Book 1, Chapter 14
Original Latin
31 Maxumum vero argumentum est naturam ipsam de inmortalitate animorum tacitam iudicare, quod omnibus curae sunt, et maxumae quidem, quae post mortem futura sint. ‘serit arbores, quae alteri saeclo prosint’, ut ait <Statius> in Synephebis, quid spectans nisi etiam postera saecula ad se pertinere? ergo arbores seret diligens agricola, quarum aspiciet bacam ipse numquam; vir magnus leges instituta rem publicam non seret? quid procreatio liberorum, quid propagatio nominis, quid adoptationes filiorum, quid testamentorum diligentia, quid ipsa sepulcrorum monumenta elogia significant nisi nos futura etiam cogitare?
Quid?
32 illud num dubitas, quin specimen naturae capi deceat ex optima quaque natura? quae est melior igitur in hominum genere natura quam eorum, qui se natos ad homines iuvandos tutandos conservandos arbitrantur? abiit ad deos Hercules: numquam abisset, nisi, cum inter homines esset, eam sibi viam munivisset. vetera iam ista et religione omnium consecrata:
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted translation from the Latin. Latin transcription by the Perseus Project, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0.
31 “The strongest evidence that nature herself silently judges souls immortal is that everyone is concerned, and profoundly concerned, about what will happen after death. ‘He plants trees to benefit another generation,’ as <Statius> says in The Young Companions. What can he have in view except that later generations too concern him? So a diligent farmer will plant trees whose fruit he himself will never see; shall a great man not plant laws, institutions, a commonwealth? What do the begetting of children, the perpetuation of a name, the adoption of sons, the care taken over wills, the very memorials and inscriptions on tombs signify, except that our thoughts reach into the future too?
“What?
32 “Do you doubt that we ought to take our model of nature from each nature at its best? What better nature is there in humankind than that of those who believe they were born to help, protect, and preserve humanity? Hercules went to the gods: he would never have gone had he not made that road for himself while living among men. But those stories are ancient now, consecrated by the reverence of all:”
Plain English translation
Complete independent machine-assisted translation directly from the Latin. Latin transcription by the Perseus Project, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0.
31 “The strongest evidence that nature itself silently judges souls to be immortal is that everyone cares, and cares deeply, about what will happen after death. ‘He plants trees that will benefit another generation,’ as Statius says in The Young Companions. What is he looking toward, unless he thinks later generations concern him too? So a hardworking farmer will plant trees whose fruit he’ll never see. Won’t a great man plant laws, institutions, a state? What do having children, passing on a name, adopting sons, carefully making wills, or the memorials and inscriptions of tombs themselves mean, except that we’re thinking about the future too?
“And another thing:
32 “Surely you don’t doubt that we ought to take our sample of nature from its best examples? What better kind of human being is there than those who think they were born to help, protect, and preserve other people? Hercules went away to the gods. He’d never have gone if he hadn’t built himself that road while he was among humans. But those are old stories, made sacred by everyone’s religious belief:”
About this section
Book 1, Chapter 14 is part of Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This page sets the Latin original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is part 14 of 189 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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