Ep. 36.1Amīcum tuum hortāre, ut istōs magnō animō contemnat, quī illum obiūrgant, quod umbram et ōtium petierit, quod dignitātem suam dēstituerit, et cum plūs cōnsequī posset, praetulerit quiētem omnibus;Urge your friend to despise with a great spirit those who reproach him for having sought shade and leisure, for having abandoned his rank, and, though he could have attained more, for having preferred quiet to everything; Ep. 36.1quam ūtiliter suum negōtium gesserit, cōtīdiē illīs ostentet.let him show them daily how profitably he has managed his own business. Ep. 36.1Hī, quibus invidētur, nōn dēsinent trānsīre;Those who are envied will not cease to pass by; Ep. 36.1aliī ēlīdentur, aliī cadent.some will be crushed, others will fall. Ep. 36.1Rēs est inquiēta fēlīcitās;Prosperity is a restless thing; Ep. 36.1ipsa sē exagitat.it harries itself. Ep. 36.1Movet cerebrum nōn ūnō genere;It stirs the brain in more ways than one; Ep. 36.1aliōs in aliud irrītat, hōs in potentiam, illōs in luxuriam.it goads different men towards different things, these towards power, those towards luxury. Ep. 36.1Hōs īnflat, illōs mollit et tōtōs resolvit.Some it puffs up, others it softens and wholly unstrings. Ep. 36.2"At bene aliquis illam fert."'But someone carries it well.' Ep. 36.2Sīc, quōmodo vīnum.Yes, as he carries wine.
Ep. 36.2Itaque nōn est quod tibi istī persuādeant eum esse fēlīcem, quī ā multīs obsidētur;So there is no reason for those people to persuade you that a man is happy who is besieged by many; Ep. 36.2sīc ad illum, quemadmodum ad lacum concurritur, quem exhauriunt et turbant.they run to him as people run to a pool, which they drain and muddy. Ep. 36.2"Nūgātōrium et inertem vocant."'They call him trifling and idle.' Ep. 36.2Scīs quōsdam perversē loquī et significāre contrāria.You know that some people speak perversely and mean the opposite. Ep. 36.3Fēlīcem vocābant;They used to call him happy; Ep. 36.3quid ergō?well then? Ep. 36.3Erat?Was he? Ep. 36.3Nē illud quidem cūrō, quod quibusdam nimis horridī animī vidētur et tetricī.Nor do I even care about this, that to some he seems to have a mind too rough and stern. Ep. 36.3Aristōn aiēbat mālle sē adulēscentem trīstem quam hilarem et amābilem turbae.Ariston used to say that he preferred a gloomy young man to one who was cheerful and agreeable to the crowd. Ep. 36.3Vīnum enim bonum fierī, quod recēns dūrum et asperum vīsum est;For wine becomes good which seemed harsh and rough when new; Ep. 36.3nōn patī aetātem, quod in dōliō placuit.wine which pleased in the cask does not bear age.
Ep. 36.3Sine eum trīstem appellent et inimīcum prōcessibus suīs;Let them call him gloomy and hostile to his own advancement; Ep. 36.3bene sē dabit in vetustāte ipsa trīstitia, persevēret modo colere virtūtem, perbibere līberālia studia, nōn illa, quibus perfundī satis est, sed haec, quibus tingendus est animus.that very gloominess will turn out well in old age, if only he perseveres in cultivating virtue and drinking deep of liberal studies, not those with which it is enough to be sprinkled, but these with which the mind must be dyed. Ep. 36.4Hoc est discendī tempus.This is the time for learning. Ep. 36.4"Quid ergō?'What then? Ep. 36.4Aliquod est, quō nōn sit discendum?"Is there any time at which one should not learn?' Ep. 36.4Minimē.None at all. Ep. 36.4Sed quemadmodum omnibus annīs studēre honestum est, ita nōn omnibus īnstituī.But just as it is honourable to study at every age, so it is not honourable to be schooled at every age. Ep. 36.4Turpis et rīdicula rēs est elementārius senex;An old man learning his letters is a shameful and ridiculous thing; Ep. 36.4iuvenī parandum, senī ūtendum est.the young man must acquire, the old man must use.
Ep. 36.4Faciēs ergō rem ūtilissimam tibi, sī illum quam optimum fēceris;You will therefore do a most useful thing for yourself if you make him as good as possible; Ep. 36.4haec aiunt beneficia esse expetenda tribuendaque, nōn dubiē prīmae sortis, quae tam dare prōdest quam accipere.these, they say, are the benefits to be sought and bestowed, undoubtedly of the first rank, which it profits as much to give as to receive. Ep. 36.5Dēnique nihil illī iam līberī est;Besides, he is no longer free in anything; Ep. 36.5spopondit.he has given his pledge. Ep. 36.5Minus autem turpe est crēditōrī quam speī bonae dēcoquere.And it is less shameful to go bankrupt to a creditor than to fair hopes. Ep. 36.5Ad illud aes aliēnum solvendum opus est negōtiantī nāvigātiōne prosperā, agrum colentī ūbertāte eius, quam colit, terrae, caelī favōre;To pay off that kind of debt, the trader needs a prosperous voyage, the farmer the fertility of the land he farms and the favour of the sky; Ep. 36.5ille quod dēbet, sōlā potest voluntāte persolvī.what he owes can be paid in full by will alone.
