Ep. 20.1Sī valēs et tē dignum putās, quī aliquandō fīās tuus, gaudeō.If you are well and think yourself worthy of one day becoming your own master, I am glad. Ep. 20.1Mea enim glōria erit, sī tē istinc, ubi sine spē exeundī flūctuāris, extrāxerō.For the glory will be mine, if I draw you out of the place where you are tossing about with no hope of getting out. Ep. 20.1Illud autem tē, mī Lūcīlī, rogō atque hortor, ut philosophiam in praecordia īma dēmittās et experīmentum profectūs tuī capiās nōn ōrātiōne nec scrīptō, sed animī firmitāte, cupiditātum dēminūtiōne;But this, my Lucilius, I ask and urge you: let philosophy sink into the depths of your heart, and take the measure of your progress not by speech or by writing, but by firmness of mind and the lessening of desires; Ep. 20.1verba rēbus probā.prove your words by your deeds. Ep. 20.2Aliud prōpositum est dēclāmantibus et adsēnsiōnem corōnae captantibus, aliud hīs, quī iuvenum et ōtiōsōrum aurēs disputātiōne variā aut volūbilī dētinent;Declaimers and those who court the applause of the crowd have one purpose; those who hold the ears of young men and idlers with varied or fluent discourse have another; Ep. 20.2facere docet philosophia, nōn dīcere, et hoc exigit, ut ad lēgem suam quisque vīvat, nē ōrātiōnī vīta dissentiat, ut ipsa intrā sē vīta ūnīus sit omnium āctiōnum sine dissēnsiōne colōris.philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak, and demands this, that each man live by his own law, that his life not be at odds with his speech, that his life itself be of one hue within itself, without discord in all its actions.
Ep. 20.2Maximum hoc est et officium sapientiae et indicium, ut verbīs opera concordent, ut ipse ubīque pār sibi īdemque sit.This is the greatest duty and the greatest sign of wisdom, that deeds should agree with words, that a man should be everywhere equal to himself and the same. Ep. 20.2"Quis hoc praestābit?"'Who will achieve this?' Ep. 20.2Paucī, aliquī tamen.Few, yet some. Ep. 20.2Est enim difficile hoc;For it is difficult; Ep. 20.2nec hoc dīcō, sapientem ūnō semper itūrum gradū, sed ūnā viā.nor do I say this, that the wise man will always walk at the same pace, but on the same road. Ep. 20.3Observā tē itaque, numquid vestis tua domusque dissentiant, numquid in tē līberālis sīs, in tuōs sordidus, numquid cēnēs frūgāliter, aedificēs luxuriōsē.So watch yourself, to see whether your dress and your house disagree, whether you are generous to yourself and mean to your household, whether you dine frugally and build luxuriously. Ep. 20.3Ūnam semel ad quam vīvās rēgulam prēnde et ad hanc omnem vītam tuam exaequā.Take hold once and for all of a single rule by which to live, and make your whole life level with it.
Ep. 20.3Quīdam sē domī contrahunt, dīlātant forīs et extendunt;Some men contract themselves at home, and spread and stretch themselves abroad; Ep. 20.3vitium est haec dīversitās et signum vacillantis animī ac nōndum habentis tenōrem suum.this inconsistency is a fault and the sign of a mind that wavers and does not yet have its steady course. Ep. 20.4Etiamnunc dīcam, unde sit ista incōnstantia et dissimilitūdō rērum cōnsiliōrumque: nēmō prōpōnit sibi, quid velit, nec sī prōposuit, persevērat in eō, sed trānsilit;I will tell you further where this inconstancy and this discrepancy between actions and purposes comes from: no one sets before himself what he wants, nor, if he has set it, does he persevere in it, but he jumps across; Ep. 20.4nec tantum mūtat, sed redit et in ea, quae dēseruit ac damnāvit, revolvitur.and he does not merely change, but goes back and rolls back into the things he has abandoned and condemned. Ep. 20.5Itaque ut relinquam dēfīnītiōnēs sapientiae veterēs et tōtum conplectar hūmānae vītae modum, hōc possum contentus esse: Quid est sapientia?So, to leave aside the old definitions of wisdom and to embrace the whole manner of human life, I can be content with this: what is wisdom?
