Ep. 7.9.1Quaeris quemadmodum in sēcessū, quō iam diū frueris, putem tē studēre oportēre.You ask how I think you ought to study in the retreat which you have now long been enjoying. Ep. 7.9.2Ūtile in prīmīs, et multī praecipiunt, vel ex Graecō in Latīnum vel ex Latīnō vertere in Graecum.It is useful above all, and many recommend it, to translate either from Greek into Latin or from Latin into Greek. Ep. 7.9.2Quō genere exercitātiōnis proprietās splendorque verbōrum, cōpia figūrārum, vīs explicandī, praetereā imitātiōne optimōrum similia inveniendī facultās parātur;By this kind of exercise are acquired propriety and splendour of vocabulary, a wealth of figures, power of exposition, and besides, through imitating the best writers, a facility for inventing things like theirs; Ep. 7.9.2simul quae legentem fefellissent, trānsferentem fugere nōn possunt.at the same time, what would have escaped you as a reader cannot escape you as a translator. Ep. 7.9.3Intellegentia ex hōc et iūdicium acquīritur.Understanding and judgement are gained from this. Ep. 7.9.3Nihil offuerit quae lēgerīs hāctenus, ut rem argūmentumque teneās, quasi aemulum scrībere lēctīsque cōnferre, ac sēdulō pēnsitāre, quid tū quid ille commodius.It will do no harm, when you have read something just far enough to grasp its matter and argument, to write on it as if in rivalry, to compare your version with what you have read, and to weigh carefully what you, and what the author, have done more aptly.
Ep. 7.9.3Magna grātulātiō sī nōn nūlla tū, magnus pudor sī cūncta ille melius.Great cause for congratulation if you have done some things better, great shame if he has done everything better. Ep. 7.9.3Licēbit interdum et notissima ēligere et certāre cum ēlēctīs.It will be permissible sometimes even to choose very famous passages and to compete with those you have chosen. Ep. 7.9.4Audāx haec, nōn tamen improba, quia sēcrēta contentiō: quamquam multōs vidēmus eius modī certāmina sibi cum multā laude sūmpsisse, quōsque subsequī satis habēbant, dum nōn dēspērant, antecessisse.This contest is bold, yet not shameless, because it is private: though we see that many have taken on contests of this kind with great credit, and, by not despairing, have outstripped those whom they thought it enough to follow. Ep. 7.9.5Poteris et quae dīxerīs post oblīviōnem retractāre, multa retinēre plūra trānsīre, alia interscrībere alia rescrībere.You will also be able to revise what you have delivered once you have forgotten it, to keep much, to pass over more, to insert some things and to rewrite others. Ep. 7.9.6Labōriōsum istud et taediō plēnum, sed difficultāte ipsā frūctuōsum, recalēscere ex integrō et resūmere impetum frāctum omissumque, postrēmō nova velut membra perāctō corporī intexere nec tamen priōra turbāre.That is laborious and full of tedium, but fruitful through its very difficulty: to grow warm again from the start and recover an impetus that has been broken and dropped, and finally to weave new limbs, as it were, into a finished body without disturbing the earlier ones.
Ep. 7.9.7Sciō nunc tibi esse praecipuum studium ōrandī;I know that at present your chief pursuit is oratory; Ep. 7.9.7sed nōn ideō semper pugnācem hunc et quasi bellātōrium stilum suāserim.but I would not for that reason always recommend this combative and, so to speak, warlike style. Ep. 7.9.7Ut enim terrae variīs mūtātīsque sēminibus, ita ingenia nostra nunc hāc nunc illā meditātiōne recoluntur.For just as fields are renewed by varied and changing seeds, so our minds are by now this kind of exercise, now that. Ep. 7.9.8Volō interdum aliquem ex historiā locum apprēndās, volō epistulam dīligentius scrībās.I want you sometimes to take up some passage of history, I want you to write a letter with special care. Ep. 7.9.8Nam saepe in ōrātiōne quoque nōn historica modo sed prope poētica dēscrīptiōnum necessitās incidit, et pressus sermō pūrusque ex epistulīs petitur.For often in a speech too the need arises for descriptions not merely historical but almost poetic, and a concise and pure style is learnt from letters. Ep. 7.9.9Fās est et carmine remittī, nōn dīcō continuō et longō - id enim perficī nisi in ōtiō nōn potest -, sed hōc argūtō et brevī, quod aptē quantās libet occupātiōnēs cūrāsque distinguit.It is right also to relax with poetry — I do not mean continuous and long, for that cannot be completed except in leisure, but this witty and brief kind, which aptly breaks up business and cares, however great they may be.
