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Question 1

quomodo quisque potest, mi Lucili: tu istic habes Aetnam, eximium ac nobilissimum Siciliae montem (quem quare dixerit Messala unicum, sive Valgius, apud utrumque enim legi, non reperio, cum plurima loca evomant ignem, non tantum edita, quod crebrius evenit, videlicet quia ignis in altissimum effertur, sed etiam iacentia) nos, utcumque possumus, contenti sumus Bais.

Answer 1

Let each man do as he can, my Lucilius: you have that Etna of yours, that extraordinary and most distinguished mountain of Sicily (I don’t understand why Messala said it was unique, or Valgius, for I have read it in the writings of both, since very many places spew out fire, not only high ones, which happens more frequently, obviously because the fire is raised to the highest level, but also low-lying ones), I, whenener I can be, am content at Baiae.

Question 2

quas postero die quam attigeram reliqui, locum ob hoc devitandum (cum habeat quasdam naturales dotes) quia illum sibi celebrandum luxuria desumpsit.

Answer 2

I left there on the day after I arrived, a place to be avoided for this reason (although it has certain natural qualities): because luxury has chosen it to be frequented by herself.

Question 3

‘quid ergo? ulli loco indicendum est odium?’ minime; sed quemadmodum aliqua vestis sapienti ac probo viro magis convenit quam aliqua, nec ullum colorem ille odit, sed aliquem parum putat aptum esse frugalitatem professo; sic regio quoque est, quam sapiens vir aut ad sapientiam tendens declinet tamquam alienam bonis moribus.

Answer 3

‘So what, then? Is hatred to be declared for any place?’ No; but just as certain clothing suits a wise and honest man more than others, and he does not hate any colour, but thinks that some are less suitable for one who has declared frugality; thus it is also a place which the wise man or one striving after wisdom will reject as alien to good morals.

Question 4

itaque de secessu cogitans numquam Canopum eliget, quamvis neminem Canopus esse frugi vetet, ne Baias quidem: deversorium vitiorum esse coeperunt. illic sibi plurimum luxuria permittit, illic, tamquam aliqua licentia debeatur loco, magis solvitur.

Answer 4

And so someone contemplating retirement will never choose Canopus, although Canopus may prevent nobody from being virtuous, nor indeed Baiae: they have begun to be dens of iniquity. There luxury pampers herself to the utmost degree, there, the more any sort of licence is owed to a place, the more lax it becomes.

Question 5

non tantum corpori, sed etiam moribus salubrem locum eligere debemus. quemadmodum inter tortores habitare nolim, sic ne inter popinas quidem.

Answer 5

We ought to choose a place healthy not only for the body, but also for morals. Just as I should not wish to live among torturers, thus I should not wish to live among fast-food joints.

Question 6

videre ebrios per litora errantes et comissationes navigantium et symphoniarum cantibus strepentes lacus et alia, quae velut soluta legibus luxuria non tantum peccat, sed publicat, quid necesse est?

Answer 6

Why is it necessary to see the drunks wandering along the shores and the revelries of sailors and the lakes resounding with the songs of choruses and other things that luxury not only transgresses, but makes public, as if unrestrained by laws?

Question 7

id agere debemus ut irritamenta vitiorum quam longissime profugiamus. indurandus est animus et a blandimentis voluptatum procul abstrahendus.

Answer 7

We ought to make every effort to flee as far as possible from the incentives of vices. The mind must be hardened and dragged far away from the charms of pleasures.

Question 8

una Hannibalem hiberna solverunt et indomitum illum nivibus atque Alpibus virum enervaverunt fomenta Campaniae. armis vicit. vitiis victus est.

Answer 8

One winter quarters made Hannibal lax, and the warm baths of Campania weakened that man, unconquered by blizzards and the alps. He vanquished with weapons. He was vanquished by vices.

Question 9

nobis quoque militandum est, et quidem genere militiae quo numquam quies, numquam otium datur. debellandae sunt imprimis voluptates, quae, ut vides, saeva quoque ad se ingenia rapuerunt.

