Ep. 12.1Quōcumque mē vertī, argūmenta senectūtis meae videō.Wherever I have turned, I see proofs of my old age. Ep. 12.1Vēneram in suburbānum meum et querēbar dē inpēnsīs aedificiī dīlābentis.I had come to my place near the city and was complaining about the expense of a building that was falling to pieces. Ep. 12.1Ait vīlicus mihi nōn esse neglegentiae suae vitium, omnia sē facere, sed vīllam veterem esse.My bailiff tells me that it is not the fault of any neglect on his part, that he is doing everything, but that the house is old. Ep. 12.1Haec vīlla inter manūs meās crēvit;This house grew up under my hands; Ep. 12.1quid mihi futūrum est, sī tam putria sunt aetātis meae saxa?what is to become of me, if stones of my own age are so crumbling? Ep. 12.2Īrātus illī proximam occāsiōnem stomachandī arripiō.Angry with him, I seize the next opportunity to vent my irritation. Ep. 12.2"Appāret," inquam, "hās platanōs neglegī;'It is plain,' I say, 'that these plane trees are neglected; Ep. 12.2nūllās habent frondēs.they have no leaves.
Ep. 12.2Quam nōdōsī sunt et retorridī rāmī, quam trīstēs et squālidī truncī!How knotted and parched the branches are, how gloomy and shabby the trunks! Ep. 12.2Hoc nōn accideret, sī quis hās circumfoderet, sī inrigāret."This would not happen if someone dug round them, if someone watered them.' Ep. 12.2Iūrat per genium meum sē omnia facere, in nūllā rē cessāre cūram suam, sed illās vetulās esse.He swears by my guardian spirit that he is doing everything, that his care is slack in nothing, but that they are old trees. Ep. 12.2Quod intrā nōs sit, ego illās posueram, ego illārum prīmum vīderam folium.Between ourselves, I had planted them myself, I had seen their first leaf. Ep. 12.3Conversus ad iānuam "Quis est iste?"Turning towards the door, 'Who is that?' Ep. 12.3inquam, "iste dēcrepitus et meritō ad ōstium admōtus?I say, 'that decrepit fellow, rightly set down by the doorway? Ep. 12.3Forās enim spectat.For he is facing outwards. Ep. 12.3Unde istunc nactus es?Where did you pick him up? Ep. 12.3Quid tē dēlectāvit aliēnum mortuum tollere?"What pleasure did you find in taking up someone else's dead?' Ep. 12.3At ille "Nōn cognōscis mē?"But he: 'Do you not know me?' Ep. 12.3inquit.he asked.
Ep. 12.3"Ego sum Fēlīciō, cui solēbās sigillāria adferre.'I am Felicio, to whom you used to bring little figurines. Ep. 12.3Ego sum Philositī vīlicī fīlius, dēliciolum tuum."I am the son of Philositus the bailiff, your little pet.' Ep. 12.3"Perfectē," inquam, "iste dēlīrat.'The man,' I say, 'is completely raving. Ep. 12.3Pūpulus etiam dēlicium meum factus est?Has a little boy even become my pet? Ep. 12.3Prōrsus potest fierī;It is quite possible; Ep. 12.3dentēs illī cum maximē cadunt."his teeth are falling out just now.' Ep. 12.4Dēbeō hoc suburbānō meō, quod mihi senectūs mea, quōcumque adverteram, appāruit.I owe this to my place near the city, that my old age showed itself to me wherever I had turned. Ep. 12.4Conplectāmur illam et amēmus;Let us embrace it and love it; Ep. 12.4plēna est voluptātis, sī illā sciās ūtī.it is full of pleasure, if you know how to use it. Ep. 12.4Grātissima sunt pōma, cum fugiunt;Fruits are most welcome when they are passing; Ep. 12.4pueritiae maximus in exitū decor est;childhood's greatest charm is at its end; Ep. 12.4dēditōs vīnō pōtiō extrēma dēlectat, illa quae mergit, quae ēbrietātī summam manum inpōnit.those given to wine are delighted by the last drink, the one that drowns them, that puts the finishing touch to drunkenness.
