Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 21

Quid ergo? inquis, iacere in convivio et torqueri paria sunt? Hoc mirum videtur tibi? Illud licet magis admireris; iacere in convivio malum, in eculeo bonum est, si illud turpiter, hoc honeste fit. Bona ista aut mala non efficit materia, sed virtus. Haec ubicumque apparuit, omnia eiusdem mensurae ac pretii sunt.

car il faut qu’ils lui soient conformes ; ils sont donc égaux.

« Mais encore ! Est-il égal d’être sur un lit de festin ou sur un instrument de torture ? » Cela te surprend ? Voici qui te surprendra davantage : les joies de la table sont un mal, et les tortures du chevalet un bien, s’il y a honte dans le premier cas et gloire dans le second. Qui fait alors le bien ou le mal ? Ce n’est pas la situation, c’est la vertu :

“What,” you say, “do you call reclining at a banquet and submitting to torture equally good?” Does this seem surprising to you? You may be still more surprised at the following, - that reclining at a banquet is an evil, while reclining on the rack is a good, if the former act is done in a shameful, and the latter in an honourable manner. It is not the material that makes these actions good or bad; it is the virtue. All acts in which virtue has disclosed itself are of the same measure and value.