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Meshia Walls / Final Latin Project
  • Created on 2021-11-23 21:17:44
  • Modified on 2021-12-10 05:47:42
  • Aligned by Meshia Walls
Latin
English
" Et quaerere a nobis , Balbe , soletis , quae vita deorum sit quaeque ab iis degatur aetas . Ea videlicet qua nihil beatius , nihil omnibus bonis affluentius cogitari potest . Nihil enim agit , nullis occupationibus est inplicatus , nulla opera molitur , sua sapientia et virtute gaudet , habet exploratum fore se semper cum in maximis tum in aeternis voluptatibus .
Hunc deum rite beatum dixerimus , vestrum vero laboriosissimum . Sive enim ipse mundus deus est , quid potest esse minus quietum quam nullo puncto temporis intermisso versari circum axem caeli admirabili celeritate ? nisi quietum autem nihil beatum est ; sive in [ ipso ] 1 mundo deus inest aliquis qui regat , qui gubernet , qui cursus astrorum mutationes temporum rerum vicissitudines ordinesque conservet , 2 terras et maria contemplans hominum commoda vitasque tueatur , ne ille est inplicatus molestis negotiis et operosis ! Nos autem beatam vitam in animi securitate et in omnium vacatione munerum ponimus . Docuit enim nos idem qui cetera , natura effectum esse mundum , nihil opus fuisse fabrica , tamque eam rem esse facilem quam vos effici negatis sine divina posse sollertia , ut innumerabilis natura mundos effectura sit efficiat effecerit . hac igitur inmensitate latitudinum longitudinum altitudinum infinita vis innumerabilium volitat atomorum , quae interiecto inani cohaerescunt tamen inter se et aliae alias adprehendentes continuantur ; ex quo efficiuntur eae rerum formae et figurae quas vos effici posse sine follibus et incudibus non putatis , itaque inposuistis in cervicibus nostris sempiternum dominum , quem dies et noctes timeremus : quis enim non timeat omnia providentem et cogitantem et animadvertentem et omnia ad se pertinere putantem curiosum et plenum negotii deum ?
( 50 ) ' Another enquiry , Balbus , which you Stoics often make , concerns the nature of the gods ' life , how they spend their days . 51 Well , their life is such that nothing imaginable is more blessed , more abounding in all good things . The god is wholly inactive ; he has no round of tasks to perform , and no structures to set up . He takes pleasure in his own wisdom and virtue , utterly certain that he will be perennially surrounded by the greatest and most abiding pleasures .

52 ' This god we can truly call blessed , whereas that Stoic god of yours is plagued with hard work . If the world itself is god , what can be less restful than to circle the vault of heaven at breakneck speed , without stopping for a single moment ? Yet nothing is blessed if it is not restful . Or if there is some god resident as governor or guide within the world itself , maintaining the courses of the stars , the changes of the seasons , and the varying economy of creation , surveying lands and seas , protecting the interests and lives of the human race , he is certainly caught up in troublesome and laborious operations .

53 ' But we Epicureans define the life of blessedness as residing in the possession of untroubled minds and relaxation from all duties . Our mentor who has schooled us in all else has also taught us that the world was created naturally , without the need for a craftsman ' s role , and the process which in your view cannot be put in train without the skilful touches of a god is so straightforward that nature has created , is now creating , and will continue to create innumerable worlds . Because you Stoics do not see how nature can achieve this without being endowed with mind , you behave like poets of tragedy , unable to draw the plot to its close , and having recourse to a deus ex machina . *

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