Seneca: EPISTULAE MORALES AD LUCILIUM

[1] Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem. Sed iam plus illum degravat quam quod possit attolli; magno senectus et universo pondere incubuit. Scis illum semper infirmi corporis et exsucti fuisse; diu illud continuit et, ut verius dicam, concinnavit: subito defecit.

[1] I saw Bassus Aufidius, a most excellent man, shaken, wrestling against age. But now more weighs him down than can be lifted up; old age has pressed upon him with great and with its whole weight. You know he has always been of a weak and sucked‑dry body; for a long time he held it together and, to speak more truly, patched it up: suddenly it failed.

Quemadmodum in nave quae sentinam trahit uni rimae aut alteri obsistitur, ubi plurimis locis laxari coepit et cedere, succurri non potest navigio dehiscenti, ita in senili corpore aliquatenus imbecillitas sustineri et fulciri potest. Ubi tamquam in putri aedificio omnis iunctura diducitur, et dum alia excipitur, alia discinditur, circumspiciendum est quomodo exeas. Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est: hoc philosophia praestat, in conspectu mortis hilarem <esse> et in quocumque corporis habitu fortem laetumque nec deficientem quamvis deficiatur.

Just as, in a ship that is drawing bilge-water, one stops up one crack or another, but when it begins to loosen and give way in many places a gaping vessel cannot be succored, so in an elderly body weakness can, up to a point, be sustained and propped. When, as in a putrid building, every juncture is pulled apart, and while one part is shored up another is torn asunder, one must look about for how to make an exit. Yet our Bassus is sprightly in spirit: this is what philosophy furnishes—to be cheerful in the sight of death and, in whatever bodily condition, brave and glad, and not failing, although he is being failed.

Magnus gubernator et scisso navigat velo et, si exarmavit, tamen reliquias navigii aptat ad cursum. Hoc facit Bassus noster et eo animo vultuque finem suum spectat quo alienum spectare nimis securi putares. Magna res est, Lucili, haec et diu discenda, cum adventat hora illa inevitabilis, aequo animo abire.

A great helmsman even sails with a rent sail, and, if he has been unrigged, nevertheless fits the remnants of the ship for the course. This our Bassus does, and he regards his own end with that spirit and countenance with which you would think one views another’s all too securely. It is a great thing, Lucilius, and long to be learned: when that unavoidable hour draws near, to depart with an even mind.

Alia genera mortis spei mita sunt: desinit morbus, incendium exstinguitur, ruina quos videbatur oppressura deposuit; mare quos hauserat eadem vi qua sorbebat eiecit incolumes; gladium miles ab ipsa perituri cervice re vocavit: nil habet quod speret quem senectus ducit ad mortem; huic uni intercedi non potest. Nullo genere homines mollius moriuntur sed nec diutius.

Other kinds of death are mild to hope: the disease ceases; the conflagration is extinguished; the collapse, which seemed about to crush them, has set them down; the sea, with the same force with which it was gulping them down, has cast them out unharmed; the soldier has recalled the sword from the very neck of the one about to perish. He whom old age leads to death has nothing to hope for; for this one alone intercession cannot be made. In no kind do men die more softly, but neither more at length.

[5] Bassus noster videbatur mihi prosequi se et componere et vivere tamquam superstes sibi et sapienter ferre desiderium sui. Nam de morte multa loquitur et id agit sedulo ut nobis persuadeat, si quid incommodi aut metus in hoc negotio est, morientis vitium esse, non mortis; non magis in ipsa quicquam esse molestiae quam post ipsam.

[5] Our Bassus seemed to me to escort himself, to compose himself, and to live as though a survivor to himself, and to bear with wisdom a longing for himself. For he speaks much about death and is diligent to bring it about that he persuade us that, if there is any incommodity or fear in this business, it is the fault of the dying, not of death; that there is no more molestation in it itself than after it.

[6] Tam demens autem est qui timet quod non est passurus quam qui timet quod non est sensurus. An quis quam hoc futurum credit, ut per quam nihil sentiatur, ea sentiatur? 'Ergo' inquit 'mors adeo extra omne malum est ut sit extra omnem malorum metum.'

[6] Just as demented is he who fears what he is not going to undergo as he who fears what he is not going to sense. Or does anyone ever believe this will come to pass: that that very thing through which nothing is sensed should be sensed? 'Therefore,' he says, 'death is so far outside every evil that it is outside all fear of evils.'

[7] Haec ego scio et saepe dicta et saepe dicenda, sed neque cum legerem aeque mihi profuerunt neque cum audirem iis dicentibus qui negabant timenda a quorum metu aberant: hic vero plurimum apud me auctoritatis habuit, cum loqueretur de morte vicina.

[7] These things I know and that they have often been said and are often to be said, but neither when I was reading did they profit me equally nor when I was hearing them from those saying that there was nothing to be feared, from whose fear they were far away: this man indeed had very much authority with me, when he was speaking about a near death.

[8] Dicam enim quid sentiam: puto fortiorem esse eum qui in ipsa morte est quam qui circa mortem. Mors enim admota etiam imperitis animum dedit non vitandi inevitabilia; si gladiator tota pugna timidissimus iugulum adversario praestat et errantem gladium sibi attemperat. At illa quae in propinquo est utique ventura desiderat lentam animi firmitatem, quae est rarior nec potest nisi a sapiente praestari.

[8] I will say, then, what I think: I judge him to be stronger who is in death itself than he who is around death. For death, when brought near, has even given the unskilled courage not to shun the inevitable; even if a gladiator, most timid through the whole fight, offers his throat to his adversary and adjusts the wandering sword to himself. But that which is close at hand and surely to come requires a slow, steadfast firmness of spirit, which is rarer and cannot be exhibited except by the wise man.

[9] Libentissime itaque illum audiebam quasi ferentem de morte: sententiam et qualis esset eius natura velut propius inspectae indicantem. Plus, ut puto, fidei haberet apud te, plus ponderis, si quis revixisset et in morte nihil mali esse narraret expertus: accessus mortis quam perturbationem afferat optime tibi hi dicent qui secundum illam steterunt, qui venientem et viderunt et receperunt.

[9] Most willingly, therefore, I was listening to him as though delivering a report about death: declaring his judgment, and what sort of nature it has, as if of one inspected more closely. He would have, as I think, more credence with you, more weight, if someone had revived and, having experienced it, were to narrate that there is nothing evil in death: what perturbation the access, the approach, of death brings, these will tell you most excellently who have stood right beside it, who saw it coming and received it.

[10] Inter hos Bassum licet numeres, qui nos decipi noluit. Is ait tam stultum esse qui mortem timeat quam qui senectutem; nam quemadmodum senectus adulescentiam sequitur, ita mors senectutem. Vivere noluit qui mori non vult; vita enim cum exceptione mortis data est; ad hanc itur.

[10] Among these you may number Bassus, who did not wish us to be deceived. He says that one who fears death is as stupid as one who fears senescence; for just as senescence follows adolescence, so death follows senescence. He does not wish to live who does not wish to die; for life has been given with the exception of death; to this we go.

Quam ideo timere dementis est quia certa exspectantur, dubia metuuntur.

Which, therefore, it is madness to fear, since what is certain is expected, what is doubtful is feared.

[11] Mors necessitatem habet aequam et invictam: quis queri potest in ea condicione se esse in qua nemo non est? prima autem pars est aequitatis aequalitas. Sed nunc supervacuum est naturae causam agere, quae non aliam voluit legem nostram esse quam suam: quid quid composuit resolvit, et quidquid resolvit componit iterum.

[11] Death has a necessity equitable and invincible: who can complain that he is in that condition in which no one is not? Moreover, the first part of equity is equality. But now it is superfluous to plead Nature’s case, who willed our law to be no other than her own: whatever she has composed she dissolves, and whatever she has dissolved she composes again.

[12] Iam vero si cui contigit ut illum senectus leviter emitteret, non repente avulsum vitae sed minutatim subductum, o ne ille agere gratias diis omnibus debet quod satiatus ad requiem homini necessariam, lasso gratam perductus est. Vides quosdam optantes mortem, et quidem magis quam rogari solet vita. Nescio utros existimem maiorem nobis animum dare, qui deposcunt mortem an qui hilares eam quietique opperiuntur, quoniam illud ex rabie interdum ac repentina indignatione fit, haec ex iudicio certo tranquillitas est.

[12] Now indeed, if it has befallen anyone that old age let him go lightly, not torn away from life suddenly but withdrawn little by little, oh, surely he ought to give thanks to all the gods, because, sated, he has been conducted to the rest necessary for a human being, welcome to the weary. You see some people desiring death, and indeed more than life is wont to be asked for. I do not know which I should think gives us the greater spirit, those who demand death or those who await it cheerful and quiet, since the former comes sometimes from rabies and sudden indignation, while this tranquility is from a sure judgment.

Venit aliquis ad mortem iratus: mortem venientem nemo hilaris excepit nisi qui se ad illam diu composuerat.

Someone comes to death angry: no one welcomed death as it came cheerful, except the one who had long composed himself for it.

[13] Fateor ergo ad hominem mihi carum ex pluribus me causis frequentius venisse, ut scirem an illum totiens eundem invenirem, numquid cum corporis viribus minueretur animi vigor; qui sic crescebat illi quomodo manifestior notari solet agitatorum laetitia cum septimo spatio palmae appropinquat.

[13] I confess, then, that for several causes I came more frequently to a man dear to me, so that I might learn whether I would find him the same each time, whether perchance, as the forces of the body were diminished, the vigor of the mind was being lessened; which in him was thus increasing as the joy of charioteers is wont to be noted more manifestly when, with the seventh lap, the palm approaches.