Ep. 20.5Semper idem velle atque idem nōlle.Always to want the same thing and always to refuse the same thing. Ep. 20.5Licet illam exceptiunculam nōn adiciās, ut rēctum sit, quod velīs;You need not add that little proviso, that what you want should be right; Ep. 20.5nōn potest enim cuiquam idem semper placēre nisi rēctum.for the same thing cannot always please anyone unless it is right. Ep. 20.6Nesciunt ergō hominēs, quid velint, nisi illō mōmentō, quō volunt;So men do not know what they want, except at the very moment when they want it; Ep. 20.6in tōtum nūllī velle aut nōlle dēcrētum est.no one has made a decision once and for all to want or refuse. Ep. 20.6Variātur cōtīdiē iūdicium et in contrārium vertitur ac plērīsque agitur vīta per lūsum.Their judgement varies daily and turns to its opposite, and for most people life is passed as a game. Ep. 20.6Preme ergō quod coepistī, et fortasse perdūcēris aut ad summum aut eō, quod summum nōndum esse sōlus intellegās.Press on, then, with what you have begun, and perhaps you will be brought either to the summit or to a point which you alone understand is not yet the summit.
Ep. 20.7"Quid fīet," inquis, "huic turbae familiārium sine rē familiārī?"'What will become,' you say, 'of this crowd of my household without a household estate?' Ep. 20.7Turba ista cum ā tē pāscī dēsierit, ipsa sē pāscet, aut quod tū beneficiō tuō nōn potes scīre, paupertātis sciēs.That crowd, when it has stopped being fed by you, will feed itself; or what you cannot learn through your kindness, you will learn through poverty's. Ep. 20.7Illa vērōs certōsque amīcōs retinēbit;Poverty will keep true and sure friends; Ep. 20.7discēdet quisquis nōn tē, sed aliud sequēbātur.whoever was following not you but something else will depart. Ep. 20.7Nōn est autem vel ob hoc ūnum amanda paupertās, quod ā quibus amēris ostendet?But is poverty not to be loved even for this one reason, that it will show you by whom you are loved? Ep. 20.7Ō quandō ille veniet diēs, quō nēmō in honōrem tuum mentiātur!Oh, when will that day come on which no one will lie to do you honour! Ep. 20.8Hūc ergō cōgitātiōnēs tuae tendant, hoc cūrā, hoc optā, omnia alia vōta deō remissūrus, ut contentus sīs tēmet ipsō et ex tē nāscentibus bonīs.Let your thoughts, then, tend in this direction, care for this, pray for this, leaving all other prayers to the god: that you may be content with yourself and with the goods born from you.
Ep. 20.8Quae potest esse fēlīcitās propior?What happiness can be nearer than that? Ep. 20.8Redige tē ad parva, ex quibus cadere nōn possīs, idque ut libentius faciās, ad hoc pertinēbit tribūtum huius epistulae, quod statim cōnferam.Reduce yourself to little things, from which you cannot fall, and so that you may do it more willingly, the tribute of this letter, which I shall pay at once, will bear on this. Ep. 20.9Invideās licet, etiam nunc libenter prō mē dēpendet Epicūrus.Though you may begrudge it, even now Epicurus is gladly paying on my behalf. Ep. 20.9"Magnificentior, mihi crēde, sermō tuus in grabātō vidēbitur et in pannō.'Believe me, your speech will seem more impressive on a pallet and in rags. Ep. 20.9Nōn enim dīcentur tantum illa, sed probābuntur."For those things will not only be said, but proved.' Ep. 20.9Ego certē aliter audiō, quae dīcit Dēmētrius noster, cum illum vīdī nūdum, quantō minus quam strāmentīs, incubantem;I at any rate listen differently to what our Demetrius says, when I have seen him lying naked, on less than even straw; Ep. 20.9nōn praeceptor vērī, sed testis est.he is not a teacher of the truth, but a witness to it.