Answer 9

We too must serve as soldiers, and indeed in the kind of military service in which never a rest, never a break is granted. Above all, the pleasures which, as you see, have also seized tough characters for themselves, must be battled.

Question 10

si quis sibi proposuerit quantum operis agressus sit, sciet nihil delicate, nihil molliter esse faciendum. quid mihi cum istis calentibus stagnis? quid cum sudatoriis, in quae siccus vapor corpora exhausturus includitur? omnis sudor per laborem exeat.

Answer 10

If anyone were to imagine how much work he will undertake, he will know that nothing must be done luxuriously, nothing softly. What use to me are those hot pools of yours? What use are saunas, into which dry vapour is confined in order to drain the body? Let all sweat come out through toil.

Question 11

si faceremus quod fecit Hannibal, ut interrupto cursu rerum omissoque bello fovendis corporibus operam daremus, nemo non intempestivam desidiam victori quoque, nedum vincenti, periculosam, merito reprenderet: minus nobis quam illis Punica signa sequentibus licet, plus periculi restat cedentibus, plus operis etiam perseverantibus.

Answer 11

If we were doing what Hannibal did, in order to pay attention to keeping our bodies warm, with our military advances interrupted and our war overlooked, nobody would not, quite rightly, blame us for our idleness, which is also untimely for a victor, not to mention dangerous for one on his way to victory: we have less right than those following the Carthaginian standards, since more danger remains for us if we give in, more toil, even, if we persevere.

Question 12

fortuna mecum bellum gerit: non sum imperata facturus. iugum non recipio, immo, quod maiore virtute faciendum est, excutio. non est emolliendus animus: si voluptati cessero, cedendum est dolori, cedendum est labori, cedendum est paupertati; idem sibi in me iuris esse volet et ambitio et ira; inter tot affectus distrahar, immo discerpar.

Answer 12

Fortune is waging war with me: I am not going to obey her commands. I am not taking on her yoke, nay, I am shaking it off, a deed which must be done with greater virtue. The soul must not be softened: if I yield to pleasure, I must yield to pain, I must yield to toil, I must yield to poverty; both ambition and anger will want the same right over me for themselves; affected by so many things, I shall be pulled apart, nay, torn to pieces.

Question 13

libertas proposita est; ad hoc praemium laboratur. quae sit libertas quaeris? nulli rei servire, nulli necessitati, nullis casibus, fortunam in aequum deducere. quo die illam intellexero plus posse, nil poterit; ego illam feram, cum in manu mors sit?

Answer 13

Freedom has been set before my mind; there is effort required for this prize. You ask what freedom is? To be a slave to no situation, to no necessity, to no event, to put fortune on equal terms. On the day on which I understand that she is more capable than I, she will be capable of nothing; will I endure her, when death is in my hand?

Question 14

his cogitationibus intentum loca seria sanctaque eligere oportet. effeminat animos amoenitas nimia nec dubie aliquid ad corrumpendum vigorem potest regio. quamlibet viam iumenta patiuntur quorum durata in aspero ungula est: in molli palustrique pascuo saginata cito subteruntur.

Answer 14

It is proper for a man intent on these thoughts to choose an earnest and upright place. Too much pleasantness weakens the soul and without a doubt the region has some power to corrupt one’s vigour. Baggage animals whose hooves have been hardened on rough ground endure any type of road: those fattened on soft and marshy pasture are quickly ground down.

Question 15

et fortior miles ex confragoso venit: segnis est urbanus et verna. nullum laborem recusant manus quae ad arma ab aratro transferuntur: in primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus.

Answer 15

And a braver soldier comes from a rough place: the city-dweller and house-slave are lazy. Hands which are turned to weapons from the plough refuse no labour: that oily and shiny man fails at the first cloud of dust.

