Epist. 1.11.1Quid tibi vīsa Chiōs, Bullātī, notaque Lesbos,
quid concinna Samos, quid Croesī rēgia Sardīs,
Zmyrna quid et Colophōn?What did you think of Chios, Bullatius, and famous Lesbos, what of elegant Samos, what of Sardis, Croesus' royal seat, what of Smyrna and Colophon? Epist. 1.11.3Maiōra minōrave fāmā,
cūnctane prae Campō et Tiberīnō flūmine sordent?Are they greater or less than their fame? Do they all look shabby beside the Campus and the river Tiber? Epist. 1.11.5An vēnit in vōtum Attalicīs ex urbibus ūna,
an Lebedum laudās odiō maris atque viārum?Or has one of the cities of Attalus come into your prayers, or do you praise Lebedus out of loathing for the sea and the roads? Epist. 1.11.7Scīs Lebedus quid sit: Gabiīs dēsertior atque
Fīdēnīs vīcus;You know what Lebedus is: a village more deserted than Gabii and Fidenae; Epist. 1.11.8tamen illīc vīvere vellem,
oblītusque meōrum, oblīvīscendus et illīs,
10Neptūnum procul ē terrā spectāre furentem.yet there I would wish to live, forgetting my friends and to be forgotten by them, and to watch from the land Neptune raging far off.
Epist. 1.11.11Sed neque quī Capuā Rōmam petit, imbre lutōque
aspersus, volet in caupōnā vīvere;But neither will the man who travels from Capua to Rome, spattered with rain and mud, want to live in an inn; Epist. 1.11.12nec quī
frīgus collēgit, furnōs et balnea laudat
ut fortūnātam plēnē praestantia vītam;nor does one who has caught a chill praise ovens and baths as fully providing a happy life; Epist. 1.11.15nec sī tē validus iactāverit Auster in altō,
idcircō nāvem trāns Aegaeum mare vēndās.nor, if the strong south wind has tossed you on the deep, would you for that reason sell your ship on the far side of the Aegean sea. Epist. 1.11.17Incolumī Rhodōs et Mytilēnē pulchra facit quod
paenulā sōlstitiō, campestre nivālibus aurīs,
per brūmam Tiberis, Sextīlī mēnse camīnus.To one who is sound, Rhodes and lovely Mytilene do what a heavy cloak does at midsummer, athletic shorts in snowy winds, the Tiber in midwinter, a stove in the month of August. Epist. 1.11.20Dum licet ac voltum servat Fortūna benignum,
Rōmae laudētur Samos et Chiōs et Rhodōs absēns,
tū quamcumque deus tibi fortūnāverit hōram
grātā sūme manū, neu dulcia differ in annum;While it is allowed, and Fortune keeps her face kind, let Samos and Chios and Rhodes be praised at Rome from afar. Whatever hour the god has blessed you with, take it with a grateful hand, and do not put off pleasant things to another year; Epist. 1.11.24ut quōcumque locō fuerīs vīxisse libenter
25tē dīcās, nam sī ratiō et prūdentia cūrās,
nōn locus effūsī lātē maris arbiter aufert,
caelum, nōn animum, mūtant, quī trāns mare currunt,
strēnua nōs exercet inertia: nāvibus atque
quadrīgīs petimus bene vīvere, quod petis hīc est,
30est Ulubrīs, animus sī tē nōn dēficit aequus.so that, in whatever place you have been, you may say you have lived gladly. For if it is reason and good sense that take away cares, not a place commanding a view of the wide-spreading sea, they change their sky, not their mind, who rush across the sea. A busy idleness wears us out: with ships and four-horse chariots we seek to live well. What you seek is here, it is at Ulubrae, if a balanced mind does not fail you.