Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 9

Dum me illi paro, tu interim, qui potes, qui intellegis, unde quo evaseris, et ex eo suspicans, quousque sis evasurus, compone mores tuos, attolle animum, adversus formidata consiste. Numerare eos noli, qui tibi metum faciunt. Nonne videatur stultus, si quis multitudinem eo loco timeat, per quem transitus singulis est? Aeque ad tuam mortem multis aditus non est, licet illam multi minentur. Sic istuc natura disposuit: spiritum tibi tam unus eripiet quam unus dedit.

Tandis que je me prépare à cette cure, toi qui as force et intelligence, qui sais d’où et jusqu’où tu es parvenu, qui par là pressens à quelle hauteur tu dois monter encore, achève de régler tes mœurs, de relever ton courage, tiens bon contre les terreurs de la vie et ne considère pas le nombre de ceux qui t’inspirent la crainte. Ne serait-ce pas folie, dis-moi, de craindre la foule en un lieu où l’on ne passe qu’un à la fois ? De même il n’y a point accès en toi pour plus d’un meurtrier, bien que plusieurs te menacent. Ainsi la nature l’a réglé : un seul homme pourra t’arracher la vie, tout comme un seul te l’a donnée.

So while I prepare myself to deal with Marcellinus, do you in the meantime, who are able, and who understand whence and whither you have made your way, and who for that reason have an inkling of the distance yet to go, regulate your character, rouse your courage, and stand firm in the face of things which have terrified you. Do not count the number of those who inspire fear in you. Would you not regard as foolish one who was afraid of a multitude in a place where only one at a time could pass? Just so, there are not many who have access to you to slay you, though there are many who threaten you with death. Nature has so ordered it that, as only one has given you life, so only one will take it away.