Question 16

severior loci disciplina firmat ingenium aptumque magnis conatibus reddit. Literni honestius Scipio quam Bais exulabat: ruina eius modi non est tam molliter collocanda.

Answer 16

Training in a harsher location strengthens the character and makes it suitable for great trials. It was more honourable for Scipio to live in exile at Liternum than at Baiae: destruction of such a kind does not need such a soft location.

Question 17

illi quoque, ad quos primos fortuna populi Romani publicas opes transtulit, C. Marius et Cn. Pompeius et Caesar extruxerunt quidem villas in regione Baiana, sed illas inposuerunt summis iugis montium.

Answer 17

Those men, too, to whom the fortune of the Roman people first awarded public wealth, Gaius Marius and Gnaeus Pompey and Caesar, did indeed build their villas in the region of Baiae, but they established them on the highest ridges of mountains.

Question 18

videbatur hoc magis militare, ex edito speculari late longeque subiecta. aspice quam positionem elegerint, quibus aedificia excitaverunt locis et qualia; scies non villas esse, sed castra.

Answer 18

This seemed more fitting for a soldier, to survey the places lying far and wide beneath him from up high. Look at what positions they chose, in what places they constructed the buildings and what they are like; you will see that they are not villas, but camps.

Question 19

habitaturum tu putas umquam fuisse inimica Catonem, ut praenavigantes adulteras dinumeraret et tot genera cumbarum variis coloribus picta et fluvitantem toto lacu rosam, ut audiret canentium nocturna convicia?

Answer 19

Do you think that Cato would ever have lived in a hostile place, so that he might count the adulterous women sailing behind and so many types of boats painted with various colours and rose petals floating on the whole lake, or to hear the night-time clamours of people singing?

Question 20

nonne ille manere intra vallum maluisset, quod in unam noctem manu sua ipse duxisset? quidni mallet, quisquis vir est, somnum suum classico quam symphonia rumpi?

Answer 20

Surely he would have preferred to stay within his fortification, which he himself had built with his own hands in a single night? Wouldn’t anyone prefer, whoever is a real man, to have his sleep disturbed by a trumpet than by a chorus?

Question 21

sed satis diu cum Bais litigavimus, numquam satis cum vitiis, quae, oro te, Lucili, persequere sine modo, sine fine. nam illis quoque nec finis est nec modus. proice quaecumque cor tuum laniant, quae si aliter extrahi nequirent, cor ipsum cum illis revellendum erat. voluptates praecipue exturba et invisissimas habe; latronum more, quos [philētas] Aegyptii vocant, in hoc nos amplectuntur, ut strangulent.
vale.

Answer 21

But I have quarrelled enough with Baiae for a long time, never enough with vices: I beg you, Lucilius, go after them without limit, without end. For they too have neither limit nor end. Cast aside whatever tears at your heart, and if they can’t be dragged away in another way, the heart itself must be torn out with them. Drive out pleasures especially and consider them most hateful; in this custom of robbers, whom the Egyptians call [philētas], they embrace us, in order to strangle us.
Farewell.

Question 22

quid non potest mihi persuaderi, cui persuasum est ut navigarem? solvi mari languido. erat sine dubio caelum grave sordidis nubibus, quae fere aut in aquam aut in ventum resolvuntur, sed putavi tam pauca milia a Parthenope tua usque Putelos surripi posse, quamvis dubio et impendente caelo. itaque quo celerius evaderem, protinus per altum ad Nesida derexi praecisurus omnes sinus.

Answer 22

What can I not be persuaded to do, I who have been persuaded to sail? I set sail on a calm sea. The sky, without a doubt, was heavy with murky clouds, which are usually dispersed into either rain or wind, but I thought that so few miles could be snatched from your Parthenope right up to Puteoli, although the sky was doubtful and looming. And so in order to go out more quickly, I immediately headed over the deep towards Nesis in order to cut across all the bays.