[14] Dicebat quidem ille Epicuri praeceptis obsequens, primum sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo extremo anhelitu; si tamen esset, habere aliquantum in ipsa brevitate solacii; nullum enim dolorem longum esse qui magnus est. Ceterum succursurum sibi etiam in ipsa distractione animae corporis que, si cum cruciatu id fieret, post illum dolorem se dolere non posse. Non dubitare autem se quin senilis anima in primis labris esset nec magna vi distraheretur a corpore.

[14] He used to say, indeed, obeying the precepts of Epicurus, first, that he hoped there would be no pain in that final gasp; if, however, there were, that there is some solace in the very brevity; for no pain is long which is great. Moreover, that there would come to his aid even in the very disjunction of soul and body, if it were done with torment, that after that pain he could not suffer pain. And that he did not doubt that a senile soul was on the very lips and would not be torn away from the body with great force.

'Ignis qui alentem materiam occupavit aqua et interdum ruina exstinguendus est: ille qui alimentis deficitur sua sponte subsidit.'

'Fire which has seized the nourishing material must be extinguished by water and sometimes by a collapse: that which is deprived of fuels subsides of its own accord.'

[15] Libenter haec, mi Lucili, audio non tamquam nova, sed tamquam in rem praesentem perductus. Quid ergo? non multos spectavi abrumpentes vitam?

[15] I gladly hear these things, my Lucilius, not as if they were new, but as if brought into the present case. What then? Have I not watched many abruptly breaking off life?

Ego vero vidi, sed plus momenti apud me habent qui ad mortem veniunt sine odio vitae et admittunt illam, non attrahunt.

I indeed have seen, but those have more weight with me who come to death without hatred of life and admit it, not draw it to themselves.

[16] Illud quidem aiebat tormentum nostra nos sentire opera, quod tunc trepidamus cum prope a nobis esse credimus mortem: a quo enim non prope est, parata omnibus locis omnibusque momentis? 'Sed consideremus' inquit 'tunc cum aliqua causa moriendi videtur accedere, quanto aliae propiores sint quae non timentur.'

[16] He indeed used to say that we feel that torment by our own doing, that we then tremble when we believe death to be near us: for to whom is it not near, prepared in all places and at all moments? 'But let us consider,' he says, 'then, when some cause of dying seems to approach, how much nearer are other things which are not feared.'

[17] Hostis alicui mortem minabatur, hanc cruditas occupavit. Si distinguere voluerimus causas metus nostri, inveniemus alias esse, alias videri. Non mortem timemus sed cogitationem mortis; ab ipsa enim semper tantundem absumus.

[17] An enemy was menacing someone with death; indigestion forestalled it. If we are willing to distinguish the causes of our fear, we shall find some to be, others only to seem. We do not fear death but the thought of death; for from death itself we are always at the same distance.

Ita si timenda mors est, semper timenda est: quod enim morti tempus exemptum est?

Thus, if death is to be feared, it is always to be feared: for what time has been exempt from death?

[18] Sed vereri debeo ne tam longas epistulas peius quam mortem oderis. Itaque finem faciam: tu tamen mortem ut numquam timeas semper cogita. Vale.

[18] But I ought to fear lest you hate such long epistles worse than death. And so I will make an end: you, however, always think on death, so that you may never fear it. Farewell.

XXXI. SENECA LVCILIO SVO SALVTEM

31. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETING

[1] Agnosco Lucilium meum: incipit quem promiserat exhibere. Sequere illum impetum animi quo ad optima quaeque calcatis popularibus bonis ibas: non desidero maiorem melioremque te fieri quam moliebaris. Fundamenta tua multum loci occupaverunt: tantum effice quantum conatus es, et illa quae tecum in animo tulisti tracta.

[1] I recognize my Lucilius: he begins to exhibit what he had promised. Follow that impetus of spirit by which, the popular goods trampled underfoot, you were going toward each of the best things: I do not desire that you become greater and better than you were endeavoring. Your foundations have taken up much space: effect as much as you have attempted, and draw out those things which you have carried with you in your mind.

[2] Ad summam sapiens eris, si cluseris aures, quibus ceram parum est obdere: firmiore spissamento opus est quam in sociis usum Ulixem ferunt. Illa vox quae timebatur erat blanda, non tamen publica: at haec quae timenda est non ex uno scopulo sed ex omni terrarum parte circumsonat. Praetervehere itaque non unum locum insidiosa voluptate suspectum, sed omnes urbes.

[2] In sum, you will be wise if you close your ears, for which it is too little to smear on wax: there is need of a firmer packing than that which Ulysses is said to have used for his comrades. That voice which was feared was blandishing, yet not public; but this one, which is to be feared, resounds around not from a single crag but from every part of the earth. Therefore sail past not one place suspected for insidious pleasure, but all cities.

Surdum te amantissimis tuis praesta: bono animo mala precantur. Et si esse vis felix, deos ora ne quid tibi ex his quae optantur eveniat.

Show yourself deaf to your most loving: with good cheer they pray for evils. And if you wish to be happy, pray to the gods that nothing of those things which are desired may eventuate for you.

[3] Non sunt ista bona quae in te isti volunt congeri: unum bonum est, quod beatae vitae causa et firmamentum est, sibi fidere. Hoc autem contingere non potest, nisi contemptus est labor et in eorum numero habitus quae neque bona sunt neque mala; fieri enim non potest ut una ulla res modo mala sit, modo bona, modo levis et perferenda, modo expavescenda.

[3] Those things are not goods which those people want to be heaped upon you: there is one good, which is the cause and firm support of the blessed life—to trust oneself. But this cannot come to pass unless toil is held in contempt and is reckoned among those things which are neither good nor bad; for it cannot happen that any single thing is now bad, now good, now light and to be borne, now to be dreaded.

[4] Labor bonum non est: quid ergo est bonum? laboris contemptio. Itaque in vanum operosos culpaverim: rursus ad honesta nitentes, quanto magis incubuerint minus que sibi vinci ac strigare permiserint, admirabor et clamabo, 'tanto melior, surge et inspira et clivum istum uno si potes spiritu exsupera'.

[4] Labor is not a good: what then is the good? the contempt of labor. And so I would blame those busy to no purpose: conversely, at those striving toward honorable things, the more they have pressed in and the less they have allowed themselves to be conquered and to go slack, I shall admire and cry out, 'so much the better, rise and draw breath, and, if you can, overtop that slope in a single breath.'

[5] Generosos animos labor nutrit. Non est ergo quod ex illo vetere parentum tuorum eligas quid contingere tibi velis, quid optes; et in totum iam per maxima acto viro turpe est etiam nunc deos fatigare. Quid votis opus est?

[5] Labor nourishes generous spirits. Therefore there is no reason for you to choose from that old of your parents what you would wish to befall you, what you would desire; and, altogether, for a man already carried through the greatest things, it is shameful even now to weary the gods. What need is there of vows?

fac te ipse felicem; facies autem, si intellexeris bona esse quibus admixta virtus est, turpia quibus malitia coniuncta est. Quemadmodum sine mixtura lucis nihil splendidum est, nihil atrum nisi quod tenebras habet aut aliquid in se traxit obscuri, quemadmodum sine adiutorio ignis nihil calidum est, nihil sine aere frigidum, ita honesta et turpia virtutis ac malitiae societas efficit.

Make yourself happy; and you will do so, if you understand that good things are those with which virtue is admixed, and base things are those with which malice is conjoined. Just as without a mixture of light nothing is splendid, and nothing is black except what has darkness or has drawn into itself something of obscurity; just as without the aid of fire nothing is hot, and nothing without air is cold, so the association of virtue and malice produces the honorable and the base.

[6] Quid ergo est bonum ? rerum scientia. Quid malum est? rerum imperitia.

[6] What, then, is the good ? the science of things. What is the evil? the ignorance of things.

Ille prudens atque artifex pro tempore quaeque repellet aut eliget; sed nec quae repellit timet nec miratur quae eligit, si modo magnus illi et invictus animus est. Summitti te ac deprimi veto. Laborem si non recuses, parum est: posce.

He, prudent and an artificer, will, as the time requires, repel or choose each thing; but he neither fears what he repels nor marvels at what he chooses, provided he has a great and unconquered spirit. I forbid you to be bowed and cast down. If you do not refuse toil, that is too little: demand it.

[7] 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'labor frivolus et supervacuus et quem humiles causae evocaverunt non est malus?' Non magis quam ille qui pulchris rebus impenditur, quoniam animi est ipsa tolerantia quae se ad dura et aspera hortatur ac dicit, 'quid cessas? non est viri timere sudorem'.

[7] 'What then?' you ask, 'is frivolous and superfluous labor, and that which humble causes have called forth, not bad?' No more than that which is expended on fair things, since endurance itself is of the mind, which urges itself toward hard and rough things and says, 'why do you delay? it is not of a man to fear sweat'.

[8] Huc et illud accedat, ut perfecta virtus sit, aequalitas ac tenor vitae per omnia consonans sibi, quod non potest esse nisi rerum scientia contingit et ars per quam humana ac divina noscantur. Hoc est summum bonum; quod si occupas, incipis deorum socius esse, non supplex.

[8] Let this too be added here: that, for virtue to be perfected, there be an equality and a tenor of life through all things consonant with itself, which cannot be unless the science of things is attained and the art by which human and divine things are known. This is the highest good; if you seize this, you begin to be an associate of the gods, not a suppliant.

[9] 'Quomodo' inquis 'isto pervenitur?' Non per Poeninum Graiumve montem nec per deserta Candaviae; nec Syrtes tibi nec Scylla aut Charybdis adeundae sunt, quae tamen omnia transisti procuratiunculae pretio: tutum iter est, iucundum est, ad quod natura te instruxit. Dedit tibi illa quae si non deserueris, par deo surges.