Ep. 36.6In mōrēs fortūna iūs nōn habet.Fortune has no jurisdiction over character. Ep. 36.6Hōs dispōnat, ut quam tranquillissimus ille animus ad perfectum veniat, quī nec ablātum sibi quicquam sentit nec adiectum, sed in eōdem habitū est, quōmodocumque rēs cēdunt.Let him so order his character that his mind may come to perfection in the greatest possible tranquillity, a mind which feels neither that anything is taken from it nor that anything is added, but stays in the same condition however things turn out. Ep. 36.6Cui sīve adgeruntur vulgāria bona, suprā rēs suās ēminet, sīve aliquid ex istīs vel omnia cāsus excussit, minor nōn fit.If ordinary goods are heaped upon such a mind, it rises above its circumstances; if chance has struck away some or all of them, it does not become less. Ep. 36.7Sī in Parthiā nātus esset, arcum īnfāns statim tenderet;If he had been born in Parthia, he would be bending a bow straight away as an infant; Ep. 36.7sī in Germāniā, prōtinus puer tenerum hastīle vibrāret;if in Germany, he would be brandishing a slender spear at once as a boy; Ep. 36.7sī avōrum nostrōrum temporibus fuisset, equitāre et hostem comminus percutere didicisset.if he had lived in the times of our grandfathers, he would have learned to ride and to strike the enemy at close quarters.
Ep. 36.7Haec singulīs disciplīna gentis suae suādet atque imperat.These things the training of his own nation urges upon each man and commands. Ep. 36.8Quid ergō huic meditandum est?What, then, must this man practise? Ep. 36.8Quod adversus omnia tēla, quod adversus omne hostium genus bene facit, mortem contemnere, quae quīn habeat aliquid in sē terribile, ut et animōs nostrōs, quōs in amōrem suī nātūra fōrmāvit, offendat, nēmō dubitat;What serves well against all weapons, against every kind of enemy: to despise death, which no one doubts has something terrible in it, such as to offend even our minds, which nature has formed to love themselves; Ep. 36.8nec enim opus esset in id comparārī et acuī, in quod īnstīnctū quōdam voluntāriō īrēmus, sīcut feruntur omnēs ad cōnservātiōnem suī.for there would be no need to be prepared and sharpened for something towards which we would go by a kind of willing instinct, as all creatures are borne towards their own preservation. Ep. 36.9Nēmō discit, ut sī necesse fuerit, aequō animō in rosā iaceat, sed in hōc dūrātur, ut tormentīs nōn summittat fidem, ut sī necesse fuerit, stāns etiam aliquandō saucius prō vallō pervigilet et nē pīlō quidem incumbat, quia solet obrēpere interim somnus in aliquod adminiculum reclīnātīs.No one learns so that, if need be, he may lie with a calm mind upon roses, but he is hardened for this: that he may not surrender his loyalty to torture, that, if need be, he may keep watch all night before the rampart, standing and sometimes even wounded, and not even lean upon his javelin, because sleep tends to creep up meanwhile on those who recline on any support.
Ep. 36.9Mors nūllum habet incommodum;Death has no inconvenience; Ep. 36.9esse enim dēbet aliquid, cuius sit incommodum.for there must be something for which it is an inconvenience. Ep. 36.10Quod sī tanta cupiditās tē longiōris aevī tenet, cōgitā nihil eōrum, quae ab oculīs abeunt et in rērum nātūram, ex quā prōdiērunt ac mox prōcessūra sunt, reconduntur, cōnsūmī;But if so great a desire for a longer life holds you, reflect that none of the things which depart from our eyes and are laid back in the nature of things, from which they came forth and will soon come forth again, is destroyed; Ep. 36.10dēsinunt ista, nōn pereunt.they cease, but they do not perish. Ep. 36.10Et mors, quam pertimēscimus ac recūsāmus, intermittit vītam, nōn ēripit;And death, which we dread and refuse, interrupts life, it does not snatch it away; Ep. 36.10veniet iterum, quī nōs in lūcem repōnat diēs, quem multī recūsārent, nisi oblītōs redūceret.the day will come again which will restore us to the light, a day which many would refuse if it did not bring them back forgetful. Ep. 36.11Sed posteā dīligentius docēbō omnia, quae videntur perīre, mūtārī.But later I shall show more carefully that all things which seem to perish are changed.
Ep. 36.11Aequō animō dēbet reditūrus exīre.He who is to return ought to depart with a calm mind. Ep. 36.11Observā orbem rērum in sē remeantium;Observe the cycle of things returning upon themselves; Ep. 36.11vidēbis nihil in hōc mundō extinguī, sed vicibus dēscendere ac surgere.you will see that nothing in this world is extinguished, but that things go down and rise in turn. Ep. 36.11Aestās abît, sed alter illam annus addūcet;Summer has gone, but another year will bring it back; Ep. 36.11hiemps cecidit, referent illam suī mēnsēs;winter has fallen, its own months will bring it back again; Ep. 36.11sōlem nox obruit, sed ipsam statim diēs abiget.night has overwhelmed the sun, but day will at once drive night itself away. Ep. 36.11Stellārum iste discursus quicquid praeterît repetit;That wandering course of the stars repeats whatever it has passed through; Ep. 36.11pars caelī levātur assiduē, pars mergitur.one part of the sky is continually rising, another sinking. Ep. 36.12Dēnique fīnem faciam, sī hoc ūnum adiēcerō, nec īnfantēs nec puerōs nec mente lapsōs timēre mortem et esse turpissimum, sī eam sēcūritātem nōbīs ratiō nōn praestat, ad quam stultitia perdūcit.Finally, I shall make an end once I have added this one point, that neither infants nor children nor those who have lost their minds fear death, and that it is most shameful if reason does not afford us that freedom from care to which folly leads.
Ep. 36.12Valē.Farewell.