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Letters from a Stoic

Seneca

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Source: Internet Archive adluciliumepistu01sene/adluciliumepistu02sene/adluciliumepistu03sene Source URL: https://archive.org/details/adluciliumepistu01sene ; https://archive.org/details/adluciliumepistu02sene ; https://archive.org/details/adluciliumepistu03sene Translator: Richard M. Gummere (1917) Public domain basis: Public-domain Loeb volumes published 1917, 1920, and 1925. Coverage: All three Gummere Loeb volumes, OCR quality retained from Internet Archive.

# Moral Letters to Lucilius, vol. 1

LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY |

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Epistulae Morales I Books I-Lxv

EPISTULAE MORALES I BOOKS I-LXV

; ea a OM eee eer Ta Se ieee i j

Translated by

R. M. Gummere

R. M. GUMMERE

Complete list of Loeb titles can be found at the end of each volume

SENECA, Lucius Annaeus, born at Corduba (Cordova) c.5 or 4 B.C,, of a noble and wealthy family, after an ailing childhood and youth at Rome in an aunt’s care, was a victim of life-long neurosis but _ became famous in rhetoric, philosophy, -money-making, and imperial service. ' After some disgrace during Claudius’ reign he became tutor and then, in a.p. 54, _ advising minister to Nero, some of whose worst misdeeds he did not prevent. In- volved (innocently?) in a conspiracy, he killed himself by order in a.p.6 5. Wealthy, he preached indifference to wealth; évader of pain and death, he preached scorn of both; and there were other contrasts between practice and principle. Wicked himself he was not. Of his works we have 10 mis-called ‘Dialogi’, seven being philosophical — on providence, steadfastness, happy life, anger, leisure, calmness of mind, shortness of life; 3 other treatises. (on money, benefits, and natural phenomena); 124 ‘Epistulae - morales’ all addressed to one person; a ~~ skit on the official deification of Claudius ; and 9 rhetorical tragedies (not for acting) onancient Greek themes. Many ‘Epistulae’ and all his speeches are lost. Much of his thought is clever rather than deep, and his style is pointed rather than ample.

S76 SENECA. :

| SENECA, LUCIUS ANNAEUS»

Ad Lucilium Epistulaf

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PREVIOUS EDITORS { T. E. PAGE, c.H., LITT.D. J E. CAPPS, Pu.D., LL.D. ~ W. H. D. ROUSE, uirr.p. TL. A. POST, u.x.p. E. H. WARMINGTON, M.a., F.R.HIST.SOO.

SENECA avs

Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales I

AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE MORALES I

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Seneca In Ten Volumes Iv Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales With An English Translation By

SENECA

IN TEN VOLUMES IV

AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE MORALES

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY RICHARD M. GUMMERE, Ph.D.

HEADMASTER, WILLIAM PENN CHARVER SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA

IN THREE VOLUMES

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD MCMLX XIX

American ISBN 0-674-99084-6

British ISBN 0 434 99075 2

First printed 1917 Reprinted 1925, 1934, 1953, 1961, 1967, 1979

Printed in Great Britain

G76 20507 y GEMECA tiga vol. (

Contents Of Volume I Page

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I

PAGE INTRODUCTION . J : Z : ‘ Vii LETTERS— I. ON SAVING TIME : : s : : 2 Il. ON DISCURSIVENESS IN READING . ; 5 6 I]. ON TRUE AND FALSE FRIENDSHIP ; ‘ 8 IV. ON THE TERRORS OF DEATH ; : : 12 V. ON THE PHILOSOPHER'S MEAN. . : , 2¢ VI. ON SHARING KNOWLEDGE . , : , 24 VII. ON CROWDS : : : : : ‘ 28 VIII. ON THE PHILOSOPHER'S SECLUSION : : 36 IX. ON PHILOSOPHY. AND FRIENDSHIP ‘ , 42 X. ON LIVING TO ONESELF. 2 : pedo XI. ON THE BLUSH OF MODESTY : , : 69 Mil. ON OLD AGE. . : 5. ; : pore GY 3 XIII. ON GROUNDLESS FEARS : : : ae denata

Xiv. On The Reasons For Withdrawing From

XIV. ON THE REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING FROM THE WORLD . : : 3 : 84 XV. ON BRAWN AND BRAINS ‘ ‘ . : 94 XVI. ON PHILOSOPHY, THE GUIDE OF LIFE . Ra 2 XVII. ON PHILOSOPHY AND RICHES . : . 108 XVIII. ON FESTIVALS AND FASTING : 2 . 116 XIX. ON WORLDLINESS AND RETIREMENT. ee Ys |

Xx. Xxi. Xxii, Xxiii. Xxiv. Xxv. Xxxvi. Xxvii. Olb Nue Xxaix. Xxx. Xxxi. Xxxii.

XX. XXI.

XXII, XXIII.

XXIV. XXV.

XXXVI.

XXVII.

OLB NUE XXAIX.

XXX. XXXI. XXXII.

©. 0.0008 XXXIV. XXXV.

XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XX XIX. XL.

CONTENTS

ON PRACTISING WHAT YOU PREACH

ON THE RENOWN WHICH MY WRITINGS WILL BRING YOU . °

On The Futility Of Half-Way Measures On The True Joy Which Comes From

ON THE FUTILITY OF HALF-WAY MEASURES

ON THE TRUE JOY WHICH COMES FROM

PHILOSOPHY ° . : . ON DESPISING DEATH ° ° . . ON REFORMATION . . .

ON OLD AGE AND DEATH

ON THE GOOD WHICH ABIDES

ON TRAVEL AS A CURE FOR DISCONTENT

ON THE CRITICAL CONDITION OF MAR- CELLINUS . .

ON CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR . .

ON SIREN SONGS |

ON PROGRESS °

ON THE FUTILITY OF LEARNING MAXIMS

ON A PROMISING PUPIL . .

ON THE FRIENDSHIP OF KINDRED MINDS

ON THE VALUE OF RETIREMENT : : ON ALLEGIANCE TO VIRTUE. : ‘ ON QUIET CONVERSATION Rie be :

On Noble Aspirations . :

ON NOBLE ASPIRATIONS . :

ON THE PROPER STYLE FOR A _ PHILO-

SOPHER S DISCOURSE . ° . ON THE GOD WITHIN US. > . . ON VALUES . . . ° . . ON THE RELATIVITY OF FAME. : . ON PHILOSOPHY AND PEDIGREES : . ON SOPHISTICAL ARGUMENTATION . .

PAG l Og

140 145

158 164 182 186 192 198

208 210 OOO 228 I389 240 249

246

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XLVI. XLVIL. XLVIIL.

LII. LILI. LIV.

LV. LVI.

LVII. LVIII. LIX. LX. LXI. LXII. LXIII. LXIV. LXV.

INDEX

ON ON ON

CONTENTS

A NEW BOOK BY LUCILIUS MASTER AND SLAVE

QUIBBLING AS UNWORTHY

PHILOSOPHER . .

ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON ON

ON ON

THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE

OUR BLINDNESS AND ITS CURE

BAIAE AND MORALS . CHOOSING OUR TEACHERS

THE FAULTS OF THE SPIRIT .

ASTHMA AND DEATH . VATIA’S VILLA.

Quiet And Study The Trials Of Travel

QUIET AND STUDY

THE TRIALS OF TRAVEL BEING : ; , PLEASURE AND JOY HARMFUL PRAYERS.

MEETING DEATH CHEERFULLY

GOOD COMPANY . GRIEF FOR LOST FRIENDS THE PHILOSOPHER'S TASK THE FIRST CAUSE :

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Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Amonc the personalities of the early Roman Empire there are few who offer to the readers of to-day such dramatic interest as does Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the author of the Epistles which are translated in this volume. Born in a province, educated at Rome, prominent at the bar, a distinguished exile, a trusted minister of State, and a doomed victim of a capricious emperor, Seneca is so linked with the age in which he lived that in reading his works we read those of a true representative of the most thrilling period of Roman history.

Seneca was born in the year 4 B.c., a time of great opportunity, at Corduba, in Spain, son of the talented rhetorician, Annaeus Seneca. We gather that the family moved to Rome during the boyhood of Lucius, that he was educated for the bar, and that he was soon attracted by the Stoic philosophy, the stern nurse of heroes during the first century of the Empire. That his social connexions were distinguished we infer from the prominence and refinement of his brother Gallio,—the Gallio of the New Testament,—from the fact that he himself was noticed and almost condemned to death by the Emperor Caligula soon after he began to speak in public, and especially because his aunt, whom he

VOL. I A 2 Vii

INTRODUCTION

visited in Egypt, was the wife of the governor of that country.

Up to the year 41 he prospered. He makes mention of his children, of his mother who, like the mother of Goethe, seems to have imbued him with idealism and a certain amount of mysticism, and of many valued friends. But during that year, as a result of court intrigue, he was banished to the island of Corsica. The charge against him was a too great intimacy with Iulia Livilla, unfortunate sister of the late emperor, and the arch-foe of Messalina, whose husband, Claudius, had recalled the princess from exile. We may discount any crime on Seneca’s part because even the gossip-laden Suetonius says: “The charge was vague and the accused was given no opportunity to defend himself.”

The eight years of exile were productive of much literary work. The tragedies, which have had such influence on later drama, are the fruit of this period, besides certain essays on philosophic subjects, and a rather cringing letter to Polybius, a rich freedman at the court of Claudius. In 49, however, Fortune, whom Seneca as a Stoic so often ridicules, came to his rescue. Agrippina had him recalled and ap- pointed tutor to her young son, later to become the Emperor Nero. Holding the usual offices of state, and growing in prominence, Seneca administered the affairs of the prince, in partnership with Burrus, the praetorian. Together they maintained the balance of power between throne and Senate until the death of Burrus in the year 62. After that time, a philo- sopher without the support of military power was unable to cope with the vices and whims of the monster on the throne.

The last two years of Seneca’s life were spent in

vul

INTRODUCTION

travelling about southern Italy, composing essays on natural history and relieving his burdened soul by correspondence with his friend Lucilius. In the year 65 came his suicide, anticipating an act of violence on the Emperor’s part; in this deed of heroism he was nobly supported by his young wife Paulina. The best account of these dark days is given in Tacitus.

These letters are all addressed to Lucilius. From internal evidence we gather that the native country of this Lucilius was Campania, and his native city Pompeii or Naples. He was a Roman knight, having gained that position, as Seneca tells us, by sheer industry. Prominent in the civil service, he had filled many important positions and was, at the time when the Letters were written, procurator in Sicily. He seems to have had Epicurean tendencies, like so many men from this part of Italy; the author argues and tries to win him over to Stoicism, in the kindliest manner. Lucilius wrote books, was interested in philosophy and geography, knew in- timately many persons in high places, and is thought by some to be the author of the extant poem Aeina.

When their friendship began we cannot say. The Naturales Quaestiones and the Letters are the work of Seneca’s closing years. Both are addressed to Lucilius. The essay De Providentia, which was also dedicated to him, is of doubtful date, and may be fixed at any time between the beginning of the exile in Corsica and the period when the Letters were written.

In spite of the many problems which confront us, it may be safely said that the years 63-65 constitute the period of the Letters. We find possible allusions

INTRODUCTION

to the Campanian earthquake of 63, a reference to the conflagration at Lyons, which took place either in 64 or in 65, and various hints that the philosopher was travelling about Italy in order to forget politics.

The form of this work, as Bacon says, is a col- lection of essays rather than of letters. The recipient is often mentioned by name; but his identity is secondary to the main purpose. The language at the beginning of the seventy-fifth letter, for example, might lead one to suppose that they were dashed off in close succession: “ You complain that you receive from me letters which are rather carelessly written ;” but the ingenious juxtaposition of effective words, the balance in style and thought, and the continual striving after point, indicate that the language of the diatribe had affected the informality of the epistle.}

The structure of each letter is interesting. A concrete fact, such as the mention of an illness, a voyage by sea or land, an incident like the adventure in the Naples tunnel, a picnic party, or an assemblage of friends who discuss questions from Plato, or Aristotle, or Epicurus,—these are the elements which serve to justify the reflections which follow. After such an introduction, the writer takes up his theme ; he deals with abstract subjects, such as the contempt » of death, the stout-heartedness of the sage, or the quality of the Supreme Good. We shall not mention the sources of all these topics in footnotes, but shall aim only to explain that which is obscure in meaning or unusual in its import. Plato’s Theory of Ideas, Aristotle’s Categories, Theophrastus on

1 How Seneca came by this ‘‘ pointed” style will be

evident to one who reads the sample speeches given in the handbook of the Elder Seneca.

INTRODUCTION

Friendship, Epicurus on Pleasure, and all the count- less doctrinal shades of difference which we find in the Stoic leaders, are at least sketched in outline.

But we must give full credit to the philosopher's own originality. In these letters, it is impossible to ignore the advance from a somewhat stiff and Ciceronian point of view into the attractive and debatable land of what one may fairly call modern ideas. The style of the Epistles is bold, and so is the thought.

Considered en masse, the letters form a fruitful and helpful handbook, of the very widest scope and interest. The value of intelligent reading and the studies which make for culture is presented to Lucilius with frequency, notably in Nos. II. and LXXXVIII. Seneca agrees with the definition of higher studies as ‘‘ those which have no reference to mere utility.” The dignity of the orator’s profession (XL. and CXIV.) is brought to the attention of a young self-made merchant who seems inclined towards platform display. The modern note is struck when the author protests against the swinish and debasing effects of slavery or gladiatorial com- bats (XLVII. and LXX.); preaches against the degeneracy of drunkenness (LXXXIII.); portrays the charms of plain living and love of nature (LVIL, LXVIL, LXXIX., LXXXVI., LXXXVIL., XC., XCIV.); recommends retirement (XVIII., LI, LVI., LXXX., CXXII.); or manifests a Baconian interest in scientific inventions (LVII., LXXIX.). Most striking of all is the plea (XCIV.) for the equality of the sexes and for conjugal fidelity in the husband, to be interpreted no less strictly than honour on the part of the wife. The craze for athletics is also analyzed and rebuked (XV.).

INTRODUCTION

The Epistles contain also, of course, the usual literary types which every Roman epistolographer would feel bound to introduce. There is the con- solatio; there is the theme of friendship; there are second-hand lectures on philosophy taken from Plate and Aristotle and Theophrastus, as we have indi- cated above; and several characteristically Roman laudations of certain old men (including the author himself) who wrestle with physical infirmities. But the Stoic doctrine is interpreted better, from the Roman point of view, by no other Latin writer. The facts of Seneca’s life prove the sincerity of his utter- ances, and blunt the edge of many of the sneers which we find in Dio Cassius, regarding the fabulous sums which he had out at interest and the costly tables purchased for the palace of a millionaire.

Finally, in no pagan author, save perhaps Vergil, is the beauty of holiness (XLI.) so sincerely presented from a Roman standpoint. Although his connexion with the early Church has been disproved, Seneca shows the modern, the Christian, spirit. Three of the ideals mentioned above, the hatred of combats in the arena, the humane treatment of slaves, and the sanctity of marriage, draw us towards Seneca as towards a teacher like Jeremy Taylor..

There is no pretence of originality in the Latin text; the translator has adopted, with very few deviations, that of O. Hense’s second edition. This text he has found to be excellent, and he has also derived assistance from the notes accompanying the Selected Letters of W. C. Summers.

Ricuarp M. GumMMERE,

Haverrorp Co..ece, MW. ay, 1916. xil

The Text

THE TEXT

Yhe manuscripts of the Letters fall into two clearly defined parts; from I. to LXXXVIII. inclusive, and from LXXXIX. to CXXIV. They are divided into books; but in this translation we shall number them only by letters. For a more detailed description the reader is referred to Hense’s preface to the 1914 Teubner edition.

MSS. available for the first part of the Letters are— (1) Two Paris MSS. of the 10th century, p and P. (2) Another Paris MS. of the 11th century, b. (3) The codex Laurentianus, of the 9th or 10th century, containing letters 1.-LXV. This is designated as L. (4) The codex Venetus, of the same date, containing Nos.

Liii.-Lxxxviii. V.

LIII.-LXXXVIII. V.

(5) The codex Metensis, of the 11th century, known as M. (6) The codex Gudianus, of the 10th century, which con- tains scraps of the earliest letters. Designated as g.

For the second part of the Letters, LXXXIX.-CXXIV., there is a more limited choice. The best MS. is— Codex Bambergensis, of the 9th century, known as B. Codex Argentoratensis, A, which was destroyed in the siege of Strassburg, of the 9th or 10th century.

Other MSS., either of less importance or of later date, may be found in Hense’s preface.

1 Where the testimony of these later MSS. seems sonnd, the translator has omitted Hense’s brackets; the headings of the books into which the Letiers were originally divided are also omitted.

xiii

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editions :

1475 Editio Princeps, Naples. In this were included most of the philosopher’s works, together with several by the elder Seneca. The Epistles were published separately, in the same year, at Paris, Rome, and Strassburg.

1515 Erasmus, Basel.

1605 Lipsius, Antwerp.

1649-1658 J. F. Gronovius (with the elder Seneca), Leiden.

1797-1811 F. E. Ruhkopf, Leipzig.

1842 C.R. Fickert, Leipzig.

1852 F. Haase, Leipzig.

1898, 19142 O. Hense (Teubner), Leipzig.

1910 W. C. Summers, Select Letters (with extensive introduction and annotations), Maemillan.

1921 O. Hense, Supplementum Quinirianum (Teubner), Leipzig.

1931 A. Beltrami, 2 vols, Rome.

1945— F. Préchac (Fr. trans. by H. Noblot), Budeé, Paris.

1965 L. D. Reynolds, O.C.T., 2 vols, Oxford 1965.

Manuscripts :

There are two separate traditions, one for Letters 1-88, another for 89-124. A full and excellent account is given in L. D. Reynolds, The Medieval Tradition of Seneca’s Letters, Oxford 1965.

Textual Studies :

W. H. Alexander, ‘‘ Seneca’s Epistulae Morales, The Text Emended and Explained,” Univ. Calif. Publ. Vol. 12, pp. 57-88; 135-164.

X1V

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bertil Axelson, Der Codex Argentoratensis C.V 1.5, Lund 1937.

Bertil Axelson, *‘ Neue Senecastudien, Textkrit. Beitrage zu Senecas Epistulae Morales,” Lunds Univ. Ars- skr. 36, 1 (1939).

Otto Foerster, Handschrifiliche Untersuchungen zu Se- nekas Epistulae Morales .. ., Stuttgart 1936.

Einar Lofstedt, ‘‘ Zu Senecas Briefen,’’ Eranos 14 (1915), 142-164.

G. Maurach, Der Bau von Senecas Epistulae Morales, Heidelberg 1970.

Biographical :

A. Bourgery, Sénéque prosateur, Paris 1922.

Miriam T. Griffin, Seneca: A Philosopher in Politics, Oxford 1965.

P. Grimal, Sénéque, sa vie, son wuvre, sa philosophie, Paris 1948, 1957?.

Anna Lydia Motto, Seneca Sourcebook: Guide to the Thought of . . . (arranged by subject in alphabetical order), Amsterdam 1970. See also her biblio- graphical surveys in Classical World 54 (1960) and 64 (1971).

René Waltz, Vie de Sénéque, Paris 1909.

(G. P. G., 1979)

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The Epistles Of Seneca L. Annaei Senecae Ad Lucilium Epistulae E

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

L. ANNAEI SENECAE AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE

Seneca LvycILio svo SALVTEM

1 = Ita fac, mi Lucili; vindica te tibi, et tempus, quod adhuc aut auferebatur aut subripiebatur aut excide- bat, collige et serva. Persuade tibi hoc sic esse, ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam efHuunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.

2 Quem mihi dabis, qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat, qui diem aestimet, qui intellegat se cotidie mori? In hoe enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus ; magna pars eius iam praeterit. Quicquid aetatis retro est, mors tenet.

Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te scribis, omnes horas conplectere. Sic fiet, ut minus ex crastino

endeas, si hodierno manum inieceris. Dum dif- Pp 9 =

The Epistles Of Seneca I. On Saving Time

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA I. ON SAVING TIME

Greetings from Seneca to his friend Lucilius.

ConTINuE to act thus, my dear Lucilius—set your- self free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands. Make yourself believe the truth of my words,—that certain moments are torn from us, that some are gently removed, and that others glide beyond our reach. The most disgraceful kind of loss, however, is that due to carelessness. Furthermore, if you will pay close heed to the problem, you will find that the largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose. What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily? For we are mistaken when we look forward to death ; the major portion of death has already passed. Whatever years lie behind us are in death’s hands.

Therefore, Lucilius, do as you write me that you are doing: hold every hour in your grasp. Lay hold of to-day’s task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow’s. While we are postponing,

aT 4

The Epistles Of Seneca

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

iertur, vita transcurrit. Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum cst. In huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit, ex qua expellit quicumque vult. Et tanta stultitia mortalium est, ut quae minima et vilissima sunt, certe reparabilia, imputari sibi, cum impetravere, patiantur ; nemo se iudicet quicquam debere, qui tempus accepit, cum interim hoc unum est, quod ne gratus quidem potest reddere.

Interrogabis fortasse, quid ego faciam, qui tibi ista praecipio. Fatebor ingenue: quod apud luxu- riosum sed diligentem evenit, ratio mihi constat in- pensae. Non possum me dicere! nihil perdere, sed quid perdam et quare et quemadmodum, dicam ; causas paupertatis meae reddam, sed evenit mihi, quod plerisque non suo vitio ad inopiam redactis : omnes ignoscunt, nemo succurrit.

Quid ergo est? Non puto pauperem, cui quantu- lumcumque superest, sat est. Tu tamen malo serves tua, et bono tempore incipies. Nam ut visum est maioribus nostris, sera parsimonia in fundo est. Non enim tantum minimum in imo, sed pessimum remanet. VALE.

1 me dicere Hense: dicere me or dicere nihil me MSS.

@ Hesiod, Works and Days, 369.

Epistle I.

EPISTLE I.

life speeds by. Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time. We were entrusted by nature with the owner- ship of this single thing, so fleeting and slippery that anyone who will can oust us from possession. What fools these mortals be! They allow the cheapest and most useless things, which can easily be replaced, to be charged in the reckoning, after they have acquired them ; but they never regard themselves as in debt when they have received some of that precious commodity,—time! And yet time is the one loan which even a grateful recipient cannot repay.

You may desire to know how I, who preach to you so freely, am practising. I confess frankly: my expense account balances, as you would expect from one who is free-handed but careful. I cannot boast that I waste nothing, but I can at least tell you what I am wasting, and the cause and manner of the loss ; I can give you the reasons why I am a poor man. My situation, however, is the same as that of many who are reduced to slender means through no fault of their own: every one forgives them, but no one comes to their rescue.

What is the state of things,then? It isthis: Ido not regard a man as poor, if the little which remains is enough for him. I advise you, however, to keep what is really yours; and you cannot begin too early. For, as our ancestors believed, it is too late to spare when you reach the dregs of the cask.2 Of that which remains at the bottom, the amount is slight, and the quality is vile. Farewell.

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If.

Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

Ex iis quae mihi scribis, et ex iis quae audio, bonam spem de te concipio; non discurris nec locorum mutationibus inquietaris. Aegri animi ista iactatio est. Primum argumentum conpositae mentis existimo posse consistere et secum morari. Illud autem vide, ne ista lectio auctorum multorum et omnis generis voluminum habeat aliquid vagum et instabile. Certis ingeniis inmorari et innutriri oportet, si velis aliquid trahere, quod in animo fideliter sedeat. Nusquam est, qui ubique est. Vitam in peregrina- tione exigentibus hoc evenit, ut multa hospitia habeant, nullas amicitias. Idem accidat necesse est iis, qui nullius se ingenio familiariter applicant, sed omnia cursim et properantes transmittunt. Non prodest cibus nec corpori accedit, qui statim sumptus emittitur; nihil aeque sanitatem impedit quam remediorum crebra mvutatio; non venit vulnus ad cicatricem, in quo medicamenta temptantur; non convalescit planta, quae saepe transfertur. Nihil tam utile est, ut in transitu prosit. Distringit librorum multitudo.

Itaque cum legere non possis, quantum habueris, satis est habere, quantum legas. “Sed modo,” inquis, “ hune librum evolvere volo, modo illum.” Fastidientis stomachi est multa degustare ; quae ubi

Epistle Ii. It. On Discursiveness In Reading

EPISTLE II.

IT. ON DISCURSIVENESS IN READING

Judging by what you write me, and by what I hear, I am forming a good opinion regarding your future. You do not run hither and thither and distract yourself by changing your abode; for such restlessness is the sign of a disordered spirit. The primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company. Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. You must linger among a limited number of master- thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind. Every- where means nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends. And the same thing must hold true of men who seek intimate acquaint- ance with no single author, but visit them all in a hasty and hurried manner. Food does no good and is not assimilated into the body if it leaves the stomach as soon as it is eaten; nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent change of medicine; no wound will heal when one salve is tried after another ; a plant which is often moved can never grow strong. There is nothing so efficacious that it can be helpful while it is being shifted about. And in reading of many books is distraction.

Accordingly, since you cannot read all the books which you may possess, it is enough to possess only as many books as you can read. “ But,” you reply, “TI wish to dip first into one book and then into another.” I tell you that it is the sign of an over- nice appetite to toy with many dishes; for when

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varia sunt et diversa, inquinant, non alunt. Probatos itaque semper lege, et si quando ad alios deverti libuerit, ad priores redi. Aliquid cotidie adversus paupertatem, aliquid adversus mortem auxilii com- para, nec minus adversus ceteras pestes; et cum multa percurreris, unum excerpe, quod illo die con- 5 coquas. Hoc ipse quoque facio; ex pluribus, quae legi, aliquid adprehendo. Hodiernum hoc est, quod apud Epicurum nanctus sum; soleo enim et in aliena castra transire, non § tamquam transfuga, sed tamquam explorator. “ Ho- nesta,’ inquit, “res est laeta paupertas.” lila vero non est paupertas, si laeta est. Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est. Quid enim refert, quantum illi in areca, quantum in_horreis iaceat, quantum pascat aut feneret, si alieno inminet, si non adquisita sed adquirenda computat? Quis sit divitiarum modus, quaeris? Primus habere quod necesse est, proximus quod sat est. VALE,

Til:

Seneca LyvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Epistulas ad me perferendas tradidisti, ut scribis, amico tuo; deinde admones me, ne omnia cum eo ad te pertinentia communicem, quia non soleas ne ipse quidem id facere; ita in! eadem epistula illum et

1 ita in Gertz; ita AL.

@ Frag. 475 Usener.

Epistles Ii., Iii.

EPISTLES II., III.

they are manifold and varied, they cloy but do not nourish. So you should always read standard authors ; and when you crave a change, fall back upon those whom you read before. Each day acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day. This is my own custom; from the many things which I have read, I claim some one part for myself.

The thought for to-day is one which I discovered in Epicurus®; for I am wont to cross over even into the enemy’s camp,—not as a deserter, but as a scout. He says: “Contented poverty is an honourable estate.” Indeed, if it be contented, it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. What does it matter how much a man has laid up in his safe, or in his warehouse, how large are his flocks and how fat his dividends, if he covets his neighbour’s property, and reckons, not his past gains, but his hopes of gains to come? Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough. Farewell.

II]. ON TRUE AND FALSE FRIENDSHIP

You have sent a letter to me through the hand of a “friend” of yours, as you call him. And in your very next sentence you warn me not to discuss with him all the matters that concern you, saying that even you yourself are not accustomed to do this; in other words, you have in the same letter affirmed

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dixisti amicum et negasti. Itaque si! proprio illo verbo quasi publico usus es et sic illum amicum vocasti, quomodo omnes candidatos bonos viros dicimus, quomodo obvios, si nomen non succurrit, dominos 2 salutamus, hac abierit. Sed si aliquem amicum existimas, cui non tantundem credis quantum tibi, vehementer erras et non satis nosti vim verae ami- citiae. Tu vero omnia cum amico delibera, sed de ipso prius. Post amicitiam credendum est, ante amicitiam iudicandum. Isti vero praepostero officia permiscent, qui contra praecepta Theophrasti, cum amaverunt, iudicant, et non amant, cum iudicaverunt. Diu cogita, an tibi in amicitiam aliquis recipiendus sit. Cum placuerit fieri, toto illum pectore admitte ; 3 tam audaciter cum illo loquere quam tecum. Tu quidem ita vive, ut nihil tibi committas, nisi quod committere etiam inimico tuo possis ; sed quia inter- veniunt quaedam, quae consuetudo fecit arcana, cum amico omnes curas, omnes cogitationes tuas misce. Fidelem si putaveris, facies. Nam quidam fallere docuerunt, dum timent falli, et illi ius peccandi suspicando fecerunt. Quid est, quare ego ulla verba coram amico meo retraham? Quid est, quare me coram illo non putem solum ? 1 si Hense; sic MSS.

* i.e.,a word which has a special significance to the Stoics ; see Lp. x\viii., note. ® Frag. 74 Wimmer.

Epistle Iii.

EPISTLE III.

and denied that he is your friend. Now if you used this word of ours“ in the popular sense, and called him “friend” in the same way in which we speak of all candidates for election as “ honourable gentle- men,’ and as we greet all men whom we meet casu- ally, if their names slip us for the moment, with the salutation “my dear sir,’—so be it. But if you consider any man a friend whom you do not trust as you trust yourself, you are mightily mistaken and you do not sufficiently understand what true friend- ship means. Indeed, I would have you discuss every- thing with a friend; but first of all discuss the man himself. When friendship is settled, you must trust; before friendship is formed, you must pass judgment. Those persons indeed put last first and confound their duties, who, violating the rules of Theophrastus,? judge a man after they have made him their friend, instead of making him their friend after they have judged him. Ponder for a long time whether you shall admit a given person to your friendship; but when you have decided to admit him, welcome him with all your heart and soul. Speak as boldly with him as with yourself. As to yourself, although you should live in such a way that you trust your own self with nothing which you could not entrust even to your enemy, yet, since certain matters occur which convention keeps secret, you should share with a friend at least all your worries and reflections. Regard him as loyal, and you will make him loyal. Some, for example, fearing to be deceived, have taught men to deceive; by their suspicions they have given their friend the right to do wrong. Why need I keep back any words in the presence of my friend ? Why should I not regard myself as alone when in his company ?

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4 Quidam quae tantum amicis committenda sunt, obviis narrant et in quaslibet aures, quicquid illos urserit, exonerant. Quidam rursus etiam carissi- morum conscientiam reformidant, et si possent, ne sibi quidem credituri interivs premunt omne secretum. Neutrum faciendum est. Utrumque enim vitium est, et omnibus credere et nulli. Sed alterum honestius

5 dixerim vitium, alterum tutius; sic utrosque repre- hendas, et eos qui semper inquieti sunt, et eos qui semper quiescunt. Nam illa tumultu gaudens non est industria, sed exagitatae mentis concursatio. Et haec non est quies, quae motum omnem molestiam

6 iudicat, sed dissolutio et languor. Itaque hoc, quod apud Pomponium legi, animo mandabitur: “ quidam adeo in latebras refugerunt, ut putent in turbido esse, quicquid in luce est.’’ Inter se ista miscenda sunt, et quiescenti agendum et agenti quiescendum est. Cum rerum natura delibera; illa dicet tibi et diem fecisse se et noctem. VALE.

III.

Seneca LvyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 + Persevera ut coepisti et quantum potes propera, quo diutius frui emendato animo et conposito possis. Frueris quidem etiam dum emendas, etiam dum con-

@ See Index.

Epistles Iii., Iv.

EPISTLES III., IV.

There is a class of men who communicate, to any- one whom they meet, matters which should be re- vealed to friends alone, and unload upon the chance listener whatever irks them. Others, again, fear to confide in their closest intimates; and if it were possible, they would not trust even themselves, bury- ing their secrets deep in their hearts. But we should do neither. It is equally faulty to trust every one and to trust no one. Yet the former fault is, I should say, the more ingenuous, the latter the more safe. In like manner you should rebuke these two kinds of men,—both those who always lack repose, and those who are always in repose. For love of bustle is not industry,—it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind. And true repose does not consist in con- demning all motion as merely vexation; that kind of repose is slackness and inertia. Therefore, you should note the following saying, taken from my reading in Pomponius®: “ Some men shrink into dark corners, to such a degree that they see darkly by day.” No, men should combine these tendencies, and he who reposes should act and he who acts should take repose. Discuss the problem with Nature; she will tell you that she has created both day and night. Farewell.

Iv. On The Terrors Of Death

IV. ON THE TERRORS OF DEATH

Keep on as you have begun, and make all possible haste, so that you may have longer enjoyment of an improved mind, one that is at peace with itself. Doubtless you will derive enjoyment during the time

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ponis ; alia tamen illa voluptas est, quae percipitur ex contemplatione mentis ab omni labe purae et

2 splendidae. Tenes utique memoria, quantum senseris gaudium, cum praetexta posita sumpsisti virilem togam et in forum deductus es; maius expecta, cum puerilem animum deposueris et te in viros philo- sophia transscripserit. Adhuc enim non pueritia sed, quod est gravius, puerilitas remanet. Et hoc quidem peior! est, quod auctoritatem habemus senum, vitia puerorum, nec puerorum tantum sed infantum. Illi levia, hi falsa formidant, nos utraque.

3 Profice modo; intelleges quaedam ideo minus timenda, quia multum metus adferunt. Nullum malum est? magnum, quod extremum est. Mors ad te venit; timenda erat, si tecum esse posset; sed? necesse est aut non perveniat aut transeat

4“ Difficile est,” inquis, “ animum perducere ad con- temptionem animae.’’ Non vides, quam ex frivolis causis contemnatur? Alius ante amicae fores laqueo pependit, alius se praecipitavit e tecto, ne dominum stomachantem diutius audiret, alius ne reduceretur e fuga, ferrum adegit in viscera. Non putas virtutem hoc effecturam, quod efficit nimia formido? Nulli potest secura vita contingere, qui de producenda

nimis cogitat, qui inter magna bona multos consules

1 Hense, after Gertz, adds res after peor. 2 malum est and sed inserted by Gertz.

Epistle Iv.

EPISTLE IV.

when you are improving your mind and setting it at peace with itself; but quite different is the pleasure which comes from contemplation when one’s mind is so cleansed from every stain that it shines. You remember, of course, what joy you felt when you laid aside the garments of boyhood and donned the man’s toga, and were escorted to the forum; nevertheless, you may look for a still greater joy when you have laid aside the mind of boyhood and when wisdom has enrolled you among men. For it is not boyhood that still stays with us, but something worse,—boyish- ness. And this condition is all the more serious because we possess the authority of old age, together with the follies of boyhood, yea, even the follies of infancy. Boys fear trifles, children fear shadows, we fear both. |

All you need to do is to advance; you will thus understand that some things are less to be dreaded, precisely because they inspire us with great fear. No evil is great which is the last evil of all. Death arrives; it would be a thing to dread, if it could remain with you. But death must either not come at all, or else must come and pass away.

“It is difficult, however,” you say, “to bring the mind to a point where it can scorn life.” But do you not see what trifling reasons impel men to scorn life ? One hangs himself before the door of his mistress ; another hurls himself from the house-top that he may no longer be compelled to bear the taunts of a bad- tempered master; a third, to be saved from arrest after running away, drives a sword into his vitals. Do you not suppose that virtue will be as efficacious as excessive fear? No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it, or believes that living through many consulships is a great bless-

VOL. I B 15

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5numerat. Hoe cotidie meditare, ut possis aeque animo vitam relinquere, quam multi sic conplectuntur et tenent, quomodo qui aqua torrente rapiuntur spinas et aspera. Plerique inter mortis metum et vitae tormenta miseri fluctuantur et vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt. 6 Fac itaque tibi iucundam vitam omnem< pro illa sollicitudinem deponendo. Nullum bonum adiuvat habentem, nisi ad cuius amissionem praeparatus est animus; nullius autem rei facilior amissio est, quam quae desiderari amissa non potest. Ergo adversus haec, quae incidere possunt etiam potentissimis, ad- 7 hortare te et indura. De Pompei capite pupillus et spado tulere sententiam, de Crasso crudelis et insolens Parthus ; Gaius Caesar iussit Lepidum Dextro tribuno praebere cervicem, ipse Chaereae praestitit. Nemi- nem eo fortuna provexit, ut non tantum illi minaretur, quantum permiserat. Noli huic tranquillitati con- fidere; momento mare evertitur. Eodem die ubi 8 luserunt navigia, sorbentur. Cogita posse et latronem et hostem admovere iugulo tuo gladium: Ut potestas maior absit, nemo non servus habet in te vitae necisque arbitrium. Ita dico: quisquis vitam suam contemp- sit, tuae dominus est. Recognosce exempla eorum, qui domesticis insidiis perierunt, aut aperta vi aut dolo; intelleges non pauciores servorum ira cecidisse aaa regum. Quid ad te itaque, quam potens sit

« A reference to the murder of Caligula, on the Palatine, A.vD. +1,

EPISTLE IV.

ing. Rehearse this thought every day, that you may be able to depart from life contentedly; for many men clutch and cling to life, even as those who are carried down a rushing stream clutch and cling to briars and sharp rocks.

Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardships of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die. For this reason, make life as a whole agreeable to yourself by banishing all worry about it. No good thing renders its possessor happy, unless his mind is reconciled to the possibility of loss; nothing, how- ever, is lost with less discomfort than that which, when lost, cannot be missed. Therefore, encourage and toughen your spirit against the mishaps that afflict even the most powerful. For example, the fate of Pompey was settled by a boy and a eunuch, that of Crassus by a cruel and insolent Parthian. Gaius Caesar ordered Lepidus to bare his neck for the axe of the tribune Dexter; and he himself offered his own throat to Chaerea.* No man has ever been so far advanced by Fortune that she did not threaten him as greatly as she had previously indulged him. Do not trust her seeming calm; in a moment the sea is moved to its depths. The very day the ships have made a brave show in the games, they are engulfed. Reflect that a highwayman or an enemy may cut your throat; and, though he is not your master, every slave wields the power of life and death over you. Therefore I declare to you: he is lord of your life that scorns his own. Think of those who have perished through plots in their own homes, slain either openly or by guile; you will then understand that just as many have been killed by angry slaves as by angry kings. What matter, therefore, how power-

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

quem times, cum id, propter quod times, nemo non

g possit? At si forte in manus hostium incideris, victor

te duciiubebit ; eo nempe, quo duceris. Quid te ipse decipis et hoc nunc primum, quod olim patiebaris, intellegis? Itadico: ex quo natus es, duceris. Haec et eiusmodi versanda in animo sunt, si volumus ultimam illam horam placidi expectare, cuius metus omnes alias inquietas facit.

Sed ut finem epistulae inponam, accipe, quod mihi hodierno die placuit. Et hoc quoque ex alienis hor- tulis sumptum est. “Magnae divitiae sunt lege naturae composita paupertas.’’ Lex autem illa naturae scis quos nobis terminos statuat? Non esurire, non sitire, non algere. Ut famem sitimque depellas, non est necesse superbis adsidere liminibus nec supercilium grave et contumeliosam etiam humanitatem pati, non est necesse maria temptare nec sequi castra; parabile est, quod natura desiderat, et adpositum. Ad supervacua sudatur. Illa sunt, quae togam conterunt, quae nos senescere sub tentorio cogunt, quae in aliena litora inpingunt. Ad manum est, quod sat est. Cui cum paupertate bene convenit, dives est. VALE.

2 i.e., to death. ® The Garden of Epicurus. Fragg. 477 and 200 Usener.

EPISTLE IV.

ful he be whom you fear, when every one possesses the power which inspires your fear? “ But,’ you will say, “if you should chance to fall into the hands of the enemy, the conqueror will command that you be led away, —yes, whither you are already being led. Why do you voluntarily deceive yourself and require to be told now for the first time what fate it is that you have long been labouring under? Take my word for it: since the day you were born you are being led thither. We must ponder this thought, and thoughts of the like nature, if we desire to be calm as we await that last hour, the fear of which makes all previous hours uneasy.

But I must end my letter. Let me share with you the saying which pleased me to-day. It, too, is culled from another man’s Garden?: “ Poverty, brought into conformity with the law of nature, is great wealth.” Do you know what limits that law of nature ordains for us? Merely to avert hunger, thirst, and cold. In order to banish hunger and thirst, it is not necessary for you to pay court at the doors of the purse-proud, or to submit to the stern frown, or to the kindness that humiliates; nor is it necessary for you to scour the seas, or go campaigning; nature’s needs are easily provided and ready to hand. It is the superfluous things for which men sweat,—the superfluous things that wear our togas threadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores. That which is enough is ready to our hands. He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich. Farewell.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

Seneca LvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Quod pertinaciter studes et omnibus omissis hoc unum agis, ut te meliorem cotidie facias, et probo et gaudeo, nec tantum hortor, ut perseveres, sed etiam rogo. Illud autem te admoneo, ne eorum more, qui non proficere sed conspici cupiunt, facias aliqua, quae in habitu tuo aut genere vitae notabilia sint.

2 Asperum cultum et intonsum caput et neglegentiorem barbam et indictum argento odium et cubile humi positum, et quicquid aliud ambitio nempe perversa ! via sequitur, evita. Satis ipsum nomen philosophiae, etiam si modeste tractetur, invidiosum est; quid si nos hominum consuetudini coeperimus excerpere ? Intus omnia dissimilia sint, frons populo nostra

3 conveniat. Non splendeat toga, ne sordeat quidem. Non habeamus argentum, in quod solidi auri caela- tura descenderit, sed non putemus frugalitatis in- dicium auro argentoque caruisse. Id agamus, ut meliorem vitam sequamur quam vulgus, non ut con- trariam ; alioquin quos emendari volumus, fugamus a nobis et avertimus. I[llud quoque efficimus, ut nihil imitari velint nostri, dum timent, ne imitanda sint omnia.

4 Hoe primum philosophia promittit, sensum com- munem, humanitatem et congregationem. A qua professione dissimilitudo nos separabit. Videamus,

1 ambitio nempe perversa Gertz ; ambitionem perversa MSS.

Epistle V.

EPISTLE V. V. THE PHILOSOPHER’S MEAN

1 commend you and rejoice in the fact that you are persistent in your studies, and that, putting all else aside, you make it each day your endeavour to become a better man. I do not merely exhort you to keep at it; I actually beg you to doso. I warn you, ee not to act ee the fashion of those who desire to be conspicuous rather than to improve, by doing things which will rouse comment as regards your dress or general way of living. Re- pellent attire, unkempt hair, slovenly beard, open scorn of silver dishes, a couch on the bare earth, and any other perverted forms of self-display, are to be avoided. ‘The mere name of philosophy, however quietly pursued, is an object of sufficient scorn; and what would happen if we should begin to separate ourselves from the customs of our fellow-men ? Inwardly, we ought to be different in all respects, but our exterior should conform to society. Do not wear too fine, nor yet too frowzy, a toga. One needs no silver plate, encrusted and embossed in solid gold; but we should not believe the lack of silver and gold to be proof of the simple life. Let us try to maintain a higher standard of life than that of the multitude, but not a contrary standard ; other- wise, we shall frighten away and repel the very persons whom we are trying to improve. We also bring it about that they are unwilling to imitate us in anything, because they are afraid lest they might be compelled to imitate us in everything.

The first thing which philosophy undertakes to give is fellow-feeling with all men; in other words, sympathy and sociability. We part company with our promise if we are unlike other men. We must

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ne ista, per quae admirationem parare volumus, ridi- cula et odiosa sint. Nempe propositum nostrum est secundum naturam vivere; hoc contra naturam est, torquere corpus suum et faciles odisse munditias et squalorem adpetere et cibis non tantum vilibus uti sed taetris et horridis. Quemadmodum desiderare delicatas res luxuriae est, ita usitatas et non magno parabiles fugere dementiae. Frugalitatem exigit philosophia, non poenam, potest autem esse non incompta frugalitas. Hic mihi modus _placet : temperetur vita inter bonos mores et publicos; suspiciant omnes vitam nostram, sed agnoscant.

“Quid ergo? Eadem faciemus, quae ceteri? Nihil inter nos et illos intererit?’’ Plurimum. Dis- similes esse nos vulgo sciat, qui inspexerit propius. Qui domum intraverit, nos potius miretur quam su- pellectilem nostram. Magnus ille est, qui fictilibus sic utitur quemadmodum argento. Nec ille minor est, qui sic argento utitur quemadmodum fictilibus. Infirmi animi est pati non posse divitias.

Sed ut huius quoque diei lucellum tecum com- municem, apud Hecatonem nostrum inveni cupidi- tatium finem etiam ad timoris remedia_proficere. “ Desines,’ inquit, “timere, si sperare desieris.” Dices: “ Quomodo ista tam diversa pariter eunt!?” Ita est, mi Lucili: cum videantur dissidere, coniuncta sunt. Quemadmodum eadem catena et custodiam et militem copulat, sic ista, quae tam dissimilia sunt, 1 eunt Volkmann ; sunt MSS.

+ i.e. of the Stoic school. ® Frag. 25 Fowler. 22

EPISTLE V.

see to it that the means by which we wish to draw admiration be not absurd and odious. Our motto,¢ as you know, is “ Live according to Nature”; but it is quite contrary to nature to torture the body, to hate unlaboured elegance, to be dirty on purpose, to eat food that is not only plain, but disgusting and forbidding. Just as it is a sign of luxury to seek out dainties, so it is madness to avoid that which is customary and can be purchased at no great price. Philosophy calls for plain living, but not for penance ; and we may perfectly well be plain and neat at the same time. ‘This is the mean of which I approve ; our life should observe a happy medium between the ways of a sage and the ways of the world at large; all men should admire it, but they should understand it also.

«“ Well then, shall we act like other men? Shall there be no distinction between ourselves and the world?” Yes, a very great one; let men find that we are unlike the common herd, if they look closely. If they visit us at home, they should admire us, rather than our household appointments. He is a great man who uses earthenware dishes as if they were silver; but he is equally great who uses silver as if it were earthenware. It is the sign of an unstable mind not to be able to endure riches.

But I wish to share with you to-day’s profit also. I find in the writings of our ? Hecato that the limiting of desires helps also to cure fears: “Cease to hope,” he says, “and you will cease to fear.” “ But how,” you will reply, “can things so different go side by side?’’ In this way, my dear Lucilius: though they do seem at variance, yet they are really united. Just as the same chain fastens the prisoner and the soldier who guards him, so hope and fear, dissimilar as they

VOL. I B2 23

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8 pariter incedunt ; spem metus sequitur. Nec miror ista sic ire ; utrumque pendentis animi est, utrumque futuri exspectatione solliciti. Maxima autem utrius- que causa est, quod non ad praesentia aptamur, sed cogitationes in longinqua praemittimus. Itaque providentia, maximum bonum condicionis humanae,

9in malum versa est. Ferae pericula, quae vident, fugiunt ; cum effugere, securae sunt; nos et venturo torquemur et praeterito. Multa bona nostra nobis nocent, timoris enim tormentum memoria reducit, providentia anticipat. Nemo tantum praesentibus miser est. VALE.

VI. Seneca LycILIO SVO SALVTEM

1 Intellego, Lucili, non emendari me tantum sed transfigurari. Nec hoc promitto iam aut spero, nihil in me superesse, quod mutandum sit. Quidni multa habeam, quae debeant colligi, quae extenuari, quae attolli? Et hoc ipsum argumentum est in melius translati animi, quod vitia sua, quae adhue ignorabat, videt. Quibusdam aegris gratulatio fit, cum ipsi aegros se esse senserunt.

2 Cuperem itaque tecum communicare tam subitam mutationem mei; tune amicitiae nostrae certiorem

fiduciam habere coepissem, illius verae, quam non 24

Epistles V., Vi.

EPISTLES V., VI.

are, keep step together; fear follows hope. I am not surprised that they proceed in this way; each alike belongs to a mind that is in suspense, a mind that is fretted by looking forward to the future. But the chief cause of both these ills is that we do not adapt ourselves to the present, but send our thoughts a long way ahead. And so foresight, the noblest blessing of the human race, becomes per- verted. Beasts avoid the dangers which they see, and when they have escaped them are free from care; but we men torment ourselves over that which is to come as well as over that which is past. Many of our blessings bring bane to us; for memory recalls the tortures of fear, while foresight anticipates them. The present alone can make no man wretched. Farewell.

Epistle Vi.

EPISTLE VI.

which hope and fear and self-interest cannot sever, the friendship in which and for the sake of which men meet death. I can show you many who have lacked, not a friend, but a friendship; this, however, cannot possibly happen when souls are drawn together by identical inclinations into an alliance of honourable desires. And why can it not happen? Because in such cases men know that they have all things in common, especially their troubles.

You cannot conceive what distinct progress | notice that each day brings to me. And when you say: “ Give me also a share in these gifts which you have found so helpful,” I reply that I am anxious to heap all these privileges upon you, and that I am glad to learn in order that I may teach. Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. And if wisdom were given me under the express condition that it must be kept hidden and not uttered, I should refuse it. No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.

I shall therefore send to you the actual books; and in order that you may not waste time in search- ing here and there for profitable topics, I shall mark certain passages, so that you can turn at once to those which I approve and admire. Of course, however, the living voice and the intimacy of a common life will help you more than the written word. You must go to the scene of action, first, because men put more faith in their eyes than in their ears, and second, because the way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful, if one follows patterns. Cleanthes could not have been the express image of Zeno, if he had merely heard his lectures; he shared in his life, saw into his

Sa |

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observavit illum, an ex formula sua viveret. Platon et Aristoteles et omnis in diversum itura sapientium turba plus ex moribus quam ex verbis Socratis traxit ; Metrodorum et Hermarchum et Polyaenum magnos viros non schola Epicuri sed contubernium fecit. Nec in hoe te accerso tantum, ut proficias, sed ut prosis ; plurimum enim alter alteri conferemus. Interim quoniam diurnam tibi mercedulam debeo, quid me hodie apud Hecatonem delectaverit dicam. * Quaeris,’ inquit, “ quid profecerim? Amicus esse mihi coepi.”’ Multum profecit ; numquam erit solus.

Scito hune amicum omnibus esse. VALE.

VII. Seneca Lycintio svo SALVTEM

Quid tibi vitandum praecipue existimes, quaeris ? Turbam. Nondum illi tuto committeris. Ego certe confitebor inbecillitatem meam; numquam mores, quos extuli, refero. Aliquid ex eo, quod conposui, turbatur; aliquid ex iis, quae fugavi, redit. Quod aegris evenit, quos longa inbecillitas usque €0

adfecit, ut nusquam sine offensa proferantur, hoc

¢ Frag. 26 Fowler. 28

Epistles Vi., Vil.

EPISTLES VI., VIL.

hidden purposes, and watched him to see whether he lived according to his own rules. Plato, Aristotle, and the whole throng of sages who were destined to go each his different way, derived more benefit from the character than from the words of Socrates. It was not the class-room of Epicurus, but living together under the same roof, that made great men of Metrodorus, Hermarchus, and Polyaenus. There- fore I summon you, not merely that you may derive benefit, but that you may confer benefit; for we can assist each other greatly.

Meanwhile, I owe you my little daily contribution ; you shall be told what pleased me to-day in the writings of Hecato®%; it is these words: “ What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.” That was indeed a great benefit; such a person can never be alone. You may be sure that such a man is a friend to ali mankind. Farewell.

Vii. On Crowds

VII. ON CROWDS

Do you ask me what you should regard as especially to be avoided? I say, crowds; for as yet you cannot trust yourself to them with safety. I shall admit my own weakness, at any rate; for I never bring back home the same character that I took abroad with me. Something of that which I have forced to be calm within me is disturbed ; some of the foes that I have routed return again. Just as the sick man, who has been weak for a long time, is in such a condition that he cannot be taken out of

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aceidit nobis, quorum animi ex longo morbo re- ficiuntur. Inimica est multorum conversatio ; nemo non aliquod nobis vitium aut commendat aut inprimit aut nescientibus adlinit. Utique quo maior est populus, cui miscemur, hoc periculi plus est.

Nihil vero tam damnosum bonis moribus quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere. Tune enim per volup- tatem facilius vitia subrepunt. Quid me existimas dicere? Avarior redeo, ambitiosior, luxuriosior, im- mo vero crudelior et inhumanior, quia inter homines fui. Casu in meridianum spectaculum incidi lusus expectans et sales et aliquid laxamenti, quo hominum oculi ab humano cruore adquiescant; contra est. Quicquid ante pugnatum est, misericordia fuit. Nune omissis nugis mera homicidia sunt. Nihil habent quo tegantur, ad ictum totis corporibus expositi numquam frustra manum mittunt. Hoc plerique ordinariis pari- bus et postulaticiis praeferunt. Quidni praeferant ? Non galea, non scuto repellitur ferrum. Quo muni menta? Quo artes? Omnia ists mortis morae sunt. Mane leonibus et ursis homines, meridie spectatoribus suis obiciuntur. Interfectores interfecturis iubent obici et victorem in aliam detinent caedem. Exitus pugnantium mors est ; ferro et igne res geritur. Haec

5 flunt, dum vacat harena. ‘Sed latrocinium fecit

@ During the luncheon interval condemned criminals were often driven into the arena and compelled to fight, for the amusement of those spectators who remained throughout the day.

Epistle Vii.

EPISTLE VII.

the house without suffering a relapse, so we ourselves are affected when our souls are recovering from a lingering disease. To consort with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some vice attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously therewith. Certainly, the greater the mob with which we mingle, the greater the danger. But nothing is so damaging to good character as the habit of lounging at the games; for then it is that vice steals subtly upon one through the avenue of pleasure. What do you think I mean? I mean that I come home more greedy, more ambitious, more voluptuaus, and even more cruel and inhuman,— because I> have been among human beings. By chance I attended a mid-day exhibition, expecting some fun, wit, and relaxation,—an exhibition at which men’s eyes have respite from the slaughter of their fellow-men. But it was quite the reverse. ‘The previous combats were the essence of com- passion; but now all the trifling is put aside and it is pure murder.* The men have no defensive armour. They are exposed to blows at all points, and no one ever strikes in vain. Many persons prefer this pro- gramme to the usual pairs and to the bouts “by request.”” Of course they do; there is no helmet or shield to deflect the weapon. What is the need of defensive armour, or of skill? All these mean delaying death. In the morning they throw men to the lions and the bears; at noon, they throw them to the spectators. The spectators demand that the slayer shall face the man who is to slay him in his turn ; and they always reserve the latest conqueror for another butchering. The outcome of every fight is death, and the means are fire and sword. ‘This sort of thing goes on while the arena isempty. You 31

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

aliquis, occidit hominem.”” Quid ergo?! Quia occidit ille, meruit ut hoc pateretur; tu quid meruisti miser, ut hoe spectes? “ Occide, verbera, ure! Quare tam timide incurrit in ferrum? Quare parum audacter occidit? Quare parum libenter moritur? Plagis agatur? in vulnera, mutuos ictus nudis et obviis pectoribus excipiant.”” Intermissum est spectaculum: “interim iugulentur homines, ne nihil agatur.”’

Age, ne hoc quidem intellegitis, mala exempla in eos redundare, qui faciunt? Agite dis inmortalibus gratias, quod eum docetis esse crudelem, qui non pot- est discere. Subducendus populo est tener animus et parum tenax recti; facile transitur ad_plures. Socrati et Catoni et Laelio excutere morem suum dis- similis multitudo potuisset ; adeo nemo nostrum, qui cum maxime concinnamus ingenium, ferre impetum vitiorum tam magno comitatu venientium potest. Unum exemplum luxuriae aut avaritiae multum mali facit ; convictor delicatus paulatim enervat et emollit, vicinus dives cupiditatem inritat, malignus comes quamvis candido et simplici rubiginem suam adfricuit. Quid tu accidere his moribus credis, in quos publice factus est impetus? Necesse est aut imiteris aut

oderis.

1 So Hense ; quid ergo occidit hominem MSS. 2 agatur Rossbach ; agitur MSS.

* The remark is addressed to the brutalized spectators,

EPISTLE VII.

may retort: “But he was a highway robber; he killed a man!’’ And what of it? Granted that, as a murderer, he deserved this punishment, what crime have you committed, poor fellow, that you should deserve to sit and see this show? In the morning they cried “Kill him! Lash him! Burn him! Why does he meet the sword in so cowardly a way ? Why does he strike so feebly? Why doesn’t he die game? Whip him to meet his wounds! Let them receive blow for blow, with chests bare and exposed to the stroke!” And when the games stop for the intermission, they announce: “A little throat- cutting in the meantime, so that there may still be something gcing on!”

Come now; do you® not understand even this truth, that a bad example reacts on the agent? Thank the immortal gods that you are teaching cruelty to a person who cannot learn to be cruel. The young character, which cannot hold fast to righteousness, must be rescued from the mob; it is too easy to side with the majority. Even Socrates, Cato, and Laelius might have been shaken in their moral strength by a crowd that was unlike them; so true it is that none of us, no matter how much he cultivates his abilities, can withstand the shock of faults that approach, as it were, with so great a retinue. Much harm is done by a single case of indulgence or greed; the familiar friend, if he be luxurious, weakens and softens us imperceptibly ; the neighbour, if he be rich, rouses our covetousness ; the companion, if he be slanderous, rubs off some of his rust upon us, even though we be spotless and sincere. What then do you think the effect will be on char- acter, when the world at large assaults it! You must either imitate or loathe the world.

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8 Utrumque autem devitandum est; neve similis malis fias, quia multi sunt, neve inimicus multis, quia dissimiles sunt. Recede in te ipsum, quantum potes. Cum his versare, qui te meliorem facturi sunt. [los admitte, quos tu potes facere meliores. Mutuo ista

9 fiunt, et homines, dum docent, discunt. Non est quod te gloria publicandi ingenii producat in medium, ut recitare istis velis aut disputare; quod facere te vellem, si haberes isti populo idoneam mercem ; nemo est, qui intellegere te possit. Aliquis fortasse, unus aut alter incidet, et hic ipse formandus tibi erit in- stituendusque ad intellectum tui. “Cui ergo ista didici?’’ Non est quod timeas, ne operam perdideris; tibi ! didicisti.

10 Sed ne soli mihi hodie didicerim, communicabo tecum, quae occurrerunt mihi egregie dicta circa eun- dem fere sensum tria; ex quibus unum haec epistula in debitum solvet, duo in antecessum accipe. Demo- critus ait: “Unus mihi pro populo est, et populus

11 pro uno.” Bene et ille, quisquis fuit, ambigitur enim de auctore, cum quaereretur ab illo, quo tanta dili- gentia artis spectaret ad paucissimos perventurae, “ Satis sunt,’ inquit, “ mihi pauci, satis est unus, satis est nullus.” Egregie hoc tertium Epicurus, cum uni

1 tibt b, Hense ; st tibt LP. ———E—— a a eee ee « Frag. 302 Diels. > Frag. 208 Usener. 34

EPISTLE VII.

But both courses are to be avoided; you should not copy the bad simply because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike you. Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can im- prove. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach. There is no reason why pride in ad- vertising your abilities should lure you into publicity, so that you should desire to recite or harangue before the general public. Of course I should be willing for you to do so if you had a stock-in-trade that suited such a mob; as it is, there is not a man of them who can understand you. One or two in- dividuals will perhaps come in your way, but even these will have to be moulded and trained by you so that they will understand you. You may say: “For what purpose did [ learn all these things ?”’ But you need not fear that you have wasted your efforts ; it was for yourself that you learned them.

In order, however, that I may not to-day have learned exclusively for myself, I shall share with you three excellent sayings, of the same general purport, which have come to my attention. ‘This letter will give you one of them as payment of my debt; the other two you may accept as a contribution in advance. Democritus? says: “One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much as one man.” ‘The following also was nobly spoken by someone or other, for it is doubtful who the author was; they asked him what> was the object of all this study applied to an art that would reach but very few. He replied: “Iam content with few, content with one, content with none at all.” The third saying—and a noteworthy one, too—is by Epicurus,”

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ex consortibus studiorum suorum scriberet: “ Haec,” inquit, “ ego non multis, sed tibi ; satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus.” Ista, mi Lucili, con- denda in animum sunt, ut contemnas voluptatem ex plurium adsensione venientem. Multi te laudant. Ecquid ! habes, cur placeas tibi, si is es, quem intelle- gant multi? Introrsus bona tua spectent. Vate.

VITT.

Seneca LyciLtio svo SALVTEM

“Tu me,’ inquis, “ vitare turbam iubes, secedere et conscientia esse contentum? Ubi illa praecepta vestra, quae imperant in actu mori?” Quod ego tibi videor interim suadere, in hoc me recondidi et fores clusi, ut prodesse pluribus possem. Nullus mihi per otium dies exit. Partem noctium studiis vindico. Non vaco somno sed succumbo, et oculos vigilia fati- gatos cadentesque in opere detineo. Secessi non tantum ab hominibus, sed a rebus, et inprimis a meis rebus ; posterorum negotium ago; illis aliqua, quae possint prodesse, conscribo. Salutares,admonitiones, velut medicamentorum utilium compositiones, litteris mando, esse illas efficaces in meis ulceribus expertus, quae etiam si persanata non sunt, serpere desierunt. 1 ecquid Erasmus ; et guid MSS.

« As contrasted with the general Stoic doctrine of taking part in the world’s work.

Epistles Vil, Viii.

EPISTLES VIL, VIII.

written to one of the partners of his studies: “ | write this not for the many, but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for the other.” Lay these words to heart, Lucilius, that you may scorn the pleasure which comes from the applause of the majority. Many men praise you; but have you any reason for being pleased with yourself, if you are a person whom the many can understand? Your good qualities should face inwards. Farewell.

VIII. ON THE PHILOSOPHER’S SECLUSION

“ Do you bid me,” you say, “ shun the throng, and withdraw from men, and be content with my own conscience? Where are the counsels of your school, which order a man to die in the midst of active work ?”’ As to the course * which I seem to you to be urging on you now and then, my object in shutting myself up and locking the door is to be able to help a greater number. I never spend a day in idleness; I appro- priate even a part of the night for study. I do not allow time for sleep but yield to it when I must, and when my eyes are wearied with waking and ready to fall shut, I keep them at their task. I have with- drawn not only from men, but from affairs, especially from my own affairs; I am working for later genera- tions, writing down some ideas that may be of assist- ance tothem. There are certain wholesome counsels, which may be compared to prescriptions of useful drugs; these I am putting into writing; for I have found them helpful in ministering to my own sores, which, if not wholly cured, have at any rate ceased to spread.

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Rectum iter, quod sero cognovi et lassus errando, aliis monstro. Clamo: “ Vitate, quaecumque vulgo placent, quae casus adtribuit. Ad omne fortuitum bonum suspiciosi pavidique subsistite; et fera et piscis spe aliqua oblectante decipitur. Munera ista fortunae putatis? Insidiae sunt. Quisquis vestrum tutam agere vitam volet, quantum plurimum potest, ista viscata beneficia devitet, in quibus hoc quoque miserrimi fallimur; habere nos putamus, haeremus. In praecipitia cursus. iste deducit. Huius eminentis vitae exitus cadere est. Deinde ne resistere quidem licet, cum coepit transversos agere felicitas, aut saltim rectis aut semel ruere; non evertit! fortuna, sed cer- nulat et allidit.

Hance ergo sanam ac salubrem formam vitae tenete, ut corpori tantum indulgeatis, quantum bonae vali- tudini satis est. Durius tractandum est, ne animo inale pareat. Cibus famem sedet, potio sitim extin- guat, vestis arceat frigus, domus munimentum sit adversus infesta corporis. Hane utrum caespes erexerit an varius lapis gentis alienae, nihil interest ; scitote tam bene hominem culmo quam auro tegi. Contemnite omnia, quae supervacuus labor velut ornamentum ac decus ponit. Cogitate nihil praeter

1 evertit the edition of Mentelin ; vertit MSS.

# See Ep. Ixxxv. 33 for the famous saying of the Rhodian pilot.

> cernulat, equivalent to the Greek dvayacrifw, of a horse which throws a rider over its head.

EPISTLE! Vir

I point other men to the right path, which I have found late in life, when wearied with wandering. I cry out to them: “ Avoid whatever pleases the throng : avoid the gifts of Chance! Halt before every good which Chance brings to you, in a spirit of doubt and fear; for it is the dumb animals and fish that are de- ceived by tempting hopes. Do you call these things the ‘ gifts’ of Fortune? They are snares. And any man among you who wishes to live a life of safety will avoid, to the utmost of his power, these limed twigs of her favour, by which we mortals, most wretched in this respect also, are deceived; for we think that we hold them in our grasp, but they hold us in theirs. Such a career leads us into precipitous ways, and life on such heights ends in a fall. More- over, we cannot even stand up against prosperity when she begins to drive us to leeward; nor can we go down, either, ‘with the <hip at least on her course, or once for all*%; Fortune does not capsize us,—she plunges our bows under? and dashes us on the rocks.

“ Hold fast, then, to this sound and wholesome rule of life; that you indulge the body only so far as is needful for good health. The body should be treated more rigorously, that it may not be dis- obedient to the mind. Eat merely to relieve your hunger; drink merely to quench your thirst ; dress merely to keep out the cold; house yourself merely as a protection against personal discomfort. — It matters little whether the house be built of turf, or of variously coloured imported marble ; understand that a man is sheltered just as well by a thatch as by a roof of gold. Despise everything that useless toil creates as an ornament and an object of beauty. And reflect that nothing except the soul is worthy

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animum esse mirabile, cui magno nihil magnum est.”’

6 Si haec mecum, si haec cum posteris loquor, non videor tibi plus prodesse, quam cum ad vadimonium advocatus descenderem, aut tabulis testamenti anu- lum inprimerem, aut in senatu candidato vocem et manum commodarem? Mihi crede, qui nihil agere videntur, maiora agunt; humana divinaque simul tractant.

7 ~~ Sed iam finis faciendus est et aliquid, ut institui, pro hac epistula dependendum. Id non de meo fiet ; adhuc Epicurum complicamus, cuius hane vocem hodierno die legi: “ Philosophiae servias oportet, ut tibi contingat vera libertas.”” Non differtur in diem, qui se illi “subiecit et tradidit; statim circumagitur. Hoe enim ipsum philosophiae servire libertas est.

8 Potest fieri, ut me interroges, quare ab Epicuro iam multa bene dicta referam potius quam nostrorum. Quid est tamen, quare tu istas Epicuri voces putes esse, non publicas? Quam multi poetae dicunt, quae philosophis aut dicta sunt aut dicenda! Non adtingam tragicos nec togatas nostras. Habent enim hae quoque aliquid severitatis et sunt inter comoedias ac tragoedias mediae. Quantum disertissi- morum versuum inter mimos iacet! Quam multa Publilii non excalceatis, sed coturnatis dicenda sunt !

9 Unum versum eius, qui ad philosophiam pertinet et

* Cf. the Stoic precept ‘‘ nil admirandum.”

5 Frag. 199 Usener.

« Literally **spun round” by the master and dismissed to freedom. Cf. Persius, v. 75 f.

“ Fabulae togatae were plays which dealt with Roman subject matter, as contrasted with adaptations from the Greek, called palliatae. ‘The term, in the widest sense, includes both comedy and tragedy.

* 7.¢., comedians or mimes.

Epistle Viii.

EPISTLE VIII.

of wonder; for to the soul, if it be great, naught is great. *

When I commune in such terms with myself and with future generations, do you not think that I am doing more good than when I appear as counsel in court, or stamp my seal upon a will, or lend my assistance in the senate, by word or action, to a candidate? Believe me, those who seem to be busied with nothing are busied with the greater tasks; they are dealing at the same time with things mortal and things immortal.

But I must stop, and pay my customary contribu- tion, to balance this letter. The payment shall not be made from my own property; for I am still conning Epicurus.? I read to-day, in his works, the following sentence: “If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of Philosophy.” The man who submits and surrenders himself to her is not kept waiting; he is emancipated *¢ on the spot. For the very service of Philosophy is freedom.

It is likely that you will ask me why I quote so many of Epicurus’s noble words instead of words taken from our own school. But is there any reason why you should regard them as sayings of Epicurus and not common property? How many poets give forth ideas that have been uttered, or may be uttered, by philosophers! I need not touch upon the traged- ians and our writers of national drama?%; for these last are also somewhat serious, and stand half-way between comedy and tragedy. What a quantity of sagacious verses lie buried in the mime! How many of Publilius’s lines are worthy of being spoken by buskin-clad actors, as well as by wearers of the slipper¢! 1 shall quote one verse of his, which concerns philosophy, and particularly that phase

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ad hance partem, quae modo fuit in manibus, referam, quo negat fortuita in nostro habenda:

Alienum est omne, quicquid optando evenit.

10 Hune sensum ! a te dici non paulo melius et 2 adstric- tius memini:

Non est tuum, fortuna quod fecit tuum. Illud etiamnunc melius dictum a te non praeteribo ;

Dari bonum quod potuit, auferri potest.

Hoc non inputo in solutum; dedi? de tuo tibi.

IX.

Seneca Lwvcitio svo SALVTEM

1 Anmerito reprehendat in quadamepistula Epicurus eos, qui dicunt sapientem se ipso esse contentum et propter hoc amico non indigere, desideras scire. Hoc obicitur Stilboni ab Epicuro et iis quibus summum bonum visum est animus inpatiens.

2 In ambiguitatem incidendum est, si exprimere amdfevav uno verbo cito voluerimus et inpatientiam dicere. Poterit enim contrarium ei, quod significare volumus, intellegi. Nos eum volumus dicere, qui respuat omnis mali sensum ; accipietur is, qui nullum

1 sensum Buecheler ; versum MSS. 2 et Muretus ; sed MSS. 3 dedi inserted by Hense. @ Syri Sententiae, p. 309 Ribbeck?. » Com. Rom. Frag. p. 394 Ribbeck?. © ibidem. 4 Frag. 174 Usener. ¢ 1.6, the Cynics,

Epistles Viii, Ix.

EPISTLES VIII, IX.

of it which we were discussing a moment ago, wherein he says that the gifts of Chance are not to be regarded as part of our possessions :

Still alien is whatever you have gained

By coveting.* I recall that you yourself expressed this idea much more happily and concisely :

What Chance has made yours is not really yours.’

And a third, spoken by you still more happily, shall not be omitted :

The good that could be given, can be removed.¢

I shall not charge this up to the expense account, because I have givenit to you from your own stock. Farewell.

Ix. On Philosophy And Friendship

IX. ON PHILOSOPHY AND FRIENDSHIP

You desire to know whether Epicurus is right when, in one of his letters,4 he rebukes those who hold that the wise man is self-sufficient and for that reason does not stand in need of friendships. This is the objection raised by Epicurus against Stilbo and those who believe © that the Supreme Good is a soul which is insensible to feeling.

We are bound to meet with a double meaning if we try to express the Greek term “lack of feeling”’ summarily, in a single word, rendering it by the Latin word impatientia. For it may be understood in the meaning the opposite to that which we wish it to have. What we mean to express is, a soul which rejects any sensation of evil; but people will interpret the idea

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ferre possit malum. Vide ergo, num satius sit aut invulnerabilem animum dicere aut animum extra

3 omnem patientiam positum. Hoc inter nos et illos interest: noster sapiens vincit quidem incommodum omne, sed sentit; illorum ne sentit quidem. I[llud nobis et illis commune est: sapientem se ipso esse contentum. Sed tamen et amicum habere vult et vicinum et contubernalem, quamvis sibi ipse sufficiat.

