Ragiona amico mio [English translation]

1

Ponder, my friend, it might seem strange to you,

but at the time of the empire of the great Vespasian2

you can find those things that, inevitably,

also happen now, inexorably.

Ponder, my friend, reflect on it for a moment,

and try honestly to learn a lesson from it.

You can find many people who love one another and who get married,

who give birth to children, who take care of their home.

You can find people who get sick, you can find people who make merry,

you can find the rich, the peasant, the dishonest people.

Ponder, my friend, reflect on it for a moment,

and try honestly to learn a lesson from it.

You can find the pretentious, you can find the traitor,

people who whisper and people who shout, people who squander and people who die.

You can find people who trust, you can find people who suspect,

people who go to war, people who keep silent and people who plot.

Ponder, my friend, reflect on it for a moment,

and try honestly to learn a lesson from it.

You have to agree that, inexorably,

nothing is left of all those people,

and those who lived with Titus and Trajan

are all six feet under, together with Domitian.3

Ponder, my friend, reflect on it for a moment,

and try honestly to learn a lesson from it.

Then look around you, observe the living world,

observe it extensively, it will be very informative.

You’ll see that nowadays there are people who love and people who make war,

people who cry and people who make merry, people who die and people who bury.

Ponder, my friend, reflect on it for a moment,

and try honestly to learn a lesson from it.

And then you’ll understand that there is no way out

if you want to make your life worth something.

I’m not saying you have to live heroically,

but at least refuse to live for nothing.

Ponder, my friend, reflect on it for a moment,

and try honestly to learn a lesson from it.

1. This song was inspired by To myself (The Meditations), Book IV by Marcus Aurelius.2. Vespasian3. Titus

Trajan

Domitian

• Artist:Giorgio Gaber
• Album:Sexus et politica