Seneca: EPISTULAE MORALES AD LUCILIUM

[1] Multum tibi esse animi scio; nam etiam antequam instrueres te praeceptis salutaribus et dura vincentibus, satis adversus fortunam placebas tibi, et multo magis postquam cum illa manum conseruisti viresque expertus es tuas, quae numquam certam dare fiduciam sui possunt nisi cum multae difficultates hinc et illinc apparuerunt, aliquando vero et propius accesserunt. Sic verus ille animus et in alienum non venturus arbitrium probatur; haec eius obrussa est.

[1] I know that you have much spirit; for even before you instructed yourself with salutary precepts and by conquering hardships, you were sufficiently satisfying to yourself against Fortune, and much more after you joined battle hand-to-hand with her and tested your own forces, which can never give a sure confidence in themselves unless many difficulties have appeared on this side and on that, and sometimes indeed have approached nearer. Thus the true spirit—one that will not come under another’s judgment—is proved; this is its touchstone.

[2] Non potest athleta magnos spiritus ad certamen afferre qui numquam suggillatus est: ille qui sanguinem suum vidit, cuius dentes crepuere sub pugno, ille qui subplantatus ad versarium toto tulit corpore nec proiecit animum proiectus, qui quotiens cecidit contumacior resurrexit, cum magna spe descendit ad pugnam.

[2] An athlete cannot bring great spirits to the contest who has never been bruised: he who has seen his own blood, whose teeth have rattled under a fist, he who, tripped up, was borne toward his adversary with his whole body, nor did he cast down his spirit when cast down, who, as often as he fell, rose more contumacious, descends with great hope to the fight.

[3] Ergo, ut similitudinem istam prosequar, saepe iam fortuna supra te fuit, nec tamen tradidisti te, sed subsiluisti et acrior constitisti; multum enim adicit sibi virtus lacessita.

[3] Therefore, so that I may pursue that similitude, often already Fortune has been above you, nor yet did you surrender yourself, but you sprang back up and stood all the keener; for virtue, when provoked, adds much to itself.

Tamen, si tibi videtur, accipe a me auxilia quibus munire te possis.

However, if it seems good to you, receive from me auxiliaries by which you may fortify yourself.

[4] Plura sunt, Lucili, quae nos terrent quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus. Non loquor tecum Stoica lingua, sed hac summissiore; nos enim dicimus omnia ista quae gemitus mugitusque exprimunt levia esse et contemnenda. Omittamus haec magna verba, sed, di boni, vera: illud tibi praecipio, ne sis miser ante tempus, cum illa quae velut imminentia expavisti fortasse numquam ventura sint, certe non venerint.

[4] There are more things, Lucilius, that frighten us than that press upon us, and more often we labor by opinion than by the real thing. I do not speak with you in the Stoic tongue, but in this more submissive one; for we say that all those things which draw forth groans and bellowings are light and to be contemned. Let us omit these grand words, but, good gods, true: this I enjoin upon you, do not be wretched before the time, since those things which, as if impending, you have taken fright at perhaps will never come, certainly have not come.

[5] Quaedam ergo nos magis torquent quam debent, quaedam ante torquent quam debent, quaedam torquent cum omnino non debeant; aut augemus dolorem aut praecipimus aut fingimus.

[5] Certain things therefore torment us more than they ought, certain things torment earlier than they ought, certain things torment when they ought not at all; either we augment the pain or we anticipate it or we feign it.

Primum illud, quia res in controversia est et litem contestatam habemus, in praesentia differatur. Quod ego leve dixero tu gravissimum esse contendes; scio alios inter flagella ridere, alios gemere sub colapho. Postea videbimus utrum ista suis viribus valeant an imbecillitate nostra.

First, this: since the matter is in controversy and we have the suit joined, let it be deferred for the present. What I shall have called light, you will contend to be most grievous; I know that some laugh amid flagellations, others groan under a cuff. Afterwards we shall see whether those things prevail by their own forces or by our weakness.

[6] Illud praesta mihi, ut, quotiens circumsteterint qui tibi te miserum esse persuadeant, non quid audias sed quid sentias cogites, et cum patientia tua deliberes ac te ipse interroges, qui tua optime nosti, 'quid est quare isti me complorent? quid est quod trepident, quod contagium quoque mei timeant, quasi transilire calamitas possit? est aliquid istic mali, an res ista magis infamis est quam mala?' Ipse te interroga, 'numquid sine causa crucior et maereo et quod non est malum facio?'

[6] Grant me this, that, whenever there stand around you those who persuade you that you are wretched, you consider not what you hear but what you feel, and that you deliberate with your patience and question yourself, you who know your own things best, 'what is there for which those people bewail me? what is it at which they are alarmed, that they even fear my contagion, as if calamity could leap across? is there anything of evil there, or is this matter more infamous than evil?' Question yourself, 'am I tormented without cause and do I mourn, and do I make what is not an evil into an evil?'

[7] 'Quomodo' inquis 'intellegam, vana sint an vera quibus angor?' Accipe huius rei regulam: aut praesentibus torquemur aut futuris aut utrisque. De praesentibus facile iudicium est: si corpus tuum liberum et sanum est, nec ullus ex iniuria dolor est, videbimus quid futurum sit: hodie nihil negotii habet.

[7] 'How,' you say, 'am I to understand whether the things by which I am anguished are vain or true?' Receive the rule of this matter: we are tormented either by present things or by future things or by both. Concerning present things judgment is easy: if your body is free and sound, and there is no pain from injury, we shall see what will be: today it has no business.

[8] 'At enim futurum est.' Primum dispice an certa argumenta sint venturi mali; plerumque enim suspicionibus laboramus, et illudit nobis illa quae conficere bellum solet fama, multo autem magis singulos conficit. Ita est, mi Lucili: cito accedimus opinioni; non coarguimus illa quae nos in metum adducunt nec excutimus, sed trepidamus et sic vertimus terga quemadmodum illi quos pulvis motus fuga pecorum exuit castris aut quos aliqua fabula sine auctore sparsa conterruit.

[8] 'But indeed it will be.' First examine whether there are sure arguments of the evil to come; for very often we labor under suspicions, and that rumor which is wont to bring a war to pass deludes us, and much more does it bring individuals to ruin. It is so, my Lucilius: we quickly accede to an opinion; we do not confute those things which bring us into fear nor shake them off, but we panic and thus turn our backs just like those whom the dust stirred by the flight of cattle drives out of the camp, or whom some tale, spread without an author, has terrified.

[9] Nescio quomodo magis vana perturbant; vera enim modum suum habent: quidquid ex incerto venit coniecturae et paventis animi licentiae traditur. Nulli itaque tam perniciosi, tam inrevocabiles quam lymphatici metus sunt; ceteri enim sine ratione, hi sine mente sunt.

[9] I know not how, but empty things disturb more; for the true have their own measure: whatever comes out of the uncertain is consigned to conjecture and to the license of a fearful spirit. Therefore none are so pernicious, so irrevocable as frenzied (lymphatic) fears; for the others are without reason, these are without mind.

[10] Inquiramus itaque in rem diligenter. Verisimile est aliquid futurum mali: non statim verum est. Quam multa non exspectata venerunt!

[10] Let us inquire therefore into the matter diligently. It is probable that some evil is going to occur: it is not immediately true. How many unexpected things have come!

quam multa exspectata nusquam comparuerunt! Etiam si futurum est, quid iuvat dolori suo occurrere? satis cito dolebis cum venerit: interim tibi meliora promitte.

how many expected things have nowhere appeared! Even if it is going to be, what good is it to run to meet one’s own pain? soon enough you will grieve when it has come: meanwhile promise yourself better things.

[11] Quid facies lucri? tempus. Multa intervenient quibus vicinum periculum vel prope admotum aut subsistat aut desinat aut in alienum caput transeat: incendium ad fugam patuit; quosdam molliter ruina deposuit; aliquando gladius ab ipsa cervice revocatus est; aliquis carnifici suo superstes fuit.

[11] What profit will you make? Time. Many things will intervene, by which a neighboring danger, even when brought near, either subsists/halts or ceases or passes onto another head: the conflagration opened a way for flight; some the collapse gently set down; sometimes the sword has been called back from the very neck; someone survived his own executioner.

Habet etiam mala fortuna levitatem. Fortasse erit, fortasse non erit: interim non est; meliora propone.

Even ill fortune too has levity. Perhaps it will be, perhaps it will not be: meanwhile it is not; propose better things.

[12] Nonnumquam, nullis apparentibus signis quae mali aliquid praenuntient, animus sibi falsas imagines fingit: aut verbum aliquod dubiae significationis detorquet in peius aut maiorem sibi offensam proponit alicuius quam est, et cogitat non quam iratus ille sit, sed quantum liceat irato. Nulla autem causa vitae est, nullus miseriarum modus, si timetur quantum potest. Hic prudentia prosit, hic robore animi evidentem quoque metum respue; si minus, vitio vitium repelle, spe metum tempera.

[12] Sometimes, with no apparent signs that pre-announce anything evil, the mind fashions for itself false images: either it twists some word of doubtful signification to the worse, or it sets before itself a greater offense from someone than it is, and it thinks not how angry he is, but how much license is permitted to an angry man. But there is no reason for life, no measure of miseries, if one fears as much as is possible. Here let prudence be of use; here, with strength of spirit, reject even evident fear; if not, repel vice with vice, temper fear with hope.

Nihil tam certum est ex his quae timentur ut non certius sit et formidata subsidere et sperata decipere.

Nothing among the things that are feared is so certain that it is not more certain both that the things dreaded subside and the things hoped-for deceive.

[13] Ergo spem ac metum examina, et quotiens incerta erunt omnia, tibi fave: crede quod mavis. Si plures habebit sententias metus, nihilominus in hanc partem potius inclina et perturbare te desine ac subinde hoc in animo volve, maiorem partem mortalium, cum illi nec sit quicquam mali nec pro certo futurum sit, aestuare ac discurrere. Nemo enim resistit sibi, cum coepit impelli, nec timorem suum redigit ad verum; nemo dicit 'vanus auctor est, vanus [est]: aut finxit aut credidit'. Damus nos aurae ferendos; expavescimus dubia pro certis; non servamus modum rerum, statim in timorem venit scrupulus.

[13] Therefore examine hope and fear, and whenever all things are uncertain, favor yourself: believe what you prefer. If fear will have more votes, nonetheless rather incline to this side and stop perturbing yourself, and again and again revolve this in your mind, that the greater part of mortals, when there is to them neither anything evil nor anything certain to be in the future, seethe and run to and fro. For no one resists himself when he has begun to be impelled, nor does he reduce his fear to the truth; no one says, 'the author is vain, vain [it is]: either he fabricated or he believed.' We give ourselves to be carried by the breeze; we are terrified at doubtful things as if certain; we do not keep the measure of things, straightway a scruple comes into fear.

[14] Pudet me +ibi+ sic tecum loqui et tam lenibus te remediis focilare. Alius dicat 'fortasse non veniet': tu dic 'quid porro, si veniet? videbimus uter vincat; fortasse pro me venit, et mors ista vitam honestabit'. Cicuta magnum Socratem fecit.

[14] It shames me +there+ to speak thus with you and to revive you with such lenient remedies. Another may say 'perhaps it will not come': you say 'what then, if it does come? we shall see which will conquer; perhaps it comes on my behalf, and that death will ennoble life.' Hemlock made Socrates great.

