Amic. 4.1Neque enim adsentior eīs, quī nūper haec disserere coepērunt, cum corporibus simul animōs interīre atque omnia morte dēlērī.For I do not agree with those who have lately begun to argue that souls perish together with bodies and that all things are destroyed by death. Amic. 4.1Plūs apud mē antīquōrum auctōritās valet, vel nostrōrum maiōrum, quī mortuīs tam religiōsa iūra tribuērunt, quod nōn fēcissent, profectō, sī nihil ad eōs pertinēre arbitrārentur, vel eōrum quī in hāc terrā fuērunt magnamque Graeciam, quae nunc quidem dēlēta est, tum flōrēbat, īnstitūtīs et praeceptīs suīs ērudiērunt, vel eius, quī Apollinis ōrāculō sapientissimus est iūdicātus, quī nōn tum hoc tum illud, ut in plērīsque, sed idem semper, animōs hominum esse dīvīnōs eīsque, cum ex corpore excessissent, reditum in caelum patēre optimōque et iūstissimō cuique expedītissimum.The authority of the ancients counts more with me, whether of our own ancestors, who paid such reverent rites to the dead, which surely they would not have done if they thought those rites in no way concerned them, or of those who lived in this land and instructed Magna Graecia, which is now indeed destroyed but then flourished, with their institutions and precepts, or of him who was judged wisest by the oracle of Apollo, who did not say now this, now that, as in most matters, but always the same thing: that the souls of men are divine, and that when they have left the body a return to heaven lies open to them, and the readiest return to each in proportion as he is best and most just.
Amic. 4.14Quod idem Scīpiōnī vidēbātur, quī quidem, quasi praesāgīret, perpaucīs ante mortem diēbus, cum et Philus et Mānīlius adesset et aliī plūrēs, tūque etiam Scaevola, mēcum vēnissēs, trīduum disseruit dē rē pūblicā, cuius disputātiōnis fuit extrēmum ferē dē immortālitāte animōrum, quae sē in quiēte per vīsum ex Āfricānō audīsse dīcēbat.This was Scipio's view too, who, as though he had a presentiment, a very few days before his death, when Philus and Manilius were present and several others, and you too, Scaevola, had come with me, discussed the state for three days, and the last part of that discussion was, roughly speaking, about the immortality of souls, things which he said he had heard from Africanus in a vision during his sleep. Amic. 4.14Id sī ita est, ut optimī cuiusque animus in morte facillimē ēvolet tanquam ē custōdiā vinclīsque corporis, cui cēnsēmus cursum ad deōs faciliōrem fuisse quam Scīpiōnī?If it is so, that the souls of all the best men fly off most easily at death, as if from the prison and chains of the body, to whom do we suppose the journey to the gods was easier than to Scipio?
Amic. 4.14Quōcircā maerēre hōc eius ēventū vereor nē invidī magis quam amīcī sit.Therefore to grieve at this fate of his, I fear, would be the part of an envious man rather than of a friend. Amic. 4.14Sīn autem illa vēriōra, ut īdem interitus sit animōrum et corporum nec ūllus sēnsus maneat, ut nihil bonī est in morte, sīc certē nihil malī.But if the other view is truer, that the death of souls and of bodies is the same and that no sensation remains, then, just as there is nothing good in death, so certainly there is nothing bad. Amic. 4.14Sēnsū enim āmissō fit idem, quasi nātus nōn esset omnīnō, quem tamen esse nātum et nōs gaudēmus et haec cīvitās, dum erit, laetābitur.For when sensation is lost, it becomes the same as if he had never been born at all, and yet we rejoice that he was born, and this state will be glad of it as long as it exists. Amic. 4.15Quam ob rem cum illō quidem, ut suprā dīxī, āctum optimē est, mēcum incommodius, quem fuerat aequius, ut prius introieram, sīc prius exīre dē vītā.Therefore with him, as I said above, things have gone very well, with me less happily, for it would have been fairer that, as I had entered life first, so I should leave it first.
Amic. 4.15Sed tamen recordātiōne nostrae amīcitiae sīc fruor, ut beātē vīxisse videar, quia cum Scīpiōne vīxerim, quōcum mihi coniūncta cūra dē pūblicā rē et dē prīvātā fuit, quōcum et domus fuit et mīlitia commūnis et, id in quō omnis vīs est amīcitiae, voluntātum studiōrum sententiārum summa cōnsēnsiō.But still I so enjoy the recollection of our friendship that I seem to have lived happily because I lived with Scipio, with whom I shared concern for public and private affairs, with whom I had a home and military service in common, and, that in which the whole force of friendship lies, the most complete agreement in wishes, pursuits and opinions. Amic. 4.15Itaque nōn tam ista mē sapientiae, quam modo Fannius commemorāvit, fāma dēlectat, falsa praesertim, quam quod amīcitiae nostrae memoriam spērō sempiternam fore, idque eō mihi magis est cordī, quod ex omnibus saeculīs vix tria aut quattuor nōminantur paria amīcōrum, quō in genere spērāre videor Scīpiōnis et Laelī amīcitiam notam posteritātī fore.And so it is not so much that reputation for wisdom which Fannius mentioned just now that delights me, especially as it is false, as the hope that the memory of our friendship will last for ever; and this is all the dearer to my heart because out of all the ages scarcely three or four pairs of friends are named, and in this class I seem to hope that the friendship of Scipio and Laelius will be known to posterity.
Amic. 4.16FANNIUS.FANNIUS. Amic. 4.16Istuc quidem, Laelī, ita necesse est.That, Laelius, must indeed be so. Amic. 4.16Sed quoniam amīcitiae mentiōnem fēcistī et sumus ōtiōsī, pergrātum mihi fēceris—spērō item Scaevolae —sī, quem ad modum solēs dē cēterīs rēbus, cum ex tē quaeruntur, sīc dē amīcitiā disputāris quid sentiās, quālem exīstimēs, quae praecepta dēs.But since you have mentioned friendship, and we are at leisure, you will do me a great kindness, and Scaevola too, I hope, if, as you are accustomed to do on other subjects when questions are put to you, so you will discuss friendship: what you feel about it, what you judge its nature to be, what precepts you give. Amic. 4.16SCAEVOLA.SCAEVOLA. Amic. 4.16Mihi vērō erit grātum, atque id ipsum cum tēcum agere cōnārer, Fannius antevertit.To me indeed it will be welcome, and just when I was trying to press that very request on you, Fannius got in first. Amic. 4.16Quam ob rem utrīque nostrum grātum admodum fēceris.So you will do a very great kindness to us both.