Question 23

cum iam eo processissem, ut mea nihil interesset, utrum irem an redirem, primum aequalitas illa quae me corruperat periit. nondum erat tempestas, sed iam inclinatio maris ac subinde crebrior fluctus. coepi gubernatorem rogare ut me in aliquo litore exponeret. aiebat illo aspera esse et importuosa nec quicquam se aeque in tempestate timere quam terram.

Answer 23

When I had already gone so far that it made no difference to me whether to go on or turn back, that calmness that had at first enticed me vanished. There wasn’t a storm yet, but there was now a change in the sea and, just after, the waves became more frequent. I began to ask the helmsman to alight me on some shore. He said that the shores were rough and without a harbour and that he didn’t fear anything in a storm as much as land.

Question 24

peius autem vexabar quam ut mihi periculum succurret. nausea enim me segnis haec et sine exitu torquebat, quae bilem movet nec effundit. institi itaque gubernatori et illum, vellet nollet, coegi peteret litus.

Answer 24

But I was too badly troubled to think about the danger. For this lingering nausea was torturing me and without relief, the kind that moves the bile and does not come out. And so I urged the helmsman and compelled him, whether he wanted to or not, to make for shore.

Question 25

cuius ut viciniam attigimus, non exspecto ut quicquam ex praeceptis Vergilii fiat,
obvertunt pelago proras
aut
ancora de prora iacitur:
memor artificii mei vetus frigidae cultor mitto me in mare, quomodo psychrolatum decet, gausapatus.

Answer 25

When we reached the vicinity of the shore, I did not wait for anything to be done in accordance to Virgil’s precepts,
They turn their prows to the sea
or
The anchor thrown down from the prow:
mindful of my profession as an old supporter of cold baths I got down into the sea, as befits a cold-water bather, dressed in a cloak.

Question 26

quae putas me passum dum per aspera erepo, dum viam quaero, dum facio? intellexi non inmerito nautis terram timeri. incredibilia sunt quae tulerim, cum me ferre non possem: illud scito, Ulixem non fuisse tam irato mari natum ut ubique naufragia faceret: nauseator erat. et ego quocumque navigare debuero, vicensimo anno perveniam.

Answer 26

What do you think I suffered while I was crawling over rough rocks, while I was looking for a path, while I was making one? I understood that land is feared by sailors for not undeservedly. Incredible were the things I bore, since I was unable to bear myself: know this, that Ulysses had not been destined for such an angry sea that he got shipwrecked everywhere: he suffered from sea-sickness. And wherever I will have to sail, I shall get there in the twentieth year.

Question 27

ut primum stomachum, quem scis non cum mari nausiam effugere, collegi, ut corpus unctione recreavi, hoc coepi mecum cogitare: quanta nos vitiorum nostrorum sequeretur oblivio, etiam corporalium, quae subinde admonent sui, nedum illorum quae eo magis latent, quo maiora sunt.

Answer 27

When I first settled my stomach, which you know does not escape nausea at the same time as it escapes the sea, when I refreshed my body with a rub-down, I began to ponder this to myself: what great forgetfulness of our failings, even those of the body, follows us, failings which constantly remind us of their presence, not to mention those which, the more they lie hidden, the greater they are.

Question 28

levis aliqua motiuncula decipitur, sed crum crevit et vera febris exarsit, etiam duro et perpessicio confessionem exprimit. pedes dolent, articuli punctiunculas sentient: adhuc dissimulamus et aut talum extorsisse dicimus nos aut in exercitatione aliqua laborasse. dubio et incipiente morbo quaeritur nomen, qui ubi ut talaria coepit intendere et utrosque dextros pedes fecit, necesse est podagram fateri.

Answer 28

Some slight shaking is deceiving, but whenever it has grown and a true fever has flared up, it forces out a confession from even a harsh and much-enduring man. Feet hurt, joints feel pins-and-needles: still we disguise it and say that we have either twisted an ankle or over-worked ourselves in some work-out. And when a disease is beginning doubtfully a name is sought; when it has begun to swell the ankles and made both feet look like right feet, it is necessary to admit we have gout.