Catoni gladium assertorem libertatis extorque: magnam partem detraxeris gloriae.

Extort from Cato the sword, the assertor of liberty: you will have detracted a great part of his glory.

[15] Nimium diu te cohortor, cum tibi admonitione magis quam exhortatione opus sit. Non in diversum te a natura tua ducimus: natus es ad ista quae dicimus; eo magis bonum tuum auge et exorna.

[15] I have been urging you too long, since you have need of admonition rather than exhortation. We are not leading you in a direction contrary to your nature: you were born for those things which we say; all the more augment your good and adorn it.

[16] Sed iam finem epistulae faciam, si illi signum suum in pressero, id est aliquam magnificam vocem perferendam ad te mandavero. 'Inter cetera mala hoc quoque habet stultitia: semper incipit vivere.' Considera quid vox ista significet, Lucili virorum optime, et intelleges quam foeda sit hominum levitas cotidie nova vitae fundamenta ponentium, novas spes etiam in exitu inchoantium.

[16] But now I will make an end of the epistle, if I press his signet upon it—that is, if I shall have commissioned some magnificent maxim to be carried to you. 'Among the other evils, stupidity has this also: it is always beginning to live.' Consider what that utterance signifies, Lucilius, best of men, and you will understand how foul is the levity of people who every day lay new foundations of life, who even at the point of departure are setting new hopes afoot.

[17] Circumspice tecum singulos: occurrent tibi senes qui se cum maxime ad ambitionem, ad peregrinationes, ad negotiandum parent. Quid est autem turpius quam senex vivere incipiens? Non adicerem auctorem huic voci, nisi esset secretior nec inter vulgata Epicuri dicta, quae mihi et laudare et adoptare permisi.

[17] Look around with yourself at individuals one by one: there will meet you old men who are, at the very moment, preparing themselves for ambition, for peregrinations, for negotiating. What is, moreover, more shameful than an old man beginning to live? I would not add an author to this utterance, unless it were more secret and not among the vulgate dicta of Epicurus, which I have permitted myself both to praise and to adopt.

Vale.

Farewell.

XIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

14. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Fateor insitam esse nobis corporis nostri caritatem; fateor nos huius gerere tutelam. Non nego indulgendum illi, serviendum nego; multis enim serviet qui corpori servit, qui pro illo nimium timet, qui ad illud omnia refert.

[1] I confess that an implanted affection for our body is in us; I confess that we bear its tutelage. I do not deny that it should be indulged, I deny that it should be served; for he will serve many who serves the body, who fears too much on its behalf, who refers everything to it.

[2] Sic gerere nos debemus, non tamquam propter corpus vivere debeamus, sed tamquam non possimus sine corpore; huius nos nimius amor timoribus inquietat, sollicitudinibus onerat, contumeliis obicit; honestum ei vile est cui corpus nimis carum est. Agatur eius diligentissime cura, ita tamen ut, cum exiget ratio, cum dignitas, cum fides, mittendum in ignes sit.

[2] Thus we ought to conduct ourselves, not as though we ought to live on account of the body, but as though we cannot be without the body; this excessive love of it disturbs us with fears, burdens us with anxieties, exposes us to contumelies; the honorable is vile to him for whom the body is too dear. Let the care of it be managed most diligently, yet in such a way that, when reason shall require, when dignity, when good faith, it must be sent into the flames.

[3] Nihilominus quantum possumus evitemus incommoda quoque, non tantum pericula, et in tutum nos reducamus, excogitantes subinde quibus possint timenda depelli. Quorum tria, nisi fallor, genera sunt: timetur inopia, timentur morbi, timentur quae per vim potentioris eveniunt.

[3] Nevertheless as much as we can let us avoid incommodities also, not only perils, and into safety ourselves let us bring back, excogitating from time to time by what means can the things-to-be-feared be dispelled. Of which three, unless I am deceived, kinds are: is feared want, are feared diseases, are feared the things which through the force of a more potent person come to pass.

[4] Ex his omnibus nihil nos magis concutit quam quod ex aliena potentia impendet; magno enim strepitu et tumultu venit. Naturalia mala quae rettuli, inopia atque morbus, silentio subeunt nec oculis nec auribus quicquam terroris incutiunt: ingens alterius mali pompa est; ferrum circa se et ignes habet et catenas et turbam ferarum quam in viscera immittat humana.

[4] Of all these nothing shakes us more than what hangs from another’s power; for with great noise and tumult it comes. Natural evils which I have recounted, want and disease, in silence come upon us and neither to the eyes nor to the ears do they instill any terror: vast is the pomp of the other evil; it has iron and fires around it and chains and a throng of wild beasts which it may let loose into human vitals.

[5] Cogita hoc loco carcerem et cruces et eculeos et uncum et adactum per medium hominem qui per os emergeret stipitem et distracta in diversum actis curribus membra, illam tunicam alimentis ignium et illitam et textam, et quidquid aliud praeter haec commenta saevitia est.

[5] Think in this place of the prison and the crosses and the racks and the hook and a stake driven through the middle of a man, which through the mouth would emerge, and limbs torn in diverse directions by chariots driven, that tunic with the aliments of fires both smeared and woven, and whatever else besides these cruelty has contrived.

[6] Non est itaque mirum, si maximus huius rei timor est cuius et varietas magna et apparatus terribilis est. Nam quemadmodum plus agit tortor quo plura instrumenta doloris exposuit - specie enim vincuntur qui patientiae restitissent -, ita ex iis quae animos nostros subigunt et domant plus proficiunt quae habent quod ostendant. Illae pestes non minus graves sunt - famem dico et sitim et praecordiorum suppurationes et febrem viscera ipsa torrentem - sed latent, nihil habent quod intentent, quod praeferant: haec ut magna bella aspectu paratuque vicerunt.

[6] It is not, therefore, surprising, if the greatest fear is of this thing, whose variety is great and whose apparatus is terrible. For just as the torturer does more the more instruments of pain he has set out—for by appearance are conquered those who would have stood firm in patience—, so, of the things that subdue and tame our minds, those make more progress which have something to show. Those plagues are no less grievous — I mean hunger and thirst and suppurations of the precordia, and a fever scorching the very viscera — but they lie hidden; they have nothing to threaten, nothing to display: these, like great wars, have conquered by aspect and apparatus.

[7] Demus itaque operam, abstineamus offensis. Interdum populus est quem timere debeamus; interdum, si ea civitatis disciplina est ut plurima per senatum transigantur, gratiosi in eo viri; interdum singuli quibus potestas populi et in populum data est. Hos omnes amicos habere operosum est, satis est inimicos non habere.

[7] Let us therefore apply effort, let us abstain from offenses. Sometimes the people are those whom we ought to fear; sometimes, if the discipline of the state is such that very many things are transacted through the senate, the men of influence in it; sometimes individuals to whom the power of the people and over the people has been given. To have all these as friends is laborious, it is enough not to have enemies.

Itaque sapiens numquam potentium iras provocabit, immo [nec] declinabit, non aliter quam in navigando procellam.

Therefore the wise man will never provoke the wraths of the powerful, nay, [he will not fail to] turn aside, no otherwise than a storm in sailing.

[8] Cum peteres Siciliam, traiecisti fretum Temerarius gubernator contempsit austri minas - ille est enim qui Siculum pelagus exasperet et in vertices cogat -; non sinistrum petit litus sed id a quo propior Charybdis maria convolvit. At ille cautior peritos locorum rogat quis aestus sit, quae signa dent nubes; longe ab illa regione verticibus infami cursum tenet. Idem facit sapiens: nocituram potentiam vitat, hoc primum cavens, ne vitare videatur; pars enim securitatis et in hoc est, non ex professo eam petere, quia quae quis fugit damnat.

[8] When you were seeking Sicily, you crossed the strait. A rash helmsman contemned the threats of Auster - for it is he who roughens the Sicilian sea and drives it into vortices -; he does not make for the left shore but for that from which the nearer Charybdis rolls the seas together. But the more cautious man asks those experienced in the places what the tide is, what signs the clouds give; far from that region infamous for vortices he holds his course. The wise man does the same: he avoids a power that would do harm, taking this first precaution, not to seem to avoid it; for part of security is even in this, not to seek it ex professo, because what a man flees he condemns.

[9] Circumspiciendum ergo nobis est quomodo a vulgo tuti esse possimus. Primum nihil idem concupiscamus: rixa est inter competitores. Deinde nihil habeamus quod cum magno emolumento insidiantis eripi possit; quam minimum sit in corpore tuo spoliorum.

[9] Therefore we must look around how we can be safe from the vulgar crowd. First, let us not covet the same things: there is strife among competitors. Next, let us have nothing which can be snatched away by an ambusher with great emolument; let there be as little as possible of spoils on your person.

Nemo ad humanum sanguinem propter ipsum venit, aut admodum pauci; plures computant quam oderunt. Nudum latro transmittit; etiam in obsessa via pauperi pax est.

No one comes to human blood for its own sake, or very few; more compute than hate. The robber lets a naked man pass; even on a besieged road there is peace for the poor man.

[10] Tria deinde ex praecepto veteri praestanda sunt ut v itentur: odium, invidia, contemptus. Quomodo hoc fiat sapientia sola monstrabit; difficile enim temperamentum est, verendumque ne in contemptum nos invidiae timor transferat, ne dum calcare nolumus videamur posse calcari. Multis timendi attulit causas timeri posse.

[10] Three things then, according to an old precept, must be provided for so that they may be a v oided: hatred, envy, contempt. How this may be done wisdom alone will show; for it is a difficult tempering, and we must fear lest the fear of envy transfer us into contempt, lest, while we are unwilling to tread upon others, we seem able to be trodden upon. To many, the being able to be feared has brought causes for being feared.

Undique nos reducamus: non minus contemni quam suspici nocet.

Let us draw ourselves back on every side: it harms no less to be contemned than to be looked up to.

[11] Ad philosophiam ergo confugiendum est; hae litterae, non dico apud bonos sed apud mediocriter malos infularum loco sunt. Nam forensis eloquentia et quaecumque alia populum movet adversarios habet: haec quieta et sui negotii contemni non potest, cui ab omnibus artibus etiam apud pessimos honor est. Numquam in tantum convalescet nequitia, numquam sic contra virtutes coniurabitur, ut non philosophiae nomen venerabile et sacrum maneat.

[11] Therefore one must take refuge in philosophy; these letters, I do not say among the good but among moderately bad men, are in the place of fillets. For forensic eloquence and whatever else moves the people has adversaries: this, quiet and about its own business, cannot be despised, to which from all the arts even among the worst there is honor. Never to such an extent will wickedness grow strong, never so against the virtues will there be a conspiracy, that the name of philosophy will not remain venerable and sacred.

Ceterum philosophia ipsa tranquille modesteque tractanda est.

Moreover, philosophy itself is to be handled tranquilly and modestly.

[12] 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'videtur tibi M. Cato modeste philosophari, qui bellum civile sententia reprimit? qui furentium principum armis medius intervenit? qui aliis Pompeium offendentibus, aliis Caesarem, simul lacessit duos?'

[12] 'What then?' you ask 'does M. Cato seem to you to philosophize modestly, he who by his opinion represses the civil war? who, between the arms of raging leaders, in the midst intervenes? who, while some give offense to Pompey, others to Caesar, at once provokes both?'