4 Vide quam sit se coutentus; aliquando sui parte contentus est. Si illi manum aut morbus aut hostis exciderit, si quis oculum vel oculos casus excusserit, reliquiae illi suae satisfacient, et erit inminuto cor- pore et amputato tam laetus, quam integro! fuit. Sed

5 quae si? desunt, non desiderat, non deesse mavult. Ita sapiens se contentus est, non ut velit esse sine amico, sed ut possit. Et hoc, quod dico “ possit,” tale est: amissum aequo animo fert.

Sine amico quidem numquam erit. In sua potestate habet, quam cito reparet. Quomodo si perdiderit Phidias statuam, protinus alteram faciet; sic hic faciendarum amicitiarum artifex substituet alium

6in locum amissi. Quaeris, quomodo amicum cito facturus sit; dicam, si illud mihi tecum convenerit, ut statim tibi solvam, quod debeo, et quantum ad hanc epistulam, paria faciamus. Hecaton ait: “ Ego tibi monstrabo amatorium sine medicamento, sine herba, sine ullius veneficae carmine: si vis amari, ama.” Habet autem non tantum usus amicitiae

1 integro b!; in integro the other MSS. 2 si Buecheler and Watzinger ; sibi MSS.

4 j.e.,theCynics. ° i.e., the diurna mercedula ; see Ep. vi. 7. ¢ Frag. 27 Fowler.

Epistle Ix.

EPISTLE IX.

as that cf a soul which can endure no evil. Consider, therefore, whether it is not better tosay “a soul that cannot be harmed,” or ‘‘a soul entirely beyond the realm of suffering.” ‘There is this difference between ourselves and the other school ®: our ideal wise man feels his troubles, but overcomes them; their wise man does not even feelthem. But we and they alike hold this idea,—that the wise man is self-sufficient. Nevertheless, he desires friends, neighbours, and associates, no matter how much he is sufficient unto himself. And mark how self-sufficient he is; for on occasion he can be content with a part of himself. If he lose a hand through disease or war, or if some accident puts out one or both of his eyes, he will be satisfied with what is left, taking as much pleasure in his impaired and maimed body as he took when it was sound. But while he does not pine for these parts if they are missing, he prefers not to lose them. In this sense the wise man is self-sut- ficient, that he can do without friends, not that he desires to do without them. When I say “can,” I mean this: he endures the loss of a friend with equanimity.

But he need never lack friends, for it lies in his own control how soon he shall make good a loss. Just as Phidias, if he lose a statue, can straightway carve another, even so our master in the art of making friendships can fill the place of a friend he has lost. If you ask how one can make oneself a friend quickly, I will tell you, provided we are agreed that I may pay my debt? at once and square the account, so far as this letter is concerned. Hecato° says: “I can show you a philtre, compounded with- out drugs, herbs, or any witch’s incantation: ‘It you would be loved, love.’’”” Now there is great

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veteris et certae magnam voluptatem, sed etiam

7 initium et comparatio novae. Quod interest inter metentem agricolam et serentem, hoc inter eum, qui amicum paravit et qui parat. Attalus philosophus dicere solebat iucundius esse amicum facere quam habere, quomodo artifici iucundius pingere est quam pinxisse. Illa in opere suo occupata sollicitudo in- gens oblectamentum habet in ipsa occupatione. Non aeque delectatur, qui ab opere perfecto removit manum. Iam fructu artis suae fruitur; ipsa frue- batur arte, cum pingeret. Fructuosior est adule- scentia liberorum, sed infantia dulcior.

8 Nunc ad propositum revertamur. Sapiens, etiam si contentus est se, tamen habere amicum vult, si nihil aliud, ut exerceat amicitiam, ne tam magna virtus iaceat, non ad hoc, quod dicebat Epicurus in hac ipsa epistula, “ ut habeat, qui sibi aegro adsideat, succurrat in vincula coniecto vel inopi,’ sed ut habeat aliquem, cui ipse aegro adsideat, quem ipse circum- ventum hostili custodia liberet. Qui se spectat et propter hoc ad amicitiam venit, male cogitat. Quem- admodum coepit, sic desinet: paravit amicum ad- versum vincla laturum opem; cum primum crepuerit

9 catena, discedet. Hae sunt amicitiae, quas tem- porarias populus appellat; qui utilitatis causa ad- sumptus est, tamdiu placebit, quamdiu utilis fuerit.

@ Frag. 175 Usener.

EPISTLE IX.

pleasure, not only in maintaining old and established friendships, but also in beginning and acquiring new ones. ‘There is the same difference between winning a new friend and having already won him, as there is between the farmer who sows and the farmer who reaps. The philosopher Attalus used to say: “It is more pleasant to make than to keep a friend, as it is more pleasant to the artist to paint than to have finished painting.” When one is busy and absorbed in one’s work, the very absorption affords great de- light ; but when one has withdrawn one’s hand from the completed masterpiece, the pleasure is not so keen. Henceforth it is the fruits of his art that he enjoys; it was the art itself that he enjoyed while he was painting. In the case of our children, their young manhood yields the more abundant fruits, but their infancy was sweeter.

Let us now return to the question. The wise man, I say, self-sufficient though he be, nevertheless desires friends if only for the purpose of practising friendship, in order that his noble qualities may not lie dormant. Not, however, for the purpose mentioned by Epicurus* in the letter quoted above: “That there may be someone to sit by him when he is ill, to help him when he is in prison or in want;”’ but that he may have someone by whose sick-bed he himself may sit, someone a prisoner in hostile hands whom he himself may set free. He who regards himself only, and enters upon friendships for this reason, reckons wrongly. The end will be like the beginning: he has made friends with one who might assist him out of bondage; at the first rattle of the chain such a friend will desert him. These are the so-called “ fair-weather”’ friendships; one who is chosen for the sake of utility will be satisfactory only so long as

VOL. I Cc 47

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Hac re florentes amicorum turba circumsedet; circa eversos solitudo est, et inde amici fugiunt, ubi pro- bantur. Hac re ista tot nefaria exempla sunt aliorum metu relinquentium, aliorum metu _prodentium. Necesse est initia inter se et exitus congruant. Qui amicus esse coepit, quia expedit, et desinet,! quia expedit. Placebit aliquod pretium contra amicitiam, si ullum in illa placet praeter ipsam.

In quid amicum pare? Ut habeam pro quo mori possim, ut habeam quem in exilium sequar, cuius me morti opponam? etinpendam. Ista, quam tu describis, negotiatio est, non amicitia, quae ad commodum ac- cedit, quae quid * consecutura sit spectat. Non dubie habet aliquid simile amicitiae affectus amantium ; possis dicere illam esse insanam amicitiam. Numquid ergo quisquam amat lucri causa? Numquid ambitionis aut gloriae? Ipse per se amor omnium aliarum rerum neglegens animos in cupiditatem formae non sine spe mutuae caritatis accendit. Quidergo? Ex honestiore causa coit turpis adfectus? “Non agitur,” inquis, “ nunc de hoc, an amicitia propter se ipsam adpetenda sit.” Immo vero nihil magis probandum est. Nam si propterse ipsam expetenda est, potest ad illam accedere qui se ipso contentus est. “ Quomodo ergo ad illam accedit?’’ Quomodo ad rem pulcherrimam, non

1 quia expedit, et desinet, added by Haase.

2 et before opponam omitted by many editors, but re- tained by Hense. opponam is used in the double meaning of ‘‘ set against’ and ‘‘ mortgage,” cf. Catullus xxvi. 2.

payee ue later MSS. ; quae quicquid MSS. ; quaeque quid Buecheler.

2 «¢Pure love,” 7.¢., love in its essence, unalloyed with other emotions.

EPISTLE IX.

he is useful. Hence prosperous men are blockaded by troops of friends ; but those who have failed stand amid vast loneliness, their friends fleeing from the very crisis which is to test their worth. Hence, also, we notice those many shameful cases of persons who, through fear, desert or betray. The beginning and the end cannot but harmonize. He who begins to be your friend because it pays will also cease because it pays. A man will be attracted by some reward offered in exchange for his friendship, if he be attracted by aught in friendship other than friend- ship itself.

For what purpose, then, do I make a man my friend? In order to have someone for whom I may die, whom I may follow into exile, against whose death I may stake my own life, and pay the pledge, too. The friendship which you portray is a bargain and not a friendship; it regards convenience only, and looks to the results. Beyond question the feel- ing of a lover has in it something akin to friendship ; one might call it friendship run mad. But, though this is true, does anyone love for the sake of gain, or promotion, or renown? Pure® love, careless of all other things, kindles the soul with desire for the beautiful object, not without the hope of a return of the affection. What then? Can a cause which is more honourable produce a passion that is base ? You may retort: “We are not now discussing the question whether friendship is to be cultivated for its own sake.” On the contrary, nothing more urgently requires demonstration ; for if friendship is to be sought for its own sake, he may seek it who is self-sufficient. ‘ How, then,” you ask, “does he seek it?’’ Precisely as he seeks an object of great beauty, not attracted to it by desire for gain, nor

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lucro captus nec varietate fortunae perterritus. De- trahit amicitiae maiestatem suam, qui illam parat ad bonos casus.

13 Se contentus est sapiens. Hoc, mi Lucili, plerique perperam interpretantur; sapientem undique sub- movent et intra cutem suam cogunt. Distinguendum autem est, quid et quatenus vox ista promittat; se con- tentus est sapiens ad beate vivendum, nonad vivendum. Ad hoc enim multis illi rebus opus est, ad illud tantum animo sano et erecto et despiciente fortunam.

14 = Volo tibi Chrysippi quoque distinctionem indicare. Ait sapientem nulla re egere, et tamen multis illi rebus opus esse. “Contra stulto nulla re opus est, nulla enim re uti scit, sed omnibus eget.” Sapienti et manibus et oculis et multis ad cotidianum usum necessariis opus est, eget nulla re. Egere enim

15 necessitatis est, nihil necesse sapienti est. Ergo quamvis se ipso contentus sit, amicis illi opus est. Hos cupit habere quam plurimos, non ut beate vivat ; vivet enim etiam sine amicis beate. Summum bonum extrinsecus instrumenta non quaerit. Domi colitur, ex se totum est. Incipit fortunae esse subiectum,! si quam partem sui foris quaerit.

16 “Qualis tamen futura est vita sapientis, si sine amicis relinquatur in custodiam coniectus, vel in aliqua gente aliena destitutus, vel in navigatione longa retentus, aut in desertum litus eiectus?”

1 subiectum Erasmus ; subiectus MSS.

« Cf. his Frag. moral. 674 von Arnim.

’ The distinction is based upon the meaning of egere, “*to be in want of” something indispensable, and opus esse, **to have need of ” something which one can do without.

EPISTLE IX.

yet frightened by the instability of Fortune. One who seeks friendship for favourable occasions, strips it of all its nobility.

“The wise man is self-sufficient.” This phrase, my dear Lucilius, is incorrectly explained by many ; for they withdraw the wise man from the world, and force him to dwell within his own skin. But we must mark with care what this sentence signifies and how far it applies; the wise man is sufficient unto himself for a happy existence, but not for mere existence. For he needs many helps towards mere existence ; but for a happy existence he needs only a sound and upright soul, one that despises Fortune.

I should like also to state to you one of the distinctions of Chrysippus,* who declares that the wise man is in want of nothing, and yet needs many things. “On the other hand,” he says, “ nothing is needed by the fool, for he does not understand how to use anything, but he is in want of everything.” The wise man needs hands, eyes, and many things that are necessary for his daily use; but he is in want of nothing. For want implies a necessity, and nothing is necessary to the wise man. Therefore, although he is self-sufficient, yet he has need of friends. He craves as many friends as possible, not, however, that he may live happily; for he will live happily even without friends. The Supreme Good calls for no practical aids from outside; it is developed at home, and arises entirely within itself. If the good seeks any portion of itself from without, it begins to be subject to the play of Fortune.

People may say: “But what sort of existence will the wise man have, if he be left friendless when thrown into prison, or when stranded in some foreign nation, or when delayed on a long voyage, or when

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Qualis est Iovis, cum resoluto mundo et dis in unum confusis paulisper cessante natura adquiescit sibi cogitationibus suis traditus. Tale quiddam sapiens 17 facit ; in se reconditur, secum est. Quamdiu quidem illi licet suo arbitrio res suas ordinare, se contentus est et ducit uxorem; se contentus est! et liberos tollit; se contentus est et tamen non viveret, si foret sine homine victurus. Ad amicitiam fert illum nulla utilitas sua, sed naturalis inritatio. Nam ut aliarum nobis rerum innata dulcedo est, sic amicitiae. Quomodo solitudinis? odium est et adpetitio societatis, quomodo hominem homini natura conciliat, sic inest huic quoque rei stimulus, qui nos amicitiarum ad- 18 petentes faciat. Nihilominus cum sit amicorum amantissimus, cum illos sibi comparet, saepe prae- ferat, omne intra se bonum terminabit et dicet, quod Stilbon ille dixit, Stilbon quem Epicuri epistula insequitur; hic enim capta patria, amissis liberis, amissa uxore cum ex incendio publico solus et tamen beatus exiret, interroganti Demetrio, cui cognomen ab exitio urbium Poliorcetes fuit, numquid perdi- disset, “ Omnia,” inquit, “bona mea mecum sunt.” 19 Kece vir fortis ac strenuus! Ipsam_ hostis sui victoriam vicit. “ Nihil,” inquit, “ perdidi’’; dubitare illum coegit, an vicisset. “QOmnia mea mecum

1 est added by editors. 2 solitudinis Haupt ; solitudo in MSS.

« This refers to the Stoic conflagration; after certain cycles their world was destroyed by fire. Cf E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism, pp. 192 f. ; cf. also Chrysippus, Frag. phys. 1065 von Arnim.

» Gnomologici Vaticani 515* Sternberg.

EPISTLE IX.

cast upon a lonely shore?”’ His life will be like that of Jupiter, who, amid the dissolution of the world, when the gods are confounded together and Nature rests for a space from her work, can retire into him- self and give himself over to his own thoughts. In some such way as this the sage will act; he will retreat into himself, and live with himself. As long as he is allowed to order his affairs according to his judgment, he is self-sufficient—and marries a wife ; he is self-sufficient—and brings up children; he is self-sufficient—and yet could not live if he had to live without the society of man. Natural promptings, and not his own selfish needs, draw him into friend- ships. For just as other things have for us an inherent attractiveness, so has friendship. As we hate solitude and crave society, as nature draws men to each other, so in this matter also there is an attraction which makes us desirous of friendship. Nevertheless, though the sage may love his friends dearly, often comparing them with himself, and putting them ahead of himself, yet all the good will be limited to his own being, and he will speak the words which were spoken by the very Stilbo® whom Fpicurus criticizes in his letter. For Stilbo, after his country was captured and his children and his wife lost, as he emerged from the general desolation alone and yet happy, spoke as follows to Demetrius, called Sacker of Cities because of the destruction he brought upon them, in answer to the question whether he had lost anything: “I have all my goods with me!” There is a brave and stout-hearted man for you! The enemy conquered, but Stilbo conquered his conqueror. “I have lost nothing!” Aye, he forced Demetrius to wonder whether he himself had conquered after all. ‘My goods are

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sunt! ;’’ hoc ipsum est nihil bonum putare, quod eripi possit.

Miramur animalia quaedam, quae per medios ignes sine noxa corporum transeant ; quanto hic mirabilior vir, qui per ferrum et ruinas et ignes inlaesus et in- demnis evasit! Vides, quanto facilius sit totam gentem quam unum virum vincere? Haec vox illi communis est cum Stoico. Aeque et hic intacta bona per concrematas urbes fert. Se enim ipso contentus est. Hoc felicitatem suam fine designat.

Ne existimes nos solos generosa verba iactare; et ipse Stilbonis obiurgator Epicurus similem illi vocem emisit, quam tu boni consule, etiam si hune diem iam expunxi. “Si cui,’ inquit, “sua non videntur am- plissima, licet totius mundi dominus sit, tamen miser est.”’ Velsi hoc modo tibi melius enuntiari videtur,— id enim agendum est, ut non verbis serviamus, sed sensibus,— : “ Miser est, qui se non beatissimum iudi- cat, licet imperet mundo.” Utscias autem hos sensus esse communes, natura scilicet dictante, apud poetam comicum invenies :

Non est beatus, esse se qui non putat.

Quid enim refert, qualis status tuus sit, si tibi vide-

22 tur malus? “Quid ergo?” inquis. “Si beatum se

dixerit ille turpiter dives et ille multorum dominus sed plurium servus, beatus sua sententia fiet?”” Non

1 id est iustitra, virtus, prudentia, after sunt, most MSS. ; deleted by Buecheler.

@ Frag. 474 Usener. » Cf. above, § 6.

@ Author unknown; perhaps, as Buecheler thinks, adapted from the Greek.

EPISTLE IX.

all with me!”’’ In other words, he deemed nothing that might be taken from him to be a good.

We marvel at certain animals because they can pass through fire and suffer no bodily harm; but how much more marvellous is a man who has marched forth unhurt and unscathed through fire and sword and devastation! Do you understand now how much easier it is to conquer a whole tribe than to conquer one man? This saying of Stilbo makes common ground with Stoicism; the Stoic also can carry his goods unimpaired through cities that have been burned to ashes; for he is self-sufficient. Such are the bounds which he sets to his own happiness.

But you must not think that our school alone can utter noble words; Epicurus himself, the reviler of Stilbo, spoke similar language*; put it down to my credit, though I have already wiped out my debt for the present day.? He says: “Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the whole world.” Or, if the following seems to you a more suitable phrase,— for we must try to render the meaning and not the mere words: “A man may rule the world and still be unhappy, if he does not feel that he is supremely happy.” In order, however, that you may know that these sentiments are universal,‘ suggested, of course, by Nature, you will find in one of the comic poets this verse :

Unblest is he who thinks himself unblest.¢

For what does your condition matter, if it is bad in your own eyes? You may say: “What then? If yonder man, rich by base means, and yonder man, lord of many but slave of more, shall call themselves happy, will their own opinion make them happy ?”’

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quid dicat, sed quid sentiat, refert, nec quid uno die sentiat, sed quid adsidue. Non est autem quod verearis, ne ad indignum res tanta perveniat; nisi sapienti sua non placent. Omnis stultitia laborat fastidio sui. VAaLe.

>. @ Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

1 Sic est, non muto sententiam: fuge multitudinem, fuge paucitatem, fuge etiam unum. Non habeo, cum quo te communicatum velim. Et vide, quod iudicium meum habeas: audeo te tibi credere. Crates, ut aiunt, huius ipsius Stilbonis auditor, cuius mentionem priore epistula feci, cum vidisset adulescentulum secreto ambulantem, interrogavit, quid illic solus faceret? ‘“ Mecum,” inquit, “loquor.” Cui Crates “Cave,” inquit, “rogo, et diligenter adtende; cum homine malo loqueris.”’

2 Lugentem timentemque custodire solemus, ne solitudine male utatur. Nemo est.ex inprudentibus, qui relinqui sibi debeat ; tunc mala consilia agitant, tunc aut aliis aut ipsis futura pericula struunt; tunc cupiditates improbas ordinant; tune quicquid aut metu aut pudore celabat, animus exponit, tunc audaciam acuit, libidinem inritat, iracundiam instigat. Denique quod unum solitudo habet commodum, nihil ulli committere, non timere indicem, perit stulto ; ipse se prodit.

Vide itaque, quid de te sperem, immo quid spon-

Epistles Ix., X.

EPISTLES IX., X.

It matters not what one says, but what one feels; also, not how one feels on one particular day, but how one feels at all times. There is no reason, however, why you should fear that this great privilege will fall into unworthy hands; only the wise man is pleased with his own. Folly is ever troubled with weariness of itself. Farewell.

X. On Living To Oneself

X. ON LIVING TO ONESELF

Yes, Ido not change my opinion: avoid the many, avoid the few, avoid even the individual. I know of no one with whom I should be willing to have you shared. And see what an opinion of you I have; for I dare to trust you with your own self. Crates, they say, the disciple of the very Stilbo whom I mentioned in a former letter, noticed a young man walking by himself, and asked him what he was doing all alone. “JT am communing with myself,” replied the youth. “Pray be careful, then,” said Crates, “and take good heed ; you are communing with a bad man!”

When persons are in mourning, or fearful about something, we are accustomed to watch them that we may prevent them from making a wrong use of their loneliness. No thoughtless person ought to be left alone; in such cases he only plans folly, and heaps up future dangers for himself or for others; he brings into play his base desires; the mind displays what fear or shame used to repress; it whets his boldness, stirs his passions, and goads his anger. And finally, the only benefit that solitude confers,—the habit of trusting no man, and of fearing no witnesses, —is lost to the fool; for he betrays himself.

Mark therefore what my hopes are for you,—nay,

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deam mihi, spes enim incerti boni nomen est: non

3 invenio, cum quo te malim esse quam tecum. Repeto memoria, quam magno animo quaedam verba proie- ceris, quanti roboris plena. Gratulatus sum protinus mihi et dixi: “ Non a summis labris ista venerunt, habent hae voces fundamentum. Iste homo non est

4 unus e populo, ad salutem spectat.’’ Sic loquere, sic vive ; vide ne te ulla res deprimat. Votorum tuorum veterum licet dis gratiam facids, alia de integro sus: cipe ; roga bonam mentem, bonam valitudinem animi, deinde tunc corporis. Quidni tu ista vota saepe facias? Audacter deum roga; nihil illum de alieno rogaturus es.

5 Sed ut more meo cum aliquo munusculo epistulam mittam, verum est, quod apud Athenodoruim inveni: « Tunc scito esse te omnibus cupiditatibus solutum, cum eo perveneris, ut nihil deum roges, nisi quod rogare possis palam.”” Nune enim quanta dementia est hominum! Turpissima vota dis insusurrant; si quis admoverit aurem, conticescent. Et quod scire hominem nolunt, deo narrant. Vide ergo, ne hoc praecipi salubriter possit: sic vive cum hominibus, tamquam deus videat ; sic loquere cum deo, tamquam homines audiant. VALe.

@ Frag. de superstitione 36 H., according to Rossbach.

Epistle X.

EPISTLE X.

rather, what I am promising myself, inasmuch as hope is merely the title of an uncertain blessing: I do not know any person with whom I should prefer you to associate rather than yourself. I remember in what a great-souled way you hurled forth certain phrases, and how full of strength they were! I im- mediately congratulated myself and said: “These words did not come from the edge of the lips; these utterances have a solid foundation. This man is not one of the many ; he has regard for his real welfare.” Speak, and live, in this way; see to it that nothing keeps you down. As for your former prayers, you may dispense the gods from answering them; offer new prayers; pray for a sound mind and for good health, first of soul and then of body. And of course you should offer those prayers frequently. Call boldly upon God; you will not be asking him for that which belongs to another.

But I must, as is my custom, send a little gift along with this letter. It is a true saying which I have found in Athenodorus®: “ Know that thou art freed from all desires when thou hast reached such a point that thou prayest to God for nothing except what thou canst pray for openly.” But how foolish men are now! ‘They whisper the basest of prayers to heaven; but if anyone listens, they are silent at once. That which they are unwilling for men to know, they communicate to God. Do you not think, then, that some such wholesome advice as this could be given you: “ Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening ’’? Farewell.

The Epistles Of Seneca Xi.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

XI.

SENECA LvcILio svO SALVTEM

1 Locutus est mecum amicus tuus bonae indolis, in quo quantum esset animi, quantum ingenii, quantum iam etiam profectus, sermo primus ostendit. Dedit nobis gustum, ad quem respondebit. Non enim ex praeparato locutus est, sed subito deprehensus. Ubi se colligebat, verecundiam, bonum in adulescente signum, vix potuit excutere ; adeo illi ex alto suffusus est rubor. Hic illum, quantum suspicor, etiam cum se confirmaverit et omnibus vitiis exuerit, sapientem quoque sequetur. Nulla enim sapientia naturalia corporis! vitia ponuntur. Quicquid infixum et in-

2 genitum est, lenitur arte, non vincitur. Quibusdam etiam constantissimis in conspectu populi sudor erumpit, non aliter quam fatigatis et aestuantibus solet, quibusdam tremunt genua dicturis, quorundam dentes colliduntur, lingua titubat, labra concurrunt. Haec nec disciplina nec usus umquam excutit, sed natura vim suam exercet et illo? vitio sui etiam ro-

3 bustissimos admonet. Inter haec esse et ruborem scio, qui gravissimis quoque viris subitus adfunditur. Magis quidem in iuvenibus apparet, quibus et plus caloris est et tenera frons; nihilominus et veteranos et senes tangit. Quidam numquam magis, quam cum erubuerint, timendi sunt, quasi omnem vere-

4 cundiam effuderint. Sulla tunc erat violentissimus,

1 aut animi after corpuris deleted ay Madvig. 2 illo Schweighauser ; illos MSS

Epistle Xi. Xi. On The Blush Of Modesty

EPISTLE XI.

XI. ON THE BLUSH OF MODESTY

Your friend and I have had a conversation. He is a man of ability; his very first words showed what spirit and understanding he possesses, and what progress he has already made. He gave me a fore- taste, and he will not fail to answer thereto. For he spoke not from forethought, but was suddenly caught off his guard. When he tried to collect him- self, he could scarcely banish that hue of modesty, which is a good sign in a young man; the blush that spread over his face seemed so to rise from the depths. And I feel sure that his habit of blushing will stay with him after he has strengthened his character, stripped off all his faults, and become wise. For by no wisdom can natural weaknesses of the body be removed. That which is implanted and inborn can be toned down by training, but not over- come. The steadiest speaker, when before the public, often breaks into a perspiration, as if he had wearied or over-heated himself; some tremble in the knees when they rise to speak; I know of some whose teeth chatter, whose tongues falter, whose lips quiver. Training and experience can never shake off this habit; nature exerts her own power and through such a weakness makes her presence known even to the strongest. I know that the blush, too, is a habit of this sort, spreading suddenly over the faces of the most dignified men, It is, indeed more prevalent in youth, because of the warmer blood and the sensitive countenance; nevertheless, both seasoned men and aged men are affected by it. Some are must dangerous when they redden, as if they were letting all their sense of shame escape. Sulla, when

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cum faciem eius sanguis invaserat. Nihil erat mollius ore Pompei; numquam non coram pluribus rubuit, utique in contionibus. Fabianum, cum in senatum testis esset inductus, erubuisse memini, et hic illum

5 mire pudor decuit. Non accidit hoc ab infirmitate mentis, sed a novitate rei, quae inexercitatos, etiamsi non concutit, movet naturali in hoc facilitate corporis pronos. Nam ut quidam boni sanguinis sunt, ita quidam incitati et mobilis et cito in os prodeuntis.

6 MHaec, ut dixi, nulla sapientia abigit; alioquin haberet rerum naturam sub imperio, si omnia eraderet vitia. Quaecumque adtribuit condicio nascendi et corporis temperatura, cum multum se diuque animus conposuerit, haerebunt. Nihil horum vetari potest,

7 non magis quam accersi. Artifices scaenici, qui imitantur adfectus, qui metum et trepidationem exprimunt, qui tristitiam repraesentant, hoc indicio imitantur verecundiam: deiciunt enim vultum, verba submittunt, figunt in terram oculos et deprimunt. Ruborem sibi exprimere non possunt ; nec prohibetur hic nec adducitur. Nihil adversus haec sapientia promittit, nihil proficit ; sui iuris sunt, iniussa veniunt, iniussa discedunt.

8 Iamclausulam epistula poscit. Accipe, et quidem ! utilem ac salutarem, quam te affigere animo volo: “ Aliquis vir bonus nobis diligendus est ac semper ante oculos habendus, ut sic tamquam illo spectante

1 et quidem Erasmus ; equidem MSS.

# Epicurus, Frag. 210 Usener. 62

Epistle Xi.

EPISTLE XI.

the blood mantled his cheeks, was in his fiercest mood. Pompey had the most sensitive cast of countenance ; he always blushed in the presence of a gathering, and especially at a public assembly. Fabianus also, I remember, reddened when he appeared as a witness before the senate; and his embarrassment became him to a remarkable degree. Such a habit is not due to mental weakness, but to the novelty of a situation; an inexperienced person is not necessarily confused, but is usually affected, because he slips into this habit by natural tendency of the body. Just as certain men are full-blooded, so others are of a quick and mobile blood, that rushes to the face at once.

As I remarked, Wisdom can never remove this habit; for if she could rub out all our faults, she would be mistress of the universe. Whatever is assigned to us by the terms of our birth and the blend in our constitutions, will stick with us, no matter how hard or how long the soul may have tried to master itself. And we cannot forbid these feelings any more than we can summon them. Actors in the theatre, who imitate the emotions, who portray fear and nervousness, who depict sorrow, imitate bashful- ness by hanging their heads, lowering their voices, and keeping their eyes fixed and rooted upon the ground. They cannot, however, muster a blush ; for the blush cannot be prevented or acquired. Wisdom will not assure us of a remedy, or give us help against it; it comes or goes unbidden, and is a law unto itself.

But my letter calls for its closing sentence. Hear and take to heart this useful and wholesome motto ®: «“ Cherish some man of high character, and keep him ever before your eyes, living as if he were watching

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vivamus et omnia tamquam illo vidente faciamus.” 9 Hoc, mi Lucili, Epicurus praecepit. Custodem nobis et paedagogum dedit, nec inmerito. Magna pars peccatorum tollitur, si peccaturis testis adsistit. Ali- quem habeat animus, quem vereatur, cuius auctori- tate etiam secretum suum sanctius faciat. O felicem illum, qui non praesens tantum, sed etiam cogitatus emendat! O felicem, qui sic aliquem vereri potest, ut ad memoriam quoque eius se conponat atque ordinet! Qui sic aliquem vereri potest, cito erit 10 verendus. Elige itaque Catonem. Si hic tibi videtur nimis rigidus, elige remissioris animi virum Laelium. Elige eum, cuius tibi placuit et vita et oratio et ipse animum ante se ferens vultus; illum tibi semper ostende vel custodem vel exemplum. Opus est, inquam, aliquo, ad quem mores nostri se ipsi exigant ; nisi ad regulam prava non corriges. VALE.

XII.

Seneca LyvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Quocumque me verti, argumenta senectutis meae video. Veneram in suburbanum meum et querebar de inpensis aedificii dilabentis. Ait vilicus mihi non esse neglegentiae suae vitium, omnia se facere, sed villam veterem esse. Haec villa inter manus meas crevit; quid mihi futurum est, si tam putria sunt

# Frag. 210 Usener. > The figure is taken from the &éurov, the Holy of Holies inatemple. Cf. Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 10 secreta Sibyllae.

Epistles Xi., Xii.

EPISTLES XI., XII.

you, and ordering all your actions as if he beheld them.” Such, my dear Lucilius, is the counsel of Epicurus “; he has quite properly given us a guardian and an attendant. We can get rid of most sins, if we have a witness who stands near us when we are likely to go wrong. The soul should have someone whom it can respect,—one by whose authority it may make even its inner shrine more hallowed.? Happy is the man who can make others better, not merely when he is in their company, but even when he is in their thoughts! And happy also is he who can so revere a man as to calm and regulate himself by calling him to mind! One who can so revere another, will soon be himself worthy of reverence. Choose therefore a Cato; or, if Cato seems too severe a model, choose some Laelius, a gentler spirit. Choose a master whose life, conversation, and soul-expressing face have satisfied you ; picture him always to your- self as your protector or your pattern. For we must indeed have someone according to whom we may regulate our characters; you can never straighten that which is crooked unless you use a ruler. Fare- well.

Xii. On Old Age

XII. ON OLD AGE

Wherever I turn, I see evidences of my advancing years. I visited lately my country-place, and pro- tested against the money which was spent on the tumble-down building. My bailiff maintained that the flaws were not due to his own carelessness; “he was doing everything possible, but the house was old.” And this was the house which grew under my own hands! What has the future in store for

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2 aetatis meae saxa? Iratus illi proximam occasionem stomachandi arripio. “Apparet,’ inquam, “has platanos neglegi; nullas habent frondes. Quam nodosi sunt et retorridi rami, quam tristes et squalidi trunci! Hoc non accideret, si quis has circum- foderet, si inrigaret.” Iurat per genium meum se omnia facere, in nulla re cessare curam suam, sed illas vetulas esse. Quod intra nos sit, ego illas

3 posueram, ego illarum primum videram folium. Con- versus ad ianuam “ Quis est iste?” inquam, “iste decrepitus et merito ad ostium admotus? Foras enim spectat. Unde istunc nactus es? Quid te delectavit alienum mortuum tollere?” At ille “Non cognoscis me?” inquit. “Ego sum Felicio, cui solebas sigillaria adferre. Ego sum Philositi vilici filius, deliciolum tuum.”’ “ Perfecte,” inquam, “ iste delirat. Pupulus etiam delicium meum factus est? Prorsus potest fieri ; dentes illicum maxime cadunt.”

4 Debeo hoc suburbano meo, quod mihi senectus mea, quocumqueadverteram, apparuit. Conplectamur illam et amemus; plena est voluptatis, si illa scias uti. Gratissima sunt poma, cum fugiunt; pueritiae maximus in exitu decor est; deditos vino potio extrema delectat, illa quae mergit, quae ebrietati

5 summammanum inponit. Quod in se iucundissimum omnis voluptas habet, in finem sui differt. Iucundis- sima est aetas devexa iam, non tamen praeceps. Et

« A jesting allusion to the Roman funeral; the corpse’s feet pointed to the door.

¢ Small figures, generally of terra-cotta, were frequently given to children as presents at the Saturnalia. Cf. Macro- bius, i. 11. 49 sigilla . . . pro se atyue suis piaculum.

4 7.¢,, the old slave resembles a child in that he is losing his teeth (but for the second time).

Epistle Xii.

EPISTLE XII.

me. if stones of my own age are already crumbling ? [ was angry, and I embraced the first opportunity to vent my spleen in the bailiff’s presence. “It is clear,’ I cried, “that these plane-trees are neglected ; they have no leaves. Their branches are so gnarled and shrivelled ; the boles are so rough and unkempt! This would not happen, if someone loosened the earth at their feet, and watered them.” The bailiff swore by my protecting deity that “ he was doing everything possible, and never relaxed his efforts, but those trees were old.” Between you and me, I had planted those trees myself, I had seen them in their first leaf Then I turned to the door and asked: “ Who is that broken-down dotard? You have done well to place him at the entrance; for he is outward bound.@ Where did you get him? What pleasure did it give you to take up for burial some other man’s dead ?®”’ But the slave said: “ Don’t you know me, sir? I am Felicio; you used to bring me little images.¢ My father was Philositus the steward, and I am your pet slave.” ‘The man is clean crazy,” I remarked. “‘ Has my pet slave become a little boy again? But it is quite possible; his teeth are just dropping out.’ @ I owe it to my country-place that my old age became apparent whithersoever I turned. Let us cherish and love old age; for it is full of pleasure if one knows how to use it. Fruits are most welcome when almost over; youth is most charming at its close ; the last drink delights the toper,—the glass which souses him and puts the finishing touch on his drunkenness. Each pleasure reserves to the end the greatest delights which it contains. Life is most delightful when it is on the downward slope, but has not yet reached the abrupt decline. And I myself believe that the period which stands, so to 67

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illam quoque in extrema tegula! stantem iudico habere suas voluptates. Aut hoc ipsum succedit in locum voluptatium, nullis egere. Quam dulce est

6 cupiditates fatigasse ac reliquisse! ‘ Molestum est,” inquis, “ mortem ante oculos habere.”’ Primum ista tam seni ante oculos debet esse quam iuveni. Non enim citamur ex censu. Deinde nemo tam senex est, ut inprobe unum diem speret. Unus autem dies gradus vitae est.

Tota aetas partibus constat et orbes habet circum- ductos maiores minoribus. Est aliquis, qui omnis conplectatur et cingat; hic pertinet a natali ad diem extremum. Est alter, qui annos adulescentiae cludit.2, Est qui totam pueritiam ambitu suo ad- stringit. Est deinde per se annus in se omnia continens tempora, quorum multiplicatione vita con- ponitur. Mensisartiore praecingitur circulo. Angu- stissimum habet dies gyrum, sed et hic ab initio ad

7 exitum venit, ab ortu ad occasum. Ideo: Heraclitus, cui cognomen fecit orationis obscuritas, “ Unus,” in- quit, “dies par omni est.” Hoc alius aliter excepit.? Dixit enim parem esse horis, nec mentitur ; nam si dies est tempus viginti et quattuor horarum, necesse est omnes inter se dies pares esse, quia nox habet, quod dies perdidit. Alius ait parem esse unumdiemomnibus similitudine ; nihil enim habet longissimi temporis spatium, quod non et in uno die invenias, lucem et

1 tegula MSS., retained by Hense; regula, ‘‘ horizon- line,” Summers ; specula, ‘‘ summit,’’ Madvig.

2 cludit C. Brakman ; excludit MSS.

3 excepit MSS. ; cepit Hense.

2 1.6., seniores as contrasted with iuniores. * 6 oxorevés, ** The Obscure,” Frag. 106 Diels®,

EPISTLE XII.

speak, on the edge of the roof, possesses pleasures of its own. Or else the very fact of our not wanting pleasures has taken the place of the pleasures them- selves. How comforting it is to have tired out one’s appetites, and to have done with them! <“ But,’ you say, “it is a nuisance to be looking death in the face!” Death, however, should be looked in the face by young and old alike. We are not summoned according to our rating on the censor’s list. Moreover, no one is so old that it would be improper for him to hope for another day of existence. And one day, mind you, is a stage on life’s journey. Our span of life is divided into parts; it consists of large circles enclosing smaller. One circle embraces and bounds the rest; it reaches from birth to the last day of existence. The next circle limits the period of our young manhood. The third confines all of childhood in its circumference. Again, there is, in a class by itself, the year; it contains within itself all the divisions of time by the multiplication of which we get the total of life. The month is bounded by a narrower ring. The smallest circle of all is the day ; but even a day has its beginning and its ending, its sunrise and its sunset. Hence Hera- clitus, whose obscure style gave him his surname,? remarked: “One day is equal to every day.” Different persons have interpreted the saying in different ways. Some hold that days are equal in number of hours, and this is true; for if by “day” we mean twenty-four hours’ time, all days must be equal, inasmuch as the night acquires what the day loses. But others maintain that one day is equal to all days through resemblance, because the very longest space of time possesses no element which cannot be found in a single day,—namely, light and

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noctem, et in aeternum dies vices plures facit istas,

8 non alias contractior,! alias productior. Itaque sic ordinandus est dies omnis, tamquam cogat agmen et consummet atque expleat vitam.

Pacuvius, qui Syriam usu suam fecit, cum vino et illis funebribus epulis sibi parentaverat, sic in cubi- culum ferebatur a cena, ut inter plausus exoletorum hoc ad symphoniam caneretur: BeBiwrar, BeBiwrau.

9 Nullo non se die extulit. Hoc, quod ille ex mala conscientia faciebat, nos ex bona faciamus et in somnum ituri laeti hilaresque dicamus :

Vixi et quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi.

Crastinum si adiecerit deus, laeti recipiamus. Ile beatissimus est et securus sui possessor, qui crastinum sine sollicitudine expectat. Quisquis dixit “ vixi,” cotidie ad lucrum surgit.

10 Sed iam debeo epistulam includere. “Sic,” inquis, “sine ullo ad me peculio veniet?’’ Noli timere; aliquid secum fert. Quare aliquid dixi? Multum. Quid enim hac voce praeclarius, quam illi trado ad te perferendam? ‘“ Malum est in necessitate vivere ; sed in necessitate vivere necessitas nulla est.” Quidni nulla sit? Patent undique ad libertatem

* et in aeternum dies vices plures facit istas non alias con- tractior Capps ; et in alternas mundi vices plura facit ista non

alias contractior MSS. ; non alia .. . alius contractior etc. Hense.

@ i.¢e., of light and darkness.

> Usus was the mere enjoyment of a piece of property ; dominium was the exclusive right to its control. Possession for one, or two, years conferred ownership. See Leage, Roman Private Law, pp. 133, 152, and 164. Although Pacuvius was governor so long that the province seemed to belong to him, yet he knew he might die any day.

¢ Vergil, Aeneid, iv. 653.

¢ Epicurus, Spriiche, 9 Wotke.

EPISTLE XII.

darkness,—and even to eternity day makes these alternations * more numerous, not different when it is shorter and different again when it is longer. Hence, every day ought to be regulated as if it closed the series, as if it rounded out and completed our existence.

Pacuvius, who by long occupancy made Syria his own,’ used to hold a regular burial sacrifice in his own honour, with wine and the usual funeral feasting, and then would have himself carried from the dining-room to his chamber, while eunuchs applauded and sang in Greek to a musical accom- paniment: “ He has lived his life, he has lived his life!’’ Thus Pacuvius had himself carried out to burial every day. Let us, however, do from a good motive what he used to do from a debased motive; let us go to our sleep with joy and gladness; let us say :

I have lived ; the course which Fortune set for me Is finished.¢

And if God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts. That man is happiest, and is secure in his own possession of himself, who can await the morrow without apprehension. When aman has said: “I have lived!”, every morning he arises he receives a bonus.

But now I ought to close my letter. ‘ What?” you say; “shall it come to me without any little offering ?”’ Be not afraid; it brings something,— nay, more than something, a great deal. For what is more noble than the following saying,? of which I make this letter the bearer: “It is wrong to live under constraint; but no man is constrained to live under constraint.”” Of course net. On all sides lie

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viae multae breves, faciles. Agamus deo gratias, quod nemo in vita teneri potest. Calcare ipsas

11 necessitates licet. |“ Epicurus,’ inquis, “ dixit. Quid tibi cum alieno?’’ Quod verum est, meum est. Perseverabo Epicurum tibi ingerere, ut isti, qui in verba iurant, nec quid dicatur aestimant, sed a quo, sciant, quae optima sunt, esse communia.

Vale. Xiii.

VALE.

XIII.

Stneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

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 hine et illinc apparuerunt, aliquando vero et propius accesserunt; sic verus ille animus et in alienum non venturus arbitrium probatur.

2 Haec eius obrussa est: non potest athleta magnos spiritus ad certamen adferre, qui numquam suggil- latus est; ille, qui sanguinem suum vidit, cuius

dentes crepuere sub pugno, ille, qui subplantatus 72

Epistles Xii., Xiii.

EPISTLES XII., XIII.

many short and simple paths to freedom; and let us thank God that no man can be kept in life. We may spurn the very constraints that hold us. “ Epi- curus,’ you reply, “uttered these words; what are you doing with another’s property?’’ Any truth, I maintain, is my own property. And I shall continue to heap quotations from Epicurus upon you, so that all persons who swear by the words of another, and put a value upon the speaker and not upon the thing spoken, may understand that the best ideas are common property. Farewell.

Xiii. On Groundless Fears

XIII. ON GROUNDLESS FEARS

I know that you have plenty of spirit; for even before you began to equip yourself with maxims which were wholesome and potent to overcome obstacles, you were taking pride in your contest with Fortune; and this is all the more true, now that you have grappled with Fortune and tested your powers. For our powers cannever inspire in us implicit faith in ourselves except when many difficulties have confronted us on this side and on that, and have occasionally even come to close quarters with us. It is only in this way that the true spirit can be tested,—the spirit that will never consent to come under the jurisdiction of things external to ourselves. This is the touchstone of such a spirit; no prize- fighter can go with high spirits into the strife if he has never been beaten black and blue; the only contestant who can confidently enter the lists is the man who has seen his own blood, who has felt his teeth rattle beneath his opponent’s fist, who has

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adversarium toto tulit corpore nec proiecit animum proiectus, qui quotiens cecidit, contumacior resurrexit,

3cum magna spe descendit ad pugnam. 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 ; tamen si tibi videtur, accipe a me auxilia, quibus munire te possis.

4 Plura sunt, Lucili, quae nos terrent, quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus. Non loquor tecum Stoica lingua, sed hac submissiore. Nos enim dicimus omnia ista, quae gemitus mugitus- que exprimunt, levia esse et contemnenda; omitta- mus haec magna verba, sed, di boni, vera. Illud tibi praecipio, ne sis miser ante tempus, cum illa, quae velut imminentia expavisti, fortasse numquam

5 ventura sint, certe non venerint. Quaedam ergo nos magis torquent quam debent; quaedam ante tor- quent quam debent; quaedam torquent, cum omnino non debeant. Aut augemus dolorem aut fingimus aut praecipimus.

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.

« Seneca dismisses the topic of ‘‘ exaggerated ills,” be- cause judgments will differ regarding present troubles ; the Stoics, for example, would not admit that torture was an evil atall. Hethen passes on to the topic of ‘‘imaginary ills,” §§ 6-7, and afterwards to ‘‘ anticipated ills,” §§ 8-11. From § 12 on, he deals with both imaginary and anticipated ills.

Epistle Xiii.

EPISTLE XIII.

been tripped and felt the full force of his adversary’s charge, who has been downed in body but not in spirit, one who, as often as he falls, rises again with greater defiance than ever. So then, to keep up my figure, Fortune has often in the past got the upper hand of you, and yet you have not surrendered, but have leaped up and stood your ground still more eagerly. For manliness gains much strength by being challenged; nevertheless, if you approve, allow me to offer some additional safeguards by which you may fortify yourself.

There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality. I am not speaking with you in the Stoic strain but in my milder style. For it is our Stoic fashion to speak of all those things, which provoke cries and groans, as unimportant and beneath notice ; but you and I must drop such great- sounding words, although, Heaven knows, they are true enough. What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes; since it may be that the dangers before which you paled as if they were threatening you, will never come upon you; they certainly have not yetcome. Accordingly, some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow.

The first of these three faults * may be postponed for the present, because the subject is under discus- sion and the case is still in court, so to speak. That which I should call trifling, you will maintain to be most serious; for of course I know that some men laugh while being flogged, and that others wince at

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Postea videbimus, utrum ista suis viribus valeant an inbecillitate nostra.

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 conplorent? 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

7 quod non est malum, facio? “ Quomodo,” inquis, “intellegam, vana sint an vera, quibus angor?” Accipe huius rei regulam: aut praesentibus tor- quemur aut futuris aut utrisque. De praesentibus facile iudicium est ; si corpus tuum liberum et ! sanum est, nec ullus ex iniuria dolor est. Videbimus quid

8 futurum sit. Hodie nihil negotii habet. “ At enim futurum est.’’ Primum dispice, an certa argumenta sint venturi mali. Plerumque enim suspicionibus laboramus, et inludit nobis illa, quae conficere bellum solet, fama, multo autem magis singulos conficit.

Ita est, mi Lucili; cito accedimus opinioni. Non

1 est Madvig ; et MSS. 76 .

EPISTLE XIII.

a box on the ear. We shall consider later whether these evils derive their power from their own strength, or from our own weakness.

Do me the favour, when men surround you and try to talk you into believing that you are unhappy, to consider not what you hear but what you yourself feel, and to take counsel with your feelings and question yourself independently, because you know your own affairs better than anyone else does. Ask: “Is there any reason why these persons should con- dole with me? Why should they be worried or even fear some infection from me, as if troubles could be transmitted? Is there any evil involved, or is it a matter merely of ill report, rather than an evil?” Put the question voluntarily to yourself: “Am I tormented without sufficient reason, am I morose, and do I convert what is not an evil into what is an evil?”? You may retort with the question : “ How am I to know whether my sufferings are real or imaginary?” Here is the rule for such matters: We are tormented either by things present, or by things to come, or by both. As to things present, the decision is easy. Suppose that your person enjoys freedom and health, and that you do not suffer from any external injury. As to what may happen to it in the future, we shall see later on. To-day there is nothing wrong with it. “But,” you say, “something will happen to it.” First of all, consider whether your proofs of future trouble are sure. For it is more often the case that we are troubled by our apprehensions, and that we are mocked by that mocker, rumour, which is wont to settle wars, but much more often setties individuals. Yes, my dear Lucilius; we agree too quickly with what people say. We do not put to the test those

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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

9 sparsa conterruit. Nescio quomodo magis vana per- turbant. Vera enim modum suum habent; quic- quid 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.

10 Inquiramus itaque in rem diligenter. Verisimile est aliquid futurum mali; non statim verum est. Quam multa non expectata venerunt! Quam multa expectata nusquam conparuerunt! Etiam si futu- rum est, quid iuvat dolori suo occurrere? Satis cito dolebis, cum venerit ; interim tibi meliora promitte.

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

12. Nonnumquam nullis apparentibus signis, quae mali aliquid praenuntient, animus sibi falsas imagines

fingit; aut verbum aliquod dubiae significationis 78

EPISTLE XIII.

things which cause our fear; we do not examine into them; we blench and retreat just like soldiers who are forced to abandon their camp because of a dust-cloud raised by stampeding cattle, or are thrown into a panic by the spreading of some unauthentic- ated rumour. And somehow or other it is the idle report that disturbs us most. For truth has its own definite boundaries, but that which arises from un- certainty is delivered over to guesswork and the irresponsible license of a frightened mind. That is why no fear is so ruinous and so uncontrollable as panic fear. For other fears are groundless, but this fear is witless.

Let us, then, look carefully into the matter. It is likely that some troubles will befall us; but it is not a present fact. How often has the unexpected happened! How often has the expected never come to pass! And even though it is ordained to be, what does it avail to run out to meet your suffering? You will suffer soon enough, when it arrives; so look forward meanwhile to better things. What shall you gain by doing this? Time. There will be many happenings meanwhile which will serve to postpone, or end, or pass on to another person, the trials which are near or even in your very presence. A fire has opened the way to flight. Men have been let down softly by a catastrophe. Sometimes the sword has been checked even at the victim’s throat. Men have survived their own executioners. Even bad fortune is fickle. Perhaps it will come, perhaps not ; in the meantime it isnot. So look forward to better things.

The mind at times fashions for itself false shapes of evil when there are no signs that point to any evil; it twists into the worst construction some word

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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 timeatur quantum potest ; hic prudentia prosit, hic robore animi eviden- tem quoque metum respue. Si minus, vitio vitium repelle ; spe metum tempera. Nihil tam certum est ex his, quae timentur, ut non certius sit et formidata subsidere et sperata decipere.

13. Ergo spem ac metum examina, et quctiens incerta erunt omnia, tibi fave; crede quod mavis. Si plures habet ! 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 inpelli, nec timorem suum redigit ad verum. Nemo dicit: “ Vanus auctor est, vanus haec aut finxit aut credidit.’”” Damus nos aurae ferendos.?

14 Expavescimus dubia pro certis. Non servamus modum rerum. Statim in timorem vertit * scrupulus.

Pudet me et triste4 tecum loqui, et tam lenibus te remediis focillare. Alius dicat: “ Fortasse non

1 habet Madvig ; habes and habebis MSS.

2 aqurae ferendos Buecheler ; referendos MSS. 3 yertit Haase; venit MSS.

4 et triste Capps ; ibi sic MSS.

@ Cf. Solon’s cal we kwrlddovra Aelws Tpaxdy expavet vdov. 80

EPISTLE XIII.

of doubtful meaning; or it fancies some person’s grudge to be more serious than it really is, consider- ing not how angry the enemy is, but to what lengths he may go if he is angry. But life is not worth living, and there is no limit to our sorrows, if we indulge our fears to the greatest possible extent; in this matter, let prudence help you, and contemn fear with a resolute spirit even when it is in plain sight. If you cannot do this, counter one weakness with another, and temper your fear with hope. There is nothing so certain among these objects of fear that it is not more certain still that things we dread sink into nothing and that things we hope for mock us.

Accordingly, weigh carefully your hopes as well as your fears, and whenever all the elements are in doubt, decide in your own favour; believe what you prefer. And if fear wins a majority of the votes, incline in the other direction anyhow, and cease to harass your soul, reflecting continually that most mortals, even when no troubles are actually at hand or are certainly to be expected in the future, become excited and disquieted. No one calls a halt on him- self, when he begins to be urged ahead ; nor does he regulate his alarm according to the truth. No one says: “The author of the story is a fool, and he who has believed it is a fool, as well as he who fabricated it.” We let ourselves drift with every breeze ; we are frightened at uncertainties, just as if they were certain. We observe no moderation. The slightest thing turns the scales and throws us forthwith into a panic.

But I am ashamed either to admonish you sternly or to try to beguile you with such mild remedies.* Let another say: “Perhaps the worst will not

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA veniet.” Tu dic: “Quid porro, si veniet? Vide- bimus uter vincat. Fortasse pro me venit, et mors ista vitam honestabit.” Cicuta magnum Socratem fecit.1 Catoni gladium adsertorem libertatis extor-

15 que; magnam partem detraxeris gloriae. 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.

16 Sed iam finem epistulae faciam, si illi signum suum inpressero, id est aliquam magnificam vocem per- ferendam ad te mandavero. “Inter cetera mala hoe 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

17 etiam in exitu inchoantium. 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. VALe. 1 confecit pLP ; fecit Hense, as if corrupted from effecit. * Epicurus, Frag. 494 Usener.

EPISTLE XIII.

happen.” You yourself must say: “ Well, what if it does happen? Let us see who wins! Perhaps it happens for my best interests; it may be that such a death will shed credit upon my life.’’ Socrates was ennobled by the hemlock draught. Wrench from Cato’s hand his sword, the vindicator of liberty, and you deprive him of the greatest share of his glory. I am exhorting you far too long, since you need reminding rather than exhortation. The path on which | am leading you is not different from that on which your nature leads you; you were born to such conduct as I describe. Hence there is all the more reason why you should increase and beautify the good that is in you.

But now, to close my letter, I have only to stamp the usual seal upon it, in other words, to commit thereto some noble message to be delivered to you: “ The fool, with all his other faults, has this also,— he is always getting ready to live.’* Reflect, my esteemed Lucilius, what this saying means, and you will see how revolting is the fickleness of men who lay down every day new foundations of life, and begin to build up fresh hopes even at the brink of the grave. Look within your own mind for individual instances ; you will think of old men who are preparing them- selves at that very hour for a political career, or for travel, or for business. And what is baser than getting ready to live when you are already old? I should not name the author of this motto, except that it is somewhat unknown to fame and is not one of those popular sayings of Epicurus which I have allowed myself to praise and to appropriate. Fare-

well.

The Epistles Of Seneca Mv:

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

MV:

Seneca LyciILio svo SALVTEM

1‘ Fateor insitam esse nobis corporis nostri caritatem; fateor nos huius gerere tutelam. Non nego indul- gendum illi; serviendumnego. Multis enim serviet, qui corpori servit, qui pro illo nimium timet, qui ad

2illud omnia refert. Sic gerere nos debemus, non tamquam propter corpus vivere debeamus, sed tam- quam 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.

3 Nihilominus, quantum possumus, evitemus incom- moda 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

4 per vim potentioris eveniunt. Ex his omnibus nihil nos magis concutit, quam quod ex aliena potentia inpendet. 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. 84

Epistle Xiv. Xiv. On The Reasons For With- Drawing From The World

EPISTLE XIV.

XIV. ON THE REASONS FOR WITH- DRAWING FROM THE WORLD

I confess that we all have an inborn affection for our body; I confess that we are entrusted with its guardianship. I do not maintain that the body is not to be indulged at all; but I maintain that we must not be slaves to it. He will have many masters who makes his body his master, who is over-fearful in its behalf, who judges everything according to the body. We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, but as if we could not live without it. Our too great love for it makes us restless with fears, burdens us with cares, and exposes us to insults. Virtue is held too cheap by the man who counts his body too dear. We should cherish the body with the greatest care; but we should also be prepared, when reason, self-respect, and duty demand the sacrifice, to deliver it even to the flames.

Let us, however, in so far as we can, avoid dis- comforts as well as dangers, and withdraw to safe ground, by thinking continually how we may repel all objects of fear. If I am not mistaken, there are three main classes of these: we fear want, we fear sickness, and we fear the troubles which result from the violence of the stronger. And of all these, that which shakes us most is the dread which hangs over us from our neighbour’s ascendancy ; for it is accom- panied by great outcry and uproar. But the natural evils which I have mentioned,— want and sickness, —steal upon us silently with no shock of terror to the eye ortothe ear. The other kind of evil comes,

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

Ferrum circa se et ignes habet et catenas et turbam 5 ferarum, quam in viscera inmittat humana. 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 mem- bra, illam tunicam alimentis ignium et inlitam et textam, et quicquid aliud praeter haec commenta 6 saevitia est. Non est itaque mirum, si maximus huius rei timor est, cuius et varietas magna et appa- ratus terribilis est. Nam quemadmodum plus agit tortor, quo plura instrumenta doloris exposuit (specie enim vincuntur qui patientia restitissent) ; ita ex iis, quae animos nostros subigunt et domant, plus pro- ficiunt, quae habent quod ostendant. Illae pestes non minus graves sunt, famem dico et sitim et prae- cordiorum subpurationes et febrem viscera ipsa torrentem. Sed latent, nihil habent quod intentent, quod praeferant; haec ut magna bella aspectu apparatuque vicerunt.

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

« Cf. Tacitus, Annals, xv. 44, describing the tortures practised upon the Christians.

Epistle Xiv.

EPISTLE XIV.

so to speak, in the form of a huge parade. Sur- rounding it is a retinue of swords and fire and chains and a mob of beasts to be let loose upon the dis- embowelled entrails of men. Picture to yourself under this head the prison, the cross, the rack, the hook, and the stake which they drive straight through a man until it protrudes from his throat. Think of human limbs torn apart by chariots driven in opposite directions, of the terrible shirt smeared and interwoven with inflammable materials, and of all the other contrivances devised by cruelty, in addition to those which I have mentioned! It is not surprising, then, if our greatest terror is of such a fate; for it comes in many shapes and its para- phernalia are terrifying. For just as the torturer accomplishes more in proportion to the number of instruments which he displays,—indeed, the spectacle overcomes those who would have patiently withstood the suffering,—similarly, of all the agencies which coerce and master our minds, the most effective are those which can make a display. Those other troubles are of course not less serious; I mean hunger, thirst, ulcers of the stomach, and fever that parches our very bowels. They are, however, secret ; they have no bluster and no heralding; but these, like huge arrays of war, prevail by virtue of their display and their equipment.

Let us, therefore, see to it that we abstain from giving offence. It is sometimes the people that we ought to fear; or sometimes a body of influential oligarchs in the Senate, if the method of governing the State is such that most of the business is done by that body; and sometimes individuals equipped with power by the people and against the people. It is burdensome to keep the friendship of all such

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est inimicos non habere. Itaque sapiens numquam potentium iras provocabit, immo declinabit,) non

8 aliter quam in navigando procellam. 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.

9 Circumspiciendum ergo nobis est, quomodo a vulgo tuti esse possimus. Primum nihil idem con- cupiscamus ; rixa est inter competitores. Deinde nihil habeamus, quod cum magno emolumento in- sidiantis eripi possit. Quam minimum sit in corpore tuo spoliorum. Nemo ad humanum sanguinem propter ipsum venit, aut admodum pauci. Plures computant quam oderunt. Nudum latro trans-

10 mittit ; etiam in obsessa via pauperi pax est. Tria deinde ex praecepto veteri praestanda sunt ut viten- tur: odium, invidia, contemptus. Quomodo hoc fiat, sapientia sola monstrabit. Difficile enim tem-

1 declinabit L’b ; nec declinabit pL’. 2 sed id, a quo Hense, Thomas ; sed ita guo MSS. ~@ Scylla was a rock on the Italian side of the Straits. Charybdis was a whirlpool on the Sicilian side. Servius on Vergil, Aeneid, iii. 420 defines the dextrum as the shore ‘‘ to

the right of those coming from the Ionian sea.” > Cf. Juvenal x. 22 cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.

EPISTLE XIV.

persons ; it is enough not to make enemies of them. So the wise man will never provoke the anger of those in power; nay, he will even turn his course, precisely as he would turn from a storm if he were steering a ship. When you travelled to Sicily, you crossed the Straits. The reckless pilot scorned the blustering South Wind,—the wind which roughens the Sicilian Sea and forces it into choppy currents ; he sought not the shore on the left, but the strand hard by the place where Charybdis throws the seas into confusion. Your more careful pilot, however, questions those who know the locality as to the tides and the meaning of the clouds; he holds his course far from that region notorious for its swirling waters. Our wise man does the same; he shuns a strong man who may be injurious to him, making a point of not seeming to avoid him, because an important part of one’s safety lies in not seeking safety openly ; for what one avoids, one condemns.

We should therefore look about us, and see how we may protect ourselves from the mob. And first of all, we should have no cravings like theirs; for rivalry results in strife. Again, let us possess nothing that can be snatched from us to the great profit of a plotting foe. Let there be as little booty as possible on your person. No one sets out to shed the blood of his fellow-men for the sake of bloodshed,—at any rate very few. More murderers speculate on their profits than give vent to hatred. If you are empty-handed, the highwayman passes you by; even along an infested road, the poor may travel in peace.o Next, we must follow the old adage and avoid three things with special care: hatred, jealousy, and scorn. And wisdom alone can show you how this may be done. It is hard to

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

peramentum est, verendumque, ne in contemptum nos invidiae} timor transferat ne dum calcare nolu- mus, videamur posse calcari. Multis timendi attulit causas timeri posse. Undique nos reducamus; non minus contemni quam suspici nocet.

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 honorest. Numquam in tantum convalescet nequitia, numquam sic contra virtutes coniurabitur, ut non philosophiae nomen venerabile et sacrum maneat.

Ceterum philosophia ipsa tranquille modesteque

12 tractanda est. “Quid ergo?” inquis, “ Videtur tibi M. Cato modeste philosophari, qui bellum civile sententia reprimit? Qui furentium principum armis medius intervenit? Qui aliis Pompeium offenden-

13 tibus aliis Caesarem simul lacessit duos?” Potest aliquis disputare an illo tempore capessenda fuerit sapienti res publica. “Quid tibi vis, Marce Cato ? Iam non agitur de libertate ; olim pessumdata est. Quaeritur, utrum Caesar an Pompeius possideat rem publicam ; quid tibi cum ista contentione? Nullae

1 invidiae Muretus ; invidia et MSS.

@ Cf. the proverb necesse est multos timeat quem multi timent, which is found in Seneca, de Ira, ii. 11. 4 and often elsewhere.

> Literally, ‘‘ is as good as a (priest’s) fillet.”

EPISTLE XIV.

observe a mean; we must be chary of letting the fear of jealousy lead us into becoming objects of scorn, lest, when we choose not to stamp others down, we let them think that they can stamp us down. ‘The power to inspire fear has caused many men to be in fear.* Let us withdraw ourselves in every way; for it is as harmful to be scorned as to be admired.

One must therefore take refuge in philosophy ; this pursuit, not only in the eyes of good men, but also in the eyes of those who are even moderately bad, is a sort of protecting emblem.’ For speech- making at the bar, or any other pursuit that claims the people’s attention, wins enemies for a man; but philosophy is peaceful and minds her own business. Men cannot scorn her; she is honoured by every profession, even the vilest among them. Evil can never grow so strong, and nobility of character can never be so plotted against, that the name of philo- sophy shall cease to be worshipful and sacred.

Philosophy itself, however, should be practised with calmness and moderation. “ Very well, then,” you retort, “do you regard the philosophy of Marcus Cato as moderate? Cato’s voice strove to check a civil war. Cato parted the swords of maddened chieftains. When some fell foul of Pompey and others fell foul of Caesar, Cato defied both parties at once!”’ Never- theless, one may well question whether, in those days, a wise man ought to have taken any part in public affairs, and ask: “ What do you mean, Marcus Cato? It is not now a question of freedom ; long since has freedom gone to rack and ruin. The question is, whether it is Caesar or Pompey who controls the State. Why, Cato, should you take sides in that dispute? It is no business of yours ; a

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

partes tuae sunt; dominus eligitur. Quid tua, uter! vincat ? 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 ?

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.

15 “Quid ergo? Utique erit tutus, qui hoc proposi- tum sequetur?” Promittere tibi hoc non magis possum quam in homine temperanti bonam valitudi- nem, et tamen facit temperantia bonam valitudinem. Perit aliqua navis in portu; sed quid tu accidere in medio mari credis ? Quanto huic periculum paratius foret multa agenti molientique, cui ne otium quidem tutum est? Pereunt aliquando innocentes; quis negat? Nocentes tamen saepius. Ars ei constat,

16 qui per ornamenta percussus est. Denique consilium

1 tua, uter Lipsius ; tu alter MSS. 2 exportandus Pincianus ; e¢ portandus MSS. 3 an sapienti opera rei publicae danda sit Madvig; an

sapienti ora opera perdenda sint pL; num (an b) sapientiora opera perdenda ( perpendenda b) sit (sunt b) Pb.

« Cf. Tac. Hist. i. 50 inter duos quorum bello solum id scires, deteriorem fore qui vicisset. > See, for example, Letter xxii.

EPISTLE XIV.

tyrant is being selected. What does it concern you who conquers? ‘The better man may win; but the winner is bound to be the worse man.”’? I have re- ferred to Cato’s final réle. But even in previous years the wise man was not permitted to intervene in such plundering of the state; for what could Cato do but raise his voice and utter unavailing words? At one time he was “hustled” by the mob and spat upon and forcibly removed from the forum and marked for exile; at another, he was taken straight to prison from the senate-chamber.

However, we shall consider later ® whether the wise man ought to give his attention to politics ; meanwhile, I beg you to consider those Stoics who, shut out from public life, have withdrawn into privacy for the purpose of improving men’s existence and framing laws for the human race without in- curring the displeasure of those in power. The wise man will not upset the customs of the people, nor will he invite the attention of the populace by any novel ways of living.

«“ What then? Can one who follows out this plan be safe in any case?”’ I cannot guarantee you this any more than I can guarantee good health in the case of a man who observes moderation ; although, as a matter of fact, good health results from such moderation. Sometimes a vessel perishes in harbour ; but what do you think happens on the open sea? And how much more beset with danger that man would be, who even in his leisure is not secure, if he were busily working at many things! Innocent persons sometimes perish ; who would deny that ? But the guilty perish more frequently. A soldier's skill is not at fault if he receives the death-blow through his armour. And finally, the wise man

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rerum omnium sapiens, non exitum spectat. Initia in potestate nostra sunt; de eventu fortuna iudicat, cui de me sententiam non do. “ At aliquid vexationis adferet, aliquid adversi.’”” Non damnat? latro, cum occidit.

17 Nune 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

18 illa officina. Et quid interest quis dixerit ? Omnibus dixit. Qui eget divitiis, timet pro illis. Nemo autem sollicito bono fruitur; adicere illis aliquid studet. Dum de incremento cogitat, oblitus est usus. Rationes accipit, forum conterit, kalendarium versat; fit ex domino procurator. VALE.

Seneca LyvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Mos antiquis fuit usque ad meam servatus aetatem, primis epistulae verbis adicere : “Si vales bene est, ego valeo.” Recte nos dicimus: “Si philosopharis,

1 damnat Gronovius; damnatur MSS. ; dominatur Schweighauser. Haase, followed by Hense, indicates a lacuna after occidit.

@ Epicurus, Ep. iii. p. 63. 19 Usener. ’ Named kalendarium because interest was reckoned according to the Kalends of each month.

Epistles Xiv., Xv.

EPISTLES XIV., XV.

regards the reason for all his actions, but not the results. The beginning is in our own power; fortune decides the issue, but I do not allow her to pass sentence upon myself. You may say: “ But she can inflict a measure of suffering and of trouble.” The highwayman does not pass sentence when he slays.

Now you are stretching forth your hand for the daily gift. Golden indeed will be the gift with which | shall load you ; and, inasmuch as we have mentioned gold, let me tell you how its use and enjoyment may bring you greater pleasure. “He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most.” * «“ Author’s name, please!” you say. Now, to show you how generous I am, it is my intent to praise the dicta of other schools. The phrase belongs to Epicurus, or Metrodorus, or some one of that particular thinking-shop. But what difference does it make who spoke the words? They were uttered for the world. He who craves riches feels fear on their account. No man, however, enjoys a blessing that brings anxiety; he is always trying to add a little more. While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it. He collects his accounts, he wears out the pavement in the forum, he turns over his ledger,?—in short, he ceases to be master and becomes a steward. Farewell.

Xv. On Brawn And Brains

XV. ON BRAWN AND BRAINS

The old Romans had a custom which survived even into my lifetime. They would add to the opening words of a letter: “If you are well, it is well; I also um well.” Persons like ourselves would do

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bene est.” Valere autem hoc demum est. Sine hoe aeger est animus. Corpus quoque, etiam si magnas habet vires, non aliter quam furiosi aut phrenetici validum est. Ergo hance praecipue valitudinem cura, deinde et illam secundam, quae non magno tibi con- stabit, 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. Itaque quantum potes, circumscribe corpus tuum et animo locum laxa. Multa secuntur incommoda huic deditos curae; primum exercitationes, quarum labor spiritum ex- haurit et inhabilem intentioni ac studiis acrioribus reddit. Deinde copia ciborum subtilitas inpeditur. 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 effuxit, multum potionis altius ieiunio! iturae regesserunt. Bibere et sudare vita cardiaci est. :

Sunt exercitationes et faciles et breves, quae corpus et sine mora lassent et tempori parcant, cuius prae- cipua ratio habenda est: cursus et cum aliquo

1 geiunio Madvig ; in tetuno pPb; in ieiunio LI.

@ i.e., the prize-ring ; the contestants were rubbed with oil before the fight began.

’ Cardiacus meant, according to Pliny, VV. 7. xxiii. 1. 24, a sort of dyspepsia accompanied by fever and perspiration. Compare the man in Juvenal v. 32, who will not send a spoon- ful of wine to a friend ill of this complaint.

Epistle Xv.

EPISTLE XV.

well to say: “If you are studying philosophy, it is well.”’ For this is just what “ being well” means. Without philosophy the mind is sickly, and the body, too, though it may be very powerful, is strong only as that of a madman or a lunatic is strong. This, then, is the sort of health you should primarily cultiv- ate; the other kind of health comes second, and will involve little effort, if you wish to be well physically. It is indeed foolish, my dear Lucilius, and very un- suitable for a cultivated man, to work hard over developing the muscles and broadening the shoulders and strengthening the lungs. For although your heavy feeding produce good results and your sinews grow solid, you can never be a match, either in strength or in weight, for a first-class bull. Besides, by overloading the body with food you strangle the soul and render it less active. Accordingly, limit the flesh as much as possible, and allow free play to the spirit. Many inconveniences beset those who devote themselves to such pursuits. In the first place, they have their exercises, at which they must work and waste their life-force and render it less fit to bear a strain or the severer studies. Second, their keen edge is dulled by heavy eating. Besides, they must take orders from slaves of the vilest stamp,—men who alternate between the oil-flask * and the flagon, whose day passes satisfactorily if they have got up a good perspiration and quaffed, to make good what they have lost in sweat, huge draughts of liquor which will sink deeper because of phen fasting. Drinking and sweating,—it’s the life of a dyspeptic !?

Now there are short and simple exercises which tire the body rapidly, and so save our time; and time is something of which we ought to keep strict account.

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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; quoius? libet ex his elige usum rudem,

5 facilem. Quicquid facies, cito redi a corpore ad animum. Illum noctibus ac diebus exerce; labore modico alitur ille. Hance exercitationem non frigus, non aestus inpediet, ne senectus quidem. Id bonum

6 cura, quod vetustate fit melius. Neque ego te iubeo semper inminere libro aut pugillaribus; dandum est aliquod intervallum animo, ita tamen ut non resol- vatur, 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.