[9] 'How,' you ask, 'does one reach that?' Not by the Poenine or the Graian mountain, nor through the deserts of Candavia; nor need you approach the Syrtes, nor Scylla or Charybdis, all of which, however, you have traversed for the price of a petty procuratorship: the journey is safe, it is pleasant, for which nature has equipped you. She has given you those things which, if you do not abandon them, you will rise equal to a god.

[10] Parem autem te deo pecunia non faciet: deus nihil habet Praetexta non faciet: deus nudus est. Fama non faciet nec ostentatio tui et in populos nominis dimissa notitia: nemo novit deum, multi de illo male existimant, et impune. Non turba servorum lecticam tuam per itinera urbana ac peregrina portantium: deus ille maximus potentissimusque ipse vehit omnia.

[10] But money will not make you equal to god: god has nothing Praetexta will not make you: god is naked. Fame will not do it, nor the ostentation of yourself and the notice of your name sent out among peoples: no one knows god, many think ill of him, and with impunity. Not a crowd of slaves carrying your litter through urban and peregrine roads: that god, the greatest and most powerful, himself carries all things.

Ne forma quidem et vires beatum te facere possunt: nihil horum patitur vetustatem.

Not even beauty and strength can make you happy: none of these endures old age.

[11] Quaerendum est quod non fiat in dies peius, cui non possit obstari. Quid hoc est? animus, sed hic rectus, bonus, magnus.

[11] What must be sought is that which does not grow worse day by day, which cannot be obstructed. What is this? The spirit—but one that is upright, good, great.

Quid aliud voces hunc quam deum in corpore humano hospitantem? Hic animus tam in equitem Romanum quam in libertinum, quam in servum potest cadere. Quid est enim eques Romanus aut libertinus aut servus?

What else would you call this than a god lodging in a human body? This spirit can come to reside in a Roman equestrian as well as in a freedman, as well as in a slave. For what, after all, is a Roman equestrian or a freedman or a slave?

nomina ex ambitione aut iniuria nata. Subsilire in caelum ex angulo licet: exsurge modo

Names born from ambition or injury. It is permitted to leap up into heaven from a corner: only arise

[...] et te quoque dignum
finge deo.

[...] and fashion yourself too
worthy of a god.

Finges autem non auro vel argento: non potest ex hac materia imago deo exprimi similis; cogita illos, cum propitii essent, fictiles fuisse. Vale.

However, you will fashion not out of gold or silver: from this material an image similar to a god cannot be expressed; consider that they, when they were propitious, were fictile. Farewell.

XXXII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

32. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Inquiro de te et ab omnibus sciscitor qui ex ista regione veniunt quid agas, ubi et cum quibus moreris. Verba dare non potes: tecum sum. Sic vive tamquam quid facias auditurus sim, immo tamquam visurus.

[1] I inquire about you, and I cross-examine all who come from that region, what you are doing, where you stay, and with whom. You cannot put me off with words: I am with you. Live so as though I were going to hear what you do, nay rather, as though I were going to see.

Quaeris quid me maxime ex iis quae de te audio delectet? quod nihil audio, quod plerique ex iis quos interrogo nesciunt quid agas.

You ask what most pleases me among the things I hear about you? That I hear nothing: that most of those whom I question do not know what you are doing.

[2] Hoc est salutare, non conversari dissimilibus et diversa cupientibus. Habeo quidem fiduciam non posse te detorqueri mansurumque in proposito, etiam si sollicitantium turba circumeat. Quid ergo est?

[2] This is salutary: not to converse with dissimilar people and those desiring divergent things. I do indeed have confidence that you cannot be twisted aside and that you will remain in your purpose, even if a throng of solicitors circles around. What then?

non timeo ne mutent te, timeo ne impediant. Multum autem nocet etiam qui moratur, utique in tanta brevitate vitae, quam breviorem inconstantia facimus, aliud eius subinde atque aliud facientes initium; diducimus illam in particulas ac lancinamus.

I do not fear that they may change you; I fear that they may impede you. Moreover, even he who delays does much harm, especially in so great a brevity of life, which we make briefer by inconstancy, making now one and then another beginning of it; we draw it apart into particles and lacerate it.

[3] Propera ergo, Lucili carissime, et cogita quantum additurus celeritati fueris, si a tergo hostis instaret, si equitem adventare suspicareris ac fugientium premere vestigia. Fit hoc, premeris: accelera et evade, perduc te in tutum et subinde considera quam pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortem, deinde exspectare securum reliquam temporis sui partem, nihil sibi, in possessione beatae vitae positum, quae beatior non fit si longior.

[3] Hurry, therefore, dearest Lucilius, and consider how much you would add to your celerity if an enemy were pressing from the rear, if you suspected a horseman to be approaching and to press the tracks of the fleeing. This happens—you are pressed: accelerate and evade, conduct yourself into safety, and again and again consider how fair a thing it is to consummate life before death, then to await, secure, the remaining portion of your time, with nothing for itself, being placed in the possession of the blessed life, which does not become more blessed if it be longer.

[4] O quando illud videbis tempus quo scies tempus ad te non pertinere, quo tranquillus placidusque eris et crastini neglegens et in summa tui satietate! Vis scire quid sit quod faciat homines avidos futuri? nemo sibi contigit.

[4] O when will you see that time in which you will know that time does not pertain to you, in which you will be tranquil and placid and negligent of the morrow and in the fullest satiety of yourself! Do you wish to know what it is that makes men avid of the future? no one has attained to himself.

Optaverunt itaque tibi alia parentes tui; sed ego contra omnium tibi eorum contemptum opto quorum illi copiam. Vota illorum multos compilant ut te locupletent; quidquid ad te transferunt alicui detrahendum est.

Your parents, therefore, have wished other things for you; but I, on the contrary, wish for you contempt of all those things of which they wished abundance. Their vows plunder many in order to enrich you; whatever they transfer to you must be taken away from someone.

[5] Opto tibi tui facultatem, ut vagis cogitationibus agitata mens tandem resistat et certa sit, ut placeat sibi et intellectis veris bonis, quae simul intellecta sunt possidentur, aetatis adiectione non egeat. Ille demum necessitates supergressus est et exauctoratus ac liber qui vivit vita peracta.

[5] I wish for you the faculty of yourself, that a mind agitated by wandering cogitations may at last stand firm and be certain, that it may be pleasing to itself and, with the true goods understood—which, as soon as they are understood, are possessed—may not need an addition of age. He, at length, has surpassed necessities and, discharged, is free, who lives a life completed.

XXXIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

33. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Desideras his quoque epistulis sicut prioribus adscribi aliquas voces nostrorum procerum. Non fuerunt circa flosculos occupati: totus contextus illorum virilis est. Inaequalitatem scias esse ubi quae eminent notabilia sunt: non est admirationi una arbor ubi in eandem altitudinem tota silva surrexit.

[1] You desire that in these letters too, as in the earlier ones, some sayings of our nobles be appended. They were not occupied about little blossoms: their whole texture is virile. Know that there is inequality where the things that stand out are the things notable: a single tree is no marvel where the whole forest has risen to the same height.

[2] Eiusmodi vocibus referta sunt carmina, refertae historiae. Itaque nolo illas Epicuri existimes esse: publicae sunt et maxime nostrae, sed illo magis adnotantur quia rarae interim interveniunt, quia inexspectatae, quia mirum est fortiter aliquid dici ab homine mollitiam professo. Ita enim plerique iudicant: apud me Epicurus est et fortis, licet manuleatus sit; fortitudo et industria et ad bellum prompta mens tam in Persas quam in alte cinctos cadit.

[2] Poems are replete with words of this kind, histories replete as well. Therefore I do not wish you to suppose those sayings are Epicurus’s: they are public and very much ours; but him they are more remarked upon because they come in only rarely now and then, because they are unexpected, because it is a wonder that something is said bravely by a man who has professed softness. Thus indeed most people judge; with me Epicurus is brave too, though he is long-sleeved; courage and industry and a mind ready for war fall as much among the Persians as among the high-girt.

[3] Non est ergo quod exigas excerpta et repetita: continuum est apud nostros quidquid apud alios excerpitur. Non habemus itaque ista ocliferia nec emptorem decipimus nihil inventurum cum intraverit praeter illa quae in fronte suspensa sunt: ipsis permittimus unde velint sumere exemplar.

[3] Therefore there is no reason for you to demand excerpts and repeats: among our people whatever among others is excerpted is continuous. We do not, accordingly, have those sign-bearers, nor do we deceive the purchaser into finding, when he enters, nothing except the things hung up on the front: we permit them themselves to take an exemplar from wherever they wish.

[4] Iam puta nos velle singulares sententias ex turba separare: cui illas assignabimus? Zenoni an Cleanthi an Chrysippo an Panaetio an Posidonio? Non sumus sub rege: sibi quisque se vindicat.

[4] Now suppose we wish to separate out individual sentences from the crowd: to whom shall we assign them? To Zeno or to Cleanthes or to Chrysippus or to Panaetius or to Posidonius? We are not under a king: each claims himself for himself.

Apud istos quidquid Hermarchus dixit, quidquid Metrodorus, ad unum refertur; omnia quae quisquam in illo contubernio locutus est unius ductu et auspiciis dicta sunt. Non possumus, inquam, licet temptemus, educere aliquid ex tanta rerum aequalium multitudine:

Among those people, whatever Hermarchus said, whatever Metrodorus, is referred to a single one; everything that anyone in that companionship (contubernium) has spoken was said under the leadership and auspices of one. We cannot, I say, although we try, educe anything from so great a multitude of equal matters:

pauperis est numerare pecus.

it is a poor man's part to count his herd.

