Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 14

Quamdiu videbatur furere Democritus! Vix recepit Socraten fama. Quamdiu Catonem civitas ignoravit! Respuit nec intellexit, nisi cum perdidit. Rutili innocentia ac virtus lateret, nisi accepisset iniuriam; dum violatum effulsit. Numquid non sorti suae gratias egit et exilium suum complexus est? De his loquor, quos inlustravit fortuna, dum vexat; quam multorum profectus in notitiam evasere post ipsos! Quam multos fama non excepit, sed eruit!

Combien de temps Démocrite n’a-t-il point passé pour un fou ? La Renommée eut peine à accueillir Socrate. Combien de temps Caton ne fut-il pas méconnu de Rome ? On le repoussa, on ne le comprit qu’après l’avoir perdu. L’innocence et la vertu de Rutilius seraient ignorées, sans l’iniquité qu’il a subie : l’outrage l’a fait resplendir. Ne dut-il pas rendre grâce à son infortune et chérir son exil ?

How long did men believe Democritus to be mad! Glory barely came to Socrates. And how long did our state remain in ignorance of Cato! They rejected him, and did not know his worth until they had lost him. If Rutilius had not resigned himself to wrong, his innocence and virtue would have escaped notice; the hour of his suffering was the hour of his triumph. Did he not give thanks for his lot, and welcome his exile with open arms? I have mentioned thus far those to whom Fortune has brought renown at the very moment of persecution; but how many there are whose progress toward virtue has come to light only after their death! And how many have been ruined, not rescued, by their reputation?