Ep. 20.10"Quid ergō?'What then? Ep. 20.10Nōn licet dīvitiās in sinū positās contemnere?"May one not despise riches lying in one's lap?' Ep. 20.10Quidnī liceat?Why should one not? Ep. 20.10Et ille ingentis animī est, quī illās circumfūsās sibi, multum diūque mīrātus, quod ad sē vēnerint, rīdet suāsque audit magis esse quam sentit.He too is of great mind who laughs at riches poured around him, after long and greatly wondering how they came to him, and who hears rather than feels that they are his. Ep. 20.10Multum est nōn corrumpī dīvitiārum contuberniō;It is a great thing not to be corrupted by living with riches; Ep. 20.10magnus ille, quī in dīvitiīs pauper est.great is he who is poor amid riches. Ep. 20.11"Nesciō," inquis, "quōmodo paupertātem iste lātūrus sit, sī in illam inciderit."'I do not know,' you say, 'how that man would bear poverty, if he fell into it.' Ep. 20.11Nec ego, Epicūre, an tuus iste pauper contemptūrus sit dīvitiās, sī in illās inciderit;Nor do I know, Epicurus, whether that poor man of yours would despise riches, if he fell into them; Ep. 20.11itaque in utrōque mēns aestimanda est īnspiciendumque, an ille paupertātī indulgeat, an hic dīvitiīs nōn indulgeat.so in each case it is the mind that must be weighed, and we must examine whether the one is indulging his poverty, and whether the other is not indulging his riches.
Ep. 20.11Aliōquīn leve argūmentum est bonae voluntātis grabātus aut pannus, nisi appāruit aliquem illa nōn necessitāte patī, sed mālle.Otherwise a pallet or rags is slight proof of good will, unless it has become clear that a man endures them not from necessity, but from preference. Ep. 20.12Cēterum magnae indolis est ad ista nōn properāre tamquam meliōra, sed praeparārī tamquam ad facilia.Moreover, it is the mark of a great nature not to rush to these things as better, but to prepare for them as easy. Ep. 20.12Et sunt, Lūcīlī, facilia;And they are easy, Lucilius; Ep. 20.12cum vērō multō ante meditātus accesseris, iūcunda quoque;and indeed, when you come to them after long rehearsal, pleasant too; Ep. 20.12īnest enim illīs, sine quā nihil est iūcundum, sēcūritās.for there is in them that without which nothing is pleasant: freedom from care. Ep. 20.13Necessārium ergō iūdicō, id quod tibi scrīpsī magnōs virōs saepe fēcisse: aliquōs diēs interpōnere, quibus nōs imāgināriā paupertāte exerceāmus ad vēram.I judge it necessary, then, to do what I wrote to you that great men had often done: to set aside some days on which we may train ourselves for real poverty by an imaginary one.
Ep. 20.13Quod eō magis faciendum est, quod dēliciīs permaduimus et omnia dūra ac difficilia iūdicāmus.This must be done all the more because we are soaked through with luxuries and judge all things hard and difficult. Ep. 20.13Potius excitandus ē somnō et vellicandus est animus admonendusque nātūram nōbīs minimum cōnstituisse.Rather, the mind must be roused from sleep and plucked, and reminded that nature has allotted us very little. Ep. 20.13Nēmō nāscitur dīves.No one is born rich. Ep. 20.13Quisquis exit in lūcem, iussus est lacte et pannō esse contentus;Whoever comes out into the light is commanded to be content with milk and a rag; Ep. 20.13ab hīs initiīs nōs regna nōn capiunt.from such beginnings, kingdoms cannot contain us. Ep. 20.13Valē.Farewell.