[13] Potest aliquis disputare an illo tempore capessenda fuerit sapienti res publica. Quid tibi vis, arce Cato? iam non agitur de libertate: olim pessum data est.

[13] Someone can dispute whether at that time the republic was to be undertaken by the wise man. What are you about, stand off, Cato? now it is not a matter of liberty: long ago it was sunk to ruin.

Quaeritur utrum Caesar an Pompeius possideat rem publicam: quid tibi cum ista contentione? nullae partes tuae sunt. Dominus eligitur: quid tua, uter vincat?

It is asked whether Caesar or Pompey possesses the republic: what have you to do with that contention? You have no part. A master is being chosen: what is it to you which of the two prevails?

potest melior vincere, non potest non peior esse qui vicerit. Ultimas partes attigi Catonis; sed ne priores quidem anni fuerunt qui sapientem in illam rapinam rei publicae admitterent. Quid aliud quam vociferatus est Cato et misit irritas voces, cum modo per populi levatus manus et obrutus sputis exportandus extra forum traheretur, modo e senatu in carcerem duceretur?

the better can win, it cannot be that the one who has won is not worse. I have touched the last parts of Cato; but not even the earlier years were such as to admit a wise man into that rapine of the commonwealth. What else did Cato do than vociferate and send ineffectual voices, when now he was lifted by the people’s hands and overwhelmed with spittle, to be carried out, dragged outside the forum, now he was being led from the senate into prison?

[14] Sed postea videbimus an sapienti opera rei publicae danda sit: interim ad hos te Stoicos voco qui a re publica exclusi secesserunt ad colendam vitam et humano generi iura condenda sine ulla potentioris offensa. Non conturbabit sapiens publicos mores nec populum in se vitae novitate convertet.

[14] But afterwards we shall see whether work for the commonwealth should be given to the wise man: meanwhile I call you to these Stoics who, excluded from the commonwealth, withdrew to cultivate life and to establish rights for the human race without any offense of the more powerful. The wise man will not disturb public morals nor will he turn the people toward himself by a novelty of life.

[15] 'Quid ergo? utique erit tutus qui hoc propositum sequetur?' Promittere tibi hoc non magis possum quam in homine temperanti bonam valetudinem, et tamen facit temperantia bonam valetudinem. Perit aliqua navis in portu: sed quid tu accidere in medio mari credis?

[15] 'What then? Will he who follows this plan surely be safe?' I cannot promise you this any more than I can in the case of a temperate man promise good health; and yet temperance does make good health. Some ship perishes in the harbor: but what do you think happens in the middle of the sea?

Quanto huic periculum paratius foret multa agenti molientique, cui ne otium quidem tutum est? Pereunt aliquando innocentes - quis negat? -, nocentes tamen saepius.

How much readier would peril be for this man doing and undertaking many things, for whom not even leisure is safe? Sometimes the innocent perish - who denies it? -, yet the guilty more often.

Ars ei constat qui per ornamenta percussus est.

The art is evident to him who has been struck by the ornaments.

[16] Denique consilium rerum omnium sapiens, non exitum spectat; initia in potestate nostra sunt, de eventu fortuna iudicat, cui de me sententiam non do. 'At aliquid vexationis afferet, aliquid adversi.' Non damnat latro cum occidit.

[16] Finally, counsel in all matters wise does not look to the outcome; the beginnings are in our power, Fortune judges about the event, to whom I do not give a judgment about myself. 'But it will bring some vexation, something adverse.' The robber does not condemn when he kills.

[17] Nunc ad cotidianam stipem manum porrigis. Aurea te stipe implebo, et quia facta est auri mentio, accipe quemadmodum usus fructusque eius tibi esse gratior possit. 'Is maxime divitiis fruitur qui minime divitiis indiget.' 'Ede' inquis 'auctorem.' Ut scias quam benigni simus, propositum est aliena laudare: Epicuri est aut Metrodori aut alicuius ex illa officina.

[17] Now you extend your hand for the daily stipend. I will fill you with a golden stipend, and since mention of gold has been made, accept how the use and usufruct of it can be more welcome to you. 'He most enjoys riches who least needs riches.' 'Produce' you say 'the author.' That you may know how generous we are, it has been proposed to praise what is another’s: it is Epicurus’s or Metrodorus’s or someone’s from that workshop.

[18] Et quid interest quis dixerit? omnibus dixit. Qui eget divitiis timet pro illis; nemo autem sollicito bono fruitur.

[18] And what difference does it make who said it? he said it to all. He who needs riches fears for them; however, no one enjoys a good that is anxious.

Adicere illis aliquid studet; dum de incremento cogitat, oblitus est usus. Rationes accipit, forum conterit, kalendarium versat: fit ex domino procurator. Vale.

He strives to add something to them; while thinking of increment, he has forgotten use. Accounts he receives, he wears out the forum, he turns over the calendar: he becomes out of a master a procurator. Farewell.

XV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

15. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETING

[1] Mos antiquis fuit, usque ad meam servatus aetatem, primis epistulae verbis adicere 'si vales bene est, ego valeo'. Recte nos dicimus 'si philosopharis, bene est'. Valere enim hoc demum est. Sine hoc aeger est animus; corpus quoque, etiam si magnas habet vires, non aliter quam furiosi aut frenetici validum est.

[1] A custom among the ancients existed, preserved right up to my age, to add at the first words of a letter 'if you are well it is well, I am well'. Rightly we say 'if you are philosophizing, it is well'. For to be well, this at last is. Without this the mind is sick; the body also, even if it has great strength, is strong no otherwise than that of madmen or frenetics.

[2] Ergo hanc praecipue valetudinem cura, deinde et illam secundam; quae non magno tibi constabit, si volueris bene valere. Stulta est enim, mi Lucili, et minime conveniens litterato viro occupatio exercendi lacertos et dilatandi cervicem ac latera firmandi; cum tibi feliciter sagina cesserit et tori creverint, nec vires umquam opimi bovis nec pondus aequabis. Adice nunc quod maiore corporis sarcina animus eliditur et minus agilis est.

[2] Therefore take care of this health especially, then also that second; which will not cost you much if you are willing to be well. Foolish indeed, my Lucilius, and least convenient for a literate man, is the occupation of exercising the upper arms and broadening the neck and strengthening the flanks; when the fattening has turned out successfully for you and the muscles have grown, you will not ever match the strength of a well-fattened ox nor its weight. Add now that with a greater burden of the body the spirit is crushed and is less agile.

Itaque quantum potes circumscribe corpus tuum et animo locum laxa.

Therefore, as much as you can, circumscribe your body and give space to your mind.

[3] Multa sequuntur incommoda huic deditos curae: primum exercitationes, quarum labor spiritum exhaurit et inhabilem intentioni ac studiis acrioribus reddit; deinde copia ciborum subtilitas impeditur. Accedunt pessimae notae mancipia in magisterium recepta, homines inter oleum et vinum occupati, quibus ad votum dies actus est si bene desudaverunt, si in locum eius quod effluxit multum potionis altius in ieiuno iturae regesserunt.

[3] Many incommodities follow for those devoted to this care: first, exercises, whose labor exhausts the spirit and renders unfit for intention and for studies more acute; next, by the abundance of foods subtlety is impeded. There are added slaves of the worst note received into the magisterium, men between oil and wine occupied, for whom the day has gone to their wish if they have sweated well, if, in place of that which has flowed out, they have put back much potion, to go deeper on an empty stomach.

[4] Bibere et sudare vita cardiaci est. Sunt exercitationes et faciles et breves, quae corpus et sine mora lassent et tempori parcant, cuius praecipua ratio habenda est: cursus et cum aliquo pondere manus motae et saltus vel ille qui corpus in altum levat vel ille qui in longum mittit vel ille, ut ita dicam, saliaris aut, ut contumeliosius dicam, fullonius: quoslibet ex his elige +usum rude facile+.

[4] To drink and to sweat is the life of a cardiac. There are exercises both easy and brief, which tire the body without delay and spare time, of which the chief consideration is to be had: running, and hands moved with some weight, and jumps—either that which lifts the body on high, or that which sends it far, or that, so to speak, Salian, or, to speak more contumeliously, fuller-like: choose whichever of these you like +a rude, easy practice+.

[5] Quidquid facies, cito redi a corpore ad animum; illum noctibus ac diebus exerce. Labore modico alitur ille; hanc exercitationem non frigus, non aestus impediet, ne senectus quidem. Id bonum cura quod vetustate fit melius.

[5] Whatever you do, quickly return from the body to the mind; exercise that one by nights and by days. With moderate labor it is nourished; this exercise neither cold, nor heat will impede, not even old age. Take care of that good which with age becomes better.

[6] Neque ego te iubeo semper imminere libro aut pugillaribus: dandum est aliquod intervallum animo, ita tamen ut non resolvatur, sed remittatur. Gestatio et corpus concutit et studio non officit: possis legere, possis dictare, possis loqui, possis audire, quorum nihil ne ambulatio quidem vetat fieri.

[6] Nor do I bid you always bend over a book or writing-tablets: some interval must be given to the mind, yet so that it not be unstrung, but relaxed. A carriage-ride both shakes the body and does not hinder study: you can read, you can dictate, you can speak, you can listen, of which none not even walking itself forbids to be done.

[7] Nec tu intentionem vocis contempseris, quam veto te per gradus et certos modos extollere, deinde deprimere. Quid si velis deinde quemadmodum ambules discere? Admitte istos quos nova artificia docuit fames: erit qui gradus tuos temperet et buccas edentis observet et in tantum procedat in quantum audaciam eius patientia et credulitate produxeris.

[7] Nor should you despise the control of the voice, which I forbid you to raise by steps and fixed modes, then to lower. What if you should then wish to learn how you walk? Admit those whom hunger has taught new artifices: there will be someone to regulate your steps and to observe the cheeks of one eating, and to go forward just so far as your patience and credulity shall have drawn out his boldness.

Quid ergo? a clamore protinus et a summa contentione vox tua incipiet? usque eo naturale est paulatim incitari ut litigantes quoque a sermone incipiant, ad vociferationem transeant; nemo statim Quiritium fidem implorat.

What then? Will your voice begin straightaway from shouting and from the utmost strain ? To such a point it is natural to be gradually incited that even litigants also begin from speech, and pass over to vociferation; no one straightway implores the faith of the Quirites.

[8] Ergo utcumque tibi impetus animi suaserit, modo vehementius fac vitiis convicium, modo lentius, prout vox te quoque hortabitur +in id latus+; modesta, cum recipies illam revocarisque, descendat, non decidat; +mediatorisui habeat et hoc+ indocto et rustico more desaeviat. Non enim id agimus ut exerceatur vox, sed ut exerceat.

[8] Therefore, however the impulse of your mind may have suggested to you, at one time make invective against vices more vehemently, at another more slowly, just as the voice will urge you too in that direction; modestly, when you draw it back and are yourself recalled, let it descend, not drop; let it also have, as the part of a mediator, this too, and let it rage in an unlearned and rustic manner. For we are not aiming that the voice be exercised, but that it exercise.

[9] Detraxi tibi non pusillum negotii: una mercedula et +unum graecum+ ad haec beneficia accedet. Ecce insigne praeceptum: 'stulta vita ingrata est, trepida; tota in futurum fertur'. 'Quis hoc' inquis 'dicit?' idem qui supra. Quam tu nunc vitam dici existimas stultam?

