Ep. 49.1Est quidem, mī Lūcīlī, supīnus et neglegēns, quī in amīcī memoriam ab aliquā regiōne admonitus indūcitur;It is true, my Lucilius, that a man is slack and careless who is led to remember a friend only because some place reminds him; Ep. 49.1tamen repositum in animō nostrō dēsīderium loca interdum familiāria ēvocant nec extīnctum memoriam reddunt, sed quiēscentem inrītant, sīcut dolōrem lūgentium, etiam sī mītigātus est tempore, aut servulus familiāris āmissō aut vestis aut domus renovat.yet sometimes familiar places call forth the longing stored away in our mind, and they do not restore a memory that was extinguished but stir up one that was at rest, just as a slave dear to the one who has been lost, or a garment, or a house, renews the grief of mourners, even if it has been softened by time. Ep. 49.1Ecce Campānia et maximē Neāpolis ac Pompeiōrum tuōrum cōnspectus incrēdibile est quam recēns dēsīderium tuī fēcerint;See how Campania, and above all the sight of Naples and of your beloved Pompeii, have made my longing for you incredibly fresh; Ep. 49.1tōtus mihi in oculīs es.you are wholly before my eyes.
Ep. 49.1Cum maximē ā tē discēdō.I am parting from you at this very moment. Ep. 49.1Videō lacrimās conbibentem et adfectibus tuīs inter ipsam coercitiōnem exeuntibus nōn satis resistentem.I see you swallowing your tears and not resisting enough your feelings as they break out in the very act of restraint. Ep. 49.1Modo āmīsisse tē videor.I seem to have lost you just now. Ep. 49.2Quid enim nōn "modo" est, sī recordēris?For what is not 'just now', if you remember it? Ep. 49.2Modo apud Sōtiōnem philosophum puer sēdī, modo causās agere coepī, modo dēsiī velle agere, modo dēsiī posse.Just now I sat as a boy with the philosopher Sotion, just now I began to plead cases, just now I ceased to wish to plead, just now I ceased to be able. Ep. 49.2Īnfīnīta est vēlōcitās temporis, quae magis appāret respicientibus.Boundless is the swiftness of time, and it is more apparent to those who look back. Ep. 49.2Nam ad praesentia intentōs fallit;For it escapes the notice of those intent on the present; Ep. 49.2adeō praecipitis fugae trānsitus lēnis est.so gentle is the passage of its headlong flight.
Ep. 49.3Causam huius reī quaeris?Do you ask the reason for this? Ep. 49.3Quicquid temporis trānsit, eōdem locō est;Whatever time has passed is in the same place; Ep. 49.3pariter aspicitur, ūnā iacet.it is seen all alike, it lies together. Ep. 49.3Omnia in idem profundum cadunt.Everything falls into the same abyss. Ep. 49.3Et aliōquī nōn possunt longa intervalla esse in eā rē, quae tōta brevis est.And besides, there cannot be long intervals in a thing which is short as a whole. Ep. 49.3Punctum est quod vīvimus et adhūc punctō minus.What we live is a point, and even less than a point. Ep. 49.3Sed et hoc minimum speciē quādam longiōris spatiī nātūra dērīsit;But even this tiny thing nature has mocked with the appearance of a longer span; Ep. 49.3aliud ex hōc īnfantiam fēcit, aliud pueritiam, aliud adulēscentiam, aliud inclīnātiōnem quandam ab adulēscentiā ad senectūtem, aliud ipsam senectūtem.out of it she has made one part infancy, another boyhood, another youth, another a kind of decline from youth to old age, another old age itself. Ep. 49.3In quam angustō quōdam quot gradūs posuit!How many steps she has set in how narrow a space!
