Ep. 33.1Dēsīderās hīs quoque epistulīs sīcut priōribus adscrībī aliquās vōcēs nostrōrum procerum.You want these letters too, like the earlier ones, to have some sayings of our leading men appended. Ep. 33.1Nōn fuērunt circā flōsculōs occupātī;They were not busy with little flowers of speech; Ep. 33.1tōtus contextus illōrum virīlis est.their whole texture is manly. Ep. 33.1Inaequālitātem sciās esse, ubi quae ēminent, notābilia sunt.You may be sure there is unevenness where the things that stand out are conspicuous. Ep. 33.1Nōn est admīrātiōnī ūna arbor, ubi in eandem altitūdinem tōta silva surrēxit.One tree does not excite wonder when the whole forest has risen to the same height. Ep. 33.2Eiusmodī vōcibus referta sunt carmina, refertae historiae.Poems are full of sayings of this kind, and so are histories. Ep. 33.2Itaque nōlō illās Epicūrī exīstimēs esse;So I do not want you to think they belong to Epicurus; Ep. 33.2pūblicae sunt et maximē nostrae.they are public property, and above all ours. Ep. 33.2Sed in illō magis adnotantur, quia rārae interim interveniunt, quia inexpectātae, quia mīrum est fortiter aliquid dīcī ab homine mollitiam professō.But in him they are noticed more, because they occur only now and then, because they are unexpected, because it is surprising for something brave to be said by a man who professes softness.
Ep. 33.2Ita enim plērīque iūdicant.For that is how most people judge. Ep. 33.2Apud mē Epicūrus est et fortis, licet manuleātus sit.In my view Epicurus is brave too, though he wears long sleeves. Ep. 33.2Fortitūdō et industria et ad bellum prompta mēns tam in Persās quam in altē cinctōs cadit.Courage and energy and a mind ready for war are found as much among Persians as among men girded high. Ep. 33.3Nōn est ergō quod exigās excerpta et repetīta;There is no reason, then, for you to demand extracts and repetitions; Ep. 33.3continuum est apud nostrōs quicquid apud aliōs excerpitur.what is excerpted from other writers runs continuously in ours. Ep. 33.3Nōn habēmus itaque ista ocliferia nec ēmptōrem dēcipimus nihil inventūrum, cum intrāverit, praeter illa, quae in fronte suspēnsa sunt.So we do not have those eye-catching displays, nor do we deceive the buyer, who will find nothing when he has gone inside except what is hung up in the shop-front. Ep. 33.3Ipsīs permittimus, unde velint sūmere exemplāria.We let buyers themselves take their samples from wherever they like. Ep. 33.4Putā nōs velle singulārēs sententiās ex turbā sēparāre;Suppose we wanted to separate individual maxims from the crowd; Ep. 33.4cui illās adsignābimus?to whom shall we assign them?
Ep. 33.4Zēnōnī an Cleanthī an Chrysippō an Panaetiō an Posīdōniō?To Zeno, or Cleanthes, or Chrysippus, or Panaetius, or Posidonius? Ep. 33.4Nōn sumus sub rēge;We are not under a king; Ep. 33.4sibi quisque sē vindicat.each man claims his own freedom. Ep. 33.4Apud istōs quicquid Hermarchus dīxit, quicquid Mētrodōrus, ad ūnum refertur.Among those people, whatever Hermarchus said, whatever Metrodorus said, is credited to one man. Ep. 33.4Omnia quae quisquam in illō contuberniō locūtus est, ūnīus ductū et auspiciīs dicta sunt.Everything that anyone in that fellowship said was said under the leadership and auspices of one man. Ep. 33.4Nōn possumus, inquam, licet temptēmus, ēdūcere aliquid ex tantā rērum aequālium multitūdine.We cannot, I say, though we may try, pick out anything from so great a multitude of things of equal worth. Ep. 33.4"Pauperis est numerāre pecus."'It is a poor man's part to count his flock.' Ep. 33.4Quōcumque mīseris oculum, id tibi occurret, quod ēminēre posset, nisi inter paria legerētur.Wherever you cast your eye, you will meet with something that could stand out, were it not read among its equals. Ep. 33.5Quārē dēpōne istam spem, posse tē summātim dēgustāre ingenia maximōrum virōrum;So lay aside that hope that you can sample the minds of the greatest men in summary; Ep. 33.5tōta tibi īnspicienda sunt, tōta trāctanda.you must examine them whole, handle them whole.
Ep. 33.5Rēs geritur et per līneāmenta sua ingeniī opus nectitur, ex quō nihil subdūcī sine ruīnā potest.A real subject is being worked out, and the work of genius is knit together through its own features, so that nothing can be removed from it without collapse. Ep. 33.5Nec recūsō, quō minus singula membra, dummodo in ipsō homine, cōnsīderēs.Nor do I object to your considering the individual limbs, provided it is on the man himself. Ep. 33.5Nōn est fōrmōnsa, cuius crūs laudātur aut brachium, sed illa, cuius ūniversa faciēs admīrātiōnem partibus singulīs abstulit.She is not beautiful whose leg or arm is praised, but she whose whole appearance has taken away admiration from the separate parts. Ep. 33.6Sī tamen exēgeris, nōn tam mendīcē tēcum agam, sed plēnā manū fīet;If you insist, however, I shall not deal with you in so beggarly a fashion, but it shall be done with a full hand; Ep. 33.6ingēns eōrum turba est passim iacentium, sūmenda erunt, nōn colligenda.there is a huge crowd of them lying everywhere, to be taken up, not gleaned. Ep. 33.6Nōn enim excīdunt, sed fluunt.For they do not drop out here and there, but flow.