Question 29

contra evenit in his morbis quibis afficiuntur animi: quo quis peius se habet, minus sentit. non est quod mireris, Lucili carissime. nam qui leviter dormit, et species secundum quietem capit et aliquando dormire se dormiens cogitat: gravis sopor etiam somnia extinguit animumque altius mergit quam ut in ullo intellectu sui sit.

Answer 29

The opposite happens in these diseases in which minds are affected: the worse someone is, the less he feels it. It is not something that should surprise you, dearest Lucilius. For he who sleeps lightly both grasps at visions in his sleep and, at another time, contemplates sleeping while he is asleep: heavy sleep extinguishes even dreams and sinks the consciousness too deeply to be in any awareness of itself.

Question 30

quare vitia sua nemo confitetur? quia etiamnunc in illis est: somnium narrare vigilantis est, et vitia sua confiteri sanitatis indicium est. expergiscamur ergo, ut errores nostros coarguere possimus.

Answer 30

Why will nobody admit his own failings? Because even now he is in their grasp: it is indicative of someone who is awake to relate his dreams, and indicative of health to admit one’s failings. Therefore let us wake up, so that we may be able to expose our errors as what they are.

Question 31

sola autem nos philosophia excitabit, sola somnum excutiet gravem: illi te totum dedica. dignus illa es, illa digna te est: ite in complexum alter alterius. omnibus aliis rebus te nega, fortiter, aperte. non est quod precario philosopheris.

Answer 31

But only philosophy will rouse us, only she will shake of our deep sleep: dedicate the whole of yourself to her. You are worthy of her, she is worthy of you: go into one another’s embrace. Deny yourself all other things, bravely, openly. It is not the sort of thing which you study because others demand it.

Question 32

si aeger esses, curam intermisisses rei familiaris et forensia tibi negotia excidissent nec quemquam tanti putares cui advocatus in remissione descenderes: toto animo id ageres ut quam primum morbo liberareris.

Answer 32

If you were sick, you would have stopped worrying about domestic issues and your public business would have slipped your mind and you would think nobody of such importance that you would deign to work as an advocate for them in your convalescence: you would commit to this completely in order to be freed at the earliest opportunity from sickness.

Question 33

quid ergo? non et nunc idem facies? omnia impedimenta dimitte et vaca bonae menti: nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus. exercet philosophia regnum suum; dat tempus, non accipit. non est res subsiciva, ordinaria est, domina est; adest et iubet.

Answer 33

So what, then? Will you not even now do the same? Dismiss all hindrances and be free to devote yourself to achieving a sound mind: no busy person achieves that. Philosophy runs her own kingdom; she gives, not receives time. She is not part-time, she is part of daily life, she is the mistress; she is present and in control.

Question 34

Alexander cuidam civitati partem agrorum et dimidium rerum omnium promittenti ‘eo,’ inquit, ‘proposito in Asiam veni, ut non id acciperem quod dedissetis, set ut id haberetis quod reliquissem.’ idem philosophia rebus omnibus: ‘non sum hoc tempus acceptura quod vobis superfuerit, sed id vos habebitis quod ipsa reiecero.’

Answer 34

Alexander said to a certain city promising him part of their land and half of all their things, ‘I came into Asia with the intention not that I might receive what you might give, but that you keep what I have left behind.’ Philosophy says the same in all situations: ‘I am not going to receive the time that you have left over, but you will have that which I myself have rejected.’

Question 35

totam huc converte mentem, huic asside, hanc cole: ingens intervallum inter te et ceteros fiet. omnes mortales multo antecedes, non multo te di antecedent. quaeris quid inter te et illos interfuturum sit? diutius erunt.

Answer 35

Turn your whole mind to her, be at her side, worship her: a huge gap between you and everyone else will develop. You will be far ahead of all mortals, the gods won’t be far ahead of you. You ask what the difference will be between you and them? They will exist for longer.

