Amic. 3.1Ego sī Scīpiōnis dēsīderiō mē movērī negem, quam id rēctē faciam vīderint sapientēs, sed certē mentiar.If I were to deny that I am moved by longing for Scipio, how rightly I should do so let the wise decide, but certainly I should be lying. Amic. 3.1Moveor enim tālī amīcō orbātus, quālis, ut arbitror, nēmō umquam erit, ut cōnfirmāre possum, nēmō certē fuit.For I am moved at being bereft of such a friend as, I believe, there will never be again, and as, I can assert, there certainly never was before. Amic. 3.1Sed nōn egeō medicīnā: mē ipse cōnsōlor et maximē illō sōlāciō, quod eō errōre careō, quō amīcōrum dēcessū plērīque angī solent.But I have no need of medicine: I console myself, and above all with this consolation, that I am free from that error by which most people are tormented at the passing of their friends. Amic. 3.1Nihil malī accidisse Scīpiōnī putō;I think nothing bad has happened to Scipio; Amic. 3.1mihi accidit, sī quid accidit;it has happened to me, if anything has happened; Amic. 3.1suīs autem incommodīs graviter angī nōn amīcum, sed sē ipsum amantis est.and to be grievously tormented by one's own misfortunes is the mark of a man who loves not his friend but himself.
Amic. 3.11Cum illō vērō quis neget āctum esse praeclārē?As for him, who would deny that he has fared splendidly? Amic. 3.11Nisi enim, quod ille minimē putābat, immortālitātem optāre vellet, quid nōn adeptus est, quod hominī fās esset optāre, quī summam spem cīvium, quam dē eō iam puerō habuerant, continuō adulēscēns incrēdibilī virtūte superāvit;For unless he had wished to pray for immortality, which he never had in mind at all, what did he not attain that it was right for a man to pray for, he who as a young man at once surpassed by incredible merit the highest hopes his fellow citizens had held of him even as a boy; Amic. 3.11quī cōnsulātum petīvit numquam, factus cōnsul est bis, prīmum ante tempus, iterum sibi suō tempore, reī pūblicae paene sērō;who never stood for the consulship, yet was made consul twice, the first time before the legal age, the second at the proper time for himself, but almost too late for the state; Amic. 3.11quī duābus urbibus ēversīs inimīcissimīs huic imperiō nōn modo praesentia, vērum etiam futūra bella dēlēvit?who, by overthrowing two cities most hostile to this empire, wiped out not only present wars but future ones too?
Amic. 3.11Quid dīcam dē mōribus facillimīs, dē pietāte in mātrem, līberālitāte in sorōrēs, bonitāte in suōs, iūstitiā in omnīs?What shall I say of his most gracious manners, of his devotion to his mother, his generosity to his sisters, his kindness to his own people, his justice towards all? Amic. 3.11Nota sunt vōbīs.You know them. Amic. 3.11Quam autem cīvitātī cārus fuerit, maerōre fūneris indicātum est.And how dear he was to the state was shown by the grief at his funeral. Amic. 3.11Quid igitur hunc paucōrum annōrum accessiō iuvāre potuisset?What, then, could the addition of a few years have profited him? Amic. 3.11Senectūs enim quamvīs nōn sit gravis, ut meminī Catōnem annō ante quam est mortuus, mēcum et cum Scīpiōne disserere, tamen aufert eam viriditātem, in quā etiam nunc erat Scīpiō.For old age, even though it is not burdensome, as I remember Cato arguing with me and with Scipio the year before he died, nevertheless takes away that freshness in which Scipio still was even now. Amic. 3.12Quam ob rem vīta quidem tālis fuit vel fortūna vel glōriā, ut nihil posset accēdere;Therefore his life was such, either in fortune or in glory, that nothing could be added to it; Amic. 3.12moriendī autem sēnsum celeritās abstulit.and the swiftness of his death took away the sense of dying.
Amic. 3.12Quō dē genere mortis difficile dictū est;About the manner of his death it is hard to speak; Amic. 3.12quid hominēs suspicentur vidētis: hoc vērē tamen licet dīcere, P. Scīpiōnī ex multīs diēbus, quōs in vītā celeberrimōs laetissimōsque vīderit, illum diem clārissimum fuisse, cum senātū dīmissō domum reductus ad vesperum est ā patribus cōnscrīptīs, populō Rōmānō, sociīs et Latīnīs, prīdiē quam excessit ē vītā, ut ex tam altō dignitātis gradū ad superōs videātur deōs potius quam ad īnferōs pervēnisse.you see what people suspect: yet this may truly be said, that for Publius Scipio, out of the many days he had seen in his life most thronged and most joyful, the most glorious was that day when, on the dismissal of the senate, he was escorted home towards evening by the conscript fathers, the Roman people, the allies and the Latins, on the day before he departed from life, so that from so lofty a height of honour he seems to have reached the gods above rather than those below.