Ep. 33.6Perpetua et inter sē contexta sunt.They are unbroken and woven into one another. Ep. 33.6Nec dubitō, quīn multum cōnferant rudibus adhūc et extrīnsecus auscultantibus;Nor do I doubt that they contribute much to those still untrained and listening from outside; Ep. 33.6facilius enim singula īnsīdunt circumscrīpta et carminis modō inclūsa.for individual sayings settle in more easily when they are marked off and enclosed like a verse. Ep. 33.7Ideō puerīs et sententiās ēdiscendās damus et hās quās Graecī chrīās vocant, quia conplectī illās puerīlis animus potest, quī plūs adhūc nōn capit.That is why we give boys maxims to learn by heart, and those which the Greeks call chriae, because a boy's mind, which as yet holds nothing more, can grasp them. Ep. 33.7Certī profectūs virō captāre flōsculōs turpe est et fulcīre sē notissimīs ac paucissimīs vōcibus et memoriā stāre;For a man of assured progress it is shameful to chase after little flowers and prop himself up with a very few of the best-known sayings and rely on memory; Ep. 33.7sibi iam innītātur.let him now lean on himself. Ep. 33.7Dīcat ista, nōn teneat.Let him speak such things, not memorise them.
Ep. 33.7Turpe est enim senī aut prōspicientī senectūtem ex commentāriō sapere.For it is shameful for an old man, or one in sight of old age, to have a wisdom drawn from a notebook. Ep. 33.7"Hoc Zēnōn dīxit";'Zeno said this'; Ep. 33.7tū quid?and you, what do you say? Ep. 33.7"Hoc Cleanthēs";'Cleanthes said this'; Ep. 33.7tū quid?and you, what? Ep. 33.7Quoūsque sub aliō movēris?How long will you move under another's command? Ep. 33.7Imperā et dīc, quod memoriae trādātur.Take command, and say something to be handed down to memory. Ep. 33.7Aliquid et dē tuō prōfer.Bring forth something of your own as well. Ep. 33.8Omnēs itaque istōs, numquam auctōrēs, semper interpretēs sub aliēnā umbrā latentēs, nihil exīstimō habēre generōsī, numquam ausōs aliquandō facere, quod diū didicerant.All those people, then, never authors, always interpreters, lurking in another's shadow, I think have nothing noble in them, since they never once dared to do what they had long been learning. Ep. 33.8Memoriam in aliēnīs exercuērunt.They have exercised their memory on other men's material. Ep. 33.8Aliud autem est meminisse, aliud scīre.But it is one thing to remember, another to know.
Ep. 33.8Meminisse est rem commissam memoriae custōdīre.To remember is to keep safe something entrusted to the memory. Ep. 33.8At contrā scīre est et sua facere quaeque nec ad exemplar pendēre et totiēns respicere ad magistrum.To know, on the contrary, is to make each thing your own, and not to hang upon a model and keep looking back to the master. Ep. 33.9"Hoc dīxit Zēnōn, hoc Cleanthēs."'Zeno said this, Cleanthes this.' Ep. 33.9Aliquid inter tē intersit et librum.Let there be some difference between you and a book. Ep. 33.9Quoūsque discēs?How long will you be learning? Ep. 33.9Iam et praecipe.Now teach as well. Ep. 33.9"Quid est quārē et audiam, quod legere possum?"'Why should I listen as well to what I can read?' Ep. 33.9"Multum," inquit, "vīva vōx facit."'The living voice,' he says, 'does a great deal.' Ep. 33.9Nōn quidem haec, quae aliēnīs verbīs commodātur et āctuārī vice fungitur.Not, certainly, this one, which is lent to another's words and does the office of a clerk. Ep. 33.10Adice nunc quod istī, quī numquam tūtēlae suae fīunt, prīmum in eā rē secuntur priōrēs, in quā nēmō nōn ā priōre dēscīvit;Consider too that those who never become their own guardians follow their predecessors, first, in a matter in which everyone has departed from his predecessor; Ep. 33.10deinde in eā rē secuntur, quae adhūc quaeritur.and second, they follow them in a matter which is still under inquiry.
Ep. 33.10Numquam autem inveniētur sī contentī fuerimus inventīs.But it will never be found if we are content with what has been found. Ep. 33.10Praetereā quī alium sequitur, nihil invenit, immō nec quaerit.Besides, whoever follows another finds nothing, indeed does not even look. Ep. 33.11Quid ergō?What then? Ep. 33.11Nōn ībō per priōrum vestīgia?Shall I not walk in the footsteps of those before me? Ep. 33.11Ego vērō ūtar viā vetere, sed sī propiōrem plāniōremque invēnerō, hanc mūniam.I shall indeed use the old road, but if I find one shorter and smoother, I shall build it. Ep. 33.11Quī ante nōs ista mōvērunt, nōn dominī nostrī, sed ducēs sunt.Those who have dealt with these matters before us are not our masters but our guides. Ep. 33.11Patet omnibus vēritās, nōndum est occupāta.Truth lies open to all; it has not yet been taken over. Ep. 33.11Multum ex illā etiam futūrīs relictum est.Much of it has been left even for those to come. Ep. 33.11Valē.Farewell.