Quocumque miseris oculum, id tibi occurret quod eminere posset nisi inter paria legeretur.

Wherever you cast your eye, that will meet you which could be eminent, if it were not being classed among equals.

[5] Quare depone istam spem posse te summatim degustare ingenia maximorum virorum: tota tibi inspicienda sunt, tota tractanda. res geritur et per lineamenta sua ingenii opus nectitur ex quo nihil subduci sine ruina potest. Nec recuso quominus singula membra, dummodo in ipso homine, consideres: non est formonsa cuius crus laudatur aut brachium, sed illa cuius universa facies admirationem partibus singulis abstulit.

[5] Therefore lay aside that hope of being able summarily to taste the genius of the greatest men: they must be inspected by you as a whole, handled as a whole. the matter is carried on, and along its own lineaments the work of genius is woven, from which nothing can be removed without ruin. Nor do I refuse your considering individual members, provided that you do so in the man himself: she is not beautiful whose leg or arm is praised, but she whose entire countenance has withdrawn admiration from the individual parts.

[6] Si tamen exegeris, non tam mendice tecum agam, sed plena manu fiet; ingens eorum turba est passim iacentium; sumenda erunt, non colligenda. Non enim excidunt sed fluunt; perpetua et inter se contexta sunt. Nec dubito quin multum conferant rudibus adhuc et extrinsecus auscultantibus; facilius enim singula insidunt circumscripta et carminis modo inclusa.

[6] If, however, you insist, I will not deal with you so beggarly, but it shall be done with a full hand; there is a vast throng of them lying everywhere; they are to be taken, not gleaned. For they do not fall off, but flow; they are continuous and woven together among themselves. Nor do I doubt that they contribute much to those still raw and listening from the outside; for single points settle in more easily when circumscribed and enclosed in the manner of verse.

[7] Ideo pueris et sententias ediscendas damus et has quas Graeci chrias vocant, quia complecti illas puerilis animus potest, qui plus adhuc non capit. Certi profectus viro captare flosculos turpe est et fulcire se notissimis ac paucissimis vocibus et memoria stare: sibi iam innitatur. Dicat ista, non teneat; turpe est enim seni aut prospicienti senectutem ex commentario sapere.

[7] Therefore we give to boys both sentences to be learned by heart and those which the Greeks call chrias, because a boy’s mind can embrace them, which as yet takes in no more. For a man of established progress it is shameful to be snatching little flowers and to prop himself up with the most well-known and very few words, and to stand by memory: let him now lean upon himself. Let him say these things, not merely hold them; for it is disgraceful for an old man, or for one looking toward old age, to be wise out of a commentary.

'Hoc Zenon dixit': tu quid? 'Hoc Cleanthes': tu quid? Quousque sub alio moveris?

'This Zeno said': what about you? 'This Cleanthes said': what about you? How long will you be moved under someone else?

impera et dic quod memoriae tradatur, aliquid et de tuo profer.

command, and say what may be consigned to memory; bring forth something from your own as well.

[8] Omnes itaque istos, numquam auctores, semper interpretes, sub aliena umbra latentes, nihil existimo habere generosi, numquam ausos aliquando facere quod diu didicerant. Memoriam in alienis exercuerunt; aliud autem est meminisse, aliud scire. Meminisse est rem commissam memoriae custodire; at contra scire est et sua facere quaeque nec ad exemplar pendere et totiens respicere ad magistrum.

[8] All, therefore, these—never authors, always interpreters—lurking under another’s shade, I consider to have nothing of the noble, never having at any time dared to do what they had long learned. They exercised memory upon others’ things; but it is one thing to remember, another to know. To remember is to keep a thing entrusted to memory; but, on the contrary, to know is both to make each thing one’s own and not to hang upon an exemplar and to look back so often to the master.

[9] 'Hoc dixit Zenon, hoc Cleanthes.' Aliquid inter te intersit et librum. Quousque disces? iam et praecipe.

[9] 'Zeno said this, Cleanthes this.' Let there be something to distinguish between you and the book. How long will you be learning? Now also give instruction.

Quid est quare audiam quod legere possum? 'Multum' inquit 'viva vox facit.' Non quidem haec quae alienis verbis commodatur et actuari vice fungitur.

Why should I listen to what I can read? 'The living voice does much,' he says. Not, to be sure, the kind that is lent to other men’s words and serves in the role of a shorthand-writer.

[10] Adice nunc quod isti qui numquam tutelae suae fiunt primum in ea re sequuntur priores in qua nemo non a priore descivit; deinde in ea re sequuntur quae adhuc quaeritur. Numquam autem invenietur, si contenti fuerimus inventis. Praeterea qui alium sequitur nihil invenit, immo nec quaerit.

[10] Add now this: that those who never become their own guardians, first, in that matter, follow their priors—a matter in which no one has not seceded from his prior; then they follow in a matter which is still under inquiry. Yet it will never be found, if we are content with the discoveries already made. Moreover, he who follows another finds nothing—nay, he does not even seek.

[11] Quid ergo? non ibo per priorum vestigia? ego vero utar via vetere, sed si propiorem planioremque invenero, hanc muniam.

[11] What then? Shall I not go in the footsteps of my predecessors? I indeed will use the old way, but if I find a nearer and more level one, this one I will pave.

Qui ante nos ista moverunt non domini nostri sed duces sunt. Patet omnibus veritas; nondum est occupata; multum ex illa etiam futuris relictum est. Vale.

Those who before us set these things in motion are not our masters but our guides. Truth lies open to all; it is not yet occupied; much of it too has been left for those yet to come. Farewell.

XXXIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

34. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Cresco et exsulto et discussa senectute recalesco quotiens ex iis quae agis ac scribis intellego quantum te ipse - nam turbam olim reliqueras - superieceris. Si agricolam arbor ad fructum perducta delectat, si pastor ex fetu gregis sui capit voluptatem, si alumnum suum nemo aliter intuetur quam ut adulescentiam illius suam iudicet, quid evenire credis iis qui ingenia educaverunt et quae tenera formaverunt adulta subito vident?

[1] I grow and exult, and with old age shaken off I grow warm again whenever from those things which you do and write I understand how much you yourself - for you had long since left the crowd - have surpassed yourself. If a farmer is delighted by a tree brought through to fruit, if a shepherd takes pleasure from the offspring of his flock, if no one looks upon his alumnus otherwise than to judge that one’s youth to be his own, what do you think befalls those who have educated minds and who suddenly see as adult the things which they formed when tender?

[2] Assero te mihi; meum opus es. Ego cum vidissem indolem tuam, inieci manum, exhortatus sum, addidi stimulos nec lente ire passus sum sed subinde incitavi; et nunc idem facio, sed iam currentem hortor et invicem hortantem.

[2] I claim you for myself; you are my work. When I had seen your indole, I laid my hand on you, I exhorted, I added spurs and did not allow you to go slowly, but from time to time I incited; and now I do the same, but now I urge one already running—and one who in turn encourages.

[3] 'Quid illud?' inquis 'adhuc volo.' In hoc plurimum est, non sic quomodo principia totius operis dimidium occupare dicuntur. Ista res animo constat; itaque pars magna bonitatis est velle fieri bonum. Scis quem bonum dicam?

[3] 'What of that?' you say, 'I still will it.' In this there is very much—not, however, in the way that the beginnings are said to occupy half of the entire work. That matter consists in the mind; and so a great part of goodness is to will to become good. Do you know whom I call good?

perfectum, absolutum, quem malum facere nulla vis, nulla necessitas possit.

the perfect, the absolute, whom no force, no necessity can make do evil.

[4] Hunc te prospicio, si perseveraveris et incubueris et id egeris ut omnia facta dictaque tua inter se congruant ac respondeant sibi et una forma percussa sint. Non est huius animus in recto cuius acta discordant. Vale.

[4] I foresee you as this man, if you persevere and apply yourself and pursue this: that all your deeds and words be mutually congruent and correspond to one another and be stamped with a single form. The mind of him whose acts are discordant is not in rectitude. Farewell.

XXXV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

35. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETING

[1] Cum te tam valde rogo ut studeas, meum negotium ago: habere amicum volo, quod contingere mihi, nisi pergis ut coepisti excolere te, non potest. Nunc enim amas me, amicus non es. 'Quid ergo? haec inter se diversa sunt?' immo dissimilia.

[1] When I so strongly beg you to apply yourself, I am attending to my own business: I want to have a friend, which cannot befall me unless you continue, as you have begun, to cultivate yourself. For now you love me, you are not a friend. 'What then? are these things different from one another?' nay, dissimilar.

Qui amicus est amat; qui amat non utique amicus est; itaque amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet.

Who is a friend does love; who loves is not necessarily a friend; and so friendship always profits, while love sometimes even harms.

[2] Si nihil aliud, ob hoc profice, ut amare discas. Festina ergo dum mihi proficis, ne istuc alteri didiceris. Ego quidem percipio iam fructum, cum mihi fingo uno nos animo futuros et quidquid aetati meae vigoris abscessit, id ad me et tua, quamquam non multum abest, rediturum; sed tamen re quoque ipsa esse laetus volo.

[2] If nothing else, on this account make progress: that you may learn to love. Hasten then, while you are making progress for me, lest you learn that for another. I indeed already perceive fruit, when I fashion to myself that we shall be of one mind, and that whatever vigor has withdrawn from my age will return to me from your age too, although it is not very far off; but yet I wish to be glad in the reality itself as well.

[3] Venit ad nos ex iis quos amamus etiam absentibus gaudium, sed id leve et evanidum: conspectus et praesentia et conversatio habet aliquid vivae voluptatis, utique si non tantum quem velis sed qualem velis videas. Affer itaque te mihi, ingens munus, et quo magis instes, cogita te mortalem esse, me senem.

