quae sine totius pernicie corporis haerere non poterant, hoc quoque patieris probari tibi, quaedam incommoda pro iis esse quibus accidunt, tam mehercules quam quaedam quae laudantur atque adpetuntur contra eos esse quos delectauerunt, simillima cruditatibus ebrietatibusque et ceteris quae necant per uoluptatem.

2. The most difficult, of all the things I have proposed, seems to be what I first said: that those things which we shudder at and tremble at are for the very ones to whom they befall. 'Is it for their sake,' you ask, 'to be cast into exile, to be led into indigence, to carry out children and spouse for burial, to be afflicted with ignominy, to be debilitated?' If you wonder that these are for someone’s good, you will wonder that some are treated by iron and fire, and no less by hunger and thirst. But if you consider with yourself that, for the sake of remedy, some have their bones scraped and set, and their veins drawn out, and certain limbs amputated which could not remain attached without the ruin of the whole body, you will also permit this to be approved to you: that certain inconveniences are for the sake of those to whom they befall—just as, by Hercules, certain things that are praised and desired are against those whom they have delighted—most similar to indigestions and drunkennesses and the rest which kill through pleasure.

3. Inter multa magnifica Demetri nostri et haec uox est, a qua recens sum; sonat adhuc et uibrat in auribus meis: 'nihil' inquit 'mihi uidetur infelicius eo cui nihil umquam euenit aduersi.' Non licuit enim illi se experiri. Vt ex uoto illi fluxerint omnia, ut ante uotum, male tamen de illo di iudicauerunt: indignus uisus est a quo uinceretur aliquando fortuna, quae ignauissimum quemque refugit, quasi dicat: 'quid ergo? istum mihi aduersarium adsumam?

3. Among the many magnificent things of our Demetrius is this utterance as well, from which I am just now fresh; it still sounds and vibrates in my ears: 'nothing' he says 'seems to me more unfortunate than the man to whom nothing adverse has ever happened.' For it was not permitted to him to test himself. Grant that all things flowed for him as by his wish, nay even before wishing, yet the gods judged ill of him: he seemed unworthy by whom Fortune should ever be conquered, she who shuns every most cowardly person, as if to say: 'what then? Shall I take this man to myself as an adversary?'

Statim arma summittet; non opus est in illum tota potentia mea, leui comminatione pelletur, non potest sustinere uultum meum. Alius circumspiciatur cum quo conferre possimus manum: pudet congredi cum homine uinci parato. 4. ' Ignominiam iudicat gladiator cum inferiore componi et scit eum sine gloria uinci qui sine periculo uincitur.

He will immediately lower his arms;
there is no need to use my whole potency against him, by a slight commination he will be driven off, he
cannot sustain my countenance. Let someone else be looked around for with whom we can join battle:
it shames one to come to grips with a man prepared to be beaten. 4. ' Ignominy he judges,
the gladiator, to be matched with an inferior, and he knows that he is conquered without glory who is
conquered without peril.

Idem facit fortuna: fortissimos sibi pares quaerit, quosdam fastidio transit. Contumacissimum quemque et rectissimum adgreditur, aduersus quem uim suam intendat: ignem experitur in Mucio, paupertatem in Fabricio, exilium in Rutilio, tormenta in Regulo, uenenum in Socrate, mortem in Catone. Magnum exemplum nisi mala fortuna non inuenit.

Fortune does the same: she seeks peers for herself, and out of fastidiousness passes some by. She attacks each man most contumacious and most upright, against whom she may aim her force: she tests fire in Mucius, poverty in Fabricius, exile in Rutilius, torments in Regulus, poison in Socrates, death in Cato. Fortune finds no great example except bad fortune.

5. Infelix est Mucius quod dextra ignes hostium premit et ipse a se exigit erroris sui poenas, quod regem quem armata manu non potuit exusta fugat? Quid ergo? felicior esset, si in sinu amicae foueret manum?

5. Is Mucius unlucky because with his right hand he presses the enemies’ fires, and he himself
exacts from himself the penalties of his error, because, with his hand burned, he puts to flight the king whom he could not with an armed hand? What then?
would he be happier, if in a mistress’s bosom he were warming his hand?

6. Infelix est Fabricius quod rus suum, quantum a re publica uacauit, fodit? quod bellum tam cum Pyrrho quam cum diuitiis gerit? quod ad focum cenat illas ipsas radices et herbas quas in repurgando agro triumphalis senex uulsit?

6. Is Fabricius unfortunate because, to the extent that he had leisure from the Republic, he digs his farm? because he wages war as much against Pyrrhus as against riches? because at the hearth he dines on those very roots and herbs which, in repurging the field, the triumphal old man plucked?

Quid ergo? felicior esset, si in uentrem suum longinqui litoris pisces et peregrina aucupia congereret, si conchyliis superi atque inferi maris pigritiam stomachi nausiantis erigeret, si ingenti pomorum strue cingeret primae formae feras, captas multa caede uenantium? 7. Infelix est Rutilius quod qui illum damnauerunt cau sam dicent omnibus saeculis?