7 Nec tu intentionem vocis contempseris, quam veto te per gradus et certos modos extollere, deinde de- primere. Quid si velis deinde quemadmodum am- bules 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. Quid ergo? A clamore protinus et a summa con- tentione vox tua incipiet? Usque eo naturale est paulatim incitari, ut litigantes quoque a sermone in- cipiunt,* ad vociferationem transeunt.? Nemo statim

1 saliaris Madvig ; salutaris pLb ; saltaris P.

2 guoius Buecheler ; quos God) libet MSS.

8 natientia et credulitate Lipsius; patientiae credulitate (crudelitate) MSS.

4 incipiunt Capps ; incipiant MSS.

5 transeunt L); transeant other MSS., Hense.

@ Named from the Salii, or leaping priests of Mars. > The fuller, or washerman, cleansed the clothes by leaping and stamping upon them in the tub.

EPISTLE XV.

These exercises are running, brandishing weights, and jumping,—high-jumping or broad-jumping, or the kind which I may call “the Priest’s dance,” % or, in slighting terms, “the clothes-cleaner’s jump.”® Select for practice any one of these, and you will find it plain and easy. But whatever you do, come back soon from body to mind. The mind must be exercised both day and night, for it is nourished by moderate labour; and this form of exercise need not be hampered by cold or hot weather, or even by old age. Cultivate that good which improves with the years. Of course I do not command you to be always bend- ing over your books and your writing materials; the mind must: have a change,—but a change of such a kind that it is not unnerved, but merely unbent. Riding in a litter shakes up the body, and does not interfere with study ; one may read, dictate, converse, or listen to another; nor does walking prevent any of these things.

You need not scorn voice-culture; but I forbid you to practise raising and lowering your voice by scales and specific intonations. What if you should next propose to take lessons in walking! If you consult the sort of person whom starvation has taught new tricks, you will have someone to regulate your steps, watch every mouthful as you eat, and go to such lengths as you yourself, by enduring him and believing in him, have encouraged his effrontery to go. “What, then?’’ you will ask; “is my voice to begin at the outset with shouting and straining the lungs to the utmost?” No; the natural thing is that it be aroused to such a pitch by easy stages, just as persons who are wrangling begin with ordinary conversational tones and then pass to shouting at the top of their lungs. No speaker cries “ Help me,

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& Quiritium fidem inplorat. Ergo utcumque tibi im- petus animi suaserit, modo vehementius fac! con- vicium, modo lentius, prout vox quoque te hortabitur, in id Jatus. Modesta, cum recipies illam revocaris- que, descendat, non decidat; media oris via abeat ? nec indocto et rustico more desaeviat. Non enim id agimus, ut exerceatur vox, sed ut exerceat.

9 Detraxi tibi non pusillum negotii; una mercedula et unum Graecum ad haec beneficia accedet. Ecce insigne praeceptum: “ Stulta vita ingrata est et tre- pida; tota in futurum fertur.” “Quis hoc,” inquis, “dicit?’”’ Idem qui supra. Quam tu nunc vitam dici existimas stultam? 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

10 plenum esse nec ex fortuna pendere. 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? Te ipse antecessisti.

1 fac vicinis MSS. ; Hense condemns vicinis. 2 media oris via abeat Madvig and Buecheler ; mediatoris sui habeat L'P.

@ 4.e., Epicurus, Frag. 491 Usener. > Court fools of the period.

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citizens !’’ at the outset of his speech. Therefore, whenever your spirit’s impulse prompts you, raise a hubbub, now in louder now in milder tones, according as your voice, as well as your spirit, shall suggest to you, when you are moved to such a performance. Then let your voice, when you rein it in and call it back to earth, come down gently, not collapse ; it should trail off in tones half way between high and low, and should not abruptly drop from its raving in the uncouth manner of countrymen. For our purpose is, not to give the voice exercise, but to make it give us exercise.

You see, I have relieved you of no slight bother ; and I shall throw in a little complementary present, — it is Greek, too. Here is the proverb; it is an excel- lent one: “The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.” “Who uttered these words?’ you say. The same writer whom I mentioned before.* And what sort of life do you think is meant by the fool’s life? That of Baba and Isio®? No; he means our own, for we are plunged by our blind desires into ventures which will harm us, but certainly will never satisfy us; for if we could be satisfied with anything, we should have been satisfied long ago; nor do we reflect how pleasant it is to demand nothing, how noble it is to be contented and not to be dependent upon Fortune. Therefore continually remind yourself, Lucilius, how many ambitions you have attained. When you see many ahead of you, think how many are behind! If you would thank the gods, and be grateful for your past life, you should contemplate how many men you have outstripped. But what have you to do with the others? You have out- stripped yourself.

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11. Finem constitue, quem transire ne velis quidem,' si possis; discedant aliquando ista insidiosa bona et sperantibus meliora quam adsecutis. Si quid in illis esset solidi, aliquando et inplerent; nunc haurien- tium sitim concitant. Mittantur?speciosi apparatus. Et quod futuri temporis incerta sors volvit, quare potius a fortuna inpetrem, ut det, quam a me, ne petam? Quare autem petam? Oblitus fragilitatis humanae congeram? in quid laborem? Ecce hic dies ultimus est. Ut non sit; prope ab ultimo est.

Vale. Xvi.

VALE.

XVI.

Seneca Lycitto svo SALVTEM

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 honestaproponas. Perseverandum est et adsiduo studio robur addendum, donec bona

2 mens sit quod bona voluntas est. Itaque tibi apud me pluribus verbis aut adfirmatione iam? nil opus ;

1 ne possis quidem si velis MSS.; order corrected by Gertz. 2 mittantur Madvig ; imitantur MSS.

3 adfirmatione iam Madvig ; adfirmatis nec tam (multum

L) longis MSS. 102

Epistles Xv., Xvi.

EPISTLES XV., XVI.

Fix a limit which you will not even desire to pass, should you have the power. At last, then, away with all these treacherous goods! They look better to those who hope for them than to those who have attained them. If there were anything sub- stantial in them, they would sooner or later satisfy you; as it is, they merely rouse the drinkers’ thirst. Away with fripperies which only serve for show! As to what the future’s uncertain lot has in store, why should I demand of Fortune that she give, rather than demand of myself that I should not crave? And whyshouldI crave? Shall I heap up my winnings, and forget that man’s lot is unsubstantial ? For what end should I toil? Lo, to-day is the last ; if not, it is near the last. Farewell.

Xvi. On Philosophy, The Guide Of Life

XVI. ON PHILOSOPHY, THE GUIDE OF LIFE

It is clear to you, I am sure, Lucilius, that no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, with- out the study of wisdom; you know also that a happy life is reached when our wisdom is brought to completion, but that life is at least endurable even when our wisdom is only begun. This idea, however, clear though it is, must be strengthened and implanted more deeply by daily reflection ; it is more important for you to keep the resolutions you have already made than to go on and make noble ones. You must persevere, must develop new strength by continuous study, until that which is only a good inclination becomes a good settled purpose. Hence you no longer need to come to me with much talk and protestations; I know that you

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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. 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

3 philosophia an in ipsa vita profeceris. 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. In- numerabilia accidunt singulis horis, quae consilium exigant, quod ab hac petendum est.

4 Dicet aliquis: “Quid mihi prodest philosophia, si fatum est? Quid prodest, si deus rector est? Quid prodest, si casus imperat? 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.”’

5 Quicquid est ex his, Lucili, vel si omnia haec sunt,

philosophandum est: sive nos inexorabili lege fata

@ i.e., have merely advanced in years. 104

Epistle Xvi.

EPISTLE XVI.

have made great progress. I understand the feelings which prompt your words; they are not feigned or specious words. Nevertheless I shall tell you what I think,—that at present I have hopes for you, but not yet perfect trust. And I wish that you would adopt the same attitude towards yourself; there is no reason why you should put confidence in yourself too quickly and readily. Examine yourself; scrutinize and observe yourself in divers ways; but mark, before all else, whether it is in philosophy or merely in life itself* that you have made progress. Philosophy is no trick to catch the public; it is not devised for show. It is a matter, not of words, but of facts. It is not pursued in order that the day may yield some amusement before it is spent, or that our leisure may be relieved of a tedium that irks us. It moulds and constructs the soul; it orders our life, guides our conduct, shows us what we should do and what we should leave undone; it sits at the helm and directs our course as we waver amid uncertainties. Without it, no one can live fearlessly or in peace of mind. Countless things that happen every hour call for advice; and such advice is to be sought in philosophy.

Perhaps someone will say: “ How can philosophy help me, if Fate exists? Of what avail is philosophy, if God rules the universe? Of what avail is it, if Chance governs everything? For not only is it im- possible to change things that are determined, but it is also impossible to plan beforehand against what is undetermined; either God has forestalled my plans, and decided what I am to do, or else Fortune gives no free play to my plans.” Whether the truth, Lucilius, lies in one or in all of these views, we must be philosophers; whether Fate binds us down by an

105

or)

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constringunt, sive arbiter deus universi cuncta dis- posuit, sive casus res humanas sine ordine inpellit et iactat, philosophia nos tueri debet. Haec ad- hortabitur, ut deo libenter pareamus, ut fortunae contumaciter; haec docebit, ut deum sequaris, feras casum., Sed non est nunc in hance disputationem transeundum, quid sit iuris nostri, si providentia in imperio est, aut si fatorum series inligatos trahit, aut si repentina ac subita dominantur; illo nune revertor, ut te moneam et exhorter, ne patiaris inpetum animi tui delabi et refrigescere. Contine illum et constitue, ut habitus animi fiat, quod est inpetus.

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? Quicquid bene dictum est ab ullo, meum est. Istue quoque ab Epicuro dictum est: “Si ad natu- ram vives, numquam eris pauper; si ad opiniones, numquam eris dives.” Exiguum natura desiderat, opinio inmensum. Congeratur in te quicquid 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

¢ Frag. 201 Usener. 106

EPISTLE XVI.

inexorable law, or whether God as arbiter of the universe has arranged everything, or whether Chance drives and tosses human affairs without method, philosophy ought to be our defence. She will en- courage us to obey God cheerfully, but Fortune defiantly; she will teach us to follow God and endure Chance. But it is not my purpose now to be led into a discussion as to what is within our own control,—if foreknowledge is supreme, or if a chain of fated events drags us along in its clutches, or if the sudden and the unexpected play the tyrant over us; I return now to my warning and my exhortation, that you should not allow the impulse of your spirit to weaken and grow cold. Hold fast to it and establish it firmly, in order that what is now impulse may become a habit of the mind.

If I know you well, you have already been trying to find out, from the very beginning of my letter, what little contribution it brings to you. Sift the letter, and you will find it. You need not wonder at any genius of mine; for as yet I am lavish only with other men’s property.—But why did I say “ other men’? Whatever is well said by anyone is mine.— This also is a saying of Epicurus*: “If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.” Nature’s wants are slight; the demands of opinion are boundless. Suppose that the property of many millionaires is heaped up in your possession. Assume that fortune carries you far beyond the limits of a private income, decks you with gold, clothes you in purple, and brings you to such a degree of luxury and wealth that you can bury the earth under your marble floors; that you may not only possess, but tread upon, riches. Add statues, paintings, and

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et quicquid ars ulla luxuriae elaboravit; maiora cupere ab his disces.

9 Naturalia desideria finita sunt; ex falsa opinione nascentia ubi desinant, non habent. Nullus enim terminus falso est. Viam eunti aliquid extremum est; error inmensus 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. VALE,

XVIL

Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

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 dis- ponere volo, ut sufficere nihil agenti possit, ne aut

2 paupertas mihi oneri sit aut ego alicui.””’ Cum hoc dicis, non videris vim ac potentiam eius, de quo cogitas, boni nosse. Et summam quidem rei per- vides, quantum philosophia prosit, partes autem non- dum satis subtiliter dispicis, necdum scis, quantum ubique nos adiuvet, quemadmodum et in maximis,

# Perhaps from the Hortensius; see Miiller, Frag. 98, p. 326.

108

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EPISTLES XVI., XVII.

whatever any art has devised for the satisfaction of luxury; you will only learn from such things to crave still greater.

Natural desires are limited; but those which spring from false opinion can have no stopping-point. The false has no limits. When you are travelling on a road, there must be an end; but when astray, your wanderings are limitless. Recall your steps, therefore, from idle things, and when you would know whether that which you seek is based upon a natural or upon a misleading desire, consider whether it can stop at any definite point. If you find, after having travelled far, that there is a more distant goal always in view, you may be sure that this con- dition is contrary to nature. Farewell.

Xvii. On Philosophy And Riches

XVII. ON PHILOSOPHY AND RICHES

Cast away everything of that sort, if you are wise ; nay, rather that you may be wise; strive toward a sound mind at top speed and with your whole strength. If any bond holds you back, untie it, or sever it. “But,” you say, “my estate delays me; I wish to make such disposition of it that it may suffice for me when I have nothing to do, lest either poverty be a burden to me, or I myself a burden to others.” You do not seem, when you say this, to know the strength and power of that good which you are considering. You do indeed grasp the all- important thing, the great benefit which philosophy confers, but you do not yet discern accurately its various functions, nor do you yet know how great is the help we receive from philosophy in everything, everywhere,—how, (to use Cicero’s language,*) it

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ut Ciceronis utar verbo, opituletur et in minima descendat. Mihi crede, advoca illam in consilium ; 3 suadebit tibi, ne ad calculos sedeas. Nempe hoc quaeris et hoc ista dilatione vis consequi, ne tibi paupertas timenda sit; quid si adpetenda est? Multis ad philosophandum obstitere divitiae ; paupertas ex- pedita est, secura est. Cum classicum cecinit, scit non se peti; cum aqua conclamata! est, quomodo exeat, non quid efferat, quaerit ; si? navigandum est, non strepitat® portus nec unius comitatu inquieta sunt litora. Non circumstat illum turba servorum, ad quos pascendos transmarinarum regionum est op- 4 tanda fertilitas. Facile est pascere paucos ventres et bene institutos et nihil aliud desiderantes quam inpleri. Parvo fames constat, magno fastidium. Paupertas contenta est desideriis instantibus satis facere. Quid est ergo, quare hance recuses contubernalem, § cuius mores sanus dives imitatur? 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 satis est; si ad illam summam pervenero, tunc me totum philo- sophiae dabo.”’ Atqui nihil prius quam hoc parandum est, quod tu differs et post cetera paras; ab hoc incipiendum est. “ Parare,” inquis, “unde vivam 1 aqua conclamata Gertz and Buecheler ; aliqua conclamata “ed (aut) si MSS. ; wt del. Hense. 3 strepitat Hense; strepit at p; strepunt LPb. « Literally, ‘‘ Water!” 110

Epistle Xvii.

EPISTLE XVII.

not only succours us in the greatest matters but also descends to the smallest. Take my advice; call wisdom into consultation; she will advise you not to sit for ever at your ledger. Doubtless, your object, what you wish to attain by such postpone- ment of your studies, is that poverty may not have to be feared by you. But what if it is some- thing to be desired? Riches have shut off many a man from the attainment of wisdom ; poverty is un- burdened and free from care. When the trumpet sounds, the poor man knows that he is not being attacked ; when there is a cry of “ Fire,” * he only seeks a way of escape, and does not ask what he can save; if the poor man must go to sea, the harbour does not resound, nor do the wharves bustle with the retinue of one individual. No throng of slaves surrounds the poor man,—slaves for whose mouths the master must covet the fertile crops of regions beyond the sea. It is easy to fill a few stomachs, when they are well trained and crave nothing else but to be filled. Hunger costs but little ; squeamish- ness costs much. Poverty is contented with fulfilling pressing needs.

Why, then, should you reject Philosophy as a comrade? Even the rich man copies her ways when he is in his senses. If you wish to have leisure for your mind, either be a poor man, or resemble a poor man. Study cannot be helpful unless you take pains to live simply; and living simply is voluntary poverty. Away, then, with all excuses like: “I have not yet enough; when I have gained the desired amount, then I shall devote myself wholly to philo- sophy.”” And yet this ideal, which you are putting off and placing second to other interests, should be secured first of all; you should begin with it. You

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volo.” Simul et para et! disce ; si quid te vetat bene

vivere, bene mori non vetat. Non est quod nos

fr)

paupertas a philosophia revocet, ne egestas quidem. Toleranda est enim ad hoc properantibus vel fames. Quam toleravere quidam in obsidionibus, et quod aliud erat illis patientiae praemium quam in arbitrium non cadere victoris? Quanto hic? maius est quod pro- mittitur: perpetua libertas, nullius nec hominis nec dei timor. Et quidem vel esurienti ad ista veniendum 7 est. 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 adquirendum ; licet ad_philo- g sophiam etiam sine viatico pervenire. Ita est. Cum omnia habueris, tunc habere et sapientiam voles? Haec erit ultimum vitae instrumentum et, ut ita dicam, additamentum? Tu vero, sive aliquid habes, iam philosophare,—unde enim scis, an iam _ nimis habeas ?—sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quic- g quam. “At necessaria deerunt.” Primum deesse

non poterunt, quia natura minimum petit, naturae

1 para et Madvig ; parare MSS. ; et te parare Haase, 2 hic Madvig ; hoc MSS.

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retort: “I wish to acquire something to live on.” Yes, but learn while you are acquiring it; for if any- thing forbids you to live nobly, nothing forbids you to die nobly. There is no reason why poverty should call us away from philosophy,—no, nor even actual want. For when hastening after wisdom, we must endure even hunger. Men have endured hunger when their towns were besieged, and what other reward for their endurance did they obtain than that they did not fall under the conqueror’s power ? How much greater is the promise of the prize of everlasting liberty, and the assurance that we need fear neither God nor man! Even though we starve, we must reach that goal. Armies have endured all manner of want, have lived on roots, and have resisted hunger by means of food too re- volting to mention. All this they have suffered to gain a kingdom, and,—what is more marvellous,— to gain a kingdom that will be another’s. Will any man hesitate to endure poverty, in order that he may free his mind from madness?

Therefore one should not seek to lay up riches first; one may attain to philosophy, however, even without money for the journey. It is indeed so. After you have come to possess all other things, shall you then wish to possess wisdom also? Is philosophy to be the last requisite in life,—a sort of supplement? Nay, your plan should be this: be a philosopher now, whether you have anything or not, —for if you have anything, how do you know that you have not too much already ?—but if you have nothing, seek understanding first, before anything else. “But,” you say, “I shall lack the necessities of life.” In the first place, you cannot lack them; because nature demands but little, and the wise man

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autem se sapiens accommodat. Sed si necessitates ultimae inciderunt, 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 con- cursationesque ad divitias euntium securus laetusque

10 ridebit ac dicet: “Quid in longum ipse te differs? Expectabisne fenoris quaestum aut ex merce con- pendium 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.

11 Poteram hoc loco epistulam claudere, nisi te male instituissem. Reges Parthorum ? non potest quisquam salutare sine munere ; tibi valedicere non licet gratis. Quid istic? Ab Epicuro mutuum sumam: “ Multis parasse divitias non finis miseriarum fuit, sed mutatio.”’

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 conloces,—quocumque illum transtuleris, mor- bum secum suum transferet,—sic nihil refert, utrum

1 idem est Gertz; id est or idem MSS. 2 Parthorum Gertz; parthos MSS.

@ Frag. 479 Usener, 114

EPISTLE XVII.

suits his needs to nature. But if the utmost pinch of need arrives, he will quickly take leave of life and cease being a trouble to himself. If, however, his means of existence are meagre and scanty, he will make the best of them, without being anxious or worried about anything more than the barenecessities ; he will do justice to his belly and his shoulders ; with free and happy spirit he will laugh at the bustling of rich men, and the flurried ways of those who are hastening after wealth, and say: “Why of your own accord postpone your real life to the distant future? Shall you wait for some interest to fall due, or for some income on your merchandise, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old man, when you can be rich here and now? Wisdom offers wealth in ready money, and pays it over to those in whose eyes she has made wealth superfluous.” These remarks refer to other men; you are nearer the rich class. Change the age in which you live, and you have too much. But in every age, what is enough remains the same.

I might close my letter at this point, if I had not got you into bad habits. One cannot greet Parthian royalty without bringing a gift; and in your case I cannot say farewell without paying a price. But what of it? I shall borrow from Epicurus*: “ The acquisition of riches has been for many men, not an end, but a change, of troubles.” I do not wonder. For the fault is not in the wealth, but in the mind itself. That which had made poverty a burden to us, has made riches also a burden. Just as it matters little whether you lay a sick man on a wooden or on a golden bed, for whithersoever he be moved he will carry his malady with him; so one need not care whether the diseased mind is be-

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aeger animus in divitiis an in paupertate ponatur. Malum illum suum sequitur. VALE.

Dov Itt:

DOV ITT: Seneca LyciLio svO SALVTEM

December est mensis ; cum maxime civitas sudat. Tus luxuriae publicae datum est. Ingenti apparatu sonant omnia, tamquam quicquam inter Saturnalia intersit et dies rerum agendarum. Adeo nihil interest, ut non videatur! mihi errasse, qui dixit olim mensem Decembrem fuisse, nune annum.

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. 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 im- perandum est, ut tune voluptatibus solus abstineat, cum in illas omnis turba procubuit ; certissimum enim argumentum firmitatis suae capit, si ad blanda et in 4 luxuriam trahentia nec it nec abducitur. Hoc multo 1 ut non videatur later MSS. ; ut videatur pLPb.

@ j.¢., the whole year is a Saturnalia.

> For a dinner dress.

¢ The pilleus was worn by newly freed slaves and by the Roman populace on festal occasions.

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stowed upon riches or upon poverty. His malady goes with the man. Farewell.

Xviii. On Festivals And Fasting

XVIII. ON FESTIVALS AND FASTING

It is the month of December, and yet the city is at this very moment in a sweat. Licence is given to the general merrymaking. Everything resounds with mighty preparations,—as if the Saturnalia differed at all from the usual business day! So true it is that the difference is nil, that I regard as correct the remark of the man who said: “ Once December was a month; now it is a year.’ *

If I had you with me, I should be glad to consult you and find out what you think should be done,— whether we ought to make no change in our daily routine, or whether, in order not to be out of sympathy with the ways of the public, we should dine in gayer fashion and doff the toga.’ As it is now, we Romans have changed our dress for the sake of pleasure and holiday-making, though in former times that was only customary when the State was disturbed and had fallen on evil days. I am sure that, if I know you aright, playing the part of an umpire you would have wished that we should be neither like the liberty-capped¢ throng in all ways, nor in all ways unlike them; unless, perhaps, this is just the season when we ought to lay down the law to the soul, and bid it be alone in refraining from pleasures just when the whole mob has let itself go in pleasures; for this is the surest proof which a man can get of his own constancy, if he neither seeks the things which are seductive and allure him to luxury, nor is led into them. It shows much

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fortius est, ebrio ac vomitante populo siccum ac so- brium esse, illud temperatius, non excerpere se nec insigniri nec misceri omnibus et eadem, sed non eodem modo, facere. Licet enim sine luxuria agere festum diem.

5 Ceterum adeo mihi placet temptare animi tui firmitatem, ut ex praecepto magnorum virorum tibi quoque praecipiam: interponas aliquot dies, quibus contentus minimo ac vilissimo cibo, dura atque horrida

6 veste dicas tibi: “ Hoc est quod timebatur ?” 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.

7 Nonest nunc quod existimes me dicere Timoneas cenas et pauperum cellas, et quicquid aliud est, per quod luxuria divitiarum taedio ludit; grabatus 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,

« The Epicureans. Cf.§ 9 and Epicurus, Frag. 158 Usener. > Cf. Ep. c. 6 and Martial, iii. 48.

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more courage to remain dry and sober when the mob is drunk and vomiting; but it shows greater self-control to refuse to withdraw oneself and to do what the crowd does, but in a different way,—thus neither making oneself conspicuous nor becoming one of the crowd. For one may keep holiday without extravagance.

I am so firmly determined, however, to test the constancy of your mind that, drawing from the teachings of great men, I shall give you also a lesson: Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?’ It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while Fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence. In days of peace the soldier performs manceuvres, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, and wearies himself by gratuitous toil, in order that he may be equal to unavoidable toil. If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes. Such is the course which those men” have followed who, in their imitation of poverty, have every month come almost to want, that they might never recoil from what they had so often rehearsed.

You need not suppose that I mean meals like Timon’s, or “ paupers’ huts,’ or any other device which luxurious millionaires use to beguile the tedium of their lives. Let the pallet be a real one, and the coarse cloak; Jet the bread be hard and grimy. Endure all this for three or four days at a time, sometimes for more, so that it may be a test of yourself instead of a mere hobby. Then, I assure

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Lucili, exultabis dipondio satur et intelleges ad securitatem non opus esse fortuna; hoc enim, quod necessitati sat est, dat et! irata.

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

9 Certos habebat dies ille magister voluptatis Epicurus, quibus maligne famem extingueret, visurus, an aliquid deesset ex plena et consummata voluptate, vel quantum deesset et an dignum quod quis magno labore pensaret. Hoc certe in his epistulis ait, quas scripsit Charino magistratu ad Polyaenum. Et quidem gloriatur non toto asse se? pasci, Metrodorum,

19 qui nondum tantum profecerit, toto. 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 hordeacei panis, sed summa

1 dat et Schweighauser ; debet MSS. ® s¢ added by Muretus.

* The post which gladiators used when preparing them- selves for combats in the arena.

> Usually, identified with Chaerimus, 308-7 B.c. But Wilhelm, Oster. Jahreshefte, V. 136, has shown that there is probably no confusion of names. A Charinus was archon at Athens in 290-89 ; see Johnson, Class. Phil. ix. p. 256.

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you, my dear Lucilius, you will leap for joy when filled with a pennyworth of food, and you will under- stand that a man’s peace of mind does not depend upon Fortune; for, even when angry she grants enough for our needs.

There is no reason, however, why you should think that you are doing anything great; for you will merely be doing what many thousands of slaves and many thousands of poor men are doing every day. But you may credit yourself with this item,— that you will not be doing it under compulsion, and that it will be as easy for you to endure it per- manently as to make the experiment from time to time. Let us practise our strokes on the “ dummy” *; let us become intimate with poverty, so that Fortune may not catch us off our guard. We shall be rich with all the more comfort, if we once learn how far poverty is from being a burden.

Even Epicurus, the teacher of pleasure, used to observe stated intervals, during which he satisfied his hunger in niggardly fashion; he wished to see whether he thereby fell short of full and complete happiness, and, if so, by what amount he fell short, and whether this amount was worth purchasing at the price of great effort. At any rate, he makes such a statement in the well known letter written to Poly- aenus in the archonship of Charinus.? Indeed, he boasts that he himself lived on less than a penny, but that Metrodorus, whose progress was not yet so great, needed a whole penny. Do you think that there can be fulness on such fare? Yes, and there is pleasure also,—not that shifty and fleeting pleasure which needs a fillip now and then, but a pleasure that is steadfast and sure. For though water, barley-meal, and crusts of barley-bread, are

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voluptas est posse capere etiam ex his voluptatem et ad id se deduxisse, quod eripere nulla fortunae

11 iniquitas possit. 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.

12 = Incipe ergo, mi Lucili, sequi horum consuetudinem et aliquos dies destina, quibus secedas a tuis rebus minimoque te facias familiarem; incipe cum pau- pertate habere commercium.

Aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum Finge deo.

13 Nemo alius est deo dignus quam qui opes con- tempsit. 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.

14. Sediam incipiamus epistulam conplicare. ‘ Prius,” inquis, “ redde quod debes.” Delegabo te ad Epi- curum ; ab illo fiet numeratio: “ Inmodica ira gignit insaniam.’’ Hoc quam verum sit, necesse est scias,

15 cum habueris et servum et inimicum. In omnes personas _ hic exardescit affectus; tam ex amore

1 liberaliora Muretus; liberiora MSS.; uberiora Buecheler.

* Vergil, Aeneid, viii. 364 f. > Frag. 484 Usener.

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not a cheerful diet, yet it is the highest kind of pleasure to be able to derive pleasure from this sort of food, and to have reduced one’s needs to that modicum which no unfairness of Fortune can snatch away. Even prison fare is more generous; and those who have been set apart for capital punishment are not so meanly fed by the man who is to execute them. Therefore, what a noble soul must one have, to descend of one’s own free will to a diet which even those who have been sentenced to death have not to fear! ‘This is indeed forestalling the spear- thrusts of Fortune.

So begin, my dear Lucilius, to follow the custom of these men, and set apart certain days on which you shall withdraw from your business and make yourself at home with the scantiest fare. Establish business relations with poverty.

Dare, O my friend, to scorn the sight of wealth, And mould thyself to kinship with thy God.¢

For he alone is in kinship with God who has scorned wealth. Of course I do not forbid you to possess it, but I would have you reach the point at which you possess it dauntlessly ; this can be accom- plished only by persuading yourself that you can live happily without it as well as with it, and by regarding riches always as likely to elude you.

But now I must begin to fold up my letter. «<Settle your debts first,’ you cry. Here is a draft on Epicurus; he will pay down the sum: “Un- governed anger begets madness.”® You cannot help knowing the truth of these words, since you have had not only slaves, but also enemies. But indeed this emotion blazes out against all sorts of persons ; it springs from love as much as from hate, and shows

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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 modera-

tionis causa, sed sanitatis. VALE.

XIX.

Seneca LvyciLio svo SALVTEM

Exulto, quotiens epistulas tuas accipio. Inplent 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, subduc te istis occupa- tionibus ; si minus, eripe. Satis multum temporis sparsimus; incipiamus vasa in senectute colligere. Numquid invidiosum est? Infreto 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 ob- livionem ! velim ; id age, ut-otium tuum non emineat,

1 et oblivionem Lb; oblivione p and Hense ; oblivionem P. 124

Epistles Xviii... Xix.

EPISTLES XVIII... XIX.

itself not less in serious matters than in jest and sport. And it makes no difference how important the pro- vocation may be, but into what kind of soul it pene- trates. Similarly with fire; it does not matter how great is the flame, but what it falls upon. For solid timbers have repelled a very great fire; conversely, dry and easily inflammable stuff nourishes the slightest spark into a conflagration. So it is with anger, my dear Lucilius; the outcome of a mighty anger is madness, and hence anger should be avoided, not merely that we may escape excess, but that we may have a healthy mind. Farewell.

Xix. On Worldliness And Retirement

XIX. ON WORLDLINESS AND RETIREMENT

I leap for joy whenever I receive letters from you. For they fill me with hope; they are now not mere assurances concerning you, but guarantees. And I beg and pray you to proceed in this course ; for what better request could I make of a friend than one which is to be made for his own sake? If possible, withdraw yourself from all the business of which you speak ; and if you cannot do this, tear yourself away. We have dissipated enough of our time already; let us in old age begin to pack up our baggage. Surely there is nothing in this that men can begrudge us. We have spent our lives on the high seas; let us die in harbour. Not that I would advise you to try to win fame by your retirement; one’s retirement should neither be paraded nor concealed. Not con- cealed, I say, for I shall not go so far in urging you as to expect you to condemn all men as mad and then seek out for yourself a hiding-place and oblivion; rather make this your business, that your

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38 sed appareat. Deinde videbunt de isto, quibus in- tegra 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

4 priora monstrabunt. 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? 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.

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 quicquid ab istis promittitur ; maiora deinde officia te excipient

6 et ex aliis alia. Quis exitus erit? Quid expectas,

¢ See the Introduction, p. ix.

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EPISTLE XIX.

retirement be not conspicuous, though it should be obvious. In the second place, while those whose choice is unhampered from the start will deliberate on that other question, whether they wish to pass their lives in obscurity, in your case there is not a free choice. Your ability and energy have thrust you into the work of the world ; so have the charm of your writings and the friendships you have made with famous and notable men. Renown has already taken you by storm. You may sink yourself into the depths of obscurity and utterly hide yourself; yet your earlier acts will reveal you. You cannot keep lurking in the dark; much of the old gleam will follow you wherever you fly.

Peace you can claim for yourself without being disliked by anyone, without any sense of loss, and without any pangs of spirit. For what will you leave behind you that you can imagine yourself reluctant to leave? Your clients? But none of these men courts you for yourself; they merely court something from you. People used to hunt friends, but now they hunt pelf; if a lonely old man changes his will, the morning-caller transfers himself to another door. Great things cannot be bought for small sums; so reckon up whether it is preferable to leave your own true self, or merely some of your belongings. Would that you had had the privilege of*growing old amid the limited circumstances of your origin, and that fortune had not raised you to such heights! You were removed far from the sight of wholesome living by your swift rise to prosperity, by your province, by your position as procurator,* and by all that such things promise ; you will next acquire more important duties and after them still more. And what will be the result? Why wait until there is nothing left for

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donec desinas habere, quod cupias? Numquam erit id tempus.! Qualem dicimus seriem esse causarum, ex quibus nectitur fatum, talem esse? cupiditatum ; altera ex fine alterius nascitur. 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

7 est. 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.

8 ‘Quomodo,’ inquis, “exibo?’’ Utcumque. Cogita, quam multa temere pro pecunia, quam multa laboriose prohonore 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 contigit. Quid enim ad rem pertinet, an tu quiescere velis? Fortuna tua nor vult. Quid si illi etiam nunc permiseris crescere? Quantum ad successus accesserit, accedet ad metus.

9 Volo tibi hoc loco referre dictum Maecenatis vera in

1 erit id tempus Buecheler ; erit tempus MSS. 2 Madvig would insert scias or puta.

« The procurator did the work of a quaestor in an imperial province. Positions at Rome to which Lucilius might succeed were such as praefectus annonae, in charge of the grain supply, or praefectus urbi, Director of Public Safety, and others,

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you tocrave? That time will never come. We hold that there is a succession of causes, from which fate is woven; similarly, you may be sure, there is a succession in our desires; for one begins where its predecessor ends. You have been thrust into an existence which will never of itself put an end to your wretchedness and your slavery. Withdraw your chafed neck from the yoke ; it is better that it should be cut off once for all, than galled for ever. If you retreat to privacy, everything will be on a smaller scale, but you will be satisfied abundantly; in your present condition, however, there is no satisfaction in the plenty which is heaped upon you on all sides. Would you rather be poor and sated, or rich and hungry? Prosperity is not only greedy, but it also lies exposed to the greed of others. And as long as nothing satisfies you, you yourself cannot satisfy others.

“But,” you say, “how can I take my leave?” Any way you please. Reflect how many hazards you have ventured for the sake of money, and how much toil you have undertaken for a title! You must dare something to gain leisure, also,—or else grow old amid the worries of procuratorships ¢ abroad and subsequently of civil duties at home, living in turmoil and in ever fresh floods of responsibilities, which no man has ever succeeded in avoiding by unobtrusiveness or by seclusion of life. For what bearing on the case has your personal desire for a secluded life? Your position in the world desires the opposite! What if, even now, you allow that position to grow greater? But all that is added to vour successes will be added to your fears. At this point I should like to quote a saying of Maecenas, who spoke the truth when he stood on the very

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ipso culmine! 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? 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.

Poteram tecum hac Maecenatis sententia parem facere rationem. Sed movebis mihi controversiam, si novi te, nec voles quod debeo in aspero et inprobo accipere. Ut se res habet, ab Epicuro versura facienda est. “Ante,” inquit, “ circumspiciendum est, cum quibus edas et bibas, quam quid edas e bibas. Nam sine amico visceratio leonis ac lupi vita est.” Hoc non continget tibi, nisi secesseris ; alioqui habebis convivas, quos ex turba salutantium nomen- clator 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 amicos,

1 in ipso culmine Capps ; in ipso eculeo MSS.

@ And therefore could speak with authority on this point.

® Perhaps a tragedy, although Seneca uses the word liber to describe it. Maecenas wrote a Symposium, a work De cultu suo, Octavia, some stray verse, and perhaps some history. See Seneca, Epp. xcil. and ci.

¢ Seneca whimsically pretends to assume that eccentric literary style and high political position go hand in hand. See also the following sentence.

¢ Epicurus, Frag. 542 Usener.

e A slave kept by every prominent Roman to identify the master’s friends and dependants.

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summit: “There’s thunder even on the loftiest peaks.” If you ask me in what book these words are found, they occur in the volume entitled Prometheus.” He simply meant to say that these lofty peaks have their tops surrounded with thunder-storms. But is any power worth so high a price that a man like you would ever, in order to obtain it, adopt a style so debauched as that?® Maecenas was indeed a man of parts, who would have left a great pattern for Roman oratory to follow, had his good fortune not made him effeminate,—nay, had it not emasculated him! An end like his awaits you also, unless you forthwith shorten sail and,—as Maecenas was not willing to do until it was too late,—hug the shore! This saying of Maecenas’s might have squared my account with you; but I feel sure, knowing you, that you will get out an injunction against me, and that you will be unwilling to accept payment of my debt in such crude and debased currency. However that may be, I shall draw on the account of Epicurus.¢ He says: “ You must reflect carefully beforehand with whom you are to eat and drink, rather than what you are to eat and drink. For a dinner of meats without the company of a friend is like the life of a lion or a wolf.” This privilege will not be yours unless you withdraw from the world ; otherwise, you will have as guests only those whom your slave-secretary ° sorts out from the throng of callers. It is, however, a mistake to select your friend in the reception-hall or to test him at the dinner-table. The most serious misfortune for a busy man who is overwhelmed by his possessions is, that he believes men to be his friends when he himself is not a friend to them, and that he deems his favours to be effective in winning friends, although, in the

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cum quidam, quo plus debent, magis oderint. Leve aes alienum debitorem facit, grave inimicum. “ Quid ergo? Beneficia non parant amicitias?” Parant, si accepturos licuit eligere, si conlocata, non sparsa sunt.

Itaque dum incipis esse mentis tuae, interim hoc consilio sapientium utere, ut magis ad rem existimes pertinere, quis, quam quid acceperit. VALe.

XX. Seneca LvciLio svO SALVTEM

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

Aliud propositum est declamantibus et adsen- sionem 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, ut ipsa intra se vita unius sit omnium actionum sine dissensione coloris.1 Maxi- mum hoc est et officium sapientiae et indicium, ut

1 intra .. . coloris Haupt; inter se vita .. . his sit

omnium actio dissertionum color sit p, unus or una L? Pb, coloris later MSS.

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EPISTLES XIX., XX.

case of certain men, the more they owe, the more they hate. A trifling debt makes a man your debtor; a large one makes him an enemy. “ What,’ you say, “do not kindnesses establish friendships ?”’ They do, if one has had the privilege of choosing those who are to receive them, and if they are placed judiciously, instead of being scattered broadcast.

Therefore, while you are beginning to call your mind your own, meantime apply this maxim of the wise: consider that it is more important who receives a thing, than what it is he receives. Farewell.

Xx. On Practising What You Preach

XX. ON PRACTISING WHAT YOU PREACH

If you are in good health and if you think your- self worthy of becoming at last your own master, I am glad. For the credit will be mine, if I can drag you from the floods in which you are being buffeted without hope of emerging. This, however, my dear Lucilius, I ask and beg of you, on your part, that you let wisdom sink into your soul, and test your progress, not by mere speech or writings, but by stoutness of heart and decrease of desire. Prove your words by your deeds.

Far different is the purpose of those who are speech-making and trying to win the approbation of a throng of hearers, far different that of those who allure the ears of young men and idlers by many- sided or fluent argumentation; philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak; it exacts of every man that he should live according to his own standards, that his life should not be out of harmony with his words, and that, further, his inner life should be of one hue and not out of harmony with all his activities. This, I say, is the highest duty and the highest proof of

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verbis opera concordent, ut ipse ubique par sibi idemque sit. “Quis hoc praestabit?”? Pauci, aliqui tamen. Est enim difficile hoc; nee hoe dico, sapientem uno 3 semper iturum gradu, sed una via. Observa te! itaque, numquid vestis tua domusque dissentiant, numquid in te liberalis sis, in tuos sordidus, numquid cenes frugaliter, aedifices Juxuriose. Unam semel ad quam vivas regulam prende et ad hance omnem vitam tuam exaequa. Quidam se domi contrahunt, dilatant foris et extendunt ; vitium est haec diversitas et signum vacillantis animi ac nondum habentis te- 4 norem suum. Etiamnunc dicam, unde sit ista incon- stantia et dissimilitudo rerum consiliorumque : nemo proponit sibi, quid velit, nec si proposuit, perseverat in eo, sed transilit; nec tantum mutat, sed redit et 5 in ea, quae deseruit ac damnavit, revolvitur. Itaque ut relinquam definitiones sapientiae veteres et totum conplectar humanae vitae modum, hoc possum con- tentus 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. 6 Nesciunt ergo homines, quid velint, nisi illo momento, quo volunt; in totum nulli velle aut

1 observa te Hense; observare MSS.

@ Seneca applies to wisdom the definition of friendship, Sallust, Catiline, 20. 4 idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum jirma amicitia est.

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EPISTLE XX.

wisdom,—that deed and word should be in accord, that a man should be equal to himself under all con- ditions, and always the same.

“ But,” you reply, “who can maintain this standard?” Very few, to be sure; but there are some. It is indeed a hard undertaking, and I do not say that the philosopher can always keep the same pace. But he can always travel the same path. Observe yourself, then, and see whether your dress and your house are inconsistent, whether you treat yourself lavishly and your family meanly, whether you eat frugal dinners and yet build luxurious houses. You should lay hold, once for all, upon a single norm to live by, and should regulate your whole life according to this norm. Some men restrict them- selves at home, but strut with swelling port before the public ; such discordance is a fault, and it indicates a wavering mind which cannot yet keep its balance. And I can tell you, further, whence arise this un- steadiness and disagreement of action and purpose ; it is because no man resolves upon what he wishes, and, even if he has done so, he does not persist in it, but jumps the track ; not only does he change, but he returns and slips back to the conduct which he has abandoned and abjured. Therefore, to omit the ancient definitions of wisdom and to include the whole manner of human life, I can be satisfied with the following: ‘“ What is wisdom? Always desiring the same things, and always refusing the same things.” @ You may be excused from adding the little proviso, —that what you wish, should be right; since no man can always be satisfied with the same thing, unless it is right.

For this reason men do not know what they wish, except at the actual moment of wishing; no man

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nolle decretum est. Variatur cotidie iudicium et in contrarium vertitur ac plerisque agitur vita per lusum. Preme ergo quod coepisti, et fortasse per- duceris aut ad summum aut eo, quod summum nondum esse solus intellegas,

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, sed aliud seque- batur. Non est autem vel ob hoc unum amanda paupertas, quod a quibus ameris ostendet ? O quando ille veniet dies, quo nemo in honorem tuum men-

8 tiatur! Hue 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.

9 Invideas licet, etiam nunc libenter pro me depen- det Epicurus. “ Magnificentior, mihi crede, sermo tuus in grabato videbitur et in panno. Non enim dicentur tantum illa, sed probabuntur.”’ Ego certe

1 sine Hense; sive MSS.

¢ Frag. 206 Usener, 136

EPISTLE XX.

ever decided once and for all to desire or to refuse. Judgment varies from day to day, and changes to the opposite, making many a man pass his life in a kind of game. Press on, therefore, as you have begun ; perhaps you will be led to perfection, or to a point which you alone understand is still short of perfection.

“ But what,” you say, “ will become of my crowded household without a household income?” If you stop supporting that crowd, it will support itself; or perhaps you will learn by the bounty of poverty what you cannot learn by your own bounty. Poverty will keep for you your true and tried friends; you will be rid of the men who were not seeking you for yourself, but for something which you have. Is it not true, however, that you should love poverty, if only for this single reason,—that it will show you those by whom you are loved? O when will that time come, when no one shall tell lies to compliment you! Accordingly, let your thoughts, your efforts, your desires, help to make you content with your own self and with the goods that spring from yourself ; and commit all your other prayers to God’s keeping! What happiness could come closer home to you ? Bring yourself down to humble conditions, from which you cannot be ejected; and in order that you may do so with greater alacrity, the contribution contained in this letter shall refer to that subject ; I shall bestow it upon you forthwith.

Although you may look askance, Epicurus® will once again be glad to settle my indebtedness : “ Believe me, your words will be more imposing if you sleep on a cot and wear rags. For in that case you will not be merely saying them; you will be demonstrating their truth.” I, at any rate, listen in

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aliter audio, quae dicit Demetrius noster, cum illum vidi nudum, quanto minus quam! stramentis, incu- bantem ; non praeceptor veri, sed testis est. “ Quid ergo? Non licet divitias in sinu positas contem- nere?’’ 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. Multum est non corrumpi divitiarum contubernio ; magnus ille, qui in divitiis pauper est. “ Nescio,’ inquis, “ quomodo paupertatem iste laturus sit, si in illam inciderit.””. Nee ego, Epicure, an tuus ? 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 argu- mentum est bonae voluntatis grabatus aut pannus, nisi apparuit aliquem illa non necessitate pati, sed malle.

Ceterum magnae indolis est ad ista non properare tamquam meliora, sed praeparari tamquam ad facilia. Et sunt, Lucili, facilia; cum vero multo ante medi- tatus accesseris, iucunda quoque; inest enim illis, sine qua nihil est iucundum, securitas. | Necessarium ergo iudico, id quod tibi scripsi magnos viros saepe

1 quam in MSS. in del. Haupt. 2 an tuus P. Thomas ; angulus si pL.

@ 1.¢., the life of voluntary poverty. 138

EPISTLE XxX.

a different spirit to the utterances of our friend Demetrius, after I have seen him reclining without even a cloak to cover him, and, more than this, with- out rugs to lie upon. He is not only a teacher of the truth, but a witness to the truth. “ May not a man, however, despise wealth when it lies in his very pocket ?”’ Of course ; he also is great-souled, who sees riches heaped up round him and, after wondering long and deeply because they have come into his possession, smiles, and hears rather than feels that they are his. It means much not to be spoiled by intimacy with riches; and he is truly great who is poor amidst riches. “ Yes, but J do not know,” you say, “how the man you speak of will endure poverty, if he falls into it suddenly.” Nor do I, Epicurus, know whether the poor man you speak of will despise riches, should he suddenly fall into them; accordingly, in the case of both, it is the mind that must be appraised, and we must investi- gate whether your man is pleased with his poverty, and whether my man is displeased with his riches. Otherwise, the cot-bed and the rags are slight proof of his good intentions, if it has not been made clear that the person concerned endures these trials not from necessity but from preference.

It is the mark, however, of a noble spirit not to precipitate oneself into such things® on the ground that they are better, but to practise for them on the ground that they are thus easy to endure. And they are easy to endure, Lucilius ; when, however, you come to them after long rehearsal, they are even pleasant ; for they contain a sense of freedom from care,—and without this nothing is pleasant. I hold it essential, therefore, to do as I have told you in a letter that great men have often done: to reserve a

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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. VALE.

XXI,

Seneca LvciLio svo SALVTEM

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 inpediat, 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.

2 Erras, Lucili; ex hac vita ad illam adscenditur. Quod interest inter splendorem et lucem, cum haec

« Adapted from the epigram on Alexander the Great, ‘*hic est quem non capit orbis.” See Plutarch, Alexander, 8 6 & wai, (nret ceaurw Bacirelav tonv: Maxedovla yap ce ob xwpet, and Seneca, Ep. cxix. 8.

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Epistles Xx.,, Xxi.

EPISTLES XX.,, XXI.

few days in which we may prepare ourselves for real poverty by means of fancied poverty. There is all the more reason for doing this, because we have been steeped in luxury and regard all duties as hard and onerous. Rather let the soul be roused from its sleep and be prodded, and let it be reminded that nature has prescribed very little for us. No man is born rich. Every man, when he first sees light, is commanded to be content with milk and rags. Such is our beginning, and yet kingdoms are all too small for us!* Farewell.

Xxi. On The Renown Which My Writings Will Bring You

XXI. ON THE RENOWN WHICH MY WRITINGS WILL BRING YOU

Do you conclude that you are having difficulties with those men about whom you wrote to me? Your greatest difficulty is with yourself; for you are your own stumbling-block. You do not know what you want. You are better at approving the right course Lhan at following it out. You see where the true happiness lies, but you have not the courage to attain it. Let me tell you what it is that hinders you, inasmuch as you do not of yourself discern it.

You think that this condition, which you are to abandon, is one of importance, and after resolving upon that ideal state of calm into which you hope to pass, you are held back by the lustre of your present life, from which it is your intention to depart, just as if you were about to fall into a state of filth and darkness. This is a mistake, Lucilius ; to go from your present life into the other is a promotion. There is the same difference between

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certam originem habeat ac suam ille niteat alieno, hoc inter hanc vitam et illam ; haec fulgore extrinse- cus veniente percussa est, crassam illi statim umbram faciet quisquis obstiterit ; illa suo lumine inlustris est. Studia te tua clarum et nobilem efficient. Exem- 3 plum Epicuri referam. Cum Idomeneo scriberet et illum a vita speciosa ad fidelem stabilemque gloriam revocaret, rigidae’ tunc potentiae ministrum et magna tractantem: “Si gloria,” inquit, “ tangeris, notiorem te epistulae meae facient quam omnia ista, 4 quae colis et propter quae coleris.’”’ 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. Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistulae non sinunt. Nihil illi profuisset gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drusus Caesar pronepos; inter tam magna nomina 5 taceretur, nisi sibi? Cicero illum adplicuisset. Pro- funda super nos altitudo temporis veniet, pauca ingenia caput exerent et in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent ac se diu vindicabunt. 1 For rigidae Lipsius proposed regiae, ‘‘ like that of a

king.” This may be the correct reading. 2 sibi inserted by Gertz.

@ Epicurus, Frag. 132 Usener.

> 4.e., Cicero’s letters did more to preserve the name of Atticus than such a connexion with the imperial house would have done.

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Epistle Xxii.

EPISTLE XXII.

these two lives as there is between mere brightness and real light; the latter has a definite source within itself, the other borrows its radiance; the one is called forth by an illumination coming from the outside, and anyone who stands between the source and the object immediately turns the latter into a dense shadow; but the other has a glow that comes from within.

It is your own studies that will make you shine and will render you eminent. Allow me to mention the case of Epicurus. He was writing * to Idomeneus and trying to recall him from a showy existence to sure and steadfast renown. Idomeneus was at that time a minister of state who exercised a rigorous authority and had important affairs in hand. “ If,” said Epicurus, “you are attracted by fame, my letters will make you more renowned than all the things which you cherish and which make you cherished.” Did Epicurus speak falsely? Who would have known of Idomeneus, had not the philo- sopher thus engraved his name in those letters of his? All the grandees and satraps, even the king himself, who was petitioned for the title which Idomeneus sought, are sunk in deep oblivion. Cicero’s letters keep the name of Atticus from perishing. It would have profited Atticus nothing to have an Agrippa for a son-in-law, a Tiberius for the husband of his grand-daughter, and a Drusus Caesar for a great-grandson; amid these mighty names his name would never be spoken, had not Cicero bound him to himself.2 The deep flood of time will roll over us; some few great men will raise their heads above it, and, though destined at the last to depart into the same realms of silence, will battle against oblivion and maintain their ground for long.

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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 :

Fortunati ambo! Siquid mea carmina possunt, Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,

Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

6 Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicum- que membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerunt, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt; post ipsos cito memoria defecit. Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quicquid illorum memoriae adhaesit, excipitur.

7 Ne gratis Idomeneus in epistulam meam venerit: ipse eam de suo redimet. Ad hune Epicurus illam nobilem sententiam scripsit, qua hortatur, ut Pytho- clea locupletem non publica nec ancipiti via faciat. «Si vis,’ inquit, “ Pythoclea divitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum, sed cupiditati detrahendum

§ est.”” Et apertior ista sententia est quam ut inter- pretanda sit, et disertior quam ut adiuvanda. Hoc unum te admoneo, ne istud tantum existimes de divitiis dictura ; quocumque transtuleris, idem poterit.

2 Aeneid, ix. 446 ff.

» As in the case of Epicurus and Idomeneus, Cicero and Atticus, Vergil and Euryalus and Nisus, and Seneca and Lucilius !

¢ Frag. 1385 Usener.

1 44

Epistle Xxi.

EPISTLE XXI.

That which Epicurus could promise his friend, this I promise you, Lacilius. I shall find favour among later generations; I can take with me names that will endure as long as mine. Our poet Vergil promised an eternal name to two heroes, and is keeping his promise : ¢

Blest heroes twain! If power my song possess, The record of your names shall never be Erased from out the book of Time, while yet Aeneas’ tribe shall keep the Capitol,

That rock immovable, and Roman sire Shall empire hold.

Whenever men have been thrust forward by fortune, whenever they have become part and parcel of another's influence, they have found abundant favour, their houses have been thronged, only so long as they themselves have kept their position; when they themselves have left it, they have slipped at once from the memory of men. But in the case of innate ability, the respect in which it is held in- creases, and not only does honour accrue to the man himself, but whatever has attached itself to his memory is passed on from one to another.?

In order that Idomeneus may not be introduced free of charge into my letter, he shall make up the indebtedness from his own account. It was to him that Epicurus addressed the well-known saying,’ urging him to make Pythocles rich, but not rich in the vulgar and equivocal way. “If you wish,’ said he, “to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.”” This idea is too clear to need explanation, and too clever to need reinforcement. There is, however, one point on which I would warn you,—not to consider that this statement applies only to riches; its value will

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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 inplere vitam, non annis adiciendum est, sed cupiditatibus detrahendum. 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. Eo! libentius Epicuri egregia dicta commemoro, ut istis,? qui ad illum * confugiunt spe mala inducti, qui velamentum ipsos vitiorum suorum habituros existimant, probem 4 quocumqgue ierint honeste esse vivendum.

Cum adieris® eius hortulos et inscriptum hortulis legeris ©

Hospes, hic bene manebis, hic summum bonum voluptas est,

paratus erit istius domicilii custos hospitalis, humanus, et te polenta excipiet et aquam quoque large ministra- Dit et dicck: “EBequid bene acceptus ess + “avon inritant,” inquit, “hi hortuli famem, sed extinguunt. Nec maiorem ipsis potionibus sitim faciunt, sed naturali et gratuito remedio sedant. In hac voluptate consenui.”’

De his tecum desideriis loquor, quae consolationem non recipiunt, quibus dandum est aliquid, ut desinant.

1 quod probo eo Haupt and Madvig ; pro eo or probeo MSS.

2 estis Muretus ; ist? MSS.

3 illum Haupt; illam or illa MSS,

4 probem Muretus ; probent MSS.

5 adieris Schweighauser ; aud (ad) terithis p; audierit his L; adieretis audierit his Pb.

6 legeris added by Buecheler; inscriptum hortulis pL; inscriptum portae videris Wilamowitz.

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EPISTLE XX].

be the same, no matter how you apply it. “If you wish to make Pythocles honourable, do not add to his honours, but subtract from his desires”; “if you wish Pythocles to have pleasure for ever, do not add to his pleasures, but subtract from his desires ” ; “if you wish to make Pythocles an old man, filling his life to the full, do not add to his years, but subtract from his desires.’ There is no reason why you should hold that these words belong to Epicurus alone; they are public property. I think we ought to do in philosophy as they are wont to do in the Senate: when someone has made a motion, of which I approve to a certain extent, [ ask him to make his motion in two parts, and I vote for the part which I approve. So I am all the more glad to repeat the distinguished words of Epicurus, in order that I may prove to those who have recourse to him through a bad motive, thinking that they will have in him a screen for their own vices, that they must live honourably, no matter what school they follow.

Go to his Garden and read the motto carved there: “Stranger, here you will do well to tarry ; here our highest good is pleasure.” The care-taker of that abode, a kindly host, will be ready for you; he will welcome you with barley-meal and serve you water also in abundance, with these words: «“ Have you not been well entertained?” “This garden,” he says, “does not whet your appetite ; it quenches it. Nor does it make you more thirsty with every drink; it slakes the thirst by a natural cure, —a cure that demands no fee. This is the ‘ pleasure’ in which I have grown old.”

In speaking with you, however, I refer to those desires which refuse alleviation, which must be

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THE EPISTILES OF SENECA

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 inpendis, voluntarium est. Venter praecepta non audit; poscit, appellat. Non est tamen molestus creditor; parvo dimittitur, si modo das illi, quod debes, non quod potes. VALE.

XXII. Seneca I.vciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Jam intellegis educendum esse te ex istis occu- pationibus speciosis et malis. Sed quo modo id con- sequi possis quaeris. Quaedam non nisi a praesente monstrantur. Non potest medicus per epistulas cibi aut balinei tempus eligere; vena tangenda est. Vetus proverbium est gladiatorem in harena capere consilium; aliquid adversarii vultus, aliquid manus mota, aliquid ipsa inclinatio corporis intuentem

2monet. Quid fieri soleat, quid oporteat, in univer- sum et mandari potest et scribi; tale consilium non tantum absentibus, etiam posteris datur. Illud al- terum, quando fieri debeat aut quemadmodum, ex longinquo nemo suadebit, cum rebus ipsis delibe-

¢ The first question, ‘* Shall I withdraw from the world?” has been answered, apparently by Lucilius himself. The second was, ‘‘ How can I accomplish this?” Seneca pre- tends to answer it, although he feels that this should be done in personal conference rather than by writing.

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Epistles Xxi., Xxii.

EPISTLES XXI., XXII.

bribed to cease. For in regard to the exceptional desires, which may be postponed, which may be chastened and checked, | have this one thought to share with you: a pleasure of that sort is according to our nature, but it is not according to our needs ; one owes nothing to it; whatever is expended upon it isa free gift. The belly will not listen to advice ; it makes demands, it importunes. And yet it is not a troublesome creditor; you can send it away at small cost, provided only that you give it what you owe, not merely all you are able to give. Farewell.

Xxl. On The Futility Of Half-Way Measures

XXL. ON THE FUTILITY OF HALF-WAY MEASURES

You understand by this time that you must with- draw yourself from those showy and depraved pur- suits; but you still wish to know how this may be accomplished. There are certain things which can be pointed out only by someone who is present. The physician cannot prescribe by letter the proper time for eating or bathing; he must feel the pulse. There is an old adage about gladiators,—that they plan their fight in the ring; as they intently watch, something in the adversary’s glance, some movement of his hand, even some slight bending of his body, gives a warning. We can formulate general rules and commit them to writing, as to what is usually done, or ought to be done; such advice may be given, not only to our absent friends, but also to succeeding generations. In regard, however, to that second “ question,—when or how your plan is to be carried out,—no one will advise at Jong range ;

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA 3 randum est. Non tantum praesentis, sed vigilantis est occasionem observare properantem. Itaque hance circumspice, hanc si videris, prende et toto impetu, totis viribus id age, ut te istis officiis exuas.

Et quidem quam sententiam feram, adtende. Cen- seo aut ex ista vita tibi aut e vita exeundum. Sed idem illud existimo, leni eundum via, ut quod male inplicuisti, solvas potius quam abrumpas, dummodo si alia solvendi ratio non erit, vel abrumpas. Nemo tam timidus est, ut malit semper pendere quam semel

4 cadere. Interim, quod primum est, impedire te noli. Contentus esto negotiis, in quae descendisti, vel quod videri mavis, incidistii Non est quod ad ulteriora nitaris; aut perdes excusationem et ap- parebit te non incidisse. Ista enim, quae dici solent, falsa sunt: “Non potui aliter. Quid, si nollem? Necesse erat.’’ Nulli necesse est felicitatem cursu sequi; est aliquid, etiam si non repugnare, subsistere

5 nec instare fortunae ferenti. Numquid offenderis, si in consilium non venio tantum, sed advoco, et

quidem prudentiores quam ipse sum, ad quos soleo 150

EPISTLE XXII.

we must take counsel in the presence of the actual situation. You must be not only present in the body, but watchful in mind, if you would avail your- self of the fleeting opportunity. Accordingly, look about you for the opportunity; if you see it, grasp it, and with all your energy and with all your strength devote yourself to this task,—to rid yourself of those business duties.

Now listen carefully to the opinion which I shall offer; it is my opinion that you should withdraw either from that kind of existence, or else from ex- istence altogether. But I likewise maintain that you should take a gentle path, that you may loosen rather than cut the knot which you have bungled so badly in tying,—provided that if there shall be no other way of loosening it, you may actually cut it. No man is so faint-hearted that he would rather hang in suspense for ever than drop once for all. Meanwhile,—and this is of first importance,—do not hamper yourself; be content with the business into which you have lowered yourself, or, as you prefer to have people think, have tumbled. There is no reason why you should be struggling on to some- thing further; if you do, you will lose all grounds of excuse, and men will see that it was not a tumble. The usual explanation which men offer is wrong: “I was compelled to do it. Suppose it was against my will; I had to do it.’’ But no one is compelled to pursue prosperity at top speed; it means some- thing to call a halt,—even if one does not offer re- sistance,—instead of pressing eagerly after favouring fortune. Shall you then be put out with me, if I not only come to advise you, but also call in others to advise you,— wiser heads than my own, men before whom I am wont to lay any problem upon

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deferre, si quid delibero? Epicuri epistulam ad hance rem pertinentem lege, Idomeneo quae inscribitur,} quem rogat, ut quantum potest fugiat et properet, antequam aliqua vis maior interveniat et auferat

6 libertatem recedendi. Idem tamen subicit nihil esse temptandum, nisi cum apte poterit tempestiveque temptari. Sed cum illud tempus captatum diu venerit, exiliendum ait. Dormitare de fuga cogi- tantem vetat et sperat salutarem etiam ex difficillimis exitum, si nec properemus ante tempus nec cesse- mus in tempore.

7 Puto, nunc et Stoicam sententiam quaeris. Non est quod quisquam illos apud te temeritatis infamet ; cautiores quam fortiores sunt. Expectas forsitan, ut tibi haec dicant: ‘“Turpe est cedere oneri. Luc- tare cum officio, quod semel recepisti. Non est vir fortis ac strenuus qui laborem fugit, nisi crescit illi

g animus ipsa rerum difficultate.” Dicentur tibi ista, si operae pretium habebit perseverantia, si nihil in- dignum bono viro faciendum patiendumve erit ; alio- qui sordido se et contumelioso labore non conteret nec in negotiis erit negotii causa. Ne illud quidem, quod existimas facturum eum, faciet, ut ambitiosis rebus inplicitus semper aestus earum ferat. Sed cum viderit gravia, in quibus volutabatur, incerta, ancipitia, referet pedem, non vertet terga, sed sen-

1 inscribitur Haase ; scribitur MSS.

a See the preceding letter of Seneca, » Frag. 133 Usener.

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which | am pondering? Read the letter of Epicurus” which bears on this matter; it is addressed to Ido- meneus. The writer asks him to hasten as fast as he can, and beat a retreat before some stronger influence comes between and takes from him the liberty to withdraw. But he also adds that one should attempt nothing except at the time when it can be attempted suitably and seasonably. Then, when the long-sought occasion comes, let him be up and doing. Epicurus forbids’ us to doze when we are meditating escape; he bids us hope fer a safe release from even the hardest trials, provided that we are not in too great a hurry before the time, nor too dilatory when the time arrives.

Now, I suppose, you are looking for a Stoic motto also. There is really no reason why anyone should slander that school to you on the ground of its rash- ness; as a matter of fact, its caution is greater than its courage. You are perhaps expecting the sect to utter such words as these: “It is base to flinch under a burden. Wrestle with the duties which you have once undertaken. No man is brave and earnest if he avoids danger, if his spirit does not grow with the very difficulty of his task.” Words like these will indeed be spoken to you, if only your perseverance shall have an object that is worth while, if only you will not have to do or to suffer anything unworthy of a good man; besides, a good man will not waste himself upon mean and discreditable work or be busy merely for the sake of being busy. Neither will he, as you imagine, become so involved in am- bitions schemes that he will have continually to endure their ebb and flow. Nay, when he sees the dangers, uncertainties, and hazards in which he was formerly tossed about, he will withdraw,—not turn-

153

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA 9 sim recedet in tutum. Facile est autem, mi Lucili, occupationes evadere, si occupationum pretia con- tempseris. Illa sunt, quae nos morantur et detinent : “Quid ergo? Tam magnas spes relinguam? Ab ipsa messe discedam? Nudum erit latus, incomitata lectica, atrium vacuum ?” Ab his ergo inviti homines recedunt et mercedem 10 miseriarum amant, ipsas execrantur. Sic de ambi- tione quomodo de amica queruntur; id est, si verum adfectum eorum inspicias, non oderunt, sed litigant. Execute istos, qui, quae cupiere, deplorant et de earum rerum locuntur fuga, quibus carere non possunt ; videbis voluntariam esse illis in eo moram, 11 quod aegre ferre ipsos et misere locuntur. Ita est, Lucili; paucos servitus, plures servitutem tenent. Sed si deponere illam in animo est et libertas bona fide placuit, in hoc autem unum advocationem

petis, ut sine perpetua sollicitudine id tibi facere contingat, quidni tota te cohors Stoicorum probatura sit? Omnes Zenones et Chrysippi moderata, honesta, 12 tua suadebunt. Sed si propter hoc tergiversaris, ut

circumspicias, quautum feras tecum et quam magna 154

EPISTLE XXII.

ing his back to the foe, but falling back little by little to a safe position. From business, however, my dear Lucilius, it is easy to escape, if only you will despise the rewards of business. We are held back and kept from escaping by thoughts like these: “What then? Shall I leave behind me these great prospects? Shall I depart at the very time of harvest? Shall I have no slaves at my side? no retinue for my litter? no crowd in my reception- room ?”’

Hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance ; they love the reward of their hardships, but curse the hardships themselves. Men complain about their ambitions as they complain about their mistresses; in other words, if you penetrate their real feelings, you will find, not hatred, but bickering. Search the minds of those who cry down what they have desired, who talk about escaping from things which they are unable to do without; you will comprehend that they are lingering of their own free will in a situation which they declare they find it hard and wretched to endure. It is so, my dear Lucilius; there are a few men whom slavery holds fast, but there are many more who hold fast to slavery.

If, however, you intend to be rid of this slavery ; if freedom is genuinely pleasing in your eyes; and if you seek counsel for this one purpose,—that you may have the good fortune to accomplish this purpose without perpetual annoyance,— how can the whole company of Stoic thinkers fail to approve your course? Zeno, Chrysippus, and all their kind will give you advice that is temperate, honourable, and suitable. But if you keep turning round and looking about, in order to see how much you may

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pecunia instruas otium, numquam exitum invenies. Nemo cum sarcinis enatat. Emerge ad meliorem vitam propitiis dis, sed non sic, quomodo istis propitii sunt, quibus bono ac benigno vultu mala magnifica tribuerunt, ad hoc unum excusati, quod ista, quae urunt, quae excruciant, optantibus data sunt.

Iam inprimebam epistulae signum; _ resolvenda est, ut cum sollemni ad te munusculo veniat et aliquam magnificam vocem ferat secum, et occurrit mihi ecce nescio utrum verior an_ eloquentior. “Cuius?”” inquis; Epicuri, adhuc enim alienas sarcinas adsero!; ‘Nemo non ita exit e vita, tamquam modo _intraverit.”” Quemcumque vis occupa, adulescentem senem medium; _ invenies aeque timidum mortis, aeque inscium vitae. Nemo quicquam habet facti, in futurum enim nostra dis- tulimus. Nihil me magis in ista voce delectat quam quod exprobratur senibus infantia. “ Nemo,” inquit, “ aliter quam qui modo? natus est exit e vita.” Falsum est; peiores morimur quam nascimur. Nostrum istud, non naturae vitium est. Illa nobiscum queri 3 debet et dicere: “Quid hoc est? Sine cupiditatibus vos genui, sine timoribus, sine superstiticne, sine perfidia ceterisque pestibus; quales intrastis exite.” adsero Harmon ; adopto Hense ; adoro LPb.

qui modo Wolters ; quomodo MSS. nobiscum queri Haase ; nobis conqueri MSS.

1 2

4 Frag. 495 Usener.

> i.¢., the old man is like the infant in this, also,-—that he can look back upon nothing which he has finished, because he has always put off finishing things.

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carry away with you, and how much money you may keep to equip yourself for the life of leisure, you will never find a way out. No man can swim ashore and take his baggage with him. Rise to a higher life, with the favour of the gods; but let it not be favour of such a kind as the gods give to men when with kind and genial faces they bestow magnificent ills, justified in so doing by the one fact that the things which irritate and torture have been bestowed in answer to prayer.

I was just putting the seal upon this letter; but it must be broken again, in order that it may go to you with its customary contribution, bearing with it some noble word. And lo, here is one that occurs to my mind; I do not know whether its truth or its nobility of utterance is the greater. “Spoken by whom?” you ask. By Epicurus*; for I am still appropriating other men’s belongings. The words are: “Everyone goes out of life just as if he had but Jately entered it.” Take anyone off his guard, —young, old, or middle-aged ; you will find that all are equally afraid of death, and equally ignorant of life. No one has anything finished, because we have kept putting off into the future all our under- takings. No thought in the quotation given above pleases me more than that it taunts old men with being infants. “No one,” he says, “leaves this world in a different manner from one who has just been born.” That is not true; for we are worse when we die than when we were born; but it is our fault, and not that of Nature. Nature should scold us, saying: “ What does thismean? I brought you into the world without desires or fears, free from superstition, treachery and the other curses. Go forth as you were when you entered!”

157

]

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Percepit sapientiam, si quis tam securus morietur quam nascitur ; nunc vero trepidamus, cum periculum accessit, non animus nobis, non color constat; lacrimae nihil profuturae cadunt. Quid est turpius quam in ipso limine securitatis esse sollicitum ? Causa autem haec est, quod inanes omnium bonorum sumus, vitae iactura! laboramus. Non enim apud nos pars eius ulla subsedit ; transmissa est et effluxit. Nemo quam bene vivat, sed quam diu, curat, cum omnibus possit contingere, ut bene vivant, ut diu,

nulli. VaALe.

XXITI. Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

Putas me tibi scripturum, quam humane nobiscum hiemps egerit, quae et remissa fuit et brevis, quam malignum ver sit, quam praeposterum frigus, et alias ineptias verba quaerentium? [Ego vero aliquid, quod et mihi et tibi prodesse possit, scribam. Quid autem id erit, nisi ut te exhorter ad bonam mentem? Huius fundamentum quod sit quaeris? Ne gaudeas vanis. Fundamentum hoc esse dixi; culmen est.

2 Ad summa pervenit, qui scit, quo gaudeat, qui

felicitatem suam in aliena potestate non _ posuit; sollicitus est et incertus sui, quem spes aliqua

1 Hense inserts iactura after vitae.

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A man has caught the message of wisdom, if he can die as free from care as he was at birth; but as it is, we are all a-flutter at the approach of the dreaded end. Our courage fails us, our cheeks blanch ; our tears fall, though they are unavailing. But what is baser than to fret at the very threshold of peace? ‘The reason, however, is, that we are stripped of all our goods, we have jettisoned our cargo of life and are in distress; for no part of it has been packed in the hold; it has all been heaved overboard and has drifted away. Men do not care how. nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long. Farewell.

KG: LON, aE re LOS WV EC rd

Comes From Philosophy

COMES FROM PHILOSOPHY

Do you suppose that I shall write you how kindly the winter season has dealt with us,—a short season and a mild one,—or what a nasty spring we are having,—cold weather out of season,—and all the other trivialities which people write when they are at a loss for topics of conversation? No; I shall communicate something which may help both you and myself. And what shall this “something” be, if not an exhortation to soundness of mind? Do you ask what is the foundation of a sound mind f It is, not to find joy in useless things. I said that it was the foundation ; it is really the pinnacle. We have reached the heights if we know what it is that we find joy in and if we have not placed our happi- ness in the control of externals. The man who is goaded ahead by hope of anything, though it be

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proritat, licet ad manum sit, licet non ex difficili petatur, licet numaquam illum sperata deceperint.