[9] I have taken away from you no small amount of business: one little reward and +one Greek+ will be added to these benefits. Behold a notable precept: 'the foolish life is ungrateful, in trepidation; it is wholly borne toward the future.' 'Who says this,' you ask, 'says it?' the same one as above. What life do you now suppose is called foolish?

Babae et Isionis? Non ita est: nostra dicitur, quos caeca cupiditas in nocitura, certe numquam satiatura praecipitat, quibus si quid satis esse posset, fuisset, qui non cogitamus quam iucundum sit nihil poscere, quam magnificum sit plenum esse nec ex fortuna pendere.

Bravo, by Isis? Not so: it is said to be ours, we whom blind cupidity precipitates into harmful things, surely never to be satiated, for whom, if anything could have been enough, it would have been, we who do not consider how pleasant it is to demand nothing, how magnificent it is to be replete and not to depend on Fortune.

[10] Subinde itaque, Lucili, quam multa sis consecutus recordare; cum aspexeris quot te antecedant, cogita quot sequantur. Si vis gratus esse adversus deos et adversus vitam tuam, cogita quam multos antecesseris. Quid tibi cum ceteris?

[10] Therefore, from time to time, Lucilius, recall how many things you have achieved; when you have looked at how many go before you, consider how many follow. If you wish to be grateful toward the gods and toward your life, consider how many you have outstripped. What have you to do with the others?

te ipse antecessisti.

you yourself have outstripped yourself.

[11] Finem constitue quem transire ne possis quidem si velis; discedant aliquando ista insidiosa bona et sperantibus meliora quam assecutis. Si quid in illis esset solidi, aliquando et implerent: nunc haurientium sitim concitant. Mittantur speciosi apparatus; et quod futuri temporis incerta sors volvit, quare potius a fortuna impetrem ut det, quam a me ne petam?

[11] Establish a limit which you could not pass even if you wished; let those insidious goods at last depart, offering better things to hopers than to those who have attained. If there were anything solid in them, at some time they would even fill; now they excite the thirst of those who drink. Let the specious apparatus be dismissed; and as for what the uncertain lot of future time rolls, why should I rather obtain by entreaty from Fortune that she give, than from myself that I not seek?

Quare autem petam? oblitus fragilitatis humanae congeram? in quid laborem?

Why, moreover, should I petition? Shall I, forgetful of human fragility, accumulate? For what should I labor?

Ecce hic dies ultimus est; ut non sit, prope ab ultimo est. Vale.

Behold, this day is the last; if it be not, it is close to the last. Farewell.

XVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

16. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Liquere hoc tibi, Lucili, scio, neminem posse beate vivere, ne tolerabiliter quidem, sine sapientiae studio, et beatam vitam perfecta sapientia effici, ceterum tolerabilem etiam inchoata. Sed hoc quod liquet firmandum et altius cotidiana meditatione figendum est: plus operis est in eo ut proposita custodias quam ut honesta proponas. Perseverandum est et assiduo studio robur addendum, donec bona mens sit quod bona voluntas est.

[1] I know this is clear to you, Lucilius: that no one can live happily—indeed, not even tolerably—without the pursuit of wisdom, and that a happy life is brought about by perfected wisdom, but a tolerable one even by wisdom begun. But what is clear must be strengthened and fixed more deeply by daily meditation: there is more work in keeping your resolutions than in proposing honorable ones. One must persevere and add strength by assiduous study, until a good mind is what a good will is.

[2] Itaque - non opus est - tibi apud me pluribus verbis aut affirmatione tam longa: intellego multum te profecisse. Quae scribis unde veniant scio; non sunt ficta nec colorata. Dicam tamen quid sentiam: iam de te spem habeo, nondum fiduciam.

[2] Therefore - there is no need - for you, with me, of more words or of so long an affirmation: I understand that you have advanced much. The things you write, I know whence they come; they are not fictitious nor colored. I will nevertheless say what I think: already I have hope concerning you, not yet confidence.

Tu quoque idem facias volo: non est quod tibi cito et facile credas. Excute te et varie scrutare et observa; illud ante omnia vide, utrum in philosophia an in ipsa vita profeceris.

You too I want to do the same: there is no reason for you to believe yourself quickly and easily. Shake yourself out and scrutinize yourself in various ways and observe; see this before all things, whether in philosophy or in life itself you have made progress.

[3] Non est philosophia populare artificium nec ostentationi paratum; non in verbis sed in rebus est. Nec in hoc adhibetur, ut cum aliqua oblectatione consumatur dies, ut dematur otio nausia: animum format et fabricat, vitam disponit, actiones regit, agenda et omittenda demonstrat, sedet ad gubernaculum et per ancipitia fluctuantium derigit cursum. Sine hac nemo intrepide potest vivere, nemo secure; innumerabilia accidunt singulis horis quae consilium exigant, quod ab hac petendum est.

[3] Philosophy is not a popular craft nor prepared for ostentation; it is not in words but in things. Nor is it applied to this end, that the day be consumed with some delectation, that the nausea of leisure be taken away: it forms and fabricates the mind, orders life, rules actions, points out the agenda and the things to be omitted, sits at the helm and, through the perils of things that fluctuate, directs the course. Without this no one can live intrepidly, no one securely; innumerable things befall every single hour that require counsel, which must be sought from this.

[4] Dicet aliquis, 'quid mihi prodest philosophia, si fatum est? quid prodest, si deus rector est? quid prodest, si casus imperat?

[4] Someone will say, 'what does philosophy profit me, if there is fate? what does it profit, if God is the rector? what does it profit, if chance is in command?

Nam et mutari certa non possunt et nihil praeparari potest adversus incerta, sed aut consilium meum occupavit deus decrevitque quid facerem, aut consilio meo nihil fortuna permittit.'

For both the certain things cannot be changed and nothing can be prepared against the uncertain, but either my counsel has been occupied by god and he has decreed what I should do, or fortune permits nothing to my counsel.'

[5] Quidquid est ex his, Lucili, vel si omnia haec sunt, philosophandum est; sive nos inexorabili lege fata constringunt, sive arbiter deus universi cuncta disposuit, sive casus res humanas sine ordine impellit et iactat, philosophia nos tueri debet. Haec adhortabitur ut deo libenter pareamus, ut fortunae contumaciter; haec docebit ut deum sequaris, feras casum.

[5] Whatever it is of these, Lucilius, or if all these are, one must philosophize; whether the fates bind us with an inexorable law, or God, arbiter of the universe, has disposed all things, or chance impels human affairs without order and tosses them, philosophy ought to protect us. This will exhort us to obey God gladly, to resist Fortune contumaciously; this will teach that you follow God, to bear chance.

[6] Sed non est nunc in hanc disputationem transeundum, quid sit iuris nostri si providentia in imperio est, aut si fatorum series illigatos trahit, aut si repentina ac subita dominantur: illo nunc revertor, ut te moneam et exhorter ne patiaris impetum animi tui delabi et refrigescere. Contine illum et constitue, ut habitus animi fiat quod est impetus.

[6] But it is not now to be entered upon in this disputation, what is within our jurisdiction if Providence is in command, or if the series of fates draws us bound, or if sudden and unexpected things are dominant: to that I now return, that I may warn and exhort you not to allow the impulse of your mind to slip away and grow cold. Hold it and establish it, so that what is an impulse may become a habit of mind.

[7] Iam ab initio, si te bene novi, circumspicies quid haec epistula munusculi attulerit: excute illam, et invenies. Non est quod mireris animum meum: adhuc de alieno liberalis sum. Quare autem alienum dixi ? quidquid bene dictum est ab ullo meum est.

[7] Already from the beginning, if I know you well, you will look around what this epistle has brought by way of a little gift: shake it out, and you will find it. There is no reason for you to marvel at my spirit: thus far I am liberal with what is another’s. But why however did I say ‘alien’ ? whatever has been well said by anyone is mine.

Istuc quoque ab Epicuro dictum est: 'si ad naturam vives, numquam eris pauper; si ad opiniones, numquam eris dives'.

That too was said by Epicurus: 'if you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to opinions, you will never be rich'.

[8] Exiguum natura desiderat, opinio immensum. Congeratur in te quidquid multi locupletes possederant; ultra privatum pecuniae modum fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpura vestiat, eo deliciarum opumque perducat ut terram marmoribus abscondas; non tantum habere tibi liceat sed calcare divitias; accedant statuae et picturae et quidquid ars ulla luxuriae elaboravit: maiora cupere ab his disces.

[8] Nature desires little, opinion the immense. Let whatever many opulent men had possessed be heaped upon you; let Fortune advance you beyond the private pecuniary measure, let it cover you with gold, clothe you with purple, bring you to such a point of delicacies and opulence that you hide the earth with marbles; not only may it be permitted you to have but to trample upon riches; let there be added statues and pictures and whatever art of any kind has elaborated for luxury: from these you will learn to desire greater things.

[9] Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsa opinione nascentia ubi desinant non habent; nullus enim terminus falso est. Via eunti aliquid extremum est: error immensus est. Retrahe ergo te a vanis, et cum voles scire quod petes, utrum naturalem habeat an caecam cupiditatem, considera num possit alicubi consistere: si longe progresso semper aliquid longius restat, scito id naturale non esse.

[9] Natural desires are finite: from false opinion arising where they may end they have not; for no terminus belongs to the false. For one going on a road there is some end: error is immense. Therefore draw yourself back from vanities, and when you want to know what you seek, whether it has a natural or a blind cupidity, consider whether it can come to a stand anywhere: if, having gone far, there always remains something farther, know that this is not natural.

Vale.

Farewell.

XVII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

17. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Proice omnia ista, si sapis, immo ut sapias, et ad bonam mentem magno cursu ac totis viribus tende; si quid est quo teneris, aut expedi aut incide. 'Moratur' inquis 'me res familiaris; sic illam disponere volo ut sufficere nihil agenti possit, ne aut paupertas mihi oneri sit aut ego alicui.'

[1] Throw away all those things, if you are wise, nay, that you may be wise, and toward a good mind at great speed and with all your strength strive; if there is anything by which you are held, either disentangle it or cut it off. 'It is delaying,' you say, 'me, my household estate; I wish to dispose it in such a way that it may suffice for doing nothing, lest either poverty be a burden to me or I to anyone.'

[2] Cum hoc dicis, non videris vim ac potentiam eius de quo cogitas boni nosse; et summam quidem rei pervides, quantum philosophia prosit, partes autem nondum satis subtiliter dispicis, necdum scis quantum ubique nos adiuvet, quemadmodum et in maximis, ut Ciceronis utar verbo, 'opituletur' in minima descendat. Mihi crede, advoca illam in consilium: suadebit tibi ne ad calculos sedeas.

[2] When you say this, you do not seem to know the force and potency of the good you are considering; and indeed you perceive the sum of the matter, how much philosophy profits, but you do not yet discern the parts with sufficient subtlety, nor yet do you know how much it helps us everywhere, how both in the greatest matters, to use Cicero’s word, it 'gives aid' and descends to the very smallest. Believe me, call her into counsel: she will advise you not to sit down to your calculations.

[3] Nempe hoc quaeris et hoc ista dilatione vis consequi, ne tibi paupertas timenda sit: quid si appetenda est? Multis ad philosophandum obstitere divitiae: paupertas expedita est, secura est. Cum classicum cecinit, scit non se peti; cum aqua conclamata est, quomodo exeat, non quid efferat, quaerit; [ut] si navigandum est, non strepunt portus nec unius comitatu inquieta sunt litora; non circumstat illam turba servorum, ad quos pascendos transmarinarum regionum est optanda fertilitas.