[3] From those whom we love, joy comes to us even when they are absent, but it is light and evanescent: the sight and the presence and the conversation have something of living pleasure, especially if you see not only whom you wish but of what kind you wish. Bring yourself to me, then, an immense gift; and, that you may press on the more, consider that you are mortal, I am an old man.

[4] Propera ad me, sed ad te prius. Profice et ante omnia hoc cura, ut constes tibi. Quotiens experiri voles an aliquid actum sit, observa an eadem hodie velis quae heri: mutatio voluntatis indicat animum natare, aliubi atque aliubi apparere, prout tulit ventus.

[4] Make haste to me, but to yourself first. Make progress, and before all things take care of this: that you be constant to yourself. Whenever you wish to test whether anything has been accomplished, observe whether you wish today the same things as yesterday: a mutation of will indicates a mind floating, appearing now in one place and now in another, as the wind has borne it.

Non vagatur quod fixum atque fundatum est: istud sapienti perfecto contingit, aliquatenus et proficienti provectoque. Quid ergo interest? hic commovetur quidem, non tamen transit, sed suo loco nutat; ille ne commovetur quidem.

That which is fixed and founded does not wander: this befalls the perfected wise man, and to some extent also the proficient and advanced. What, then, is the difference? The former is indeed moved, yet does not pass over, but wavers in his own place; the latter is not even moved.

Vale.

Farewell.

XXXVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

36. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Amicum tuum hortare ut istos magno animo contemnat qui illum obiurgant quod umbram et otium petierit, quod dignitatem suam destituerit et, cum plus consequi posset, praetulerit quietem omnibus; quam utiliter suum negotium gesserit cotidie illis ostentet. Hi quibus invidetur non desinent transire: alii elidentur, alii cadent. Res est inquieta felicitas; ipsa se exagitat.

[1] Exhort your friend to contemn with a great spirit those who upbraid him because he has sought shade and leisure, because he has abandoned his dignity, and, when he could attain more, has preferred quiet to all things; let him daily display to them how usefully he has conducted his own business. Those at whom envy is directed will not cease to pass on: some will be dashed to pieces, others will fall. Felicity is an unquiet thing; it agitates itself.

Movet cerebrum non uno genere: alios in aliud irritat, hos in impotentiam, illos in luxuriam; hos inflat, illos mollit et totos resolvit.

It moves the brain not in one kind: it irritates some into one thing, these into unrestrainedness, those into luxury; it inflates these, it softens those and dissolves them completely.

[2] 'At bene aliquis illam fert.' Sic, quomodo vinum. Itaque non est quod tibi isti persuadeant eum esse felicem qui a multis obsidetur: sic ad illum quemadmodum ad lacum concurritur, quem exhauriunt et turbant. 'Nugatorium et inertem vocant.' Scis quosdam perverse loqui et significare contraria.

[2] 'But someone or other bears it well.' So, just as with wine. Therefore there is no reason for those fellows to persuade you that he is happy who is besieged by many: thus to him people rush together as to a lake, which they drain and make turbid. 'They call him nugatory and inert.' You know that some speak perversely and signify the contrary.

Felicem vocabant: quid ergo? erat?

They called him happy: what then? was he?

[3] Ne illud quidem curo, quod quibusdam nimis horridi animi videtur et tetrici. Ariston aiebat malle se adulescentem tristem quam hilarem et amabilem turbae; vinum enim bonum fieri quod recens durum et asperum visum est; non pati aetatem quod in dolio placuit. Sine eum tristem appellent et inimicum processibus suis: bene se dabit in vetustate ipsa tristitia, perseveret modo colere virtutem, perbibere liberalia studia, non illa quibus perfundi satis est, sed haec quibus tingendus est animus.

[3] Nor do I care even for that which seems to some people a temper too rough and grim. Ariston used to say that he preferred a young man somber rather than cheerful and lovable to the crowd; for the wine which when new seemed hard and asperous becomes good; that which pleased in the cask does not endure age. Let them call him somber and an enemy to their progress: with age that very somberness will turn out well, provided only that he persist in cultivating virtue, to drink down the liberal studies—not those with which it is enough to be perfused, but those with which the mind must be dyed.

[4] Hoc est discendi tempus. 'Quid ergo? aliquod est quo non sit discendum?' Minime; sed quemadmodum omnibus annis studere honestum est, ita non omnibus institui.

[4] This is the time for learning. 'What then? Is there any time at which one ought not to be learning?' By no means; but just as it is honorable to study in all years, so it is not in all that one should be initiated.

Turpis et ridicula res est elementarius senex: iuveni parandum, seni utendum est. Facies ergo rem utilissimam tibi, si illum quam optimum feceris; haec aiunt beneficia esse expetenda tribuendaque, non dubie primae sortis, quae tam dare prodest quam accipere.

A shameful and ridiculous thing is an elementary old man: the young must be preparing, the old must be using. You will therefore do the most useful thing for yourself, if you make him as excellent as possible; they say that these benefactions are to be sought and to be bestowed, without doubt of the first sort, which it profits as much to give as to receive.

[5] Denique nihil illi iam liberi est, spopondit; minus autem turpe est creditori quam spei bonae decoquere. Ad illud aes alienum solvendum opus est negotianti navigatione prospera, agrum colenti ubertate eius quam colit terrae, caeli favore: ille quod debet sola potest voluntate persolvi.

[5] Finally, nothing of his is free any longer—he has pledged it; and it is less disgraceful to be a bankrupt to a creditor than to bankrupt good hope. For the paying of that debt the merchant needs prosperous navigation, the man cultivating a field the fertility of the land he cultivates, the favor of the sky: he can discharge what he owes by will alone.

[6] In mores fortuna ius non habet. Hos disponat ut quam tranquillissimus ille animus ad perfectum veniat, qui nec ablatum sibi quicquam sentit nec adiectum, sed in eodem habitu est quomodocumque res cedunt; cui sive aggeruntur vulgaria bona, supra res suas eminet, sive aliquid ex istis vel omnia casus excussit, minor non fit.

[6] Fortune has no right over morals. Let one dispose these, so that that mind, as tranquil as possible, may come to perfection, which feels that nothing has been taken from itself nor added, but is in the same habit whatever way things turn out; for which, whether the common (vulgar) goods are heaped up, it stands above its own possessions, or whether chance has shaken out something from these or all, it is not diminished.

[7] Si in Parthia natus esset, arcum infans statim tenderet; si in Germania, protinus puer tenerum hastile vibraret; si avorum nostrorum temporibus fuisset, equitare et hostem comminus percutere didicisset. Haec singulis disciplina gentis suae suadet atque imperat.

[7] If he had been born in Parthia, as an infant he would straightway draw the bow; if in Germany, forthwith as a boy he would brandish the tender spear-shaft; if he had lived in the times of our grandfathers, he would have learned to ride and to strike the enemy at close quarters. These things the discipline of his nation persuades and commands to individuals.

[8] Quid ergo huic meditandum est? quod adversus omnia tela, quod adversus omne hostium genus bene facit, mortem contemnere, quae quin habeat aliquid in se terribile, ut et animos nostros quos in amorem sui natura formavit offendat, nemo dubitat; nec enim opus esset in id comparari et acui in quod instinctu quodam voluntario iremus, sicut feruntur omnes ad conservationem sui.

[8] What, then, should he meditate? That which works well against all missiles, that which works well against every kind of enemies: to contemn death; which, that it has something terrible in itself, so as also to offend our spirits, whom nature has fashioned into a love of themselves, no one doubts; for there would be no need to be prepared and sharpened for that into which we would go by a certain voluntary instinct, just as all are borne toward the preservation of themselves.

[9] Nemo discit ut si necesse fuerit aequo animo in rosa iaceat, sed in hoc duratur, ut tormentis non summittat fidem, ut si necesse fuerit stans etiam aliquando saucius pro vallo pervigilet et ne pilo quidem incumbat, quia solet obrepere interim somnus in aliquod adminiculum reclinatis. Mors nullum habet incommodum; esse enim debet aliquid cuius sit incommodum.

[9] No one learns so that, if it should be necessary, he may lie with equanimity on a bed of roses, but one is hardened for this: that he not submit his faith under tortures; that, if need be, even while standing, sometimes wounded, he keep vigil before the rampart and not even lean upon a javelin, because in the meantime sleep is wont to creep upon those who have reclined on some support. Death has no inconvenience; for there must be something for which there is an inconvenience.

[10] Quod si tanta cupiditas te longioris aevi tenet? cogita nihil eorum quae ab oculis abeunt et in rerum naturam, ex qua prodierunt ac mox processura sunt, reconduntur consumi: desinunt ista, non pereunt, et mors, quam pertimescimus ac recusamus, intermittit vitam, non eripit; veniet iterum qui nos in lucem reponat dies, quem multi recusarent nisi oblitos reduceret.

[10] But if so great a desire of a longer age holds you, consider that none of the things which depart from our eyes and are stored away in the nature of things, out of which they have come forth and into which they are soon to proceed, is consumed: these things cease, they do not perish; and death, which we greatly fear and refuse, intermits life, it does not snatch it away; there will come again the day which will set us back into the light, which many would refuse, unless it brought them back forgetful.

[11] Sed postea diligentius docebo omnia quae videntur perire mutari. Aequo animo debet rediturus exire. Observa orbem rerum in se remeantium: videbis nihil in hoc mundo exstingui sed vicibus descendere ac surgere.

[11] But afterward I will more diligently teach that all things which seem to perish are changed. He who is about to return ought to depart with equanimity. Observe the orb of things returning into themselves: you will see nothing in this world extinguished but by turns descending and rising.