32 Hoe ante omnia fac, mi Lucili: disce gaudere.

Existimas nunc me detrahere tibi multas volup- tates, qui fortuita summoveo, qui spes, dulcissima oblectamenta, devitandas existimo? Immo contra nolo tibi umquam deesse laetitiam. Volo illam tibi domi nasci; nascitur, si: modo intra te ipsum sit. Ceterae hilaritates non implent pectus, frontem remittunt, leves sunt, nisi forte tu iudicas eum gaudere, qui ridet. Animus esse debet alacer et fidens et super omnia erectus.

4 Mihi crede, verum gaudium res severa est. An tu existimas quemquam soluto vultu et, ut isti deli- cati locuntur, hilariculo mortem contemnere, pauper- tati domum aperire, voluptates tenere sub freno, me- ditari dolorum patientiam ? Haec qui apud se versat, in magno gaudio est, sed parum blando. In huius gaudii possessione esse te volo; numquam deficiet,

5 cum semel unde petatur inveneris. Levium metal- lorum fructus in summo est; illa opulentissima sunt, quorum in alto latet vena adsidue plenius responsura fodienti. Haec, quibus delectatur vulgus, tenuem habent ac perfusoriam voluptatem, et quodcumque invecticium gaudium est, fundamento caret. Hoc, de

quo loquor, ad quod te conor perducere, solidum est

« Death, poverty, temptation, and suffering, 160

Epistle Xxiii.

EPISTLE XXIII.

within reach, though it be easy of access, and though his ambitions have never played him false, is troubled and unsure of himself. Above all, my dear Lucilius, make this your business: learn how to feel joy.

Do you think that I am now robbing you of many pleasures when I try to do away with the gifts of chance, when I counsel the avoidance of hope, the sweetest thing that gladdens our hearts? Quite the contrary ; I do not wish you ever to be deprived of gladness. I would have it born in your house; and it is born there, if only it be inside of you. Other objects of cheer do not fill a man’s bosom; they merely smooth his brow and are inconstant,—unless perhaps you believe that he who laughs has joy. The very soul must be happy and confident, lifted above every circumstance.

Real joy, believe me, is a stern matter. Can one, do you think, despise death with a care-free counten- ance, or with a “blithe and gay” expression, as our young dandies are accustomed to say? Or can one thus open his door to poverty, or hold the curb on his pleasures, or contemplate the endurance of pain? He who ponders these things® in his heart is indeed full of joy; but it is not a cheerful Joy. It is just this joy, however, of which I would have you become the owner; for it will never fail you when once you have found its source. The yield of poor mines is on the surface ; those are really rich whose veins lurk deep, and they will make more bountiful returns to him who delves unceasingly. So too those baubles which delight the common crowd afford but a thin pleasure, laid on as a coating, and every joy that is only plated lacks a real basis. But the joy of which I speak, that to which I am endeavouring to lead you, is something solid, dis-

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6 el quod plus pateat introrsus. Fac, oro te, Lueth carissime, quod unum _ potest praestare felicem : dissice et conculca ista, quae extrinsecus splendent, quae tibi promittuntur ab alio vel ex alio, ad verum bonum specta et de tuo gaude. Quid est autem hoe "del'tuo. 2 “Wel *tpso\ et tui, optima parte. Corpusculum quoque, etiam si nihil fieri sine illo potest, magis necessariam rem crede quam magnam ; vanas suggerit voluptates, breves, paenitendas, ac nisi magna moderatione temperentur, in contrarium abituras. Ita dico: in praecipiti voluptas ad dolorem vergit, nisi modum tenuit.

Modum autem tenere in eo difficile est, quod bonum esse credideris. Veri boni aviditas tuta est.

7 Quid sit istud, interrogas, aut unde subeat? Dicam: ex bona conscientia, ex honestis consiliis, ex rectis actionibus, ex contemptu fortuitorum, ex placido vitae et continuo tenore unam prementis viam. Nam illi, qui ex aliis propositis in alia transiliunt aut ne tran- siliunt quidem, sed casu quodam transmittuntur, quomodo habere quicquam certum mansurumve

8 possunt suspensi et vagi? Pauci sunt, qui consilio se suaque disponant, ceteri eorum more, quae flumini- bus innatant, non eunt, sed feruntur. Ex quibus

alia lenior unda detinuit ac mollius vexit, alia vehe-

« By the various sects which professed to teach how happiness is to be obtained.

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EPISTLE XXIII.

closing itself the more fully as you penetrate into it. Therefore I pray you, my dearest Lucilius, do the one thing that can render you really happy: cast aside and trample under foot all those things that glitter outwardly and are held out to you % by another or as obtainable from another; look toward the true good, and rejoice only in that which comes from your own store. And what do I mean by “from your own store”? I mean from your very self, that which is the best part of you. The frail body, also, even though we can accomplish nothing without it, is to be regarded as necessary rather than as important; it involves us in vain pleasures, short-lived, and soon to be regretted, which, unless they are reined in by extreme self- control, will be transformed into the opposite. This is what I mean: pleasure, unless it has been kept within bounds, tends to rush headlong into the abyss of sorrow.

But it is hard to keep within bounds in that which you believe to be good. The real good may be coveted with safety. Do you ask me what this real good is, and whence it derives? I will tell you: it comes from a good conscience, from honourable pur- poses, from right actions, from contempt of the gifts of chance, from an even and calm way of living which treads but one path. For men who leap from one purpose to another, or do not even leap but are carried over by a sort of hazard,—how can such wavering and unstable persons possess any good that is fixed and lasting? There are only a “ao who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose ; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept along, like objects afloat in a river. And of these objects, some are held back by sluggish waters and

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mentior rapuit, alia proxima ripae cursu languescente deposuit, alia torrens impetus in mare eiecit. Ideo constituendum est, quid velimus, et in eo perseve- randum.

9 Hic est locus solvendi aeris alieni. Possum enim tibi vocem Epicuri tui reddere et hanc epistulam liberare: “ Molestum est semper vitam incohare.” Aut si hoc modo magis sensus potest exprimi: “ Male

10 vivunt, qui semper vivere incipiunt.” “ Quare?” inquis, desiderat enim explanationem ista vox. Quia semper illis inperfecta vita est. Non potest autem stare paratus ad mortem, qui modo incipit vivere. Id agendum est, ut satis vixerimus. Nemo

11 hoc putat, qui orditur cum maxime vitam. Non est quod existimes paucos esse hos; propemodum omnes sunt. Quidam vero tunc incipiunt, cum desinendum est. Si hoc iudicas mirum, adiciam quod magis admireris: quidam ante vivere desierunt quam in- ciperent. VALE.

Xxittit.

XXITTIT.

Seneca LyvyciLtio svo SALVTEM

i = Sollicitum esse te scribis de iudicii eventu, quod tibi furor inimici denuntiat, existimas me suasurum, ut meliora tibi ipse proponas et adquiescas spei blandae. Quid enim necesse est mala accersere,

@ Frag. 493 Usener.

» Seneca’s theme is suggested by the fear which possesses Lucilius as to the issue of a lawsuit. This fear is taken as typical of all fears, and Seneca devotes most of his letter to the greatest fear of all,—fear of death.

104

Epistles Xxiii., Xxiv.

EPISTLES XXIII., XXIV.

are transported gently; others are torn along by a more violent current; some, which are nearest the bank, are left there as the current slackens; and others are carried out to sea by the onrush of the stream. Therefore, we should decide what we wish, and abide by the decision.

Now is the time for me to pay my debt. I can give you a saying of your friend Epicurus* and thus clear this letter of its obligation: “It is bothersome always to be beginning life.” Or another, which will perhaps express the meaning better: “ They live ill who are always beginning to live.’’ You are right in asking why; the saying certainly stands in need of a commentary. It is because the life of such persons is always incomplete. But a man cannot stand prepared for the approach of death if he has just begun to live. We must make it our aim already to have lived long enough. No one deems that he has done so, if he is just on the point of plan- ning his life. You need not think that there are few of this kind ; practically everyone is of such a stamp. Some men, indeed, only begin to live when it is time for them to leave off living. And if this seems sur- prising to you, I shall add that which will surprise you still more: Some men have left off living before they have begun. Farewell.

XXIV. ON DESPISING DEATH ?

You write me that you are anxious about the result of a lawsuit, with which an angry opponent is threatening you; and you expect me to advise you to picture to yourself a happier issue, and to rest in the allurements of hope. Why, indeed, is

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satis cito patienda cum venerint, praesumere ac praesens tempus futuri metu perdere? Est sine dubio stultum, quia quandoque sis futurus miser, esse iam miserum. Sed ego alia te ad securitatem via ducam: si vis omnem sollicitudinem exuere, quicquid vereris ne eveniat, eventurum utique pro- pone, et quodcumque est illud malum, tecum ipse metire ac timorem tuum taxa; intelleges profecto aut non magnum aut non longum esse, guod metuis. Nec diu exempla, quibus confirmeris, colligenda sunt ; omnis illa aetas tulit. In quamcumque partem rerum vel civilium vel externarum memoriam miseris, occur- rent tibi ingenia aut profectus aut inpetus magni. Numquid accidere tibi, si damnaris, potest durius quam ut mittaris in exilium, ut ducaris in carcerem ? Numquid ultra quicquam ulli timendum est quam ut uratur, quam ut pereat? Singula ista constitue et contemptores eorum cita, qui non quaerendi, sed eligendi sunt. Damnationem suam Rutilius sic tulit, tamquam nihil illi molestum aliud esset quam quod male iudicaretur. Exilium Metellus fortiter tulit, Rutilius etiam libenter; alter, ut rediret, rei publicae praestitit, alter reditum suum Sullae negavit, cui nihil tune negabatur. In carcere Socrates disputavit et exire, cum essent qui promitterent fugam, noluit

remansitque, ut duarum rerum gravissimarum homini-

166

Epistle Xxiv.

EPISTLE XXIV.

it necessary to summon trouble,—which must be endured soon enough when it has once arrived,-— or to anticipate trouble and ruin the present through fear of the future? It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time. But I shall conduct you to peace of mind by another route: if you would put off all worry, assume that what you fear may happen will certainly happen in any event; whatever the trouble may be, measure it in your own mind, and estimate the amount of your fear. You will thus understand that what you fear is either insignificant or short- lived. And you need not spend a long time in gathering illustrations which will strengthen you; every epoch has produced them. Let your thoughts travel into any era of Roman or foreign history, and there will throng before you notable examples of high achievement or of high endeavour.

If you lose this case, can anything more severe happen to you than being sent into exile or led to prison? Is there a worse fate that any man may fear thin being burned or being killed? Name such penalties one by one, and mention the men who have scorned them; one does not need to hunt for them, —it is simply a matter of selection. Sentence of conviction was borne by Rutilius as if the injustice of the decision were the only thing which annoyed him. Exile was endured by Metellus with courage, by Rutilius even with gladness; for the former consented to come back only because his country called him ; the latter refused to return when Sulla summoned him,—and nobody in those days said “ No” to Sulla! Socrates in prison discoursed, and declined to flee when certain persons gave him the opportunity ; he remained there, in order to free mankind from the

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5 bus metum demeret, mortis et carceris. Mucius ignibus manum inposuit. Acerbum est uri; quanto acerbius, si id te faciente patiaris! Vides hominem non eruditum nec ullis praeceptis contra mortem aut dolorem subornatum, militari tantum_ robore instructum, poenas a se inriti conatus exigentem ; spectator destillantis in hostili foculo dexterae stetit nec ante removit nudis ossibus fluentem manum, quam ignis illi ab hoste subductus est. Facere aliquid in illis castris felicius potuit, nihil fortius. Vide quanto acrior sit ad occupanda pericula virtus quam crudelitas ad inroganda: facilius Porsenna Mucio ignovit, quod voluerat occidere, quam sibi Mucius, quod non occiderat.

§ “ Decantatae,” inquis, “in omnibus scholis fabulae istae sunt; iam mihi, cum ad contemnendam mortem ventum fuerit, Catonem narrabis.”” Quidni ego narrem ultima illa nocte Platonis librum legentem posito ad caput gladio? Duo haec in rebus extremis instrumenta prospexerat, alterum ut vellet mori, alterum, ut posset. Compositis ergo rebus, utcumque componi fractae atque ultimae poterant, id agendum existimavit, ne cui Catonem aut occidere liceret aut

7 servare contingeret. Et stricto gladio, quem usque in illum diem ab omni caede purum servaverat: “ Nihil,” inquit, “egisti, fortuna, omnibus conatibus meis obstando. Non pro mea adhuc sed pro patriae

¢ The foculus in this version of the story was evidently a movable fire, a brazier.

’ The Phaedo, on the immortality of the soul.

¢ 4.e., to save and bring back to Rome as prisoner.

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fear of two most grievous things, death and imprison- ment. Mucius put his hand into the fire. It is painful to be burned; but how much more painful to inflict such suffering upon oneself! Here was a man of no learning, not primed to face death and pain by any words of wisdom, and equipped only with the courage of a soldier, who punished himself for his fruitless daring ; he stood and watched his own right hand falling away piecemeal on the enemy’s brazier,* nor did he withdraw the dissolving limb, with its uncovered bones, until his foe removed the fire. He might have accomplished something more successful in that camp, but never anything more brave. See how much keener a brave man is to lay hold of danger than a cruel man is to inflict it: Porsenna was more ready to pardon Mucius for wish- ing to slay him than Mucius to pardon himself for failing to slay Porsenna!

“Qh,” say you, “those stories have been droned to death in all the schools; pretty soon, when you reach the topic ‘On Despising Death,’ you will be telling me about Cato.” But why should I not tell you about Cato, how he read Plato’s” book on that last glorious night, with a sword laid at his pillow ? He had provided these two requisites for his last moments,—the first, that he might have the will to die, and the second, that he might have the means. So he put his affairs in order,—as well as one could put in order that which was ruined and near its end, —and thought that he ought to see to it that no one should have the power to slay or the good fortune to save “Cato. Drawing the sword,—which he had kept unstained from all bloodshed against the final day,— he cried: “ Fortune, you have accomplished nothing by resisting all my endeavours. I have fought, till

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libertate pugnavi, nec agebam tanta pertinacia, ut liber, sed ut inter liberos viverem. Nunc quoniam deploratae sunt res generis humani, Cato deducatur in tutum.” Inpressit deinde mortiferum corpori vulnus. Quo obligato a medicis cum minus sanguinis haberet, minus virium, animi idem, iam non tantum Caesari sed sibi iratus nudas in vulnus manus egit et generosum illum contemptoremque omnis potentiae spiritum non emisit, sed eiecit.

Non in hoc exempla nunc congero, ut ingenium exerceam, sed ut te adversus id, quod maxime terri- bile videtur, exhorter. Facilius autem exhortabor, si ostendero non fortes tantum viros hoc momentum efHandae animae contempsisse, sed quosdam ad alia ignavos in hac re aequasse animum fortissimorum, sicut illum Cn. Pompei socerum Scipionem, qui con- trario in Africam vento relatus cum teneri navem suam vidisset ab hostibus, ferro se transverberavit et quaerentibus, ubi imperator esset, “ Imperator,’ inquit, “se bene habet.” Vox haec illum parem maioribus fecit et fatalem Scipionibus in Africa gloriam non est interrumpi passa. Multum fuit Carthaginem vincere, sed amplius mortem. “ Im- perator, ’ inquit, “se bene habet.’’ An aliter debebat imperator, et quidem Catonis, mori? Non revoco te ad historias nec ex omnibus saeculis contemptores

@ Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 n.c., Scipio Aemilianus, also surnamed Africanus, was by adop- tion the grandson of Hannibal’s conqueror. He captured Carthage in the Third Punic War, 146 n.c. The Scipio mentioned by Seneca died in 46 B.c,

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now, for my country’s freedom, and not for my own, I did not strive so doggedly to be free, but only to live among the free. Now, since the affairs of mankind are beyond hope, let Cato be withdrawn to safety.” So saying, he inflicted a mortal wound upon his body. After the physicians had bound it up, Cato had less blood and less strength, but no less courage ; angered now not only at Caesar but also at himself, he rallied his unarmed hands against his wound, and expelled, rather than dismissed, that noble soul which had been so defiant of all worldly power.

I am not now heaping up these illustrations for the purpose of exercising my wit, but for the purpose of encouraging you to face that which is thought to be most terrible. And I shall encourage you all the more easily by showing that not only resolute men have despised that moment when the soul breathes its last, but that certain persons, who were craven in other respects, have equalled in this regard the courage of the bravest. Take, for example, Scipio, the father-in-law of Gnaeus Pompeius: he was driven back upon the African coast by a head-wind and saw his ship in the power of the enemy. He there- fore pierced his body with a sword; and when they asked where the commander was, he replied: “ All is well with the commander.” These words brought him up to the level of his ancestors and suffered not the glory which fate gave to the Scipios in Africa * to lose its continuity. It was a great deed to conquer Carthage, but a greater deed to conquer death. “ All is well with the commander!” Ought a general to die otherwise, especially one of Cato’s generals? I shall not refer you to history, or collect examples of those men who throughout the ages have

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mortis, qui sunt plurimi, colligo. Respice ad haec nostra tempora, de quorum languore ac deliciis queri- mur; omnis ordinis homines suggerent, omnis fortu- nae, omnis aetatis, qui mala sua morte praeciderint.

Mihi crede, Lucili, adeo mors timenda non est, ut beneficio eius nihil timendum! sit. Securus itaque inimici minas audi. Et quamvis conscientia tibi tua fiduciam faciat, tamen quia multa extra causam valent, et quod aequissimum est spera, et ad id te quod est iniquissimum conpara. Illud autem ante omnia memento, demere rebus tumultum ac videre, quid in quaque re sit; scies nihil esse in istis terribile nisi ipsum timorem. Quod vides accidere pueris, hoc nobis quoque maiusculis pueris evenit: illi quos amant, quibus adsueverunt, cum quibus ludunt, si personatos vident, expavescunt. Non hominibus tantum, sed rebus persona demenda est et reddenda facies sua.

Quid mihi gladios et ignes ostendis et turbam carnificum circa te frementem? Tolle istam pompam, sub qua lates et stultos territas! Mors es,? quam nuper servus meus, quam ancilla contempsit. Quid tu rursus mihi flagella et eculeos magno apparatu explicas? Quid singulis articulis singula machina- menta, quibus extorqueantur, aptata et mille alia

1 timendum p; anteferendum L; anteferendum timendum Pb ; ante (a te Lipsius) verendum Gertz. 2 es Lipsius ; est MSS.

2 He refers to the lawsuit, as again in § 16. > An apostrophe to Death and Pain.

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despised death; for they are very many. Consider these times of ours, whose enervation and over- refinement call forth our complaints; they never- theless will include men of every rank, of every lot in life, and of every age, who have cut short their misfortunes by death.

Believe me, Lucilius; death is so little to be feared that through its good offices nothing is to be feared. Therefore, when your enemy threatens, listen unconcernedly. Although your conscience makes you confident, yet, since many things have weight which are outside your case,” both hope for that which is utterly just, and prepare yourselt against that which is utterly unjust. Remember, however, before all else, to strip things of all that disturbs and confuses, and to see what each is at bottom ; you will then comprehend that they contain nothing fearful except the actual fear. What you see happening to boys happens also to ourselves, who are only slightly bigger boys: when those whom they love, with whom they daily associate, with whom they play, appear with masks on, the boys are frightened out of their wits. We should strip the mask, not only from men, but from things, and restore to each object its own aspect.

“Why dost thou ® hold up before my eyes swords, fires, and a throng of executioners raging about thee? Take away all that vain show, behind which thou lurkest and searest fools! Ah! thou art naught but Death, whom only yesterday a man- servant of mine and a maid-servant did despise! Why dost thou again unfold and spread before me, with all that great display, the whip and the rack? Why are those engines of torture made ready, one for each several member of the body, and al] the

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instrumenta excarnificandi particulatim hominis ? Pone ista, quae nos obstupefaciunt. [ube contici- scere gemitus et exclamationes et vocum inter lacera- tionem elisarum acerbitatem! Nempe dolor es,! quem podagricus ille contemnit, quem stomachicus ille in ipsis deliciis perfert, quem in puerperio puella per- petitur. Levis es,! si ferre possum, brevis es,! si ferre non possum.

Haec in animo voluta, quae saepe audisti, saepe dixisti. Sed an vere audieris, an vere dixeris, effectu proba. Hoc enim turpissimum est, quod nobis obici solet, verba nos philosophiae, non opera tractare.

Quid, tu nunc primum tibi mortem inminere scisti, nunc exilium, nunc dolorem? In haec natus es. Quicquid fieri potest, quasi futurum cogitemus. Quod facere te moneo, scio certe te fecisse ; nunc admoneo, ut animum tuum non mergas in istam sollicitudinem. Hebetabitur enim et minus habebit vigoris, cum exurgendum erit. Abduc illum a privata causa ad publicam. Dic mortale tibi et fragile cor- pusculum esse, cui non ex iniuria tantum aut ex potentioris? viribus denuntiabitur dolor. Ipsae voluptates in tormenta vertuntur, epulae cruditatem adferunt, ebrietates nervorum torporem tremorem- que, libidines pedum, manuum, articulorum omnium depravationes.

Pauper fiam; inter plures ero. Exul fiam; ibi

1 es Gertz; est MSS. 2 potentioris inferior MSS. ; the others read potentivribus,

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other innumerable machines for tearing a man apart piecemeal? Away with all such stuff, which makes us numb with terror! And thou, silence the groans, the cries, and the bitter shrieks ground out of the victim as he is torn on the rack! Forsooth thou are naught but Pain, scorned by yonder gout-ridden wretch, endured by yonder dyspeptic in the midst of his dainties, borne bravely by the girl in travail. Slight thou art, if I can bear thee; short thou art if I cannot bear thee!”

Ponder these words which you have often heard and often uttered. Moreover, prove by the result whether that which you have heard and uttered is true. For there is a very disgraceful charge often brought against our school,—that we deal with the words, and not with the deeds, of philosophy.

What, have you only at this moment learned that death is hanging over your head, at this moment exile, at this moment grief? You were born to these perils. Let us think of everything that can happen as something which will happen. I know that you have really done what I advise you to do; I now warn you not to drown your soul in these petty anxieties of yours; if you do, the soul will be dulled and will have too little vigour left when the time comes for it to arise. Remove the mind from this case of yours to the case of men in general. Say to yourself that our petty bodies are mortal and frail; pain can reach them from other sources than from wrong or the might of the stronger. Our pleasures themselves become torments; banquets bring indigestion, carousals paralysis of the muscles and palsy, sensual habits affect the feet, the hands, and every joint of the body.

I may become a poor man; I shall then be one

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me natum putabo, quo mittar. Alligabor; quid enim? Nunc solutus sum? Ad hoc me natura grave corporis mei pondus adstrinxit. Moriar; hoc dicis, desinam aegrotare posse, desinam alligari posse,

18 desinam mori posse. Non sum tam ineptus, ut Epicuream cantilenam hoc loco persequar et dicam vanos esse inferorum metus, nec Ixionem rota volvi nec saxum umeris Sisyphi trudi in adversum nec ullius viscera et renasci posse cotidie et carpi; nemo tam puer est, ut Cerberum timeat et tenebras et larvalem habitum nudis ossibus cohaerentium. Mors nos aut consumit aut exuit. Emissis meliora restant onere detracto, consumptis nihil restat, bona pariter malaque submota sunt.

19 Permitte mihi hoc loco referre versum tuum, si prius admonuero, ut te iudices non aliis scripsisse ista, sed etiam tibi. Turpe est aliud loqui, aliud sentire ; quanto turpius aliud scribere, aliud sentire! Memini te illum locum aliquando tractasse, non re- pente nos in mortem incidere, sed minutatim pro-—

20 cedere; cotidie morimur. Cotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae, et tune quoque, cum crescimus, vita decrescit. Infantiam amisimus, deinde pueritiam, deinde adulescentiam. Usque ad hesternum, quic- quid transit temporis, perit; hunc ipsum, quem

« As mythology describes the treatment of Tityus or of Prometheus.

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among many. I may be exiled; I shall then regard myself as born in the place to which I shall be sent. They may put me in chains. What then? Am I free from bonds now? Behold this clogging burden of a body, to which nature has fettered me! “I shall die,” you say; you mean to say “I shall cease to run the risk of sickness; I shall cease to run the risk of imprisonment; I shall cease to run the risk of death.”” I am not so foolish as to go through at this juncture the arguments which Epicurus harps upon, and say that the terrors of the world below are idle,—that Ixion does not whirl round on his wheel, that Sisyphus does not shoulder his stone uphill, that a man’s entrails cannot be restored and de- voured every day;° no one is so childish as to fear Cerberus, or the shadows, or the spectral garb of those who are held together by naught but their unfleshed bones. Death either annihilates us or strips us bare. If we are then released, there re- mains the better part, after the burden has been withdrawn; if we are annihilated, nothing remains ; good and bad are alike removed.

Allow me at this point to quote a verse of yours, first suggesting that, when you wrote it, you meant it for yourself no less than for others. It is ignoble to say one thing and mean another; and how much more ignoble to write one thing and mean another! I remember one day you were handling the well- known commonplace,—that we do not suddenly fall on death, but advance towards it by slight degrees ; we die every day. For every day a little of our life is taken from us; even when we are growing, our life is on the wane. We lose our childhood, then our boyhood, and then our youth. Counting even yesterday, all past time is lost time; the very day

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agimus, diem cum morte dividimus. Quemadmodum clepsydram non extremum stillicidium exhaurit, sed quicquid ante defluxit, sic ultima hora, qua esse desinimus, non sola mortem facit, sed sola con- summat; tunc ad illam pervenimus, sed diu venimus. Haec cum descripsisses quo soles ore, semper quidem magnus, numquam tamen acrior quam ubi veritati commodas verba, dixisti :

Mors non una! venit, sed quae rapit, ultima mors est.

Malo te legas quam epistulam meam. Apparebit enim tibi hanc, quam timemus, mortem extremam esse, non solam.

Video quo spectes; quaeris, quid huic epistulae infulserim, quod dictum alicuius animosum, quod praeceptum utile. Ex hac ipsa materia, quae in manibus fuit, mittetur aliquid. Obiurgat Epicurus non minus eos, qui mortem concupiscunt, quam eos, qui timent, et ait: “ Ridiculum est currere ad mortem taedio vitae, cum genere vitae, ut currendum ad mortem esset, effeceris.”’ Item aliolocodicit: “ Quid tam ridiculum quam adpetere mortem, cum vitam inquietam tibi feceris metu mortis?’’ His adicias et illud eiusdem notae licet, tantam hominum inpru- dentiam esse, immo dementiam, ut quidam timore mortis cogantur ad mortem.

Quicquid horum tractaveris, confirmabis animum

1 wna Muretus ; ultima MSS.

@ Frag. 496 Usener. > Frag. 498 Usener, ¢ Frag. 497 Usener.

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which we are now spending is shared between our- selves and death. It is not the last drop that empties the water-clock, but all that which previ- ously has flowed out; similarly, the final hour when we cease to exist does not of itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death-process. We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way. In describing this situation, you said in your customary style (for you are always impressive, but never more pungent than when you are putting the truth in appropriate words) :—

Not single is the death which comes ; the death Which takes us off is but the last of all. ;

I prefer that you should read your own words rather than my letter; for then it will be clear to you that this death, of which we are afraid, is the last but not the only death.

I see what you are looking for; you are asking what I have packed into my letter, what inspiriting saying from some master-mind, what useful precept. So I shall send you something dealing with this very subject which has been under discussion. Epicurus * upbraids those who crave, as much as those who shrink from, death: “It is absurd,’ he says, “ to run towards death because you are tired of life, when it is your manner of life that has made you run towards death.” And in another passage: “What is so absurd as to seek death, when it is through fear of death that you have robbed your life of peace?” And you may add a third statement, of the same stamp :¢ “ Men are so thoughtless, nay, so mad, that some, through fear of death, force themselves to ao

Whichever of these ideas you ponder, you will strengthen your mind for the endurance alike of

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vel ad mortis vel ad vitae patientiam. In utrumque! enim monendi ac firmandi sumus, et ne nimis amenius vitam et ne nimis oderimus. Etiam cum ratio suadet finire se,? non temere nec cum procursu capiendus est inpetus. Vir fortis ac sapiens non fugere debet e vita, sed exire. Et ante omnia ille quoque vitetur affectus, qui multos occupavit, libido moriendi. Est enim, mi Lucili, ut ad alia, sic etiam ad moriendum inconsulta animi inclinatio, quae saepe generosos atque acerrimae indolis viros corripit, saepe ignavos iacentesque ; illi contemnunt vitam, hi gravantur. Quosdam subit eadem faciendi videndique satietas et vitae non odium sed fastidium, in quod prolabimur ipsa inpellente philosophia, dum dicimus : “ Quousque eadem? Nempe expergiscar dormiam, esuriam fastidiam,? algebo aestuabo. Nullius rei finis est, sed in orbem nexa sunt omnia, fugiunt ac secuntur. Diem nox premit, dies noctem, aestas in autumnum desinit, autumno hiemps instat, quae vere conpescitur; omnia sic transeunt ut revertantur. Nihil novi facio, nihil novi video; fit aliquando et huius rei nausia.”’ Multi sunt, qui non acerbum iudicent vivere, sed

supervacuum. VALE. 1 aut in utrumque pLPb; Hense rejects aut,

2 se Madvig ; sed MSS. 8 Hense adds fastidiam.

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death and of life. For we need to be warned and strengthened in both directions,—not to love or to hate life overmuch; even when reason advises us to make an end of it, the impulse is not to be adopted without reflection or at headlong speed. The brave and wise man should not beat a hasty retreat from life ; he should make a becoming exit. And above all, he should avoid the weakness which has taken possession of so many,—the lust for death. For just as there is an unreflecting tendency of the mind towards other things, so, my dear Lucilius, there is an unreflecting tendency towards death; this often seizes upon the noblest and most spirited men, as well as upon the craven and the abject. The former despise life ; the latter find it irksome.

Others also are moved by a satiety of doing and seeing the same things, and not so much by a hatred of life as because they are cloyed with it. We slip into this condition, while philosophy itself pushes us on, and we say: “How long must I endure the same things? Shall I continue to wake and sleep, be hungry and be cloyed, shiver and perspire? There is an end to nothing; all things are connected in a sort of circle; they flee and they are pursued. Night is close at the heels of day, day at the heels of night; summer ends in autumn, winter rushes after autumn, and winter softens into spring; all nature in this way passes, only to return. I do nothing new; I see nothing new; sooner or later one sickens of this, also.” There are many who think that living is not painful, but superfluous. Farewell.

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The Epistles Of Seneca Xxv.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

XXV. Seneca LvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Quod ad duos amicos nostros pertinet, diversa via eundum est; alterius enim vitia emendanda, alterius frangenda sunt. Utar libertate tota. Non amo illum, nisi offendo. “Quid ergo?” inquis, “ quadra- genarium pupillum cogitas sub tutela tua continere ? Respice aetatem eius iam duram et intractabilem.

2 Non potest reformari; tenera finguntur.”’ An pro- fecturus sim nescio. Malo successum mihi quam fidem deesse. Nec desperaveris etiam diutinos aegros posse sanari, si contra intemperantiam steteris, si multa invitos et facere coegeris et pati. Ne de altero quidem satis fiduciae habeo, excepto eo, quod adhue peccare erubescit. Nutriendus est hic pudor, qui quamdiu in animo eius duraverit, aliquis erit bonae spei locus. Cum hoc veterano parcius agen-

3 dum puto, ne in desperationem sui veniat. Nec ullum tempus adgrediendi fuit melius quam hoc, dum interquiescit, dum emendato similis est. Allis haec intermissio eius inposuit; mihi verba non dat. Exspecto cum magno faenore vitia reditura, quae nunc scio cessare, non deesse. Inpendam huic rei dies et utrum possit aliquid agi an non possit, experiar.

« The second friend, whose faults are to be crushed out. He proves to be some forty years old; the other is a youth.

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EPISTLE XXV.

XXV. ON REFORMATION

With regard to these two friends of ours, we must proceed along different lines ; the faults of the one are to be corrected, the other's are to be crushed out. I shall take every liberty; for I do not love this one* if I am unwilling to hurt his feelings. “What,” you say, “do you expect to keep a forty- year-old ward under your tutelage? Consider his age, how hardened it now is, and past handling! Such a man cannot be re-shaped; only young minds are moulded.” I do not know whether I shall make progress ; but I should prefer to lack success rather than to lack faith. You need not despair of curing sick men even when the disease is chronic, if only you hold out against excess and force them to do and submit to many things against their will. As regards our other friend I am not sufficiently con- fident, either, except for the fact that he still has sense of shame enough to blush for his sins. This modesty should be fostered ; so long as it endures in his soul, there is some room for hope. But as for this veteran of yours, I think we should deal more carefully with him, that he may not become desperate about himself. There is no better time to approach him than now, when he has an interval of rest and seems like one who has corrected his faults. Others have been cheated by this interval of virtue on his part, but he does not cheat me. I feel sure that these faults will return, as it were. with compound interest, for just now, I am certain, they are in abeyance but not absent. I shall devote some time to the matter, and try to see whether or not some- thing can be done.

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4 Tu nobis te, ut facis, fortem praesta et sarcinas contrahe. Nihil ex his, quae habemus, necessarium est. Ad legem naturae revertamur ; divitiae paratae sunt. Aut gratuitum est, quo egemus, aut vile ; panem et aquam natura desiderat. Nemo ad haec pauper est, intra quae quisquis desiderium suum clusit, cum ipso love de felicitate contendat, ut ait Epicurus,

5 cuius aliquam vocem huic epistulae involvam. “Sic fac,’ inquit, “omnia, tamquam spectet Epicurus.” Prodest sine dubio custodem sibi inposuisse et habere, quem respicias, quem interesse cogitationibus tuis iudices. Hoc quidem longe magnificentius est, sic vivere tamquam sub alicuius boni viri ac semper praesentis oculis, sed ego etiam hoc contentus sum, ut sic facias, quaecumque facies, tamquam spectet

6 aliquis; omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet. Cum iam profeceris tantum, ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia, licebit dimittas paedagogum; interim aliquorum te auctoritate custodi, aut Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius aut talis, cuius! interventu perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent, dum te efficis eum, cum quo peccare non audeas. Cum hoc effeceris, et aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio, incipiam tibi per- mittere, quod idem suadet Epicurus: “ Tunc prae- cipue in te ipse secede, cum esse cogeris in turba.”’

1 aut talis, cuius Disselbeck and Buecheler; aut alicuius (aut cuius) MSS.

¢ Frag. 211 Usener. > Frag. 209 Usener. 184

Epistle Xxv.

EPISTLE XXV.

But do you yourself, as indeed you are doing, show me that you are stout-hearted; lighten your baggage for the march. None of our possessions is essential. Let us return to the law of nature; for then riches are laid up for us. The things which we actually need are free for all, or else cheap; nature craves only bread and water. No one is poor accord- ing to this standard; when a man has limited his desires within these bounds, he can challenge the happiness of Jove himself, as Epicurus says. I must insert in this letter one or two more of his sayings :* “Do everything as if Epicurus were watching you.” There is no real doubt that it is good for one to have appointed a guardian over oneself, and to have some- one whom you may look up to, someone whom you may regard as a witness of your thoughts. It is, in- deed, nobler by far to live as you would live under the eyes of some good man, always at your side; but nevertheless I am content if you only act, in what- ever you do, as you would act if anyone at all were looking on; because solitude prompts us to all kinds of evil. And when you have progressed so far that you have also respect for yourself, you may send away your attendant; but until then, set as a guard over yourself the authority of some man, whether your choice be the great Cato, orScipio, or Laelius,—or any man in whose presence even abandoned wretches would check their bad impulses. Meantime, you are engaged in making of yourself the sort of person in whose company you would not dare to sin. When this aim has been accomplished and you begin to hold yourself in some esteem, I shall gradually allow you to do what Epicurus, in another passage, suggests :? “The time when you should most of all withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.”

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7 Dissimilem te fieri multis oportet. Dum tibi tutum non est} ad te recedere, circumspice singulos ; nemo est, cui non satius sit cum quolibet esse quam secum. “Tune praecipue in te ipse secede, cum esse cogeris in turba’’; si bonus vir, si quietus, si temperans. Alioquin in turbam tibi a te recedendum est; istic malo viro propius es. VALE.

XXVI.

Seneca LycILIO svo SALVTEM

1 Modo dicebam tibi, in conspectu esse me senec- tutis; iam vereor, ne senectutem post me reliquerim. Aliud iam his annis, certe huic corpori, vocabulum convenit, quoniam quidem senectus lassae aetatis, non fractae, nomen est; inter decrepitos me numera et extrema tangentis.

2 Gratias tamen mihi apud te ago; non sentio in animo aetatis iniuriam, cum sentiam in _ corpore. Tantum vitia et vitiorum ministeria senuerunt ; viget animus et gaudet non multum sibi esse cum corpore. Magnam partem oneris sui posuit. Exultat et mihi facit controversiam de senectute. Hunc ait esse

3 florem suum. Credamus illi; bono suo utatur. Ire in cogitationem iubet et dispicere, quid ex hac

1 est Muretus; sit MSS.

@ Because ‘‘ solitude prompts to evil,” § 5. > See the twelfth letter. Seneca was by this time at least sixty-five years old, and probably older.

186

Epistles Xxv., Xxvi.

EPISTLES XXV., XXVI.

You ought to make yourself of a different stamp from the multitude. Therefore, while it is not yet safe to withdraw into solitude,* seek out certain indi- viduals ; for everyone is better off in the company of somebody or other,—no matter who,—than in his own company alone. “The time when you should most of all withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be ina crowd.” Yes, provided that you are a good, tranquil, and self-restrained man ; otherwise, you had better withdraw into a crowd in order to get away from your self. Alone, you are too close toarascal. Farewell.

Xxvi. On Old Age And Death

XXVI. ON OLD AGE AND DEATH

I was just lately telling you that I was within sight of old age.? I am now afraid that I have left old age behind me. For some other word would now apply to my years, or at any rate to my body ; since old age means a time of life that is weary rather than crushed. You may rate me in the worn-out class,—of those who are nearing the end.

Nevertheless, I offer thanks to myself, with you as witness; for I feel that age has done no damage to my mind, though I feel its effects on my constitu- tion. Only my vices, and the outward aids to these vices, have reached senility; my mind is strong and rejoices that it has but slight connexion with the body. It has laid aside the greater part of its load. It is alert; it takes issue with me on the subject of old age; it declares that old age is its time of bloom. Let me take it at its word, and let it make the most of the advantages it possesses. The mind bids me do some thinking and consider how much of this

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tranquillitate ac modestia morum sapientiae debeam, quid aetati, et diligenter excutere, quae non possim facere, quae nolim {prodesse habiturus ad qui si nolim quidquid non posse me gaudeoj.!_ Quae enim querella est, quod incommodum, si quidquid debebat ?

4 desinere, defecit? “Incommodum summum est,” inquis, “minui et deperire et, ut proprie dicam, liquescere. Non enim subito inpulsi ac_prostrati sumus; carpimur. Singuli dies aliquid subtrahunt viribus.”’

Ecquis? exitus est melior quam in finem suum natura solvente dilabi? Non quia aliquid mali est 4 ictus et e vita repentinus excessus, sed quia lenis haec est via, subduci. Ego certe, velut adpropinquet experimentum et ille laturus sententiam de omnibus annis meis dies venerit, ita me observo et adloquor:

5 “ Nihil est,” inquam, “adhuc, quod aut rebus aut verbis exhibuimus. Levia sunt ista et fallacia pig- nora animi multisque involuta lenociniis ; quid pro- fecerim, morti crediturus sum. Non timide itaque conponor ad illum diem, quo remotis strophis ac fucis de me iudicaturus sum, utrum loquar fortia an sentiam, numquid simulatio fuerit et mimus, quic- quid contra fortunam iactavi verborum contumacium.

6 Remove existimationem hominum ; dubia semper est et in partem utramque dividitur. Remove studia

1 This passage is hopelessly corrupt. The course of the argument requires something like this: For it is just as much to my advantage not to be able to do what I do not want to do, as it is to be able to do whatever gives me pleasure.

2 debebat Fickert and Madvig ; debeat MSS.

3 ecquis Madvig ; hec quis and et quis MSS.

4 aliquid mali ictus pL; est, found in a few less im- portant MSS., is inserted by Hense,

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Epistle Xxvi.

EPISTLE XXVI.

peace of spirit and moderation of character I owe to wisdom and how much to my time of life; it bids me distinguish carefully what I cannot de and what I do not want to do. . . . For why should one complain or regard it as a disadvantage, if powers which ought to come to an end have failed? “ But,’ you say, “ it is the greatest possible disadvantage to be worn out and to die off, or rather, if I may speak literally, to melt away! For we are not suddenly smitten and laid low; we are worn away, and every day reduces our powers to a certain extent.”’

But is there any better end to it all than to glide off to one’s proper haven, when nature slips the cable? Not that there is anything painful in a shock and a sudden departure from existence; it is merely because this other way of departure is easy,—a gradual withdrawal. I, at any rate, as if the test were at hand and the day were come which is to pronounce its decision concerning all the years of my life, watch over myself and commune thus with myself: “The showing which we have made up to the present time, in word or deed, counts for nothing. All this is but a trifling and deceitful pledge of our spirit, and is wrapped in much charlatanism. I shall leave it to Death to determine what progress I have made. Therefore with no faint heart I am making ready for the day when, putting aside all stage artifice and actor’s rouge, I am to pass judgment upon myself,— whether I am merely declaiming brave sentiments, or whether I really feel them; whether all the bold threats I have uttered against fortune are a pretence and a farce. Put aside the opinion of the world; it is always wavering and always takes both sides. Put aside the studies which you have pursued throughout your life;

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tota vita tractata; mors de te pronuntiatura est. Ita dico: disputationes et litterata conloquia et ex prae- ceptis sapientium verba collecta et eruditus sermo non ostendunt verum robur animi. Est enim oratio etiam timidissimis audax. Quid egeris, tune ap- parebit, cum animam ages. Accipio condicionem,

7 non reformido iudicium.” Haec mecum loquor, sed tecum quoque me locutum puta. I[uvenior es; quid refert? Non dinumerantur anni. Incertum est, quo loco te mors expectet; itaque tu illam omni loco expecta.

8 Desinere iam volebam et manus spectabat ad clausulam ; sed conficienda sunt sacra et huic epi- stulae viaticum dandum est. Puta me non dicere, unde sumpturus sum mutuum: scis cuius arca utar. Expecta me pusillum, et de domo fiet numeratio ; interim commodabit Epicurus, qui ait: ‘ Meditare mortem” vel si commodius sit “ transire ad deos!.”

9 Hic patet sensus: egregia res est mortem condiscere. Supervacuum forsitan putas id discere, quod semel utendum est. Hoc est ipsum, quare meditari de- beamus; semper discendum est, quod an sciamus,

10 experiri non possumus. ‘ Meditare mortem”; qui hoc dicit, meditari libertatem iubet. Qui mori didicit, servire dedidicit; supra omnem potentiam est, certe extra omnem. Quid ad illum carcer et custodia et claustra? Liberum ostium habet. Una

1 ad deos Rossbach ; at (ad) nos MSS.

¢ t.e., the money will be brought from home,—the saying will be one of Seneca’s own. > Epicurus, Frag. 205 Usener.

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EPISTLE XXVI.

Death will deliver the final judgment in your case. This is what I mean: your debates and learned talks, your maxims gathered from the teachings of the wise, your cultured conversation,—all these afford no proof of the real strength of your soul. Even the most timid man can deliver a bold speech. What you have done in the past will be manifest only at the time when you draw your last breath. I accept the terms; I do not shrink from the decision.” This is what I say to myself, but I would have you think that I have said it to you also. You are younger; but what does that matter? There is no fixed count of our years. You do not know where death awaits you; so be ready for it everywhere.

I was just intending to stop, and my hand was making ready for the closing sentence; but the rites are still to be performed and the travelling money for the letter disbursed. And just assume that I am not telling where I intend to borrow the necessary sum; you know upon whose coffers I depend. Wait for me but a moment, and I will pay you from my own account;* meanwhile, Epicurus will oblige me with these words :? “Think on death,” or rather, if you prefer the phrase, on “ migration to heaven.”’ The meaning is clear,—that it is a wonder- ful thing to learn thoroughly how to die. You may deem it superfluous to learn a text that can be used only once; but that is just the reason why we ought to think on a thing. When we can never prove whether we really know a thing, we must always be learning it. ‘Think on death.” In saying this, he bids us think on freedom. He who has learned to die has unlearned slavery ; he is above any external power, or, at any rate, he is beyond it. What terrors have prisons and bonds and bars for him? His way

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est catena, quae nos alligatos tenet, amor vitae, qui ut non est abiciendus, ita minuendus est, ut si quando res exiget, nihil nos detineat nec inpediat, quo minus parati simus, quod quandoque faciendum est, statim facere. VALE.

RXV TI Seneca LvciLio svo SALVTEM

“Tu me,” inquis, “mones? Iam enim te ipse monuisti, iam correxisti? Ideo aliorum emendationi vacas?”’ Non sum tam inprobus, ut curationes aeger obeam, sed tamquam in eodem valitudinario iaceam, de communi tecum malo conloquor et remedia com- munico. Sic itaque me audi, tamquam mecum loquar. In secretum te meum admitto et te adhibito mecum exigo. Clamo mihi ipse: “ Numera annos tuos, et pudebit! eadem velle, quae volueras puer, eadem parare. Hoc denique tibi circa mortis diem praesta : moriantur ante te vitia. Dimitte istas voluptates turbidas, magno luendas?; non venturae tantum, sed praeteritae nocent. Quemadmodum scelera etiam si non sint deprehensa cum fierent, sollicitudo non cum ipsis abit; ita inprobarum voluptatum etiam post ipsas paenitentia est. Non sunt solidae, non sunt

1 After pudebit Thomas and Hense? insert fe.

2 luendazs Pincianus; levandas or leundas or leuaturas MSS.

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Epistles Xxvi., Xxvii.

EPISTLES XXVI., XXVII.

out is clear. There is only one chain which binds us to life, and that is the love of life. The chain may not be cast off, but it may be rubbed away, so that, when necessity shall demand, nothing may retard or hinder us from being ready to do at once that which at some time we are bound to do. Farewell.

Xxvii. On The Good Which Abides

XXVII. ON THE GOOD WHICH ABIDES

“What,” say you, “are you giving me advice? Indeed, have you already advised yourself, already corrected your own faults? Is this the reason why you have leisure to reform other men?” No, I am not so shameless as to undertake to cure my fellow- men when I am ill myself. I am, however, discussing with you troubles which concern us both, and sharing the remedy with you, just as if we were lying ill in the same hospital. Listen to me, therefore, as you would if I were talking to myself. I am admitting you to my inmost thoughts, and am having it out with myself, merely making use of you as my pretext. I keep crying out to myself: “Count your years, and you will be ashamed to desire and pursue the same things you desired in your boyhood days. Of this one thing make sure against your dying day,— let your faults die before you die. Away with those disordered pleasures, which must be dearly paid for ; it is not only those which are to come that harm me, but also those which have come and gone. Just as crimes, even if they have not been detected when they were committed, do not allow anxiety to end with them; so with guilty pleasures, regret remains even after the pleasures are over. They are not substantial, they are not trustworthy; even if they

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3 fideles; etiam si non nocent, fugiunt. Aliquod potius bonum mansurum circumspice. Nullum autem est, nisi quod animus ex se sibi invenit. Sola virtus praestat gaudium perpetuum, securum ; etiam si quid obstat, nubium modo intervenit, quae infra feruntur nec umquam diem vincunt.”

4 Quando ad hoc gaudium pervenire continget ? Non quidem cessatur adhuc, sed festinetur.1 Multum restat operis, in quod ipse necesse est vigiliam, ipse laborem tuum inpendas, si effici cupis. Delegationem

5 res ista non recipit. Aliud litterarum genus adiu- torium admittit. Calvisius Sabinus memoria nostra fuit dives. Et patrimonium habebat libertini et in- genium; numquam vidi hominem beatum indecentius. Huic memoria tam mala erat, ut illi nomen modo Vlixis excideret, modo Achillis, modo Priami, quos tam bene? quam paedagogos nostros novimus. Nemo vetulus nomenclator, qui nomina non reddit, sed inponit, tam perperam tribus quam ille Troianos et Achivos persalutabat. Nihilominus eruditus volebat

6 videri. Hane itaque conpendiariam excogitavit: magna summa emit servos, unum, qui Homerum teneret, alterum, qui Hesiodum; novem praeterea lyricis singulos adsignavit. Magno emisse illum non est quod mireris; non invenerat, faciendos locavit. Postquam haec familia illi conparata est, coepit con-

1 festinetur Gronovius ; ens MSS. 2 noverat after bene bracketed by Hense, after Gronovius.

@ i.e., ordinary studies, or literature, as contrasted with philosophy.

> Compare with the following the vulgarities of Trimalchio in the Satire of Petronius, and the bad taste of Nasidienus in Horace (Sat. ii. 8).

¢ At the salutatio, or morning call. The position of nomenclator, ‘* caller-of-names,” was originally devoted more strictly to political purposes. Here it is primarily social. 194

Epistle Xxvii.

EPISTLE XXVII.

do not harm us, they are fleeting. Cast about rather for some good which will abide. But there can be no such good except as the soul discovers it for itself within itself. Virtue alone affords everlasting and peace-giving joy; even if some obstacle arise, it is but like an intervening cloud, which floats beneath the sun but never prevails against it.”

When will it be your lot to attain this joy? Thus far, you have indeed not been sluggish, but you must quicken your pace. Much toil remains ; to confront it, you must yourself lavish all your waking hours, and all your efforts, if you wish the result to be accomplished. This matter cannot be delegated to someone else. The other kind of literary activity * admits of outside assistance. Within our own time there was a certain rich man named Calvisius Sabinus ; he had the bank-account and the brains of a freed- man. J never saw a man whose good fortune was a greater offence against propriety. His memory was so faulty that he would sometimes forget the name of Ulysses, or Achilles, or Priam,—names which we know as well as we know those of our own attendants. No major-domo in his dotage, who cannot give men their right names, but is compelled to invent names for them,—no such man, I say, calls off the names¢ of his master’s tribesmen so atrociously as Sabinus used to call off the Trojan and Achaean heroes. But none the less did he desire to appear learned. So he devised this short cut to learning: he paid fabulous prices for slaves,—one to know Homer by heart and another to know Hesiod; he also delegated a special slave to each of the nine lyric poets. You need not wonder that he paid high prices for these slaves; if he did not find them ready to hand he had them made to order. After collecting this retinue,

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vivas suos inquietare. Habebat ad pedes hos, a quibus subinde cum peteret versus, quos referret,

7 saepe in medio verbo excidebat. Suasit illi Satellius Quadratus, stultorum divitum adrosor, et quod sequi- tur, adrisor, et quod duobus his adiunctum est, derisor, ut grammaticos haberet analectas. Cum dixisset Sabinus centenis milibus sibi constare singulos servos ; “ Minoris,” inquit, “totidem scrinia emisses.’”’ Ille tamen in ea opinione erat, ut putaret se scire, quod

8 quisquam in domo sua sciret. Idem Satellius illum hortari coepit, ut luctaretur, hominem aegrum, palli- dum, gracilem. Cum Sabinus respondisset: “ Et quomodo possum? Vix vivo,” “Noli, obsecro te,” inquit, ‘‘istuc dicere; non vides, quam multos servos valentissimos habeas?’’ Bona mens nec commoda- tur nec emitur. Et puto, si venalis esset, non haberet emptorem. At mala cotidie emitur.

9 Sed accipe iam quod debeo et vale. “ Divitiae sunt ad legem naturae conposita paupertas.” Hoc saepe dicit Epicurus aliter atque aliter ; sed numquam nimis dicitur, quod numquam satis discitur. Quibus- dam remedia monstranda, quibusdam inculcanda sunt. VALE.

@ i.e, all the ideas that dropped out of the head of Sabinus. The slave who picked up the crumbs was called

analecta. > Epicurus, Frag. 477 Usener.

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he began to make life miserable for his guests; he would keep these fellows at the foot of his couch, and ask them from time to time for verses which he might repeat, and then frequently break down in the middle of a word. Satellius Quadratus, a feeder, and consequently a fawner, upon addle-pated millionaires, and also (for this quality goes with the other two) a flouter of them, suggested to Sabinus that he should have philologists to gather up the bits.* Sabinus remarked that each slave cost him one hundred thousand sesterces; Satellius replied: “ You might have bought as many book-cases for a smaller sum.’ But Sabinus held to the opinion that what any member of his household knew, he himself knew also. This same Satellius began to advise Sabinus to take wrestling lessons,—sickly, pale, and thin as he was. Sabinus answered : “How can I? I can scarcely stay alive now.” “ Don’t say that, I implore you,” replied the other, “ consider ‘how many per- fectly healthy slaves you have!” No man is able to borrow or buy a sound mind ; in fact, as it seems to me, even though sound minds were for sale, they would not find buyers. Depraved minds, however, are bought and sold every day.

But let me pay off my debt and say farewell: “ Real wealth is poverty adjusted to the law of Nature.’ ® Epicurus has this saying in various ways and contexts; but it can never be repeated too often, since it can never be learned too well. For some persons the remedy should be merely pre- scribed; in the case of others, it should be forced down their throats. Farewell.

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The Epistles Of Seneca Xxviii.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

XXVIII. Seneca LyvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Hoc tibi soli putas accidisse et admiraris quasi rem novam, quod peregrinatione tam longa et tot loco- rum varietatibus non discussisti tristitiam gravitatem- que mentis? Animum debes mutare, non caelum. Licet vastum traieceris mare, licet, ut ait Vergilius noster,

Terraeque urbesque recedant,

2sequentur te, quocumque perveneris, vitia. Hoc idem querenti cuidam Socrates ait: ‘Quid miraris nihil tibi peregrinationes prodesse, cum te circum- feras? Premit te eadem causa, quae expulit.” Quid terrarum iuvare novitas potest? Quid cognitio urbium aut locorum? In inritum cedit ista iactatio. Quaeris quare te fuga ista non adiuvet? Tecum fugis. Onus animi deponendum est; non ante tibi

3 ullus placebit locus. Talem nunc esse _ habitum tuum cogita, qualem Vergilius noster vatis inducit iam concitatae et instigatae multumque habentis in se spiritus non sui:

Bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit Excussisse deum.

Vadis huc illuc, ut excutias insidens pondus, quod

@ Cf. Horace, Ep. i. 11. 27 caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. > Aeneid, iii. 72. ¢ Aeneid, vi. 78 f.

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Epistle Xxviii. Xxviii. On Travel As A Cure For Discontent

EPISTLE XXVIII.

XXVIII. ON TRAVEL AS A CURE FOR DISCONTENT

Do you suppose that you alone have had this experience? Are you surprised, as if it were a novelty, that after such long travel and so many changes of scene you have not been able to shake off the gloom and heaviness of yourmind? You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate.* Though you may cross vast spaces of sea, and though, as our Vergil® remarks,

Lands and cities are left astern,

your faults will follow you whithersoever you travel. Socrates made the same remark to one who complained ; he said: “Why do- you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels.’ What pleasure is there in secing new lands? Or in surveying cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind ; until you do this, no place will satisfy you. Reflect that your present behaviour is like that of the prophetess whom Vergil describes:¢ she is ex- cited and goaded into fury, and contains within herself much inspiration that is not her own:

The priestess raves, if haply she may shake The great god from her heart.

You wander hither and yon, to rid yourself of the 199

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ipsa iactatione incommodius fit, sicut in navi onera inmota minus urgent, inaequaliter convoluta citius eam partem, in quam incubuere, demergunt. Quicquid facis, contra te facis et motu ipso noces tibi; aegrum enim concutis.

4 At cum istud exemeris malum, omnis mutatio loci iucunda fiet ; in ultimas expellaris terras licebit, in quolibet barbariae angulo conloceris, hospitalis tibi illa qualiscumque sedes erit. Magis quis veneris quam quo, interest, et ideo nulli loco addicere debemus animunm.. Cum hac persuasione vivendum est: “Non sum uni angulo natus, patria mea totus

5 hic mundus est.” Quod si liqueret tibi, non admira- reris nil adiuvari te regionum varietatibus, in quas subinde priorum taedio migras. Prima enim quaeque placuisset, si omnem tuam crederes. Nunc non! peregrinaris, sed erras et ageris ac locum ex loco mutas, cum illud, quod quaeris, bene vivere, omni

6 loco positum sit. Num quid tam turbidum fieri potest quam forum? Ibi quoque licet quiete vivere, si necesse sit. Sed si liceat disponere se, con- spectum quoque et viciniam fori procul fugiam. Nam ut loca gravia etiam firmissimam valitudinem temptant, ita bonae quoque menti necdum adhuc perfectae et convalescenti sunt aliqua parum salubria.

1 nunc non Schweighduser ; nunc pL; non other MSS.

@ 7,.¢., had you been able to say patria mea totus mundus est, > Cf. Horace, Ep. i. 11. 28— navibus atque

Quadrigies petimus bene vivere ; quod petis, hic est. 200

Epistle Xxviii.

EPISTLE XXVIII.

burden that rests upon you, though it becomes more troublesome by reason of your very restlessness, just as in a ship the cargo when stationary makes no trouble, but when it shifts to this side or that, it causes the vessel to heel more quickly in the direc- tion where it has settled. Anything you do tells against you, and you hurt yourself by your very unrest ; for you are shaking up a sick man.

That trouble once removed, all change of scene will become pleasant; though you may be driven to the uttermost ends of the earth, in whatever corner of a savage land you may find yourself, that place, however forbidding, will be to you a _ hospitable abode. The person you are matters more than the place to which you go; for that reason we should not make the mind a bondsman to any one place. Live in this belief: “Iam not born for any one corner of the universe; this whole world is my country.” If you saw this fact clearly, you would not be surprised at getting no benefit from the fresh scenes to which you roam each time through weariness of the old scenes. For the first would have pleased you in each case, had you believed it wholly yours.* As it is, however, you are not journeying; you are drifting and being driven, only exchanging one place for another, although that which you seek,—to live well,—is found everywhere.2 Can there be any spot so full of confusion as the Forum? Yet you can live quietly even there, if necessary. Of course, if one were allowed to make one’s own arrangements, I should flee far from the very sight and neighbourhood of the Forum. For just as pestilential places assail even the strongest constitution, so there are some places which are also unwholesome for a healthy mind which is not yet quite sound, though recover-

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7 Dissentio ab his, qui in fluctus medios eunt et tumultuosam probantes vitam cotidie cum difficul- tatibus rerum magno animo conluctantur. Sapiens feret ista, non eliget, et malet in pace esse quam in pugna. Non multum prodest vitia sua proiecisse, si

8 cum alienis rixandum est. “Triginta,’ inquit,} “tyranni Socraten circumsteterunt nec potuerunt animum eius infringere.” Quid interest, quot domini sint? Servitus una est. Hane qui con- tempsit, in quantalibet turba dominantium liber est.

9 Tempus est desinere, sed si prius portorium solvero. “Initium est salutis notitia peccati.” Egregie mihi hoc dixisse videtur Epicurus. Nam qui peccare se nescit, corrigi non vult; deprehendas

10 te oportet, antequam emendes. Quidam vitiis glo- riantur ; tu existimas aliquid de remedio cogitare, qui mala sua virtutum loco numerant? Ideo quantum potes, te ipse coargue, inquire in te; accusatoris primum partibus fungere, deinde iudicis, novissime deprecatoris. Aliquando te offende. VAs.

OG b.< Seneca LvciLIo svo SALVTEM

1 De Marcellino nostro quaeris et vis scire, quid agat. Raro ad nos venit, non ulla alia ex causa quam quod audire verum timet, a quo periculo iam abest.

1 inquit p; inquis LPb.

@ Frag. 522 Usener. > §.6., refuse your own intercession.

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Epistles Xxviii., Xxix.

EPISTLES XXVIII., XXIX.

ing from its ailment. I disagree with those who strike out into the midst of the billows and, welcoin- ing a stormy existence, wrestle daily in hardihood of soul with life’s problems. The wise man will endure all that, but will not choose it ; he will prefer to be at peace rather than at war. It helps little to have cast out your own faults if you must quarrel with those of others. Says one: “ There were thirty tyrants surrounding Socrates, and yet they could not break his spirit’’; but what does it matter how many mastersa man has? “Slavery” has no plural ; and he who has scorned it is free,—no matter amid how large a mob of over-lords he stands.

It is time to stop, but not before I have paid duty. “The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.”” This saying of Epicurus* seems to me to be a noble one. For he who does not know that he has sinned does not desire correction; you must discover yourself in the wrong before you can reform yourself. Some boast of their faults. Do you think that the man has any thought of mending his ways who counts over his vices as if they were virtues? Therefore, as far as possible, prove yourself guilty, hunt up charges against yourself; play the part, first of accuser, then of judge, last of intercessor. At times be harsh with yourself. Farewell.

Xxix. On The Critical Condition Of Marcellinus

XXIX. ON THE CRITICAL CONDITION OF MARCELLINUS

You have been inquiring about our friend Marcel- linus and you desire to know how he is getting along. He seldom comes to see me, for no other reason than that he is afraid to hear the truth, and at present he

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Nulli enim nisi audituro dicendum est. Ideo de Diogene nec minus de aliis Cynicis, qui libertate pro- miscua usi sunt et obvios monuerunt, dubitari solet,

2 an hoc facere debuerint. Quid enim, si quis surdos obiurget aut natura morbove mutos? “Quare,’’ inquis, “verbis parcam? Gratuitasunt. Non possum scire, an ei profuturus sim, quem admoneo;_illud scio, alicui me profuturum si multos admonuero. Spar- genda manus est.!_ Non potest fieri, ut non aliquando succedat multa temptanti.”

3 Hoc, mi Lucili, non existimo magno viro facien- dum; diluitur eius auctoritas nec habet apud eos satis ponderis, quos posset minus obsolefacta corrigere. Sagittarius non aliquando ferire debet, sed aliquando deerrare. Non est ars, quae ad effectum casu venit. Sapientia ars est; certum petat, eligat profecturos, ab is, quos desperavit, recedat, non tamen cito relinquat et in ipsa desperatione extrema remedia temptet.

4 Marcellinum nostrum ego nondum_ despero. Etiamnunc servari potest, sed si cito illi manus porrigitur. Est quidem periculum, ne porrigentem trahat; magna in illo ingenii vis est, sed iam tendentis in pravum. Nihilominus adibo hoc peri-

§ culum et audebo illi mala sua ostendere. Faciet

1 So the MSS. ; otherwise Hense would read spargendum plena manu est.

@ The usual expression is plena manu spargere, ‘‘ with full hand,” cf. Ep. exx. 10. In the famous saying of Corinna to Pindar: ‘‘Sow with the hand and not with the sack,” the idea is ** sparingly,” and not, as here, ‘‘ bountifully. ”

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is removed from any danger of hearing it; for one must not talk to a man unless he is willing to listen. That is why it is often doubted whether Diogenes and the other Cynics, who employed an undiscrimi- nating freedom of speech and offered advice to any who came in their way, ought to have pursued sucha plan. For what if one should chide the deaf or those who are speechless from birth or by illness? But you answer: “ Why should I spare words? They cost nothing. I cannot know whether I shall help the man to whom I give advice; but I know well that I shall help someone if I advise many. I must scatter this advice by the handful.* It is im- possible that one who tries often should not sometime succeed.”

This very thing, my dear Lucilius, is, I believe, exactly what a great-souled man ought not to do; his influence is weakened; it has too little effect upon those whom it might have set right if it had not grown so stale. The archer ought not to hit the mark only sometimes; he ought to miss it only sometimes. That which takes effect by chance is not an art. Now wisdom is an art; it should have a definite aim, choosing only those who will make progress, but withdrawing from those whom it has come to regard as hopeless,—yet not abandoning them too soon, and just when the case is becoming hopeless trying drastic remedies.

As to our friend Marcellinus, I have not yet lost hope. He can still be saved, but the helping hand must be offered soon. There is indeed danger that he may pull his helper down; for there is in him a native character of great vigour, though it is already inclining to wickedness. Nevertheless I shall brave this danger and be bold enough to show him his

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quod solet; advocabit illas facetias, quae risum evocare lugentibus possunt, et in se primum, deinde in nos_ iocabitur. Omnia, quae dicturus sum, occupabit. Scrutabitur scholas nostras et obiciet philosophis congiaria, amicas, gulam. Ostendet mihi alium in adulterio, alium in popina, alium in aula. 6 Ostendet mihi M. Lepidi! philosophum Aristonem, qui in gestatione disserebat. | Hoc enim ad edendas operas tempus acceperat. De cuius secta cum quaereretur, Scaurus ait: “ Utique Peripateticus non est.” De eodem cum consuleretur Iulius Graecinus, vir egregius, quid sentiret, “ Non possum,” inquit, “tibi dicere; nescio enim, quid de gradu faciat,” 7 tamquam de essedario interrogaretur. Hos mihi circulatores, qui philosophiam honestius neglexissent quam vendunt, in faciem ingeret. Constitui tamen contumelias perpeti; moveat ille mihi risum, ego fortasse illi lacrimas movebo, aut si ridere persevera- bit, gaudebo tamquam in malis, quod illi genus insaniae hilare contigerit. Sed non est ista hilaritas longa. Observa; videbis eosdem intra exiguum 8 tempus acerrime ridere et acerrime rabere. Proposi- tum est adgredi illum et ostendere, quanto pluris fuerit, quom multis minoris videretur. Vitia eius etiam si non excidero, inhibebo; non desinent, sed

1 Tepidi Erasmus (from an unknown MS.); lepidum all known MSS.

@ The essedarius fought from acar. When his adversary forced him out of his car, he was compelled to continue the fight on foot, like an unhorsed knight.

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faults. He will act in his usual way; he will have recourse to his wit,—the wit that can call forth smiles even from mourners. He will turn the jest, first against himself, and then against me. He will forestall every word which I am about to utter. He will quiz our philosophic systems; he will accuse philosophers of accepting doles, keeping mistresses, and indulging their appetites. He will point out to me one philosopher who has been caught in adultery, another who haunts the cafés, and another who appears at court. He will bring to my notice Aristo, the philosopher of Marcus Lepidus, who used to hold discussions in his carriage; for that was the time which he had taken for editing his researches, so that Scaurus said of him when asked to what school he belonged: “At any rate, he isn’t one of the Walking Philosophers.” Julius Graecinus, too, a man of distinction, when asked for an opinion on the same point, replied: “I cannot tell you; for I don’t know what he does when dismounted,” as if the query referred to a chariot-gladiator.* It is mounte- banks of that sort, for whom it would be more credit- able to have left philosophy alone than to traffic in her, whom Marcellinus will throw in my teeth. But I have decided to put up with taunts; he may stir my laughter, but I perchance shall stir him to tears; or, if he persist in his jokes, I shall rejoice, so to speak, in the midst of sorrow, because he is blessed with such a merry sort of lunacy. But that kind of merriment does not last long. Observe such men, and you will note that within a short space of time they laugh to excess and rage to excess. It is my plan to approach him and to show him how much greater was his worth when many thought it less. Even though I shall not root out his faults, I shall

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intermittent. Fortasse autem et desinent, si inter- mittendi consuetudinem fecerint. Non est hoc ipsum fastidiendum, quoniam quidem graviter adfectis sanitatis loco est bona remissio. Dum me illi paro, tu interim, qui potes, qui intellegis, unde quo evaseris, et ex eo suspicaris, quousque sis evasurus, compone mores tuos, attolle animum, adversus formidata con- siste. Numerare eos noli, qui tibi metum faciunt. Nonne videatur stultus, si quis multitudinem eo loco timeat, per quem transitus singulis est? Aeque ad tuam mortem multis aditus non est, licet illam multi minentur. Sic istue natura disposuit: spiritum tibi tam unus eripiet quam unus dedit.

Si pudorem haberes, ultimam mihi pensionem remisisses. Sed ne ego quidem me sordide geram in finem aeris alieni et tibi quod debeo, inpingam. “ Numquam volui populo placere. Nam quae ego scio, non probat populus; quae probat populus, ego nescio.”” “Quis hoc?” inquis, tamquam nescias, cui imperem!; Epicurus. Sed idem hoc omnes tibi ex omni domo conclamabunt, Peripatetici, Academici, Stoici, Cynici. Quis enim placere populo potest, cui placet virtus? Malis artibus popularis favor quaeritur. Similem te illis facias oportet. Non probabunt, nisi agnoverint. Multo autem ad rem

limperem and imperim MSS.; imputem Rossbach.

Buecheler conjectures nescias, aes cui imperem, ‘‘ you did not know the man upon whom I am levying for a loan.”

@ Epicurus, Frag. 187 Usener. 208

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put a check upon them; they will not cease, but they will stop for a time; and perhaps they will even cease, if they get the habit of stopping. This is a thing not to be despised, since to men who are seriously stricken the blessing of relief is a substitute for health. So while I prepare myself to deal with Marcellinus, do you in the meantime, who are able, and who understand whence and whither you have made your way, and who for that reason have an inkling of the distance yet to go, regulate your character, rouse your courage, and stand firm in the face of things which have terrified you. Do not count the number of those who inspire fear in you. Would you not regard as foolish one who was afraid of a multitude in a place where only one at a time could pass? Just so, there are not many who have access to you to slay you, though there are many who threaten you with death. Nature has so ordered it that, as only one has given you life, so only one will take it away.

If you had any shame, you would have let me off from paying the last instalment. Still, I shall not be niggardly either, but shall discharge my debts to the last penny and force upon you what I still owe: “JT have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know, they do not approve, and what they approve, I do not know.” * “ Who said this?” you ask, as if you were ignorant whom I am pressing into service; it is Epicurus. But this same watchword rings in your ears from every sect, — Peripatetic, Academic, Stoic, Cynic. For who that is pleased by virtue can please the crowd? It takes trickery to win popular approval; and you must needs make yourself like unto them; they will withhold their approval if they do not recognize you as one of

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magis pertinet, qualis tibi videaris quam qualis aliis. Conciliari nisi turpi ratione amor turpium non potest.

12 Quid ergo illa laudata et omnibus praeferenda artibus rebusque philosophia praestabit? Scilicet ut malis tibi placere quam populo, ut aestimes iudicia, non numeres, ut sine metu deorum hominumque vivas, ut aut vincas mala aut finias. Ceterum, si te videro celebrem secundis vocibus vulgi, si intrante te clamor et plausus, pantomimica ornamenta, obstrepuerint, si tota civitate te feminae puerique laudaverint, quidni ego tui miserear, cum sciam, quae via ad istum favorem ferat? Vate.

XXX. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati! obluctantem. Sed iam plus illum degravat quam quod possit attolli; magno senectus et uni- verso pondere incubuit. Scis illum semper infirmi corporis et exsucti fuisse. Diu illud continuit et, ut

2 verius dicam, continuavit 2; subito defecit. Quemad- modum in nave, quae sentinam trahit, uni rimae aut alteri obsistitur, ubi plurimis locis laxari coepit et cedere, succurri non potest navigio dehiscenti; ita

1 vidi quassum, aetati Hense ; vidquassum aetatu aetati p ;

vidi quassum aetate, aetati Chatelain. 2 continuavit Buecheler ; continiavit p ; concinnavit LPb.

