We should expand or pull back based on what our country offers us and what Fortune brings our way. But we must keep moving — never freeze up from fear. The best person is one who faces danger on all sides, with weapons and chains blocking his path, yet still doesn't weaken or hide his virtue. Keeping yourself safe doesn't mean burying yourself alive. I think Curius Dentatus was right when he said he would rather be dead than alive but not really living. The worst thing of all is to leave the ranks of the living before you actually die. But if you happen to live in times when it's hard to serve your country, then spend more time on rest and learning. Think of it like making a dangerous sea voyage — sometimes you need to pull into harbor and free yourself from public duties before they destroy you.
We ought, therefore, to expand or contract ourselves according as the state presents itself to us, or as Fortune offers us opportunities: but in any case we ought to move and not to become frozen still by fear: nay, he is the best man who, though peril menaces him on every side and arms and chains beset his path, nevertheless neither impairs nor conceals his virtue: for to keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself. I think that Curius Dentatus spoke truly when he said that he would rather be dead than alive: the worst evil of all is to leave the ranks of the living before one dies: yet it is your duty, if you happen to live in an age when it is not easy to serve the state, to devote more time to leisure and to literature. Thus, just as though you were making a perilous voyage, you may from time to time put into harbour, and set yourself free from public business without waiting for it to do so.