Aestas abit, sed alter illam annus adducet; hiemps cecidit, referent illam sui menses; solem nox obruit, sed ipsam statim dies abiget. Stellarum iste discursus quidquid praeterit repetit; pars caeli levatur assidue, pars mergitur.

Summer departs, but another year will bring it back; winter has fallen, its own months will bring it back; night overwhelms the sun, but day will immediately drive her away. This revolution of the stars repeats whatever passes; part of the sky is continually lifted, part is plunged.

[12] Denique finem faciam, si hoc unum adiecero, nec infantes [nec] pueros nec mente lapsos timere mortem et esse turpissimum si eam securitatem nobis ratio non praestat ad quam stultitia perducit. Vale.

[12] Finally I will make an end, if I add this one thing: that neither infants [nor] boys nor those lapsed in mind fear death, and that it is most shameful if reason does not furnish to us that security to which stupidity conducts. Farewell.

XXXVII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

37. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Quod maximum vinculum est ad bonam mentem, promisisti virum bonum, sacramento rogatus es. Deridebit te, si quis tibi dixerit mollem esse militiam et facilem. Nolo te decipi. Eadem honestissimi huius et illius turpissimi auctoramenti verba sunt: 'uri, vinciri ferroque necari'.

[1] That which is the greatest bond toward a good mind: you have promised to be a good man; you have been put under oath by a sacrament. He will laugh at you, if anyone tells you that military service is soft and easy. I do not want you to be deceived. The words of the most honorable and of that most disgraceful oath of enlistment are the same: 'to be burned, to be bound, and to be killed by iron'.

[2] Ab illis qui manus harenae locant et edunt ac bibunt quae per sanguinem reddant cavetur ut ista vel inviti patiantur: a te ut volens libensque patiaris. Illis licet arma summittere, misericordiam populi temptare: tu neque summittes nec vitam rogabis; recta tibi invictoque moriendum est. Quid porro prodest paucos dies aut annos lucrificare?

[2] From those who lease their hands to the arena and eat and drink things which they will pay back through blood it is stipulated that they suffer these things even if unwilling: from you, that you suffer willingly and gladly. To them it is permitted to lower their arms, to try the mercy of the people: you will neither lower nor ask for life; straightway and unconquered you must die. What, moreover, does it profit to lucrify a few days or years?

sine missione nascimur.

we are born without discharge.

[3] 'Quomodo ergo' inquis 'me expediam?' Effugere non potes necessitates, potes vincere.

[3] 'How then,' you ask, 'shall I extricate myself?' You cannot escape necessities; you can conquer them.

Fit via <vi>;

A way is made by <force>;

et hanc tibi viam dabit philosophia. Ad hanc te confer si vis salvus esse, si securus, si beatus, denique si vis esse, quod est maximum, liber; hoc contingere aliter non potest.

and philosophy will give this way to you. To this betake yourself if you wish to be safe, if secure, if blessed, finally if you wish to be, which is greatest, free; this cannot be attained otherwise.

[4] Humilis res est stultitia, abiecta, sordida, servilis, multis affectibus et sacrissimis subiecta. Hos tam graves dominos, interdum alternis imperantes, interdum pariter, dimittit a te sapientia, quae sola libertas est. Una ad hanc fert via, et quidem recta; non aberrabis; vade certo gradu.

[4] Folly is a lowly thing, abject, sordid, servile, subject to many affections and most accursed. These masters so heavy—at times commanding by turns, at times together—wisdom dismisses from you, which alone is liberty. One road bears to this, and indeed a straight one; you will not go astray; go with a sure step.

Si vis omnia tibi subicere, te subice rationi; multos reges, si ratio te rexerit. Ab illa disces quid et quemadmodum aggredi debeas; non incides rebus.

If you wish to subject all things to yourself, subject yourself to reason; you will rule many kings, if reason has ruled you. From her you will learn what and in what manner you ought to approach; you will not blunder into things.

[5] Neminem mihi dabis qui sciat quomodo quod vult coeperit velle: non consilio adductus illo sed impetu impactus est. Non minus saepe fortuna in nos incurrit quam nos in illam. Turpe est non ire sed ferri, et subito in medio turbine rerum stupentem quaerere, 'huc ego quemadmodum veni?' Vale.

[5] You will give me no one who knows how he began to will what he wills: he was not brought to that by counsel but was struck by impulse. No less often does Fortune run into us than we into her. It is disgraceful not to go but to be carried, and suddenly, in the midst of the whirlwind of affairs, to ask in a stupor, 'How did I come here?' Farewell.

XXXVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

38. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Merito exigis ut hoc inter nos epistularum commercium frequentemus. Plurimum proficit sermo, quia minutatim irrepit animo: disputationes praeparatae et effusae audiente populo plus habent strepitus, minus familiaritatis. Philosophia bonum consilium est: consilium nemo clare dat.

[1] You rightly demand that we should frequent this commerce of letters between us. Discourse profits very much, because it creeps little by little into the mind; prepared and poured-out disputations, with the people listening, have more noise, less familiarity. Philosophy is good counsel: counsel no one gives clearly.

Aliquando utendum est et illis, ut ita dicam, contionibus, ubi qui dubitat impellendus est; ubi vero non hoc agendum est, ut velit discere, sed ut discat, ad haec submissiora verba veniendum est. Facilius intrant et haerent; nec enim multis opus est sed efficacibus.

Sometimes one must make use even of those, so to speak, public orations, where the one who hesitates must be impelled; but when the aim is not that he should want to learn, but that he should learn, one must resort to these more subdued words. They enter more easily and adhere; for there is need not of many, but of efficacious ones.

[2] Seminis modo spargenda sunt, quod quamvis sit exiguum, cum occupavit idoneum locum, vires suas explicat et ex minimo in maximos auctus diffunditur. Idem facit ratio: non late patet, si aspicias; in opere crescit. Pauca sunt quae dicuntur, sed si illa animus bene excepit, convalescunt et exsurgunt.

[2] They must be scattered in the manner of seed, which, although it is exiguous, when it has occupied a suitable place, unfolds its powers and, from the least, is diffused into the greatest growths. Reason does the same: it does not lie widely open, if you look; in operation it grows. Few are the things that are said, but if the mind has well received them, they grow strong and rise up.

Eadem est, inquam, praeceptorum condicio quae seminum: multum efficiunt, et angusta sunt. Tantum, ut dixi, idonea mens rapiat illa et in se trahat; multa invicem et ipsa generabit et plus reddet quam acceperit. Vale.

The condition of precepts, I say, is the same as that of seeds: they accomplish much, and they are narrow. Only let, as I said, a suitable mind seize them and draw them into itself; it too in turn will generate many things and will render back more than it has received. Farewell.

XXXIX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

39. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETING

[1] Commentarios quos desideras, diligenter ordinatos et in angustum coactos, ego vero componam; sed vide ne plus profutura sit ratio ordinaria quam haec quae nunc vulgo breviarium dicitur, olim cum latine loqueremur summarium vocabatur. Illa res discenti magis necessaria est, haec scienti; illa enim docet, haec admonet. Sed utriusque rei tibi copiam faciam.

[1] The commentaries which you desire, diligently ordered and compressed into a narrow compass, I indeed will compose; but see lest the ordinary method be more likely to be of profit than this which now commonly is called a breviary, formerly—when we used to speak Latin—was called a summary. That thing is more necessary to the learner, this to the knower; for that teaches, this reminds. But I will provide you with both.

Tu a me non est quod illum aut illum exigas: qui notorem dat ignotus est.

You have no cause to demand from me this man or that: he who furnishes an introducer is himself unknown.

[2] Scribam ergo quod vis, sed meo more; interim multos habes quorum scripta nescio an satis ordinentur. Sume in manus indicem philosophorum: haec ipsa res expergisci te coget, si videris quam multi tibi laboraverint. Concupisces et ipse ex illis unus esse; habet enim hoc optimum in se generosus animus, quod concitatur ad honesta.

[2] I will write, then, what you wish, but in my own manner; meanwhile you have many whose writings I am not sure are sufficiently ordered. Take into your hands an index of philosophers: this very thing will compel you to awaken, if you see how many have labored for you. You too will desire to be one of them; for a generous (noble) spirit has this best thing in itself, that it is incited to honorable things.

Neminem excelsi ingenii virum humilia delectant et sordida: magnarum rerum species ad se vocat et extollit.

No man of exalted genius is delighted by humble and sordid things: the appearance of great things calls him to itself and exalts him.

[3] Quemadmodum flamma surgit in rectum, iacere ac deprimi non potest, non magis quam quiescere, ita noster animus in motu est, eo mobilior et actuosior quo vehementior fuerit. Sed felix qui ad meliora hunc impetum dedit: ponet se extra ius dicionemque fortunae; secunda temperabit, adversa comminuet et aliis admiranda despiciet.

[3] Just as a flame rises straight up, it cannot lie and be pressed down, no more than it can be at rest; so our mind is in motion, the more mobile and more active the more vehement it is. But happy is he who has directed this impetus to better things: he will place himself outside the law and dominion of Fortune; he will temper prosperous things, shatter adverse things, and will look down on what is admired by others.

[4] Magni animi est magna contemnere ac mediocria malle quam nimia; illa enim utilia vitaliaque sunt, at haec eo quod superfluunt nocent. Sic segetem nimia sternit ubertas, sic rami onere franguntur, sic ad maturitatem non pervenit nimia fecunditas. Idem animis quoque evenit quos immoderata felicitas rumpit, qua non tantum in aliorum iniuriam sed etiam in suam utuntur.