[3] Surely this you seek and this by that delay you wish to achieve, that poverty not be for you a thing to be feared: what if it is to be sought? For many riches have stood in the way of philosophizing: poverty is unencumbered, it is secure. When the trumpet has sounded, she knows she is not being targeted; when “water!” has been cried, she asks how she may get out, not what she may carry out; [as] if there must be sailing, the harbors do not clamor nor are the shores disturbed by the retinue of a single man; a crowd of slaves does not surround her, for the feeding of whom the fertility of transmarine regions is to be desired.

[4] Facile est pascere paucos ventres et bene institutos et nihil aliud desiderantes quam impleri: parvo fames constat, magno fastidium. Paupertas contenta est desideriis instantibus satis facere: quid est ergo quare hanc recuses contubernalem cuius mores sanus dives imitatur?

[4] It is easy to feed a few bellies, well-instituted and desiring nothing else than to be filled: hunger costs little, fastidiousness much. Poverty is content to satisfy present desires: what reason is there, then, that you refuse her as a tent-companion, whose manners a sane rich man imitates?

[5] Si vis vacare animo, aut pauper sis oportet aut pauperi similis. Non potest studium salutare fieri sine frugalitatis cura; frugalitas autem paupertas voluntaria est. Tolle itaque istas excusationes: 'nondum habeo quantum sat est; si ad illam summam pervenero, tunc me totum philosophiae dabo'. Atqui nihil prius quam hoc parandum est quod tu differs et post cetera paras; ab hoc incipiendum est.

[5] If you wish to be free in mind, either you must be poor or like a poor man. A salutary study cannot be made without a care for frugality; frugality moreover is voluntary poverty. Remove therefore those excuses: 'I do not yet have as much as suffices; if I reach that sum, then I will give myself wholly to philosophy'. And yet nothing is to be prepared before this which you defer and prepare after the rest; from this one must begin.

'Parare' inquis 'unde vivam volo.' Simul et parare <te> disce: si quid te vetat bene vivere, bene mori non vetat.

'To provide,' you say, 'whence I may live, I want.' At the same time learn also to prepare <yourself>: if anything forbids you to live well, it does not forbid you to die well.

[6] Non est quod nos paupertas a philosophia revocet, ne egestas quidem. Toleranda est enim ad hoc properantibus vel fames; quam toleravere quidam in obsidionibus, et quod aliud erat illius patientiae praemium quam in arbitrium non cadere victoris? Quanto hoc maius est quod promittitur: perpetua libertas, nullius nec hominis nec dei timor.

[6] There is no reason for poverty to call us back from philosophy, nor even indigence. For those hastening toward this, even hunger must be endured; which some have endured in sieges, and what other reward was there for that patience than not to fall into the arbitrament of the victor? How much greater is this that is promised: perpetual liberty, fear of no one—neither man nor god.

Ecquid vel esurienti ad ista veniendum est?

Must even the esurient come to these things?

[7] Perpessi sunt exercitus inopiam omnium rerum, vixerunt herbarum radicibus et dictu foedis tulerunt famem; haec omnia passi sunt pro regno, quo magis mireris, alieno: dubitabit aliquis ferre paupertatem ut animum furoribus liberet? Non est ergo prius acquirendum: licet ad philosophiam etiam sine viatico pervenire.

[7] Armies have endured a lack of all things, they have lived on the roots of herbs and, with things foul to say, they bore hunger; all these things they suffered for a kingdom, which the more you may wonder, another’s: will anyone hesitate to bear poverty so as to free his mind from madnesses? Therefore there is no need to acquire first: it is permitted to arrive at philosophy even without viaticum.

[8] Ita est? cum omnia habueris, tunc habere et sapientiam voles? haec erit ultimum vitae instrumentum et, ut ita dicam, additamentum?

[8] Is it so? when you have had everything, then you will want to have wisdom? will this be the ultimate instrument of life and, so to speak, an additament?

Tu vero, sive aliquid habes, iam philosophare - unde enim scis an iam nimis habeas? -, sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quicquam.

You, however, whether you have something, philosophize now - for how indeed do you know whether you already have too much? -, or whether nothing, inquire into this first before anything.

[9] 'At necessaria deerunt.' Primum deesse non poterunt, quia natura minimum petit, naturae autem se sapiens accommodat. Sed si necessitates ultimae inciderint, iamdudum exibit e vita et molestus sibi esse desinet. Si vero exiguum erit et angustum quo possit vita produci, id boni consulet nec ultra necessaria sollicitus aut anxius ventri et scapulis suum reddet et occupationes divitum concursationesque ad divitias euntium securus laetusque ridebit

[9] 'But the necessities will be lacking.' First, they cannot be lacking, because nature asks for the minimum, and to nature, however, the wise man accommodates himself. But if the ultimate necessities should befall, he will at once go out of life and cease to be troublesome to himself. But if in truth there is a scant and narrow means by which life can be prolonged, this he will take in good part, and, beyond the necessities, not solicitous or anxious, to his belly and to his shoulders he will render their due, and the occupations of the rich and the runnings-to-and-fro toward riches he will, secure and glad, laugh at

[10] ac dicet, 'quid in longum ipse te differs? expectabisne fenoris quaestum aut ex merce compendium aut tabulas beati senis, cum fieri possis statim dives? Repraesentat opes sapientia, quas cuicumque fecit supervacuas dedit.' Haec ad alios pertinent: tu locupletibus propior es. Saeculum muta, nimis habes; idem est autem omni saeculo quod sat est.

[10] and he will say, 'why do you defer yourself into the long term? Will you wait for the gain of interest or for a compendium from merchandise, or for the tablets of a blessed old man, when you can become rich at once? Wisdom makes wealth present, which it has given to whoever it has made superfluous.' These things pertain to others: you are nearer to the opulent. Change the age, you have too much; yet what is sufficient is the same in every age.

[11] Poteram hoc loco epistulam claudere, nisi te male instituissem. Reges Parthos non potest quisquam salutare sine munere; tibi valedicere non licet gratis. Quid istic?

[11] I could at this place close the epistle, unless I had badly trained you. No one can salute the Parthian kings without a gift; it is not permitted to bid you farewell gratis. What of it?

ab Epicuro mutuum sumam: 'multis parasse divitias non finis miseriarum fuit sed mutatio'.

from Epicurus I will take on loan: 'for many, to have amassed riches was not the end of miseries but a change'.

[12] Nec hoc miror; non est enim in rebus vitium sed in ipso animo. Illud quod paupertatem nobis gravem fecerat et divitias graves fecit. Quemadmodum nihil refert utrum aegrum in ligneo lecto an in aureo colloces - quocumque illum transtuleris, morbum secum suum transferet -, sic nihil refert utrum aeger animus in divitiis an in paupertate ponatur: malum illum suum sequitur.

[12] Nor do I marvel at this; for the vice is not in things but in the mind itself. That which had made poverty grave for us has made riches grave as well. Just as it makes no difference whether you place the sick man on a wooden bed or on a golden one - whithersoever you transfer him, he will transfer his disease with himself -, so it makes no difference whether the sick mind is placed in riches or in poverty: his own evil follows him.

Vale.

Farewell.

XVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

18. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] December est mensis: cum maxime civitas sudat. Ius luxuriae publice datum est; ingenti apparatu sonant omnia, tamquam quicquam inter Saturnalia intersit et dies rerum agendarum; adeo nihil interest ut videatur mihi errasse qui dixit olim mensem Decembrem fuisse, nunc annum.

[1] It is the month of December: just when the city sweats most. A public license for luxury has been granted; with immense apparatus everything resounds, as though anything differed between the Saturnalia and the days for the transaction of affairs; so little difference is there that it seems to me he has erred who once said that December used to be a month, now a year.

[2] Si te hic haberem, libenter tecum conferrem quid existimares esse faciendum, utrum nihil ex cotidiana consuetudine movendum an, ne dissidere videremur cum publicis moribus, et hilarius cenandum et exuendam togam. Nam quod fieri nisi in tumultu et tristi tempore civitatis non solebat, voluptatis causa ac festorum dierum vestem mutavimus.

[2] If I had you here, I would gladly confer with you what you would judge ought to be done, whether nothing from the daily consuetude should be moved, or, lest we should seem to disagree with the public mores, both to dine more cheerfully and to doff the toga. For what used not to be done except in a tumult and in a sad time of the commonwealth, for the sake of pleasure and of festal days we have changed our garment.

[3] Si te bene novi, arbitri partibus functus nec per omnia nos similes esse pilleatae turbae voluisses nec per omnia dissimiles; nisi forte his maxime diebus animo imperandum est, ut tunc voluptatibus solus abstineat cum in illas omnis turba procubuit; certissimum enim argumentum firmitatis suae capit, si ad blanda et in luxuriam trahentia nec it nec abducitur.

[3] If I know you well, having performed the parts of an arbiter, you would not have wished us to be in all respects like the pilleus-capped crowd nor in all respects unlike; unless perhaps on these very days the mind must be commanded, so that then he alone abstain from pleasures when the whole crowd has flung itself upon them; for he takes the most certain proof of his own firmness, if toward things alluring and drawing into luxury he neither goes nor is led away.

[4] Hoc multo fortius est, ebrio ac vomitante populo siccum ac sobrium esse, illud temperantius, non excerpere se nec insignire nec misceri omnibus et eadem sed non eodem modo facere; licet enim sine luxuria agere festum diem.

[4] This is much stronger: when the people are drunk and vomiting, to be dry and sober; that is more temperate, not to pick oneself out nor to mark oneself off, nor to be mingled with everyone and to do the same things but not in the same way; for it is permitted to keep a feast day without luxury.

[5] Ceterum adeo mihi placet temptare animi tui firmitatem ut e praecepto magnorum virorum tibi quoque praecipiam: interponas aliquot dies quibus contentus minimo ac vilissimo cibo, dura atque horrida veste, dicas tibi 'hoc est quod timebatur?'

[5] Moreover, it so pleases me to test the firmness of your spirit that, from the precept of great men, to you also I give a precept: interpose several days during which, content with the least and the cheapest food, with hard and horrid clothing, say to yourself 'is this what was feared?'

[6] In ipsa securitate animus ad difficilia se praeparet et contra iniurias fortunae inter beneficia firmetur. Miles in media pace decurrit, sine ullo hoste vallum iacit, et supervacuo labore lassatur ut sufficere necessario possit; quem in ipsa re trepidare nolueris, ante rem exerceas. Hoc secuti sunt qui omnibus mensibus paupertatem imitati prope ad inopiam accesserunt, ne umquam expavescerent quod saepe didicissent.

[6] In the very security let the mind prepare itself for difficulties and against the injuries of Fortune be strengthened among benefits. The soldier in the middle of peace runs drill, without any enemy he throws up a rampart, and is wearied by superfluous labor so that he may be able to suffice for what is necessary; him whom you would not wish to tremble in the very event, exercise before the event. This was followed by those who, in all months, imitating poverty, came near to indigence so that they might never be terrified at what they had often learned.

