Ep. 45.1Librōrum istīc inopiam esse querēns.You complain that there is a shortage of books where you are. Ep. 45.1Nōn rēfert, quam multōs, sed quam bonōs habeās;It does not matter how many you have, but how good; Ep. 45.1lēctiō certa prōdest, varia dēlectat.settled reading is profitable, varied reading is pleasant. Ep. 45.1Quī, quō dēstināvit, pervenīre vult, ūnam sequātur viam, nōn per multās vagētur.He who wants to arrive where he has set his course should follow a single road and not wander along many. Ep. 45.1Nōn īre istūc, sed errāre est.That is not travelling but straying. Ep. 45.2"Vellem," inquis, "magis cōnsilium mihi quam librōs darēs."'I would rather,' you say, 'you gave me advice than books.' Ep. 45.2Ego vērō quōscumque habeō, mittere parātus sum et tōtum horreum excutere.For my part, I am ready to send you whatever books I have and to empty out the whole storehouse. Ep. 45.2Mē quoque istō, sī possem, trānsferrem, et nisi mātūrē tē fīnem officiī spērārem inpetrātūrum, hanc senīlem expedītiōnem indīxissem mihi nec mē Charybdis et Scylla et fābulōsum istud fretum dēterrēre potuissent.I would transport myself there too, if I could, and if I did not hope that you would soon obtain the end of your term of office, I would have proclaimed this old man's expedition for myself, nor could Charybdis and Scylla and that fabled strait have deterred me.
Ep. 45.2Trānāssem ista, nōn sōlum trāiēcissem, dummodo tē conplectī possem et praesēns aestimāre, quantum animō crēvissēs.I would have swum across, not merely sailed over, provided that I could embrace you and judge in person how much you had grown in spirit. Ep. 45.3Cēterum quod librōs meōs tibi mittī dēsīderās, nōn magis ideō mē disertum putō quam fōrmōsum putārem, sī imāginem meam peterēs.For the rest, your wish that my own books be sent to you does not make me think myself any more eloquent than I would think myself handsome if you asked for my portrait. Ep. 45.3Indulgentiae sciō istud esse, nōn iūdiciī.I know that this comes from affection, not from judgement. Ep. 45.3Et sī modo iūdiciī est, indulgentia tibi inposuit.And if it does come from judgement, affection has imposed upon you. Ep. 45.4Sed quālēscumque sunt, tū illōs sīc lege, tamquam vērum quaeram adhūc, nōn sciam, et contumāciter quaeram.But whatever they are like, read them as though I were still seeking the truth, not knowing it, and seeking it stubbornly. Ep. 45.4Nōn enim mē cuiquam ēmancipāvī, nūllīus nōmen ferō.For I have not sold myself into anyone's ownership; I bear no one's name.
Ep. 45.4Multum magnōrum virōrum iūdiciō crēdō, aliquid et meō vindicō.I trust a great deal to the judgement of great men; I claim something for my own as well. Ep. 45.4Nam illī quoque nōn inventa, sed quaerenda nōbīs relīquērunt, et invēnissent forsitan necessāria, nisi et supervacua quaesīssent.For they too have left to us things not discovered but still to be sought, and they might perhaps have discovered what was necessary, had they not also sought what was superfluous. Ep. 45.5Multum illīs temporis verbōrum cavillātiō ēripuit, captiōsae disputātiōnēs, quae acūmen irritum exercent.Much of their time was snatched from them by quibbling about words, by captious disputations which exercise a sharpness to no purpose. Ep. 45.5Nectimus nōdōs et ambiguam significātiōnem verbīs inligāmus ac deinde dissolvimus.We tie knots, and bind ambiguous meanings onto words, and then untie them. Ep. 45.5Tantum nōbīs vacat?Have we so much leisure? Ep. 45.5Iam vīvere, iam morī scīmus?Do we already know how to live, how to die? Ep. 45.5Tōtā illō mente pergendum est, ubi prōvidērī dēbet, nē rēs nōs, nōn verba, dēcipiant.We must advance with our whole mind towards that point where we must take care not to be deceived by things, rather than by words.