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EPISTLES XXIX., XXX.

themselves. However, what you think of yourself is much more to the point than what others think of you. The favour of ignoble men can be won only by ignoble means. What benefit, then, will that vaunted philosophy confer, whose praises we sing, and which, we are told, is to be preferred to every art and every possession? Assuredly, it will make you prefer to please yourself rather than the populace, it will make you weigh, and not merely count, men’s judgments, it will make you live without fear of gods or men, it will make you either overcome evils or end them. Otherwise, if I see you applauded by popular acclamation, if your entrance upon the scene is greeted by a roar of cheering and clapping,— marks of distinction meet only for actors, —if the whole state, even the women and children, sing your praises, how can I help pitying you? For I know what pathway leads to such popularity. Farewell.

Xxx. On Conquering The Conqueror

XXX. ON CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR

I have beheld Aufidius Bassus, that noble man, shattered in health and wrestling with his years. But they already bear upon him so heavily that he cannot be raised up; old age has settled down upon him with great,—yes, with its entire, weight. You know that his body was always delicate and sapless. For a long time he has kept it in hand, or, to speak more correctly, has kept it together; of a sudden it has collapsed. Just as in a ship that springs a leak, you can always stop the first or the second fissure, but when many holes begin to open and let in water, the gaping hull cannot be saved; similarly,

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in senili corpore aliquatenus inbecillitas sustineri et fulciri potest. Ubi tamquam in putri aedificio omnis ‘unctura diducitur, et dum alia excipitur, alia di- scinditur, circumspiciendum est, quomodo exeas.

3. Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est. Hoc philosophia praestat, in conspectu mortis hilarem et in quocumque corporis habitu fortem laetumque nec deficientem, quamvis deficiatur. Magnus gubernator et scisso navigat velo, et, si exarmavit, tamen reli- quias navigii aptat ad cursum. MHoc facit Bassus noster et eo animo vultuque finem suum spectat, quo alienum spectare nimis securi putares.

4 Magna res est, Lucili, haee et diu discenda, cum adventat hora illa inevitabilis, aequo animo abire. Alia genera mortis spei mixta sunt: desinit morbus, incendium extinguitur, ruina quos videbatur oppres- sura deposuit; mare quos hauserat, eadem vi, qua sorbebat, eiecit incolumes; gladium miles ab ipsa perituri cervice revocavit. Nil habet quod speret, quem senectus ducit ad mortem. Hluic uni intercedi non potest. Nullo genere homines mollius moriuntur sed nec diutius.

5 Bassus noster videbatur mihi prosequi se et con-

% 4.¢., exeas @ vita, ‘* depart from life.” 212

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EPISTLE XXX.

in an old man’s body, there is a certain limit up to which you can sustain and prop its weakness. But when it comes to resemble a decrepit building,— when every joint begins to spread and while one is being repaired another falls apart,—then it is time for a man to look about him and consider how he may get out.

But the mind of our friend Bassus is active. Philosophy bestows this boon upon us; it makes us joyful in the very sight of death, strong and brave no matter in what state the body may be, cheerful and never failing though the body fail us. A great pilot can sail even when his canvas is rent; if his ship be dismantled, he can yet put in trim what remains of her hull and hold her to her course. This is what our friend Bassus is doing; and he contem- plates his own end with the courage and countenance which you would regard as undue indifference in a man who so contemplated another's.

This is a great accomplishment, Lucilius, and one which needs long practice to learn,—to depart calmly when the inevitable hour arrives. Other kinds of death contain an ingredient of hope: a disease comes to an end; a fire is quenched; falling houses have set down in safety those whom they seemed certain to crush; the sea has cast ashore unharmed those whom it had engulfed, by the same force through which it drew them down; the soldier has drawn back his sword from the very neck of his doomed foe. But those whom old age is leading away to death have nothing to hope for; old age alone grants no reprieve. No ending, to be sure, is more painless ; but there is none more lingering.

Our friend Bassus seemed to me to be attending his own funeral, and laying out his own body for

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ponere et vivere tamquam superstes sibi et sapienter ferre desiderium sui. Nam de morte multa loquitur et id agit sedulo, ut nobis persuadeat, si quid incom- modi aut metus in hoc negotio est, morientis vitium esse, non mortis; non magis in ipsa quicquam esse

6 molestiae quam post ipsam. Tam demens autem est, qui timet, quod non est passurus, quam qui timet, quod non est sensurus. An quisquam hoc futurum credit, ut per quam nihil sentiatur, ea sen- tiatur? “Ergo,” inquit, “mors adeo extra omne malum est, ut sit extra omnem malorum metum.”

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

8 morte vicina. Dicam enim? quid sentiam: puto for- tiorem esse eum, qui in ipsa morte est quam qui circa mortem. Mors enim admota etiam inperitis animum dedit non vitandi inevitabilia. Sic gladiator tota pugna timidissimus iugulum adversario praestat et errantem gladium sibi adtemperat. At illa, quae in propinquo est utique ventura, desiderat lentam animi firmitatem, quae est rarior nec potest nisi a sapiente praestari.

g Libentissime itaque illum audiebam quasi ferentem

1 qs Gertz ; his P ; diis pLb. 2 enim Mentel ; etiam pLPb.

« The defeated gladiator is supposed to be on his back, his opponent standing over him and about to deliver the final blow. As the blade wavers at the throat, searching for the jugular vein, the victim directs the point.

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burial, and living almost as if he had survived his own death, and bearing with wise resignation his grief at his own departure. For he talks freely about death, trying hard to persuade us that if this process contains any element of discomfort or of fear, it is the fault of the dying person, and not of death itself; also, that there is no more inconvenience at the actual moment than there is after it is over. “And it is just as insane,’ he adds, “for a man to fear what will not happen to him, as to fear what he will not feel if it does happen.” Or does anyone imagine it to be possible that the agency by which feeling is removed can be itself felt? ‘“ Therefore,” says Bassus, “ death stands so far beyond all evil that it is beyond all fear of evils.”

I know that all this has often been said and should be often repeated; but neither when I read them were such precepts so effective with me, nor when I heard them from the lips of those who were at a safe distance from the fear of the things which they declared were not to be feared. But this old man had the greatest weight with me when he discussed death and death was near. For I must tell you what I myself think: I hold that one is braver at the very moment of death than when one is approaching death. For death, when it stands near us, gives even to inexperienced men the courage not to seek to avoid the inevitable. So the gladiator, who throughout the fight has been no matter how fainthearted, offers his throat to his opponent and directs the wavering blade to the vital spot.* But an end that is near at hand, and is bound to come, calls for tenacious courage of soul; this is a rarer thing, and none but the wise man can manifest it.

Accordingly, I listened to Bassus with the deepest

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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 adferat, optime tibi hi dicent, qui secundum illam steterunt, qui venientem et viderunt et receperunt. 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 hance itur. Quam ideo timere dementis est, quia certa expectantur, dubia metuuntur! Mors necessi- tatem 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 ; quicquid conposuit, resolvit, et quicquid re- solvit, conponit iterum. Iam vero si cui contigit, ut illum senectus leniter emitteret non repente avolsum vitae, sed minutatim subductum; o ne illum agere gratias dis omnibus decet, quod satiatus ad requiem

homini necessariam, lasso gratam perductus est. 216

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pleasure; he was casting his vote concerning death and pointing out what sort of a thing it is when it is observed, so to speak, nearer at hand. I suppose that a man would have your confidence in a larger degree, and would have more weight with you, if he had come back to life and should declare from experience that there is no evil in death; and so, regarding the approach of death, those will tell you best what disquiet it brings who have stood in its path, who have seen it coming and have welcomed it. Bassus may be included among these men; and he had no wish to deceive us. He says that it is as foolish to fear death as to fear old age; for death follows old age precisely as old age follows youth. He who does not wish to die cannot have wished to live. For life is granted to us with the reservation that we shall die; to this end our path leads. Therefore, how foolish it is to fear it, since men simply await that which is sure, but fear only that which is uncertain! Death has its fixed rule,—equitable and unavoidable. Who can com- plain when he is governed by terms which include everyone? The chief part of equity, however, is equality.

But it is superfluous at the present time to plead Nature’s cause; for she wishes our laws to be identical with her own; she but resolves that which she has compounded, and compounds again that which she has resolved. Moreover, if it falls to the lot of any man to be set gently adrift by old age, —not suddenly torn from life, but withdrawn bit by bit,—oh, verily he should thank the gods, one and all, because, after he has had his fill, he is removed to a rest which is ordained for mankind, a rest that is welcome to the weary. You may observe

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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. Venit aliquis ad mortem iratus; mortem venientem nemo hilaris excipit, nisi qui se ad illam diu composuerat.

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 adpropinquant.

14 Dicebat quidem ille Epicuri praeceptis obsequens, primum sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo ex- tremo 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 animi corporisque, 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. “Ignis, qui alentem! materiam occupavit, aqua et interdum ruina ex-

1 alentem Cornelissen ; valentem MSS.

@ j.e., when on the home stretch. > Frag. 503 Usener.

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certain men who crave death even more earnestly than others are wont to beg for life. And I do not know which men give us greater courage,—those who call for death, or those who meet it cheerfully and tranquilly,—for the first attitude is sometimes inspired by madness and sudden anger, the second is the calm which results from fixed judgment. Before now men have gone to meet death in a fit of rage; but when death comes to meet him, no one welcomes it cheerfully, except the man who has long since composed himself for death.

I admit, therefore, that I have visited this dear friend of mine more frequently on many pretexts, but with the purpose of learning whether I should find him always the same, and whether his mental strength was perhaps waning in company with his bodily powers. But it was on the increase, just as the joy of the charioteer is wont to show itself more clearly when he is on the seventh round? of the course, and nears the prize. Indeed, he often said, in accord with the counsels of Epicurus?: “I hope, first of all, that there is no pain at the moment when a man breathes his last; but if there is, one will find an element of comfort in its very shortness. For no great pain lasts long. And at all events, a man will find relief at the very time when soul and body are being torn asunder, even though the process be accompanied by excruciating pain, in the thought that after this pain is over he can feel no more pain. I am sure, however, that an old man’s soul is on his very lips, and that only a little force is necessary to disengage it from the body. A fire which has seized upon a substance that sustains it needs water to quench it, or, sometimes, the destruction of the building itself; but the fire

219

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA tinguendus est; ille, qui alimentis deficitur, sua sponte subsidit.”’

Libenter haec, mi Lucili, audio non tamquam nova, sed tamquam in rem praesentem perductus. Quid ergo? Non multos spectavi abrumpentes vitam? Ergo vero vidi, sed plus momenti apud me habent, qui ad mortem veniunt sine odio vitae et admittunt illam, non adtrahunt. I[llud 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, “tune, cum aliqua causa moriendi videtur accedere, quanto aliae propiores sint, quae non timentur.” Hostis alicui mortem minabatur, hance cruditas occu- pavit. Si distinguere voluerimus causas metus nostri, inveniemus alias esse, alias videri. | Non mortem timemus, sed cogitationem mortis. Ab ipsa enim semper tantundem absumus. Ita si timenda mors est, semper timenda est. Quod enim morti tempus exemptum est ?

Sed vereri debeo, ne tam longas epistulas peius quam mortem oderis. Itaque finem faciam. Tu tamen mortem ut numquam timeas, semper cogita. VALE.

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which lacks sustaining fuel dies away of its own accord.”

I am glad to hear such words, my dear Lucilius,— not as new to me, but as leading me into the presence of an actual fact. And what then? Have I not seen many men break the thread of life? I have indeed seen such men; but those have more weight with me who approach death without any loathing for life, letting death in, so to speak, and not pulling it towards them. Bassus kept saying: “It is due to our own fault that we feel this torture, because we shrink from dying only when we believe that our end is near at hand.” But who is not near death? It is ready for us in all places and at all times. “ Let us consider,’ he went on to say, “ when some agency of death seems imminent, how much nearer are other varieties of dying, which are not feared by us.” A man is threatened with death by an enemy, but this form of death is anticipated by an attack of indigestion. And if we are willing to examine critically the various causes of our fear, we shall find that some exist, and others only seem to be. We do not fear death; we fear the thought of death. For death itself is always the same distance from us; wherefore, if it is to be feared at all, it is to be feared always. For what season of our life is exempt from death?

But what I really ought to fear is that you will hate this long letter worse than death itself; so I shall stop. Do you, however, always think on death in order that you may never fear it. Farewell

a |

The Epistles Of Seneca Xxxl

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

XXXL Seneca LyvyciILio svo SALVTEM

1 Agnosco Lucilium meum; incipit, quem promi- serat, 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 occupave- runt; tantum eflice, quantum conatus es, et illa quae

2 tecum in animo tulisti, tracta. Ad summam sapiens eris, si cluseris aures, quibus ceram parum est obdere ; firmiore spissamento opus est quam in sociis usum Vlixem ferunt. Illa vox, quae timebatur, erat blanda, non tamen publica, at haec, quae timenda est, non ex uno scopulo, sed ex omni terrarum parte circum- sonat. Praetervehere itaque non unum locum in- sidiosa voluptate suspectum, sed omnes urbes. Surdum te amantissimis tuis praesta; bono animo mala precantur. Kt si esse vis felix, deos ora, ne quid tibi

3 ex his, quae optantur, eveniat. 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 con- temptus 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

4 levis et perferenda, modo expavescenda. Labor bonum non est. Quid ergo est bonum? Laboris

« The argument is that work is not, in itself, a good; if it were, it would not be praiseworthy at one time and to be deprecated at another. It belongs, therefore, to the class of thing which the Stoics called déivdgopa, indifferentia, res mediae ; cf. Cicero, de Lin, iii. 16,

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Xxxi. On Siren Songs

XXXI. ON SIREN SONGS

Now I recognize my Lucilius! He is beginning to reveal the character of which he gave promise. Follow up the impulse which prompted you to make for all that is best, treading under your feet that which is approved by the crowd. I would not have you greater or better than you planned; for in your case the mere foundations have covered a large extent of ground ; only finish all that you have laid out, and take in hand the plans which you have had in mind. In short, you will be a wise man, if you stop up your ears ; nor is it enough to close them with wax; you need a denser stopple than that which they say Ulysses used for his comrades. The song which he feared was alluring, but came not from every side; the song, however, which you have to fear, echoes round you not from a single headland, but from every quarter of the world. Sail, therefore, not past one region which you mistrust because of its treacherous delights, but past every city. Be deaf to those who love you most of all; they pray for bad things with good intentions. And, if you would be happy, entreat the gods that none of their fond desires for you may be brought to pass. What they wish to have heaped upon you are not really good things ; there is only one good, the cause and the support of a happy life,—trust in oneself. But this cannot be attained, unless one has learned to despise toil and to reckon it among the things which are neither good nor bad. For it is not possible that a single thing should be bad at one time and good at another, at times light and to be endured, and at times a cause of dread. Work is not a good.* Then what is

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contemptio. Itaque in vanum operosos culpaverim. Rursus ad honesta nitentes, quanto magis incubuerint minusque sibi vinci ac strigare permiserint, adprobabo! et clamabo: “ Tanto melior, surge et inspira et clivum istum uno, si potes, spiritu exsupera.”’

2 Generosos animos labor nutrit. Non est ergo, quod ex illo voto vetere? parentum tuorum eligas, quid contingere tibi velis, quid optes; et in totum iam per maxima acto viro turpe est etiamnunc deos fatigare. Quid votis opus est? [ac te ipse felicem. Facies autem, si intellexeris bona esse, quibus admixta virtus est, turpia, quibus malitia coniuncta est. Quem- admodum sine mixtura lucis nihil splendidum est, nihil atrum, nisi quod tenebras habet aut aliquid in se traxit obscuri, quaemadmodum sine adiutorio ignis nihil calidum est, nihil sine aére frigidum ; ita honesta et turpia virtutis ac malitiae societas efficit.

6 Quid ergo est bonum? Rerum scientia. Quid malum est? Rerum imperitia. Ille prudens atque artifex pro tempore quaeque repellet aut eliget. Sed nec quae repellit timet, nec miratur quae elegit, si modo magnus illi et invictus animus est. Summitti te ac deprimi veto. Laborem si non recuses, parum

1 adprobabo Haase ; adprobator p; admirabor LPb. 2 ex illo voto vetere Hense ; ex illo vetere pLPb.

a Literally, ‘‘come to the end of his furrow.” 224

Epistle Xxxii.

EPISTLE XXXII.

a good? I say, the scorning of work. That is why I should rebuke men who toil to no purpose. But when, on the other hand, a man is struggling towards honourable things, in proportion as he applies himself more and more, and allows himself less and less to be beaten or to halt,* I shall recommend his conduct and shout my encouragement, saying: “ By so much you are better! Rise, draw a fresh breath, and surmount that hill, if possible, at a single spurt!”

Work is the sustenance of noble minds. There is, then, no reason why, in accordance with that old vow of your parents, you should pick and choose what fortune you wish should fall to your lot, or what you should pray for; besides, it is base for a man who has already travelled the whole round of highest honours to be still importuning the gods. What need is there of vows? Make yourself happy through your own efforts; you can do this, if once you comprehend that whatever is blended with virtue is good, and that whatever is joined to vice is bad. Just as nothing gleams if it has no light blended with it, and nothing is black unless it contains darkness or draws to itself something of dimness, and as nothing is hot without the aid of fire, and nothing cold without air; so it is the association of virtue and vice that makes things honourable or base.

What then is good? The knowledge of things. What is evil? The lack of knowledge of things. Your wise man, who is also a craftsman, will reject or choose in each case as it suits the occasion; but he does not fear that which he rejects, nor does he admire that which he chooses, if only he has a stout and unconquerable soul. I forbid you to be cast down or depressed, It is not enough if you do not

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7 est; posce. “Quid ergo?” inquis, “labor frivolus et supervacuus et! quem humiles causae evocaverunt,? non est malus?”’ Non magis quam ille, qui pulchris rebus inpenditur, quoniam animi est ipsa tolerantia, quae se ad dura et aspera hortatur ac dicit: “Quid

§ cessas? Non est viri timere sudorem.” 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.

g “Quomodo,” inquis, “isto pervenitur?” Non per Poeninum Graiumve montem nec per deserta Can- daviae, nec Syrtes tibi nec Scylla aut Charybdis adeundae sunt, quae tamen omnia transisti procura- tiunculae pretio; tutum iter est, iucundum est, ad quod natura te instruxit. Dedit tibi illa, quae si

10 non deserueris, par deo surges. Parem autem te deo pecunia non faciet ; deus nihil habet. Praetexta non faciet; deus nudus est. Fama non faciet nec osten- tatio tui et in populos nominis dimissa notitia; nemo novit deum, multi de illo male existimant, et inpune. Non turba servorum lecticam tuam per itinera urbana

1 et Hense; est MSS. 2 evocaverunt Haase; vocaverunt MSS.

@ i.¢., philosophy. > The Great St. Bernard and the Little St. Bernard routes over the Alps. ¢ A mountain in Illyria, over which the Via Egnatia ran. @ Dangerous quick-sands along the north coast of Africa. ¢ The toga praetexta, badge of the official position of Lucilius. 29

Epistle Xxxi.

EPISTLE XXXI.

shrink from work; ask for it. “ But,” you say, “is not trifling and superfluous work, and work that has been inspired by ignoble causes, a bad sort of work ?”’ No; no more than that which is expended upon noble endeavours, since the very quality that endures toil and rouses itself to hard and uphill effort, is of the spirit, which says: “Why do you grow slack? It is not the part of a man to fear sweat.” And besides this, in order that virtue may be perfect, there should be an even temperament and a scheme of life that is consistent with itself throughout; and this result cannot be attained without knowledge of things, and without the art* which enables us to understand things human and things divine. That is the greatest good. If you seize this good, you begin to be the associate of the gods, and not their suppliant.

“ But how,” you ask, “ does one attain that goal ?”’ You do not need to cross the Pennine or Graian? hills, or traverse the Candavian © waste, or face the Syrtes,? or Scylla, or Charybdis, although you have travelled through all these places for the bribe of a petty governorship ; the journey for which nature has equipped you is safe and pleasant. She has given you such gifts that you may, if you do not prove false to them, rise level with God. Your money, however, will not place you ona level with God ; for God has no property. Your bordered robe’ will not do this; for God is not clad in raiment; nor will your reputation, nor a display of self, nor a know- ledge of your name wide-spread throughout the world; for no one has knowledge of God; many even hold him in low esteem, and do not suffer for so doing. The throng of slaves which carries your litter along the city streets and in foreign places

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ac peregrina portantium; deus ille maximus poten- tissimusque ipse vehit omnia. Ne forma quidem et vires beatum te facere possunt; nihil horum patitur vetustatem.

11 Quaerendum est, quod non fiat in dies eius, quoi! non possit obstari. Quid hoc est? Animus, sed hic rectus, bonus, magnus. Quid aliud voces hune 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? Nomina ex am- bitione aut ex iniuria nata. Subsilire in caelum ex angulo licet. Exurge modo

et te quoque dignum Finge deo.

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

XXXII. Seneca Lycitio svo sALVTEM

1 Inquiro de te et ab omnibus sciscitor, qui ex ista regione veniunt, quid agas, ubi et cum quibus more- ris. Verba dare non potes; tecum sum. Sic vive, tamquam quid facias auditurus sim, immo tamquam visurus. Quaeris quid me maxime ex iis, quae de te

1 quoi Opsopoeus ; quo pPb; qui L. « For example, Time or Chance. > Vergil, Aeneid, viii. 364 f. ¢ Inthe Golden Age, described in Ep. xc., when men were nearest to nature and ‘‘ fresh from the gods.”

228

Epistles Xxxi., Xxxii.

EPISTLES XXXI., XXXII.

will not help you; for this God of whom I speak, though the highest and most powerful of beings, carries all things on his own shoulders. Neither can beauty or strength make you blessed; for none of these qualities can withstand old age.

What we have to seek for, then, is that which does not each day pass more and more under the control of some power which cannot be withstood. And what is this ? It is the soul,—but the soul that is upright, good, and great. What else could you call such a soul than a god dwelling as a guest in a human body? A soul like this may descend into a Roman knight just as well as into a freedman’s son or a slave. For what is a Roman knight, or a freedman’s son, or a slave? They are mere titles, born of ambition or of wrong. One may leap to heaven from the very slums. Only rise

And mould thyself to kinship with thy God.?

This moulding will not be done in gold or silver; an image that is to be in the likeness of God cannot be fashioned of such materials; remember that the gods, when they were kind unto men,’ were moulded in clay. Farewell.

Xxxii. On Progress

XXXII. ON PROGRESS

I have been asking about you, and inquiring of everyone who comes from your part of the country, what you are doing, and where you are spending your time, and with whom. You cannot deceive me; for Iam with you. Live just as if I were sure to get news of your doings, nay, as if I were sure to behold them. And if you wonder what particularly pleases

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audio, delectet ? Quod nihil audio, quod plerique ex his, quos interrogo, nesciunt quid agas.

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? Non timeo, ne mutent te, timeo, ne inpediant. 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.

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 expectare securum reliquam temporis sui partem, nihil sibi, in possessione beatae vitae positum,

4 quae beatior non fit, si longior. O quando illud vide- bis tempus, quo scies tempus ad te non pertinere, quo tranquillus placidusque eris et crastini neglegens ut? in summa tui satietate !

Vis scire, quid sit, quod faciat homines avidos futuri? Nemo sibi contigit. Optaverunt itaque

1 ut added by Gertz.

¢ The text seems to be corrupt. Hense thinks that expectare is to be supplied with nihil sibi—‘*To expect nothing for oneself”; but the use of the verb in two meanings would be harsh. The thought seems to be ‘‘asking for no added years”; and one suspects the loss of a word like adrogantem before nihil.

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EPISTLE XXXII.

me that I hear concerning you, it is that I hear nothing, that most of those whom I ask do not know what you are doing.

This is sound practice,—to refrain from associating with men of different stamp and different aims. And I am indeed confident that you cannot be warped, that you will stick to your purpose, even though the crowd may surround and seek to distract you. What, then, ison my mind? I am not afraid lest they work a change in you; but I am afraid lest they may hinder your progress. And much harm is done even by one who holds you back, especially since life is so short; and we make it still shorter by our un- steadiness, by making ever fresh beginnings at life, now one and immediately another. We break up life into little bits, and fritter it away. Hasten ahead, then, dearest Lucilius, and reflect how greatly you would quicken your speed if an enemy were at your back, or if you suspected the cavalry were approaching and pressing hard upon your steps as you fled. It is true; the enemy is indeed pressing upon you; you should therefore increase your speed and escape away and reach a safe position, remember- ing continually what a noble thing it is to round out your life before death comes, and then await in peace the remaining portion of your time, claiming ® nothing for yourself, since you are in possession of the happy life; for such a life is not made happier for being longer. O when shall you see the time when you shall know that time means nothing to you, when you shall be peaceful and calm, careless of the morrow, because you are enjoying your life to the full?

Would you know what makes men greedy for the future? It is because no one has yet found himself.

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tibi alia parentes tui; sed ego contra omnium tibi eorum contemptum opto, quorum illi copiam. Vota illorum multos conpilant, ut te locupletent. Quicquid 5 ad te transferunt, alicui detrahendum est. Opto tibi tui facultatem, ut vagis cogitationibus agitata mens tandem resistat et certa sit, ut placeat sibi et intel- lectis veris! bonis, quae, simul intellecta sunt, pos- sidentur, aetatis adiectione non egeat. [lle demum necessitates supergressus est et exauctoratus ac liber,

qui vivit vita peracta. VALE.

Xxxiti.

XXXITI.

SENECA LvcILIo svO SALVTEM

1 YDesideras his quoque epistulis sicut prioribus ad- scribi aliquas voces nostrorum procerum. Non fue- runt 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 sur-

2 yexit. Eiusmodi vocibus referta sunt carmina, refertae historiae. Itaque nolo illas Epicuri existimes esse ;

publicae sunt et maxime nostrae. Sed in? illo magis

1 veris Erasmus ; verbis MSS. 2 om added by Erasmus.

# i.e., Stoic as well as Epicurean.

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Epistles Xxxii., Xxxiii.

EPISTLES XXXII., XXXIII.

Your parents, to be sure, asked other blessings for you; but I myself pray rather that you may despise all those things which your parents wished for you in abundance. Their prayers plunder many another person, simply that you may be enriched. Whatever they make over to you must be removed from someone else. I pray that you may get such control over yourself that your mind, now shaken by wander- ing thoughts, may at last come to rest and be stead- fast, that it may be content with itself and, having attained an understanding of what things are truly good,—and they are in our possession as soon as we have this knowledge,—that it may have no need of added years. He has at length passed beyond all necessities,—he has won his honourable discharge and is free,—who still lives after his life has been completed. Farewell.

Xxxiii. On The Futility Of Learning Maxims

XXXIII. ON THE FUTILITY OF LEARNING MAXIMS

You wish me to close these letters also, as I closed my former letters, with certain utterances taken from the chiefs of our school. But they did not interest themselves in choice extracts ; the whole texture of their work is full of strength. There is unevenness, you know, when some objects rise con- spicuous above others. A single tree is not remark- able if the whole forest rises to the same height. Poetry is crammed with utterances of this sort, and so is history. For this reason I would not have you think that these utterances belong to Epicurus: they are common property and are emphatically our own.

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adnotantur, quia rarae interim interveniunt, quia in- expectatae, quia mirum est fortiter aliquid dici ab homine mollitiam professo. Ita enim plerique iudi- cant. Apud me Epicurus est et fortis, licet manu- leatus sit. Fortitudo et industria et ad bellum prompta mens tam in Persas quam in alte cinctos cadit.

3 Non est ergo quod exigas excerpta et repetita; continuum est apud nostros quicquid apud alios ex- cerpitur. Non habemus itaque ista ocliferia nec emptorem decipimus nihil inventurum, cum intraverit, praeter illa, quae in fronte suspensa sunt. Ipsis

4 permittimus, unde velint sumere exemplaria. Puta nos velle singulares sententias ex turba separare; cui illas adsignabimus? Zenoni an Cleanthi an Chrysippo an Panaetio an Posidonio? Non sumus sub rege; sibi quisque se vindicat. Apud _ istos quicquid Hermarchus dixit, quicquid 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.

Pauperis est numerare pecus.

@ Contrasted with alte cinctos. The sleeveless and ‘* girt-up ” tunic is the sign of energy ; cf. Horace, Sat. i. 5. 5, and Suetonius, Caligula, 52: the effeminate Caligula would ‘* appear in public with a long-sleeved tunic and bracelets.”

> Who wore sleeves.

° 7.e., the Epicureans.

@ For the phrase ductu et auspiciis see Plautus, Amph. i. 1. 41 wt gesserit rem publicam ductu imperio auspicio suo ; and Horace, Od. i. 7. 27 Teucro duce et auspice Teucro. The original significance of the phrase refers to the right of the commander-in-chief to take the auspices.

¢ Ovid, Metamorphoses, xiii. 824. 234

Epistle Xxxiii.

EPISTLE XXXIII.

They are, however, more noteworthy in Epicurus, because they appear at infrequent intervals and when you do not expect them, and because it is surprising that brave words should be spoken at any time by a man who made a practice of being effeminate. For that is what most persons main- tain. In my own opinion, however, Epicurus is really a brave man, even though he did wear long sleeves.* Fortitude, energy, and readiness for battle are to be found among the Persians,? just as much as among men who have girded themselves up high.

Therefore, you need not call upon me for extracts and quotations; such thoughts as one may extract here and there in the works of other philosophers run through the whole body of our writings. Hence we have no “ show-window goods,” nor do we deceive the purchaser in such a way that, if he enters our shop, he will find nothing except that which is dis- played in the window. We allow the purchasers themselves to get their samples from anywhere they please. Suppose we should desire to sort out each separate motto from the general stock; to whom shall we credit them? To Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysip- pus, Panaetius, or Posidonius? We Stoics are not subjects of a despot: each of us lays claim to his own freedom. With them,’ on the other hand, whatever Hermarchus says, or Metrodorus, is ascribed to one source. In that brotherhood, everything that any man utters is spoken under the leader- ship and commanding authority? of one alone. We cannot, I maintain, no matter how we try, pick out anything from so great a multitude of things equally good.

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

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, quo minus singula membra, dummodo in ipso homine, consideres. Non est formonsa, cuius crus laudatur aut brachium, sed illa, cuius universa facies admirationem partibus singulis abstulit.

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

7 inclusa. Ideo pueris et sententias ediscendas damus et has quas Graeci chrias vocant, quia conplecti 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

¢ Hither ‘‘maxims” or ‘‘outlines,” “themes.” For a discussion of them see Quintilian, Jnst. Orat. i. 9. 3 ff.

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EPISTLE XXXIII.

Wherever you direct your gaze, you will meet with something that might stand out from the rest, if the context in which you read it were not equally notable.

For this reason, give over hoping that you can skim, by means of epitomes, the wisdom of distin- guished men. Look into their wisdom as a whole; study it as a whole. They are working out a plan and weaving together, line upon line, a masterpiece, from which nothing can be taken away without injury to the whole. Examine the separate parts, if you like, provided you examine them as parts of the man himself. She is not a beautiful woman whose ankle or arm is praised, but she whose general appearance makes you forget to admire her single attributes.

If you insist, however, I shall not be niggardly with you, but lavish ; for there is a huge multitude of these passages; they are scattered about in pro- fusion,—they do not need to be gathered together, but merely to be picked up. They do not drip forth occasionally ; they flow continuously. They are unbroken and are closely connected. Doubtless they would be of much benefit to those who are still novices and worshipping outside the shrine; for single maxims sink in more easily when they are marked off and bounded like a line of verse. ‘That is why we give to children a proverb, or that which the Greeks call Chria,* to be learned by heart; that sort of thing can be comprehended by the young mind, which cannot as yet hold more. For a man, how- ever, whose progress is definite, to chase after choice extracts and to prop his weakness by the best known and the briefest sayings and to depend upon his memory, is disgraceful ; it is time for him to lean on himself. He should make such maxims and not memorize them. For it is disgraceful even for an

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commentario sapere. ‘ Hoc Zenon dixit” ; tu quid ? “Hoc Cleanthes”; tu quid? Quousque sub alio moveris? Impera et dic, quod memoriae tradatur. 8 Aliquid et de tuo profer. Omnes itaque istos, num- quam auctores, semper interpretes sub aliena umbra latentes, nihil existimo habere generosi, numquam ausos aliquando facere, quod diu didicerant. _Memo- riam in alienis exercuerunt. Aliud autem est memi- nisse, aliud scire. Meminisse est rem commissam memoriae custodire. At contra scire est et sua facere quaeque nec ad exemplar pendere et totiens respicere 9 ad magistrum. “ Hoc dixit Zenon, hoc Cleanthes !” Aliquid inter te intersit et librum. Quousque disces? Iam et praecipe. “Quid est quare et! audiam, quod legere possum?” Multum,” inquit, “viva vox facit.” Non quidem haec, quae alienis verbis commodatur et actuari vice fungitur. 10 Adice nune quod isti, qui numquam tutelae suae fiunt, primum in ea re secuntur priores, in qua nemo non a priore descivit; deinde in ea re secuntur, quae

adhuc quaeritur. Numquam autem invenietur si con-

1 quid est quare et Hense; quid est et quare p; quidem quod ar te L; quid est quare Pb.

@ The objector is the assumed auditor. The answer to the objection gives the general view as to the power of the living voice ; to this Seneca assents, provided that the voice has a message of its own.

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EPISTLE XXXIII.

old man, or one who has sighted old age, to have a note-book knowledge. “This is what Zeno said.” But what have you yourself said? “This is the opinion of Cleanthes.” But what is your own opinion? How long shall you march under another man’s orders? ‘Take command, and utter some word which posterity will remember. Put forth something from your own stock. For this reason [| hold that there is nothing of eminence in all such men as these, who never create anything themselves, but always lurk in the shadow of others, playing the role of interpreters, never daring to put once into practice what they have been so long in learning. They have exercised their memories on other men’s material. But it is one thing to remember, another to know. Remembering is merely safeguarding something entrusted to the memory ; knowing, how- ever, means making everything your own; it means not depending upon the copy and not all the time glancing back at the master. “Thus said Zeno, thus said Cleanthes, indeed!” Let there be a difference between yourself and your book! How long shall you bea learner? From now on be a teacher as well! “But why,” one asks,“ “should I have to continue hearing lectures on what I canread?” “ The living voice,” one replies, “is a great help.” Perhaps, but not the voice which merely makes itself the mouth- piece of another’s words, and only performs the duty of a reporter.

Consider this fact also. those who have never attained their mental independence begin, in the first place, by following the leader in cases where every- one has deserted the leader; then, in the second place, they follow him in matters where the truth is still being investigated. However, the truth will

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tenti fuerimus inventis. Praeterea qui alium sequitur,

1] nihil invenit, immo nec quaerit. Quid ergo? Non ibo per priorum vestigia? Ego vero utar via vetere, sed si propiorem planioremque invenero, hanc muniam. 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.

XX KIL Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

1 Cresco et exulto et discussa senectute recalesco, quotiens ex iis, quae agis ac scribis, intellego, quantum te ipse, nam turbam olim reliqueras, superieceris.! Si azricolam 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? i

9 Adsero te mihi; meum opus es. Ego quom? vidissem indolem tuam, inieci manum, exhortatus sum, addidi stimulos nec lente ire passus sum, sed subinde incitavi; et nunc idem facio, sed iam cur- rentem hortor et invicem hortantem.

1 superieceris von Jan; supertegeris MSS. 2 guom Rossbach ; quam, cum ard com MSS.

@ A reference to the act (iniectio) by which a Roman took possession of a thing belonging to him, ¢.g., a runaway slave,—without a decision of the court.

240

Epistles Xxxiii., Xxxiv.

EPISTLES XXXIII., XXXIV.

never be discovered if we rest contented with dis- coveries already made. Besides, he who follows another not only discovers nothing, but is not even investigating. What then? Shall I not follow in the footsteps of my predecessors? I shall indeed use the old road, but if I find one that makes a shorter cut and is smoother to travel, I shall open the new road. Men who have made these discoveries before us are not our masters, but our guides. Truth lies open for all; it has not yet been monopolized. And there is plenty of it left even for posterity to discover. Farewell.

AXXITY._ON A°PROMISING. PUPIL

I grow in spirit and leap for joy and shake off my years and my blood runs warm again, whenever I understand, from your actions and your letters, how far you have outdone yourself; for as to the ordinary man, you left him in the rear long ago. If the farmer is pleased when his tree develops so that it bears fruit, if the shepherd takes pleasure in the increase of his flocks, if every man regards his pupil as though he discerned in him his own early man- hood,—what, then, do you think are the feelings of those who have trained a mind and moulded a young idea, when they see it suddenly grown to maturity ?

I claim you for myself; you are my handiwork, When I saw your abilities, I laid my hand upon you,? 1 exhorted you, I applied the goad and did not permit you to march lazily, but roused you continu- ally. And now I do the same; but by this time I am cheering on one who is in the race and so in turn cheers me on.

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3 “Quid aliud?” inquis; “adhue volo.” | In hoe 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? Perfectum, absolutum, quem malum facere nulla vis, nulla necessitas possit.

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

XXXV

Seneca LvyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Cum te tam valde rogo, ut studeas, meum nego- tium ago; habere te? amicum volo, quod contingere mihi, nisi pergis ut coepisti excolere te, non potest. Nune enim amas me, amicus non es. “Quid ergo? Haec inter se diversa sunt?”’ Immo dissimilia. Qui amicus est, amat; qui amat, non utique amicus est. Itaque amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet. Si nihil aliud, ob hoc profice, ut amare discas.

9 Festina ergo, dum mihi proficis, ne istuc alteri

1 jsta Haase; ita MSS. 2 te added by Linde.

@ j.¢., the proverb may apply to tasks which a man performs with his hands, but it is an understatement when applied to the tasks of the soul.

® The question of Lucilius represents the popular view, which regards love as including friendship. But accord- ing to Seneca it is only the perfect love, from which all selfishness has been removed, that becomes identical with friendship.

242

Epistles Xxxiv., Xxxv.

EPISTLES XXXIV., XXXV.

“ What else do you want of me, then?’’ you ask ; the will is still mine.” Well, the will in this case is almost everything, and not merely the half, as in the proverb “A task once begun is half done.” It is more than half, for the matter of which we speak is determined by the soul.* Hence it is that the larger part of goodness is the will to become good. You know what I mean by a good man? One who is complete, finished,—whom no constraint or need can render bad. I see such a person in you, if only you go steadily on and bend to your task, and see to it that all your actions and words harmonize and correspond with each other and are stamped in the same mould. Ifa man’s acts are out of harmony, his soul is crooked. Farewell.

Xxxv. On The Friendship Of Kindred Minds

XXXV. ON THE FRIENDSHIP OF KINDRED MINDS

When I urge you so strongly to your studies, it is my own interest which I am consulting ; I want your friendship, and it cannot fall to my lot unless you proceed, as you have begun, with the task of developing yourself. For now, although you love me, you are not yet my friend. “ But,” you reply, “are these words of different meaning?”’ Nay, more, they are totally unlike in meaning.’ A friend loves you, of course ; but one who loves you is not in every case your friend. Friendship, accordingly, is always helpful, but love sometimes even does harm. Try to perfect yourself, if for no other reason, in order that you may learn how to love.

Hasten, therefore, in order that, while thus per- fecting yourself for my benefit, you may not have

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didiceris. Ego quidem percipio iam fructum, cum mihi fingo uno nos animo futuros et quicquid aetati meae vigoris abscessit, id ad me ex tua, quamquam

3 non multum abest, rediturum. Sed tamen re quoque ipsa esse laetus volo. 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. Adfer itaque te mihi ingens munus, et quo magis instes, cogita te

4 mortalem esse,mesenem. 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. 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 com- movetur quidem. VALE.

244

Epistle Xxxv.

EPISTLE XXXV.

learned perfection for the benefit of another. To be sure, I am already deriving some profit by imagining that we two shall be of one mind, and that whatever portion of my strength has yielded to age will return to me from your strength, although there is not so very much difference in our ages. But yet I wish to rejoice in the accomplished fact. We feel a joy over those whom we love, even when separated from them, but such a joy is light and fleeting; the sight of a man, and his presence, and communion with him, afford something of living pleasure; this is true, at any rate, if one not only sees the man one desires, but the sort of man one desires. Give yourself to me, therefore, as a gift of great price, and, that you may strive the more, reflect that you yourself are mortal, and that Iam old. Hasten to find me, but hasten to find yourself first. Make progress, and, before all else, endeavour to be consistent with your- self. And when you would find out whether you have accomplished anything, consider whether you desire the same things to-day that you desired yesterday. A shifting of the will indicates that the mind is at sea, heading in various directions, accord- ing to the course of the wind. But that which is settled and solid does not wander from its place. This is the blessed lot of the completely wise man, and also, to a certain extent, of him who is progress- ing and has made some headway. Now what is the difference between these two classes of men? The one is in motion, to be sure, but does not change its position ; it merely tosses up and down where it is; the other is not in motion at all. Farewell.

245

The Epistles Of Seneca Xxxvi.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

XXXVI.

Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

1 Amicum tuum hortare, ut istos magno animo con- temnat, 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.1_ Hi, quibus invidetur, non desinent trans- ire; alii elidentur, alii cadent. Res est inquieta felicitas; ipsa se exagitat. Movet cerebrum non uno genere; alios in aliud irritat, hos in potentiam, illos in luxuriam. Hos inflat, illos mollit et totos resolvit.

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

3 contraria. Felicem vocabant; quid ergo? Erat? 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

1 ostentet P; ostendet pb; ostendit L. Hense suggests ostendat.

2 quia Pb; quia L; qui p (defended by Gertz).

@ 7.¢., they are no more correct now, when they call him a trifler, than they were before, when they called him happy. » Aristo of Chios, Frag. 388 von Arnim.

246

Epistle Xxxvi. Xxxvi. On The Value Of Retirement

EPISTLE XXXVI.

XXXVI. ON THE VALUE OF RETIREMENT

Encourage your friend to despise stout-heartedly those who upbraid him because he has sought the shade of retirement and has abdicated his career of honours, and, though he might have attained more, has preferred tranquillity to them all. Let him prove daily to these detractors how wisely he has looked out for his own interests. Those whom men envy will continue to march past him ; some will be pushed out of the ranks, and others will fall. Prosperity is a turbulent thing; it torments itself. It stirs the brain in more ways than one, goading men on to various aims,—some to power, and others to high living. Some it puffs up; others it slackens and wholly enervates.

“ But,’ the retort comes, “so-and-so carries his prosperity well.” Yes; just as he carries his liquor. So you need not let this class of men persuade you that one who is besieged by the crowd is happy ; they run to him as crowds rush for a pool of water, rendering it muddy while they drain it. But you say: “ Men call our friend a trifler and a sluggard.” There are men, you know, whose speech is awry, who use the contrary® terms. They called hin happy; what of it? Was he happy? Even the fact that to certain persons he seems a man of a very rough and gloomy cast of mind, does not trouble me. Aristo® used to say that he preferred a youth of stern disposition to one who was a Jolly fellow and agreeable to the crowd. “For,” he added, “ wine which, when new, seemed harsh and sour, becomes good wine; but that which tasted well at the vintage

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dolio placuit. Sine eum tristem appellent et inimi- cum processibus suis; bene se dabit in vetustate ipsa! tristitia, perseveret modo colere virtutem, per- bibere liberalia studia, non illa, quibus perfundi satis

4 est, sed haec, quibus tingendus est animus. Hoc est discendi tempus. “Quid ergo? Aliquod est, quo non sit disceendum?”” Minime. Sed quemadmodum omnibus annis studere honestum est, ita non omnibus institui. Turpis et ridicula res est elementarius senex ; luveni parandum, seni utendum est. Facies ergo rem utilissimam tibi, si illum quam optimum fe- ceris ; haec aiunt beneficia esse expetenda tribuenda- que, non dubie primae sortis, quae tam dare prodest quam accipere.

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

6 quod debet, sola potest voluntate persolvi. 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 adgeruntur vulgaria bona, supra res suas

1 ipsa MSS. ; ista Jugis, perhaps rightly. 248

Epistle Xxxvi.

EPISTLE XXXVI.

cannot stand age.” So let them call him stern and a foe to his own advancement. It is just this stern- ness that will go well when it is aged, provided only that he continues to cherish virtue and to absorb thoroughly the studies which make for culture,—not those with which it is sufficient for a man to sprinkle himself, but those in which the mind should be steeped. Now is the time to learn. “What? Is there any time when a man should not learn?” By no means ; but just as it is creditable for every age to study, so it is not creditable for every age to be instructed. An old man learning his A B C is a disgraceful and absurd object ; the young man must store up, the old man must use. You will therefore be doing a thing most helpful to yourself if you make this friend of yours as good a man as possible ; those kindnesses, they tell us, are to be both sought for and bestowed, which benefit the giver no less than the receiver; and they are unquestionably the best kind.

Finally, he has no longer any freedom in the matter; he has pledged his word. And it is less disgraceful to compound with a creditor than to compound with a promising future. To pay his debt of money, the business man must have a prosperous voyage, the farmer must have fruitful fields and kindly weather; but the debt which your friend owes can be completely paid by mere goodwill. Fortune has no jurisdiction over character. Let him so regulate his character that in perfect peace he may bring to perfection that spirit within him which feels neither loss nor gain, but remains in the same attitude, no matter how things fall out. A spirit like this, if it is heaped with worldly goods, rises superior to its wealth; if, on the other hand, chance

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eminet, sive aliquid ex istis vel omnia casus excussit, minor non fit.

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

Satque imperat. 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 duabitat: nec enim opus esset in id comparari et acui, in quod instinctu quodam voluntario iremus, sicut feruntur omnes ad conservationem sui. 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. Quod si tanta cupiditas te longioris aevi tenet, cogita nihil eorum, quae ab oculis abeunt et in rerum naturam,

1 aliquid editors ; aliquis MSS.

¢ As a Roman, living in an age when philosophy was recommended and prescribed.

» 7.e., if death inspired no terror.

¢ And since after death we do not exist, death cannot be harmful to us. Seneca has in mind the argument of Epicurus (Diogenes Laértius, x. 124-5): ‘* Therefore the most dread-inspiring of all evils, death, is nothing to us ; for when we exist, death is not present to us, and when death is present, then we do not exist. Therefore it does

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EPISTLE XXXVI.

has stripped him of a part of his wealth, or even all, it is not impaired.

If your friend had been born in Parthia, he would have begun, when a child, to bend the bow; if in Germany, he would forthwith have been brandishing his slender spear; if he had been born in the days of our forefathers, he would have learned to ride a horse and smite his enemy hand to hand. These are the occupations which the system of each race recommends to the individual,—yes, prescribes for him. To what, then, shall this friend ¢ of yours devote his attention? I say, let him learn that which is helpful against all weapons, against every kind of foe, —contempt of death; because no one doubts that death has in it something that inspires terror, so that it shocks even our souls, which nature has so moulded that they love their own existence ; for otherwise ” there would be no need to prepare ourselves, and to whet our courage, to face that towards which we should move with a sort of voluntary instinct, precisely as all men tend to preserve their existence. No man learns a thing in order that, if necessity arises, he may lie down with composure upon a bed of roses; but he steels his courage to this end,— that he may not surrender his plighted faith to torture, and that, if need be, he may some day stay out his watch in the trenches, even though wounded, without even leaning on his spear; because sleep is likely to creep over men who support themselves by any prop whatsoever.

In death there is nothing harmful; for there must exist something to which it is harmful.° And yet, if you are possessed by so great a craving for a longer life, reflect that none of the ebjects which vanish from our gaze and are re-absorbed into the

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ex qua prodierunt ac mox processura sunt, recon- duntur, 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.

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 extingui, sed vicibus descendere ac surgere. <Aestas abit, sed alter illam annus adducet ; hiemps cecidit,! referent illam sui menses ; solem nox obruit, sed ipsam statim dies abiget. Stellarum iste discursus quicquid praeterit repetit ; pars caeli levatur assidue, pars mergitur. 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. Vate.

XXXVII. Seneca LvciLio svo SALVTEM

Quod maximum vinculum est ad bonam mentem, promisisti virum bonum, sacramento rogatus es. Deridebit te, si quis tibi dixerit mollem esse militiam

1 cecidit MSS. ; Hense would read cecidit, sed. 2 Hense, following Madvig, would delete nec.

not concern either the living or the dead ; for to the living it has no existence, and the dead do not themselves exist.” Lucretius uses this argument, concluding it with (iii. 830) : Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum.

« For example, in Hp. Ixxvii. 252

Epistles Xxxvi., Xxxvii.

EPISTLES XXXVI., XXXVII.

world of things, from which they have come forth and are soon to come forth again, is annihilated ; they merely end their course and do not perish. And death, which we fear and shrink from, merely interrupts life, but does not steal it away; the time will return when we shall be restored to the light of day; and many men would object to this, were they not brought back in forgetfulness of the past.

But I mean to show you later,* with more care, that everything which seems to perish merely changes. Since you are destined to return, you ought to depart with a tranquil mind. Mark how the round of the universe repeats its course ; you will see that no star in our firmament is extinguished, but that they all set and rise in alternation. Summer has gone, but another year will bring it again; winter lies low, but will be restored by its own proper months; night has overwhelmed the sun, but day will soon rout the night again. The wandering stars retrace their former courses; a part of the sky is rising un- ceasingly, and a part is sinking. One word more, and then I shall stop; infants, and boys, and those who have gone mad, have no fear of death, and it is most shameful if reason cannot afford us that peace of mind to which they have been brought by their folly. Farewell.

Xxxvii. On Allegiance To Virtue

XXXVII. ON ALLEGIANCE TO VIRTUE

You have promised to be a good man; you have enlisted under oath; that is the strongest chain which will hold you to a sound understanding. Any man will be but mocking you, if he declares that this is an effeminate and easy kind of soldiering. I

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et facilem. Nolo te decipi. Eadem_honestissimi huius et illius turpissimi auctoramenti verba sunt:

2 “Uri, vinciri ferroque necari.” Ab illis, qui manus harenae locant et edunt ac bibunt, quae per san- guinem 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. Recto tibi invictoque moriendum est. Quid porro prodest paucos dies aut annos lucrificare? Sine missione nascimur.

3.4.6 Quomoedo; ergo, ...inquis,.. ‘me.,,expediam.?/;, Effugere non potes necessitates, potes vincere.

Fit via vi.}

Et hance 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

4 aliter non potest. Humilis res est stultitia, abiecta, sordida, servilis, multis affectibus et saevissimis 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 ; si vis omnia tibi subicere, te subice rationi ; multos reges si ratio te rexerit. Ab illa disces, quid

1 yi, omitted from the Seneca MSS., supplied from Vergil. 2 viam pPb; unam L ; viam una Gertz.

a He refers to the famous oath which the gladiator took when he hired himself to the fighting-master ; uri, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari patior ; cf. Petronius, Sat. 117. The oath is abbreviated in the text, probably by Seneca himself, who paraphrases it in Hp. xxi. 23.

> Awaiting the signal of ‘thumbs up” or ‘‘tbhumbs down.” Cp. Juvenal, iii. 36 verso pollice, vulqus Quem iubet, occidunt populariter. ¢ Vergil, Aeneid, ii. 494.

@ In the language of Stoicism, dyuaGia, stultitia, *‘* folly,” is the antithesis of codla, sapientia, ‘* wisdom.”

254

Epistle Xxxvii.

EPISTLE XXXVII.

will not have you deceived. The words of this most honourable compact are the same as the words of that most disgraceful one, to wit?%: “ Through burn- ing, imprisonment, or death by the sword.’ From the men who hire out their strength for the arena, who eat and drink what they must pay for with their blood, security is taken that they will endure such trials even though they be unwilling ; from you, that you will endure them willingly and with alacrity. The gladiator may lower his weapon and test the pity of the people ;8 but you will neither lower your weapon nor beg for life. You must die erect and unyielding. Moreover, what profit is it to gain a few days or a few years? There is no discharge for us from the moment we are born.

“Then how can I free myself?” you ask. You cannot escape necessities, but you can overcome them.

By force a way is made.¢

And this way will be afforded you by philosophy. Betake yourself therefore to philosophy if you would be safe, untroubled, happy, in fine, if you wish to be, —and that is most important,—free. There is no other way to attain this end. Folly @ is low, abject, mean, slavish, and exposed to many of the cruellest passions. These passions, which are heavy task- masters, sometimes ruling by turns, and sometimes together, can be banished from you by wisdom, which is the only real freedom. ‘There is but one path leading thither, and it is a straight path; you will not go astray. Proceed with steady step, and if you would have all things under your control, put yourself under the control of reason; if reason be- comes your ruler, you will become ruler over many.

299

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et quemadmodum adgredi debeas; non _ incides rebus. Neminem mihi dabis, qui sciat, quomodo quod vult, coeperit velle; non consilio adductus illo, sed inpetu inpactus 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 Vell? tae ALE:

Xxxviti.

XXXVITI. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

Merito exigis, ut hoc inter nos epistularum com- mercium frequentemus. Plurimum proficit sermo, quia minutatim inrepit animo. Disputationes prae- paratae et effusae audiente populo plus habent strepitus, minus familiaritatis. Philosophia bonum consilium est ; consilium nemo clare dat. 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.

Seminis modo spargenda sunt, quod quamvis sit exiguum, cum occupavit idoneum locum, vires suas explicat et ex minimo in maximos auctus diffunditur,

1 Georges conjectures clamitat for clare dat, perhaps rightly.

256

Epistles Xxxvii., Xxxviii.

EPISTLES XXXVII., XXXVIII.

You will learn from her what you should undertake, and how it should be done; you will not blunder into things. You can show me no man who knows how he began to crave that which he craves. He has not been led to that pass by forethought; he has been driven to it by impulse. Fortune attacks us as often as we attack Fortune. It is disgraceful, instead of proceeding ahead, to be carried along, and then suddenly, amid the whirlpool of events, to ask in a dazed way: “How did I get into this econdition?”’ Farewell.

Xxxviii. On Quiet Conversation

XXXVIII. ON QUIET CONVERSATION

You are right when you urge that we increase our mutual traffic in letters. But the greatest benefit is to be derived from conversation, because it creeps by degrees into the soul. Lectures prepared before- hand and spouted in the presence of a throng have in them more noise but less intimacy. Philosophy is good advice; and no one can give advice at the top of his lungs. Of course we must sometimes also make use of these harangues, if | may so call them, when a doubting member needs to be spurred on; but when the aim is to make a man learn, and not merely to make him wish to learn, we must have recourse to the low-toned words of conversation. They enter more easily, and stick in the memory ; for we do not need many words, but, rather, effective words.

Words should be scattered like seed; no matter how small the seed may be, if it has once found favourable ground, it unfolds its strength and from an insignificant thing spreads to its greatest growth.

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Idem facit ratio; non late patet, si aspicias; in opere crescit. Pauca sunt, quae dicuntur, sed si illa animus bene excepit, convalescunt et exurgunt. Eadem est, inquam, praeceptorum condicio quae seminum ; multum efficiunt, et angusta_ sunt. Tantum, ut dixi, idonea mens capiat! illa et in se trahat. Multa invicem et ipsa generabit et plus reddet quam acceperit. Vate.

b. 9. &.4 2. Seneca Lycinio svo SALVTEM

Commentarios, quos desideras, diligenter ordina- tos et in angustum coactos ego vero conponam. Sed vide, ne plus profutura sit ratio ordinaria quam haec, quae nunc vulgo breviarium dicitur, olim cum latine Joqueremur, summarium vocabatur. Illa res discenti magis necessaria est, haec scienti. Illa enim docet, haec admonet. Sed utriusque rei tibi copiam faciam. Tu a me non est quod illum aut illum exigas; qui notorem dat, ignotus est. Scribam ergo quod vis,

1 capiat later MSS. ; rapiat pLPb.

« The regular method of studying philosophy was, as we infer from this letter, a course of reading in the philosophers. Seneca deprecates the use of the ‘‘ cram,” which is only a memory-help, as a substitute for reading, on the ground that by its use one does not, in the first place, learn the subject, and, in the second place and chiefly, that one loses the inspiration to be derived by direct contact with great thinkers. The request of Lucilius for a cram thus suggests the main topic of the letter, which is taken up in the second paragraph.

258

Epistles Xxxviii., Xxxix.

EPISTLES XXXVIII., XXXIX.

Reason grows in the same way; it is not large to the outward view, but increases as it does its work. Few words are spoken; but if the mind has truly caught them, they come into their strength and spring up. Yes, precepts and seeds have the same quality ; they produce much, and yet they are slight things. Only, as I said, let a favourable mind receive and assimilate them. Then of itself the mind also will produce bounteously in its turn, giving back more than it has received. Farewell.

Xxxix. On Noble Aspirations

XXXIX. ON NOBLE ASPIRATIONS

I shall indeed arrange for you, in careful order and narrow compass, the notes which you request. But consider whether you may not get more help from the customary method@ than from that which is now commonly called a “ breviary,’ though in the good old days, when real Latin was spoken, it was called a “summary.” ® The former is more necessary to one who is learning a subject, the latter to one who knows it. For oie one teaches, the other stirs the memory. But I shall give you abundant oppor- tunity for both. A man like you should not ask me for this authority or that; he who furnishes a voucher for his statements argues himself unknown. [ shall therefore write exactly what you wish, but I shall

> ¢.e., the word breviarium, ‘‘ abridgment,” ‘* abstract,” has displaced the better word summarium, ‘*‘ outline of chief points.”

¢ 7.¢e., to do the reading and to review it by means of the summary. The reading will enable Lucilius to identify for himself the authors of the several passages or doctrines.

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sed meo more; interim multos habes, quorum scripta nescio an satis ordinent. 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. Neminem excelsi ingenii virum humilia delectant et sordida; magnarum rerum species ad se vocat et 3 extollit. 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 hunec inpetum dedit! Ponet se extra ius dicionemque fortunae. Secunda temperabit, adversa comminuet et aliis admiranda despiciet. 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 nimio! onere franguntur, sic ad maturitatem non pervenit nimia fecunditas. Idem animis quoque evenit, quos inmoderata felicitas rumpit, qua non tantum in 5 aliorum iniuriam, sed etiam in suam utuntur. Qui hostis in quemquam tam contumeliosus fuit quam in quosdam voluptates suae sunt? Quorum in-

potentiae atque insanae libidini ob hoc unum possis

1 nimio added by Gertz. 260

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do it in my own way; until then, you have many authors whose works will presumably keep your ideas sufficiently in order. Pick up the list of the philosophers; that very act will compel you to wake up, when you see how many men have been working for your benefit. You will desire eagerly to be one of them yourself. For this is the most excellent quality that the noble soul has within itself, that it can be roused to honourable things.

No man of exalted gifts is pleased with that which is low and mean; the vision of great achieve- ment summons him and uplifts him. Just as the flame springs straight into the air and cannot be cabined or kept down any more than it can repose in quiet, so our soul is always in motion, and the more ardent it is, the greater its motion and activity. But happy is the man who has given it this impulse toward better things! He will place himself beyond the jurisdiction of chance; he will wisely control prosperity ; he will lessen adversity, and will despise what others hold in admiration. It is the quality of a great soul to scorn great things and to prefer that which is ordinary rather than that which is too great. For the one condition is useful and life- giving; but the other does harm just because it is excessive. Similarly, too rich a soil makes the grain fall flat, branches break down under too heavy a load, excessive productiveness does not bring fruit to ripeness. This is the case with the soul also; for it is ruined by uncontrolled prosperity, which is used not only to the detriment of others, but also to the detriment of itself. What enemy was ever so insolent to any opponent as are their pleasures to certain men? The only excuse that we can allow for the incontinence and mad lust of these men is

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ignoscere, quod quae fecere patiuntur. Nec inmerito hic illos furor vexat; necesse est enim in inmensum exeat cupiditas, quae naturalem modum transilit. Ille enim habet suum finem, inania et ex libidine

§ orta sine termino sunt. 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. VALE.

Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

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 ? falso atque inani solacio levant, quanto iucundiores sunt litterae, quae vera amici absentis vestigia, veras notas

1 et LPb; omitted by p. 2 absentiae, after desiderium, is bracketed by Hense, following Gemoll.

2 i.¢., their pleasures. These ills, by being cultivated, become vices.

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EPISTLES XXXIX., XL.

the fact that they suffer the evils which they have inflicted upon others. And they are rightly harassed by this madness, because desire must have unbounded space for its excursions, if it transgresses nature’s mean. For this has its bounds, but waywardness and the acts that spring from wilful lust are without boundaries. Utility measures our needs; but by what standard can you check the superfluous? It is for this reason that men sink themselves in pleasures, and they cannot do without them when once they have become accustomed to them, and for this reason they are most wretched, because they have reached such a pass that what was once super- fluous to them has become indispensable. And so they are the slaves of their pleasures instead of enjoying them; they even love their own ills,7—and that is the worst ill of all! Then it is that the height of unhappiness is reached, when men are not only attracted, but even pleased, by shameful things, and when there is no longer any room for a cure, now that those things which once were vices have become habits. Farewell.

Xl. On The Proper Style For A

XL. ON THE PROPER STYLE FOR A PHILOSOPHER’S DISCOURSE

I thank you for writing to me so often; for you are revealing your real self to me in the only way you can. I never receive a letter from you without being in your company forthwith. If the pictures of our absent friends are pleasing to us, though they only refresh the memory and lighten our longing by a solace that is unreal and unsubstantial, how much more pleasant is a letter, which brings us real traces,

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adferunt? Nam quod in conspectu dulcissimum est, id amici manus epistulae inpressa praestat, agnoscere. 2 Audisse te scribis Serapionem philosophum, cum istue adplicuisset : “ Solet magno cursu verba con- vellere, quae non effundit una, sed premit et urguet. Plura enim veniunt quam quibus vox una sufficiat.”’ Hoe non probo in philosopho, cuius pronuntiatio quoque, sicut vita, debet esse conposita ; nihil autem ordinatum est, quod praecipitatur et properat. Itaque oratio illa apud Homerum concitata et sine inter- missione in morem nivis superveniens iuveniori ! oratori data est, lenis et melle dulcior seni profluit. 3 Sic itaque habe, 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 tardi- tatis, facilius tamen insidit, quod exspectatur, quam quod praetervolat. Denique tradere homines disci- pulis praecepta dicuntur; non traditur quod fugit. Adice nunc, quod quae veritati operam dat oratio, inconposita esse debet et simplex. Haec popularis

wwe

1 iuveniori Hense ; iuveni Haupt ; omitted in MSS. 2 habe istam later MSS. ; habe ut istam pLPb.

« This person cannot be identified.

> The explanation of Professor Summers seems sound, that the metaphor is taken from a mountain-torrent. Com- pare the description of Cratinus’ style in Aristophanes, Ach. 526, or that of Pindar in Horace, Od. iv. 2. 5 ff.

¢ Iliad, iii. 222 (Odysseus), and i. 249 (Nestor). 264

Epistle Xl.

EPISTLE XL.

real evidences, of an absent friend! For that which is sweetest when we meet face to face is afforded by the impress of a friend’s hand upon his letter, —recognition.

You write me that you heard a lecture by the philosopher Serapio,* when he landed at your present place of residence. “He is wont,” you say, “to wrench up his words with a mighty rush, and he does not let them flow forth one by one, but makes them crowd and dash upon each other.’ For the words come in such quantity that a single voice is inadequate to utter them.’ I do not approve of this in a philosopher; his speech, like his life, should be composed ; and nothing that rushes headlong and is hurried is well ordered. That is why, in Homer, the rapid style, which sweeps down without a break like a snow-squall, is assigned to the younger speaker ; from the old man eloquence flows gently, sweeter than honey.°¢

Therefore, mark my words; that forceful manner of speech, rapid and copious, is more suited to a mountebank than to a man who is discussing and teaching an important and serious subject. But I object just as strongly that he should drip out his words as that he should go at top speed ; he should neither keep the ear on the stretch, nor deafen it. For that poverty-stricken and thin-spun style also makes the audience less attentive because they are weary of its stammering slowness ; nevertheless, the word which has been long awaited sinks in more easily than the word which flits past us on the wing. Finally, people speak of “handing down”’ precepts to their pupils ; but one is not “ handing down” that which eludes the grasp. Besides, speech that deals with the truth should be unadorned and plain. This

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nihil habet veri; movere vult turbam et inconsultas aures inpetu 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? Remedia non prosunt, nisi inmorantur.

5 Multum praeterea habet inanitatis et vani, plus sonat quam valet. Lenienda sunt, quae me exterrent, conpescenda, quae inritant, discutienda, quae fallunt, inhibenda luxuria, corripienda avaritia ; quid horum raptim potest fieri? Quis medicus aegros in transitu curat? Quid, quod ne voluptatem quidem ullam habet talis verborum sine dilectu ruentium strepitus ?

6 Sed ut pleraque, quae fieri posse non crederes, cogno- visse 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 inmissa est nec potest reprimi ?

7 Quemadmodum per proclive currentium non _ ubi visum est, gradus sistitur, sed incitato corporis pondere se rapit! 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.

1 se rapit later MSS. ; serpit LPb; serpitur p.

# Seneca’s phrase, quae fieri posse non crederes, has been interpreted as a definition of tapddota. It is more probable, however, that he is comparing with the juggler’s tricks the verbal performances of certain lecturers, whose jargon one marvels at but does not care to hear again.

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popular style has nothing to do with the truth; its aim is to impress the common herd, to ravish heed- less ears by its speed; it does not offer itself for discussion, but snatches itself away from discussion. But how can that speech govern others which can- not itself be governed? May I not also remark that all speech which is employed for the purpose of healing our minds, ought to sink into us? Remedies do not avail unless they remain in the system.

Besides, this sort of speech contains a great deal of sheer emptiness; it has more sound than power. My terrors should be quieted, my irritations soothed, my illusions shaken off, my indulgences checked, my greed rebuked. And which of these cures can be brought about in a hurry? What physician can heal his patient on a flying visit? May I add that such a jargon of confused and ill-chosen words cannot afford pleasure, either? No; but just as you are well satisfied, in the majority of cases, to have seen through tricks which you did not think could possibly be done,® so in the case of these word-gymnasts,—to have heard them once is amply sufficient. For what can a man desire to learn or to imitate inthem? What is he to think of their souls, when their speech is sent into the charge in utter disorder, and cannot be kept in hand? Just as, when you run down hill, you cannot stop at the point where you had decided to stop, but your steps are carried along by the momentum of your body and are borne beyond the place where you wished to halt ; so this speed of speech has no control over itself, nor is it seemly for philosophy; since philosophy should carefully place her words, not fling them out, and should proceed step by step.

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8 “Quid ergo? Non aliquando et insurget ?”” Quidni? Sed salva dignitate morum, quam violenta ista et nimia vis exuit. Habeat vires magnas, moderatas tamen; perennis sit unda, non torrens. Vix oratori permiserim talem dicendi velocitatem inrevocabilem ac sine lege vadentem. Quemad- modum enim iudex subsequi poterit aliquando etiam inperitus et rudis? ‘Tum quoque, cum illum aut ostentatio abstulerit aut affectus inpotens sui,’ tantum festinet atque ingerat, quantum aures pati possunt.

9 Recte ergo facies, si non videris istos, qui quantum dicant, non quemadmodum quaerunt, et ipse malueris, si necesse est, ut P. Vinicius? dicere, qui titubat.° 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,

10 quomodo Vinicius ? Aliquis tam insulsus intervenerit quam qui illi singula verba vellenti, tamquam dictaret, non diceret, ait: “Dic, numquid‘ dicas.’ Nam Q. Hateri® cursum, suis temporibus oratoris celeberrimi, longe abesse ab homine sano volo; numquam dubi- tavit, numquam intermisit ; semel incipiebat, semel desinebat.

1 affectus impotens sui Muretus ; effectus impetus sui MSS.

2 wt P. Vinicius Madvig ; vel p. vinictum MSS. ; velut P. Vinicius Lipsius.

3 gui titubat Capps ; qui itaque MSS.

4 numquid Buecheler ; numquam MSS.

5 nam Q. Hateri Lipsius; namque hateri pP; namq. aetheri L ; namque hereri b.

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“What then?” you say; “should not philosophy sometimes take a loftier tone?’’ Of course she should ; but dignity of character should be preserved, and this is stripped away by such violent and exces- sive force. Let philosophy possess great forces, but kept well under control; let her stream flow un- ceasingly, but never become a torrent. And I should hardly allow even to an orator a rapidity of speech like this, which cannot be called back, which goes lawlessly ahead ; for how could it be followed by jurors, who are often inexperienced and untrained ? Even when the orator is carried away by his desire to show off his powers, or by uncontrollable emotion, even then he should not quicken his pace and heap up words to an extent greater than the ear can endure.

You will be acting rightly, therefore, if you do not regard those men who seek how much they may say, rather than how they shall say it, and if for yourself you choose, provided a choice must be made, to speak as Publius Vinicius the stammerer does. When Asellius was asked how Vinicius spoke, he replied: “ Gradually”! (It was a remark of Geminus Varius, by the way: “I don’t see how you can call that man ‘eloquent’; why, he can’t get out three words together.”’) Why, then, should you not choose to speak as Vinicius does? Though of course some wag may cross your path, like the person who said, when Vinicius was dragging out his words one by one, as if he were dictating and not speaking . “Say, haven’t you anything to say?” And yet that were the better choice, for the rapidity of Quintus Haterius, the most famous orator of his age, is, in my opinion, to be avoided by a man of sense. Haterius never hesitated, never paused; he made only one start, and only one stop.

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Quaedam tamen et nationibus puto magis aut minus convenire ; in Graecis hane licentiam tuleris ; nos etiam cum scribimus, interpungere adsuevimus. Cicero quoque noster, a quo Romana eloquentia exiluit, gradarius fuit. Romanus sermo magis se circumspicit et aestimat praebetque aestimandum. 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. Hance ego in viro sapiente recipio, non exigo; ut oratio eius sine impedimento exeat, proferatur tamen malo quam profluat.

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 reprehendere velis. 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 aderunt et poterunt sine ullo tuo labore decur- rere, tamen temperanda sunt. Nam quemadmodum sapienti viro incessus modestior convenit, ita oratio pressa, non audax. Summa ergo summarum haec erit: tardilocum esse te iubeo. VALE.

« The Greek texts were still written without separation of the words, in contrast with the Roman.

>» Gradarius may be contrasted with tolutarius, “ trotter.”’ The word might also mean one who walks with dignified step, as in a religious procession.

¢ Of. Martial, xi. 27.7 aut cum perfricuit frontem posuit- que pudorem. After a violent rubbing, the face would not show blushes.

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However, I suppose that certain styles of speech are more or less suitable to nations also; in a Greek you can put up with the unrestrained style, but we Romans, even when writing, have become accustomed to separate our words.* And our compatriot Cicero, with whom Roman oratory sprang into prominence, was also a slow pacer.2. The Roman language is more inclined to take stock of itself, to weigh, and to offer something worth weighing. Fabianus, a man noteworthy because of his life, his knowledge, and, less important than either of these, his eloquence also, used to discuss a subject with dispatch rather than with haste ; hence you might call it ease rather than speed. I approve this quality in the wise man; but I do not demand it; only let his speech proceed unhampered, though I prefer that it should be deliberately uttered rather than spouted.

However, I have this further reason for frightening you away from the latter malady, namely, that you could only be successful in practising this style by losing your sense of modesty; you would have to rub all shame from your countenance,° and refuse to hear yourself speak. For that heedless flow will carry with it many expressions which you would wish to criticize. And, I repeat, you could not attain it and at the same time preserve your sense of shame. Moreover, you would need to practise every day, and transfer your attention from subject matter to words. But words, even if they came to you readily and flowed without any exertion on your part, yet would have to be kept under control. For just as a less ostentatious gait becomes a philosopher, so does a restrained style of speech, far removed from boldness. Therefore, the ultimate kernel of my re- marks is this: I bid you be slow of speech. Farewell.