Why then? Would he be happier, if into his own belly he were to heap the fishes of a far-off shore
and foreign fowl, if with the shellfish of the upper and lower sea
he would rouse the sluggishness of a queasy stomach, if with a huge pile of fruits
he would surround game of prime form, taken with much slaughter of hunters? 7. Is Rutilius unhappy because those
who condemned him will plead their case to all ages?

quod aequiore animo passus est se patriae eripi quam sibi exilium? quod Sullae dictatori solus aliquid negauit et reuocatus tantum non retro cessit et longius fugit? 'Viderint' inquit 'isti quos Romae deprehendit felicitas tua: uideant largum in foro sanguinem et supra Seruilianum lacum (id enim proscriptionis Sullanae spoliarium est) senatorum capita et passim uagantis per urbem percussorum greges et multa milia ciuium Romanorum uno loco post fidem, immo per ipsam fidem trucidata; uideant ista qui exulare non possunt.' 8. Quid ergo?

because he endured with a more even mind to be snatched from his fatherland rather than to take exile upon himself? because to Sulla the dictator he alone said “no,” and, when recalled, all but turned back—and fled farther? “Let those men see to it,” he says, “whom your felicity caught at Rome: let them behold the copious blood in the forum, and above the Servilian Lake (for that is the spoliarium of Sulla’s proscription) the heads of senators, and the herds of assassins wandering everywhere through the city, and many thousands of Roman citizens in one place butchered after a pledge—nay, through the very pledge—of faith; let those behold these things who cannot go into exile.” 8. What then?

felix est L. Sulla quod illi descendenti ad forum gladio summouetur, quod capita sibi consularium uirorum patitur ostendi et pretium caedis per quaestorem ac tabulas publicas numerat? Et haec omnia facit ille, ille qui legem Corneliam tulit. 9. Veniamus ad Regulum: quid illi fortuna nocuit quod illum documentum fidei, documentum patientiae fecit?

Is L. Sulla fortunate because, as he is descending to the forum, a way is cleared for him by the sword, because he allows the heads of consular men to be displayed before him,
and counts out the price of slaughter through a quaestor and the public ledgers? And all these things
are done by that man, that man who proposed the Cornelian law. 9. Let us come to Regulus: how did Fortune harm him, in that she made him a document of fidelity, a document of patience?

Figunt cutem claui et quocumque fatigatum corpus reclinauit, uulneri incumbit; in perpetuam uigiliam suspensa sunt lumina: quanto plus tormenti tanto plus erit gloriae. Vis scire quam non paeniteat hoc pretio aestimasse uirtutem? refige illum et mitte in senatum: eandem sententiam dicet.

Nails transfix the skin, and wherever the wearied
body has reclined, it presses upon the wound; the eyes are suspended for perpetual vigil:
the more torment, the more there will be glory. Do you wish to know how he does not
repent of having valued virtue at this price? Unfasten him and send him into the Senate:
he will deliver the same opinion.

10. Feliciorem 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 auocet et mille uoluptatibus mentem anxiam fallat, tam uigilabit in pluma quam ille in cruce; sed illi solacium est pro honesto dura tolerare et ad causam a patientia respicit, hunc uoluptatibus marcidum et felicitate nimia laborantem magis iis quae patitur uexat causa patiendi. 11. Non usque eo in possessionem generis humani uitia uenerunt ut dubium sit an electione fati data plures nasci Reguli quam Maecenates uelint; aut si quis fuerit qui audeat dicere Maecenatem se quam Regulum nasci maluisse, idem iste, taceat licet, nasci se Terentiam maluit.

10. So then do you think Maecenas more fortunate, for whom, anxious with love-affairs and weeping over the daily repudiations of a peevish wife, sleep is sought through the chant of symphonies softly resounding from afar? Let him, if he will, lull himself with unmixed wine and divert himself with the crashings of waters and with a thousand pleasures beguile his anxious mind: he will keep vigil on down-feathers as much as that man on the cross; but to that man it is a solace to endure hard things for an honorable end, and his patience looks to the cause, whereas this one, made flaccid by pleasures and laboring under excessive felicity, is tormented more by the cause of his suffering than by the things he suffers. 11. Vices have not so far come into possession of the human race that it is doubtful whether, if a choice of fate were given, more would wish to be born Reguluses rather than Maecenases; or if there should be anyone who would dare to say that he preferred to be born a Maecenas rather than a Regulus, that same man, though he keep silent, preferred to be born a Terentia.

12. Male tractatum Socratem iudicas quod illam potionem publice mixtam non aliter quam medicamentum inmortalitatis obduxit et de morte disputauit usque ad ipsam? Male cum illo actum est quod gelatus est sanguis ac paulatim frigore inducto uenarum uigor constitit? 13. Quanto magis huic inuidendum est quam illis quibus gemma ministratur, quibus exoletus omnia pati doctus exsectae uirilitatis aut dubiae suspensam auro niuem diluit!

12. Do you judge Socrates to have been treated badly because he took that potion, publicly mixed, no otherwise than as a medicament of immortality, and discoursed about death right up to it? Was it ill with him because his blood was congealed and, little by little with cold introduced, the vigor of his veins stood still? 13. How much more is he to be envied than those for whom a gem ministers their drink, for whom an exoletus, trained to endure everything, of excised virility or of dubious, dilutes snow suspended in gold!

Hi quidquid biberunt uomitu remetientur tristes et bilem suam regustantes, at ille uenenum laetus et libens hauriet. 14. Quod ad Catonem pertinet, satis dictum est, summamque illi felicitatem contigisse consensus hominum fatebitur, quem sibi rerum natura delegit cum quo metuenda conlideret. 'Inimicitiae potentium graues sunt: opponatur simul Pompeio, Caesari, Crasso.