[7] Non est nunc quod existimes me dicere Timoneas cenas et pauperum cellas et quidquid aliud est per quod luxuria divitiarum taedio ludit: grabattus ille verus sit et sagum et panis durus ac sordidus. Hoc triduo et quatriduo fer, interdum pluribus diebus, ut non lusus sit sed experimentum: tunc, mihi crede, Lucili, exultabis dipondio satur et intelleges ad securitatem non opus esse fortuna; hoc enim quod necessitati sat est dabit et irata.

[7] It is not now that you should suppose me to be speaking of Timonian dinners and of the poor cells, and whatever else there is whereby the luxury of riches plays with tedium: let the pallet be the true one, and the sagum, and hard bread and sordid. Bear this for three days and for four days, sometimes for more days, so that it be not a game but an experiment: then, believe me, Lucilius, you will exult, sated by a dupondius, and you will understand that for security there is no need of Fortune; for this indeed, which is enough for necessity, she will give even when angry.

[8] Non est tamen quare tu multum tibi facere videaris - facies enim quod multa milia servorum, multa milia pauperum faciunt -: illo nomine te Cuspice, quod facies non coactus, quod tam facile erit tibi illud pati semper quam aliquando experiri. Exerceamur ad palum, et ne imparatos fortuna deprehendat, fiat nobis paupertas familiaris; securius divites erimus si scierimus quam non sit grave pauperes esse.

[8] There is, however, no reason why you should seem to yourself to be doing much - for you will do what many thousands of slaves, many thousands of paupers do -: in this regard count it to your credit, Cuspice, that you will do it not compelled, that it will be as easy for you to suffer that always as at some time to experience it. Let us exercise at the stake, and lest Fortune catch us unprepared, let poverty become familiar to us; we shall be richer more securely if we shall have known how not grievous it is to be poor.

[9] Certos habebat dies ille magister voluptatis Epicurus quibus maligne famem exstingueret, visurus an aliquid deesset ex plena et consummata voluptate, vel quantum deesset, et an dignum quod quis magno labore pensaret. Hoc certe in iis epistulis ait quas scripsit Charino magistratu ad Polyaenum; et quidem gloriatur non toto asse pasci, Metrodorum, qui nondum tantum profecerit, toto.

[9] Epicurus, that master of pleasure, had fixed days on which he would stingily extinguish hunger, to see whether anything was lacking from full and consummate pleasure, or how much was lacking, and whether it were something worth paying for at great labor. He certainly says this in those epistles which he wrote, in the magistracy of Charinus, to Polyaenus; and indeed he boasts that he is fed for not a whole as, while Metrodorus, who had not yet advanced so far, for a whole one.

[10] In hoc tu victu saturitatem putas esse? Et voluptas est; voluptas autem non illa levis et fugax et subinde reficienda, sed stabilis et certa. Non enim iucunda res est aqua et polenta aut frustum hordeacii panis, sed summa voluptas est posse capere etiam ex his voluptatem et ad id se deduxisse quod eripere nulla fortunae iniquitas possit.

[10] In this diet do you think there is satiety? And it is pleasure; but the pleasure not that light and fleeting and from time to time to be refreshed, but stable and certain. For a pleasant thing is not water and polenta or a piece of barley bread, but the highest pleasure is to be able to take even from these pleasure and to have brought oneself down to that which no iniquity of fortune can snatch away.

[11] Liberaliora alimenta sunt carceris, sepositos ad capitale supplicium non tam anguste qui occisurus est pascit: quanta est animi magnitudo ad id sua sponte descendere quod ne ad extrema quidem decretis timendum sit! hoc est praeoccupare tela fortunae.

[11] More liberal aliments are the prison’s, those set apart for capital punishment he who is about to kill does not feed so narrowly: how great is the magnitude of spirit to descend of one’s own accord to that which is not to be feared even at the last by decrees! this is to pre-occupy the weapons of Fortune.

[12] Incipe ergo, mi Lucili, sequi horum consuetudinem et aliquos dies destina quibus secedas a tuis rebus minimoque te facias familiarem; incipe cum paupertate habere commercium;

[12] Begin therefore, my Lucilius, to follow the custom of these men and designate some days on which you may secede from your affairs and make yourself familiar with the least; begin to have commerce with poverty;

aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum
finge deo.

dare, guest, to contemn wealth, and fashion yourself also
worthy of a god.

[13] Nemo alius est deo dignus quam qui opes contempsit; quarum possessionem tibi non interdico, sed efficere volo ut illas intrepide possideas; quod uno consequeris modo, si te etiam sine illis beate victurum persuaseris tibi, si illas tamquam exituras semper aspexeris.

[13] No one else is worthy of god than he who has contemned wealth; the possession of which I do not forbid you, but I wish to bring it about that you possess them intrepidly; which you will attain in one way, if you have persuaded yourself that you will live happily even without them, if you always look upon them as about to depart.

[14] Sed iam incipiamus epistulam complicare. 'Prius' inquis 'redde quod debes.' Delegabo te ad Epicurum, ab illo fiet numeratio: 'immodica ira gignit insaniam'. Hoc quam verum sit necesse est scias, cum habueris et servum et inimicum.

[14] But now let us begin to fold up the epistle. 'First,' you say, 'render what you owe.' I will delegate you to Epicurus; by him the reckoning will be made: 'immoderate anger begets insanity.' This how true it is you must know, when you have had both a servant and an enemy.

[15] In omnes personas hic exardescit affectus; tam ex amore nascitur quam ex odio, non minus inter seria quam inter lusus et iocos; nec interest ex quam magna causa nascatur sed in qualem perveniat animum. Sic ignis non refert quam magnus sed quo incidat; nam etiam maximum solida non receperunt, rursus arida et corripi facilia scintillam quoque fovent usque in incendium. Ita est, mi Lucili: ingentis irae exitus furor est, et ideo ira vitanda est non moderationis causa sed sanitatis.

[15] In all persons this passion blazes up; as much from love it is born as from hatred, no less among serious things than among sport and jests; nor does it matter from how great a cause it is born, but into what kind of mind it arrives. Thus fire it matters not how great, but where it falls; for solid things have not received even the greatest, conversely, dry and easily-seized things nurture even a spark all the way into a conflagration. Thus it is, my Lucilius: the issue of mighty ire is madness, and therefore anger is to be avoided not for the sake of moderation but of sanity.

Vale.

Farewell.

XIX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

19. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Exulto quotiens epistulas tuas accipio; implent enim me bona spe, et iam non promittunt de te sed spondent. Ita fac, oro atque obsecro - quid enim habeo melius quod amicum rogem quam quod pro ipso rogaturus sum? si potes, subducte istis occupationibus; si minus, eripe.

[1] I exult whenever I receive your letters; for they fill me with good hope, and now they do not promise about you but stand surety. Do so, I beg and beseech - for what have I better to ask of a friend than that which I am going to ask on his own behalf? if you can, withdraw yourself from those occupations; if not, tear yourself away.

Satis multum temporis sparsimus: incipiamus vasa in senectute colligere.

We have scattered very much time: let us begin to collect our baggage in old age.

[2] Numquid invidiosum est? in freto viximus, moriamur in portu. Neque ego suaserim tibi nomen ex otio petere, quod nec iactare debes nec abscondere; numquam enim usque eo te abigam generis humani furore damnato ut latebram tibi aliquam parari et oblivionem velim: id age ut otium tuum non emineat sed appareat.

[2] Is it invidious? in the strait we have lived; let us die in the harbor. Nor would I advise you to seek a name from leisure, which you ought neither to vaunt nor to hide; for never will I drive you to that point, with the madness of the human race condemned, that a hiding-place for you some be prepared and oblivion be desired: see to it that your leisure not be prominent but be apparent.

[3] Deinde videbunt de isto quibus integra sunt et prima consilia an velint vitam per obscurum transmittere: tibi liberum non est. In medium te protulit ingenii vigor, scriptorum elegantia, clarae et nobiles amicitiae; iam notitia te invasit; ut in extrema mergaris ac penitus recondaris, tamen priora monstrabunt.

[3] Then those whose counsels are intact and first will consider about this, whether they wish to pass life through obscurity: you are not at liberty. Into the midst the vigor of your talent has brought you, the elegance of your writings, illustrious and noble friendships; already notice has invaded you; though you plunge into the farthest depths and are hidden utterly, nevertheless your earlier things will point you out.

[4] Tenebras habere non potes; sequetur quocumque fugeris multum pristinae lucis: quietem potes vindicare sine ullius odio, sine desiderio aut morsu animi tui. Quid enim relinques quod invitus relictum a te possis cogitare? Clientes?

[4] You cannot have darkness; much of your former light will follow wherever you flee: you can claim quiet without anyone’s hatred, without desire or the bite of your spirit. What, indeed, will you leave behind that you could think of as left by you unwillingly? Clients?

quorum nemo te ipsum sequitur, sed aliquid ex te; amicitia olim petebatur, nunc praeda; mutabunt testamenta destituti senes, migrabit ad aliud limen salutator. Non potest parvo res magna constare: aestima utrum te relinquere an aliquid ex tuis malis.

of whom no one follows you yourself, but something from you; friendship was once sought, now plunder; abandoned old men will change their wills, the saluter will migrate to another threshold. A great thing cannot be had at a small price: estimate whether to leave yourself or to leave behind something from your evils.

[5] Utinam quidem tibi senescere contigisset intra natalium tuorum modum, nec te in altum fortuna misisset! Tulit te longe a conspectu vitae salubris rapida felicitas, provincia et procuratio et quidquid ab istis promittitur; maiora deinde officia te excipient et ex aliis alia: quis exitus erit?

[5] Would that indeed it had befallen you to grow old within the measure of your birth, and that fortune had not sent you into the deep! Swift felicity has borne you far from the view of a salubrious life, the province and the procuratorship and whatever is promised by these; then greater offices will receive you and out of others others: what will the exit be?

[6] quid exspectas donec desinas habere quod cupias? numquam erit tempus. Qualem dicimus seriem esse causarum ex quibus nectitur fatum, talem esse *** cupiditatum: altera ex fine alterius nascitur.

[6] What are you waiting for until you cease to have something to desire? There will never be a time. The kind of series we say there is of causes from which fate is woven, such is the series of *** cupidities: the one is born from the end of the other.

In eam demissus es vitam quae numquam tibi terminum miseriarum ac servitutis ipsa factura sit: subduc cervicem iugo tritam; semel illam incidi quam semper premi satius est.

You have been plunged into that life which will never for you set a limit to miseries and servitude itself bring about: withdraw your neck, chafed by the yoke; it is better for it to be cut once than to be pressed forever.

[7] Si te ad privata rettuleris, minora erunt omnia, sed affatim implebunt: at nunc plurima et undique ingesta non satiant. Utrum autem mavis ex inopia saturitatem an in copia famem? Et avida felicitas est et alienae aviditati exposita; quamdiu tibi satis nihil fuerit, ipse aliis non eris.

[7] If you bring yourself back to private life, everything will be smaller, but will amply fill; whereas now very many things, poured in from every side, do not satiate. Which do you prefer: satiety out of scarcity, or hunger in abundance? And avid felicity both is avid and is exposed to another’s avidity; so long as nothing is enough for you, you yourself will not be for others.

[8] 'Quomodo' inquis 'exibo?' Utcumque. Cogita quam multa temere pro pecunia, quam multa laboriose pro honore temptaveris: aliquid et pro otio audendum est, aut in ista sollicitudine procurationum et deinde urbanorum officiorum senescendum, in tumultu ac semper novis fluctibus quos effugere nulla modestia, nulla vitae quiete contingit. Quid enim ad rem pertinet an tu quiescere velis?