Ep. 12.5Quod in sē iūcundissimum omnis voluptās habet, in fīnem suī differt.What every pleasure holds most delightful within it, it puts off until its end. Ep. 12.5Iūcundissima est aetās dēvexa iam, nōn tamen praeceps.Most delightful is the age that is already sloping downwards, yet is not yet headlong. Ep. 12.5Et illam quoque in extrēmā tēgulā stantem iūdicō habēre suās voluptātēs.And I judge that even the age that stands on the last tile of the roof has its own pleasures. Ep. 12.5Aut hoc ipsum succēdit in locum voluptātum, nūllīs egēre.Or else this very thing takes the place of pleasures: to need none. Ep. 12.5Quam dulce est cupiditātēs fatīgāsse ac relīquisse.How sweet it is to have worn out one's desires and left them behind. Ep. 12.6"Molestum est," inquis, "mortem ante oculōs habēre."'It is irksome,' you say, 'to have death before one's eyes.' Ep. 12.6Prīmum ista tam senī ante oculōs dēbet esse quam iuvenī.First, it ought to be before the eyes of an old man as much as of a young one. Ep. 12.6Nōn enim citāmur ex cēnsū.For we are not summoned in the order of the census list.
Ep. 12.6Deinde nēmō tam senex est, ut inprobē ūnum diem spēret.Second, no one is so old that it is shameless for him to hope for one more day. Ep. 12.6Ūnus autem diēs gradus vītae est.And one day is a step of life. Ep. 12.6Tōta aetās partibus cōnstat et orbēs habet circumductōs maiōrēs minōribus.The whole of life is made up of parts and has circles drawn round it, larger round smaller. Ep. 12.6Est aliquis, quī omnīs conplectātur et cingat;There is one that embraces and encircles all; Ep. 12.6hic pertinet ā nātālī ad diem extrēmum.this reaches from birthday to the last day. Ep. 12.6Est alter, quī annōs adulēscentiae clūdit.There is another that encloses the years of youth. Ep. 12.6Est quī tōtam pueritiam ambitū suō adstringit.There is one that binds the whole of childhood within its compass. Ep. 12.6Est deinde per sē annus in sē omnia continēns tempora, quōrum multiplicātiōne vīta conpōnitur.Then there is the year by itself, containing within it all the seasons, by whose multiplication life is made up. Ep. 12.6Mēnsis artiōre praecingitur circulō.The month is girded by a narrower ring. Ep. 12.6Angustissimum habet diēs gȳrum, sed et hic ab initiō ad exitum venit, ab ortū ad occāsum.The day has the tightest circuit, but even this comes from beginning to end, from rising to setting.
Ep. 12.7Ideō Hērāclītus, cui cognōmen fēcit ōrātiōnis obscūritās, "Ūnus," inquit, "diēs pār omnī est."That is why Heraclitus, whose nickname came from the obscurity of his speech, said, 'One day is equal to every day.' Ep. 12.7Hoc alius aliter excēpit.This was taken by one man one way, by another another. Ep. 12.7Dīxit enim parem esse hōrīs, nec mentītur;For one said that it was equal in hours, and he does not lie; Ep. 12.7nam sī diēs est tempus vīgintī et quattuor hōrārum, necesse est omnēs inter sē diēs parēs esse, quia nox habet, quod diēs perdidit.for if a day is a period of twenty-four hours, all days must be equal to one another, because the night has what the day has lost. Ep. 12.7Alius ait parem esse ūnum diem omnibus similitūdine;Another says that one day is equal to all in likeness; Ep. 12.7nihil enim habet longissimī temporis spatium, quod nōn et in ūnō diē inveniās, lūcem et noctem, et in aeternum diēs vices plūrēs facit istās, nōn aliās contractior, aliās prōductior.for the longest span of time has nothing that you would not find in a single day too, light and night, and through eternity the days make more of these alternations, not at one time more contracted, at another more drawn out.
