Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 5

Numquid offenderis, si in consilium non venio tantum, sed advoco, et quidem prudentiores quam ipse sum, ad quos soleo deferre, si quid delibero? Epicuri epistulam ad hanc rem pertinentem lege, Idomeneo quae inscribitur, quem rogat, ut quantum potest fugiat et properet, antequam aliqua vis maior interveniat et auferat libertatem recedendi.

T’offenseras-tu si, non content de me présenter à ton conseil, j’y appelle des sages assurément plus éclairés que moi, auxquels je soumets tous mes sujets de délibération ? Lis sur cette question une lettre d’Épicure à Idoménée qu’il prie « de fuir en toute hâte et de toutes ses forces, avant qu’une puissance majeure n’intervienne qui lui en ôte la faculté. » Au reste il ajoute :

Shall you then be put out with me, if I not only come to advise you, but also call in others to advise you, - wiser heads than my own, men before whom I am wont to lay any problem upon which I am pondering? Read the letter of Epicurus which bears on this matter; it is addressed to Idomeneus. The writer asks him to hasten as fast as he can, and beat a retreat before some stronger influence comes between and takes from him the liberty to withdraw.