[8] 'How,' you ask, 'shall I get out?' However. Consider how many things you have attempted rashly for money, how many laboriously for honor: something too must be dared for leisure, or you must grow old in that solicitude of procurations and then of urban offices, in tumult and ever new billows which to escape no modesty, no tranquility of life allows. For what pertains to the matter whether you wish to be at rest?

fortuna tua non vult. Quid si illi etiam nunc permiseris crescere? quantum ad successus accesserit accedet ad metus.

your fortune does not wish it. What if you even now allow it to grow? as much as is added to successes will be added to fears.

[9] Volo tibi hoc loco referre dictum Maecenatis vera in ipso eculeo elocuti: 'ipsa enim altitudo attonat summa'. Si quaeris in quo libro dixerit, in eo qui Prometheus inscribitur. Hoc voluit dicere, attonita habet summa. Est ergo tanti ulla potentia ut sit tibi tam ebrius sermo?

[9] I wish to relate to you in this place the saying of Maecenas, one who spoke truths even on the very rack: 'for the very altitude astonishes the highest.' If you ask in what book he said this, in that which is entitled Prometheus. He meant to say, it keeps the highest astonished. Is any power, then, worth so much that your speech should be so inebriated?

Ingeniosus ille vir fuit, magnum exemplum Romanae eloquentiae daturus nisi illum enervasset felicitas, immo castrasset. Hic te exitus manet nisi iam contrahes vela, nisi, quod ille sero voluit, terram leges.

That man was ingenious, about to give a great example of Roman eloquence, had not good fortune enervated him—nay, rather, castrated him. This outcome awaits you unless you now reef your sails, unless, what he wished too late, you make for land.

[10] Poteram tecum hac Maecenatis sententia parem facere rationem, sed movebis mihi controversiam, si novi te, nec voles quod debeo in aspero et probo accipere. Ut se res habet, ab Epicuro versura facienda est. 'Ante' inquit 'circumspiciendum est cum quibus edas et bibas quam quid edas et bibas; nam sine amico visceratio leonis ac lupi vita est.'

[10] I could with you, by this saying of Maecenas, make an equal reckoning, but you will stir up a controversy for me, if I know you, and you will not wish to accept what I owe in rough and approved coin. As the matter stands, a rollover must be made from Epicurus. 'Beforehand,' he says, 'one must be circumspect about with whom you eat and drink rather than what you eat and drink; for without a friend a meat-distribution is the life of a lion and a wolf.'

[11] Hoc non continget tibi nisi secesseris: alioquin habebis convivas quos ex turba salutantium nomenclator digesserit; errat autem qui amicum in atrio quaerit, in convivio probat. Nullum habet maius malum occupatus homo et bonis suis obsessus quam quod amicos sibi putat quibus ipse non est, quod beneficia sua efficacia iudicat ad conciliandos animos, cum quidam quo plus debent magis oderint: leve aes alienum debitorem facit, grave inimicum.

[11] This will not befall you unless you withdraw; otherwise you will have dinner-guests whom the nomenclator has sorted for you out of the throng of those paying salutations; moreover, he errs who looks for a friend in the atrium and proves him at a banquet. The occupied man, besieged by his own goods, has no greater evil than that he takes as friends to himself those to whom he himself is not, and that he judges his benefactions efficacious to conciliate minds, whereas certain people, the more they owe, the more they hate: a light debt makes a debtor, a heavy one an enemy.

[12] 'Quid ergo? beneficia non parant amicitias?' Parant, si accepturos licuit eligere, si collocata, non sparsa sunt. Itaque dum incipis esse mentis tuae, interim hoc consilio sapientium utere, ut magis ad rem existimes pertinere quis quam quid acceperit.

[12] 'What then? Do benefits not procure friendships?' They do, if it has been permitted to choose the recipients, if they have been allocated, not scattered. And so, while you begin to be of your own mind, in the meantime use this counsel of the wise, that you consider it to pertain more to the matter who rather than what has been the recipient.

Vale.

Farewell.

XX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

20. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS GREETINGS

[1] Si vales et te dignum putas qui aliquando fias tuus, gaudeo; mea enim gloria erit, si te istinc ubi sine spe exeundi fluctuaris extraxero. Illud autem te, mi Lucili, rogo atque hortor, ut philosophiam in praecordia ima demittas et experimentum profectus tui capias non oratione nec scripto, sed animi firmitate, cupiditatum deminutione: verba rebus proba.

[1] If you are well and you deem yourself worthy to someday become your own, I rejoice; for my glory will be, if I shall have drawn you out from there, where without hope of going out you are tossing about. But this, my Lucilius, I ask and exhort you: that you let philosophy sink down into the deepest precordia, and that you take the test of your progress not by oration nor by writing, but by firmness of mind, by the diminution of desires: prove words by things.

[2] Aliud propositum est declamantibus et assensionem coronae captantibus, aliud his qui iuvenum et otiosorum aures disputatione varia aut volubili detinent: facere docet philosophia, non dicere, et hoc exigit, ut ad legem suam quisque vivat, ne orationi vita dissentiat vel ipsa inter se vita; unus sit omnium actio[dissentio]num color [sit]. Maximum hoc est et officium sapientiae et indicium, ut verbis opera concordent, ut ipse ubique par sibi idemque sit. 'Quis hoc praestabit?' Pauci, aliqui tamen. Est enim difficile [hoc]; nec hoc dico, sapientem uno semper iturum gradu, sed una via.

[2] A different purpose is set before declaimers and those who snatch at the crowd’s assent, a different one before those who hold the ears of youths and the leisured with varied or voluble disputation: philosophy teaches to do, not to say, and it demands this, that each live according to its law, lest life disagree with speech, or life itself with itself; the color of all actio[dissentio]ns [be] one. This is the greatest duty and indication of wisdom, that works harmonize with words, that he himself be everywhere equal to himself and the same. 'Who will guarantee this?' Few—yet some. For [this] is difficult; nor do I say that the wise man will always go with one step, but by one path.

[3] Observa te itaque, numquid vestis tua domusque dissentiant, numquid in te liberalis sis, in tuos sordidus, numquid cenes frugaliter, aedifices luxuriose; unam semel ad quam vivas regulam prende et ad hanc omnem vitam tuam exaequa. Quidam se domi contrahunt, dilatant foris et extendunt: vitium est haec diversitas et signum vacillantis animi ac nondum habentis tenorem suum.

[3] Observe yourself therefore, whether perhaps your clothing and your house disagree, whether you are liberal toward yourself, toward your own sordid, whether you dine frugally, you build luxuriously; take up one single rule by which you may live, and to this make your whole life equal. Some contract themselves at home, they expand abroad and extend themselves: this diversity is a vice and a sign of a vacillating mind and one not yet having its own tenor.

[4] Etiam nunc dicam unde sit ista inconstantia et dissimilitudo rerum consiliorumque: nemo proponit sibi quid velit, nec si proposuit perseverat in eo, sed transilit; nec tantum mutat sed redit et in ea quae deseruit ac damnavit revolvitur.

[4] Even now I will say whence that inconstancy and dissimilarity of things and of counsels comes: no one proposes to himself what he wills, nor, if he has proposed it, does he persevere in it, but he leaps across; nor does he merely change, but he returns and revolves back into the very things which he deserted and condemned.

[5] Itaque ut relinquam definitiones sapientiae veteres et totum complectar humanae vitae modum, hoc possum contentus esse: quid est sapientia? semper idem velle atque idem nolle. Licet illam exceptiunculam non adicias, ut rectum sit quod velis; non potest enim cuiquam idem semper placere nisi rectum.

[5] Therefore, that I may leave aside the old definitions of wisdom and embrace the whole mode of human life, I can be content with this: what is wisdom? always to will the same and to not will the same. You may not add that little exception, that what you will be right; for it cannot be that the same always pleases anyone unless it is right.

[6] Nesciunt ergo homines quid velint nisi illo momento quo volunt; in totum nulli velle aut nolle decretum est; variatur cotidie iudicium et in contrarium vertitur ac plerisque agitur vita per lusum. Preme ergo quod coepisti, et fortasse perduceris aut ad summum aut eo quod summum nondum esse solus intellegas.

[6] Therefore people do not know what they want except at that moment when they want; in sum, for no one is there a decreed resolve to will or to nill; the judgment is varied every day and turned into the contrary, and for most people life is carried on as a game. Press on, therefore, what you have begun, and perhaps you will be led through either to the summit or to that which you alone understand not yet to be the summit.

[7] 'Quid fiet' inquis 'huic turbae familiarium sine re familiari?' Turba ista cum a te pasci desierit, ipsa se pascet, aut quod tu beneficio tuo non potes scire, paupertatis scies: illa veros certosque amicos retinebit, discedet quisquis non te se aliud sequebatur. Non est autem vel ob hoc unum amanda paupertas, quod a quibus ameris ostendet? O quando ille veniet dies quo nemo in honorem tuum mentiatur!

[7] 'What will happen' you say 'to this throng of familiars without the family property?' That crowd, when it has ceased to be fed by you, will feed itself, or what you by your own benefaction cannot know, by poverty you will know: it will keep true and sure friends, will depart whoever was following not you but something else. Is not poverty to be loved even for this one thing, that it will show by whom you are loved? O when will that day come on which no one lies in your honor!

[8] Huc ergo cogitationes tuae tendant, hoc cura, hoc opta, omnia alia vota deo remissurus, ut contentus sis temet ipso et ex te nascentibus bonis. Quae potest esse felicitas propior? Redige te ad parva ex quibus cadere non possis, idque ut libentius facias, ad hoc pertinebit tributum huius epistulae, quod statim conferam.

[8] Let your cogitations, therefore, tend hither; care for this, opt for this, handing over to god all other vows, that you may be content with your very self and with the goods born from yourself. What happiness can be nearer? Bring yourself back to small things, from which you cannot fall, and that you may do this more willingly, to this there will pertain the tribute of this epistle, which I shall straightway confer.

[9] Invideas licet, etiam nunc libenter pro me dependet Epicurus. 'Magnificentior, mihi crede, sermo tuus in grabatto videbitur et in panno; non enim dicentur tantum illa sed probabuntur.' Ego certe aliter audio quae dicit Demetrius noster, cum illum vidi nudum, quanto minus quam [in] stramentis incubantem: non praeceptor veri sed testis est.

[9] You may envy it, yet even now Epicurus readily pays out on my behalf. 'More magnificent, believe me, your discourse will appear on a pallet and in a ragged cloak; for those things will not only be said but will be proved.' I for my part certainly hear differently the things that our Demetrius says, since I saw him naked, how much less than [when] lying upon straw: he is not a preceptor of truth but a witness.

[10] 'Quid ergo? non licet divitias in sinu positas contemnere?' Quidni liceat? Et ille ingentis animi est qui illas circumfusas sibi, multum diuque miratus quod ad se venerint, ridet suasque audit magis esse quam sentit.

[10] 'What then? Is it not permitted to contemn riches set in the lap?' Why should it not be permitted? And he too is of a mighty spirit who, those riches poured around him, long and much marveling that they have come to him, laughs, and hears them to be his more than he feels them.

Multum est non corrumpi divitiarum contubernio; magnus ille qui in divit”s pauper est.