These men, whatever they have drunk, will render back by vomit, gloomy and re-tasting their own bile; but he will quaff the poison glad and willing. 14. As concerns Cato, enough has been said, and the consensus of men will confess that the highest felicity befell him, whom Nature of things selected for herself, with whom she might collide the fearsome things. 'The enmities of the powerful are grievous: let him be set in opposition at once to Pompey, to Caesar, to Crassus.

Graue est a deterioribus honore anteiri: Vatinio postferatur. Graue est ciuilibus bellis interesse: toto terrarum orbe pro causa bona tam infeliciter quam pertinaciter militet. Graue est manus sibi adferre: faciat.

It is grievous to be surpassed in honor by worse men: let him be put after Vatinius.
It is grievous to take part in civil wars: throughout the whole orb of the earth let him soldier for a good cause as unhappily as pertinaciously.
It is grievous to lay hands upon oneself: let him do it.

Quid per haec consequar? ut omnes sciant non esse haec mala quibus ego dignum Catonem putaui.'

What do I achieve by these? that all may know that these are not evils for which I judged Cato worthy.'

IV.

1. Prosperae res et in plebem ac uilia ingenia deueniunt; at calamitates terroresque mortalium sub iugum mittereproprium magni uiri est. Semper uero esse felicem et sine morsu animi transire uitam ignorare est rerum naturae alteram partem. 2. Magnus uir es: sed unde scio, si tibi fortuna non dat facultatem exhibendae uirtutis?

1. Prosperous affairs descend even to the plebs and to lowly talents; but to bring calamities and the terrors of mortals under the yoke is the proper mark of a great man. But to be always fortunate and to pass through life without a bite of the mind is to be ignorant of the other part of the nature of things. 2. You are a great man: but how do I know it, if Fortune does not give you the opportunity for exhibiting virtue?

Descendisti ad Olympia, sed nemo praeter te: coronam habes, uictoriam non habes; non gratulor tamquam uiro forti, sed tamquam consulatum praeturamue adepto: honore auctus es. 3. Idem dicere et bono uiro possum, si illi nullam occasionem difficilior casus dedit in qua [una] uim animi sui ostenderet: 'miserum te iudico, quod numquam fuisti miser. Transisti sine aduersario uitam; nemo sciet quid potueris, ne tu quidem ipse.' Opus est enim ad notitiam sui experimento; quid quisque posset nisi temptando non didicit. Itaque quidam ipsi ultro se cessantibus malis optulerunt et uirtuti iturae in obscurum occasionem per quam enitesceret quaesierunt.

You descended to Olympia, but no one except you: you have a crown, you do not have a victory; I do not congratulate you as a brave man, but as one who has obtained the consulship or the praetorship: you have been augmented with honor. 3. I can say the same even to a good man, if no harder stroke of chance gave him any occasion in which [alone] he might display the force of his spirit: ‘I judge you wretched, because you were never wretched. You have passed through life without an adversary; no one will know what you could do, not even you yourself.’ For there is need, for the knowledge of oneself, of experiment; what each person could do he has not learned except by attempting. And so certain men of their own accord have offered themselves, with evils holding back, and for virtue, which was going to go into obscurity, they sought an occasion through which it might shine forth.

4. Gaudent, inquam, magni uiri aliquando rebusaduersis, non aliter quam fortes milites bello; Triumphum ego murmillonem sub Ti. Caesare de raritate munerum audiui querentem: 'quam bella' inquit 'aetas perit!' Auida est periculi uirtus et quo tendat, non quid passura sit cogitat, quoniam etiam quod passura est gloriae pars est. Militares uiri gloriantur uulneribus, laeti fluentem meliori casu sanguinem ostentant: idem licet fecerint qui integri reuertuntur ex acie, magis spectatur qui saucius redit. 5. Ipsis, inquam, deus consulit quos esse quam honestissimos cupit, quotiens illis materiam praebet aliquid animose fortiterque faciendi, ad quam rem opus est aliqua rerum difficultate: gubernatorem in tempestate, in acie militem intellegas.

4. Great men, I say, sometimes rejoice in adverse things, no otherwise than brave soldiers in war; I heard a murmillo named Triumphus, under Tiberius Caesar, complaining about the rarity of the shows, saying: 'how fine an age is passing away!'
Virtue is eager for danger and considers whither it is tending, not what it is going to suffer, since even what it is going to suffer is a part of glory. Military men boast of their wounds; gladly they display their blood flowing, with a better fortune: though those who return intact from the battle-line may have done the same, he who comes back wounded is looked at more. 5. God himself, I say, takes thought for those whom he desires to be as honorable as possible, whenever he furnishes them the material for doing something spiritedly and bravely—for which matter some difficulty of circumstances is needed: recognize the helmsman in a tempest, the soldier in the battle-line.

Vnde possum scire quantum aduersus paupertatem tibi animi sit, si diuitiis diffluis? Vnde possum scire quantum aduersus ignominiam et infamiam odiumque populare constantiae habeas, si inter plausus senescis, si te inexpugnabilis et inclinatione quadam mentium pronus fauor sequitur? Vnde scio quam aequo animo laturus sis orbitatem, si quoscumque sustulisti uides?

Whence can I know how much spirit you have against poverty,
if you overflow with riches? Whence can I know how much constancy you have against ignominy,
and infamy and popular hatred, if you grow old amid applause,
if an inexpugnable and, by a certain inclination of minds, prone favor follows you? Whence do I know with how even a mind you would bear bereavement, if all whom you have reared
you behold?