MOE. 1 K 271

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DO HP Seneca LyciLio svO SALVTEM

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 inanus nec exorandus aedituus, ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri possimus, admittat ; prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.

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 exurgere? TIlle dat consilia magnifica et erecta. In unoquoque virorum bonorum

Quis deus incertum est, habitat deus.

3 Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli ramorum aliorum alios protegentium summovens obtentu,! illa proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque con- tinuae fidem tibi numinis faciet.? Si quis specus saxis penitus exesis montem suspenderit, non manu factus,

1 summovens obtentu Hense ; swmmoventus Pp; summovens LMP; sub movens b. * faciet Madvig ; facit et pLPb; faciet et later MSS.

272

Epistle Xli. Xli. On The God Within Us

EPISTLE XLI.

XLI. ON THE GOD WITHIN US

You are doing an excellent thing, one which will be wholesome for you, if, as you write me, you are persisting in your effort to attain sound understanding; it is foolish to pray for this when you can acquire it from yourself. We do not need to uplift our hands towards heaven, or to beg the keeper of a temple to let us approach his idol’s ear, as if in this way our prayers were more likely to be heard. God is near you, he is with you, he is within you. This is what I mean, Lucilius: a holy spirit indwells within us. one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is om guardian. As we treat this spirit, so are we treated by it. Indeed, no man can be good without the help of God. Can one rise superior to fortune unless God helps him to rise? He it is that gives noble and upright counsel. In each good man

A god doth dwell, but what god know we not.¢

If ever you have come upon a grove that is full of ancient trees which have grown to an unusual height, shutting out a view of the sky by a veil of pleached and intertwining branches, then the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot, and your marvel at the thick unbroken shade in the midst of the open spaces, will prove to you the presence of deity. Or if a cave, made by the deep crumbling of the rocks, holds up a mountain on its arch, a place not built

* Vergil, Aeneid, viii. 352, Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem, Quis deus incertum est, habitat deus, and cf. Quintilian, i. 10. 88, where he is speaking of Ennius, whom ‘‘sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora iam non tantam habent speciem quantam religionem.”

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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

4 opacitas vel inmensa altitudo sacravit. Si hominem videris interritum periculis, intactum cupiditatibus, inter adversa felicem, in mediis tempestatibus placi- dum, 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? Vis isto divina

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

6 Quis est ergo hic animus? Qui nullo bono nisi

1 After propius pLPbM add quidem. Hense would prefer quiddam divini. 274

Epistle Xli.

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with hands but hollowed out into such spaciousness by natural causes, your soul will be deeply moved by a certain intimation of the existence of God. We worship the sources of mighty rivers; we erect altars at places where great streams burst suddenly from hidden sources; we adore springs of hot water as divine, and consecrate certain pools because of their dark waters or their immeasurable depth. If you see a man who is unterrified in the midst of dangers, untouched by desires, happy in adversity, peaceful amid the storm, who looks down upon men from a higher plane, and views the gods on a footing of equality, will not a feeling of reverence for him steal over you? Will you not say: “This quality is too great and too lofty to be regarded as resembling this petty body in which it dwells? A divine power has descended upon that man.” When a soul rises superior to other souls, when it is under control, when it passes through every experience as if it were of small account, when it smiles at our fears and at our prayers, it is stirred by a force from heaven. A thing like this cannot stand upright unless it be propped by the divine. Therefore, a greater part of it abides in that place from whence it came down to earth. Just as the rays of the sun do indeed touch the earth, but still abide at the source from which they are sent; even so the great and hallowed soul, which has come down in order that we may have a nearer knowledge of divinity, does indeed associate with us, but still cleaves to its origin; on that source it depends, thither it turns its gaze and strives to go, and it concerns itself with our doings only as a

being superior to ourselves. What, then, is such a soul? One which is re- splendent with no external good, but only with its 275

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suo nitet; quid enim est stultius quam in homine aliena laudare? 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 patien- tiam recipiendi ornamenti cogitur fatigatus, aliter incultus, integri spiritus; hic scilicet inpetu acer, qualem illum natura esse voluit, speciosus ex horrido, cuius hic decor est, non sine timore aspici, praefertur illi languido et bratteato.

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. Familiam formosam habet et domum pulchram,multum serit, multum fenerat; nihil horum in ipso est, sed

8 circa ipsum. Lauda in illo, quod nec eripi potest nec dari, quod proprium hominis est. Quaeris quid sit? Animus et ratio in animo perfecta. Rationale enim animal est homo. Consummatur itaque bonum eius,

9 si id inplevit, cui nascitur. Quid est autem, quod ab illo ratio haec exigat? Rem facillimam, secundum

1 pondere Erasmus ; pondera MSS.

@ The spectators of the fight, which is to take place between the two lions, applaud the wild lion and bet on him.

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own. For what is more foolish than to praise in a man the qualities which come from without? And what is more insane than to marvel at characteristics which may at the next instant be passed on to someone else? A golden bit does not make a better horse. The lion with gilded mane, in process of being trained and forced by weariness to endure the decoration, is sent into the arena in quite a different way from the wild lion whose spirit is un- broken; the latter, indeed, bold in his attack, as nature wished him to be, impressive because of his wild appearance,—and it is his glory that none can look upon him without fear,—is favoured? in pre- ference to the other lion, that languid and gilded brute.

No man ought to glory except in that which is his own. We praise a vine if it makes the shoots teem with increase, if by its weight it bends to the ground the very poles which hold its fruit; would any man prefer to this vine one from which golden grapes and golden leaves hang down? In a vine the virtue peculiarly its own is fertility; in man also we should praise that which is his own. Suppose that he has a retinue of comely slaves and a beautiful house, that his farm is large and large his income; none of these things is in the man himself; they are all on the outside. Praise the quality in him which cannot be given or snatched away, that which is the peculiar property of the man. Do you ask what this is? It is soul, and reason brought to perfection in the soul. For man is a reasoning animal. Therefore, man’s highest good is attained, if he has fulfilled the good for which nature designed him at birth. And what is it which this reason demands of him? The easiest thing in the world,

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naturam suam vivere. Sed hanc difficilem facit communis insania; in vitia alter alterum trudimus. Quomodo autem revocari ad salutem possunt, quos

nemo retinet, populus inpellit? Va e.

XLII. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Iam tibi iste persuasit virum se bonum esse? Atqui vir bonus tam cito nec fieri potest nec intel- legi. Scis quem nunc virum bonum dicam? Huius secundae notae. Nam ille alter fortasse tamquam phoenix semel anno quingentesimo nascitur. Nec est mirum ex intervallo magna generari; mediocria et in turbam nascentia saepe fortuna producit, eximia vero ipsa raritate commendat.

2 Sed iste multum adhuc abest ab eo, quod pro- fitetur. Et si sciret, quid esset vir bonus, nondum esse se crederet, fortasse etiam fieri posse desperaret. “At male existimat de malis.” Hoc etiam mali faciunt, nec ulla maior poena nequitiae est quam

3 quod sibi ac suis displicet. “ At odit eos, qui subita

et magna potentia inpotenter utuntur.’” Idem faciet,

@ Seneca doubtless has in mind the famous passage of Simonides, dvdp’ dyaSov wer adnOds yevéo Oar xaderdv, discussed by Plato, Protagoras, 339 a.

278

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EPISTLES XLI., XLII.

—to live in accordance with his own nature. But this is turned into a hard task by the general mad- ness of mankind; we push one another into vice. And how can a man be recalled to salvation, when he has none to restrain him, and all mankind to urge him on? Farewell.

Xlii. On Values

XLII. ON VALUES

Has that friend of yours already made you believe that he isa good man? And yet it is impossible in so short a time for one either to become good or be known as such. Do you know what kind of man | now mean when I speak of “a good man”? I mean one of the second grade, like your friend. For one of the first class perhaps springs into existence, like the phoenix, only once in five hundred years. And it is not surprising, either, that greatness develops only at long intervals; Fortune often brings into being commonplace powers, which are born to please the mob; but she holds up for our approval that which is extraordinary by the very fact that she makes it rare.

This man, however, of whom you spoke, is still far from the state which he professes to have reached. And if he knew what it meant to be “a good man,” he would not yet believe himself such; perhaps he would even despair of his ability to become good. « But,” you say, “he thinks ill of evil men.” Well, so do evil men themselves; and there is no worse penalty for vice than the fact that it is dissatisfied with itself and all its fellows. ‘“ But he hates those who make an ungoverned use of great power suddenly acquired.” I retort that he will do the

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cum idem potuerit. Multorum, quia inbecilla sunt, latent vitia, non minus ausura, cum illis vires suae placuerint, quam illa, quae iam felicitas aperuit.

4 Instrumenta illis explicandae nequitiae desunt. Sic tuto serpens etiam pestifera tractatur, dum riget frigore; non desunt tunc illi venena, sed torpent. Multorum crudelitas et ambitio et luxuria, ut paria pessimis audeat, fortunae favore deficitur. Eadem velle sic subinde cognosces+: da posse, quantum volunt.

5 Meministi, cum quendam adfirmares esse in tua potestate, dixisse me volaticum esse ac levem et te non pedem eius tenere,sed pennam. Mentitus sum? Pluma tenebatur, quam remisit et fugit. Scis, quos postea tibi exhibuerit ludos, quam multa in caput suum casura temptaverit. Non videbat se per aliorum pericula in suum ruere. Non cogitabat, quam onerosa essent, quae petebat, etiam si super- vacua non essent.

6 Hoc itaque in his, quae adfectamus, ad quae labore magno contendimus, inspicere debemus, aut nihil in illis commodi esse aut plus incommodi. Quaedam supervacua sunt, quaedam tanti non sunt.

1 sie subinde cognosces Capps; subaudis cognosces pPb; si

sub auditis cognoscis L; si avebis cognoscere J. Mueller; s iuvat audentis, cognosces Buecheler.

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EPISTLE XLII.

same thing as soon as he acquires the same powers. In the case of many men, their vices, being power- less, escape notice ; although, as soon as the persons in question have become satisfied with their own strength, the vices will be no less daring than those which prosperity has already disclosed. These men simply lack the means whereby they may unfold their wickedness. Similarly, one can handle even a poisonous snake while it is stiff with cold; the poison is not lacking; it is merely numbed into inaction. In the case of many men, their cruelty, ambition, and indulgence only lack the favour of Fortune to make them dare crimes that would match the worst. That ° their wishes are the same you will in a moment discover, in this way: give them the power equal to their wishes.

Do you remember how, when you declared that a certain person was under your influence, I pronounced him fickle and a bird of passage, and said that you held him not by the foot but merely by a wing? Was I mistaken? You grasped him only by a feather; he left it in your hands and escaped. You know what an exhibition he after- wards made of himself before you, how many of the things he attempted were to recoil upon his own head. He did not see that in endangering others he was tottering to his own downfall. He did not reflect how burdensome were the objects which he was bent upon attaining, even if they were not superfluous.

Therefore, with regard to the objects which we pursue, and for which we strive with great effort, we should note this truth; either there is nothing desirable in them, or the undesirable is preponderant. Some objects are superfluous; others are not worth

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Sed hoc non pervidemus, et gratuita nobis videntur,

7 quae carissime constant. Ex eo licet stupor noster appareat, quod ea sola putamus emi, pro quibus pecuniam solvimus, ea gratuita vocamus, pro quibus nos ipsos inpendimus. Quae emere nollemus, si domus nobis nostra pro illis esset danda, si amoenum aliquod fructuosumve praedium, ad ea _paratissimi sumus pervenire cum sollicitudine, cum periculo, cum iactura pudoris et libertatis et temporis; adeo nihil est cuique se vilius.

g Idem itaque in omnibus consiliis rebusque faciamus, quod solemus facere, quotiens ad institorem alicuius mercis accessimus; videamus, hoc quod concupiscimus, quanti deferatur. Saepe maximum pretium est, pro quo nullum datur. Multa possum tibi ostendere, quae adquisita acceptaque libertatem nobis extor- serint ; nostri essemus, si ista nostra non essent.

9 Haec ergo tecum ipse versa, non solum ubi de incremento agetur, sed etiam ubi de iactura. “ Hoc periturum est.” Nempe adventicium fuit ; tam facile sine isto vives quam vixisti. Si diu illud habuisti, perdis postquam satiatus es; si non diu, perdis ante- quam adsuescas. ‘ Pecuniam minorem_habebis.”

10 Nempe et molestiam. “ Gratiam minorem.’’ Nempe et invidiam. Circumspice ista, quae nos agunt in insaniam, quae cum plurumis lacrimis amittimus ; scies non damnum in is! molestum esse, sed opinionem

1 damnum in is Hense ; damnum in his or dum numinis

MSS. 282

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the price we pay for them. But we do not see this clearly, and we regard things as free gifts when they really cost us very dear. Our stupidity may be clearly proved by the fact that we hold that “buying” refers only to the objects for which we pay cash, and we regard as free gifts the things for which we spend our very selves. These we should refuse to buy, if we were compelled to give in pay- ment for them our houses or some attractive and profitable estate ; but we are eager to attain them at the cost of anxiety, of danger, and of lost honour, personal freedom, and time; so true it is that each man regards nothing as cheaper than himself.

Let us therefore act, in all our plans and conduct, just as we are accustomed to act whenever we approach a huckster who has certain wares for sale; let us see how much we must pay for that which we crave. Very often the things that cost nothing cost us the most heavily; I can show you many objects the quest and acquisition of which have wrested freedom from our hands. We should belong to our- selves, if only these things did not belong to us.

I would therefore have you reflect thus, not only when it is a question of gain, but also when it is a question of loss. “ This object is bound to perish.” Yes, it was a mere extra; you will live without it just as easily as you have lived before. If you have possessed it for a long time, you lose it after you have had your fill of it; if you have not possessed it long, then you lose it before you have become wedded to it. “You will have less money.” Yes, and less trouble. “Less influence.” Yes, and less envy. Look about you and note the things that drive us mad, which we lose with a flood of tears; you will perceive that it is not the loss that troubles us with

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damni. Nemo illa perisse sentit, sed cogitat. Qui se habet, nihil perdidit. Sed quoto cuique habere se contigit? VALE.

Xliti.

XLITI.

Seneca Lycinio svo SALVTEM

1 Quomodo hoc ad me pervenerit quaeris, quis mihi id te cogitare narraverit, quod tu nulli narraveras ? Is quiscit plurumum, rumor. ‘“ Quid ergo?” inquis, “Tantus sum, ut possim excitare rumorem?”’’ Non est quod te ad hunc locum respiciens metiaris ; ad

2 istum respice, in quo moraris. Quicquid inter vicina eminet, magnum est illic, ubi eminet. Nam magni- tudo non habet! modum certum; comparatio illam aut tollit? aut deprimit. Navis, quae in flumine magna est, in mari parvula est. Gubernaculum, quod alteri navi magnum, alteri exiguum est.

3 Tu nunc in provincia, licet contemnas ipse te, magnus es. Quid agas, quemadmodum cenes, quem- admodum dormias, quaeritur, scitur; eo tibi dili- gentius vivendum est. Tunc autem felicem esse te iudica, cum poteris in publico vivere, cum te parietes tui tegent, non abscondent, quos plerumque circum- datos nobis iudicamus non ut tutius vivamus, sed ut

4 peccemus occultius. Rem dicam, ex qua mores aestimes nostros : vix quemquam invenies, qui possit

1 non habet later MSS. ; habet pLg. 2 tollit Ls; attollit L second hand and codd. Wirc. and

Erlang.

4 7.e., Rome. > Lucilius was at this time imperial procurator in Sicily.

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reference to these things, but a notion of loss. No one feels that they have been lost, but his mind tells him that it has been so. He that owns himself has lost nothing. But how few men are blessed with ownership of self! Farewell.

XE; ON THE RELATIVITY (OF EAME

Do you ask how the news reached me, and who informed me, that you were entertaining this idea, of which you had said nothing to a single soul? It was that most knowing of persons,—gossip. “What,” you say, “am I such a great personage that I can stir up gossip?’’ Now there is no reason why you should measure yourself according to this part of the world®; have regard only to the place where you are dwelling. Any point which rises above adjacent points is great, at the spot where it rises. For greatness is not absolute; comparison increases it or lessens it. A ship which looms large in the river seems tiny when on the ocean. A _ rudder which is large for one vessel, is small for another.

So you in your province ® are really of importance, though you scorn yourself. Men are asking what you do, how you dine, and how you sleep, and they find out, too; hence there is all the more reason for your living circumspectly. Do not, however, deem yourself truly happy until you find that you can live before men’s eyes, until your walls protect but do not hide you; although we are apt to believe that these walls surround us, not to enable us to live more safely, but that we may sin more secretly. I shall mention a fact by which you may weigh the worth of a man’s character: you will scarcely find anyone

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aperto ostio vivere. Janitores conscientia nostra, non superbia opposuit ; sic vivimus, ut deprendi sit subito adspici. Quid autem prodest recondere se et oculos 5 hominum auresque vitare? Bona conscientia turbam advocat, mala etiam in solitudine anxia atque sollicita est. Si honesta sunt quae facis, omnes sciant, si turpia, quid refert neminem scire, cum tu scias? O

te miserum, si contemnis hunc testem! VALE.

XLII. Seneca LvcILio svo SALVTEM

1 Iterum tu mihi te pusillum facis et dicis malignius tecum egisse naturam prius, deinde fortunam, cum possis eximere te vulgo et ad felicitatem hominum maximam emergere. Si quid est aliud in philosophia boni, hoc est, quod stemma non inspicit. Omnes, si

2 ad originem primam revocantur, a dis sunt. Eques Romanus es, et ad hunc ordinem tua te perduxit industria ; at mehercules multis quattuordecim clausa sunt ; non omnes curia admittit ; castra quoque, quos ad laborem et periculum recipiant, fastidiose legunt. Bona mens omnibus patet, omnes ad hoc sumus nobiles. Nec reicit quemquam philosophia nec

3 eligit; omnibus lucet. Patricius Socrates non fuit.

« Alluding to the seats reserved for the knights at the theatre.

286

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EPISTLES XLIII., XLIV.

who can live with his door wide open. It is our conscience, not our pride, that has put doorkeepers at our doors; we live in such a fashion that being suddenly disclosed to view is equivalent to being caught in the act. What profits it, however, to hide ourselves away, and to avoid the eyes and ears of men? A good conscience welcomes the crowd, but a bad conscience, even in solitude, is disturbed and troubled. If your deeds are honourable, let every- body know them; if base, what matters it that no one knows them, as long as you yourself know them? How wretched you are if you despise such a witness! Farewell.

Xliv. On Philosophy And Pedigrees

XLIV. ON PHILOSOPHY AND PEDIGREES

You are again insisting to me that you are a nobody, and saying that nature in the first place, and fortune in the second, have treated you too scurvily, and this in spite of the fact that you have it in your power to separate yourself from the crowd and rise to the highest human happiness! If there is any good in philosophy, it is this,—that it never looks into pedigrees. All men, if traced back to their original source, spring from the gods. You are a Roman knight, and your persistent work promoted you to this class; yet surely there are many to whom the fourteen rows are barred ;% the senate-chamber is not open to all; the army, too, is scrupulous in choosing those whom it admits to toil and danger. But a noble mind is free to all men; according to this test, we may all gain distinction. Philosophy neither rejects nor selects anyone; its light shines for all. Socrates was no aristocrat. Cleanthes

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Cleanthes aquam traxit et rigando horto locavit manus. Platonem non accepit nobilem philosophia, sed fecit. Quid est quare desperes his te posse fieri parem? Omnes hi maiores tui sunt, si te illis geris dignum ; geres autem, si hoc protinus tibi ipse per-

4 suaseris, a nullo te nobilitate superari. Omnibus nobis totidem ante nos sunt; nullius non origo ultra memoriam iacet. Platon ait neminem regem non ex servis esse oriundum,neminem servumnon! exregibus. Omnia ista longa varietas miscuit et sursum deorsum

5 fortuna versavit. Quis est generosus? Ad virtutem bene a natura conpositus. Hoc unum intuendum est; alioquin si ad vetera revocas, nemo non inde est, ante quod nihil est. A primo mundi ortu usque in hoe tempus perduxit nos ex splendidis sordidisque alternata series. Non facit nobilem atrium plenum fumosis imaginibus. Nemo in nostram gloriam vixit nec quod ante nos fuit, nostrum est; animus facit nobiiem, cui ex quacumque condicione supra fortunam licet surgere. ;

6 Puta itaque te non equitem Romanum esse, sed libertinum; potes hoe consequi, ut solus sis liber inter ingenuos. “ Quomodo?”’ inquis. Si mala bona- que non populo auctore distinxeris. Intuendum est

1 servum non Madvig ; non servum MSS.

@ Plato, Theaetetus, p. 174 E.

>’ Compare with the whole argument Menander, Frag. 533 Kock, ending: és ay eb yeyorws B Ty pice mpds TAayaGd, kav Aldiop 9, mantep, éeoTiv evyevis. 288

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EPISTLE XLIV.

worked at a well and served as a hired man watering a garden. Philosophy did not find Plato already a nobleman; it made him one. Why then should you despair of becoming able to rank with men like these? They are all your ancestors, if you conduct yourself in a manner worthy of them; and you will do so if you convince yourself at the outset that no man outdoes you in real nobility. We have all had the same number of forefathers; there is no man whose first beginning does not transcend memory. Plato says: “Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave has had kings among his ancestors.’ % The flight of time, with its vicissitudes, has jumbled all such things together, and Fortune has turned them upside down. ‘Then who is well-born ? He who is by nature well fitted for virtue. That is the one point to be considered; otherwise, if you hark back to antiquity, every one traces back to a date before which there is nothing. From the earliest beginnings of the universe to the present time, we have been led forward out of origins that were alternately illustrious and ignoble. A hall full of smoke-begrimed busts does not make the nobleman. No past life has been lived to lend us glory, and that which has existed before us is not ours; the soul alone renders us noble, and it may rise superior to Fortune out of any earlier condition, no matter what that condition has been.?

Suppose, then, that you were not a Roman knight, but a freedman, you might nevertheless by your own efforts come to be the only free man amid a throng of gentlemen. “How?” you ask. Simply by dis- tinguishing between good and bad things without patterning your opinion from the populace. You should look, not to the source from which these

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non unde veniant, sed quo eant. Si quid est, quod vitam beatam potest facere, id bonum est suo iure. 7 Depravari enim in malum non potest. Quid est ergo, in quo erratur, cum omnes beatam vitam optent? Quod instrumenta eius pro ipsa habent et illam, dum petunt, fugiunt. Nam cum summa vitae beatae sit solida securitas et eius inconcussa fiducia, sollicitu- dinis colligunt causas et per insidiosum iter vitae non tantuim ferunt sarcinas, sed trahunt; ita longius ab effectu eius, quod petunt, semper abscedunt et quo plus operae inpenderunt, hoc se magis impediunt et feruntur retro. Quod evenit in labyrintho prope- rantibus ; ipsa illos velocitas inplicat. Vater.

XLV. Seneca LvycILIO svo SALVTEM

1 Librorum istic inopiam esse quereris. - Non refert, quam multos, sed quam bonos habeas; lectio certa prodest, varia delectat. Qui, quo destinavit, per- venire vult, unam sequatur viam, non per multas vagetur. Non ire istuc, sed errare est.

2 “Vellem,”?! inquis, “ magis consilium mihi quam libros dares.” Ego vero quoscumque habeo, mittere paratus sum et totum horreum excutere. Me quoque

1 As Hense suggests, we should from the context expect nollem rather than vellem.

290

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EPISTLES XLIV., XLV.

things come, but to the goal towards which they tend. If there is anything that can make lite happy, it is good on its own merits ; for it cannot degenerate into evil. Where, then, lies the mistake, since all men crave the happy life? It is that they regard the means for producing happiness as happiness itself, and, while seeking happiness, they are really fleeing from it. For although the sum and substance of the happy life is unalloyed freedom from care, and though the secret of such freedom is unshaken confidence, yet men gather together that which causes worry, and, while travelling life’s treacherous road, not only have burdens to bear, but even draw burdens to themselves; hence they recede farther and farther from the achievement of that which they seek, and the more effort they expend, the more they hinder themselves and are set back. This is what happens when you hurry through a maze; the faster you go, the worse you are entangled. Farewell.

Xlv. On Sophistical Argumentation

XLV. ON SOPHISTICAL ARGUMENTATION

You complain that in your part of the world there is a scant supply of books. But it is quality, rather than quantity, that matters; a limited list of reading benefits ; a varied assortment serves only for delight. He who would arrive at the appointed end must follow a single road and not wander through many ways. What you suggest is not travelling; it is mere tramping.

“But,” you say, “I should rather have you give me advice than books.” Still, I am ready to send you all the books I have, to ransack the whole store- house. If it were possible, I should join you there

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isto, si possem, transferrem, et nisi mature te finem officii sperarem inpetraturum, hance senilem expedi- tionem indixissem mihi nee me Charybdis et Scylla et fabulosum istud fretum deterrere potuissent. Tranassem ista, non solum traiecissem, dummodo te conplecti possem et praesens aestimare, quantum animo crevisses.

3. Ceterum quod libros meos tibi mitti desideras, non magis ideo me disertum puto quam formosum putarem, si imaginem meam peteres. _Indulgentiae scio istud esse, non iudicii. Et si modo iudicii est, indulgentia

4 tibi inposuit. Sed qualescumque sunt, tu illos sic lege, tamquam verum quaeram adhuc, non sciam, et contumaciter quaeram. Non enim me cuiquam eman- cipavi, nullius nomen fero. Multum magnorum virorum iudicio credo, aliquid et meo vindico. Nam illi quoque non inventa, sed quaerenda nobis relique- runt, et invenissent forsitan necessaria, nisi et super-

5 vacua quaesissent. Multum illis temporis verborum cavillatio eripuit, captiosae disputationes, quae acumen irritum exercent. Nectimus nodos et ambiguam significationem verbis inligamus ac deinde dissolvimus.

Tantum nobis vacat? Jam vivere, iam mori scimus? ‘Tota illo mente pergendum est, ubi pro-

6 videri debet, ne res nos, non verba, decipiant. Quid

292

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EPISTLE XLV.

myself; and were it not for the hope that you will soon complete your term of office, I should have imposed upon myself this old man’s journey; no Scylla or Charybdis or their storied straits could have frightened me away. I should not only have crossed over, but should have been willing to swim over those waters, provided that I could greet you and judge in your presence how much you had grown in spirit.

Your desire, however, that I should dispatch to you my own writings does not make me think myself learned, any more than a request for my picture would flatter my beauty. I know that it is due to your charity rather than to your judgment. And even if it is the result of judgment, it was charity that forced the judgment upon you. But whatever the quality of my works may be, read them as if I were still seeking, and were not aware of, the truth, and were seeking it obstinately, too. For I have sold myself to no man; I bear the name of no master. I give much credit to the judgment of great men; but I claim something also for my own. For these men, too, have left to us, not positive discoveries, but problems whose solution is still to be sought. They might perhaps have discovered the essentials, had they not sought the superfluous also. They lost much time in quibbling about words and in sophistical argumentation ; all that sort of thing exercises the wit to no purpose. We tie knots and bind up words in double meanings, and then try to untie them.

Have we leisure enough for this? Do we already know how to live, or die? We should rather proceed with our whole souls towards the point where it is our duty to take heed lest things, as well as words, deceive us. Why, pray, do you discriminate between

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mihi vocum similitudines distinguis, quibus nemo um. quam nisi dum disputat captus est? Res fallunt; illas discerne. Pro bonis mala amplectimur ; optamus contra id, quod optavimus. Pugnant vota nostra cum 7 votis, consilia cum consiliis. Adulatio quam similis est amicitiae! Non imitatur tantum illam, sed vincit et praeterit ; apertis ac propitiis auribus recipitur et in praecordia ima descendit, eo ipso gratiosa, quo laedit. | Doce quemadmodum hanc _ similitudinem possim dinoscere. Venit ad me pro amico blandus inimicus. Vitia nobis sub virtutum nomine obrepunt, temeritas sub titulo fortitudinis latet, moderatio vocatur ignavia, pro cauto timidus accipitur; in his magno periculo erramus. His certas notas inprime. 8 Ceterum qui interrogatur, an cornua habeat, non est tam stultus, ut frontem suam temptet, nec rursus tam ineptus aut hebes, ut ne sciat tu illi subtilissima collectione persuaseris.!_ Sic ista sine noxa decipiunt, quomodo praestigiatorum acetabula et calculi, in quibus me fallacia ipsa delectat. Effice, ut quomodo fiat intellegam; perdidi usum. Idem de istis cap- tionibus dico; quo enim nomine potius sophismata appellem? Nec ignoranti nocent nec scientem iu- 9 vant. Si utique vis verborum ambiguitates diducere, hoc nos doce, beatum non eum esse, quem vulgus

1 Buecheler supposes a lacuna in this sentence, which he would fill: wt nesciat aliter esse ac tu illi etc., ‘so that he does not know the facts to be far different from what you have persuaded him, by the subtlest argumentation, to believe.”

* Cf. Gellius, xviii. 2. 9 guod non perdidisti, habes ; cornua non perdidisti; habes igitur cornua,; cf. also Seneca, Lp. xl viii.

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similar words, when nobody is ever deceived by them except during the discussion? It is things that lead us astray: it is between things that you must dis- criminate. We embrace evil instead of good; we pray for something opposite to that which we have prayed for in the past. Our prayers clash with our prayers, our plans with our plans. How closely flattery resembles friendship! It not only apes friendship, but outdoes it, passing it in the race; with wide-open and indulgent ears it is welcomed and sinks to the depths of the heart, and it is pleasing precisely wherein it does harm. Show me how I may be able to see through this resemblance! An enemy comes to me full of compliments, in the guise of a friend. Vices creep into our hearts under the name of virtues, rashness lurks beneath the appellation of bravery, moderation is called sluggish- ness, and the coward is regarded as prudent; there is great danger if we go astray in these matters. So stamp them with special labels.

Then, too, the man who is asked whether he has horns on his head @ is not such a fool as to feel for them on his forehead, nor again so silly or dense that you can persuade him by means of argumentation, no matter how subtle, that he does not know the facts. Such quibbles are just as harmlessly deceptive as the juggler’s cup and dice, in which it is the very trickery that pleases me. But show me how the trick is done, and I have lost my interest therein. And I hold the same opinion about these tricky word-plays; for by what other name can one call such sophistries? Not to know them does no harm, and mastering them does no good. At any rate, if you wish to sift doubtful meanings of this kind, teach us that the happy man is not he whom the crowd

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appellat, ad quem pecunia magna confluxit, sed illum, cui bonum omne in animo est, erectum et excelsum et mutabilia ! caleantem, qui neminem videt, cum quo se conmutatum velit, qui hominem ea sola parte aestimat, qua homo est, qui natura magistra utitur, ad illius leges conponitur, sic vivit, quomodo illa prae- scripsit, cui bona sua nulla vis excutit, qui mala in bonum vertit, certus iudicii, inconcussus, intrepidus, quein aliqua vis movet, nulla perturbat, quem fortuna, cum quod habuit telum nocentissimum vi maxima intorsit, pungit, non vulnerat, et hoc raro. Nam cetera eius tela, quibus genus humanum debellatur, grandinis more dissultant, quae incussa tectis sine ullo habitatoris incommodo crepitat ac solvitur.

Quid me detines in eo, quem tu ipse pseudomenon appellas, de quo tantum librorum conpositum est? Ecce tota mihi vita mentitur; hance coargue, hance ad verum, si acutus es, redige. Necessaria iudicat, quorum magna pars supervacua est. Etiam quae non est supervacua, nihil in se momenti habet in hoc, ut possit fortunatum beatumque praestare. Non enim statim bonum est, si quid necessarium est; aut proicimus bonum, si hoc nomen pani et polentae damus et ceteris, sine quibus vita non ducitur. Quod bonum est, utique necessarium est ; quod necessarium est, non utique bonum est, quoniam quidem neces- saria sunt quaedam eadem vilissima. Nemo usque eo dignitatem boni ignorat, ut illud ad haec in diem utilia demittat.

1 mutabilia Haupt ; mirabilia MSS.

4 ¢.g. Gellius, xviii. 2. 10 cum mentior et mentiri me dizo, mentior an verum dico ?

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deems happy, namely, he into whose coffers mighty sums have flowed, but he whose possessions are all in his soul, who is upright and exalted, who spurns inconstancy, who sees no man with whom he wishes to change places, who rates men only at their value as men, who takes Nature for his teacher, conform- ing to her laws and living as she commands, whom no violence can deprive of his possessions, who turns evil into good, is unerring in judgment, unshaken, unafraid, who may be moved by force but never moved to distraction, whom Fortune when she hurls at him with all her might the deadliest missile in her armoury, may graze, though rarely, but never wound. For Fortune’s other missiles, with which she vanquishes mankind in general, rebound from such a one, like hail which rattles on the roof with no harm to the dweller therein, and then melts away.

Why do you bore me with that which you your- self call the “liar ”’ fallacy,? about which so many books have been written? Come now,suppose that my whole life is a lie; prove that to be wrong and, if you are sharp enough, bring that back to the truth. At present it holds things to be essential of which the greater part is superfluous. And even that which is not superfluous is of no significance in respect to its power of making one fortunate and blest. For if a thing be necessary, it does not follow that it isa good. Else we degrade the meaning of “ good,” if we apply that name to bread and barley-porridge and other commodities without which we cannot live. The good must in every case be necessary ; but that which is necessary is not in every case a good, since certain very paltry things are indeed necessary. No one is to such an ex- tent ignorant of the noblemeaning of the word “good,” as to debase it to the level of these humdrum utilities.

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12 Quid ergo? Non eo potius curam transferes, ut ostendas omnibus magno temporis inpendio quaeri supervacua et multos transisse vitam, dum vitae instrumenta conquirunt? Recognosce singulos, con- sidera universos; nullius non vita spectat in crastinum.

13 Quid in hoc sit mali, quaeris? Infinitum. Non enim vivunt, sed victuri sunt. Omnia differunt. Etiamsi adtenderemus, tamen nos vita praecurreret ; nune vero cunctantes quasi aliena transcurrit et ultimo die finitur, omni perit.

Sed ne epistulae modum excedam, quae non debet sinistram manum legentis inplere, in alium diem hance litem cum dialecticis differam nimium subtilibus et hoc solum curantibus, non et hoc. VALE.

XLVI. Seneca LyvcILio svo SALVTEM

1 Librum tuum, quem mihi promiseras, accepi et tamquam lecturus ex commodo adaperui ac tantum degustare volui. Deinde blanditus est ipse, ut procederem longius. Qui quam disertus fuerit, ex hoc intellegas licet; levis mihi visus est, cum esset nec mei nec tui corporis, sed qui primo aspectu aut Titi Livii aut Epicuri posset videri. Tanta autem dulcedine me tenuit et traxit, ut illum sine ulla

@ A book was unrolled with the right hand; the reader gathered up the part already perused with his left hand. Nearly all books at this time were papyrus rolls, as were letters of any great length.

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EPISTLES XLV., XLVI.

What, then? Shall you not rather transfer your efforts to making it clear to all men that the search for the superfluous means a great outlay of time, and that many have gone through life merely accumulat- ing the instruments of life? Consider individuals, survey men in general; there is none whose life does not look forward to the morrow. “ What harm is there in this,’ you ask? Infinite harm; for such persons do not live, but are preparing to live. They postpone everything. Even if we paid strict atten- tion, life would soon get ahead of us; but as we are now, life finds us lingering and passes us by as if it belonged to another, and though it ends on the final day, it perishes every day.

But I must not exceed the bounds of a letter, which ought not to fill the reader’s left hand. SoI shall postpone to another day our case against the hair-splitters, those over-subtle fellows who make argumentation supreme instead of subordinate. Farewell.

XLVI. ON A NEW BOOK BY LUCILIUS

I received the book of yours which you promised me. I opened it hastily with the idea of glancing over it at leisure; for I meant only to taste the volume. But by its own charm the book coaxed me into traversing it more at length. You may understand from this fact how eloquent it was; for it seemed to be written in the smooth style,’ and yet did not resemble your handiwork or mine, but at first sight might have been ascribed to Titus Livius or to Epicurus. Moreover, I was so impressed and carried along by its charm that I finished it without

> Possibly /evis in the sense of light, referring to size.

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dilatione perlegerim. Sol me invitabat, fames ad. monebat, nubes minabantur; tamen exhausi totum.

2 Non tantum delectatus, sed gavisus sum. Quid ingenii iste habuit, quid animi! Dicerem, quid inpetus, si interquievisset, si ex intervallo! surrexis- set; nunc non fuit inpetus, sed tenor, conpositio virilis et sancta; nihilominus interveniebat dulce illud et loco lene. Grandis, erectus es; hoc te volo tenere, sic ire. Fecit aliquid et materia; ideo eligenda est fertilis, quae capiat ingenium, quae incitet.

3 De libro? plura scribam cum illum retractavero ; nune parum mihi sedet iudicium, tamquam audierim illa, non legerim. Sine me et inquirere. Non est quod verearis ; verumaudies. O te hominem felicem, quod nihil habes, propter quod quisquam tibi tam longe mentiatur! Nisi quod iam etiam ubi causa sublata est, mentimur consuetudinis causa. VALE.

NT Vit. Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

1 = Libenter ex is,? qui a te veniunt, cognovi fami- liariter te cum servis tuis vivere. Hoe prudentiam tuam, hoe eruditionem decet. “Servisunt.” Immo homines. “Servi sunt.” Immo _ contubernales.

1 si ex intervallo Madvig ; si intervallo LPb. 2 de libro later MSS. ; libro pLPb. * is Hense: his or iis MSS.

@ Much of the following is quoted by Macrobius, Sat. i. 11. 7 ff., in the passage beginning vis tu cogitare eos, ques ius tuum vocas, «dem seminebus ortos eodem frui caelo, etc.

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any postponement. The sunlight called to me, hunger warned, and clouds were lowering; but I absorbed the book from beginning to end.

I was not merely pleased; I rejoiced. So full of wit and spirit it was! I should have added “ force,” had the book contained moments of repose, or had it risen to energy only at intervals. But I found that there was no burst of force, but an even flow, a style that was vigorous and chaste. Nevertheless I noticed from time to time your sweetness, and here and there that mildness of yours. Your style is lofty and noble; I want you to keep to this manner and this direction. Your subject also contributed something; for this reason you should choose productive topics, which will lay hold of the mind and arouse it.

I shall discuss the book more fully after a second perusal; meantime, my judgment is somewhat unsettled, just as if I had heard it read aloud, and had not read it myself. You must aliow me to examine it also. You need not be afraid ; you shall hear the truth. Lucky fellow, to offer a man no opportunity to tell you lies at such long range! Unless perhaps, even now, when excuses for lying are taken away, custom serves as an excuse for our telling each other lies! Farewell.

XLVII. ON MASTER AND SLAVE

I am glad to learn, through those who come from you, that you live on friendly terms with your slaves, This befits a sensible and well-educated man like yourself. “They are slaves,” people declare.* Nay, rather they are men. “Slaves!’’ No, comrades.

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“Servi sunt.” Immo humiles amici. “ Servi sunt.” Immo conservi, si cogitaveris tantundem in utrosque licere fortunae.

2 _Itaque rideo istos, qui turpe existimant cum servo suocenare. Quare, nisi quia superbissima consuetudo cenanti domino stantium servorum turbam circum- dedit? Est ille plus quam capit, et ingenti aviditate onerat distentum ventrem ac desuetum iam ventris officio, ut maiore opera omnia egerat quam ingessit ;

3 at infelicibus servis movere labra ne in hoc quidem, ut loquantur, licet. Virga murmur omne conpescitur, et ne fortuita quidem verberibus excepta sunt, tussis, sternumenta, singultus. Magno malo ulla voce interpellatum silentium luitur. Nocte tota ieiuni mutique perstant.

4 Sic fit, ut isti de domino loquantur, quibus coram domino loqui non licet. At illi, quibus non tantum coram dominis, sed cum ipsis erat sermo, quorum os non consuebatur, parati erant pro domino porrigere cervicem, periculum inminens in caput suum avertere ; in conviviis loquebantur, sed in tormentis tacebant.

5 Deinde eiusdem arrogantiae proverbium iactatur, totidem hostes esse quot servos. Non habemus illos hostes, sed facimus.

Alia interim crudelia, inhumana praetereo, quod ne tamquam hominibus quidem, sed tamquam

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« Slaves!’’ No, they are unpretentious friends. “Slaves!” No, they are our fellow-slaves, if one reflects that Fortune has equal rights over slaves and free men alike.

That is why I smile at those who think it degrading for a man to dine with his slave. But why should they think it degrading? It is only because purse-proud etiquette surrounds a house- holder at his dinner with a mob of standing slaves. The master eats more than he can hold, and with monstrous greed loads his belly until it is stretched and at length ceases to do the work of a belly; so that he is at greater pains to discharge all the food than he was to stuff it down. All this time the poor slaves may not move their lips, even to speak. The slightest murmur is repressed by the rod; even a chance sound,—a cough, a sneeze, or a hiccup,— is visited with the lash. There is a grievous penalty for the slightest breach of silence. All night long they must stand about, hungry and dumb.

The result of it all is that these slaves, who may not talk in their master’s presence, talk about their master. But the slaves of former days, who were permitted to converse not only in their master’s presence, but actually with him, whose mouths were not stitched up tight, were ready to bare their necks for their master, to bring upon their own heads any danger that threatened him; they spoke at the feast, but kept silence during torture. Finally, the saying, in allusion to this same high- handed treatment, becomes current: “ As many enemies as you have slaves.” They are not enemies when we acquire them; we make them enemies.

I shall pass over other cruel and inhuman conduct towards them; for we maltreat them, not as if they

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iumentis abutimur. Cum!ad cenandum discubuimus, alius sputa detergit, alius reliquias temulentorum 6 toro? subditus colligit. Alius pretiosas aves scindit ; per pectus et clunes certis ductibus circumferens eruditam manum frusta excutit, infelix, qui huic uni rei vivit, ut altilia decenter secet, nisi quod miserior est, qui hoc voluptatis causa docet quam 7 qui necessitatis discit. Alius vini minister in muliebrem modum ornatus cum aetate luctatur; non potest effugere pueritiam, retrahitur, iamque militari habitu glaber retritis pilis aut penitus evulsis tota nocte pervigilat, quam inter ebrietatem domini ac libidinem dividit et in cubiculo vir, in convivio puer 8 est. Alius, cui convivarum censura permissa est, perstat infelix et exspectat, quos adulatio et in- temperantia aut gulae aut linguae revocet in crastinum. Adice obsonatores, quibus dominici palati notitia subtilis est, qui sciunt, cuius illum rei sapor excitet, cuius delectet aspectus, cuius novitate nauseabundus erigi possit, quid iam-ipsa satietate fastidiat, quid illo die esuriat. Cum his cenare non sustinet et maiestatis suae deminutionem putat ad eandem mensam cum servo suo accedere. Di melius!

1 Before cum MSS. give quod ; Buecheler removed it. 2 toro was inserted by O. Rossbach.

@ Glabri, delicati, or exoleti were favourite slaves, kept artificially youthful by Romans of the more dissolute class. Cf. Catullus, lxi. 142, and Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae, 12. 5 (a passage closely resembling the description given above by Seneca), where the master prides himself upon the elegant appearance and graceful gestures of these favourites.

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were men, but as if they were beasts of burden. When we recline at a banquet, one slave mops up the disgorged food, another crouches beneath the table and gathers up the left-overs of the tipsy guests. Another carves the priceless game birds; with unerring strokes and skilled hand he cuts choice morsels along the breast or the rump. Hapless fellow, to live only for the purpose of cutting fat capons correctly,—unless, indeed, the other man is still more unhappy than he, who teaches this art for pleasure’s sake, rather than he who learns it because he must. Another, who serves the wine, must dress like a woman and wrestle with his advancing years ; he cannot get away from his boyhood ; he is dragged back to it; and though he has already acquired a soldier’s figure, he is kept beardless by having his hair smoothed away or plucked out by the roots, and he must remain awake throughout the night, dividing his time between his master’s drunkenness and his lust ; in the chamber he must be a man, at the feast a boy. Another, whose duty it is to put a valuation on the guests, must stick to his task, poor fellow, and watch to see whose flattery and whose immodesty, whether of appetite or of language, is to get them an invitation for to-morrow. ‘Think also of the poor purveyors of food, who note their masters’ tastes with delicate skill, who know what special flavours will sharpen their appetite, what will please their eyes, what new combinations will rouse their cloyed stomachs, what food will excite their loathing through sheer satiety, and what will stir them to hunger on that particular day. With slaves like these the master cannot bear to dine; he would think it beneath his dignity to associate with his slave at the same table! Heaven forfend!

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Quot ex istis dominos habet!! Stare ante limen Callisti dominum suum vidi et eum, qui illi inpegerat titulum, qui inter reicula? mancipia produxerat, aliis intrantibus excludi. Rettulit illi gratiam servus ille in primam decuriam coniectus, in qua vocem praeco experitur; et ipse illum invicem apologavit, et ipse non iudicavit domo sua dignum. Dominus Callistum vendidit ; sed domino quam multa Callistus !

Vis tu cogitare istum, quem servum tuum vocas, ex isdem seminibus ortum eodem frui caelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori! tam tu*® illum videre ingenuum potes quam ille te servum. Mariana clade multos splendidissime natos, senatorium per militiam auspicantes gradum, fortuna depressit, alium ex illis pastorem, alium custodem casae fecit; con- temne nunc eius fortunae hominem, in quam transire, dum contemnis, potes.

Nolo in ingentem me locum inmittere et de usu servorum disputare, in quos superbissimi, crudelissimi, contumeliosissimi sumus. Haec tamen_ praecepti mei summa est: sic cum inferiore vivas, quemad- modum tecum superiorem velis vivere. Quotiens in mentem venerit, quantum tibi in servum? liceat, veniat in mentem tantundem in te domino tuo licere. * At ego,’ inquis, “nullum habeo dominum.” Bona

1 habet Haase; habent MSS.

2 reicula Muretus ; ridicula MSS.

3 tam tu the inferior MSS. and Macrobius ; guam tu pb; tam quam tu Lg. 4 Gertz adds tuwm.

@ The master of Callistus, before he became the favourite of Caligula, is unknown.

> There is some doubt whether we should not read Variana, as Lipsius suggests. This method of qualifying for senator suits the Empire better than the Republic. Variana would refer to the defeat of Varus in Germany, Ame 9.

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But how many masters is he creating in these very men! I have seen standing in the line, before the door of Callistus, the former master @ of Callistus ; I have seen the master himself shut out while others were welcomed,—the master who once fastened the “For Sale” ticket on Callistus and put him in the market along with the good-for-nothing slaves. But he has been paid off by that slave who was shuffled into the first lot of those on whom the crier practises his lungs; the slave, too, in his turn has cut Azs name from the list and in his turn has adjudged him unfit to enter his house. The master sold Callistus, but how much has Callistus made his master pay for!

Kindly remember that he whom you call your slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives, and dies. It is just as possible for you to see in him a free-born man as for him to see in youaslave. Asa result of the massacres in Marius’s? day, many a man of distinguished birth, who was taking the first steps toward senatorial rank by service in the army, was humbled by fortune, one becoming a shepherd, another a caretaker of a country cottage. Despise, then, if you dare, those to whose estate yeu may at any time descend, even when you are despising them.

I do not wish to involve myself in too large a question, and to discuss the treatment of slaves, towards whom we Romans are excessively haughty, cruel, and insulting. But this is the kernel of my advice: Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters. And as often as you reflect how much power you have over a slave, remember that your master has just as much power over you. “But I have no master,” you say. You are still

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aetas est; forsitan habebis. Nescis, qua aetate Hecuba servire coeperit, qua Croesus, qua Darei mater, qua Platon, qua Diogenes?

Vive cum servo clementer, comiter quoque, et in sermonem illum admitte et in consilium et in con- victum. Hoc loco adclamabit mihi tota manus delicatorum: “ Nihil hac re humilius, nihil turpius.” Hos ego eosdem deprehendam alienorum servorum osculantes manum. Ne illud quidem videtis, quam omnem invidiam maiores nostri dominis, omnem contumeliam servis detraxerint? Dominum patrem familiae appellaverunt, servos, quod etiam in mimis adhuc durat, familiares. Instituerunt diem festum, non quo solo cum servis domini vescerentur, sed quo utique; honores illis in domo gerere, ius dicere permiserunt et domum pusillam rem publicam esse iudicaverunt.

“Quid ergo? Omnes servos admovebo mensae meae?” Non magis quam omnes liberos. Erras, si existimas me quosdam quasi sordidioris operae reiecturum, ut puta illum mulionem et illum bubul- cum; non ministeriis illos aestimabo, sed moribus. Sibi quisque dat mores, ministeria casus adsignat. Quidam cenent tecum, quia digni sunt, quidam, ut sint. Si quid enim in illis.ex sordida conversatione

@ Plato was about forty years old when he visited Sicily, whence he was afterwards deported by Dionysius the Elder. He was sold into slavery at Aegina and ransomed by a man from Cyrene. Diogenes, while travelling from Athens to Aegina, is said to have been captured by pirates and sold in Crete, where he was purchased by a certain Corinthian and given his freedom.

> 7.¢.,as thepraetor himself was normally accustomed todo.

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young; perhaps you will have one. Do you not know at what age Hecuba entered captivity, or Croesus, or the mother of Darius, or Plato, or Diogenes ?

Associate with your slave on kindly, even on affable, terms; let him talk with you, plan with you, live with you. I know that at this point all the ex- quisites will cry out against me in a body; they will say: “There is nothing more debasing, more dis- graceful, than this.” But these are the very persons whom I sometimes surprise kissing the hands of other men’s slaves. Do you not see even this,— how our ancestors removed from masters every- thing invidious, and from slaves everything insulting ? They called the master “father of the household,” and the slaves ‘“‘members of the household,” a custom which still holds in the mime. They established a holiday on which masters and slaves should eat together,—not as the only day for this custom, but as obligatory on that day in any case. They allowed the slaves to attain honours in the household and to pronounce judgment?; they held that a household was a miniature commonwealth.

“ Do you mean to say,” comes the retort, “that I must seat all my slaves at my own table?”’ No, not any more than that you should invite all free men to it. You are mistaken if you think that I would bar from my table certain slaves whose duties are more humble, as, for example, yonder muleteer or yonder herdsman; I propose to value them according to their character, and not according to their duties. Each man acquires his character for himself, but accident assigns his duties. Invite some to your table because they deserve the honour, and others that they may come to deserve it. For if there is

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16 servile est, honestiorum convictus excutiet. Non est, mi Lucili, quod amicum tantum in foro et in curia quaeras; si diligenter adtenderis, et domi invenies. Saepe bona materia cessat sine artifice ; tempta, et experiere.| Quemadmodum stultus est, qui equum empturus non ipsum inspicit, sed stratum eius ac frenos, sic stultissimus est, qui hominem aut ex veste aut ex condicione, quae vestis modo nobis circumdata est, aestimat.

17. “Servusest.” Sed fortasse liberanimo. “ Servus est.” Hoc illi nocebit? Ostende, quis non sit; alius libidini servit, alius avaritiae, alius ambitioni, omnes” timori. Dabo consularem aniculae servien- tem, dabo ancillulae divitem, ostendam nobilissimos iuvenes mancipia pantomimorum! Nulla servitus turpior est quam voluntaria.

Quare non est quod fastidiosi isti? te deterreant, quo minus servis tuis hilarem te praestes et non superbe superiorem ; colant potius te quam timeant.

18 Dicet aliquis nunc me vocare ad pilleum servos et- dominos de fastigio suo deicere, quod dixi: colant potius dominum quam timeant. “ Ita inquit prorsus: colant tamquam clientes, tamquam salutatores ?”

Hoe qui dixerit, obliviscetur id dominis parum non

1 experiere Pontanus ; experire MSS. 2 omnes spe Macrobius, followed by some editors. * isti Schweighauser ; ipsi MSS. 310

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any slavish quality in them as the result of their low associations, it will be shaken off by intercourse with men of gentler breeding. You need not, my dear Lucilius, hunt for friends only in the forum or in the Senate-house ; if you are careful and attentive, you will find them at home also. Good material often stands idle for want of an artist; make the experi- ment, and you will find it so. As he is a fool who, when purchasing a horse, does not consider the animal’s points, but merely his saddle and bridle; so he is doubly a fool who values a man from his clothes or from his rank, which indeed is only a robe that clothes us.

“He isa slave.” His soul, however, may be that of a freeman. “He is a slave.” But shall that stand in his way? Show me a man who is not a slave; one is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to ambition, and all men are slaves to fear. I will name you an ex-consul who is slave to an old hag, a millionaire who is slave to a serving-maid ; I will show you youths of the noblest birth in serfdom to pantomime players! No servitude is more dis- graceful than that which is self-imposed.

You should therefore not be deterred by these finicky persons from showing yourself to your slaves as an affable person and not proudly superior to them ; they ought to respect you rather than fear you. Some may maintain that I am now offering the liberty-cap to slaves in general and toppling down lords from their high estate, because I bid slaves respect their masters instead of fearing them. They say: “This is what he plainly means: slaves are to pay respect as if they were clients or early-morning callers!” Anyone who holds this opinion forgets that what is enough for a god cannot be too little

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esse, quod deo sat est. Qui colitur, et amatur; non 19 potest amor cum timore misceri. Rectissime ergo facere te iudico, quod timeri a servis tuis non vis, quod verborum castigatione uteris; verberibus muta‘ admonentur. Non quicquid nos offendit, et laedit. Sed ad rabiem nos? cogunt pervemire deliciae, ut quicquid 90 non ex voluntate respondit, iram evocet. Regum nobis induimus animos. Nam illi quoque obliti et suarum virium et inbecillitatis alienae sic excande- scunt, sic saeviunt, quasi iniuriam acceperint, a cuius rei periculo illos fortunae suae magnitudo tutissimos praestat. Nec hoc ignorant, sed occasionem nocendi captant querendo; acceperunt iniuriam ut facerent. 91 Diutius te morari nolo; non est enim tibi ex- hortatione opus. Hoc habent inter cetera boni mores: placent sibi, permanent. Levis est malitia, saepe mutatur, non in melius, sed in aliud. Vate.

XLVIIL- Seneca LyvciLie svo SALVTEM

1 Ad epistulam, quam mihi ex itinere misisti, tam longam quam ipsum iter fuit, postea rescribam. Se- ducere me debeo et quid suadeam circumspicere. Nam tu quoque, qui consulis, diu an consuleres cogitasti; quanto magis hoc mihi faciendum est,

1 muta Pincianus ; multa and admoventur or admonentur

MSS. 2 cogunt pL; some later MSS. and Macrobius add nos.

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for a master. Respect means love, and love and fear cannot be mingled. So I hold that you are entirely right in not wishing to be feared by your slaves, and in lashing them merely with the tongue ; only dumb animals need the thong.

That which annoys us does not necessarily injure us; but we are driven into wild rage by our luxurious lives, so that whatever does not answer our whims arouses our anger. We don the temper of kings. For they, too, forgetful alike of their own strength and of other men’s weakness, grow white-hot with rage, as if they had received an injury, when they are entirely protected from danger of such injury by their exalted station. They are not unaware that this is true, but by finding fault they seize upon opportunities to do harm; they insist that they have received injuries, in order that they may inflict them.

I do not wish to delay you longer; for you need no exhortation. This, among other things, is a mark of good character: it forms its own judgments and abides by them ; but badness is fickle and frequently changing, not for the better, but for something different. Farewell.

XLVIII. ON QUIBBLING AS UNWORTHY OF THE PHILOSOPHER

In answer to the letter which you wrote me while travelling,—a letter as long as the journey itself,—I shall reply later. I ought to go into retirement, and consider what sort of advice I should give you. For you yourself, who consult me, also reflected for a long time whether to do so; how much more, then, should I myself reflect, since more

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cum longiore mora opus sit, ut solvas quaestionem quam ut proponas? Utique cum aliud tibi expediat, aliud mihi. Iterum ego tamquam Epicureus loquor ?

2 Mihi vero idem expedit, quod tibi; aut non sum amicus, nisi quicquid agitur ad te pertinens, meum est. Consortium rerum omnium inter nos _ facit amicitia. Nec secundi quicquam singulis est nec adversi; in commune vivitur. Nec potest quisquam beate degere, qui se tantum intuetur, qui omnia ad utilitates suas convertit; alteri vivas oportet, si

3 vis tibi vivere. Haec societas diligenter et sancte observata, quae nos homines hominibus! miscet et iudicat aliquod esse commune ius generis humani, plurimum ad illam quoque, de qua loquebar, in- teriorem societatem amicitiae colendam_proficit. Omnia enim cum amico communia habebit, qui multa cum homine.

4 Hoc, Lucili virorum optime, mihi ab istis subtilibus praecipi malo, quid amico praestare debeam, quid homini, quam quot modis amicus dicatur, et homo quam multa significet. In diversum ecce sapientia et stultitia discedunt; cui accedo? In utram ire partem iubes? Illi homo pro amico est, huic amicus non est pro homine. Ille amicum sibi parat, hic se

1 homines hominibus later MSS. ; omnes hominibus pLPb ; omnes omnibus Muretus.

¢ The Epicureans, who reduced all goods to ‘‘ utilities,” could not regard a friend’s advantage as identical with one’s own advantage. And yet they laid great stress upon friend- ship as one of the chief sources of pleasure. For an attempt to reconcile these two positions see Cicero, De Finibus, i. 65 ff. Seneca has inadvertently used a phrase that implies a difference between a friend’s interests and one’s own. This leads him to reassert the Stoic view of friendship, which adopted as its motto xowda ra ror Pirwv.

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deliberation is necessary in settling than in pro- pounding a problem! And this is particularly true when one thing is advantageous to you and another to me. Am I speaking again in the guise of an Epicurean*? But the fact is, the same thing is advantageous to me which is advantageous to you ; for I am not your friend unless whatever is at issue concerning you is my concern also. F riendship pro- duces between us a partnership in all our interests. There is no such thing as good or bad fortune for the individual; we live in common. And no one can live happily who has regard to himself alone and transforms everything into a question of his own utility; you must live for your neighbour, if you would live for yourself. This fellowship, maintained with scrupulous care, which makes us mingle as men with our fellow-men and _ holds that the human race have certain rights in common, is also of great help in cherishing the more intimate fellowship which is based on friendship, concerning which I began to speak above. For he that has much in common with a fellow-man will have all things in common with a friend.

And on this point, my excellent Lucilius, I should like to have those subtle dialecticians of yours advise me how I ought to help a friend, or how a fellow- man, rather than tell me in how many ways the word “friend” is used, and how many meanings the word “man” possesses. Lo, Wisdom and Folly are taking opposite sides. Which shall I join? Which party would you have me follow? On that side, “man” is the equivalent of “friend’’; on the other side, “friend” is not the equivalent of “man.” The one wants a friend for his own advantage; the other wants to make himself an advantage to his

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amico. Tu mihi verba distorques et syllabas digeris.

5 Scilicet nisi interrogationes vaferrimas struxero et con- clusione falsa a vero nascens mendacium adstrinxero, non potero a fugiendis petenda secernere. Pudet me; in re tam seria senes ludimus. !

6 “Mus syllaba est. Mus autem caseum rodit; syllaba ergo caseum rodit.” Puta nunc me istuc non posse solvere. Quod mihi ex ista inscientia? peri- culum inminet? Quod incommodum? Sine dubio verendum est, ne quando in muscipulo syllabas capiam aut ne quando, si neglegentior fuero, caseum liber comedat. Nisi forte illa acutior est collectio: “ Mus syllaba est. Syllaba autem caseum non rodit ;

7 mus ergo caseum non rodit.” O pueriles ineptias ! In hoc supercilia subduximus? In hoc barbam de- misimus? Hoc est, quod tristes docemus et pallidi ?

Vis scire, quid philosophia promittat generi humano? Consilium. Alium mors vocat, alium paupertas urit, alium divitiae vel alienae torquent vel suae. [lle malam fortunam horret, hic se felicitati suae subducere cupit. Hunc homines male habent,

8 illum di. Quid mihi Jusoria ista conponis? Non est iocandi locus; ad miseros advocatus es. Opem laturum te naufragis, captis, aegris, egentibus, in-

1 After ludimus most MSS. give Vale. Seneca Lucilio

suo Salutem ; Hense brackets. 2 inscientia-P? and Lipsius ; scientia pLP"b.

« The sides are given in reverse order in the two clauses : to the Stoic the terms ‘‘ friend” and ‘‘man” are co-extensive ; he is the friend of everybody, and his motive in friendship is to be of service; the Epicurean, however, narrows the definition of ‘‘ friend” and regards him merely as an instru- ment to his own happiness.

> In this paragraph Seneca exposes the folly of trying to prove a truth by means of logical tricks, and offers a carica- ture of those which were current among the philosophers whom he derides.

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friend. What you have to offer me is nothing but distortion of words and splitting of syllables. It is clear that unless I can devise some very tricky premisses and by false deductions tack on to them a fallacy which springs from the truth, I shall not be able to distinguish between what is desirable and what is to be avoided! I am ashamed! Old men as we are, dealing with a problem so serious, we make play of it!

““¢Mouse’ is a syllable.2 Nowa mouse eats cheese ; therefore, a syllable eats cheese.” Suppose now that I cannot solve this problem; see what peril hangs over my head as a result of such ignorance! What a scrape I shall be in! Without doubt I must beware, or some day I shall be catching syllables in a mousetrap, or, if I grow careless, a book may devour my cheese! Unless, perhaps, the following syllogism is shrewder still : “‘ Mouse’ is a syllable. Now a syllable does not eat cheese. Therefore a mouse does not eat cheese.”” What childish non- sense! Do we knit our brows over this sort of problem? Do we let our beards grow long for this reason? Is this the matter which we teach with sour and pale faces ?

Would you really know what philosophy offers to humanity? Philosophy offers counsel. Death calls away one man, and poverty chafes another; a third is worried either by his neighbour’s wealth or by his own. So-and-so is afraid of bad luck ; another desires to get away from his own good fortune. Some are ill-treated by men, others by the gods. Why, then, do you frame for me such games as these? It is no occasion for jest; you are retained as counsel for unhappy mankind. You have promised to help those in peril by sea, those in captivity, the

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tentae securi subiectum praestantibus caput pollicitus es. Quo diverteris? Quid agis?

Hic, cum quo ludis, timet; succurre, tquidquid laque ti res pendentium penis.1t Omnes undique ad te manus tendunt, perditae vitae perituraeque auxilium aliquod inplorant, in te spes opesque sunt. Rogant, ut ex tanta illos volutatione extrahas, ut disiectis et errantibus clarum veritatis lumen ostendas.

9 Dic, quid natura necessarium fecerit, quid super- vacuum, quam faciles leges? posuerit, quam iucunda sit vita, quam expedita illas sequentibus, quam acerba et inplicita eorum, qui opinioni plus quam naturae crediderunt.

Ad horum mala levanda valere lusoria ista credide- rim,’ si prius docueris, quam partem eorum levatura sint. Quid istorum cupiditates demit? Quid tem- perat? Utinam tantum non prodessent! Nocent. Hoc tibi, cum voles, manifestissimum faciam, com- minui et debilitari generosam indolem in istas argutias

10 coniectam. Pudet dicere, contra fortunam militaturis quae porrigant tela, quemadmodum illos subornent. Hacad summum bonum itur? Per istud philosophia‘ “sive nive’’ et turpes infamesque etiam ad album

1 The passage is corrupt, but the general sense is given in the translation. Buecheler suggests succurre, quidquid laqueist timore pendenti rumpens.

2 faciles leges later MSS. ; faciles LP'b ; felices p.

3 ad horum ... . crediderim added by Hense as supply- ing the required connexion.

4 philosophia Page ; philosophiae MSS.

* Literally, ‘‘or if or if not,” words constantly employed by the logicians and in legal instruments. For the latter cf. Cicero, Pro Caecina, 23. 65 tum illud, quod dicitur, ** sive nive” irrident, tum aucupia verborum et litterarum tendiculas in invidiam vocant,

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sick and the needy, and those whose heads are under the poised axe. Whither are you straying? What are you doing?

This friend, in whose company you are jesting, is in fear. Help him, and take the noose from about his neck. Men are stretching out imploring hands to you on all sides; lives ruined and in danger of ruin are begging for some assistance ; men’s hopes, men’s resources, depend upon you. ‘They ask that you deliver them from all their restlessness, that you reveal to them, scattered and wandering as they are, the clear light of truth. Tell them what nature has made necessary, and what superfluous ; tell them how simple are the laws that she has laid down, how pleasant and unimpeded life is for those who follow these laws, but how bitter and perplexed it is for those who have put their trust in opinion rather than in nature.

I should deem your games of logic to be of some avail in relieving men’s burdens, if you could first show me what part of these burdens they will relieve. What among these games of yours banishes lust? Or controls it? Would that I could say that they were merely of no profit! They are positively harm- ful. I can make it perfectly clear to you whenever you wish, that a noble spirit when involved in such subtleties is impaired and weakened. I am ashamed to say what weapons they supply to men who are destined to go to war with fortune, and how poorly they equip them! Is this the path to the greatest good? Is philosophy to proceed by such claptrap 4 and by quibbles which would be a disgrace and a

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sedentibus exceptiones? Quid enim aliud agitis, cum eum, quem interrogatis, scientes in fraudem inducitis, quam ut formula cecidisse videatur? Sed quemadmodum illos praetor, sic hos philosophia in integrum restituit. Quid disceditis ab ingentibus promissis et grandia locuti, effecturos vos, ut non magis auri fulgor quam gladii praestringat oculos meos, ut ingenti constantia et quod omnes optant et quod omnes timent calcem, ad grammaticorum elementa descenditis? Quid dicitis ?

Sic itur ad astra?

Hoc enim est, quod mihi philosophia promittit, ut parem deo faciat. Ad hoe invitatus sum, ad hoc veni; fidem praesta.

Quantum potes ergo, mi Lucili, reduc te ab istis exceptionibus et praescriptionibus philosophorum. Aperta decent et simplicia bonitatem. Etiam si multum superesset aetatis, parce dispensandum erat, ut sufficeret necessariis; nunc quae dementia est supervacua discere in tanta temporis egestate? VALr.

@ Literally, ‘‘to those who sit studying the praetor’s edicts.” The album is the bulletin-board, on which the edicts of the praetor were posted, giving the formulae and stipulations for legal processes of various kinds.

® In certain actions the praetor appointed a judge and established a formula, indicating the plaintiff's claim and the judge’s duty. If the statement was false, or the claim excessive, the plaintiff lost his case ; under certain conditions (see last sentence of Seneca § 11) the defendant could claim annulment of the formula and have the case tried again. Such cases were not lost on their merits, and for that reason the lawyer who purposely took such an advantage was doing a contemptible thing.

¢ Vergil, Aeneid, ix. 641.

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reproach even for expounders® of the law? For what else is it that you men are doing, when you deliberately ensnare the person to whom you are putting questions, than making it appear that the man has lost his case on a technical error?? But just as the judge can reinstate those who have lost a suit in this way, so philosophy has reinstated these victims of quibbling to their former condition. Why do you men abandon your mighty promises, and, after having assured me in high-sounding language that you will permit the glitter of gold to dazzle my eyesight no more than the gleam of the sword, and that I shall, with mighty steadfastness, spurn both that which all men crave and that which all men fear, why do you descend to the ABC’s of scholastic pedants? What is your answer?

Is this the path to heaven ?¢

For that is exactly what philosophy promises to me, that I shall be made equal to God. For this I have been summoned, for this purpose have I come. Philosophy, keep your promise !

Therefore, my dear Lucilius, withdraw yourself as far as possible from these exceptions and objections of so-called philosophers. Frankness and simplicity beseem true goodness. Even if there were many years left to you, you would have had to spend them frugally in order to have enough for the necessary things ; but as it is, when your time is so scant, what madness it is to learn superfluous things! Farewell.

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XLIX. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

Est quidem, mi Lucili, supinus et neglegens, qui in amici memoriam ab aliqua regione admonitus re- ducitur; temen repositum in animo nostro desiderium loca interdum familiaria evocant nec extinctam me- moriam reddunt, sed quiescentem inritant, sicut dolorem lugentium, etiam si mitigatus est tempore, aut servulus familiaris amisso! aut vestis aut domus renovat.

Ecce Campania et maxime Neapolis ac? Pompeio- rum tuorum conspectus ? incredibile est quam recens desiderium tui fecerint; totus mihi in oculis es. Cum maxime a te discedo. Video lacrimas con- bibentem et adfectibus tuis inter ipsam coercitionem exeuntibus non satis resistentem. Modo amisisse te videor. Quid enim non “modo” est, si recorderis ? Modo apud Sotionem philosophum puer sedi, modo causas agere coepi, modo desii velle agere, modo desii posse. Infinita est velocitas temporis, quae magis apparet respicientibus. Nam ad_ praesentia intentos fallit; adeo praecipitis fugae transitus lenis est. Causam huius rei quaeris? Quicquid temporis transit, eodem loco est; pariter aspicitur, una iacet. Omnia in idem? profundum cadunt. Et alioqui non

' servulus familiaris amisso Gertz; servuli fam. amissi (amisso) MSS.

2 ac Volkmann; a and ad MSS.

3 conspectus Volkmann ; conspectum MSS, + an idem Rossbach ; inde pLb; in P.

« Probably the birthplace of Lucilius. > The Pythagorean. For his views on vegetarianism, and their influence on Seneca, see Ep. cviii. 17 ff.

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EPISTLE XLIX.

XLIX: “ON ‘THE!/ SHORTNESS’ OF / LIFE

A man is indeed lazy and careless, my dear Lucilius, if he is reminded of a friend only by seeing some landscape which stirs the memory; and yet there are times when the old familiar haunts stir up a sense of loss that has been stored awzy in the soul, not bringing back dead memories, but rousing them from their dormer state, just as the sight of a lost friend’s favourite slave, or his cloak, or his house, renews the mourner’s grief, even though it has been softened by time.

Now, lo and behold, Campania, and especially Naples and your beloved Pompeii,* struck me, when I viewed them, with a wonderfully fresh sense of longing for you. You stand in full view before my eyes. I am on the point of parting from you. I see you choking down your tears and resisting without success ‘the emotions that well up at the very moment when you try to check them. I seem to have lost you but a moment ago. For what is not “but a moment ago” when one begins to use the memory? It was but a moment ago that I sat, as a lad, in the school of the philosopher Sotion,? but a moment ago that I began to plead in the courts, but a moment ago that I lost the desire to plead, but a moment ago that I lost the ability. Infinitely swift is the flight of time, as those see more clearly who are looking backwards. For when we are intent on the present, we do not notice it, so gentle is the passage of time’s headlong flight. Do you ask the reason for this? All past time is in the same place ; it all presents the same aspect to us, it lies together. Everything slips into the same abyss.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

possunt longa intervalla esse in ea re, quae tota brevis est. Punctum est quod vivimus et adhuc puncto minus. Sed et hoc minimum specie quadam longioris spatii natura derisit ; aliud ex hoc infantiam fecit, aliud pueritiam, aliud adulescentiam, aliud in- clinationem quandam ab adulescentia ad senectutem, aliud ipsam senectutem. In quam angusto quodam

4 quot gradus posuit! Modo te prosecutus sum; et tamen hoc “ modo”’ aetatis nostrae bona portio est, cuius brevitatem aliquando defecturam! cogitemus. Non solebat mihi tam velox tempus videri; nune incredibilis cursus apparet, sive quia admoveri lineas sentio, sive quia adtendere coepi et conputare dam- num meum.

