Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 47

Dabo apud Epicurum tibi etiamnunc simillimam huic nostrae divisionem bonorum. Alia enim sunt apud illum, quae malit contingere sibi, ut corporis quietem ab omni incommodo liberam et animi remissionem bonorum suorum contemplatione gaudentis. Alia sunt, quae quamvis nolit accidere, nihilominus laudat et conprobat, tamquam illam, quam paulo ante dicebam, malae valetudinis et dolorum gravissimorum perpessionem, in qua Epicurus fuit illo summo ac fortunatissimo die suo. Ait enim se vesicae et exul erati ventris tormenta tolerare ulteriorem doloris accessionem non recipientia, esse nihilominus sibi illum beatum diem. Beatum autem agere, nisi qui est in summo bono, non potest.

Je vais encore te montrer chez Épicure une autre division des biens, toute semblable à la nôtre. Ainsi il est des choses qu’il souhaiterait de préférence, comme le repos du corps libre de tout malaise, et la quiétude d’une âme heureuse par la conscience de ses vertus ; il en est d’autres dont il voudrait que l’occasion ne vînt pas et que néanmoins il loue et approuve fort, par exemple, comme je le disais tout à l’heure, une patience à l’épreuve de la mauvaise santé et des plus vives douleurs, patience qui fut la sienne dans le dernier et le plus heureux jour de sa vie. Il disait en effet : « Ma vessie et mon ventre ulcéré me torturent si fort qu’il n’y a point d’accroissement possible à ma souffrance ; et néanmoins c’est pour moi un heureux jour.

I can show you at this moment in the writings of Epicurus a graded list of goods just like that of our own school. For there are some things, he declares, which he prefers should fall to his lot, such as bodily rest free from all inconvenience, and relaxation of the soul as it takes delight in the contemplation of its own goods. And there are other things which, though he would prefer that they did not happen, he nevertheless praises and approves, - for example, the kind of resignation, in times of ill-health and serious suffering, to which I alluded a moment ago, and which Epicurus displayed on that last and most blessed day of his life. For he tells us that he had to endure excruciating agony from a diseased bladder and from an ulcerated stomach, - so acute that it permitted no increase of pain; “and yet,” he says, “that day was none the less happy.” And no man can spend such a day in happiness unless he possesses the Supreme Good.