Audiui te, cum alios consolareris: tunc conspexissem, si te ipse consolatus esses, si te ipse dolere uetuisses. 6. Nolite, obsecro uos, expauescere ista quae di inmortales uelut stimulos admouent animis: calamitas uirtutis occasio est. Illos merito quis dixerit miseros qui nimia felicitate torpescunt, quos uelut in mari lento tranquillitas iners detinet: quidquid illis inciderit, nouum ueniet.

I heard you, when you were consoling others: then I would have looked upon you, if you had consoled yourself, if you yourself had forbidden yourself to grieve. 6. Do not, I beseech you, be terrified at those things which the immortal gods apply to souls as if goads: calamity is the occasion of virtue. With merit one might call those wretched who grow torpid through excessive felicity, whom an inert tranquility holds as if on a sluggish sea: whatever shall befall them will come as something new.

7. Magis urgent saeua inexpertos, graue est tenerae ceruici iugum; ad suspicionem uulneris tiro pallescit, audacter ueteranus cruorem suum spectat, qui scit se saepe uicisse post sanguinem. Hos itaque deus quos probat, quos amat, indurat recognoscit exercet; eos autem quibus indulgere uidetur, quibus parcere, molles uenturis malis seruat. Erratis enim si quem iudicatis exceptum: ueniet ad illum diu felicem sua portio; quisquis uidetur dimissus esse dilatus est.

7. The savage things press the inexperienced more, the yoke is heavy
for a tender neck; at the suspicion of a wound the tyro grows pale, the veteran boldly
looks upon his own gore, who knows that he has often conquered after bloodshed. Therefore God hardens, recognizes, exercises those whom he tests, whom he loves; but those
whom he seems to indulge, to spare, he keeps soft for evils to come. You err, in fact, if you judge anyone exempt: there will come <and> to that long-time happy man
his own portion; whoever seems to have been dismissed has been deferred.

8. Quare deus optimum quemque aut mala ualetudine aut luctu aut aliis incommodis adficit? quia in castris quoque periculosa fortissimis imperantur: dux lectissimos mittit qui nocturnis hostes adgrediantur insidiis aut explorent iter aut praesidium loco deiciant. Nemo eorum qui exeunt dicit 'male de me imperator meruit', sed 'bene iudicauit'. Idem dicant quicumque iubentur pati timidis ignauisque flebilia: 'digni uisi sumus deo in quibus experiretur quantum humana natura posset pati.' 9. Fugite delicias, fugite eneruantem felicitatem qua animi permadescunt et, nisi aliquid interuenit quod humanae sortis admoneat, uelut perpetua ebrietate sopiti.

8. Why does God afflict every best man with either bad health or grief or other inconveniences? Because in the camp too the perilous tasks are enjoined upon the bravest: the leader sends the choicest to assail the enemy by nocturnal ambushes or to reconnoiter the route or to cast down the garrison from its place. None of those who go out says, 'the commander has deserved ill of me,' but, 'he has judged well.' Let those say the same, whoever are ordered to endure things lamentable to the timid and the slothful: 'we have seemed worthy to God, in whom he would try how much human nature could suffer.' 9. Flee delights, flee the enervating felicity by which minds are soaked through, and, unless something intervenes to remind them of the human lot, they wither, as if lulled by perpetual drunkenness.

Quem specularia semper ab adflatu uindicaverunt, cuius pedes inter fomenta subinde mutata tepuerunt, cuius cenationes subditus et parietibus circumfusus calor temperauit, hunc leuis aura non sine periculo stringet. 10. Cum omnia quae excesserunt modum noceant, periculosissima felicitatis intemperantia est: mouet cerebrum, in uanas mentem imagines euocat, multum inter falsum ac uerum mediae caliginis fundit. Quidni satius sit perpetuam infelicitatem aduocata uirtute sustinere quam infinitis atque inmodicis bonis rumpi?

He whom windowpanes have always protected from a draught, whose feet have been warmed among fomentations repeatedly changed, whose dining-rooms a heat set beneath and diffused around the walls has tempered, a light breeze will nip not without danger. 10. Since all things that have exceeded the measure do harm, the most perilous is the intemperance of felicity: it stirs the brain, it calls the mind forth into vain images, it pours out much of a middle mist between the false and the true. Why should it not be better to sustain perpetual ill-fortune with virtue summoned to aid, than to burst from infinite and immoderate goods?

lenior ieiunio mors est, cruditate dissiliunt. 11. Hanc itaque rationem di sequuntur in bonis uiris quam in discipulis suis praeceptores, qui plus laboris ab iis exigunt in quibus certior spes est. Numquid tu inuisos esse Lacedaemoniis liberos suos credis, quorum experiuntur indolem publice uerberibus admotis?

Death is gentler from fasting; from surfeit they burst. 11. Therefore the gods follow this reasoning in good men as preceptors do in their disciples, who demand more labor from those in whom the hope is more certain. Do you believe their children are hated by the Lacedaemonians, whose natural disposition they test publicly with floggings applied?

Ipsi illos patres adhortantur ut ictus flagellorum fortiter perferant, et laceros ac semianimes rogant, perseuerent uulnera praebere uulneribus. 12. Quid mirum, si dure generosos spiritus deus temptat? numquam uirtutis molle documentum est.

The fathers themselves exhort them
to endure the strokes of scourges bravely, and they beg the torn and half-alive
to persevere in offering wounds to wounds. 12. What wonder, if God harshly tests noble (generous) spirits?
the proof of virtue is never soft.