Question 36

at mehercules magni artificis est clusisse totum in exiguo. tantum sapienti sua quantum deo omnis aetas patet. est aliquid quo sapiens antecedat deum: ille naturae beneficio non timet, suo sapiens.

Answer 36

But, my goodness is it the sign of a great craftsman to have enclosed the whole into a short space of time. A wise man’s own life lies open to him as much as all time lies open to a god. There is something in which a wise man may be ahead of a god: the god does not fear death thanks to his nature, the wise man thanks to himself.

Question 37

ecce res magna: habere inbecillitatem hominis, securitatem dei. incredibilis philosophiae vis est ad omnem fortuitam vim retundendam. nullum telum in corpore eius sedet: munita est, solida: quaedam defatigat et velut levia tela laxo sinu eludit, quaedam discutit et in eum usque qui miserat respuit.
vale.

Answer 37

Behold this great situation: to have the weakness of a man, the composure of a god. The power of philosophy to blunt all the power of fortune is incredible. No weapon sticks in her body: she has solid defences: she breaks the force of some weapons and parries them as if they were weightless with the loose folds of her garments, she dashes other weapons to pieces and spits them back all over the one who had sent them.
Farewell.

Question 38

cum a Bais deberem Neapolim repetere, facile credidi tempestatem esse, ne iterum navem experirer: et tantum luti tota via fuit ut possim videri nihilominus navigasse. totum athletarum fatum mihi illo die perpetiendum fuit: a ceromate nos haphe excepit in crypta Neapolitana.

Answer 38

When I had to head back to Naples from Baiae, it was easy for me to believe that there was a storm, so that I didn’t experience a boat trip again: and yet the whole road was so full of mud that I may seem to have sailed nonetheless. I had to endure the whole fate of wrestlers on that day: after an anointing the yellow sand covered me in the tunnel of Naples.

Question 39

nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis facibus obscurius, quae nobis praestant non ut per tenebras vedeamus, sed ut ipsas. ceterum etiam si locus haberet lucem, pulvis auferret, in aperto quoque res gravis et molesta - quid illic, ubi in se volutatur et, cum sine ullo spiramento sit inclusus, in ipsos a quibus excitatus est recidit? duo incommoda inter se contraria simul pertulimus: eadem via, eodem die et luto et pulvere laboravimus.

Answer 39

Nothing is longer than that prison, nothing darker than those torches, which stand out to use not so that we may see through the darkness, but so that we might see the darkness itself. Moreover even if the place were to have light, the dust, also a heavy and annoying thing in the open, would take it away - what is it like in that place, where it is rolled over itself and, since it has been shut in without any ventilation, it falls back onto those very people by whom it has been kicked up? I endured two inconveniences, though at the same time very different from each other: I struggled on the same road on the same day with both mud and dust.

Question 40

aliquid tamen mihi illa obscuritas quod cogitarem dedit: sensi quendam ictum animi et sine metu mutationem, quam insolitae rei novitas simul ac foeditas fecerat. non de me nunc tecum loquor, qui multum ab homine tolerabili, nedum a perfecto, absum, sed de illo in quem fortuna ius perdidit: huius quoque ferietur animus, mutabitur color.

Answer 40

Yet that darkness gave me something to ponder: I felt a certain flash of inspiration and a change in my mind without fear, a change which the novelty of the unfamiliar situation, at the same time as it filthiness, had produced. I am not speaking to you now about myself, who am very far from a tolerable man, not to mention a perfect one, but about that man over whom fortune has lost her jurisdiction: this man’s soul will also be struck, his complexion will be changed.

Question 41

quaedam enim, mi Lucili, nulla effugere virtus potest: admonet illam natura mortalitatis suae. itaque et vultum adducet ad tristia et inhorrescet ad subita et caligabit, si vastam altitudinem in crepidine eius constitutus despexerit: non est hoc timor, sed naturalis affectio inexpugnabilis rationi.