Ep. 45.6Quid mihi vōcum similitūdinēs distinguis, quibus nēmō umquam nisi dum disputat captus est?Why do you distinguish for me between similar words, by which no one has ever been caught except while disputing? Ep. 45.6Rēs fallunt;It is things that deceive; Ep. 45.6illās discerne.distinguish between them. Ep. 45.6Prō bonīs mala amplectimur;We embrace evils in place of goods; Ep. 45.6optāmus contrā id, quod optāvimus.we pray for the opposite of what we prayed for. Ep. 45.6Pugnant vōta nostra cum vōtīs, cōnsilia cum cōnsiliīs.Our prayers fight with our prayers, our plans with our plans. Ep. 45.7Adūlātiō quam similis est amīcitiae!How like friendship flattery is! Ep. 45.7Nōn imitātur tantum illam, sed vincit et praeterit;It not only imitates it but outdoes and surpasses it; Ep. 45.7apertīs ac propitiīs auribus recipitur et in praecordia īma dēscendit, eō ipsō grātiōsa, quō laedit.it is received by open and favourable ears and sinks down into the depths of the heart, welcome for the very reason that it does harm. Ep. 45.7Docē quemadmodum hanc similitūdinem possim dīnōscere.Teach me how I can distinguish this likeness. Ep. 45.7Venit ad mē prō amīcō blandus inimīcus.An enemy comes to me, fawning, in place of a friend.
Ep. 45.7Vitia nōbīs sub virtūtum nōmine obrēpunt, temeritās sub titulō fortitūdinis latet, moderātiō vocātur ignāvia, prō cautō timidus accipitur;Vices creep upon us under the name of virtues: rashness hides under the title of courage, sloth is called moderation, the coward is taken for the cautious man; Ep. 45.7in hīs magnō perīculō errāmus.in these we go astray at great peril. Ep. 45.7Hīs certās notās inprime.Stamp them with sure marks. Ep. 45.8Cēterum quī interrogātur, an cornua habeat, nōn est tam stultus, ut frontem suam temptet, nec rūrsus tam ineptus aut hebes, ut nē sciat tū illī subtīlissimā collēctiōne persuāserīs.For the rest, a man who is asked whether he has horns is not so foolish as to feel his forehead, nor again so silly or dull as not to know that you have persuaded him by a most subtle syllogism. Ep. 45.8Sīc ista sine noxā dēcipiunt, quōmodo praestīgiātōrum acētābula et calculī, in quibus mē fallācia ipsa dēlectat.Thus these things deceive without harm, like the conjurors' cups and pebbles, in which the very trickery delights me. Ep. 45.8Effice, ut quōmodo fīat intellegam;Make me understand how it is done; Ep. 45.8perdidī ūsum.I have lost the pleasure.
Ep. 45.8Idem dē istīs captiōnibus dīcō;I say the same about these traps; Ep. 45.8quō enim nōmine potius sophismata appellem?for by what better name should I call sophisms? Ep. 45.8Nec ignōrantī nocent nec scientem iuvant.They neither harm the man who does not know them nor help the man who does. Ep. 45.9Sī utique vīs verbōrum ambiguitātēs dīdūcere, hoc nōs docē, beātum nōn eum esse, quem vulgus appellat, ad quem pecūnia magna cōnflūxit, sed illum, cui bonum omne in animō est, ērēctum et excelsum et mūtābilia calcantem, quī nēminem videt, cum quō sē conmūtātum velit, quī hominem eā sōlā parte aestimat, quā homō est, quī nātūrā magistrā ūtitur, ad illīus lēgēs conpōnitur, sīc vīvit, quōmodo illa praescrīpsit, cui bona sua nūlla vīs excutit, quī mala in bonum vertit, certus iūdiciī, inconcussus, intrepidus, quem aliqua vīs movet, nūlla perturbat, quem fortūna, cum quod habuit tēlum nocentissimum vī maximā intorsit, pungit, nōn vulnerat, et hoc rārō.If you really want to unravel the ambiguities of words, teach us this: that the happy man is not the one whom the crowd calls happy, into whose lap great wealth has flowed, but the one whose every good is in his mind, upright and lofty and trampling on what is changeable, who sees no one with whom he would wish to change places, who values a man only by that part by which he is a man, who uses nature as his teacher, shapes himself by her laws, and lives as she has prescribed, whose goods no force can strike from him, who turns evils into good, sure in judgement, unshaken, fearless, whom some force may move but none can throw into confusion, whom fortune, when with all her might she has hurled the most harmful weapon she had, pricks but does not wound, and that rarely.