Ep. 49.4Modo tē prōsecūtus sum;Just now I saw you off; Ep. 49.4et tamen hoc "modo" aetātis nostrae bona portiō est, cuius brevitātem aliquandō dēfectūram cōgitēmus.and yet this 'just now' is a good part of our life, whose brevity, we should reflect, will some day come to an end. Ep. 49.4Nōn solēbat mihi tam vēlōx tempus vidērī;Time did not use to seem so swift to me; Ep. 49.4nunc incrēdibilis cursus appāret, sīve quia admovērī līneās sentiō, sīve quia adtendere coepī et conputāre damnum meum.now its course appears incredible, whether because I feel the finishing line being brought closer, or because I have begun to pay attention and to reckon up my loss. Ep. 49.5Eō magis itaque indignor aliquōs ex hōc tempore, quod sufficere nē ad necessāria quidem potest, etiam sī custōdītum dīligentissimē fuerit, in supervacua maiōrem partem ērogāre.All the more, then, am I indignant that some men spend the greater part of this time, which cannot suffice even for necessary things, however carefully it is guarded, on superfluous ones. Ep. 49.5Negat Cicerō, sī duplicētur sibi aetās, habitūrum sē tempus, quō legat lyricōs;Cicero says that if his lifetime were doubled, he would not have time to read the lyric poets; Ep. 49.5eōdem locō pōne dialecticōs;put the dialecticians in the same class; Ep. 49.5trīstius ineptī sunt.they are foolish in a gloomier way.
Ep. 49.5Illī ex professō lascīviunt, hī agere ipsōs aliquid exīstimant.The poets frolic openly; these men think they are doing something serious. Ep. 49.6Nec ego negō prōspicienda ista, sed prōspicienda tantum et ā līmine salūtanda in hoc ūnum, nē verba nōbīs dentur et aliquid esse in illīs magnī ac sēcrētī bonī iūdicēmus.Nor do I deny that one should glance at these things, but only glance at them and greet them from the threshold, for this one purpose, that we may not be deceived and judge that there is some great and secret good in them. Ep. 49.6Quid tē torquēs et mācerās in eā quaestiōne, quam subtīlius est contempsisse quam solvere?Why do you torture and waste yourself over a question which it is more subtle to have despised than to solve? Ep. 49.6Sēcūrī est et ex commodō migrantis minūta conquīrere;It is for a man who is free from care and travelling at his ease to gather up trifles; Ep. 49.6cum hostis īnstat ā tergō et movēre sē iussus est mīles, necessitās excutit quicquid pāx ōtiōsa collēgerat.when the enemy presses from behind and the soldier has been ordered to move, necessity shakes out whatever leisurely peace had collected.
Ep. 49.7Nōn vacat mihi verba dubiē cadentia cōnsectārī et vafritiam in illīs meam experīrī.I have no time to chase after words of doubtful meaning and to try out my cunning on them. Ep. 49.7"Adspice quī coeant populī, quae moenia clūsīs Ferrum acuant portīs."'Look what peoples are assembling, what walls, with gates shut, are sharpening the sword.' Ep. 49.7Magnō mihi animō strepitus iste bellī circumsonantis exaudiendus est.I must listen with a great heart to this din of war resounding all around. Ep. 49.8Dēmēns omnibus meritō vidērer, sī cum saxa in mūnīmentum mūrōrum senēs fēminaeque congererent, cum iuventūs intrā portās armāta signum ēruptiōnis expectāret aut posceret, cum hostīlia in portīs tēla vibrārent et ipsum sōlum suffossiōnibus et cunīculīs tremeret, sedērem ōtiōsus et eiusmodī quaestiunculās pōnēns: "Quod nōn perdidistī, habēs.I would rightly seem mad to everyone if, while old men and women were heaping up stones to fortify the walls, while the armed young men inside the gates were awaiting or demanding the signal for a sally, while the enemy's weapons were quivering in the gates and the very ground was trembling with mines and tunnels, I were to sit idle, posing little questions of this kind: 'What you have not lost, you have.