5 Eo magis itaque indignor aliquos ex hoc tempore, quod sufficere ne ad necessaria quidem potest, etiam si custoditum diligentissime fuerit, in supervacua maiorem partem erogare. Negat Cicero, si duplicetur sibi aetas, habiturum se tempus, quo legat lyricos ; eodem loco pone? dialecticos; tristius inepti sunt. Illi ex professo lasciviunt, hi agere ipsos aliquid

6 existimant. Nec ego nego prospicienda ista, sed prospicienda tantum et a limine salutanda in hoc unum, ne verba nobis dentur et aliquid esse in illis magni ac secreti boni iudicemus.

1 , defecturam Miller ; Fy Bia rat MSS. 2 pone inserted by Haase; pono or habeo was proposed by Schweighduser; conloco by ermes, followed by Hense.

¢ Source unknown; perhaps, as Hense thinks, from the Hortensius.

> An intentional equivocation on the part of Cicero, who intimates that he will ‘‘ lose no time ” in reading them.

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Besides, an event which in its entirety is of brief compass cannot contain long intervals. The time which we spend in living is but a point, nay, even less than a point. But this point of time, infinitesimal as it is, nature has mocked by making it seem outwardly of longer duration ; she has taken one portion thereof and made it infancy, another childhood, another youth, another the gradual slope, so to speak, from youth to old age, and old age itself is still another. How many steps for how short a climb! It was but a moment ago that I saw you off on your journey; and yet this “moment ago”’’ makes up a goodly share of our existence, which is so brief, we should reflect, that it will soon come to an end altogether. In other years time did not seem to me to go so swiftly; now, it seems fast beyond belief, perhaps because I feel that the Anish-line is moving closer to me, or it may be that I have begun to take heed and reckon up my losses.

For this reason I am all the more angry that some men claim the major portion of this time for superfluous things,—time which, no matter how care- fully it is guarded, cannot suffice even for necessary things. Cicero® declared that if the number of his days were doubled, he should not have time to read the lyric poets.” And you may rate the dialecticians in the same class; but they are foolish in a more melancholy way. The lyric poets are avowedly frivolous; but the dialecticians believe that they are themselves engaged upon serious business. I do not deny that one must cast a glance at dialectic; but it ought to be a mere glance, a sort of greeting from the threshold, merely that one may not be deceived, or judge these pursuits to contain any hidden matters of great worth.

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Quid te torques et maceras in ea quaestione, quam subtilius est contempsisse quam solvere? Securi est et ex commodo migrantis minuta conquirere ; cum hostis instat a tergo et movere se iussus est miles, necessitas excutit quicquid pax otiosa collegerat. Non vacat mihi verba dubie cadentia consectari et vafritiam in illis meam experiri.

Adspice qui coeant populi, quae moenia clusis Ferrum acuant portis.

Magno mihi animo strepitus iste belli cireumsonantis exaudiendus est. Demens omnibus merito viderer, si cum saxa in munimentum murorum senes feminaeque congererent, cum iuventus intra portas armata signum eruptionis expectaret aut posceret, cum hostilia in portis tela vibrarent et ipsum solum suffossionibus et cuniculis tremeret, sederem otiosus et eiusmodi quaestiunculas ponens: “ Quod non perdidisti, habes. Cornua autem non perdidisti; cornua ergo habes” aliaque ad exemplum huius acutae delirationis con- cinnata. Atqui aeque licet tibi demens videar, si istis inpendero operam; et nunc! obsideor. Tunc tamen periculum mihi obsesso externum inmineret, murus me ab hoste secerneret; nunc mortifera mecum sunt. Non vaco ad istas ineptias; ingens negotium

1 nunc added by Gertz.

@ Vergil, Aeneid, viii. 385 f. > A sample of syllogistic nonsense, quoted also by Gellius, xviii. 2.9. See also Hp. xlv. 8.

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EPISTLE XLIX.

Why do you torment yourself and lose weight over some problem which it is more clever to have scorned than to solve? When a soldier is undisturbed and travelling at his ease, he can hunt for trifles along his way; but when the enemy is closing in on the rear, and a command is given to quicken the pace, necessity makes him throw away everything which he picked up in moments of peace and leisure. I have no time to investigate disputed inflections of words, or to try my cunning upon them.

Behold the gathering clans, the fast-shut gates, And weapons whetted ready for the war.*

I need a stout heart to hear without flinching this din of battle which sounds round about. And all would rightly think me mad if, when greybeards and women were heaping up rocks for the fortifications, when the armour-clad youths inside the gates were awaiting, or even demanding, the order for a sally, when the spears of the foemen were quivering in our gates and the very ground was rocking with mines and subterranean passages,—I say, they would rightly think me mad if I were to sit idle, putting such petty posers as this: “What you have not lost, you have. But you have not lost any horns. Therefore, you have horns,’® or other tricks con- structed after the model of this piece of sheer silliness. And yet I may well seem in your eyes no less mad, if I spend my energies on that sort of thing; for even now I am in a state of siege. And yet, in the former case it would be merely a peril from the outside that threatened me, and a wall that sundered me from the foe; as it is now, death-dealing perils are in my very presence. I have no time for such nonsense; a

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in manibus est. Quid agam? Mors me sequitur,

10 fugit vita; adversus haec me doce aliquid. Effice,

ut ego mortem non fugiam, vita me non effugiat. Exhortare adversus difficilia, adde aequanimitatem ! adversus inevitabilia. Angustias temporis mci laxa. Doce non esse positum bonum vitae in spatio eius, sed in usu, posse fieri, immo saepissime fieri, ut qui diu vixit, parum vixerit. Dic mihi dormituro: «Potes non expergiser ™ die ‘experrecto’: “ Potes non dormire amplius.’”” Dic exeunti: “ Potes non reverti’’; dic redeunti: “ Potes non exire.” Erras, si in navigatione tantum existimas minimum esse, quo a” morte vita diducitur; in omni loco aeque tenue intervallum est. Non ubique se mors tam prope ostendit ; ubique tam prope est.

Has tenebras discute; et facilius ea trades, ad quae praeparatus sum. Dociles natura nos edidit et rationem dedit inperfectam, sed quae perfici posset. De iustitia mihi, de pietate disputa, de frugalitate, de pudicitia utraque, et illa, cui alieni corporis abstinen- tia est, et hac, cui sui cura. Si me nolueris per devia ducere, facilius ad id, quo tendo, perveniam. Nam ut ait ille tragicus,

1 adde aequanimitatem Linde ; de aequanimitate pLPb. * a added by Muretus.

@ 3.e., the timbers of the ship. Compare the same figure in Ep. xxx. 2.

> Euripides, Phoenissae, 469 dmdots 6 midos ris ddnOelas épu. 328

EPISTLE XLIX.

mighty undertaking is on my hands. What am I to do? Death is on my trail, and life is fleeting away ; teach me something with which to face these . troubles. Bring it to pass that I shall cease trying to escape from death, and that life may cease to escape from me. Give me courage to meet hard- ships ; make me calm in the face of the unavoid; able. Relax the straitened limits of the time which is allotted me. Show me that the good in life does not depend upon life’s length, but upon the use we make of it; also, that it is possible, or rather usual, for a man who has lived long to have lived too little. Say to me when I lie down to sleep: “ You may not wake again!” And when I have waked: “You may not go to sleep again!” Say to me when I go forth from my house: “ You may, mot, return!,””....And, when. ‘1 return.:)“ You may never go forth again!’’ You are mistaken if you think that only on an ocean voyage there is a very slight space* between life and death. No, the distance between is just as narrow every- where. It is not everywhere that death shows himself so near at hand; yet everywhere he is as near at hand.

Rid me of these shadowy terrors ; then you will more easily deliver to me the instruction for which I have prepared myself. At our birth nature made us teachable, and gave us reason, not perfect, but capable of being perfected. Discuss for me justice, duty, thrift, and that twofold purity, both the purity which abstains from another’s person, and that which takes care of one’s own self. If you will only refuse to lead me along by-paths, I shall more © easily reach the goal at which I am aiming. For, as the tragic poet? says:

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Veritatis simplex oratio est. Ideoque illam inplicari non oportet; nec enim quic- quam minus convenit quam subdola ista calliditas animis magna conantibus. VaAce.

L. Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

1 Epistulam tuam accepi post multos menses quam miseras. Supervacuum itaque putavi ab eo, qui ad- ferebat, quid ageres quaerere. Valde enim bonae memoriae est, si meminit! Et tamen spero te sic iam vivere, ut ubicumque eris, sciam quid agas. Quid enim aliud agis quam ut meliorem te ipse cottidie facias, ut aliquid ex erroribus ponas, ut intellegas tua vitia esse, quae putas rerum? Quaedam enim locis et temporibus adscribimus. At illa, quocumque transierimus, secutura sunt.

2 Harpasten, uxoris meae fatuam, scis hereditarium onus in domo mea remansisse. Ipse enim aversissi- mus! ab istis prodigiis sum; si quando fatuo delectari volo, non est mihi longe quaerendus; me rideo. Haec fatua subito desiit videre. Incredibilem rem tibi narro, sed veram : nescit esse se caecam. Subinde paedagogum suum rogat ut migret. Ait domum tenebricosam esse.

3 Hoc quod in illa ridemus, omnibus nobis accidere liqueat tibi; nemo se avarum esse intellegit, nemo cupidum. Caeci tamen ducem quaerunt, nos sine

1 aversissimus Agricola ; avarissimus MSS.

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The language of truth is simple.

We should not, therefore, make that language in- tricate; since there is nothing less fitting for a soul of great endeavour than such crafty cleverness. Farewell.

L. ON OUR BLINDNESS AND ITS CURE

I received your letter many months after you had posted it; accordingly, I thought it useless to ask the carrier what you were busied with. He must have a particularly good memory if he can remember that! But I hope by this time you are living in such a way that I can be sure what it is you are busied with, no matter where you may be. For what else are you busied with except improving yourself every day, laying aside some error, and coming to understand that the faults which you attribute to circumstances are in yourself? We are indeed apt to ascribe certain faults to the place or to the time; but those faults will follow us, no matter how we change our place.

You know Harpasté, my wife’s female clown; she has remained in my house, a burden incurred from a legacy. I particularly disapprove of these freaks; whenever I wish to enjoy the quips of a clown, I am not compelled to hunt far; I can laugh at myself. Now this clown suddenly became blind. The story sounds incredible, but I assure you that it is true: she does not know that she is blind. She keeps asking her attendant to change her quarters; she says that her apartments are too dark.

You can see clearly that that which makes us smile in the case of Harpasté happens to all the rest of us; nobody understands that he is himself greedy, or that he is covetous Yet the blind ask for a guide,

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duce erramus et dicimus : “ Non ego ambitiosus sum, sed nemo aliter Romae potest vivere. Non ego sump- tuosus sum, sed urbs ipsa magnas inpensas exigit. Non est meum vitium, quod iracundus sum, quod non- dum constitui certum genus vitae ; adulescentia haec

4 facit.’” Quid nos decipimus? Non est extrinsecus malum nostrum; intra nos est, in visceribus ipsis sedet, et ideo difficulter ad sanitatem pervenimus, quia nos aegrotare nescimus.

Si curari coeperimus, quando tot morborum tantas vires! discutiemus? Nunc vero ne? quaerimus quidem medicum, qui minus negotii haberet, si adhiberetur ad recens vitium. Sequerentur teneri et rudes animi

5 recta monstrantem. Nemo difficulter ad naturam reducitur, nisi qui ab illa defecit. Erubescimus discere bonam mentem; at mehercules, si turpe est magistrum huius rei quaerere, illud desperandum est, posse nobis casu tantum bonum influere.

Laborandum est, et ut verum dicam, ne _ labor quidem magnus est, si modo, ut dixi, ante animum nostrum formare incipimus et recorrigere, quam indurescat pravitas eius. Sed nec indurata despero.

6 Nihil est, quod non expugnet pertinax opera et intenta ac diligens cura; robora in rectum quamvis flexa revocabis. Curvatas trabes calor explicat et aliter natae in id finguntur, quod usus noster exigit ; quanto facilius animus accipit formam, flexibilis et

1 morborum tantas vires Gertz ; morbos tantas ve res MSS. 2 ne Muretus ; nec MSS.

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while we wander without one, saying: “I am not self-seeking; but one cannot live at Rome in any other way. I am not extravagant, but mere living in the city demands a great outlay. It is not my fault that I have a choleric disposition, or that I have not settled down to any definite scheme of life; it is due to my youth.” Why do we deceive ourselves? The evil that afflicts us is not external, it is within us, situated in our very vitals; for that reason we attain soundness with all the more diffi- culty, because we do not know that we are diseased.

Suppose that we have begun the cure; when shall we throw off all these diseases, with all their viru- lence? At present, we do not even consult the physician, whose work would be easier if he were called in when the complaint was in its early stages. The tender and the inexperienced minds would follow his advice if he pointed out the right way. No man finds it difficult to return to nature, except the man who has deserted nature. We blush to receive in- struction in sound sense ; but, by Heaven, if we think it base to seek a teacher of this art, we should also abandon any hope that so great a good could be instilled into us by mere chance.

No, we must work. To tell the truth, even the work is not great, if only, as I said, we begin to mould and reconstruct our souls before they are hardened by sin. But I do not despair even of a hardened sinner. There is nothing that will not surrender to persistent treatment, to concentrated and careful attention ; however much the timber may be bent, you can make it straight again. Heat unbends curved beams, and wood that grew naturally in another shape is fashioned artificially according to our needs. How much more easily does the soul permit itself to be

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omni umore obsequentior. Quid enim est aliud animus quam quodam modo se habens spiritus? Vides autem tanto spiritum esse faciliorem omni alia materia, quanto tenuior est.

7 Illud, mi Lucili, non est quod te inpediat, quo minus de nobis bene speres, quod malitia nos iam tenet, quod diu in possessione nostri est ; ad neminem ante bona mens venit quam mala. Omnes prae- occupati sumus. Virtutes discere vitia dediscere est.

8 Eo! maiore animo ad emendationem nostri debemus accedere, quod semel traditi nobis boni perpetua possessio est ; non dediscitur virtus. Contraria enim male? in alieno haerent, ideo depelli et exturbari possunt; fideliter sedent, quae in locum suum veniunt. Virtus secundum naturam est, vitia inimica et infesta

9 sunt. Sed quemadmodum virtutes receptae exire non possunt facilisque earum tutela est, ita initium ad illas eundi arduum, quia hoc proprium ° inbecillae mentis atque aegrae est, formidare inexperta. Itaque cogenda est, ut incipiat; deinde non est acerba medicina. Protinus enim delectat, dum sanat. Aliorum reme- diorum post sanitatem voluptas est, philosophia pariter et salutaris et dulcis est. Vate.

1 dediscere est. eo Haupt; dediscere (om. Pb) sed eo MSS.

2 male P. Thomas ; mala MSS 2 proprium Madvig ; primum MSS.

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shaped, pliable as it is and more yielding than any liquid! For what else is the soul than air in a certain state? And you see that air is more adaptable than any other matter, in proportion as it is rarer than any other.

There is nothing, Lucilius, to hinder you from entertaining good hopes about us, just because we are even now in the grip of evil, or because we have long been possessed thereby. There is no man to whom a good mind comes before an evil one. It is the evil mind that gets first hold on all of us. Learning virtue means unlearning vice. We should therefore proceed to the task of freeing ourselves from faults with all the more courage because, when once committed to us, the good is an everlasting possession; virtue is not unlearned. For opposites find difficulty in clinging where they do not belong, therefore they can be driven out and hustled away ; but qualities that come to a place which is rightfully theirs abide faithfully. Virtue is according to nature; vice is opposed to it and hostile. But although virtues, when admitted, cannot depart and are easy to guard, yet the first steps in the approach to them are toilsomne, because it is characteristic of a weak and diseased mind to fear that which is unfamiliar. The mind must, therefore, be forced to make a beginning ; from then on, the medicine is not bitter ; for just as soon as it is curing us it begins to give pleasure. One enjoys other cures only after health is restored, but a draught of philosophy is at the same moment wholesome and pleasant. Farewell.

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Seneca LyciLio svo sALVTEM

1 Quomodo gquisque potest, mi Lucili! Tu istic habes Aetnam, editum illum ac! nobilissimum Siciliae montem, quem quare dixerit Messala unicum, sive Valgius, apud utrumque enim legi, non reperio, cum plurima loca evomant ignem, non tantum edita, quod crebrius evenit, videlicet quia ignis in altissimum effertur, sed etiam iacentia. Nos utcumque possumus, contenti sumus Bais, quas postero die quam adtigeram reliqui, locum ob hoe devitandum, cum habeat quas- dam naturales dotes, quia illum sibi celebrandum

2 luxuria desumpsit. “Quid ergo? Ulli loco indicen- dum est odium?” Minime. Sed quemadmodum aliqua vestis sapienti ac probo viro magis convenit quam aliqua, nec ullum colorem ille odit, sed aliquem parum putat aptum esse frugalitatem professo; sic regio quoque est, quam sapiens vir aut ad sapientiam tendens declinet tamquam alienam bonis moribus.

3 Itaque de secessu cogitans numquam Canopum eliget, guamvis neminem Canopus esse frugi vetet, ne Baias quidem ; deversorium vitiorum esse coeperunt. _Illiec sibi plurimum luxuria permittit, illic, tamquam aliqua licentia debeatur loco, magis solvitur. .

4 Non tantum corpori, sed etiam moribus salubrem

1 gditum iulum ac Chatelain and Hense; et illue MSS.

* Etna was of especial interest to Lucilius. Besides being a Governor in Sicily, he may have written the poem Aetna. For Seneca’s own curiosity regarding the mountain compare Ep. Ixxix. 5 ff.

> Not far from Naples, and across the bay from Puteoli. It was a fashionable and dissolute watering-place.

¢ Situated at the mouth of the westernmost branch of the —— proverbial in Latin literature for the laxity of its mor

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LI. ON BAIAE AND MORALS

Every man does the best he can, my dear Lucilius! You over there have Etna,? that lofty and most celebrated mountain of Sicily; (although I cannot make out why Messala,—or was it Valgius? for I have been reading in both,—has called it “ unique,” inasmuch as many regions belch forth fire, not merely the lofty ones where the phenomenon is more frequent, — presumably because fire rises to the greatest possible height,—but low-lying places also.) As for myself, I do the best I can; I have had to be satisfied with Baiae®; and I left it the day after I reached it; for Baiae is a place to be avoided, because, though it has certain natural advantages, luxury has claimed it for her own exclusive resort. “What then,” you say, “should any place be singled out as an object of aversion?” Not atall. But just as, to the wise and upright man, one style of clothing is more suitable than another, without his having an aversion for any particular colour, but because he thinks that some colours do not befit one who has adopted the simple life ; so there are places also, which the wise man or he who is on the way toward wisdom will avoid as foreign to good morals. Therefore, if he is contemplating withdrawal from the world, he will not select Canopus*® (although Canopus does not keep any man from living simply), nor Baiae either ; for both places have begun to be resorts of vice. At Canopus luxury pampers itself to the utmost degree ; at Baiae it is even more lax, as if the place itself demanded a certain amount of licence.

We ought to select abodes which are wholesome

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locum eligere debemus. Quemadmodum inter tor- tores habitare nolim, sic ne inter popinas quidem. Videre ebrios per litora errantes et comessationes navigantium et symphoniarum cantibus strepentes lacus et alia, quae velut soluta legibus luxuria non

5 tantum peccat, sed publicat, quid necesse est? Id agere debemus, ut irritamenta vitiorum quam lon- gissime profugiamus. Indurandus est animus et a blandimentis voluptatum procul abstrahendus. Una Hannibalem hiberna solverunt et indomitum illum nivibus atque Alpibus virum enervaverunt fomenta

6 Campaniae. Armis vicit, vitiis victus est. Nobis quoque militandum est, et quidem genere militiae, quo numquam quies, numquam otium datur. Debel- landae sunt in primis voluptates, quae, ut vides, saeva quoque ad se ingenia rapuerunt. Si quis sibi pro- posuerit, quantum operis adgressus sit, sciet nihil delicate, nihil molliter esse faciendum. Quid mihi cum istis calentibus stagnis? Quid cum sudatoriis, in quae siccus vapor corpora exhausurus includitur? Omnis sudor per laborem exeat.

7 Si faceremus, quod fecit Hannibal, ut interrupto cursu rerum omissoque bello fovendis corporibus operam daremus, nemo non intempestivam desidiam victori quoque, nedum vincenti, periculosam merito reprehenderet ; minus nobis quam illis Punica signa sequentibus licet, plus periculi restat cedentibus, plus

@ There isconsiderable doubt whether symphonia was vocal or instrumental music. The passage probably refers either to glee-singers (as in Venice to-day) or to bands of flute- players playinz part-music. Cicero (Verr. iii. 44. 105) men- tions them as providing entertainment at banquets.

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not only for the body but also for the character. Just as I do not care to live in a place of torture, neither do I care to live in a café. To witness persons wandering drunk along the beach, the riotous revelling of sailing parties, the lakes a-din with choral song, and all the other ways in which luxury, when it is, so to speak, released from the restraints of Jaw not merely sins, but blazons its sins abroad,—why must I witness all this? We ought to see to it that we flee to the greatest possible distance from pro- vocations to vice. We should toughen our minds, and remove them far from the allurements of pleasure. A single winter relaxed Hannibal’s fibre; his pamper- ing in Campania took the vigour out of that hero who had triumphed over Alpine snows. He con- quered with his weapons, but was conquered by his vices. We too have a war to wage, a type of warfare in which there is allowed no rest or furlough. To be conquered, in the first place, are pleasures, which, as you see, have carried off even the sternest char- acters. If a man has once understood how great is the task which he has entered upon, he will see that there must be no dainty or effeminate conduct. What have I to do with those hot baths or with the sweating -room where they shut in the dry steam which is to drain your strength? Perspiration should flow only after toil.

Suppose we do what Hannibal did,—check the course of events, give up the war, and give over our bodies to be coddled. Every one would rightly blame us for our untimely sloth, a thing fraught with peril even for the victor, to say nothing of one who is only on the way to victory. And we have even less right to do this than those followers of the Carthaginian flag; for our danger is greater than

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operis etiam perseverantibus. Fortuna mecum bellum gerit; non sum imperata facturus. Jugum non re- cipio, immo, quod maiore virtute faciendum est, excutio. Non est emolliendus animus; si voluptati cessero, cedendum est dolori, cedendum est labori, cedendum est paupertati; idem sibi in me iuris esse volet et ambitio et ira; inter tot adfectus distrahar, immo discerpar. Libertas proposita est; ad hoc praemium laboratur. Quae sit libertas, quaeris? Nulli rei servire, nulli necessitati, nullis casibus, fortunam in aequum deducere. Quo die illa me! intellexero plus posse, nil poterit. Ego illam feram, cum in manu mors sit ?

His cogitationibus intentum loca seria sanctaque eligere oportet. Effeminat animos amoenitas nimia nec dubie aliquid ad corrumpendum vigorem potest regio. Quamlibet viam iumenta patiuntur, quorum durata in aspero ungula est; in molli palustrique pascuo saginata cito subteruntur. Et fortior miles ex confragoso venit; segnis est urbanus et verna. Nullum laborem recusant manus, quae ad arma ab aratro transferuntur; in primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus. Severior loci disciplina firmat ingenium aptumque magnis conatibus reddit. Literni

1 quo die illa me Lipsius; quod die illa P; quo die illam b;

quo die illum E.. 340

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theirs if we slacken, and our toil is greater than theirs even if we press ahead. Fortune is fighting against me, and I shall not carry out her commands. I refuse to submit to the yoke; nay rather, I shake off the yoke that is upon me,—an act which demands even greater courage. The soul is not to be pampered ; surrendering to pleasure means also surrendering to pain, surrendering to toil, surrendering to poverty. Both ambition and anger will wish to have the same rights over me as pleasure, and I shall be torn asunder, or rather pulled to pieces, amid all these conflicting passions. I have set freedom before my eyes; and I am striving for that reward. And what is freedom, you ask? It means not being a slave to any circum- stance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling Fortune to enter the lists on equal terms. And on the day when I know that I have the upper hand, her power will be naught. When I have death in my own control, shall I take orders from her?

Therefore, a man occupied with such reflections should choose an austere and pure dwelling-place. The spirit is weakened by surroundings that are too pleasant, and without a doubt one’s place of residence can contribute towards impairing its vigour. Animals whose hoofs are hardened on rough ground can travel any road; but when they are fattened on soft marshy meadows their hoofs are soon worn out. The bravest soldier comes from rock-ribbed regions ; but the town-bred and the home-bred are sluggish in action. The hand which turns from the plough to the sword never objects to toil; but your sleek and well-dressed dandy quails at the first cloud of dust. Being trained in a rugged country strengthens the character and fits it for great undertakings. It was

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honestius Scipio quam Bais exulabat ; ruina eius non est tam molliter conlocanda. [Illi quoque, ad quos primos fortuna populi Romani publicas opes transtulit, C. Marius et Cn. Pompeius et Caesar! extruxerunt quidem villas in regione Baiana, sed illas inposuerunt summis iugismontium. Videbatur hoc magis militare, ex edito speculari late longeque subiecta. Aspice, quam positionem elegerint, quibus aedificia excita- verint locis et qualia; scies non villas esse, sed castra.

12 Habitaturum tu putas umquam fuisse in mica? Catonem, ut praenavigantes adulteras dinumeraret et tot genera cumbarum variis coloribus picta et fluvitantem toto lacu rosam, ut audiret canentium nocturna convicia? Nonne ille manere intra vallum maluisset, quod in unam noctem manu sua ipse duxisset? Quidni mallet, quisquis vir est, somnum suum classico quam symphonia rumpi ?

13. Sed satis diu cum Bais litigavimus, numquam satis cum vitiis, quae, oro te, Lucili, persequere sine modo, sine fine. Nam illis quoque nec finis est nec modus. Proice quaecumque cor tuum laniant, quae si aliter extrahi nequirent, cor ipsum cum illis revellendum erat. Voluptates praecipue exturba et invisissimas habe ; latronum more, quos ¢tAnras* Aegyptii vocant, in hoc nos amplectuntur, ut strangulent. Vace.

1 Before Caesar Gertz, followed by Hense, adds C. 2 in mica Lipsius; inimica LP. Friedlander, interpreting mica as a sort of casino, or fancy dining-hall, agrees with

the reading of Lipsius and compares Martial, ii. 59. 1. 3 gAnrds Muretus ; hostilistas L; stilistas P ; pstillistas b.

« See Letter Ixxxvi.

> The Egyptians used the word ¢7An77s in the sense of *sknave™ or ‘* foot-pad.” The word is found in the Hecale of Callimachus. Hesychius defines it as equal to Kdoéy “thief.” It was pronounced in the same way as ¢iAnr7s ‘lover,’ and in late Greek was spelt in the same way.

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more honourable in Scipio to spend his exile at Liternum@ than at Baiae; his downfall did not need a setting so effeminate. Those also into whose hands the rising fortunes of Rome first transferred the wealth of the state, Gaius Marius, Gnaeus Pompey, and Caesar, did indeed build villas near Baiae; but they set them on the very tops of the mountains. This seemed more soldier-like, to look down from a lofty height upon lands spread far and wide below. Note the situation, position, and type of building which they chose; you will see that they were not country-places,—they were camps. Do you suppose that Cato would ever have dwelt in a pleasure-palace, that he might count the lewd women as they sailed past, the many kinds of barges painted in all sorts of colours, the roses which were wafted about the lake, or that he might listen to the nocturnal brawls of serenaders? Would he not have preferred to remain in the shelter of a trench thrown up by his own hands to serve for a single night? Would not anyone who is a man have his slumbers broken by a war-trumpet rather than by a chorus of serenaders ?

But I have been haranguing against Baiae long enough; although I never could harangue often enough against vice. Vice, Lucilius, is what I wish you to proceed against, without limit and without end. For it has neither limit nor end. If any vice rend your heart, cast it away from you; and if you cannot be rid of it in any other way, pluck out your heart also. Above all, drive pleasures from your sight. Hate them beyond all other things, for they are like the bandits whom the Egyptians call “lovers,” ® who embrace us only to garrotte us. Farewell.

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(aX)

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LII Seneca LyvcILIo svo SALVTEM

Quid est hoc, Lucili, quod nos alio tendentes alio trahit et eo, unde recedere cupimus, inpellit? Quid conluctatur cum animo nostro nec permittit nobis quicquamsemelvelle? Fluctuamur inter varia consilia. Nihil libere volumus, nihil absolute, nihil semper. ‘‘ Stultitia,” inquis, “est, cui nihil constat, nihil diu placet.”. Sed quomodo nos aut quando ab illa revellemus? Nemo per se satis valet ut emergat ; oportet manum aliquis porrigat, aliquis educat.

Quosdam ait Epicurus ad veritatem sine ullius adiutorio exisse, fecisse sibi ipsos viam. Hos maxime laudat, quibus ex se impetus fuit, qui se ipsi pro- tulerunt. Quosdam indigere ope aliena, non ituros, si nemo praecesserit, sed bene secuturos. Ex his Metrodorum ait esse; egregium hoc quoque, sed secundae sortis ingenium. Nos ex illa prima nota non sumus; bene nobiscum agitur, si in secundam recipimur. Ne hunc quidem contempseris hominem, qui alieno beneficio esse salvus potest ; et hoc multum est, velle servari.

Praeter haec adhuc invenies genus aliud hominum ne ipsum quidem fastidiendum eorum, qui cogi ad rectum conpellique possunt, quibus non duce tantum opus sit, sed adiutore et, ut ita dicam, coactore. Hic

@ Frag. 192 Usener. 344

EPISTLE LII.

LII. ON CHOOSING OUR TEACHERS

What is this force, Lucilius, that drags us in one direction when we are aiming in another, urging us on to the exact place from which we long to with- draw? What is it that wrestles with our spirit, and does not allow us to desire anything once for all? We veer from plan to plan. None of our wishes is free, none is unqualified, none is lasting. “ But it is the fool,’ you say, “who is inconsistent; nothing suits him for long.”” But how or when can we tear ourselves away from this folly? No man by himself has sufficient strength to rise above it; he needs a helping hand, and some one to extricate him.

Epicurus * remarks that certain men have worked their way to the truth without any one’s assistance, carving out their own passage. And he gives special praise to these, for their impulse has come from within, and they have forged to the front by them- selves. Again, he says, there are others who need outside help, who will not proceed unless someone leads the way, but who will follow faithfully. Of these, he says, Metrodorus was one; this type of man is also excellent, but belongs to the second grade. We ourselves are not of that first class, either; we shall be well treated if we are admitted into the second. Nor need you despise a man who can gain salvation only with the assistance of another; the will to be saved means a great deal, too.

You will find still another class of man,—and a class not to be despised,—who can be forced and driven into righteousness, who do not need a guide as much as they require someone to encourage and, as it were, to force them along. This is the third

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tertius color est. Si quaeris huius quoque exemplar, Hermarchum ait Epicurus talem fuisse. Itaque alteri magis gratulatur, alterum magis suspicit; quamvis enim ad eundem finem uterque pervenerit, tamen maior est laus idem effecisse in difficiliore materia.

5 Puta enim duo aedificia excitata esse, ab imo! dis- paria, aeque excelsa atque magnifica. Alterum puram aream accepit; illic protinus opus crevit. Alterum fundamenta lassarunt in mollem et fluvidam humum missa multumque laboris exhaustum est, dum per- venitur ad solidum. Intuenti ambo? quicquid fecit alter in aperto est, alterius * magna pars et difficilior

6 latet. Quaedam ingenia facilia, expedita, quaedam manu, quod aiunt, facienda sunt et in fundamentis suis occupata. Itaque illum ego feliciorem dixerim, qui nihil negotii secum habuit, hune quidem melius de se meruisse, qui malignitatem naturae suae vicit et ad sapientiam se non perduxit, sed extraxit.

7 Hoc durum ac Jaboriosum ingenium nobis datum scias licet. Imus per obstantia. Itaque pugnemus, aliquorum invocemus auxilium. “Quem,” inquis, “invocabo? Hunc aut illum*?” Tu vero etiam ad priores revertere, qui vacant; adiuvare nos possunt

1 ab imo Buecheler ; ambo MSS.

2 intuenti ambo Buecheler ; inveniebo LPb.

3 fecit alter in aperto est, alterius Hense (alter in the later MSS) ; fecit alterius LPb.

* I have included hunc aut illum in the question of Lucilius. Hense gives to Seneca.

* i.e., that of Metrodorus, who had the happier nature.

> t.¢., a representative of this school or that. Seneca’s reply is, in effect, ‘‘ Upon no present school; go to the ancients.”

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variety. If you ask me for a man of this pattern also, Epicurus tells us that Hermarchus was such. And of the two last-named classes, he is more ready to congratulate the one,® but he feels more respect for the other; for although both reached the same goal, it is a greater credit to have brought about the same result with the more difficult material upon which to work.

Suppose that two buildings have been erected, unlike as to their foundations, but equal in height and in grandeur. One is built on faultless ground, and the process of erection goes right ahead. In the other ease, the foundations have exhausted the building materials, for they have been sunk into soft and shifting ground and much labour has been wasted in reaching the solid rock. As one looks at both of them, one sees clearly what progress the former has made, but the larger and more difficult part of the latter is hidden. So with men’s dispositions ; some are pliable and easy to manage, but others have to be laboriously wrought out by hand, so to speak, and are wholly employed in the making of their own foundations. I should accordingly deem more fortunate the man who has never had any trouble with himself; but the other, I feel, has deserved better of himself, who has won a victory over the meanness of his own nature, and has not gently led himself, but has wrestled his way, to wisdom.

You may be sure that this refractory nature, which demands much toil, has been implanted in us. There are obstacles in our path; so let us fight, and call to our assistance some helpers. ‘ Whom,” you say, “shall I call upon? Shall it be this man or that®?’’ There is another choice also open to you; you may go to the ancients; for they have the

347

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

8 non tantum qui sunt, sed qui fuerunt. Ex his autem, qui sunt, eligamus non eos, qui verba magna celeritate praecipitant et communes locos volvunt et in privato circulantur,sed eos, qui vita! docent, qui cum dixerunt, quid faciendum sit, probant faciendo, qui docent, quid vitandum sit, nec umquam in eo, quod fugiendum dixerunt, deprehenduntur.

Eum elige adiutorem, quem magis admireris, cum

9 videris quam cum audieris. Nec ideo te prohibuerim hos quoque audire, quibus admittere populum ac disserere consuetudo est, si modo hoe proposito in turbam prodeunt, ut meliores fiant faciantque meliores, si non ambitionis hoc causa exercent. Quid enim turpius philosophia captante clamores? Numquid

10 aeger laudat medicum secantem? Tacete, favete et praebete vos curationi. Etiam si exclamaveritis, non aliter audiam, quam si ad tactum vitiorum vestrorum ingemescatis. ‘estari vultis adtendere vos moveri- que magnitudine rerum? Sane liceat; ut quidem iudicetis et feratis de meliore suffragium, quidni non permittam? Apud Pythagoram discipulis quinque annis tacendum erat; numquid ergo existimas statim illis et logui et laudare licuisse ?

ll Quanta autem dementia eius est, quem clamores inperitorum hilarem ex auditorio dimittunt? Quid laetaris, quod ab hominibus his laudatus es, quos non

1 vita Muretus; vitam LPb; Hense suggests vitam vita.

* Circulatores were travelling showmen who performed sword-swallowing and snake-charming feats, or cheap stump speakers who displayed their eloquence at the street-corners in the hope of a few pence. The word is also found in the sense of ‘* pedlar”’.

’ This and what follows, to § 11, are the words with which a true philosopher is supposed to address his hearers.

348

EPISTLE LIL.

time tohelp you. Wecan get assistance not only from the living, but from those of the past. Let us choose, however, from among the living, not men who pour forth their words with the greatest glibness, turning out commonplaces, and holding, as it were, their own little private exhibitions,7—not these, I say, but men who teach us by their lives, men who tell us what we ought to do and then prove it by practice, who show us what we should avoid, and then are never caught doing that which they have ordered us to avoid.

Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak. Of course I would not prevent you from listening also to those philosophers who are wont to hold public meetings and discussions, provided they appear before the people for the express purpose of improving themselves and others, and do not practise their profession for the sake of self-seeking. For what is baser than philosophy courting applause? Does the sick man praise the surgeon while he is operating? In silence and with reverent awe submit to the cure. Even though you cry applause, I shall listen to your cries as if you were groaning when your sores were touched. Do you wish to bear witness that you are attentive, that you are stirred by the grandeur of the subject? You may do this at the proper time: I shall of course allow you to pass judgment and cast a vote as to the bettcr course. Pythagoras made his pupils keep silence for five years; do you think that they had the right on that account to break out immediately into applause?

How mad is he who leaves the lecture-room in a happy frame of mind simply because of applause from the ignorant! Why do you take pleasure in being praised by men whom you yourself cannot praise?

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potes ipse laudare? Disserebat populo Fabianus, sed audiebatur modeste. Erumpebat interdum magnus clamor laudantium, sed quem rerum magnitudo evocaverat, non sonus inoffense ac molliter orationis 12 elapsae. Intersit aliquid inter clamorem theatri et scholae ; est aliqua et laudandi decentia.1 Omnia rerum omnium, si observentur, indicia sunt et argu- mentum morum ex minimis quoque licet capere: inpudicum et incessus ostendit et manus mota et unum interdum responsum et relatus ad caput digitus et flexus oculorum. Inprobum risus, insanum vultus habitusque demonstrat. Illa enim in apertum per notas exeunt; qualis quisque sit, scies, si quemad- modum laudet, quemadmodum laudetur, aspexeris. 13 Hine atque illine philosopho manus auditor intentat et super ipsum caput mirantium turba consistit ; non laudatur ille nunc, si intellegis, sed conclamatur. Relinquantur istae voces illis artibus, quae propositum 14 habent populo placere; philosophia adoretur. Per- mittendum erit aliquando iuvenibus sequi impetum animi, tunc autem, cum hoc ex impetu facient, cum silentium sibi imperare non poterunt. Talis Jaudatio aliquid exhortationis adfert ipsis audientibus et animos adulescentium exstimulat. Ad rem commo- veantur, non ad verba conposita; alioquin nocet illis eloquentia, si non rerum cupiditatem facit, sed sui.

1 decentia Koch; licentia LPb; scientia later MSS. Gertz con). diligentia.

¢ The scratching of the head with one finger was for some reason regarded as a mark of effeminacy or of vice; cf. the charge brought against Pompey, Plutarch, Moralia, 89 © and Ammianus, 17. 11 quod genuino quodam more caput digito uno scalpebat . . . ut dissolutum. Compare also Juvenal, ix. 133 scalpere caput digito. 350

EPISTLE LII.

Fabianus used to give popular talks, but his audience listened with self-control. Occasionally a loud shout of praise would burst forth, but it was prompted by the greatness of his subject, and not by the sound of oratory that slipped forth pleasantly and _ softly. There should be a difference between the applause of the theatre and the applause of the school; and there is a certain decency even in bestowing praise. If you mark them carefully, all acts are always sig- nificant, and you can gauge character by even the most trifling signs. The lecherous man is revealed by his gait, by a movement of the hand, sometimes by a single answer, by his touching his head with a finger,* by the shifting of his eye. The scamp is shown up by his laugh; the madman by his face and general appearance. These qualities become known by certain marks; but you can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise. The philosopher's audience, from this corner and that, stretch forth admiring hands, and sometimes the adoring crowd almost hang over the lecturer’s head. But, if you really under- stand, that is not praise; it is merely applause. These outcries should be left for the arts which aim to please the crowd; let philosophy be worshipped in silence. Young men, indeed, must sometimes have free play to follow their impulses, but it should - only be at times when they act from impulse, and when they cannot force themselves to be silent. Such praise as that gives a certain kind of encourage- ment to the hearers themselves, and acts as a spur to the youthful mind. But let them be roused to the matter, and not to the style; otherwise, eloquence does them harm, making them enamoured of itself, and not of the subject.

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15 Differam hoc in praesentia; desiderat enim pro- priam et longam exsecutionem, quemadmodum populo disserendum, quid sibi apud populum permittendum sit, quid populo apud se. Damnum quidem fecisse philosophiam non erit dubium, postquam prostituta est. Sed potest in penetralibus suis ostendi, si modo non institorem, sed antistitem nancta est. Vater.

LLL. Seneca LvcILIO svo SALVTEM

1 Quid non potest mihi persuaderi, cui persuasum est ut navigarem? Solvi mari languido. Erat sine dubio caelum grave sordidis nubibus, quae fere aut in aquam aut in ventum resolvuntur. Sed _ putavi tam pauca milia a Parthenope tua usque Puteolos subripi posse, quamvis dubio et inpendente caelo. Itaque quo celerius evaderem, protinus per altum ad

2 Nesida derexi praecisurus omnes sinus. Cum iam eo processissem, ut mea nihil interesset, utrum irem an redirem, primum aequalitas illa, quae me corruperat, periit. Nondum erat tempestas, sed iam inclinatio maris ae subinde crebrior fluctus. Coepi gubernatorem rogare, ut me in aliquo litore exponeret. Aiebat ille aspera esse et inportuosa nec quicquam se aeque in

3 tempestate timere quam terram. Peius autemvexabar,

2 ‘The poetical name for Naples; perhaps it was once a town near by which gave a sort of romantic second title to the larger city. Professor Summers thinks that this poetical name, together with tua, indicates a reference to a passage from the verse of Lucilius. Perhaps, however, tua means nothing more than ‘* the place which you love so well,” being in the neighbourhood of Pompeii, the birthplace of Lucilius.

> An islet near the mouth of the bay wherein Baiae was Sage Puteoli was on the opposite side of the bay from alae,

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EPISTLES LIT., LII.

I shall postpone this topic for the present; it demands a long and special investigation, to show how the public should be addressed, what indulgences should be allowed to a speaker on a public occasion, and what should be allowed to the crowd itself in the presence of the speaker. There can be no doubt that philosophy has suffered a loss, now that she has exposed her charms for sale. But she can still be viewed in her sanctuary, if her exhibitor is a priest and not a pedlar. Farewell.

MONE cavities OF TBE Srenrr

You can persuade me into almost anything now, for I was recently persuaded to travel by water. We cast off when the sea was lazily smooth; the sky, to be sure, was heavy with nasty clouds, such as usually break into rain or squalls. Still, I thought that the few miles between Puteoli and your dear Parthe- nope® might be run off in quick time, despite the uncertain and lowering sky. So, in order to get away more quickly, I made straight out to sea for Nesis,? with the purpose of cutting across all the inlets. But when we were so far out that it made little difference to me whether I returned or kept on, the calm weather, which had enticed me, came to naught. The storm had not yet begun, but the ground-swell was on, and the waves kept steadily coming faster. I began to ask the pilot to put me ashore somewhere; he replied that the coast was rough and a bad place to land, and that in a storm he feared a lee shore more than anything else. But

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quam ut mihi periculum succurreret. Nausia enim me segnis haee et sine exitu torquebat, quae bilem movet nec effundit. Institi itaque gubernatori et illum, vellet nollet, coegi, peteret litus. Cuius ut viciniam attigimus, non expecto, ut quicquam ex praeceptis Vergilii fiat,

Obvertunt pelago proras

aut Ancora de prora iacitur ,

memor artificii mei vetus frigidae cultor mitto me in mare, quomodo psychrolutam decet, gausapatus.

4 Quae putas me passum, dum per aspera erepo, dum viam quaero, dum facio? Intellexi non inmerito nautis terram timeri. Incredibilia sunt, quae tulerim, cum me ferre non possem!; illud scito, Vlixem non fuisse tam irato mari natum, ut ubique naufragia faceret; nausiatorerat. Et ego quocumque navigare debuero, vicensimo anno perveniam.

5 Ut primum stomachum, quem scis non cum mari nausiam effugere, collegi, ut corpus unctione recreavi, hoc coepi mecum cogitare, quanta nos vitiorum nostrorum sequeretur oblivio, etiam corporalium, quae subinde admonent sui, nedum illorum, quae eo

§ magis latent, quo maiora sunt. Levis aliquem motiun- cula decipit; sed cum crevit et vera febris exarsit,

1 possem Erasmus ; possim MSS.

@ Aeneid, vi. 3. This was the usual method of mooring a ship in ancient times.

’ Aeneid, iii. 277.

¢ Compare Lp. Ixxxiii. 5.

@ Ulysses took ten years on his journey, because of sea- sickness ; Seneca will need twice as many.

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EPISTLE LIII.

I was suffering too grievously to think of the danger, since a sluggish seasickness which brought no relief was racking me, the sort that upsets the liver without clearing it. Therefore I laid down the law to my pilot, forcing him to make for the shore, willy-nilly. When we drew near, | did not wait for things to be done in accordance with Vergil’s orders, until

Prow faced seawards 4 or Anchor plunged from bow ;?

I remembered my profession ° as a veteran devotee of cold water, and, clad as I was in my cloak, let myself down into the sea, just as a cold-water bather should. What do you think my feelings were, scrambling over the rocks, searching out the path, or making one for myself? I understood that sailors have good reason to fear the land. It is hard to believe what I endured when IJ could not endure myself; you may be sure that the reason why Ulysses was shipwrecked on every possible occasion was not so much because the sea-god was angry with him from his birth; he was simply subject to seasickness. And in the future I also, if I must go anywhere by sea, shall only reach my destination in the twentieth year.?

When I finally calmed my stomach (for you know that one does not escape seasickness by escaping from the sea) and refreshed my body with a rub- down, I began to reflect how completely we forget or ignore our failings, even those that affect the body, which are continually reminding us of their existence, —not to mention those which are more serious in proportion as they are more hidden. A slight ague deceives us; but when it has increased and a genuine fever has begun to burn, it forces even a hardy man,

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

etiam duro et perpessicio confessionem excipit Pedes dolent, articuli punctiunculas sentiunt ; adhuc dissimulamus et aut talum extorsisse dicimus nos aut in exercitatione aliqua laborasse. Dubio et incipiente morbo quaeritur nomen, qui ubi etiam talaria! coepit intendere et utrosque dextros? pedes fecit, necesse

7 est podagram fateri. Contra evenit in his morbis, quibus adficiuntur animi; quo quis peius se habet, minus sentit. Non est quod mireris, Lucili carissime. Nam qui leviter dormit, et species secundum quietem capit et aliquando dormire se dormiens cogitat ; gravis sopor etiam somnia extinguit animumque altius

8 mergit, quam ut in ullo intellectu sui sit. Quare vitia sua nemo confitetur? Quia etiamnunc in illis est ; somnium narrare vigilantis est, et vitia sua con- fiteri sanitatis indicium est.

Expergiscamur ergo, ut errores nostros coarguere possimus. Sola autem nos philosophia excitabit, sola somnum excutiet gravem. Illi te totum dedica. Dignus illa es, illa digna te est; ite in conplexum alter alterius. Omnibus aliis rebus te nega, fortiter, aperte. Non est quod precario philosopheris.

9 Si aeger esses, curam intermisisses rei familiaris et forensia tibi negotia excidissent nee quemquam tanti putares, cui advocatus in remissione descenderes. Toto animo id ageres, ut quam primum morbo libera-

‘ etiam talaria Hense; ut talaria MSS.

? Hense suspects dextros, for which Toup conjectured distortos, comparing Ep. Ixvii. 3.

3 ut in ullo intellectu sui sit Schultess; ut in ullo intellectus sui est L; ut in nullo intellectu sui est V 3 uti nullo intellectu sui est pPb.

« Thatis, they are so swollen that left and right look alike.

> Literally ‘‘on sufferance,” whenever other matters permit. Cf. Pliny, Ep. vii. 30 precario studeo,—*‘ subject to interruption from others.”

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EPISTLE LIII.

who can endure much suffering, to admit that he is ill. There is pain in the foot, and a tingling sensa- tion in the joints; but we still hide the complaint and announce that we have sprained a joint, or else are tired from over-exercise. Then the ailment, un- certain at first, must be given a name; and when it begins to swell the ankles also, and has made both our feet “right” feet,t we are bound to confess that we have the gout. The opposite holds true of diseases of the soul; the worse one is, the less one perceives it. You need not be surprised, my beloved Lucilius. For he whose sleep is light pursues visions during slumber, and sometimes, though asleep, is conscious that he is asleep ; but sound slumber annihilates our very dreams and sinks the spirit down so deep that it has no perception of self. Why will no man confess his faults? Because he is still in their grasp ; only he who is awake can recount his dream, and similarly a confession of sin is a proof of sound mind.

Let us, therefore, rouse ourselves, that we may be able to correct our mistakes. Philosophy, however, is the only power that can stir us, the only power that can shake off our deep slumber. Devote your- self wholly to philosophy. You are worthy of her; she is worthy of you; greet one another with a loving embrace. Say farewell to all other interests with courage and frankness. Do not study philosophy merely during your spare time.?

If you were ill, you would stop caring for your personal concerns, and forget your business duties ; you would not think highly enough of any client to take active charge of his case during a slight abate- ment of your sufferings. You would try your hardest to be rid of the illness as soon as possible. What,

357

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

reris Quid ergo? Non et nunc idem facies? Omnia inpedimenta dimitte et vaca bonae menti; nemoadillam pervenit occupatus. Exercet philosophia regnum suum; dat tempus, non accipit. Non est res subsiciva, ordinaria est; domina est, adesse iubet.}

10 Alexandercuidam civitati partem agrorum et dimidium

rerum omnium promittenti “ Eo,” inquit, “ proposito in Asiam veni, ut non id acciperem, quod dedissetis, sed ut id haberetis, quod reliquissem.” Idem philosophia rebus omnibus, “ Non sum hoc tempus acceptura, quod vobis superfuerit, sed id vos habebitis, quod ipsa reiecero.?”’

Totam huc converte mentem, huic adside, hanc ecole; ingens intervallum inter te et ceteros fiet. Omnes mortales multo antecedes, non multo te di antecedent. Quaeris, quid inter te et illos inter- futurum sit? Diutius erunt At mehercules magni artificis est clusisse totum in exiguo. Tantum sapienti sua, quantum deo omnis aetas patet. Est aliquid, quo sapiens antecedat deum: ille naturae

12 beneficio non timet, suo sapiens. Ecce res magna,

habere inbecillitatem hominis, securitatem dei Incredibilis philosophiae vis est ad omnem fortuitam vim retundendam. Nullum telum in corpore eius sedet; munita est, solida Quaedam defetigat et

a eens re ns ere eee an

reiecero Lipsius: re aegero p; re egero L; reegero PV. Haase conj. erogaro, Mueck relegaro.

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EPISTLE LIII.

then? Shall you not do the same thing now? Throw aside all hindrances and give up your time to getting a sound mind; for no man can attain it if he is engrossed in other matters. Philosophy wields her own authority ; she appoints her own time and does not allow it to be appointed for her. She is not a thing to be followed at odd times, but a subject for daily practice ; she is mistress, and she commands our attendance. Alexander, when a certain state promised him a part of its territory and half its entire property, replied : “ Il invaded Asia with the intention, not of accepting what you might give, but of allowing you to keep what I might leave.” Philosophy like- wise keeps saying to all occupations: “Ido not in- tend to accept the time which you have left over, but I shall allow you to keep what I myself shall leave.’ Turn to her, therefore, with all your soul, sit at her feet, cherish her; a great distance will then begin to separate you from other men. You will be far ahead of all mortals, and even the gods will not be far ahead of you. Do you ask what will be the difference between yourself and the gods? They will live longer. But, by my faith, it is the sign of a great artist to have confined a full likeness to the limits of a miniature. The wise man’s life spreads out to him over as large a surface as does all eternity to a god. There is one point in which the sage has an advantage over the god; for a god is freed from terrors by the bounty of nature, the wise man by his own bounty. What a wonderful privilege, to have the weaknesses of a man and the serenity of a god! The power of philosophy to blunt the blows of chance is beyond belief. No missile can settle in her body; she is well-protected and impenetrable. She spoils the force of some missiles and wards them 359

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

velut levia tela laxo sinu eludit, quaedam discutit et in eum usque, qui miserat, respuit. VALE.

LAML Seneca Lyciio svo SALVTEM

1 Longum mihi commeatum! dederat mala valitudo ; repente me invasit. “Quo genere?”’ inquis. Prorsus merito interrogas; adeo nullum mihi ignotum est. Uni tamen morbo quasi adsignatus sum, quem quare Graeco nomine appellem nescio; satis enim apte dici suspirium potest. Brevis autem valde et pro- cellae similis est impetus; intra horam fere desinit.

2 Quis enim diu exspirat? Omnia corporis aut in- commoda aut pericula per me transierunt; nullum mihi videtur molestius. Quidni? Aliud enim quic- quid est, aegrotare est, hoc animam egerere. Itaque medici hance “ meditationem mortis’’ vocant. Faciet ? enim aliquando spiritus ille, quod saepe conatus est.

3 Hilarem me putas haec tibi scribere, quia effugi? Tam ridicule facio, si hoc fine quasi bona valitudine delector, quam ille, quisquis vicisse se putat, cum vadimonium distulit. Ego vero et in ipsa suffocatione non desii cogitationibus laetis ac fortibus adquiescere.

4 “Quid hoc est?” inquam. “Tam saepe mors

1 commeatum Lipsius ; comitatum MSS. 2 facict Lipsius ; facit MSS.

@ 7.e., asthma. Seneca thinks that the Latin name is good enough.

> Celsus (iv. 8) gives this disease as the second of those which deal with the respiratory organs : cum vehementior est, ut spirare aeger sine sono et anhelatione non possit.

360

EPISTLES LIII., LIV.

off with the loose folds of her gown, as if they had no power to harm; others she dashes aside, and hurls them back with such force that they recoil upon the sender. Farewell.

LIV. ON ASTHMA AND DEATH

My ill-health had allowed me a long furlough, when suddenly it resumed the attack. “ What kind of ill-health?” you say. And you surely have a right to ask ; for it is true that no kind is unknown tome. But I have been consigned, so to speak, to one special ailment. I do not know why I should call it by its Greek name“; for it is well enough described as “shortness of breath.” Its attack is of very brief duration, like that of a squall at sea; it usually ends within an hour. Who indeed could breathe his last for long? I have passed through all the ills and dangers of the flesh; but nothing seems to me more troublesome than this. And naturally so; for anything else may be called illness; but this is a sort of continued “ last gasp.” ® Hence physicians call it “ practising how to die.” For some day the breath will succeed in doing what it has so often essayed. Do you think I am writing this letter in a merry spirit, just because I have escaped? It would be absurd to take delight in such supposed restoration to health, as it would be for a defendant to imagine that he had won his case when he had succeeded in postponing his trial. Yet in the midst of my difficult breathing I never ceased to rest secure in cheerful and brave thoughts.

“ What?” I say to myself; “does death so often

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

experitur me? Faciat; ego! illam diu expertus sum.” “Quando?” inquis. Antequam_nascerer. Mors est non esse; id quale sit, iam scio. Hoc erit post me, quod ante me fuit. Si quid in hac re tormenti est, necesse est et fuisse, antequam prodiremus in lucem; atqui nullam sensimus tune vexationem. Rogo, non stultissimum dicas, si quis existimet lucernae peius esse, cum extincta est, quam antequam accenditur? Nos quoque et ex- tinguimur et accendimur ; medio illo tempore aliquid patimur, utrimque vero alta securitas est. In hoc enim, mi Lucili, nisi fallor, erramus, quod mortem iudicamus sequi, cum illa et praecesserit et secutura sit. Quicquid ante nos fuit, mors est. Quid enim refert, non incipias an desinas, cum utriusque rei hic sit effectus, non esse ?

His et eiusmodi exhortationibus, tacitis scilicet, nam verbis locus non erat, adloqui me non desii. Deinde paulatim suspirium illud, quod esse iam anhelitus coeperat, intervalla maiora fecit et retar- datum est ac remansit. Nec adhuc, quamvis desierit, ex natura fluit spiritus ; sentio haesitationem quandam eius et moram. Quomodo volet, dummodo non ex animo suspirem. Hoc tibi de me recipe; non trepidabo ad extrema, iam praeparatus sum, nihil cogito de die toto. [llum tu lauda et imitare, quem

1 Before ego the MSS. read at; Gertz removed it from the text.

@ i.e., that the sigh be physical,—an asthmatic gasp,—and not caused by anguish of soul.

®’ The argument is: I am ready to die, but do not praise me on that account ; reserve your praise for him who is not loth to die, though (unlike me) he finds it a pleasure to live (because he is in good health). Yes, for there is no more virtue in accepting death when one hates life, than there is in leaving a place when one is ejected.

362

EPISTLE LIV.

test me? Let it do so; I myself have for a long time tested death.” “When?” you ask. Before I was born. Death is non-existence, and J] know already what that means. What was before me will happen again after me. If there is any suffering in this state, there must have been such suffering also in the past, before we entered the light of day. As a matter of fact, however, we felt no discomfort then. And I ask you, would you not say that one was the greatest of fools who believed that a lamp was worse off when it was extinguished than before it was lighted ? We mortals also are lighted and extinguished; the period of suffering comes in between, but on either side there is a deep peace. JT or, unless I am very much mistaken, my dear Lucilius, we go astray in thinking that death only follows, when in reality it has both preceded us and will in turn follow us. Whatever condition existed before our birth, is death. For what does it matter whether you do not begin at all, or whether you leave off, inasmuch as the result of both these states is non-existence?

I have never ceased to encourage myself with cheering counsels of this kind, silently, of course, since I had not the power to speak ; then little by little this shortness of breath, already reduced to a sort of panting, came on at greater intervals, and then slowed down and finally stopped. Even by this time, although the gasping has ceased, the breath does not come and go normally; | still feel a sort of hesitation and delay in breathing. Let it be as it pleases, provided there be no sigh from the soul. Accept this assurance from me: I shall never be frightened when the last hour comes; I am already prepared and do not plan a whole day ahead. But do you praise” and imitate the man whem it does not

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non piget mori, cum iuvet vivere. Quae est enim virtus cum eiciaris exire? Jamen est et hic virtus; eicior quidem, sed tanquam exeam. Et ideo num- quam eicitur sapiens, quia eici est inde expelli, unde invitus recedas; nihil invitus facit sapiens, necessi- tatem effugit, quia vult quod coactura est. VALE.

LY. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

A gestatione cum maxime venio non minus fati- gatus, quam si tantum ambulassem, quantum sedi. Labor est enim et diu ferri, ac nescio an eo maior, quia contra naturam est, quae pedes dedit, ut per nos ambularemus, oculos, ut per nos videremus. De- bilitatem nobis indixere deliciae, et quod diu nolui- mus, posse desimus. Mihi tamen necessarium erat concutere corpus, ut sive bilis insederat faucibus, discuteretur, sive ipse ex aliqua causa spiritus densior erat, extenuaret illum iactatio, quam profuisse mihi sensi. Ideo diutius vehi perseveravi invitante ipso litore, quod inter Cumas et Servili Vatiae villam curvatur et hine mari, illinc lacu velut angustum iter cluditur. Erat enim a recenti tempestate spis-

@ Cumae was on the coast about six miles north of Cape Misenum. Lake Acheron (see § 6) was a salt-water pool between those two points, separated from the sea by a sand- bar; it lay near Lake Avernus and probably derived its name from that fact. The Vatia mentioned here is unknown; he must not be confused with Isauricus.

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irk to die, though he takes pleasure in living. For what virtue is there in going away when you are thrust out? And yet there is virtue even in this: I am indeed thrust out, but it is as if I were going away willingly. For that reason the wise man can never be thrust out, because that would mean removal from a place which he was unwilling to leave; and the wise man does nothing unwillingly. He escapes necessity, because he wills to do what necessity is about to force upon him. Farewell.

LV. ON VATIA’S VILLA

I have just returned from a ride in my litter; and I am as weary as if I had walked the distance, instead of being seated. Even to be carried for any length of time is hard work, perhaps all the more so because it is an unnatural exercise; for Nature gave us legs with which to do our own walking, and eyes with which to do our own seeing. Our luxuries have condemned us to weakness; we have ceased to be able to do that which we have long declined to do. Nevertheless, I found it necessary to give my body a shaking up, in order that the bile which had gathered in my throat, if that was my trouble, might be shaken out, or, if the very breath within me had become, for some reason, too thick, that the jolting, which I have felt was a good thing for me, might make it thinner. So I insisted on being carried longer than usual, along an attractive beach, which bends between Cumae and Servilius Vatia’s country-house,* shut in by the sea on one side and the lake on the other, just like a narrow path. It was packed firm under foot, because of a recent

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sum. Fluctus autem illud, ut scis, frequens et con- citatus exaequat, longior tranquillitas solvit, cum harenis, quae umore alligantur, sucus abscessit.

3 Ex consuetudine tamen mea circumspicere coepi, an aliquid illic invenirem, quod mihi posset bono esse, et derexi! oculos in villam, quae aliquando Vatiae fuit. In hac ille praetorius dives, nulla alia re quam otio notus, consenuit et ob hoc unum felix habebatur. Nam quotiens aliquos amicitiae Asinii Galli, quotiens Seiani odium, deinde amor merserat, aeque enim offendisse illum quam amasse periculosum fuit, ex- clamabant homines: “ O Vatia, solus scis vivere.”’

4 At ille latere sciebat, non vivere. Multum autem interest, utrum vita tua otiosa sit an ignava. Num- quam aliter hance villam Vatia vivo praeteribam, quam ut dicerem: “ Vatia hic situs est.”

Sed adeo, mi Lucili, philosophia sacrum quiddam est et venerabile, ut etiam, si quid illi simile est, mendacio placeat. Otiosum enim hominem seductum existimat vulgus et securum et se contentum, sibi viventem, quorum nihil ulli contingere nisi sapienti

5 potest. Ille sollicitus scit sibi vivere?? Ile enim, quod est primum, scit vivere? Nam qui res et homines fugit, quem cupiditatum suarum infelicitas

1 derexi Hense; direxi MSS.

2 This and the next sentence are punctuated according to Summers ; Hense takes them as declarations, but suggests solus non sollicitus, since solus is added above the line in V, and in P sollicitus has been corrected to solus.

@ Son of Asinius Pollio; his frankness got him into trouble and he died of starvation in a dungeon in a.p. 33. Tacitus, Ann. i. 13. 2, quotes Augustus, discussing his own successor, as saying of Gallus avidus et minor. Sejanus was over- thrown and executed in a.p. 31.

> 2.¢., after his fall.

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storm; since, as you know, the waves, when they beat upon the beach hard and fast, level it out; but a continuous period of fair weather loosens it, when the sand, which is kept firm by the water, loses its moisture.

As my habit is, 1 began to look about for some- thing there that might be of service to me, when my eyes fell upon the villa which had once belonged to Vatia. So this was the place where that famous praetorian millionaire passed his old age! He was famed for nothing else than his life of leisure, and he was regarded as lucky only for that reason. For whenever men were ruined by their friendship with Asinius Gallus, whenever others were ruined by their hatred of Sejanus, and later ® by their intimacy with him,—for it was no more dangerous to have offended him than to have loved him,—people used to cry out: “O Vatia, you alone know how to live!” But what he knew was how to hide, not how to live; and it makes a great deal of difference whether your life be one of leisure or one of idleness. So I never drove past his country-place during Vatia’s life- time without saying to myself: “Here lies Vatia!”’

But, my dear Lucilius, philosophy is a thing of holiness, something to be worshipped, so much so that the very counterfeit pleases. For the mass of man- kind consider that a person is at leisure who has with- drawn from society, is free from care, self-sufficient, and lives for himself; but these privileges can be the reward only of the wise man. Does he who is a victim of anxiety know how to live for himself? What? Does he even know (and that is of first import- ance) how to live at all? For the man who has fled from affairs and from men, who has been banished to seclusion by the unhappiness which his own

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relegavit, qui alios feliciores videre non potuit, qui velut timidum atque iners animal metu oblituit, ille sibi non vivit, sed, quod est turpissimum, ventri, somno, libidini. Non continuo sibi vivit, qui nemini. Adeo tamen magna res est constantia et in proposito suo perseverantia, ut habeat auctoritatem inertia quoque pertinax.

6 De ipsa villa nihil tibi possum certi scribere. Frontem enim eius tantum novi et exposita, quae ostendit etiam transeuntibus. Speluncae sunt duae magni operis, cuivis’ laxo atrio pares, manu factae, quarum altera solem non recipit, altera usque in occidentem tenet. Platanona medius rivus et a mari et ab Acherusio lacu receptus euripi modo dividit, alendis piscibus, etiam si adsidue exhauriatur, sufficiens. Sed illi, cum mare patet, parcitur; cum tempestas piscatoribus dedit ferias, manus

7 ad parata porrigitur. Hoc tamen est commodis- simum in villa, quod Baias trans parietem habet; incommodis illarum caret, voluptatibus fruitur. Has Jaudes eius ipse novi; esse illam totius anni credo. Occurrit enim favonio et illum adeo excipit, ut Bais neget. Non stulte videtur elegisse hune locum

1 cuivis Lipsius ; cuius MSS.

@ 7.e., imposes on us.

> Literally, ‘‘like a Euripus,” referring to the narrow strait which divides Euboea from Boeotia at Chalcis. Its current is swift.

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desires have brought upon him, who cannot see his neighbour more happy than himself, who through fear has taken to concealment, like a frightened and sluggish animal,—this person is not living for him- self; he is living for his belly, his sleep, and his lust, —and that is the most shameful thing in the world. He who lives for no one does not necessarily live for himself. Nevertheless, there is so much in steadfastness and adherence to one’s purpose that even sluggishness, if stubbornly maintained, assumes an air of authority % with us.

I could not describe the villa accurately ; for I am familiar only with the front of the house, and with the parts which are in public view and can be seen by the mere passer-by. There are two grottoes, which cost a great deal of labour, as big as the most spacious hall, made by hand. One of these does not admit the rays of the sun, while the other keeps them until the sun sets. There is also a stream run- ning through a grove of plane-trees, which draws for its supply both on the sea and on Lake Acheron; it intersects the grove just like a race-way,? and is large enough to support fish, although its waters are continually being drawn off. When the sea is calm, however, they do not use the stream, only touching the well-stocked waters when the storms give the fishermen a forced holiday. But the most convenient thing about the villa is the fact that Baiae is next door, it is free from all the inconveniences of that resort, and yet enjoys its pleasures. I myself under- stand these attractions, and I believe that it is a villa suited to every season of the year. It fronts the west wind, which it intercepts in such a way that Baiae is denied it. So it seems that Vatia was no fool when he selected this place as the best in which to

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Vatia, in quem otium suum pigrum iam et senile conferret.

Sed non multum ad tranquillitatem locus confert ; animus est, qui sibi commendet omnia. Vidi ego in villa hilari et amoena maestos, vidi in media solitudine occupatis similes. Quare non est quod existimes ideo parum bene conpositum esse te, quod in Cam- pania non es. Quare autem non es? Huc usque cogitationes tuas mitte. Conversari cum amicis ab- sentibus licet, et quidem quotiens velis, quamdiu velis. Magis hac voluptate, quae maxima est, fruimur, dum absumus. Praesentia enim nos delicatos facit, et quia aliquando una loquimur, ambulamus, con- sedimus, cum diducti sumus, nihil de is,! quos modo vidimus, cogitamus. Et ideo aequo animo ferre de- bemus absentiam, quia nemo non multum etiam praesentibus abest. Pone hic primum noctes sepa- ratas, deinde occupationes utrique diversas, deinde studia secreta, suburbanas profectiones ; videbis non multum esse, quod nobis peregrinatio eripiat. Amicus animo possidendus est; hic autem numquam abest. Quemcumque vult, cotidie videt.

Itaque mecum stude, mecum cena, mecum ambula. In angusto vivebamus, si quicquam esset cogitationi-

bus clusum. Video te, mi Lucili; cum maxime 1 de is Hense; deis or de his MSS. 370

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spend his leisure when it was already unfruitful and decrepit.

The place where one lives, however, can contribute little towards tranquillity ; it is the mind which must make everything agreeable to itself. I have seen men despondent in a gay and lovely villa, and I have seen them to all appearance full of business in the midst of a solitude. For this reason you should not refuse to believe that your life is well-placed merely because you are not now in Campania. But why are you not there? Just let your thoughts travel, even to this place. You may hold converse with your friends when they are absent, and indeed as often as you wish and for as long as you wish. For we enjoy this, the greatest of pleasures, all the more when we are absent from one another. For the presence of friends makes us fastidious; and because we can at any time talk or sit together, when once we have parted we give not a thought to those whom we have just beheld. And we ought to bear the absence of friends cheerfully, just because everyone is bound to be often absent from his friends even when they are present. Include among such cases, in the first place, the nights spent apart, then the different engagements which each of two friends has, then the private studies of each and their ex- cursions into the country, and you will see that foreign travel does not rob us of much. A friend should be retained in the spirit; such a friend can never be absent. He can see every day whomsoever he desires to see.

I would therefore have you share your studies with me, your meals, and your walks. We should be living within too narrow limits if anything were barred to our thoughts. I see you, my dear Lucilius,

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audio. Adeo tecum sum, ut dubitem, an incipiam non epistulas, sed codicellos tibi scribere. VALE.

EV Seneca LyciILtio svo SALVTEM

1 Peream, si est tam necessarium quam videtur si- Jentium in studia seposito. Ecce undique me varius clamor circumsonat. Supra ipsum balneum habito. Propone nunc tibi omnia genera vocum, quae in odium possunt aures adducere: cum fortiores exer- centur et manus plumbo graves iactant, cum aut laborant aut laborantem imitantur, gemitus audio, quotiens retentum spiritum remiserunt, sibilos et acerbissimas respirationes; cum in aliquem inertem et hac plebeia unctione contentum incidi, audio crepitum inlisae manus umeris, quae prout plana per- venit aut concava, ita sonum mutat. Si vero pili- crepus supervenit et numerare coepit pilas, actum est.

2 Adice nunc scordalum et furem deprensum et illum, cui vox sua in balineo placet. Adice nunc eos, qui in piscinam cum ingenti inpulsae aquae sono saliunt. Praeter istos, quorum, si nihil aliud, rectae voces sunt, alipilum cogita tenuem et stridulam vocem, quo sit notabilior, subinde exprimentem nec umquam

@ Pilicrepus probably means ‘‘ball-counter,”—one who keeps a record of the strokes. Compare our ‘billiard- marker.”

> This was especially true of poets, cf. Horace, Sat. i. 4. 76 suave locus voci resonat conclusus, and Martial, iii. 44.

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and at this very moment I hear you; I am with you to such an extent that I hesitate whether I should not begin to write you notes instead of letters. Farewell.