Ep. 7.9.10Lūsūs vocantur;They are called trifles; Ep. 7.9.10sed hī lūsūs nōn minōrem interdum glōriam quam sēria cōnsequuntur.but these trifles sometimes win no less fame than serious works. Ep. 7.9.10Atque adeō - cūr enim tē ad versus nōn versibus adhorter?And indeed — for why should I not urge you to verse in verse? Ep. 7.9.10- ut laus est cērae, mollis cēdēnsque sequātur sī doctōs digitōs iussaque fīat opus et nunc īnfōrmet Mārtem castamve Minervam, nunc Venerem effingat, nunc Veneris puerum;— just as wax wins praise if, soft and yielding, it follows skilled fingers and becomes the work it is bidden to, and now shapes Mars or chaste Minerva, now models Venus, now Venus' boy; Ep. 7.9.11utque sacrī fontēs nōn sōla incendia sistunt, saepe etiam flōrēs vērnaque prāta iuvant, sīc hominum ingenium flectī dūcīque per artēs nōn rigidās doctā mōbilitāte decet.and as sacred springs do not only quench fires, but often also refresh flowers and the meadows of spring, so it befits the mind of man to be bent and led, with a learned flexibility, through arts that are not rigid. Ep. 7.9.12Itaque summī ōrātōrēs, summī etiam virī sīc sē aut exercēbant aut dēlectābant, immō dēlectābant exercēbantque.So the greatest orators, and the greatest men too, used in this way either to exercise or to amuse themselves — or rather they amused and exercised themselves at once.
Ep. 7.9.13Nam mīrum est ut hīs opusculīs animus intendātur remittātur.For it is remarkable how the mind is both braced and relaxed by these little works. Ep. 7.9.13Recipiunt enim amōrēs odia īrās misericordiam urbānitātem, omnia dēnique quae in vītā atque etiam in forō causīsque versantur.For they admit loves, hatreds, angers, pity, wit, in short everything that has a place in life and also in the forum and the courts. Ep. 7.9.14Īnest hīs quoque eadem quae aliīs carminibus ūtilitās, quod metrī necessitāte dēvīnctī solūtā ōrātiōne laetāmur, et quod facilius esse comparātiō ostendit, libentius scrībimus.There is in these too the same benefit as in other poems, that after being bound by the constraints of metre we take delight in prose, and we write more gladly what the comparison shows to be easier. Ep. 7.9.15Habēs plūra etiam fortasse quam requīrēbās;You have more, perhaps, than you were asking for; Ep. 7.9.15ūnum tamen omīsī.yet I have left out one thing. Ep. 7.9.15Nōn enim dīxī quae legenda arbitrārer: quamquam dīxī, cum dīcerem quae scrībenda.For I have not said what I think should be read: although I did say it, when I said what should be written.
Ep. 7.9.15Tū meminerīs suī cuiusque generis auctōrēs dīligenter ēligere.Remember to choose carefully the authors in each genre. Ep. 7.9.15Aiunt enim multum legendum esse, nōn multa.For they say that one should read much, not many things. Ep. 7.9.16Quī sint hī adeō notum probātumque est, ut dēmōnstrātiōne nōn egeat;Who these authors are is so well known and approved that it needs no pointing out; Ep. 7.9.16et aliōquī tam immodice epistulam extendī, ut dum tibi quemadmodum studēre dēbeās suādeō, studendī tempus abstulerim.and besides, I have stretched out my letter so immoderately that, while advising you how you ought to study, I have taken away your time for studying. Ep. 7.9.16Quīn ergō pugillārēs resūmis, et aliquid ex hīs vel istud ipsum quod coeperās scrībis?Why then do you not take up your tablets again and write something of these kinds, or that very piece which you had begun? Ep. 7.9.16Valē.Farewell.