Cael. 31.1Vellem aliō potius eum cupiditās glōriae dētulisset;I wish his desire for glory had carried him elsewhere instead; Cael. 31.1sed abiit huius tempus querēlae.but the time for this complaint has passed. Cael. 31.1Accūsāvit C. Antōnium, conlēgam meum, cui miserō praeclārī in rem pūblicam beneficī memoria nihil prōfuit, nocuit opīniō maleficī cōgitātī.He prosecuted Gaius Antonius, my colleague, whom, poor man, the memory of an outstanding service to the state did not help at all, while the belief that he had contemplated a crime harmed him. Cael. 31.1Posteā nēminī umquam concessit aequālium plūs ut in forō, plūs ut in negōtiīs versārētur causīsque amīcōrum, plūs ut valēret inter suōs grātiā.After that he never yielded to any of his contemporaries in being more often in the forum, more often engaged in business and in the cases of his friends, in having more influence among his own people. Cael. 31.1Quae nisi vigilantēs hominēs, nisi sōbriī, nisi industriī cōnsequī nōn possunt, omnia labōre et dīligentiā est cōnsecūtus.All these things, which none but watchful, sober and industrious men can attain, he attained by labour and diligence. Cael. 31.75In hōc flexū quasi aetātis — nihil enim occultābō frētus hūmānitāte ac sapientiā vestrā — fāma adulēscentis paululum haesit ad mētās nōtitiā novā eius mulieris et īnfēlīcī vīcīnitāte et īnsolentiā voluptātum, quae, cum inclūsae diūtius et prīmā aetāte compressae et cōnstrictae fuērunt, subitō sē nōn numquam profundunt atque ēiciunt ūniversae.At this turning point, as it were, of his life — for I shall hide nothing, relying on your kindness and wisdom — the young man's reputation stuck a little at the turning-post, because of his recent acquaintance with that woman, his unlucky neighbourhood, and his unfamiliarity with pleasures, which, when they have been shut in for a long time and held down and restrained in early youth, sometimes suddenly pour forth and burst out all at once.
Cael. 31.75Quā ex vītā vel dīcam quō ex sermōne — nēquāquam enim tantum erat quantum hominēs loquēbantur — vērum ex eō quicquid erat ēmersit tōtumque sē ēiēcit atque extulit, tantumque abest ab illīus familiāritātis īnfāmiā ut eiusdem nunc ab sēsē inimīcitiās odiumque prōpulset.From this way of life, or rather, I should say, from this talk — for it was by no means as much as people said — but from whatever it was, he emerged and extricated himself completely and raised himself up, and he is so far from the disgrace of intimacy with that woman that he is now warding off her enmity and hatred from himself. Cael. 31.76Atque ut iste interpositus sermō dēliciārum dēsidiaeque morerētur — fēcit mē invītō mē herculē et multum repugnante mē, sed tamen fēcit — nōmen amīcī meī dē ambitū dētulit;And so that this talk of pleasures and idleness that had come between might die away — he did it against my wishes, by heaven, and with me strongly opposing it, but still he did it — he prosecuted a friend of mine for electoral bribery; Cael. 31.76quem absolūtum īnsequitur, revocat;and when he has been acquitted, he pursues him and summons him again; Cael. 31.76nēminī nostrum obtemperat, est violentior quam vellem.he obeys none of us, he is more vehement than I would wish.
Cael. 31.76Sed ego nōn loquor dē sapientiā, quae nōn cadit in hanc aetātem;But I am not speaking of wisdom, which does not belong to this age; Cael. 31.76dē impetū animī loquor, dē cupiditāte vincendī, dē ardōre mentis ad glōriam;I speak of his impetuous spirit, his desire to win, his ardour of mind for glory; Cael. 31.76quae studia in hīs iam aetātibus nostrīs contractiōra esse dēbent, in adulēscentiā vērō tamquam in herbīs significant quae virtūtis mātūritās et quantae frūgēs industriae sint futūrae.these impulses should be more restrained at our time of life, but in youth, as in the green blade, they show what ripeness of virtue and how great a harvest of industry there will be. Cael. 31.76Etenim semper magnō ingeniō adulēscentēs refrēnandī potius ā glōriā quam incitandī fuērunt;For young men of great talent have always needed to be reined in from glory rather than spurred on; Cael. 31.76amputanda plūra sunt illī aetātī, sī quidem efflōrēscit ingenī laudibus, quam īnserenda.there is more to be pruned than to be grafted on at that age, if it is blossoming with the merits of talent. Cael. 31.77Quā rē, sī cui nimium effervisse vidētur huius vel in suscipiendīs vel in gerendīs inimīcitiīs vīs, ferōcitās, pertinācia, sī quem etiam minimōrum hōrum aliquid offendit, sī purpurae genus, sī amīcōrum catervae, sī splendor, sī nītor, iam ista dēferverint, iam aetās omnia, iam rēs, iam diēs mītigārit.Therefore, if anyone thinks that this man's vehemence, fierceness and stubbornness have boiled over too much, whether in taking up or in pursuing enmities, if even the least of these things offends anyone, the kind of purple he wears, his throngs of friends, his brilliance, his elegance, these things will soon have cooled down, soon age, circumstance and time will have softened everything.