Ep. 12.8Itaque sīc ōrdinandus est diēs omnis, tamquam cōgat agmen et cōnsummet atque expleat vītam.Therefore every day should be ordered as if it were bringing up the rear and rounding off and completing our life. Ep. 12.8Pacuvius, quī Syriam ūsū suam fēcit, cum vīnō et illīs fūnebribus epulīs sibi parentāverat, sīc in cubiculum ferēbātur ā cēnā, ut inter plausūs exolētōrum hoc ad symphōniam canerētur: βεβίωται, βεβίωται.Pacuvius, who made Syria his own by long possession, when he had held his own funeral rites with wine and those funeral banquets, used to be carried from dinner to his bedroom in such a way that, amid the applause of his debauched favourites, this was sung to music: 'He has lived, he has lived!' Ep. 12.9Nūllō nōn sē diē extulit.There was no day on which he did not carry himself out to burial. Ep. 12.9Hoc, quod ille ex malā cōnscientiā faciēbat, nōs ex bonā faciāmus et in somnum itūrī laetī hilarēsque dīcāmus: "Vīxī et quem dederat cursum fortūna, perēgī."What he did from a bad conscience, let us do from a good one, and as we go to sleep let us say, glad and cheerful: 'I have lived, and the course that fortune had given I have run.' Ep. 12.9Crāstinum sī adiēcerit deus, laetī recipiāmus.If God adds a tomorrow, let us receive it gladly.
Ep. 12.9Ille beātissimus est et sēcūrus suī possessor, quī crāstinum sine sollicitūdine expectat.That man is happiest and the untroubled master of himself who awaits tomorrow without anxiety. Ep. 12.9Quisquis dīxit "vīxī," cōtīdiē ad lucrum surgit.Whoever has said 'I have lived' rises every day to a profit. Ep. 12.10Sed iam dēbeō epistulam inclūdere.But now I must close my letter. Ep. 12.10"Sīc," inquis, "sine ūllō ad mē pecūliō veniet?"'Is it to come to me like this,' you say, 'without any little present?' Ep. 12.10Nōlī timēre;Do not be afraid; Ep. 12.10aliquid sēcum fert.it brings something with it. Ep. 12.10Quārē aliquid dīxī?Why did I say 'something'? Ep. 12.10Multum.A great deal. Ep. 12.10Quid enim hāc vōce praeclārius, quam illī trādō ad tē perferendam?For what is more splendid than this saying, which I hand to it to carry to you? Ep. 12.10"Malum est in necessitāte vīvere;'It is an evil to live under necessity; Ep. 12.10sed in necessitāte vīvere necessitās nūlla est."but there is no necessity to live under necessity.' Ep. 12.10Quidnī nūlla sit?Why, of course there is none. Ep. 12.10Patent undique ad lībertātem viae multae brevēs, facilēs.On every side many paths lie open to freedom, short and easy.
Ep. 12.10Agāmus deō grātiās, quod nēmō in vītā tenērī potest.Let us give thanks to God that no one can be held fast in life. Ep. 12.10Calcāre ipsās necessitātēs licet.We may trample on the necessities themselves. Ep. 12.11"Epicūrus," inquis, "dīxit.'Epicurus,' you say, 'said that. Ep. 12.11Quid tibi cum aliēnō?"What business have you with another's property?' Ep. 12.11Quod vērum est, meum est.What is true is mine. Ep. 12.11Persevērābō Epicūrum tibi ingerere, ut istī, quī in verba iūrant, nec quid dīcātur aestimant, sed ā quō, sciant, quae optima sunt, esse commūnia.I shall go on heaping Epicurus upon you, so that those who swear by a master's words, and weigh not what is said but by whom, may know that the best things are common property. Ep. 12.11Valē.Farewell.