Answer 41

For, my Lucilius, no virtue can escape certain things: nature reminds virtue of its own mortality. And so he will both strain his features at sad things and bristle at unexpected surprises and darken, if, standing on the edge of an enormous height, he looks down: this is not fear, but a natural feeling, unassailable by reason.

Question 42

itaque fortes quidam et paratissimi fundere suum sanguinem alienum videre non possunt. quidam ad vulneris novi, quidam ad veteris et purulenti tractationem inspectionemque succidunt ac linquuntur animo. alii gladium facilius recipiunt quam vident.

Answer 42

And so some men, brave and very ready to shed their own blood, can’t stand the sight of someone else’s. Some men collapse and faint at the handling and inspection of a new wound, some at that of an old and festering one. Some receive a sword-blow more easily than they see one.

Question 43

sensi ergo, ut dicebam, quandam non quidem perturbationem, sed mutationem. rursus ad primum conspectum redditae lucis alacritas rediit incogitata et iniussa. illud deinde mecum loqui coepi, quam inepte quaedam magis aut minus timeremus, cum omnium idem finis esset.

Answer 43

So, as I was saying, I felt a certain, non actually unease, but a transformation. Likewise, at the first sight of returning light, cheerfulness returned, spontaneous and unbidden. Then I began to tell myself this, how absurd it is that we should fear certain things to a greater or lesser extent, since everybody’s end is the same.

Question 44

quid enim interest utrum supra aliquem vigilarium ruat an mons? nihil invenies. erunt tamen qui hanc ruinam magis timeant, quamvis utraque mortifera aeque sit: adeo non effectus, sed efficientia timor spectat.

Answer 44

For what difference does it make whether a watch-tower or a mountain fall on top of someone? You will find it makes no difference. Yet there will be those who fear this latter destruction more, although both are equally deadly: fear looks not so much at the results, but at the things bringing them about.

Question 45

nunc me putas de Stoicis dicere, qui existimant animam hominis magno pondere extriti permanere non posse et statim spargi, quia non fuerit illi exitus liber? ego vero non facio: qui hoc dicunt videntur mihi errare.

Answer 45

Now do you think I’m talking about the Stoics, who reckon that the soul of a man crushed by a great weigh can not endure and is at once dispersed, since it hasn’t had a free exit? Indeed I am not doing that: those who say this seem to be mistaken to me.

Question 46

quemadmodum flamma non potest opprimi (nam circa id effugit quo urgetur), quemadmodum aer verbere atque ictu non laeditur, ne scinditur quidem, sed circa id cui cessit refunditur: sic animus, qui ex tenuissimo constat, deprendi non potest nec intra corpus effligi, sed beneficio subtilitatis suae per ipsa quibus premitur erumpit. quomodo fulmini, etiam cum latissime percussit ac fulsit, per exiguum foramen est reditus, sic animo, qui adhuc tenuior est igne, per omne corpus fuga est.

Answer 46

Just as a flame can not be crushed (for it escapes around that which it is being pressed by), just as the air is not hurt by a blow and a beating, nor is it indeed cut, but pours back around that which it yields to: thus the soul, which is composed of the finest matter, can not be caught unawares nor destroyed within the body, but thanks to its own slightness bursts out through the very things by which it is being crushed. Just as a lightning bolt, even when it has struck and flashed over the widest area, has a way back through a tiny outlet, thus the soul, which is slighter still than fire, has a way of escaping through every body.

Question 47

itaque de illo quaerendum est, an possit immortalis esse. hoc quidem certum habe: si superstes est corpori, proteri illum nullo genere posse, quoniam nulla immortalitas cum exceptione est, nec quicquam noxium aeterno est.
vale.

Answer 47

And so one ought to inquire about this: whether the soul can be immortal. Know this for certain, indeed: that if it does survive from the body, it can not be crushed in any way, since no immortality has this exception, and nothing is harmful to something that is eternal.
Farewell.