Verberat nos et lacerat fortuna: patiamur. Non est saeuitia, certamen est, quod <quo> saepius adierimus, fortiores erimus: solidissima corporis pars est quam frequens usus agitauit. Praebendi fortunae sumus, ut contra illam ab ipsa duremur: paulatim nos sibi pares faciet, contemptum periculorum adsiduitas periclitandi dabit.

Fortune beats us and lacerates us: let us endure it. It is not savagery; it is a contest, which the more often we approach, the stronger we shall be: the most solid part of the body is that which frequent use has exercised. We must be offered to Fortune, so that against her we may be hardened by her herself: little by little she will make us equal to herself; the assiduity of risking will give a contempt of dangers.

13. Sic sunt nauticis corpora ferendo mari dura, agricolis manus tritae, ad excutienda tela militares lacerti ualent, agilia sunt membra cursoribus: id in quoque solidissimum est quod exercuit. Ad contemnendam patientiam malorum animus patientia peruenit; quae quid in nobis efficere possit scies, si aspexeris quantum nationibus nudis et inopia fortioribus labor praestet. 14. Omnes considera gentes in quibus Romana pax desinit, Germanos dico et quidquid circa Histrum uagarum gentium occursat: perpetua illos hiemps, triste caelum premit, maligne solum sterile sustentat; imbrem culmo aut fronde defendunt, super durata glacie stagna persultant, in alimentum feras captant.

13. Thus the bodies of sailors are hardened by enduring the sea, the hands of farmers are worn, soldiers’ upper arms are strong for brandishing missiles, the limbs of runners are agile: in each, that is most solid which practice has exercised. To come to despise the suffering of evils, the spirit arrives through patience; what it can effect in us you will know, if you look at how much labor avails for nations naked and stronger through want. 14. Consider all the peoples where the Roman peace ends, I mean the Germans and whatever wandering nations encounter us around the Ister (Danube): perpetual winter and a dreary sky press them, a grudging, sterile soil barely sustains them; they fend off rain with thatch or foliage, they skip across pools upon hardened ice, they catch wild beasts for nourishment.

15. Miseri tibi uidentur? nihil miserum est quod in naturam consuetudo perduxit; paulatim enim uoluptati sunt quae necessitate coeperunt. Nulla illis domicilia nullaeque sedes sunt nisi quas lassitudo in diem posuit; uilis et hic quaerendus manu uictus, horrenda iniquitas caeli, intecta corpora: hoc quod tibi calamitas uidetur tot gentium uita est.

15. Do they seem wretched to you? nothing
is miserable which custom has brought into nature; for gradually the things which began from necessity turn into pleasure.
They have no domiciles and no seats except those which weariness has set for the day; a mean sustenance, and that to be sought by hand,
the horrendous iniquity of the sky, bodies uncovered: this which seems to you a calamity
is the life of so many nations.

16. Quid miraris bonos uiros, ut confirmentur, concuti? non est arbor solida nec fortis nisi in quam frequens uentus incursat; ipsa enim uexatione constringitur et radices certius figit: fragiles sunt quae in aprica ualle creuerunt. Pro ipsis ergo bonis uiris est, ut esse interriti possint, multum inter formidolosa uersari et aequo animo ferre quae non sunt mala nisi male sustinenti.

16. Why do you marvel that good men, in order that they may be confirmed, are shaken? A tree is not solid nor strong unless the frequent wind rushes upon it;
for by the very vexation it is tightened and more surely fixes its roots: fragile are those
which have grown in a sunny valley. Therefore, for the good men themselves it is, that they may be unafraid,
to be much conversant among formidable things and to bear with an even mind those things which are not evils except to one sustaining them badly.

1. Adice nunc quod pro omnibus est optimum quemque, ut ita dicam, militare et edere operas. Hoc est propositum deo quod sapienti uiro, ostendere haec quae uulgus adpetit, quae reformidat, nec bona esse nec mala; apparebit autem bona esse, si illa non nisi bonis uiris tribuerit, et mala esse, si tantum malis inrogauerit. 2. Detestabilis erit caecitas, si nemo oculos perdiderit nisi cui eruendi sunt; itaque careant luce Appius et Metellus.

1. Add now this, which is best for all: that, so to speak, every best man should soldier and render services. This is the purpose set for god as for the wise man: to show that the things which the vulgus desires, which it dreads, are neither good nor bad; and they will appear to be good, if he has bestowed them only upon good men, and to be bad, if he has inflicted them only upon bad men. 2. Blindness will be detestable, if no one has lost his eyes except one whose eyes are to be gouged; and so let Appius and Metellus be without light.

Non sunt diuitiae bonum; itaque habeat illas et Elius leno, ut homines pecuniam, cum in templis consecrauerint, uideant et in fornice. Nullo modo magis potest deus concupita traducere quam si illa ad turpissimos defert, ab optimis abigit. 3. 'At iniquum est uirum bonum debilitari aut configi aut alligari, malos integris corporibus solutos ac delicatos incedere.' Quid porro?