Ep. 49.8Cornua autem nōn perdidistī;But you have not lost horns; Ep. 49.8cornua ergō habēs" aliaque ad exemplum huius acūtae dēlīrātiōnis concinnāta.therefore you have horns,' and other things put together on the model of this sharp-witted madness. Ep. 49.9Atquī aequē licet tibi dēmēns videar, sī istīs inpenderō operam;And yet I may well seem to you just as mad if I spend effort on these things; Ep. 49.9et nunc obsideor.even now I am under siege. Ep. 49.9Tunc tamen perīculum mihi obsessō externum inminēret, mūrus mē ab hoste sēcerneret;Then, however, the danger threatening me under siege would be from outside, and a wall would separate me from the enemy; Ep. 49.9nunc mortifera mēcum sunt.now the deadly things are within me. Ep. 49.9Nōn vacō ad istās ineptiās;I have no leisure for these trifles; Ep. 49.9ingēns negōtium in manibus est.a huge task is on my hands. Ep. 49.9Quid agam?What am I to do? Ep. 49.9Mors mē sequitur, fugit vīta;Death pursues me, life flees; Ep. 49.9adversus haec mē docē aliquid.teach me something against these things. Ep. 49.10Effice, ut ego mortem nōn fugiam, vīta mē nōn effugiat.Bring it about that I do not flee death, and that life does not flee from me.
Ep. 49.10Exhortāre adversus difficilia, adde aequanimitātem adversus inēvītābilia.Encourage me against difficulties, give me calm against what cannot be avoided. Ep. 49.10Angustiās temporis meī laxā.Ease the narrow limits of my time. Ep. 49.10Docē nōn esse positum bonum vītae in spatiō eius, sed in ūsū, posse fierī, immō saepissimē fierī, ut quī diū vīxit, parum vīxerit.Teach me that the good of life lies not in its length but in its use, and that it can happen, indeed very often does happen, that one who has lived long has lived little. Ep. 49.10Dīc mihi dormītūrō: "Potes nōn expergīscī";Say to me as I go to sleep: 'You may not wake up'; Ep. 49.10dīc experrēctō: "Potes nōn dormīre amplius."say to me when I have woken: 'You may not sleep again.' Ep. 49.10Dīc exeuntī: "Potes nōn revertī";Say to me as I go out: 'You may not come back'; Ep. 49.10dīc redeuntī: "Potes nōn exīre."say to me as I return: 'You may not go out again.' Ep. 49.11Errās, sī in nāvigātiōne tantum exīstimās minimum esse, quō ā morte vīta dīdūcitur;You are wrong if you think that only on a voyage is the distance tiny by which life is separated from death; Ep. 49.11in omnī locō aequē tenue intervallum est.in every place the interval is equally thin.
Ep. 49.11Nōn ubīque sē mors tam prope ostendit;Death does not everywhere show itself so near; Ep. 49.11ubīque tam prope est.everywhere it is just as near. Ep. 49.11Hās tenebrās discute;Scatter these shadows; Ep. 49.11et facilius ea trādēs, ad quae praeparātus sum.and you will more easily teach me the things for which I have been prepared. Ep. 49.11Docilēs nātūra nōs ēdidit et ratiōnem dedit inperfectam, sed quae perficī posset.Nature brought us forth teachable, and gave us reason, imperfect, but such as could be perfected. Ep. 49.12Dē iūstitiā mihi, dē pietāte disputā, dē frūgālitāte, dē pudīcitiā utrāque, et illā, cui aliēnī corporis abstinentia est, et hāc, cui suī cūra.Discuss with me justice, duty, frugality, and both kinds of chastity, both that which consists in keeping away from another's body and that which consists in care for one's own. Ep. 49.12Sī mē nōlueris per dēvia dūcere, facilius ad id, quō tendō, perveniam.If you will not lead me along byways, I shall more easily reach the goal I am striving for. Ep. 49.12Nam ut ait ille tragicus, "Vēritātis simplex ōrātiō est."For, as the tragic poet says, 'The speech of truth is simple.' Ep. 49.12Ideōque illam inplicārī nōn oportet;And therefore it should not be entangled; Ep. 49.12nec enim quicquam minus convenit quam subdola ista calliditās animīs magna cōnantibus.for nothing is less suited to minds attempting great things than that crafty cleverness of yours.
Ep. 49.12Valē.Farewell.