[4] It is of a great spirit to contemn great things and to prefer the moderate rather than the excessive; for the former are useful and vital, but the latter, because they are superfluous, are harmful. Thus too great abundance lays the crop low; thus branches are broken by their load; thus excessive fecundity does not reach maturity. The same happens to minds as well, which immoderate felicity bursts, and which use it not only to the injury of others but also to their own.

[5] Qui hostis in quemquam tam contumeliosus fuit quam in quosdam voluptates suae sunt? quorum impotentiae atque insanae libidini ob hoc unum possis ignoscere, quod quae fecere patiuntur. Nec immerito hic illos furor vexat; necesse est enim in immensum exeat cupiditas quae naturalem modum transilit.

[5] What enemy has been so contumelious toward anyone as some men’s own pleasures are toward them? and you could for this one thing pardon their impotence and insane libido: that they suffer what they have done. Nor undeservedly does this frenzy vex them; for cupidity which overleaps the natural measure must needs go out into the boundless.

Ille enim habet suum finem, inania et ex libidine orta sine termino sunt.

For that has its own end; inanities and things arisen from libido are without terminus.

[6] Necessaria metitur utilitas: supervacua quo redigis? Voluptatibus itaque se mergunt quibus in consuetudinem adductis carere non possunt, et ob hoc miserrimi sunt, quod eo pervenerunt ut illis quae supervacua fuerant facta sint necessaria. Serviunt itaque voluptatibus, non fruuntur, et mala sua, quod malorum ultimum est, et amant; tunc autem est consummata infelicitas, ubi turpia non solum delectant sed etiam placent, et desinit esse remedio locus ubi quae fuerant vitia mores sunt.

[6] Utility measures the necessary: to what do you reduce the superfluous? Therefore they plunge themselves into pleasures which, once brought into consuetude, they cannot lack; and on this account they are most wretched, that they have come to the point where those things which had been superfluous have been made necessary. Accordingly they serve pleasures, they do not enjoy them; and, what is the ultimate of evils, they even love their evils. But then unhappiness is consummated, when turpitudes not only delight but even find favor; and there ceases to be room for a remedy where the things which had been vices are mores.

Vale.

Farewell.

XL. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

40. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETING

[1] Quod frequenter mihi scribis gratias ago; nam quo uno modo potes te mihi ostendis. Numquam epistulam tuam accipio ut non protinus una simus. Si imagines nobis amicorum absentium iucundae sunt, quae memoriam renovant et desiderium [absentiae] falso atque inani solacio levant, quanto iucundiores sunt litterae, quae vera amici absentis vestigia, veras notas afferunt?

[1] I give thanks that you write to me frequently; for in the one way in which you can, you show yourself to me. I never receive your letter without our being at once together. If images of absent friends are pleasant to us, which renew memory and lift the longing [of absence] with a false and empty solace, how much more pleasant are letters, which bring the true traces of an absent friend, true marks?

Nam quod in conspectu dulcissimum est, id amici manus epistulae impressa praestat, agnoscere.

For what is sweetest to the sight, that the hand of a friend, impressed upon a letter, provides: to recognize.

[2] Audisse te scribis Serapionem philosophum, cum istuc applicuisset: 'solet magno cursu verba convellere, quae non effundit +ima+ sed premit et urguet; plura enim veniunt quam quibus vox una sufficiat'. Hoc non probo in philosopho, cuius pronuntiatio quoque, sicut vita, debet esse composita; nihil autem ordinatum est quod praecipitatur et properat. Itaque oratio illa apud Homerum concitata et sine intermissione in morem nivis superveniens oratori data est, lenis et melle dulcior seni profluit.

[2] You write that you have heard the philosopher Serapion, when he had arrived there: 'he is wont with great course to convulse his words, which he does not pour out +ima+ but presses and urges; for more come than those for which a single voice suffices.' This I do not approve in a philosopher, whose delivery too, just as his life, ought to be composed; moreover nothing is orderly that rushes headlong and hastens. And so that speech in Homer, agitated and, without intermission, coming on in the manner of snow, was given to the orator; the gentle one and sweeter than honey flows for the old man.

[3] Sic itaque habe: [ut] istam vim dicendi rapidam atque abundantem aptiorem esse circulanti quam agenti rem magnam ac seriam docentique. Aeque stillare illum nolo quam currere; nec extendat aures nec obruat. Nam illa quoque inopia et exilitas minus intentum auditorem habet taedio interruptae tarditatis; facilius tamen insidit quod exspectatur quam quod praetervolat.

[3] So then have it thus: [that] that swift and abundant force of speaking is more fitting for a mountebank than for one conducting a great and serious matter and teaching. I do not want him to drip any more than to run; nor let him stretch the ears nor overwhelm them. For that poverty and thinness too holds the hearer less intent, by the tedium of interrupted tardiness; yet what is awaited settles in more easily than what flies past.

Venique tradere homines discipulis praecepta dicuntur: non traditur quod fugit.

And men are said to come and to hand down precepts to their disciples: what flees is not handed down.

[4] Adice nunc quod quae veritati operam dat oratio incomposita esse debet et simplex: haec popularis nihil habet veri. Movere vult turbam et inconsultas aures impetu rapere, tractandam se non praebet, aufertur: quomodo autem regere potest quae regi non potest? Quid quod haec oratio quae sanandis mentibus adhibetur descendere in nos debet?

[4] Add now that the oration which devotes its effort to truth ought to be unadorned and simple: this popular style has nothing of the true. It wants to move the crowd and to snatch unconsidering ears by its impetus; it does not offer itself to be handled, it is carried off: but how can that govern which cannot be governed? What of the fact that this oration, which is applied to the healing of minds, ought to descend into us?

remedia non prosunt nisi immorantur.

remedies do not avail unless they linger.

[5] Multum praeterea habet inanitatis et vani, plus sonat quam valet. Lenienda sunt quae me exterrent, compescenda quae irritant, discutienda quae fallunt, inhibenda luxuria, corripienda avaritia: quid horum raptim potest fieri? quis medicus aegros in transitu curat?

[5] Moreover it contains much emptiness and vanity; it makes more sound than it has strength. The things that terrify me must be soothed, those that irritate must be restrained, the things that delude must be dispelled, luxury must be inhibited, avarice must be corrected: which of these can be done in haste? what physician treats the sick in passing?

Quid quod ne voluptatem quidem ullam habet talis verborum sine dilectu ruentium strepitus?

What of the fact that such a clatter of words, rushing without selection, has not even any pleasure?

[6] Sed ut pleraque quae fieri posse non crederes cognovisse satis est, ita istos qui verba exercuerunt abunde est semel audisse. Quid enim quis discere, quid imitari velit? quid de eorum animo iudicet quorum oratio perturbata et immissa est nec potest reprimi?

[6] But just as, for very many things which you would not believe could be done, to have come to know them is enough, so for those who have exercised words it is abundantly enough to have heard them once. For what, indeed, would anyone wish to learn, what to imitate? what should he judge about their mind, whose oration is perturbed and let loose and cannot be repressed?

[7] Quemadmodum per proclive currentium non ubi visum est gradus sistitur, sed incitato corporis ponderi servit ac longius quam voluit effertur, sic ista dicendi celeritas nec in sua potestate est nec satis decora philosophiae, quae ponere debet verba, non proicere, et pedetemptim procedere.

[7] Just as on a downward slope, for those running, the step is not halted where one has wished, but serves the incited weight of the body and is carried farther than he wished, so this celerity of speaking is neither in its own power nor sufficiently decorous for philosophy, which ought to place words, not to project them, and to proceed pedetemptim.

[8] 'Quid ergo? non aliquando et insurget?' Quidni? sed salva dignitate morum, quam violenta ista et nimia vis exuit.

[8] 'What then? Will it not sometimes also rise up?' Why not? but with the dignity of morals intact, which that violent and excessive force strips off.

Habeat vires magnas, moderatas tamen; perennis sit unda, non torrens. Vix oratori permiserim talem dicendi velocitatem inrevocabilem ac sine lege vadentem: quemadmodum enim iudex subsequi poterit aliquando etiam imperitus et rudis? Tum quoque, cum illum aut ostentatio abstulerit aut affectus impotens sui, tantum festinet atque ingerat quantum aures pati possunt.

Let it have great strength, yet moderated; let the wave be perennial, not a torrent. I would scarcely permit to an orator such a speed of speaking, irrevocable and going without law: for how will a judge be able to follow, sometimes even inexperienced and raw? Then too, when either ostentation has carried him off or an affect not master of itself, let him hasten and heap on only as much as ears are able to endure.

[9] Recte ergo facies si non audieris istos qui quantum dicant, non quemadmodum quaerunt, et ipse malueris, si necesse est, +vel P. Vinicium dicere qui itaque+. Cum quaereretur quomodo P. Vinicius diceret, Asellius ait 'tractim'. Nam Geminus Varius ait, 'quomodo istum disertum dicatis nescio: tria verba non potest iungere'. Quidni malis tu sic dicere quomodo Vinicius?

[9] Rightly therefore will you act if you do not listen to those who inquire how much one says, not how, and you yourself prefer, if it is necessary, +even to speak like P. Vinicius, who thus+. When it was asked how P. Vinicius spoke, Asellius said “draggingly.” For Geminus Varius said, “I do not know how you call this man eloquent: he cannot join three words.” Why should you not prefer to speak thus as Vinicius?

[10] Aliquis tam insulsus intervenerit quam qui illi singula verba vellenti, tamquam dictaret, non diceret, ait 'dic, +numquam dicas+?' Nam Q. Hateri cursum, suis temporibus oratoris celeberrimi, longe abesse ab homine sano volo: numquam dubitavit, numquam intermisit; semel incipiebat, semel desinebat.