Riches are not a good; and so let even Elius the pimp have them, so that men
may see money, when they have consecrated it in temples, also in a brothel. In no way
can god more traduce the things desired than if he carries them to the most base, and drives them away from the best. 3. 'But it is inequitable that a good man be debilitated or transfixed or bound, while bad men, with bodies intact, go loosed and delicate.' What then?

non est iniquum fortes uiros arma sumere et in castris pernoctare et pro uallo obligatis stare uulneribus, interim in urbe securos esse praecisos et professos inpudicitiam? Quid porro? non est iniquum nobilissimas uirgines ad sacra facienda noctibus excitari, altissimo somno inquinatas frui?

is it not inequitable that brave men take up arms and spend the night in camp and, with their wounds bandaged, stand before the rampart, while in the city the emasculated and those who have professed impudicity are at ease? What moreover? is it not inequitable that the most noble virgins are roused at night to perform sacred rites, while the defiled women, befouled with the deepest sleep, enjoy it?

4. Labor optimos citat: senatus per totum diem saepe consulitur, cum illo tempore uilissimus quisque aut in campo otium suum oblectet aut in popina lateat aut tempus in aliquo circulo terat. Idem in hac magna re publica fit: boni uiri laborant, inpendunt, inpenduntur, et uolentes quidem; non trahuntur a fortuna, sequuntur illam et aequant gradus; si scissent, antecessissent. 5. Hanc quoque animosam Demetri fortissimi uiri uocem audisse me memini: 'hoc unum' inquit 'de uobis, di inmortales, queri possum, quod non ante mihi notam uoluntatem uestram fecistis; prior enim ad ista uenissem ad quae nunc uocatus adsum.

4.
Labor rouses the best: the senate is often consulted through the whole day, while at that
time every most worthless person either in the field amuses his leisure or lurks in a tavern,
or wears away time in some circle. The same happens in this great republic:
good men labor, they expend, they are expended, and indeed willingly; they are not
dragged by Fortune, they follow her and equal her steps; if they had known, they would have gone before. 5. I also remember having heard this spirited utterance of Demetrius, a most valiant man:
'this one thing,' he says, 'of you, immortal gods, I can complain, that you did not earlier
make your will known to me; for I would have come before to those things to which I am now,
having been called, present.

Vultis liberos sumere? uobisillos sustuli. Vultis aliquam partem corporis?

Do you wish to take my children? I have taken them away for you. Do you wish
some part of my body?

sumite: non magnam rem promitto, cito totum relinquam. Vultis spiritum? quidni nullam moram faciam quo minus recipiatis quod dedisti?

take it: I promise no great thing; soon I shall leave the whole. Do you want the spirit? why should I not make no delay, so that you may receive back what you have given?

A uolente feretis quidquid petieritis. Quid ergo est? maluissem offerre quam tradere.

From one willing you will carry off whatever you have requested. What then? I would have preferred to offer
rather than to hand over.

Quid opus fuit auferre? accipere potuistis; sed ne nunc quidem auferetis, quia nihil eripitur nisi retinenti.' 6. Nihil cogor, nihil patior inuitus, nec seruio deo sed assentior, eo quidem magis quod scio omnia certa et in aeternum dicta lege decurrere. 7. Fata nos ducunt et quantum cuique temporis restat prima nascentium hora disposuit.

What need was there to take away? you could have received; but not even now will you take away, because nothing is snatched away except from one who is retaining.'
6. I am compelled to nothing, I suffer nothing unwilling, nor do I serve god but I assent,
all the more indeed because I know that all things, fixed and spoken for eternity, run their course by law. 7. The Fates lead us, and how much time remains to each the first hour of those being born
has disposed.

Causa pendet ex causa, priuata ac publica longus ordo rerum trahit: ideo fortiter omne patiendum est quia non, ut putamus, incidunt cuncta sed ueniunt. Olim constitutum est quid gaudeas, quid fleas, et quamuis magna uideatur uarietate singulorum uita distingui, summa in unum uenit: accipimus peritura perituri. 8. Quid itaque indignamur?

Cause hangs upon cause, the long order of private and public things draws along: therefore everything must be bravely endured, because, not as we suppose, do all things fall upon us, but they come. Long ago it was constituted what you should rejoice at, what you should weep for; and although the life of individuals seems to be distinguished by great variety, the sum comes to one: we, perishing, receive things destined to perish. 8. Why then are we indignant?

quid querimur? ad hoc parati sumus. Vtatur ut uult suis natura corporibus: nos laeti ad omnia et fortes cogitemus nihil perire de nostro.

Why do we complain? For this we are prepared. Let nature use its own bodies as it wishes: let us, joyful for everything and brave, think that nothing of ours perishes.

Quid est boni uiri? praebere se fato. Grande solacium est cum uniuerso rapi; quidquid est quod nos sic uiuere, sic mori iussit, eadem necessitate et deos alligat.

What is the good man’s part? to offer
himself to fate. It is a great solace to be swept away with the universe; whatever it is that has ordered us thus
to live, thus to die, by the same necessity binds even the gods.

Inreuocabilis humana pariter ac diuina cursus uehit: ille ipse omnium conditor et rector scripsit quidem fata, sed sequitur; semper paret, semel iussit. 9. 'Quare tamen deus tam iniquus in distributione fati fuit ut bonis uiris paupertatem et uulnera et acerba funera adscriberet?' Non potest artifex mutare materiam: ~hoc passa est~. Quaedam separari a quibusdam non possunt, cohaerent, indiuidua sunt. Languida ingenia et in somnum itura aut in uigiliam somno simillimam inertibus nectuntur elementis: ut efficiatur uir cum cura dicendus, fortiore fato opus est.

