Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 32

Potest frugalitas producere senectutem, quam ut non puto concupiscendam, ita ne recusandam quidem. Iucundum est secum esse quam diutissime, cum quis se dignum, quo frueretur, effecit. Itaque de isto feremus sententiam, an oporteat fastidire senectutis extrema et finem non opperiri, sed manu facere. Prope est a timente, qui fatum segnis expectat, sicut ille ultra modum deditus vino est, qui amphoram exiccat et faecem quoque exorbet.

La frugalité peut prolonger la vieillesse qui, si elle n’est pas fort désirable, n’est pas non plus à rejeter. Il est doux d’être avec soi-même le plus longtemps possible, quand on s’est rendu digne de jouir de soi.

Énonçons ici notre sentiment sur le point de savoir si l’on doit faire fi des dernières années de la vieillesse et, sans attendre le terme, en finir volontairement. C’est presque craindre le jour fatal que de le laisser lâchement venir ; comme c’est être plus que de raison adonné au vin que de mettre l’amphore à sec et d’avaler jusqu’à la lie.

Frugal living can bring one to old age; and to my mind old age is not to be refused any more than it is to be craved. There is a pleasure in being in one’s own company as long as possible, when a man has made himself worth enjoying. The question, therefore, on which we have to record our judgment is, whether one should shrink from extreme old age and should hasten the end artificially, instead of waiting for it to come. A man who sluggishly awaits his fate is almost a coward, just as he is immoderately given to wine who drains the jar dry and sucks up even the dregs.