[10] Has anyone ever intervened so insipidly as the fellow who, when he wanted to dole out his words one by one—as if he were dictating, not speaking—said, 'say, +may you never say+?' For I want the course of Q. Haterius, in his time a most celebrated orator, to be far from a sane man: he never doubted, never intermitted; he would begin once, he would end once.

[11] Quaedam tamen et nationibus puto magis aut minus convenire. In Graecis hanc licentiam tuleris: nos etiam cum scribimus interpungere assuevimus. Cicero quoque noster, a quo Romana eloquentia exsiluit, gradarius fuit.

[11] Yet I think certain things do suit nations more or less. Among the Greeks you would tolerate this license; we too, even when we write, have grown accustomed to punctuate. Cicero too, our own, from whom Roman eloquence leapt forth, was a man of measured steps.

Romanus sermo magis se circumspicit et aestimat praebetque aestimandum.

The Roman discourse is more circumspect and estimates, and it also offers itself to be estimated.

[12] Fabianus, vir egregius et vita et scientia et, quod post ista est, eloquentia quoque, disputabat expedite magis quam concitate, ut posses dicere facilitatem esse illam, non celeritatem. Hanc ego in viro sapiente recipio, non exigo; ut oratio eius sine impedimento exeat, proferatur tamen malo quam profluat.

[12] Fabianus, a distinguished man in life and in science, and—what is after these—in eloquence as well, used to dispute more expeditiously than impetuously, so that you could say that was facility, not celerity. This I receive in a wise man, I do not exact: that his oration go forth without impediment; yet I prefer that it be brought forth rather than that it overflow.

[13] Eo autem magis te deterreo ab isto morbo quod non potest tibi ista res contingere aliter quam si te pudere desierit: perfrices frontem oportet et te ipse non audias; multa enim inobservatus ille cursus feret quae reprendere velis.

[13] All the more do I deter you from that morbus, because this thing cannot happen to you otherwise than if you have ceased to be ashamed: you must rub your brow, and you must not listen to yourself; for that unobserved course will bear along many things which you would wish to reprehend.

[14] Non potest, inquam, tibi contingere res ista salva verecundia. Praeterea exercitatione opus est cotidiana et a rebus studium transferendum est ad verba. Haec autem etiam si aderunt et poterunt sine ullo tuo labore decurrere, tamen temperanda sunt; nam quemadmodum sapienti viro incessus modestior convenit, ita oratio pressa, non audax.

[14] It cannot, I say, befall you with modesty preserved. Moreover, there is need of quotidian exercise, and zeal must be transferred from things to words. However, even if these are present and can run their course without any toil of yours, nevertheless they must be tempered; for just as a more modest gait befits a wise man, so too a compressed, not audacious, speech.

Summa ergo summarum haec erit: tardilocum esse te iubeo. Vale.

Therefore the sum of sums will be this: I order you to be slow of speech. Farewell.

XLI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

41. SENECA TO HIS LUCILIUS, GREETINGS

[1] Facis rem optimam et tibi salutarem si, ut scribis, perseveras ire ad bonam mentem, quam stultum est optare cum possis a te impetrare. Non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus nec exorandus aedituus ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri possimus, admittat: prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.

[1] You are doing a most excellent and for you salutary thing if, as you write, you persevere in going toward a good mind; how foolish it is to wish for it when you can obtain it from yourself. Hands are not to be raised to heaven, nor is the aedituus to be entreated to admit us to the ear of the image, as if we could be better heard: the god is near you, he is with you, he is within.

[2] Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos; hic prout a nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat. Bonus vero vir sine deo nemo est: an potest aliquis supra fortunam nisi ab illo adiutus exsurgere? Ille dat consilia magnifica et erecta. In unoquoque virorum bonorum

[2] Thus I say, Lucilius: a sacred spirit sits within us, an observer and guardian of our evils and our goods; this one, just as he has been treated by us, so he himself treats us. Indeed, no man is good without god: or can anyone rise up above Fortune unless aided by him? He gives counsels magnificent and upright. In each of the good men

[quis deus incertum est] habitat deus.

[which god is uncertain] a god dwells.

[3] Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli ramorum aliorum alios protegentium summovens, illa proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque continuae fidem tibi numinis faciet. Si quis specus saxis penitus exesis montem suspenderit, non manu factus, sed naturalibus causis in tantam laxitatem excavatus, animum tuum quadam religionis suspicione percutiet. Magnorum fluminum capita veneramur; subita ex abdito vasti amnis eruptio aras habet; coluntur aquarum calentium fontes, et stagna quaedam vel opacitas vel immensa altitudo sacravit.

[3] If a thick grove of trees should occur to you, with ancient trees that have gone beyond their accustomed height, and, by the of branches, some protecting others, warding off the sight of the sky, that loftiness of the forest and the seclusion of the place and the wonder at a shade in the open so dense and continuous will make for you a belief in a divinity. If some cavern, with the rocks eaten away deep within, shall have suspended the mountain, not made by hand, but hollowed by natural causes to such spaciousness, it will strike your spirit with a certain suspicion of religion. We venerate the heads of great rivers; the sudden bursting forth, from a hidden place, of a vast stream has altars; the springs of hot waters are revered; and certain pools either their shadedness or their immense depth has consecrated.

[4] Si hominem videris interritum periculis, intactum cupiditatibus, inter adversa felicem, in mediis tempestatibus placidum, ex superiore loco homines videntem, ex aequo deos, non subibit te veneratio eius? non dices, 'ista res maior est altiorque quam ut credi similis huic in quo est corpusculo possit'?

[4] If you should see a man un-terrified by perils, untouched by cupidity, happy among adversities, placid in the midst of tempests, seeing men from a higher place, and the gods on equal terms—will not a veneration of him come upon you? Will you not say, 'this thing is greater and higher than that it could be believed to be similar to this little corpuscle in which it is'?

[5] Vis isto divina descendit; animum excellentem, moderatum, omnia tamquam minora transeuntem, quidquid timemus optamusque ridentem, caelestis potentia agitat. Non potest res tanta sine adminiculo numinis stare; itaque maiore sui parte illic est unde descendit. Quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram sed ibi sunt unde mittuntur, sic animus magnus ac sacer et in hoc demissus, ut propius [quidem] divina nossemus, conversatur quidem nobiscum sed haeret origini suae; illinc pendet, illuc spectat ac nititur, nostris tamquam melior interest.

[5] A divine force descends into such a one; a heavenly potency stirs a mind excellent, moderate, passing by all things as though lesser, smiling at whatever we fear and desire. So great a thing cannot stand without the aid of numen; and so with the greater part of itself it is there whence it descended. Just as the rays of the sun indeed touch the earth but are there where they are sent from, so the great and sacred soul, sent down into this, in order that we might know the divine more closely [indeed], does indeed dwell with us but clings to its origin; from there it hangs, thither it looks and strives, it takes part in our affairs as being, as it were, the better.

[6] Quis est ergo hic animus? qui nullo bono nisi suo nitet. Quid enim est stultius quam in homine aliena laudare?

[6] What then is this spirit? one which shines by no good except its own. For what is more stupid than to praise alien things in a man?

quid eo dementius qui ea miratur quae ad alium transferri protinus possunt? Non faciunt meliorem equum aurei freni. Aliter leo aurata iuba mittitur, dum contractatur et ad patientiam recipiendi ornamenti cogitur fatigatus, aliter incultus, integri spiritus: hic scilicet impetu acer, qualem illum natura esse voluit, speciosus ex horrido, cuius hic decor est, non sine timore aspici, praefertur illi languido et bratteato.

What is more demented than he who marvels at things that can straightway be transferred to another? Golden bridles do not make a horse better. One way a lion with a gilded mane is sent out, while he is manhandled and, wearied, is forced into the patience of receiving the ornament; another way when he is unkempt, of unimpaired spirit: this one, of course, keen in onset, such as nature willed him to be, comely out of his roughness—whose beauty is this, to be looked upon not without fear—is preferred to that languid and gold-foiled one.

[7] Nemo gloriari nisi suo debet. Vitem laudamus si fructu palmites onerat, si ipsa pondere [ad terram] eorum quae tulit adminicula deducit: num quis huic illam praeferret vitem cui aureae uvae, aurea folia dependent? Propria virtus est in vite fertilitas; in homine quoque id laudandum est quod ipsius est.

[7] No one ought to boast except in what is his own. We praise a vine if it loads its shoots with fruit, if it itself by the weight [to the earth] of the things it has borne draws down its supports: would anyone prefer to this that vine on which golden grapes, golden leaves hang down? The proper virtue in a vine is fertility; in a human being as well, that is to be praised which is his own.

Familiam formonsam habet et domum pulchram, multum serit, multum fenerat: nihil horum in ipso est sed circa ipsum.

He has a comely family and a beautiful house, he sows much, he lends much at interest: none of these things is in himself but around him.

[8] Lauda in illo quod nec eripi potest nec dari, quod proprium hominis est. Quaeris quid sit? animus et ratio in animo perfecta.

[8] Praise in him that which can neither be snatched away nor given, which is proper to man. You ask what it is? The mind and reason perfected in the mind.

Rationale enim animal est homo; consummatur itaque bonum eius, si id implevit cui nascitur. Quid est autem quod ab illo ratio haec exigat? rem facillimam, secundum naturam suam vivere.

For man is a rational animal; accordingly his good is consummated, if he has fulfilled that for which he is born. What, moreover, is it that this reason exacts from him? A most easy thing: to live according to his nature.

Sed hanc difficilem facit communis insania: in vitia alter alterum trudimus. Quomodo autem revocari ad salutem possunt quos nemo retinet, populus impellit? Vale.

But common insanity makes this difficult: into vices we shove one another. And how, moreover, can those be recalled to salvation whom no one restrains, whom the people impels? Farewell.