Irrevocable course carries along human and divine alike: that very founder and ruler of all wrote the fates indeed, but follows them; he always obeys, he commanded once. 9. 'Why, however, was god so iniquitous in the distribution of fate as to ascribe to good men poverty and wounds and bitter funerals?' The craftsman cannot change the material: ~this it has suffered~. Certain things cannot be separated from certain others; they cohere, they are indivisible. Languid talents, headed into sleep or into a wakefulness very similar to sleep, are bound to inert elements: in order that there be brought about a man to be spoken of with care, a stronger fate is needed.

Non erit illi planum iter: sursum oportet ac deorsum eat, fluctuetur ac nauigium in turbido regat. Contra fortunam illi tenendus est cursus; multa accident dura, aspera, sed quae molliat et conplanet ipse. Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes uiros.

The path will not be level for him: he must go up and go down, fluctuate and steer his ship in turbid waters. He must hold his course against Fortune; many things hard, rough will befall, but he himself must soften and level them. Fire proves gold; misery proves strong men.

10. Vide quam alte escendere debeat uirtus: scies illi non per secura uadendum.

10. See how high virtue ought to ascend: you will know that for it there is no going through secure places.

Ardua prima uia est et quam uix mane recentes
enituntur equi; medio est altissima caelo,
unde mare et terras ipsi mihi saepe uidere
sit timor et pauida trepidet formidine pectus.
ultima prona uia est et eget moderamine certo;
tunc etiam quae me subiectis excipit undis,
ne ferar in praeceps, Tethys solet ima uereri.

The first road is arduous, and one which in the morning the fresh horses scarcely struggle up;
in the middle it is highest in the sky,
whence I myself often fear to behold the sea and the lands,
and my breast quakes with timorous dread.
the last road is downward-sloping and requires sure governance;
then even she who receives me with the waves lying beneath,
Tethys, is wont to fear the depths, lest I be carried headlong.

11. Haec cum audisset ille generosus adulescens, 'placet' inquit 'uia, escendo; est tanti per ista ire casuro.' Non desinit acrem animum metu territare:

11. When he had heard these things, that noble youth said, 'the road pleases,' he said, 'I ascend; it is worth it to go through those things, though I am destined to fall.' He does not cease to terrify the keen spirit with fear to terrify:

utque uiam teneas nulloque errore traharis,
per tamen aduersi gradieris cornua tauri
Haemoniosque arcus uiolentique ora leonis.

and so that you may hold to the way and be drawn by no error,
nevertheless you will step through between the horns of the adverse Bull
and the Haemonian bows and the violent mouth of the Lion.

Post haec ait: 'iunge datos currus: his quibus deterreri me putas incitor; libet illic stare ubi ipse Sol trepidat.' Humilis et inertis est tuta sectari: per alta uirtus it.

After this he says: 'Yoke the allotted chariots: by the very things with which you think me to be deterred I am incited; it is my pleasure to stand there where the Sun himself trembles.' It is of the humble and inert to follow the safe course: through the heights Virtue goes.

VI.

1. 'Quare tamen bonis uiris patitur aliquid mali deus fieri?' Ille uero non patitur. Omnia mala ab illis remouit, scelera et flagitia et cogitationes inprobas et auida consilia et libidinem caecam et alieno imminentem auaritiam; ipsos tuetur ac uindicat: numquid hoc quoque aliquis a deo exigit, ut bonorum uirorum etiam sarcinas seruet? Remittunt ipsi hanc deo curam: externa contemnunt.

1. 'Why, however, does god allow anything evil to befall good men?' He indeed does not allow it. He has removed all evils from them—crimes and flagitious deeds and improper thoughts and avid counsels and blind libido and an avarice looming over what is another’s; he protects them and vindicates them: does anyone also demand this from god, that he should even guard the baggage of good men? They themselves remit this care from god: they disdain externals.

2. Democritus diuitias proiecit, onus illas bonae mentis existimans: quid ergo miraris, si id deus bono uiro accidere patitur quod uir bonus aliquando uult sibi accidere? Filios amittunt uiri boni: quidni, cum aliquando et occidant? In exilium mittuntur: quidni, cum aliquando ipsi patriam non repetituri relinquant?

2. Democritus threw away riches, esteeming them a burden upon a good mind: why, then, do you marvel, if God allows to befall a good man that which a good man sometimes wills to befall himself? Good men lose their sons: why not, since sometimes they even put them to death? They are sent into exile: why not, since sometimes they themselves leave their fatherland, not to return?

Occiduntur: quidni, cum aliquando ipsi sibi manus adferant? 3. Quare quaedam dura patiuntur? ut alios pati doceant; nati sunt in exemplar.

They are slain: why not, since sometimes they themselves lay hands upon themselves? 3. Why do they suffer certain hard things? So that they may teach others to suffer; they are born as an exemplar.

Puta itaque deum dicere: 'quid habetis quod de me queri possitis, uos quibus recta placuerunt? Aliis bona falsa circumdedi et animos inanes uelut longo fallacique somnio lusi: auro illos et argento et ebore adornaui, intus boni nihil est. 4. Isti quos pro felicibus aspicis, si non qua occurrunt sed qua latent uideris, miseri sunt, sordidi turpes, ad similitudinem parietum suorum extrinsecus culti; non est ista solida et sincera felicitas: crusta est et quidem tenuis.

Suppose, therefore, that god says: 'What have you that you can complain of concerning me, you to whom right things have been pleasing? I have surrounded others with false goods and have played with inane minds as if by a long and fallacious dream: I have adorned them with gold and silver and ivory; within there is nothing of good. 4. Those whom you regard as felicitous, if you see them not where they meet the eye but where they lie hidden, are miserable, sordid, base, extrinsically adorned after the likeness of their walls; that is not solid and sincere felicity: it is a crust, and indeed a thin one.'

