Letter 34

I grow, I exult, and shaking off my old age I feel the warmth return to me, every time that from the things you do and write I perceive how far you have surpassed your own self - for the crowd you left behind long ago. If a tree brought to the point of bearing fruit delights the farmer, if the shepherd takes pleasure in the offspring of his flock, if no one looks upon his foster-child except so as to count that boy's youth as his own, what do you suppose happens to those who have nurtured minds, and who suddenly see grown to maturity the tender things they once shaped? I claim you as my own; you are my work. When I had seen your natural gifts, I laid my hand on you, I urged you on, I added the goad, and I did not let you go slowly, but spurred you again and again; and now I do the same, but by this point I am cheering on a runner already running - one who in turn cheers me on. "What of this?" you say. "The will is still mine." In this lies the greatest part - not in the way that beginnings are said to take up half of the whole work. This matter rests upon the mind; and so a great part of goodness is to will to become good. Do you know whom I call good? The perfect, the complete man, whom no force, no necessity can make bad. Such a man I foresee in you, if you persevere and apply yourself and work to this end - that all your deeds and words agree with one another and answer to themselves and are stamped from one and the same mould. The mind of that man is not set straight whose actions are at odds with each other. Farewell.

I grow in spirit and leap for joy and shake off my years and my blood runs warm again, whenever I understand, from your actions and your letters, how far you have outdone yourself; for as to the ordinary man, you left him in the rear long ago. If the farmer is pleased when his tree develops so that it bears fruit, if the shepherd takes pleasure in the increase of his flocks, if every man regards his pupil as though he discerned in him his own early manhood,—what, then, do you think are the feelings of those who have trained a mind and moulded a young idea, when they see it suddenly grown to maturity? I claim you for myself; you are my handiwork. When I saw your abilities, I laid my hand upon you, I exhorted you, I applied the goad and did not permit you to march lazily, but roused you continually. And now I do the same; but by this time I am cheering on one who is in the race and so in turn cheers me on. “What else do you want of me, then?” you ask; “the will is still mine.” Well, the will in this case is almost everything, and not merely the half, as in the proverb “A task once begun is half done.” It is more than half, for the matter of which we speak is determined by the soul. Hence it is that the larger part of goodness is the will to become good. You know what I mean by a good man? One who is complete, finished,—whom no constraint or need can render bad. I see such a person in you, if only you go steadily on and bend to your task, and see to it that all your actions and words harmonize and correspond with each other and are stamped in the same mould. If a man’s acts are out of harmony, his soul is crooked. Farewell.

[1] Cresco et exsulto et discussa senectute recalesco quotiens ex iis quae agis ac scribis intellego quantum te ipse - nam turbam olim reliqueras - superieceris. Si agricolam arbor ad fructum perducta delectat, si pastor ex fetu gregis sui capit voluptatem, si alumnum suum nemo aliter intuetur quam ut adulescentiam illius suam iudicet, quid evenire credis iis qui ingenia educaverunt et quae tenera formaverunt adulta subito vident? [2] Assero te mihi; meum opus es. Ego cum vidissem indolem tuam, inieci manum, exhortatus sum, addidi stimulos nec lente ire passus sum sed subinde incitavi; et nunc idem facio, sed iam currentem hortor et invicem hortantem. [3] 'Quid illud?' inquis 'adhuc volo.' In hoc plurimum est, non sic quomodo principia totius operis dimidium occupare dicuntur. Ista res animo constat; itaque pars magna bonitatis est velle fieri bonum. Scis quem bonum dicam? perfectum, absolutum, quem malum facere nulla vis, nulla necessitas possit. [4] Hunc te prospicio, si perseveraveris et incubueris et id egeris ut omnia facta dictaque tua inter se congruant ac respondeant sibi et una forma percussa sint. Non est huius animus in recto cuius acta discordant. Vale.