Ep. 45.9Nam cētera eius tēla, quibus genus hūmānum dēbellātur, grandinis mōre dissultant, quae incussa tēctīs sine ūllō habitātōris incommodō crepitat ac solvitur.For her other weapons, by which the human race is vanquished, bounce off like hail, which, striking the roofs, rattles and melts without any harm to the inhabitant. Ep. 45.10Quid mē dētinēs in eō, quem tū ipse pseudomenon appellās, dē quō tantum librōrum conpositum est?Why do you detain me with that which you yourself call the 'liar', about which so many books have been composed? Ep. 45.10Ecce tōta mihi vīta mentītur;Look, my whole life lies to me; Ep. 45.10hanc coargue, hanc ad vērum, sī acūtus es, redige.refute that, bring that back to the truth, if you are clever. Ep. 45.10Necessāria iūdicat, quōrum magna pars supervacua est.It judges things necessary of which a great part is superfluous. Ep. 45.10Etiam quae nōn est supervacua, nihil in sē mōmentī habet in hōc, ut possit fortūnātam beātumque praestāre.Even what is not superfluous has no weight in itself towards making a person fortunate and happy. Ep. 45.10Nōn enim statim bonum est, sī quid necessārium est;For a thing is not good straight away just because it is necessary; Ep. 45.10aut prōicimus bonum, sī hoc nōmen pānī et polentae damus et cēterīs, sine quibus vīta nōn dūcitur.or else we cheapen the good, if we give this name to bread and barley meal and the other things without which life is not carried on.
Ep. 45.11Quod bonum est, utique necessārium est;What is good is in every case necessary; Ep. 45.11quod necessārium est, nōn utique bonum est, quoniam quidem necessāria sunt quaedam eadem vīlissima.what is necessary is not in every case good, since indeed some necessary things are also the cheapest. Ep. 45.11Nēmō ūsque eō dignitātem bonī ignōrat, ut illud ad haec in diem ūtilia dēmittat.No one is so ignorant of the dignity of the good as to lower it to these things that are useful for the day. Ep. 45.12Quid ergō?What then? Ep. 45.12Nōn eō potius cūram trānsferēs, ut ostendās omnibus magnō temporis inpendiō quaerī supervacua et multōs trānsīsse vītam, dum vītae īnstrūmenta conquīrunt?Will you not rather transfer your care to showing everyone that superfluous things are sought at a great expense of time, and that many have passed through life while gathering the means of living? Ep. 45.12Recognōsce singulōs, cōnsīderā ūniversōs;Review men one by one, consider them all together; Ep. 45.12nūllīus nōn vīta spectat in crāstinum.there is no one whose life does not look towards tomorrow. Ep. 45.13Quid in hōc sit malī, quaeris?Do you ask what harm there is in this?
Ep. 45.13Īnfīnītum.Boundless harm. Ep. 45.13Nōn enim vīvunt, sed vīctūrī sunt.For they do not live, but are about to live. Ep. 45.13Omnia differunt.They put everything off. Ep. 45.13Etiamsī adtenderēmus, tamen nōs vīta praecurreret;Even if we paid attention, life would still outrun us; Ep. 45.13nunc vērō cūnctantēs quasi aliēna trānscurrit et ultimō diē fīnītur, omnī perit.as it is, while we delay, it runs past us as though it belonged to another, and though it ends on the last day, it perishes on every day. Ep. 45.13Sed nē epistulae modum excēdam, quae nōn dēbet sinistram manum legentis inplēre, in alium diem hanc lītem cum dialecticīs differam nimium subtīlibus et hoc sōlum cūrantibus, nōn et hoc.But so as not to exceed the proper size of a letter, which ought not to fill the reader's left hand, I shall put off to another day this dispute with the dialecticians, who are far too subtle and care only about this and not about that as well. Ep. 45.13Valē.Farewell.