Itaque dum illis licet stare et ad arbitrium suum ostendi, nitent et inponunt; cum aliquid incidit quod disturbet ac detegat, tunc apparet quantum altae ac uerae foeditatis alienus splendor absconderit. 5. Vobis dedi bona certa mansura, quanto magis uersauerit aliquis et undique inspexerit, meliora maioraque; permisi uobis metuenda contemnere, cupiditates fastidire; non fulgetis extrinsecus, bona uestra introrsus obuersa sunt. Sic mundus exteriora contempsit spectaculo sui laetus.

Therefore, while it is permitted them
to stand and to be displayed at their own arbitrium, they shine and impose; when something befalls
that disturbs and uncovers, then it appears how much of deep and true foulness
an alien splendor had hidden. 5. To you I have given sure goods that will abide: the more
someone has turned them over and inspected them from every side, the better and greater; I have permitted
you to contemn things to be feared, to be fastidious toward desires; you do not gleam outwardly,
your goods are turned inward. Thus the world has contemned external things, glad at the spectacle
of itself.

Intus omne posui bonum; non egere felicitate felicitas uestra est. 6. "At multa incidunt tristia horrenda, dura toleratu." Quia non poteram uos istis subducere, animos uestros aduersus omnia armaui: ferte fortiter. Hoc est quo deum antecedatis: ille extra patientiam malorum est, uos supra patientiam.

I have placed all good within; your felicity is not to need felicity. 6. "But many sad, horrendous things befall, hard to tolerate." Because I could not withdraw you from those things, I armed your spirits against all things: bear them bravely. This is wherein you outstrip god: he is beyond the need of patience amid evils, you are above patience.

Contemnite paupertatem: nemo tam pauper uiuit quam natus est. Contemnite dolorem: aut soluetur aut soluet. Contemnite mortem: quae uos aut finit aut transfert.

Contemn poverty: no one lives so poor as he was born. Contemn pain: either it will be dissolved or it will dissolve. Contemn death: which either ends you or transfers you.

Contemnite fortunam: nullum illi telum quo feriret animum dedi. 7. Ante omnia caui ne quis uos teneret inuitos; patet exitus: si pugnare non uultis, licet fugere. Ideo ex omnibus rebus quas esse uobis necessarias uolui nihil feci facilius quam mori.

Contemn Fortune: I have given to her no weapon with which she might strike
the mind. 7. Before all things I took care that no one should hold you against your will; the exit lies open: if you do not wish to fight, it is permitted to flee. Therefore, among all the things which I wished to be necessary for you, I have made nothing easier than to die.

Prono animam loco posui: ~trahitur~ adtendite modo et uidebitis quam breuis ad libertatem et quam expedita ducat uia. Non tam longas in exitu uobis quam intrantibus moras posui; alioqui magnum in uos regnum fortuna tenuisset, si homo tam tarde moreretur quam nascitur. 8. Omne tempus, omnis uos locus doceat quam facile sit renuntiare naturae et munus illi suum inpingere; inter ipsa altaria et sollemnes sacrificantium ritus, dum optatur uita, mortem condiscite.

I have set your life in a sloping place:
~it is drawn~ only attend and you will see how brief to liberty and how
expeditious a way it leads. I have not set for you delays as long at the exit as for those entering;
otherwise Fortune would have held a great rule over you, if a man died as slowly
as he is born. 8. Let every time, every place teach you how easy
it is to renounce nature and to thrust upon her her own office; among the very altars
and the solemn rites of those sacrificing, while life is being wished for, learn death.

Corpora opima taurorum exiguo concidunt uulnere et magnarum uirium animalia humanae manus ictus inpellit; tenui ferro commissura ceruicis abrumpitur, et cum articulus ille qui caput collumque committit incisus est, tanta illa moles corruit. 9. Non in alto latet spiritus nec utique ferro eruendus est; non sunt uulnere penitus inpresso scrutanda praecordia: in proximo mors est. Non certum ad hos ictus destinaui locum: quacumque uis peruium est.

The well-fleshed bodies of bulls collapse from a slight wound, and animals of great strength are impelled by the stroke of a human hand; with a slender iron blade the commissure of the neck is severed, and when that articulation which connects the head and the neck has been cut, that so great mass falls. 9. The spirit does not lie hidden in the deep, nor must it by any means be extracted with iron; the precordia—the vitals—are not to be probed with a wound driven deep: death is at hand. I have not assigned a fixed place for these blows: whichever way you wish is passable.

Ipsum illud quod uocatur mori, quo anima discedit a corpore, breuius est quam ut sentiri tanta uelocitas possit: siue fauces nodus elisit, siue spiramentum aqua praeclusit, siue in caput lapsos subiacentis soli duritia comminuit, siue haustus ignis cursum animae remeantis interscidit, quidquid est, properat. Ecquid erubescitis? quod tam cito fit timetis diu!'

The very thing which is called “to die,” whereby the soul departs from the body, is briefer than that so great a velocity could be perceived: whether a knot crushes the throat, or water has shut off the spirament, or the hardness of the ground lying beneath shatters those fallen headlong upon the head, or a draught of fire cuts off the course of the soul returning—whatever it is, it hastens. Do you blush at all? You fear for a long time what happens so quickly!'