Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 3

Hilarem me putas haec tibi scribere, quia effugi? Tam ridicule facio, si hoc fine quasi bona valitudine delector, quam ille, quisquis vicisse se putat, cum vadimonium distulit. Ego vero et in ipsa suffocatione non desii cogitationibus laetis ac fortibus adquiescere.

Tu penses que je t’écris ceci bien gaiement, parce que je suis sauf. Si je m’applaudissais de ce résultat comme d’un retour à la santé, je serais aussi ridicule qu’un plaideur qui croirait sa cause gagnée, pour avoir obtenu délai. Toutefois, au fort même de la suffocation, je n’ai cessé d’avoir recours à des pensées consolantes et courageuses. Qu’est ceci ? me disais-je.

Do you think I am writing this letter in a merry spirit, just because I have escaped? It would be absurd to take delight in such supposed restoration to health, as it would be for a defendant to imagine that he had won his case when he had succeeded in postponing his trial. Yet in the midst of my difficult breathing I never ceased to rest secure in cheerful and brave thoughts.