It is a great thing not to be corrupted by the companionship of riches; great is he who is poor in riches.

[11] 'Nescio' inquis 'quomodo paupertatem iste laturus sit, si in illam inciderit.' Nec ego, Epicure, an +gulus+ [si] iste pauper contempturus sit divitias, si in illas inciderit; itaque in utroque mens aestimanda est inspiciendumque an ille paupertati indulgeat, an hic divitiis non indulgeat. Alioquin leve argumentum est bonae voluntatis grabattus aut pannus, nisi apparuit aliquem illa non necessitate pati sed malle.

[11] 'I do not know,' you say, 'how that fellow would bear poverty, if he should fall into it.' Nor do I, Epicure, whether +gulus+ [if] that fellow, if poor, would be about to contemn riches, if he should fall into them; and so in each case the mind must be assessed, and it must be inspected whether that man indulges poverty, or this one does not indulge riches. Otherwise a light argument of good will is a grabatus (cot) or a rag, unless it has appeared that someone endures those things not from necessity but prefers to.

[12] Ceterum magnae indolis est ad ista non properare tamquam meliora, sed praeparari tamquam ad facilia. Et sunt, Lucili, facilia; cum vero multum ante meditatus accesseris, iucunda quoque; inest enim illis, sine qua nihil est iucundum, securitas.

[12] Moreover, it is a mark of great inborn character not to hurry toward those things as if they were better, but to be prepared as if for easy things. And they are, Lucilius, easy; and when indeed, after much foremeditation, you come, pleasant as well; for there is in them, without which nothing is pleasant, security.

[13] Necessarium ergo iudico id quod tibi scripsi magnos viros saepe fecisse, aliquos dies interponere quibus nos imaginaria paupertate exerceamus ad veram; quod eo magis faciendum est quod deliciis permaduimus et omnia dura ac difficilia iudicamus. Potius excitandus e somno et vellicandus est animus admonendusque naturam nobis minimum constituisse. Nemo nascitur dives; quisquis exit in lucem iussus est lacte et panno esse contentus: ab his initiis nos regna non capiunt.

[13] I judge necessary therefore that which I wrote to you that great men have often done, to interpose some days during which we may exercise ourselves by imaginary poverty toward the real; which is all the more to be done because we have been thoroughly steeped in delicacies and we judge all things hard and difficult. Rather the mind must be roused from sleep and pinched, and reminded that nature has established the minimum for us. No one is born rich; whoever goes forth into the light has been ordered to be content with milk and cloth: from these beginnings kingdoms do not receive us.

Vale.

Farewell.

XXI SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

21 SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Cum istis tibi esse negotium iudicas de quibus scripseras? Maximum negotium tecum habes, tu tibi molestus es. Quid velis nescis, melius probas honesta quam sequeris, vides ubi sit posita felicitas sed ad illam pervenire non audes. Quid sit autem quod te impediat, quia parum ipse dispicis, dicam: magna esse haec existimas quae relicturus es, et cum proposuisti tibi illam securitatem ad quam transiturus es, retinet te huius vitae a qua recessurus es fulgor tamquam in sordida et obscura casurum.

[1] Do you judge that you have business with those about whom you had written? You have the greatest business with yourself; you are troublesome to yourself. You do not know what you wish, you approve honorable things more than you follow them, you see where felicity is set but you do not dare to arrive at that. As for what it is that impedes you, since you yourself discern too little, I will say: you suppose great these things which you are going to leave, and when you have set before yourself that security to which you are going to cross over, the splendor of this life, from which you are going to withdraw, holds you back, as though you were going to fall into sordid and obscure things.

[2] Erras, Lucili: ex hac vita ad illam ascenditur. Quod interest inter splendorem et lucem, cum haec certam originem habeat ac suam, ille niteat alieno, hoc inter hanc vitam et illam: haec fulgore extrinsecus veniente percussa est, crassam illi statim umbram faciet quisquis obstiterit: illa suo lumine illustris est. Studia te tua clarum et nobilem efficient.

[2] You are mistaken, Lucilius: from this life one ascends to that one. What the difference is between splendor and light, since the latter has a sure origin and its own, while the former shines by another’s, this is the difference between this life and that: this, struck by a radiance coming from without, will at once have a thick shadow cast upon it by whoever stands in the way: that one is illustrious by its own light. Your studies will make you renowned and noble.

[3] Exemplum Epicuri referam. Cum Idomeneo scriberet et illum a vita speciosa ad fidelem stabilemque gloriam revocaret, regiae tunc potentiae ministrum et magna tractantem, 'si gloria' inquit 'tangeris, notiorem te epistulae meae facient quam omnia ista quae colis et propter quae coleris'.

[3] I will relate an example of Epicurus. While he was writing to Idomeneus and calling him back from a showy life to faithful and stable glory, a minister of royal power at that time and handling great matters, 'if you are touched by glory,' he says, 'my letters will make you better-known than all those things which you cultivate and on account of which you are cultivated'.

[4] Numquid ergo mentitus est? quis Idomenea nosset nisi Epicurus illum litteris suis incidisset? Omnes illos megistanas et satrapas et regem ipsum ex quo Idomenei titulus petebatur oblivio alta suppressit.

[4] Was he, then, lying? Who would have known Idomeneus unless Epicurus had inscribed him with his letters? All those megistanes and satraps, and the king himself, from whom Idomeneus’s title was sought, deep oblivion has suppressed.

Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistulae non sinunt. Nihil illi profuisset gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drusus Caesar pronepos; inter tam magna nomina taceretur nisi <sibi> Cicero illum applicuisset.

The letters of Cicero do not allow the name of Atticus to perish. Nothing would have profited him a son-in-law Agrippa and Tiberius a grandson-in-law, and Drusus Caesar a great-grandson; among such great names he would have been left unmentioned, unless Cicero had attached him to himself.

[5] Profunda super nos altitudo temporis veniet, pauca ingenia caput exserent et in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent ac se diu vindicabunt. Quod Epicurus amico suo potuit promittere, hoc tibi promitto, Lucili: habebo apud posteros gratiam, possum mecum duratura nomina educere. Vergilius noster duobus memoriam aeternam promisit et praestat:

[5] A profound depth of time will come over us, a few minds will thrust forth the head and, destined at some time to depart into the same silence, will resist oblivion and will long vindicate themselves. What Epicurus could promise to his friend, this I promise to you, Lucilius: I shall have favor with posterity; I can lead forth with me names that will endure. Our Vergil promised eternal memory to two, and he makes it good:

fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt,
nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

fortunate both! if my songs have any power,
no day shall ever remove you from the remembering age,
so long as the house of Aeneas shall dwell upon the immovable rock of the Capitol
and the Roman father shall hold imperium.

[6] Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicumque membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerant, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt: post ipsos cito memoria defecit. Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quidquid illorum memoriae adhaesit excipitur.

[6] Whomsoever fortune has brought into the open, whoever had been the limbs and parts of another’s power, the favor of these men flourished, the house was frequented, while they themselves stood: after them, memory quickly failed. The esteem for genius grows, and not only is honor had for them themselves, but whatever has adhered to their memory is received.

[7] Ne gratis Idomeneus in epistulam meam venerit, ipse eam de suo redimet. Ad hunc Epicurus illam nobilem sententiam scripsit qua hortatur ut Pythoclea locupletem non publica nec ancipiti via faciat. 'Si vis' inquit 'Pythoclea divitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum sed cupiditati detrahendum est.'

[7] Lest Idomeneus should have come into my letter for nothing, he himself will redeem it at his own expense. To this man Epicurus wrote that noble sentence in which he exhorts that he not make Pythocles wealthy by a public nor by a perilous way. 'If you wish,' he says, 'to make Pythocles rich, it is not money that must be added, but cupidity that must be subtracted.'

[8] Et apertior ista sententia est quam interpretanda sit, et disertior quam ut adiuvanda. Hoc unum te admoneo, ne istud tantum existimes de divit”s dictum: quocumque transtuleris, idem poterit. Si vis Pythoclea honestum facere, non honoribus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea esse in perpetua voluptate, non voluptatibus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea senem facere et implere vitam, non annis adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum.

[8] And that maxim is more open than it should need interpreting, and more eloquent than that it should need aiding. This one thing I admonish you: do not think that that was said only about riches; to whatever you transfer it, it will apply the same. If you wish to make Pythoclea honorable, it is not honors that must be added but cupidity must be subtracted; if you wish Pythoclea to be in perpetual pleasure, it is not pleasures that must be added but cupidity must be subtracted; if you wish to make Pythoclea old and to fill out life, it is not years that must be added but cupidity must be subtracted.

[9] Has voces non est quod Epicuri esse iudices: publicae sunt. Quod fieri in senatu solet faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo: cum censuit aliquis quod ex parte mihi placeat, iubeo illum dividere sententiam et sequor quod probo.

[9] Do not judge these utterances to be Epicurus’s: they are public. What is wont to be done in the Senate I also deem must be done in philosophy: when someone has given an opinion of which a part pleases me, I order him to divide his opinion, and I follow what I approve.

Eo libentius Epicuri egregia dicta commemoro, ut istis qui ad illum confugiunt spe mala inducti, qui velamentum ipsos vitiorum suorum habituros existimant, probent quocumque ierint honeste esse vivendum.

All the more willingly I commemorate the excellent sayings of Epicurus, so that those who take refuge with him, led on by ill hope, who think they will have a veil for their own vices, may approve that wherever they go, one must live honorably.

[10] Cum adieris eius hortulos +et inscriptum hortulis+ 'HOSPES HIC BENE MANEBIS, HIC SVMMVM BONVM VOLVPTAS EST' paratus erit istius domicilii custos hospitalis, humanus, et te polenta excipiet et aquam quoque large ministrabit et dicet, 'ecquid bene acceptus es?' 'Non irritant' inquit 'hi hortuli famem sed exstinguunt, nec maiorem ipsis potionibus sitim faciunt, sed naturali et gratuito remedio sedant; in hac voluptate consenui.'

[10] When you have approached his little gardens +and inscribed on the little gardens+ 'GUEST, HERE YOU WILL STAY WELL; HERE THE SUPREME GOOD IS PLEASURE' the custodian of that dwelling will be ready—hospitable, humane—and he will receive you with polenta and will also dispense water generously and will say, 'have you been well received?' 'These little gardens' he says 'do not provoke hunger but extinguish it, nor do they make thirst greater by the very drinks, but soothe it with a natural and gratuitous remedy; in this pleasure I have grown old.'

[11] De his tecum desideriis loquor quae consolationem non recipiunt, quibus dandum est aliquid ut desinant. Nam de illis extraordinariis quae licet differre, licet castigare et opprimere, hoc unum commonefaciam: ista voluptas naturalis est, non necessaria. Huic nihil debes; si quid impendis, voluntarium est.

[11] I speak with you about those desires which do not admit consolation, to which something must be given so that they cease. For as to those extraordinary ones which it is permitted to defer, it is permitted to chastise and to oppress, this one thing I will remind: that pleasure is natural, not necessary. You owe nothing to this; if you expend anything, it is voluntary.

Venter praecepta non audit: poscit, appellat. Non est tamen molestus creditor: parvo dimittitur, si modo das illi quod debes, non quod potes. Vale.

The belly does not heed precepts: it demands, it appeals. Nevertheless it is not a troublesome creditor: it is dismissed with little, if only you give it what you owe, not what you can. Farewell.