Ep. 9.12.1Castīgābat quīdam fīlium suum quod paulō sūmptuōsius equōs et canēs emeret.A certain man was scolding his son for buying horses and dogs rather too extravagantly. Ep. 9.12.1Huic ego iuvene dīgressō: "Heus tū, numquamnē fēcistī, quod ā patre corripī posset?When the young man had gone, I said to him: 'Come now, have you never done anything for which your father could have rebuked you? Ep. 9.12.1"Fēcistī" dīcō.You have, I say. Ep. 9.12.1Nōn interdum facis quod fīlius tuus, sī repente pater ille tū fīlius, parī gravitāte reprehendat?Do you not sometimes do things which your son, if suddenly he were the father and you the son, would reprove with equal severity? Ep. 9.12.1Nōn omnēs hominēs aliquō errōre dūcuntur?Are not all men led astray by some error? Ep. 9.12.1Nōn hic in illō sibi, in hōc alius indulget?"Does not this man indulge himself in that, another in this?' Ep. 9.12.2Haec tibi admonitus immodicae sevēritātis exemplō, prō amōre mūtuō scrīpsī, nē quandō tū quoque fīlium tuum acerbius dūriusque trāctārēs.Warned by this example of excessive severity, I have written this to you out of our mutual love, so that you too may never treat your son too harshly and severely.
Ep. 9.12.2Cōgitā et illum puerum esse et tē fuisse, atque ita hōc quod es pater ūtere, ut meminerīs et hominem esse tē et hominis patrem.Bear in mind both that he is a boy and that you were one, and use the fact that you are a father in such a way as to remember that you are a man and the father of a man. Ep. 9.12.2Valē.Farewell.