34:1
Indicium quidem quantulæcunque prosperitatis esse manifestum est, quod amicorum affatu tantisper interlucente temporariæ pacis colore visitamur. Verumtamen æstus ille diluvii quem procellis temporalibus comparastis, humanis rebus, dum pcr mundanum pelagus curritur, fluctu assiduæ perturbationis insistit. Quandoquidem hoc ipsum quod inter adversitates temporum respiramus, discriminum quae patiamur intervalla magis debemus putare, quam terminum. Nam idcirco tantum inler incommoda calamitatum, circumseribendis potius quam sanandis, lux quaedam videtur alludere, ut mentes fallaci securitate laxatas, instaurato gravius metu succiduus angor afficiat.
It is manifest, indeed, to be a token of however slight a prosperity, that we are visited by the color of a temporary peace, with the address of friends shining through for a while. Nevertheless that surge of the deluge, which you have compared to the storms of the times, presses hard upon human affairs with the wave of unceasing disturbance, while the course is run through the worldly sea. Since this very thing, that we breathe again amid the adversities of the times, we ought rather to reckon the intervals of the perils we suffer than their end. For only for this reason does a certain light seem to play amid the misfortunes of calamities—circumscribing rather than healing them—that the succeeding anguish, with fear renewed more grievously, may afflict minds relaxed by a deceitful security.
確實顯而易見，這只是一分何等微弱之興盛的表徵：朋友的問候暫時透出光亮，我們便得著暫時和平的一抹顏色所眷顧。然而那洪水的浪湧——就是你們比作時勢風暴的——當人航行於這屬世的海洋時，仍以不止息之擾亂的波濤緊逼著人間萬事。既然我們在時勢的逆境中得以再度喘息，這件事本身，我們就當視為所受危險的間歇，而非其終結。因為那彷彿在災禍的不幸之中閃爍嬉戲的一線光明，其所以如此，僅是為要——它是圈限這些不幸，而非醫治它們——使接踵而至的痛苦，以更沉重地重燃的恐懼，襲擊那被虛假的安逸所鬆懈的心靈。
34:2
Quocirca desiste, vir optime, mala fervemia credere finem malorum: et cum se, motu dissimili tempestate molita, facies tantillae serenitatis alteruai, varietate proventuum non delectare, sed utere. Nec sic te aut prosperitas erigat, aut frangat adversilas, ut in animis tuis tam amicorum mutetur causa, quam temporum. Mementote semper propositae caritatis, si licet scribere: sin alias, quod prohiberi oon potest, vel amate: et post gurgites quos litteris descripsistis, in eo magis saeculo I sperate portum, quo timere non poterit tranquillitas rata naufragium.
Wherefore cease, most excellent man, to believe that the boiling of evils is the end of evils: and when, by a movement unlike the tempest it has stirred, the face of so brief a serenity shows itself in turn, be not delighted by the variety of outcomes, but use it. Nor let prosperity so lift you up, nor adversity so break you, that in your mind the cause of friends should be changed as much as that of the times. Be ever mindful of the charity we have set before us, if it be permitted to write: but if otherwise—which cannot be forbidden—at least love: and after the whirlpools which you have described in your letters, hope the more, in that world, for the harbor where a settled tranquillity shall not be able to fear shipwreck.
因此，至卓越之人啊，不要再相信眾惡的沸騰便是眾惡的終結：當那片短暫的寧靜之容顏，以有別於它所激起之風暴的動盪，反倒向你顯現時，不要以際遇的變幻為樂，卻要善用它。也不要讓順境如此高抬你、逆境如此擊垮你，以致在你心中，朋友的情誼竟隨時勢一同變改。若允許寫信，就當常常記念我們所立定的愛心；若情況不許——這是無法禁止的——至少要相愛：且在你信中所描述的那些漩渦之後，越發盼望那世界的港灣，在那裡，安定的平靜將再不能懼怕沉船。