EV ON-OUIET AND srUuDpy

Beshrew me if I think anything more requisite than silence for a man who secludes himself in order to study! Imagine what a variety of noises rever- berates about my ears! I have lodgings right over a bathing establishment. So picture to yourself the assortment of sounds, which are strong enough to make me hate my very powers of hearing! When your strenuous gentleman, for example, is exercising himself by flourishing leaden weights; when he is working hard, or else pretends to be working hard, I can hear him grunt; and whenever he releases his imprisoned breath, I can hear him panting in wheezy and high-pitched tones. Or perhaps I notice some lazy fellow, content with a cheap rub- down, and hear the crack of the pummeling hand on his shoulder, varying in sound according as the hand is laid on flat or hollow. Then, perhaps, a pro- fessional * comes along, shouting out the score; that is the finishing touch. Add to this the arresting of an occasional roysterer or pickpocket, the racket of the man who always likes to hear his own voice in the bathroom,? or the enthusiast who plunges into the swimming-tank with unconscionable noise and splashing. Besides all those whose voices, if nothing else, are good, imagine the hair-plucker with his penetrating, shrill voice,—for purposes of advertise- ment,—continually giving it vent and never holding

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tacentem, nisi dum vellit alas et alium pro se clamare cogit. Jam libari’ varias exclamationes et botularium et crustularium et omnes popinarum institores mercem sua quadam et insignita modulatione vendentis.

3 “O te,” inquis, “ferreum aut surdum, cui mens inter tot clamores tam varios, tam dissonos constat, cum Chrysippum nostrum adsidua salutatio perducat ad mortem.” At mehercules ego istum fremitum non magis curo quam fluctum aut deiectum aquae, quamvis audiam cuidam genti hance unam fuisse causam urbem suam transferendi, quod fragorem Nili

4 cadentis ferre non potuit. Magis mihi videtur vox avocare quam crepitus. Illa enim animum adducit, hic tantum aures implet ac verberat. In his, quae me sine avocatione circumstrepunt, essedas trans- currentes pono et fabrum inquilinum et serrarium vicinum, aut hunc, qui ad Metam Sudantem tubulas ? experitur et tibias, nec cantat, sed exclamat.

§ | Etiamnunc molestior est mihi sonus, qui inter- mittitur subinde quam qui continuatur. Sed iam me sic ad omnia ista duravi, ut audire vel pausarium possim voce acerbissima remigibus modos dantem. Animum enim cogo sibi intentum esse nec avocari ad

1 Libari Caelius Rhodiginus; biberari pLVM; liberarii Pb. 2 tubulas Gruter ; tabulas pLV ; Summers conj. tubulos.

# Itis nowhere else related of the famous Stoic philosopher Chrysippus that he objected to the salutations of his friends; and, besides, the morning salutation was a Roman, not a Greek, custom. Lipsius, therefore, was probably right when he proposed to read here, for Chrysippus, Crispus, one of Seneca’s friends ; cf. Epigr. 6.

> The same story is told in Naturales Quaestiones, iv. 2. 5.

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his tongue except when he is plucking the armpits and making his victim yell instead. Then the cake- seller with his varied cries, the sausageman, the con- fectioner, and all the vendors of food hawking their wares, each with his own distinctive intonation.

So you say: “ What iron nerves or deadened ears you must have, if your mind can hold out amid so many noises, so various and so discordant, when our friend Chrysippus® is brought to his death by the continual good-morrows that greet him!” But I assure you that this racket means no more to me than the sound of waves or falling water; although you will remind me that a certain tribe once moved their city merely because they could not endure the din of a Nile cataract.2 Words seem to distract me more than noises; for words demand attention, but noises merely fill the ears and beat upon them. Among the sounds that din round me without distracting, I include passing carriages, a machinist in the same block, a saw-sharpener near by, or some fellow who is demonstrating with little pipes and flutes at the Trickling Fountain,’ shouting rather than singing.

Furthermore, an intermittent noise upsets me more than a steady one. But by this time I have toughened my nerves against all that sort of thing, so that I can endure even a boatswain marking the time in high-pitched tones for his crew. For I force my mind to concentrate, and keep it from straying to

¢ A cone-shaped fountain, resembling a turning-post (meta) in the circus, from which the water spouted through many jets; hence the term ‘‘sweating” (sudans). Its remains may still be seen now not far from the Colosseum on the Velia.

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externa; omnia licet foris resonent, dum intus nihil tumultus sit, dum inter se non rixentur cupiditas et timor, dum avaritia luxuriaque non dissideant nec altera alteram vexet. Nam quid prodest totius regionis silentium, si adfectus fremunt?

6 Omnia noctis erant placida composta quiete.

Falsum est. Nulla placida est quies, nisi qua! ratio conposuit. Nox exhibet molestiam, non tollit, et sollicitudines mutat. Nam dormientium quoque in- somnia tam turbulenta sunt quam dies. Illa tran- quillitas vera est, in quam bona mens explicatur. 7 Aspice illum, cui somnus laxae domus silentio quae- ritur, cuius aures ne quis agitet sonus, omnis servorum turba conticuit et suspensum accedentium propius vestigium ponitur; huc nempe versatur atque illuc? 8 somnum inter aegritudines levem captans. Quae non audit, audisse se queritur. Quid in causa putas esse? Animus illi obstrepit. Hic placandus est, huius conpescenda seditio est, quem non est quod existimes placidum, si iacet corpus. Interdum quies inquieta est. Et ideo ad rerum actus excitandi ac tractatione bonarum artium occupandi sumus, quotiens nos male 9 habet inertia sui inpatiens. Magni imperatores, cum male parere militem vident, aliquo labore conpescunt

1 gua Gemoll ; guam MSS.

* A fragment from the Argonautica of Varro Atacinus,

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things outside itself; all outdoors may be bedlam, provided that there is no disturbance within, pro- vided that fear is not wrangling with desire in my breast, provided that meanness and lavishness are not at odds, one harassing the other. For of what benefit is a quiet neighbourhood, if our emotions are in an uproar?

"Twas night, and all the world was lulled to rest.

This is not true; for no real rest can be found when reason has not done the lulling. Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them; it merely changes the form of our worries. For even when we seek slumber, our sleepless moments are as harassing as the daytime. Real tranquillity is the state reached by an unperverted mind when it is relaxed. Think of the unfortunate man who courts sleep by surrendering his spacious mansion to silence, who, that his ear may be disturbed by no sound, bids the whole retinue of his slaves be quiet and that whoever approaches him shall walk on tiptoe; he tosses from this side to that and seeks a fitful slumber amid his frettings! He complains that he has _ heard sounds, when he has not heard them at all. The reason, you ask? His soul is in an uproar; it must be soothed, and its rebellious murmuring checked. You need not suppose that the soul is at peace when the body is still. Sometimes quiet means disquiet.

We must therefore rouse ourselves to action and busy ourselves with interests that are good, as often as we are in the grasp of an uncontrollable sluggish- ness. Great generals, when they see that their men are mutinous, check them by some sort of labour

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et expeditionibus detinent ; numquam vacat lascivire districtis nihilque tam certum est quam otii vitia negotio discuti. Saepe videmur taedio rerum civilium et infelicis atque ingratae stationis paenitentia seces- sisse, tamen in illa latebra, in quam nos timor ac lassitudo coniecit, interdum recrudescit ambitio. Non enim excisa desit, sed fatigata aut etiam obirata

10 rebus parum sibi cedentibus. Idem de luxuria dico, quae videtur aliquando cessisse, deinde frugalitatem professos sollicitat atque in media parsimonia volup- tates non damnatas, sed relictas petit, et quidem eo vehementius, quo occultius. Omnia enim vitia in aperto leniora sunt; morbi quoque tunc ad sanitatem inclinant, cum ex abdito erumpunt ac vim suam pro- ferunt. Et avaritiam itaque et ambitionem et cetera mala mentis humanae tunc perniciosissima scias esse, cum simulata sanitate subsidunt.

11. Otiosi videmur, et non sumus. Nam si bona fide sumus, si receptui cecinimus, si speciosa contemni- mus, ut paulo ante dicebam, nulla res nos avocabit, nullus hominum aviumque concentus interrumpet

12 cogitationes bonas, solidasque iam et certas. Leve illud ingenium est nec sese adhuc reduxit introrsus, quod ad vocem et accidentia erigitur. Habet intus aliquid sollicitudinis et habet aliquid concepti

# See Introduction, page viii. > § 4 of this letter. ¢ An allusion to the Sirens and Ulysses, cf. § 15 below.

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or keep them busy with small forays. The much occupied man has no time for wantonness, and it is an obvious commonplace that the evils of leisure can be shaken off by hard work. Although people may often have thought that I sought seclusion because I was disgusted with politics and regretted my hapless and thankless position,? yet, in the retreat to which apprehension and weariness have driven me, my ambition sometimes develops afresh. For it is not because my ambition was rooted out that it has abated, but because it was wearied or perhaps even put out of temper by the failure of its plans. And so with luxury, also, which sometimes seems to have departed, and then when we have made a profession of frugality, begins to fret us and, amid our economies, seeks the pleasures which we have merely left but not condemned. Indeed, the more stealthily it comes, the greater is its force. For all unconcealed vices are less serious; a disease also is farther on the road to being cured when it breaks forth from concealment and manifests its power. So with greed, ambition, and the other evils of the mind,—you may be sure that they do “most harm when they are hidden behind a pretence of soundness.

Men think that we are in retirement, and yet we are not. For if we have sincerely retired, and have sounded the signal for retreat, and have scorned outward attractions, then, as I remarked above,? no outward thing will distract us; no music of men or of birds* can interrupt good thoughts, when they have once become steadfast and sure. The mind which starts at words or at chance sounds is unstable and has not yet withdrawn into itself; it contains within itself an element of anxiety and rooted fear,

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pavoris, quod illum curiosum facit, ut ait Vergilius noster :

Et me, quem dudum non ulla iniecta movebant Tela neque adverso glomerati ex agmine Grai, Nunc omnes terrent aurae, sonus excitat omnis Suspensum et pariter comitique onerique timentem.

13 Prior ille sapiens est, quem non tela vibrantia, non arietata inter se! arma agminis densi, non urbis in- pulsae fragor territat. Hic alter inperitus est, rebus suis timet ad omnem crepitum expavescens, quem una quaelibet vox pro fremitu accepta deicit, quem motus levissimi exanimant; timidum illum sarcinae

14 faciunt. Quemcumque ex istis felicibus elegeris, multa trahentibus, multa portantibus, videbis illum “ comitique onerique timentem.”

Tune ergo te scito esse conpositum, cum ad te nullus clamor pertinebit, cum te nulla vox tibi ex- cutiet, non si blandietur, non si minabitur, non si

15 inani sono vana circumstrepet. “Quid ergo? Non aliquando commodius est et carere convicio?” Fateor. Itaque ego ex hoc loco migrabo. Experiri et exercere me volui. Quid necesse est diutius torqueri, cum tam facile remedium Vlixes sociis etiam adversus Sirenas invenerit? VALE.

1 inter se Erasmus ; inter pLPb; inter ™ V.

« Aeneas is escaping from burning Troy, Aeneid, ii. 726 ff.

’ Aeneas carries Anchises; the rich man carries his burden of wealth.

¢ Not merely by stopping their ears with wax, but also by bidding them row past the Sirens as quickly as possible. Odyssey, xii. 182.

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and this makes one a prey to care, as our Vergil says:

I, whom of yore no dart could cause to flee,

Nor Greeks, with crowded lines of infantry,

Now shake at every sound, and fear the air, Both for my child and for the load I bear.

This man in his first state is wise ; he blenches neither at the brandished spear, nor at the clashing armour of the serried foe, nor at the din of the stricken city. This man in his second state lacks knowledge fearing for his own concerns, he pales at every sound; any cry is taken for the battle-shout and overthrows him; the slightest disturbance renders him breath- less with fear. It is the load that makes him afraid.? Select anyone you please from among your favourites of Fortune, trailing their many responsibilities, carry- ing their many burdens, and you will behold a picture of Vergil’s hero, “fearing both for his child and for the load he bears.”

You may therefore be sure that you are at peace with yourself, when no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be of flattery or of threat, or merely an empty sound buzzing about you with unmeaning din. ‘ What then?” you say, “is it not sometimes a simpler matter just to avoid the uproar?” I admit this. Accordingly, I shall change from my present quarters. I merely wished to test myself and to give myself practice. Why need I be tormented any longer, when Ulysses found so simple a cure for his comrades,° even against the songs of the Sirens? Farewell.

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LVIL. Seneca LvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Cuma Bais deberem Neapolim repetere, facile cre- didi tempestatem esse, ne iterum navem experirer ; et tantum luti tota via fuit, ut possim videri nihilo- minus navigasse. Totum athletarum fatum mihi illo die perpetiendum fuit ; a ceromate nos haphe excepit

2in crypta Neapolitana. Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis facibus obscurius, quae nobis praestant non ut per tenebras videamus, sed ut ipsas. Ceterum etiam si locus haberet lucem, pulvis auferret, in aperto quoque res gravis et molesta; quid illic, ubi in se volutatur et, cum sine ullo spiramento sit inclusus, in ipsos, a quibus excitatus est, recidit? Duo incommoda inter se contraria simul pertulimus : eadem via, eodem die et luto et pulvere laboravimus.

3 Aliquid tamen mihi illa obscuritas, quod cogitarem, dedit; sensi quendam ictum animi et sine metu mutationem, quam insolitae rei novitas simul ac foeditas fecerat. Non de me nunc tecum loquor, qui multum ab homine tolerabili, nedum a perfecto absum, sed de illo, in quem fortuna ius perdidit. Hluius quoque ferietur animus, mutabitur color.

@ 7.¢., an *‘ anointing” with mud.

> A characteristic figure. After anointing, the wrestler was sprinkled with sand, so that the opponent’s hand might not slip. The Naples tunnel furnished a short cut to those who, like Seneca in this letter, did not wish to take the time to travel by the shore route along the promontory of Pausilipum,

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LVII. ON THE TRIALS OF TRAVEL

When it was time for me to return to Naples from Baiae, I easily persuaded myself that a storm was raging, that I might avoid anotber trip by sea; and yet the road was so deep in miud, all the way, that I may be thought none the less to have made a voyage. On that day I had to endure the full fate of an athlete; the anointing? with which we began was followed by the sand-sprinkle in the Naples tunnel.? No place could be longer than that prison ; nothing could be dimmer than those torches, which enabled us, not to see amid the darkness, but to see the darkness. But, even supposing that there was light in the place, the dust, which is an oppressive and disagreeable thing even in the open air, would destroy the light; how much worse the dust is there, where it rolls back upon itself, and, being shut in without ventilation, blows back in the faces of those who set it going! So we endured two inconveniences at the same time, and they were diametrically different: we struggled both with mud and with dust on the same road and on the same day.

The gloom, however, furnished me with some food for thought; I felt a certain mental thrill, and a trans- formation unaccompanied by fear, due to the novelty and the unpleasantness of an unusual occurrence. Of course I am not speaking to you of myself at this point, because I am far from being a perfect person, or even a man of middling qualities; I refer to one over whom fortune has lost her control. Even such a man’s mind will be smitten with a thrill and

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4 Quaedam enim, mi Lucili, nulla effugere virtus

potest; admonet illam natura mortalitatis suae. Itaque et vultum adducet ad tristia! et inhorrescet ad subita et caligabit, si vastam altitudinem in crepidine eius constitutus despexerit ; non est hoc timor, sed naturalis adfectio inexpugnabilis rationi.

5 Itaque fortes quidam et paratissimi fundere suum

sanguinem alienum videre non possunt. Quidam ad vulneris novi, quidam ad veteris et purulenti tractationem inspectionemque succidunt ac linquun- tur animo. Alii gladium facilius recipiunt quam vident.

Sensi ergo, ut dicebam, quandam non quidem perturbationem, sed mutationem. Rursus ad primum conspectum redditae lucis alacritas rediit incogitata et iniussa. Illud deinde mecum loqui coepi, quam inepte quaedam magis aut minus timeremus, cum omnium idem finis esset. Quid enim interest, utrum supra aliquem vigilarium ruat an mons? Nihil in- venies. Erunt tamen, qui hanc ruinam magis timeant, quamvis utraque mortifera aeque sit; adeo non effectus, sed efficientia timor spectat. Nunc me putas de Stoicis dicere, qui existimant animam hominis magno pondere extriti permaneré non posse et statim spargi, quia non fuerit illi exitus liber? Ego vero non facio; qui hoc dicunt, videntur mihi errare. Quemadmodum flamma non potest obprimi,

1 ad tristia Gruter ; ad (a) tristitiam, or ad tristiam MSS.

# Of. Hicks, Stoic and Epicurean, p. 61, on the doctrine of interpenetration, explaining the diffusion of soul through- out the body; and Rohde, Psyche, ii. 319, on the popular superstition that one who dies in a whirlwind has his soul snatched away by the wind-spirits. The doctrine referred to by Seneca is not, aowever, a purely Stoic doctrine.

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he will change colour. For there are certain emotions, my dear Lucilius, which no courage can avoid; nature reminds courage how perishable a thing it is. And so he will contract his brow when the prospect is forbidding, will shudder at sudden apparitions, and will become dizzy when he stands at the edge of a high precipice and looks down. This is not fear; it is a natural feeling which reason cannot rout. That is why certain brave men, most willing to shed their own blood, cannot bear to see the blood of others. Some persons collapse and faint at the sight of a freshly inflicted wound ; others are affected similarly on handling or viewing an old wound which is festering. And others meet the sword-stroke more readily than they see it dealt.

Accordingly, as I said, I experienced a certain transformation, though it could not be called con- fusion. Then at the first glimpse of restored daylight my good spirits returned without forethought or command. And I began to muse and think how foolish we are to fear certain objects to a greater or less degree, since all of them end in the same way. For what difference does it make whether a watch- tower or a mountain crashes down upon us? No difference at all, you will find. Nevertheless, there will be some men who fear the latter mishap to a greater degree, though both accidents are equally deadly ; so true it is that fear looks not to the effect, but to the cause of the effect. Do you suppose that I am now referring to the Stoics,* who hold that the soul of aman crushed by a great weight cannot abide, and is scattered forthwith, because it has not had a free opportunity to depart? That is not what I am doing; those who think thus are, in my opinion, wrong. Just as fire cannot be crushed out, since it

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nam circa id effugit, quo urgetur ; quemadmodum aer verbere atque ictu non laeditur, ne scinditur quidem, sed circa id, cui cessit, refunditur ; sic animus, qui ex tenuissimo constat, deprehendi non potest nec intra corpus effligi, sed beneficio subtilitatis suae per ipsa, quibus premitur, erumpit. Quomodo fulmini, etiam cum latissime percussit ac fulsit, per exiguum fora- men est reditus, sic animo, qui adhuc tenuior est igne, per omne corpus fuga est. Itaque de illo quaerendum est, an possit immortalis esse. Hoc quidem certum habe: si superstes est corpori, praeteri? illum nullo genere posse, propter quod non perit, quoniam nulla immortalitas cum exceptione est nec quicquam noxium aeterno est. Vater.

EViTk Seneca LycILIo svO SALVTEM

Quanta verborum nobis paupertas, immo egestas sit, numquam magis quam hodierno die intellexi. Mille res inciderunt, cum forte de Platone loqueremur, quae nomina desiderarent nec haberent, quaedam vero, quae 2 cum habuissent, fastidio nostro perdidissent. Quis autem ferat in egestate fastidium? Hune quem

1 praeteri Buecheler ; preter p; propter VLPb; proteri Haupt. 2 quae added by Hense, after Koch and G. Gemoll.

@ For this belief compare Xenophon, Mem. iv. 3. 14, ‘* No one sees the bolt either on its way down or on its way back.” Seneca himself was much interested in lightning, efi, Ni, Q., 1.40: 2.

> This theme was emphasized by Lucretius, i. 136 and 832, and iii. 260. Munro thinks, however, that ‘* Lucretius had too much instead of too little technical language for a poet.” Seneca knew Lucretius; cf. Epp. lviii. 12, xc. 11, ete.

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will escape round the edges of the body which over- whelms it; just as the air cannot be damaged by lashes and blows, or even cut into, but flows back about the object to which it gives place; similarly the soul, which consists of the subtlest particles, cannot be arrested or destroyed inside the body, but, by virtue of its delicate substance, it will rather escape through the very object by which it is being crushed. Just as lightning, no matter how widely it strikes and flashes, makes its return through a narrow opening,” so the soul, which is still subtler than fire, has a way of escape through any part of the body. We therefore come to this question,—whether the soul can be immortal. But be sure of this: if the soul survives the body after the body is crushed, the soul can in no wise be crushed out, precisely because it does not perish; for the rule of immortality never admits of exceptions, and nothing can harm that which is everlasting. Farewell.

LVIII. ON BEING

How scant of words our Janguage is, nay, how poverty-stricken, I have not fully understood until to-day. We happened to be speaking of Plato, and a thousand subjects came up for discussion, which needed names and yet possessed none; and there were certain others which once possessed, but have since lost, their words because we were too nice about their use. But who can endure to be nice in the midst of poverty?® There is an insect, called

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Graeci oestron vocant pecora peragentem et totis saltibus dissipantem, asilum nostri vocabant. Hoc Vergilio licet credas :

Est lucum Silari iuxta ! ilicibusque virentem Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo Romanum est, oestrum Grai vertere vocantes, Asper, acerba sonans, quo tota exterrita silvis Diffugiunt armenta.

3 Puto intellegi istud verbum interisse. Ne te longe differam, quaedam simplicia in usu erant, sicut “cernere ferro inter se”’ dicebant.2. Idem Vergilius hoe probabit tibi:

Ingentis genitos diversis partibus orbis Inter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro.

Quod nunc decernere dicimus. Simplicis illius verbi

4usus amissus est. Dicebant antiqui “si iusso,” id est iussero. Hoe nolo mihi credas, sed eidem $ Vergilio :

Cetera, qua iusso, mecum manus inferat arma.

5 Non id ago nunc hac diligentia, ut ostendam, quantum tempus apud grammaticum perdiderim, sed ut ex hoe intellegas, quantum apud Ennium et Accium verborum situs occupaverit, cum apud hune quoque, qui cotidie excutitur, aliqua nobis subducta sint.

6 “Quid sibi,” inquis, “ista praeparatio vult? Quo spectat?” Non celabo te; cupio, si fieri potest,

1 for lucum and iuxta Vergil MSS. give lucos and circa. 2 dicebant Mentel ; dicebantur MSS. 8 eidem Haase ; fidem MSS.

@ The gad-fly. > Georgics, iii. 146 ff. © Aeneid, xii. 708 f. 6 Aeneid, xi. 467. 388

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by the Greeks oestrus, which drives cattle wild and scatters them all over their pasturing grounds; it used to be called aszlus in our language, as you may believe on the authority of Vergil :—

Near Silarus’ groves, and eke Alburnus’ shades Of green-clad oak-trees flits an insect, named Asilus by the Romans ; in the Greek

The word is rendered oestrus. With a rough And strident sound it buzzes and drives wild The terror-stricken herds throughout the woods.°

By which I infer that the word has gone out of use. And, not to keep you waiting too long, there were certain uncompounded words current, like cernere ferro inter se, as will be proved again by Vergil :—

Great heroes, born in various lands, had come To settle matters mutually with the sword.°

This “ settling matters’? we now express by decernere. The plain word has become obsolete. The ancients used to say iusso, instead of iussero, in conditional clauses. You need not take my word, but you may turn again to Vergil :—

The other soldiers shall conduct the fight

With me, where I shall bid.¢

It is not my purpose to show, by this array of examples, how much time I have wasted on the study of language; I merely wish you to understand how many words, that were current in the works of Ennius and Accius, have become mouldy with age; while even in the case of Vergil, whose works are explored daily, some of his words have been filched

away from us. You will say, I suppose: “ What is the purpose and meaning of this preamble?” I shall not keep 389

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propitiis auribus tuis ‘ essentiam’’! dicere ; si minus, dicam et iratis. Ciceronem auctorem huius verbi habeo, puto locupletem. Si recentiorem quaeris, Fabianum, disertum et elegantem, orationis etiam ad nostrum fastidium nitidae. Quid enim fiet, mi Lucili? Quomodo dicetur ovcia res _necessaria, natura continens fundamentum omnium? Rogo itaque permittas mihi hoe verbo uti. Nihilominus dabo operam, ut ius a te datum parcissime exerceam ;

7 fortasse contentus ero mihi licere. Quid proderit facilitas tua, cum ecce id nullo modo Latine exprimere possim, propter quod linguae nostrae convicium feci ? Magis damnabis angustias Romanas, si scieris unam syllabam esse, quam mutare non possum. Quae sit haec, quaeris? ‘To ov. Duri tibi videor ingenii; in medio positum,? posse sic transferri, ut dicam “ quod est." Sed multum interesse video; cogor verbum

8 pro vocabulo ponere. Sed si ita necesse est, ponam “quod est.”” Sex modis hoc a Platone dici amicus noster, homo eruditissimus, hodierno die dicebat. Omnes tibi exponam, si ante indicavero esse aliquid genus, esse et speciem.

1 essentiam Muretus ; quid sentiam MSS. 2 wositum Muretus ; positam MSS.

@ Cicero usually says natura. The word, according to Quintilian, was first used by a certain Sergius Flavus. It is also found in Apuleius, Macrobius, and Sidonius.

> See ’p. cc. Papirius Fabianus, who lived in the times of Tiberius and Caligula, was a pupil of the Sextius of Ep. lix., and was (Pliny, WV. H. xxxvi. 15. 24) naturae rerum eg eek He is praised by the elder Seneca (Cont. 2.

raef.) who, however, says of him deerat robur—splendor aderat.

¢ z.e., | must use other imported words to explain essentia, which is not a native Latin word, but invented as a literal translation of ovcta.

4 of. § 16.

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you in the dark ; I desire, if possible, to say the word essentia to you and obtain a favourable hearing. If I cannot do this, I shall risk it even though it put you out of humour. I have Cicero? as authority for the use of this word, and I regard him as a powerful authority. If you desire testimony of a later date, I shall cite Fabianus,’ careful of speech, cultivated, and so polished in style that he will suit even our nice tastes. For what can we do, my dear Lucilius? How otherwise can we find a word for that which the Greeks call ovcia, something that is indispensable, something that is the natural substratum of every- thing? I beg you accordingly to allow me to use this word essentza. [I shall nevertheless take pains to exercise the privilege, which you have granted me, with as sparing a hand as possible ; perhaps I shall be content with the mere right. Yet what good will your indulgence do me, =e lo and behold, I can in no wise express in Latin’ the meaning of the word which gave me the opportunity to rail at the poverty of our language? And you will condemn our narrow Roman limits even more, when you find out that there is a word of one syllable which I cannot translate. “What is this?” you ask. It is the word ov. You think me lacking in facility; you believe that the word is ready to hand, that it might be translated by quod est. I notice, however, a great difference ; you are forcing me to render a noun by a verb. But if I must do so, I shall render it by quod est. There are six ways @ in which Plato expresses this idea, accord- ing to a friend of ours, a man of great learning, whe mentioned the fact to-day. And I shall ex- plain all of them to you, if I may first point out that there is something called genus and something called species.

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Nunc autem primum illud genus quaerimus, ex quo ceterae species suspensae sunt, a quo nascitur omnis divisio, quo universa conprensa sunt. Invenie- tur autem, si coeperimus singula retro legere; sic

9 enim perducemur ad primum. Homo species est, ut Aristoteles ait; equus species est; canis species est; ergo commune aliquod quaerendum est his omnibus vinculum, quod illa conplectatur et sub se habeat. Hoc quid est? Animal. Ergo genus esse coepit horum omnium, quae modo rettuli, hominis,

10 equi, canis, animal. Sed quaedam! animam habent nec sunt animalia. Placet enim satis et arbustis animam inesse. Itaque et vivere illa et mori dicimus. Ergo animantia superiorem tenebunt locum, quia et animalia in hac forma sunt et sata. Sed quaedam anima carent, ut saxa. Itaque erit aliquid animantibus? antiquius, corpus scilicet. Hoc sie dividam, ut dicam corpora omnia aut animantia esse aut inanima.

11 Etiamnunc est aliquid superius quam corpus. Dicimus enim quaedam corporalia esse, quaedam incorporalia. Quid ergo erit, ex quo haec deducantur? IIlud, cui nomen modo parum proprium inposuimus, “ quod est.” Sic enim in species secabitur, ut dicamus: “ quod est’ aut corporale est aut incorporale.

12. Hoe ergo est genus primum et antiquissimum et, ut ita dicam, generale. Cetera genera quidem sunt,

1 guaedam later MSS. ; quaedam quae pLV Pb. 2 Hense conjectures e¢ animantibus.

* Categories 2 b 11 and often. 392

EPISTLE LVIII.

For the present, however, we are seeking the primary idea of genus, on which the others, the different species, depend, which is the source of all classification, the term under which universal ideas are embraced. And the idea of genus will be reached if we begin to reckon back from particulars; for in this way we shall be conducted back to the primary notion. Now “man” is a species, as Aristotle * says; so is “ horse,” or “dog.” We must therefore discover some common bond for all these terms, one which embraces them and holds them subordinate to itself. And what is

this? It is “animal.” And so there begins to be a genus “animal,” including all these terms, “ man,” “horse,” and “dog.” But there are certain things

which have life (anima) and yet are not “animals.” For it is agreed that plants and trees possess life, and that is why we speak of them as living and dying. Therefore the term “living things” will occupy a still higher place, because both animals and plants are included in this category. Certain objects, how- ever, lack life,—such as rocks. There will therefore be another term to take precedence over “living things,” and that is “substance.” I shall classify “ substance ” by saying that all substances are either animate or inanimate. But there is still something superior to “substance”; for we speak of certain things as possessing substance, and certain things as lacking substance. What, then, will be the term from which these things are derived? It is that to which we lately gave an inappropriate name, “ that which exists.” For by using this term they will be divided into species, so that we can say: that which

exists either possesses, or lacks, substance. This, therefore, is what genus is,— the primary, original, and (to play upon the word) “general.” 393

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sed specialia. Tamquam homo genus est. Habet enim in se nationum species: Graecos, Romanos, Parthos. Colorum: albos, nigros, flavos. Habet singulos: Catonem, Ciceronem, Lucretium. Ita qua multa continet, in genus cadit; qua sub alio est, in speciem. Illud genus “quod est” generale, supra se nihil habet; initium rerum est; omnia sub illo sunt.

13. Stoici volunt superponere huic etiamnune aliud genus magis principale ; de quo statim dicam, si prius illud genus, de quo locutus sum, merito primum poni

14 docuero, cum sit rerum omnium capax. ‘“ Quod est” in has species divido, ut sint corporalia aut incorporalia. Nihil tertium est. Corpus quomodo divido? Ut dicam: aut animantia sunt aut inanima. Rursus ani- mantia quemadmodum divido? Ut dicam: quaedam animum habent, quaedam tantum animam. Aut sic: quaedam inpetum habent, incedunt, transeunt, quae- dam solo adfixa radicibus aluntur, crescunt.!_ Rursus animalia in quas species seco? Aut mortalia sunt aut

15 inmortalia. Primum genus Stoicis quibusdam videtur “quid.” Quare videatur, subiciam: “ In rerum,” in- quiunt, “natura quaedam sunt, quaedam non sunt.

Et haec autem, quae non sunt, rerum natura con-

1 Buecheler would add decrescunt, Hense arescunt (awither.”).

* 7.6., the genus beyond ‘‘ that which exists.” 394

EPISTLE LVIII.

Of course there are the other genera: but they are “ special” genera: “man” being, for example, a genus. For “man” comprises species: by nations,—Greek, Roman, Parthian; by colours,—white, black, yellow. The term comprises individuals also: Cato, Cicero, Lucretius. So “man” falls into the category genus, in so far as it includes many kinds; but in so far as it is subordinate to another term, it falls into the category species. But the genus “that which exists” is general, and has no term superior to it. It is the first term in the classification of things, and all things are included under it.

The Stoics would set ahead of this still another genus, even more primary ; concerning which I shall immediately speak, after proving that the genus which has been discussed above, has rightly been placed first, being, as it is, capable of including everything. I therefore distribute “that which exists” into these two species,—things with, and things without, substance. There is no third class. And how do I distribute “substance”? By saying that it is either animate or inanimate. And how do J distribute the “animate”? By saying: “ Certain things have mind, while others have only life.” Or the idea may be expressed as follows: “ Certain things have the power of movement, of progress, of change of position, while others are rooted in the ground; they are fed and they grow only through their roots.” Again, into what species do I divide “ animals’? They are either perishable or imperishable. Certain of the Stoics regard the primary genus% as the “something.” I shall add the reasons they give for their belief; they say: “in the order of nature some things exist, and other things do not exist. And even the things that do not exist are really part of the order of

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plectitur, quae animo succurrunt, tamquam Centauni, Gigantes et quicquid aliud falsa cogitatione formatum habere aliquam imaginem coepit, quamvis non habeat substantiam.”

16 Nunc ad id, quod tibi promisi, revertor, quomodo quaecumque sunt, in sex modos Plato partiatur. Primum illud “quod est’’ nec visu nec tactu nec ullo sensu conprenditur; cogitabile est. Quod generaliter est, tamquam homo generalis, sub oculos non venit; sed specialis venit, ut Cicero et Cato. Animal non videtur; cogitatur. Videtur autem species €ius, equus et canis.

17. Secundum ex his, quae sunt, ponit Plato quod eminet et exsuperat omnia. Hoc ait per excellentiam esse. Poeta communiter dicitur, omnibus enim versus facientibus hoc nomen est, sed iam apud Graecos in unius notam cessit ; Homerum intellegas,cum audieris poetam. Quid ergo hoc est? Deus scilicet, maior ac potentior cunctis.

18 Tertium genus est eorum, quae proprie sunt; innumerabilia haec sunt, sed extra nostrum posita conspectum. Quaesint,interrogas. Propria Platonis supellex est; ideas vocat, ex quibus omnia, quae- cumque videmus, fiunt et ad quas cuncta formantur.

* Cf.§8. Plato’s usual division was threefold,—alc@yra, uabnuatixd, el6n (sensibilia, mathematica, and ideae),—a division which is often quoted by Aristotle.

> Elva: kar’ éfoxyv. After illustrating the poet kar’ eLox7r, Homer, he passes to 70 dv xar’ éfoxnv, God.

¢”Ovtws Ta bvra. ** Each idea is a single, independent, separate, self-existing, perfect, and eternal essence”; Adam, The Republic of Plato, ii. 169. See Zeller’s Plato

(p. 237) for a list of Greek words used by Plato to indicate the reality of these ideas.

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uature. What these are will readily occur to the mind, for example centaurs, giants, and all other figments of unsound reasoning, which have begun to have a definite shape, although they have no bodily consistency.”

But I now return to the subject which I promised to discuss for you, namely, how it is that Plato % divides all existing things in six different ways. The first class of ‘‘that which exists’’ cannot be grasped by the sight or by the touch, or by any of the senses; but it can be grasped by the thought. Any generic conception, such as the generic idea “ man,” does not come within the range of the eyes; but “man” in particular does; as, for example, Cicero, Cato. The term “animal”’ is not seen; it is grasped by thought alone. A particular animal, however, is seen, for example, a horse, a dog.

The second class of “things which exist,” accord- ing to Plato, is that which is prominent and stands out above everything else; this, he says, exists in a pre-eminent degree.? The word “poet” is used in- discriminately, for this term is applied to all writers of verse; but among the Greeks it has come to be the distinguishing mark of a single individual. You know that Homer is meant when you hear men say “the poet.’’ What, then, is this pre-eminent Being ? God, surely, one who is greater and more powerful than anyone else.

The third class is made up of those things which exist in the proper sense of the term’; they are countless in number, but are situated beyond our sight. “What are these?” you ask. They are Plato’s own furniture, so to speak; he calls them “ideas,” and from them all visible things are created, and according to their pattern al] things are fashioned.

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19 Hae inmortales, inmutabiles, inviolabiles sunt. Quid sit idea, id est, quid Platoni esse videatur, audi: “ Idea est eorum, quae natura fiunt, exemplar aeternum.” Adiciam definitioni interpretationem, quo tibi res apertior fiat: volo imaginem tuam facere. Exemplar picturae te habeo, ex quo capit aliquem habitum mens nostra, quem operi suo inponat. Ita illa, quae me docet et instruit facies, a qua petitur imitatio, idea est. Talia ergo exemplaria infinita habet rerum natura, hominum, piscium, arborum, ad quae quod- cumque fieri ab illa debet, exprimitur.

99 Quartum locum habebit idos. Quid sit hoc idos, attendas oportet et Platoni inputes, non mihi, hane rerum difficultatem. Nulla est autem sine difficultate subtilitas. Paulo ante pictoris imagine utebar. [lle cum reddere Vergilium coloribus vellet, ipsum intue- batur. Idea erat Vergilii facies, futuri operis exemplar. Ex hac quod artifex trahit ! et operi suo inposuit, idos

91 est. Quid intersit, quaeris? Alterum exemplar est, alterum forma ab exemplari sumpta et operi inposita. Alteram artifex imitatur, alteram facit. Habet aliquam faciem statua; haec est idos. Habet aliquam faciem exemplar ipsum, quod intuens opifex statuam figu-

1 G. Gemoll prefers trazit.

@ Cf., for example, Parmenides 132 p. What follows is not a direct quotation, and the same thought is found elsewhere.

> Eidos.

¢ 7.6., the “original.”

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They are immortal, unchangeable, inviolable. And this “idea,” or rather, Plato’s conception of it,* is as follows: “The ‘idea’ is the everlasting pattern of those things which are created by nature.” I shall explain this definition, in order to set the subject before you in a clearer light: Suppose that I wish to make a likeness of you; I possess in your own person the pattern of this picture, wherefrom my mind receives a certain outline, which it is to embody in its own handiwork. That outward appearance, then, which gives me instruction and guidance, this pattern for me to imitate, is the “idea.” Such patterns, therefore, nature possesses in infinite number,—of men, fish, trees, according to whose model everything that nature has to create is worked out.

In the fourth place we shall put “form.”® And if you would know what “form” means, you must pay close attention, calling Plato, and not me, to account for the difficulty of the subject. However, we cannot make fine distinctions without encounter- ing difficulties. A moment ago I made use of the artist as an illustration. When the artist desired to reproduce Vergil in colours be would gaze upon Vergil himself. The “idea”’ was Vergil’s outward appear- ance, and this was the pattern of the intended work. That which the artist draws from this “idea” and has embodied in his own work, is the “form.” Do you ask me where the difference lies? The former is the pattern ; while the latter is the shape taken from the pattern and embodied in the work. Our artist follows the one, but the other he creates. A statue has acertain external appearance; thisexternal appearance of the statue is the “form.’”” And the pattern © itself has a certain external appearance, by gazing upon which the sculptor has fashioned his statue; this

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ravit; haec idea est. Etiamnunc si aliam desideras distinctionem, idos in opere est, idea extra opus nec tantum extra opus est, sed ante opus.

22 Quintum genus est eorum, quae communiter sunt; haec incipiunt ad nos pertinere; hic sunt omnia, homines, pecora, res. Sextum genus eorum, quae quasi sunt: tamquam inane, tamquam tempus.

Quaecumque videmus aut tangimus, Plato in illis non numerat, quae esse proprie putat. Fluunt enim et in assidua deminutione atque adiectione sunt. Nemo nostrum idem est in senectute, qui fuit iuvenis; nemo nostrum est idem mane, qui fuit pridie. Corpora nostra rapiuntur fluminum more. Quicquid vides, currit cum tempore. Nihil ex iis, quae videmus, manet. Ego ipse, dum loquor mutari ista, mutatus

23 sum. Hoc est, quod ait Heraclitus: “ In idem flumen bis descendimus et non descendimus.” Manet enim idem fluminis nomen, aqua transmissa est. Hoc in amne manifestius est quam in homine. Sed nos quoque non minus velox cursus praetervehit, et ideo admiror dementiam nostram, quod tantopere amamus rem fugacissimam, corpus, timemusque, ne quando moriamur, cum omne momentum mors prioris habitus sit. Vis tu non timere, ne semel fiat, quod cotidie

24 fit! De homine dixi, fluvida materia et caduca et omnibus obnoxia causis ; mundus quoque, aeterna res

* 4.6., kuplws bvyra. See above, p. 396.

> Frag. 497 Diels? rorapots rots avrots éuBatvouédv tre kal ovK éuBaivouev, eluév Te Kal ovK eluev.

¢ This idea Seneca has already developed in /p. xxiv. 20.

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is the “idea.” If you desire a further distinction, I will say that the “form” is in the artist’s work, the “idea’’ outside his work, and not only outside it, but prior to it.

The fifth class is made up of the things which exist in the usual sense of the term. These things are the first that have to do with us; here we have all such things as men, cattle, and things. In the sixth class goes all that which has a fictitious existence, like void, or time.

Whatever is concrete to the sight or touch, Plato does not include among the things which he believes to be existent in the strict sense of the term.” For they are in a state of flux, constantly diminishing or increasing. None of us is the same man in old age that he was in youth; nor the same on the morrow as on the day preceding. Our bodies are hurried along like flowing waters; every visible object accompanies time in its flight; of the things which we see, nothing is fixed. Even I myself, as I comment on this change, am changed myself. This is just what Heraclitus ® says: “We go down twice into the same river, and yet into a different river.” For the stream still keeps the same name, but the water has already flowed past. Of course this is much more evident in rivers than in human beings. Still, we mortals are also carried past in no less speedy a course ; and this prompts me to marvel at our madness in cleav- ing with great affection to such a fleeting thing as the body, and in fearing lest some day we may die, when every instant means the death of our previous con- dition.° Will you not stop fearing lest that may happen once which really happens every day? So much for man,—a substance that flows away and falls, exposed to every influence; but the universe,

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et invicta, mutatur nec idem manet. Quamvis enim omnia in se habeat, quae habuit, aliter habet quam 25 habuit ; ordinem mutat. “ Quid ista,” inquis, “mihi subtilitas proderit?” Si me interrogas, nihil. Sed quemadmodum ille caelator oculos diu intentos ac fatigatos remittit atque avocat et, ut dici solet, pascit; sic nos animum aliquando debemus relaxare et quibusdam oblecta- mentis reficere. Sed ipsa oblectamenta opera sint. Ex his quoque, si observaveris, sumes, quod 26 possit fieri salutare. Hoc ego, Lucili, facere soleo: ex omni notione,! etiam si a philosophia longissime aversa est, eruere aliquid conor et utile efficere. Quid istis, quae modo tractavimus, remotius? a reformatione morum? Quomodo meliorem me facere ideae Platonicae possunt? Quid ex istis traham, quod cupiditates meas conprimat? Vel hoc ipsum, quod omnia ista, quae sensibus serviunt, quae nos accendunt et inritant, negat Plato ex his esse, 97 quae vere sint. Ergo ista imaginaria sunt et ad tempus aliquam faciem ferunt, nihil horum stabile nec solidum est; et nos tamen cupimus, tamquam aut semper futura aut semper habituri. Inbecilli fluvidique inter vana constitimus’; ad 1 notione (corr. from natione) P ; natione pLb; ratione V ; oratione later MSS. 2 remotius Madvig ; remotis MSS.

3 inter vana constitimus Gertz; inter valla (or intervalla) constituimus MSS.

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too, immortal and enduring as it is, changes and never remains the same. For though it has within itself all that it has had, it has it in a different way from that in which it has had it; it keeps changing its arrangement.

“Very well,’ say you, “what good shall I get from all this fine reasoning?” None, if you wish me to answer your question. Nevertheless, just as an engraver rests his eyes when they have long been under a strain and are weary, and calls them from their work, and “ feasts”’ them, as the saying is; so we at times should slacken our minds and refresh them with some sort of entertainment. But let even your entertainment be work; and even from these various forms of entertainment you _ will select, if you have been watchful, something that ' may prove wholesome. That is my habit, Lucilius: I try to extract and render useful some element from every field of thought, no matter how far removed it may be from philosophy. Now what could be less likely to reform character than the subjects which we have been discussing? And how can I be made a better men by the “ideas” of Plato? What can I draw from them that will put a check on my appetites? Perhaps the very thought, that all these things which minister to our senses, which arouse and excite us, are by Plato denied a place among the things that really exist. Such things are there- fore imaginary, and though they for the moment present a certain external appearance, yet they are in no case permanent or substantial; none the less, we crave them as if they were always to exist, or as if we were always to possess them.

We are weak, watery beings standing in the midst of unrealities ; therefore let us turn our minds to the

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illa mittamus animum, quae aeterna sunt. Miremur

in sublimi volitantes rerum omnium formas deumque inter illa versantem et hoc providentem, quem- admodum quae inmortalia facere non potuit, quia materia prohibebat, defendat a morte ac ratione 28 vitium corporis vincat. Manent enim cuncta, non quia aeterna sunt, sed quia defenduntur cura regentis ; inmortalia tutore non egerent. Haec conservat artifex fragilitatem materiae vi sua vincens. Con- temnamus omnia, quae adeo pretiosa non sunt, ut 29 an sint omnino, dubium sit. Illud simul cogitemus, si mundum ipsum, non minus mortalem quam nos sumus, providentia periculis eximit, posse aliquatenus nostra quoque providentia longiorem prorogari! huic corpusculo moram, si voluptates, quibus pars maior 30 perit, potuerimus regere et coercere. Plato ipse ad senectutem se diligentia protulit. Erat quidem corpus validum ac forte sortitus et illi nomen latitudo pectoris fecerat, sed navigationes ac pericula multum detraxerant viribus; parsimonia tamen et eorum, quae aviditatem evocant, modus et diligens sui tutela perduxit illum ad senectutem multis prohibentibus 31 causis. Nam hoc scis, puto, Platoni diligentiae suae beneficio contigisse, quod natali suo decessit et annum unum atque octogensimum inplevit sine ulla deductione. Ideo magi, qui forte Athenis erant,

1 Perhaps we ought to read, with Rossbach, nos nostra

quoque providentia lonyiorem prorogare. O and b give pro- rogare.

* Diogenes Laertius, iii. 1, who records also other ex- planations of the name Plato, which replaced the given name Aristocles.

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EPISTLE LVIII.

things that are everlasting. Let us look up to the idea] outlines of all things, that flit about on high, and to the God who moves among them and plans how he may defend from death that which he could not make imperishable because its substance forbade, and so by reason may overcome the defects of the body. For all things abide, not because they are everlasting, but because they are protected by the care of him who governs all things; but that which was imperishable would need no guardian. The Master Builder keeps them safe, overcoming the weakness of their fabric by his own power. Let us despise everything that is so little an object of value that it makes us doubt whether it exists at all. Let us at the same time reflect, seeing that Providence rescues from its perils the world itself, which is no less mortal than we ourselves, that to some extent our petty bodies can be made to tarry longer upon earth by our own providence, if only we acquire the ability to control and check those pleasures whereby the greater portion of mankind perishes. Plato himself, by taking pains, advanced to old age. To be sure, he was the fortunate possessor of a strong and sound body (his very name was given him because of his broad chest®); but his strength was much impaired by sea voyages and desperate adventures. Nevertheless, by frugal living, by setting a limit upon all that rouses the appetites, and by painstaking attention to himself, he reached that advanced age in spite of many hindrances. You know, I am sure, that Plato had the good fortune, thanks to his careful living, to die on his birthday, after exactly completing his eighty-first year. For this reason wise men of the East, who happened to be in Athens at that time, sacrificed to

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inmolaverunt defuncto, amplioris fuisse sortis quam humanae rati, quia consummasset perfectissimum numerum, quem novem novies multiplicata con- ponunt. Non dubito, quin paratus sit et! paucos dies ex ista summa et sacrificium remittere.

Potest frugalitas producere senectutem, quam ut non puto concupiscendam, ita ne recusandam quidem. Iucundum est secum esse quam diutissime, cum quis se dignum, quo frueretur, effecit. Itaque de isto feremus sententiam, an oporteat fastidire senectutis extrema et finem non opperiri, sed manu facere. Prope est a timente, qui fatum segnis expectat, sicut ille ultra modum deditus vino est, qui amphoram exiccat et faecem quoque exorbet. De hoc tamen quaeremus, pars summa vitae utrum? faex sit an liquidissimum ac purissimum quiddam, si modo mens sine iniuria est et integri sensus animum iuvant nec defectum et praemortuum corpus est. Plurimum enim refert, vitam aliquis extendat an mortem. At si inutile ministeriis corpus est, quidni oporteat educere animum laborantem? Et fortasse paulo ante quam debet, faciendum est, ne cum fieri debebit, facere non possis. Et cum maius periculum sit male vivendi quam cito moriendi, stultus est, qui non exigua temporis mercede magnae rei aleam redimit.

Paucos longissima senectus ad mortem sine iniuria pertulit, multis iners vita sine usu sui iacuit; quanto

1 The reading paratus sit et is nearest to Madvig’s paratus sis et; par laus sit Buecheler ; parat auset p, parat ausisset L; parataxusset V! ; paratus esset O ; parat avisset b. Haupt conj. paratus et.

2 After utrwm Haase removed ea, the reading of MSS.

@ Cf. Plato, Phaedo, 114D Kal déitov Kivduvetca, olouevyp otrws éxew* kadds yap 6 xlvduvos, the ‘**chance” being im- mortality.

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EPISTLE LVIII.

him after his death, believing that his length of days was too full for a mortal man, since he had rounded out the perfect number of nine times nine. I do not doubt that he would have been quite willing to forgo a few days from this total, as well as the sacrifice.

Frugal living can bring one to old age; and to my mind old age is not to be refused any more than it is to be craved. There is a pleasure in being in one’s own company as long as possible, when a man has made himself worth enjoying. The question, therefore, on which we have to record our judgment is, whether one should shrink from extreme old age and should hasten the end artificially, instead of waiting for it to come. A man who sluggishly awaits his fate is almost a coward, just as he is im- moderately given to wine who drains the jar dry and sucks up even the dregs. But we shall ask this question also: “Is the extremity of life the dregs, or is it the clearest and purest part of all, provided only that the mind is unimpaired, and the senses, still sound, give their support to the spirit, and the body is not worn out and dead before its time?’’ For it makes a great deal of difference whether a man is lengthening his life or his death. But if the body is useless for service, why should one not free the struggling soul? Perhaps one ought to do this a little before the debt is due, lest, when it falls due, he may be unable to perform the act. And since the danger of living in wretchedness is greater than the danger of dying soon, he is a fool who refuses to stake a little time and win a hazard of great gain.”

Few have lasted through extreme old age to death without impairment, and many have lain inert; making no use of themselves. How much more

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deinde crudelius iudicas aliquid ex vita perdidisse

35 quam ius! finiendae? Noli me invitus audire, tamquam ad te iam pertineat ista sententia, et quid dicam aestima: non relinquam senectutem, si me totum mihi reservabit, totum autem ab illa parte meliore ; at si coeperit concutere mentem, si partes eius convellere, si mihi non vitam reliquerit, sed animam, prosiliam ex aedificio putri ac ruenti.

36 Morbum morte non fugiam, dumtaxat sanabilem nec officientem animo. Non adferam mihi manus propter dolorem; sic mori vinci est. Hunc tamen si sciero perpetuo mihi esse patiendum, exibo, non propter ipsum, sed quia inpedimento mihi futurus est ad omne, propter quod vivitur. Inbecillus est et ignavus, qui propter dolorem moritur, stultus, qui doloris causa vivit.

37 Sed in longum exeo. Est praeterea materia, quae ducere diem possit. Et quomodo finem imponere vitae poterit, qui epistulae non potest? Vale ergo. Quod libentius quam mortes meras lecturus es. VALE.

Pre Seneca LyciLtio svo SALVTEM

1 Magnam ex epistula tua percepi voluptatem ; per- mitte enim mihi uti verbis publicis nec illa ad signi- ficationem Stoicam revoca. Vitium esse voluptatem credimus. Sit sane; ponere tamen illam solemus ad

1 quam ius Madvig ; guamius p; quamvis LVPb.

@ Since vale means ‘‘ keep well ” no less than ‘‘ good-bye.” 408

EPISTLES LVIII., LIX.

cruel, then, do you suppose it really is to have lost a portion of your life, than to have lost your right to end that life? Do not hear me with reluctance, as if my statement applied directly to you, but weigh what I have to say. It is this: that I shall not abandon old age, if old age preserves me intact for myself, and intact as regards the better part of myself; but if old age begins to shatter my mind, and to pull its various faculties to pieces, if it leaves me, not life, but only the breath of life, I shall rush out of a house that is crumbling and tottering. I shall not avoid illness by seeking death, as long as the illness is curable and does not impede my soul. I shall not lay violent hands upon myself just because I am in pain; for death under such circumstances is defeat. But if I find out that the pain must always be endured, I shall depart, not because of the pain, but because it will be a hindrance to me as regards all my reasons for living. He who dies just because he is in pain is a weakling, a coward; but he who lives merely to brave out this pain, is a fool.

But I am running on too long ; and, besides, there is matter here to fill a day. And how can a man end his life, if he cannot end a letter? So farewell. This last word you will read with greater pleasure than all my deadly talk about death. Farewell.

LIX. ON PLEASURE AND JOY

[I received great pleasure from your letter; kindly allow me to use these words in their everyday meaning, without insisting upon their Stoic import. For we Stoics hold that pleasure is a vice. Very likely it is a vice; but we are accustomed to use

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2 demonstrandam animi hilarem adtfectionem. Scio, inquam, et voluptatem, si ad nostrum album! verba derigimus, rem infamem esse et gaudium nisi sapienti non contingere. Est enim animi elatio suis bonis verisque fidentis. Vulgo tamen sic loquimur, ut dicamus magnum gaudium nos ex illius consulatu aut nuptiis aut ex partu uxoris percepisse, quae adeo non sunt gaudia, ut saepe initia futurae tristitiae sint. Gaudio autem iunctum est non desinere nec in con- trarium verti.

3 Itaque cum dicit Vergilius noster

Et mala mentis gaudia,

diserte quidem dicit, sed parum proprie. Nullum enim malum gaudium est. Voluptatibus hoc nomen inposuit et quod voluit expressit. Significavit enim

4 homines malo suo laetos. Tamen ego non inmerito dixeram cepisse me magnam ex epistula tua volupta- tem ; quamvis enim ex honesta ? causa inperitus homo gaudeat, tamen adfectum eius inpotentem et in diver- sum statim inclinaturum voluptatem voco, opinione falsi boni motam, inmoderatam et inmodicam.

Sed ut ad propositum revertar, audi, quid me in epistula tua delectaverit: habes verba in potestate. Non effert te oratio nec longius quam destinasti

5 trahit. Multi sunt, qui ad id, quod non proposuerant

1 album R, Agricola ; aluum or alium MSS. 2 honesta Lipsius ; homine ista MSS. ; non inhonesta O. Rossbach.

« A figure taken from the praetor’s edict, which was posted publicly on a white tablet, album.

b4.0)5 erlet: ¢ Aeneid, vi. 278.

@ The wise man, on the other hand, has his emotions under control, and is less likely to be swayed by ‘‘an opinion concerning a spurious good.”

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the word when we wish to indicate a happy state cf mind. I am aware that if we test words by our formula, even pleasure is a thing of ill repute, and joy can be attained only by the wise. For “joy”’ is an elation of spirit,—of a spirit which trusts in the goodness and truth of its own possessions. The common usage, however, is that we derive great “joy” from a friend’s position as consul, or from his marriage, or from the birth of his child; but these events, so far from being matters of joy, are more often the beginnings of sorrow to come. No, it is a characteristic of real joy that it never ceases, and never changes into its opposite.? Accordingly, when our Vergil speaks of

The evil joys of the mind,°¢

his words are eloquent, but not strictly appropriate. For no “joy” can be evil. He has given the name “joy” to pleasures, and has thus expressed _ his meaning. For he has conveyed the idea that men take delight in their own evil. Nevertheless, I was not wrong in saying that I received great “ pleasure ”’ from your letter; for although an ignorant? man may derive “joy” if the cause be an honourable one, yet, since his emotion is wayward, and is likely soon to take another direction, I call it “pleasure” ; for it is inspired by an opinion concerning a spurious good ; it exceeds control and is carried to excess.

But, to return to the subject, let me tell you what delighted me in your letter. You have your words under control. You are not carried away by your language, or borne beyond the limits which you have determined upon. Many writers are tempted by the charm of some alluring phrase to some topic

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scribere, alicuius verbi placentis decore vocentur, quod tibi non evenit; pressa sunt omnia et rei aptata. Loqueris quantum vis et plus significas quam loqueris. Hoc maioris rei indicium est; apparet animum quoque nihil habere supervacui, nihil tumidi.

Invenio tamen translationes verborum ut non temerarias ita quae periculum sui fecerint. Invenio imagines, quibus si quis nos uti vetat et poetis illas solis iudicat esse concessas, neminem mihi videtur ex antiquis legisse, apud quos nondum captabatur plausibilis oratio. Illi, qui simpliciter et demon- strandae rei causa eloquebantur, parabolis referti sunt, quas existimo necessarias, non ex eadem causa qua poetis, sed ut inbecillitatis nostrae adminicula sint, ut et dicentem et audientem in rem praesentem adducant. Sextium ecce cum maxime lego, virunt acrem, Graecis verbis, Romanis moribus_philoso- phantem. Movit me imago ab illo posita: ire qua- drato agmine exercitum, ubi hostis ab omni parte suspectus est, pugnae paratum; “Idem,” inquit, “sapiens facere debet ; omnes virtutes suas undique expandat, ut ubicumque infesti aliquid orietur, illic parata praesidia sint et ad nutum regentis sine tumultu respondeant.” Quod in exercitibus iis,

@ 7.e., in spite of the fact that your style is compact.

> Q. Sextius was a Stoic with Pythagorean leanings, who lived in the days of Julius Caesar. He is also mentioned in Epp. lxiv. and Ixxiii. A book of moral Sententiae, taken over by the Church, is assigned to him, perhaps wrongly.

¢ Agmen quadratum was an army in a square formation, with baggage in the middle, ready for battle,—as contrasted with agmen iustum (close ranks), and acies triplex (a stationary

formation, almost rectangular). Agmen quadratum is first found in the Spanish campaigns of the second century B.c.

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other than that which they had set themselves to discuss. But this has not been so in your case; all your words are compact, and suited to the subject. You say all that you wish, and you mean still more than you say. This is a proof of the importance of your subject matter, showing that your mind, as well as your words, contains nothing superfluous or bombastic.

I do, however,* find some metaphors, not, indeed, daring ones, but the kind which have stood the test of use. I find similes also; of course, if anyone forbids us to use them, maintaining that poets alone have that privilege, he has not, apparently, read any of our ancient prose writers, who had not yet learned to affect a style that should win applause. For those writers, whose eloquence was simple and directed only towards proving their case, are full of compari- sons; and | think that these are necessary, not for the same reason which makes them necessary for the poets, but in order that they may serve as props to our feebleness, to bring both speaker and listener face to face with the subject under discussion. For example, J am at this very moment reading Sextius?; he is a keen man, and a philosopher who, though he writes in Greek, has the Roman standard of ethics. One of his similes appealed especially to me, that of an army marching in hollow square,’ in a place where the enemy might be expected to appear from any quarter, ready for battle. ‘“ This,’ said he, “is just what the wise man ought to do; he should have all his fighting qualities deployed on every side, so that wherever the attack threatens, there his supports may be ready to hand and may obey the captain’s command without confu- sion.” This is what we notice in armies which serve

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quos imperatores magni ordinant, fieri videmus, ut imperium ducis simul omnes copiae sentiant, sic dispositae, ut signum ab uno datum peditem simul equitemque percurrat; hoc aliquanto magis neces-

8 sarium esse nobis ait. Illi enim saepe hostem

timuere sine causa, tutissimumque illis iter quod suspectissimum fuit; nihil stultitia pacatum habet. Tam superne illi metus est quam infra. Utrumque trepidat latus. Secuntur pericula et occurrunt. Ad omnia pavet, inparata est et ipsis terretur auxiliis. Sapiens autem ad omnem incursum munitus, intentus, non si paupertas, non si luctus, non si ignominia, non si dolor impetum faciat, pedem referet. Inter- ritus et contra illa ibit et inter illa.

Nos multa alligant, multa debilitant. Diu in istis vitiis iacuimus, elui difficile est. Non enim inquinati sumus, sed infecti. Ne ab alia imagine ad aliam transeamus, hoc quaeram, quod saepe mecum di- spicio: quid ita nos stultitia tam pertinaciter teneat ? Primo quia non fortiter illam repellimus nec toto ad salutem impetu nitimur, deinde quia illa, quae a sapientibus viris reperta sunt, non satis credimus nec apertis pectoribus haurimus leviterque tam magnae rei insistimus. Quemadrnodum autem potest aliquis, quantum satis sit, adversus vitia discere, qui quan- tum a vitiis vacat, discit? Nemo nostrum in altum

4 7.e., by the troops of the second line, who in training and qual ty were inferior to the troops of the legion.

> 2.e., from that of the ‘‘ fetter” to that of ‘*dust and dye.” In §6 Seneca has praised Lucilius for his judicious employment of metaphors.

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under great leaders; we see how all the troops simultaneously understand their general’s orders, since they are so arranged that a signal given by one man passes down the ranks of cavalry and infantry at the same moment. This, he declares, is still more necessary for men like ourselves; for soldiers have often feared an enemy without reason, and the march which they thought most dangerous has in fact been most secure; but folly brings no repose, fear haunts it both in the van and in the rear of the column, and both flanks are in a _ panic. Folly is pursued, and confronted, by peril. It blenches at everything; it is unprepared; it is frightened even by auxiliary troops. But the wise man is fortified against all inroads; he is alert; he will not retreat before the attack of poverty, or of sorrow, or of disgrace, or of pain. He will walk undaunted both against them and among them.

We human beings are fettered and weakened by many vices; we have wallowed in them for a long time, and it is hard for us to be cleansed. We are not merely defiled; we are dyed by them. But, to refrain from passing from one figure? to another, I will raise this question, which I often consider in my own heart: why is it that folly holds us with such an insistent grasp? It is, primarily, because we do not combat it strongly enough, because we do not struggle towards salvation with all our might; secondly, because we do not put sufficient trust in the discoveries of the wise, and do not drink in their words with open hearts; we approach this great problem in too trifling a spirit. But how can a man learn, in the struggle against his vices, an amount that is enough, if the time which he gives to learning is only the amount left over from his vices?

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descendit. Summa tantum decerpsimus et exiguum temporis impendisse philosophiae satis abundeque occupatis fuit. [llud praecipue impedit, quod cito nobis placemus; si invenimus, qui nos bonos viros dicat, qui prudentes, qui sanctos, adgnoscimus. Non sumus modica laudatione contenti; quicquid in nos adulatio sine pudore congessit, tamquam debitum prendimus. Optimos nos esse, sapientissimos adfir- mantibus adsentimur, cum sciamus illos saepe multa mentiri. Adeoque indulgemus nobis, ut laudari velimus in id, cui contraria cum maxime facimus. Mitissimum ille se in ipsis suppliciis audit, in rapinis liberalissimum, in! ebrietatibus ac libidinibus tem- perantissimum. Sequitur itaque, ut ideo mutari nolimus, quia nos optimos esse credimus.

Alexander cum iam in India vagaretur et gentes ne finitimis quidem satis notas bello vastaret, in obsidione cuiusdam urbis, dum? circumit muros et inbecillissima moenium quaerit, sagitta ictus diu persedere et incepta agere perseveravit. Deinde cum represso sanguine sicci vulneris dolor cresceret et crus suspensum equo paulatim - optorpuisset, coactus apsistere “ Omnes,” inquit, “iurant esse me Iovis filium, sed vulnus hoc hominem esse me clamat.’’ Idem nos faciamus. Pro sua quemque

1 et in MSS. ; et deleted by Mentel. 2 dum added by P?, omitted by other MSS.

@ Several similar stories are related about Alexander, e.g. Plutarch, Moralia, 180 £, where he says to his flatterers, pointing to a wound just received: ** See, this is blood, not ichor !”

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None of us goes deep below the surface. We skim the top only, and we regard the smattering of time spent in the search for wisdom as enough and to spare for a busy man. What hinders us most of all is that we are too readily satisfied with ourselves ; if we meet with someone who calls us good men, or sensible men, or holy men, we see ourselves in his description. Not content with praise in moderation, we accept everything that shameless flattery heaps upon us, as if it were our due. We agree with those who declare us to be the best and wisest of men, although we know that they are given to much lying. And we are so self-complacent that we desire praise for certain actions when we are especially addicted to the very opposite. Yonder person hears himself called “most gentle’’ when he is inflicting tortures, or “most generous” when he is engaged in looting, or “most temperate” when he is in the midst of drunkenness and lust. Thus it follows that we are unwilling to be reformed, just because we believe ourselves to be the best of men. Alexander was roaming as far as India, ravaging tribes that were but little known, even to their neighbours. During the blockade of a certain city, while he was reconnoitring the walls and hunting for the weakest spot in the fortifications, he was wounded by an arrow. Nevertheless, he long con- tinued the siege, intent on finishing what he had begun. The pain of his wound, however, as the surface became dry and as the flow of blood was checked, increased ; his leg gradually became numb as he sat his horse; and finally, when he was forced to withdraw, he exclaimed: “ All men swear that I am the son of Jupiter, but this wound cries out that I am mortal.” * Let us also act in the same way.

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portione adulatio infatuat. Dicamus: ‘“ Vos quidem dicitis me prudentem esse, ego autem video, quain multa inutilia concupiscam, nocitura optem. Ne hoc quidem intellego, quod animalibus satietas monstrat, quis cibo debeat esse, quis potioni modus. Quantum capiam adhuc nescio.”’

14 Iam docebo, quemadmodum intellegas te non esse sapientem. Sapiens ille plenus est gaudio, hilaris et placidus, inconcussus ; cum dis ex pari vivit. Nunc ipse te consule; si numquam maestus es, nulla spes animum tuum futuri exspectatione sollicitat, si per dies noctesque par et aequalis animi tenor erecti et vlacentis sibi est, pervenisti ad humani boni summam. Sed si adpetis voluptates et undique et omnes, scito tantum tibi ex sapientia, quantum ex gaudio deesse. Ad hoc cupis pervenire, sed erras, qui inter divitias illuc venturum esse te speras, inter honores, id est, gaudium inter sollicitudines quaeris. -Ista, quae sic petis tamquam datura laetitiam ac voluptatem, causae dolorum sunt.

15 Omnes, inquam, illi tendunt ad gaudium, sed unde stabile magnumque consequantur, ignorant. Ille ex conviviis et luxuria, ille ex ambitione et circumfusa clientium turba, ille ex amica, alius ex

studiorum liberalium vana ostentatione et nihil 418

EPISTLE LIX.

Each man, according to his lot in life, is stultified by flattery. We should say to him who flatters us: “ You call me a man of sense, but J understand how many of the things which I crave are useless, and how many of the things which IJ desire will do me harm. I have not even the knowledge, which satiety teaches to animals, of what should be the measure of my food or my drink. I do not yet know how much I can hold.”

I shall now show you how you may know that you are not wise. The wise man is joyful, happy and calm, unshaken; he lives on a plane with the gods. Now go, question yourself; if you are never downcast, if your mind is not harassed by any appre- hension, through anticipation of what is to come, if day and night your soul keeps on its even and un- swerving course, upright and content with itself, then you have attained to the greatest good that mortals can possess. If, however, you seek pleasures of all kinds in all directions, you must know that you are as far short of wisdom as you are short of joy. Joy is the goal which you desire to reach, but you are wander- ing from the path, if you expect to reach your goal while you are in the midst of riches and official titles, —in other words, if you seek joy in the midst of cares. These objects for which you strive so eagerly, as if they would give you happiness and pleasure, are merely causes of grief.

All men of this stamp, I maintain, are pressing on in pursuit of joy, but they do not know where they may obtain a joy that is both great and enduring. One person seeks it in feasting and self-indulgence ; another, in canvassing for honours and in being surrounded by a throng of clients; another, in his mistress ; another, in idle display of culture and in

419

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sanantibus litteris ; omnes istos oblectamenta fallacia et brevia decipiunt, sicut ebrietas, quae unius horae hilarem insaniam longi temporis taedio pensat, sicut plausus et adclamationis secundae favor, qui magna sollicitudine et partus est et expiandus.

16 Hoc ergo cogita, hunc esse sapientiae effectum, gaudii aequalitatem. Talis est sapientis animus, qualis mundus! super lunam; semper illic serenum est. Habes ergo et? quare velis sapiens esse, si num- quam sine gaudio est. Gaudium hoc non nascitur

17 nisi ex virtutum conscientia. Non potest gaudere, nisi fortis, nisi iustus, nisi temperans. “Quid ergo?” inquis, “Stulti ac mali non gaudent?” Non magis quam praedam nancti leones. Cum fatigaverunt se vino ac libidinibus, cum illos nox inter vitia defecit, cum voluptates angusto corpori ultra quam capiebat ingestae suppurare coeperunt, tunc exclamant miseri Vergilianum illum versum :

Namque ut supremam falsa inter gaudia noctem Egerimus, nosti.

18 Omnem luxuriosi noctem inter falsa gaudia et quidem tamquam supremam agunt; illud gaudium, quod deos deorumque aemulos sequitur, non inter- rumpitur, non desinit; desineret, si sumptum esset

1 mundus b' V2P? ; mundi pLV'!P'; mundi status Erasmus ; facies mundi Hense. 2 et Haase; ut pLV, omitted in Pb.

3 esse, si numquam Haase ; esse et sinum quam p ; esse quia si numquam LV PbO.

@ Seneca returns to the definition of gawdiwm given in § 2: ‘‘ True joy never ceases and never changes into its opposite.” It is not subject to ups and downs.

’ Of. Seneca, De Ira, iii. 6.1. The upper firmament, near the stars, is free from clouds and storms. It is calm, though the lightning plays below.

¢ Aeneid, vi. 513f. The night is that which preceded the sack of Troy.

4.20

EPISTLE LIX.

literature that has no power to heal; all these men are led astray by delights which are deceptive and _ short-lived—like drunkenness for example, which pays for a single hour of hilarious madness by a sickness of many days, or like applause and the popularity of enthusiastic approval which are gained, and atoned for, at the cost of great mental disquietude.

Reflect, therefore, on this, that the effect of wisdom is a joy that is unbroken and continuous.% The mind of the wise man is like the ultra-lunar firmament? ; eternal calm pervades that region. You have, then, a reason for wishing to be wise, if the wise man is never deprived of joy. This joy springs only from the knowledge that you possess the virtues. None but the brave, the just, the self-restrained, can rejoice. And when you query: “ What do you mean? Do not the foolish and the wicked also rejoice?” I reply, no more than lions who have caught their prey. When men have wearied them- selves with wine and lust, when night fails them before their debauch is done, when the pleasures which they have heaped upon a body that is too small to hold them begin to fester, at such times they utter in their wretchedness those lines of Vergil ©:

Thou knowest how, amid false-glittering joys, We spent that last of nights.

Pleasure-lovers spend every night amid false- glittering joys, and just as if it were their last. But the joy which comes to the gods, and to those who imitate the gods, is not broken off, nor does it cease ; but it would surely cease were it borrowed

421

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aliunde. Quia non est alieni muneris, ne arbitrii quidem alieni est. Quod non dedit fortuna, non eripit. VALE.

LX. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

Queror, litigo, irascor. Etiamnunc optas, quod tibi optavit nutrix tua aut paedagogus aut mater? Nondum intellegis, quantum mali optaverint? O quam inimica nobis sunt vota nostrorum! Eo quidem inimiciora quo cessere felicius. Jam non admiror, si omnia nos a prima pueritia mala secuntur ; inter execrationes parentum crevimus. Exaudiant di nostram quoque! pro nobis vocem gratuitam.

Quousque poscemus aliquid deos ita quasi ? nondum ipsi alere nos possimus? Quamdiu sationibus in- plebimus magnarum urbium campos? Quamdiu nobis populus metet? Quamdiu unius mensae in- strumentum multa navigia et quidem non ex uno mari subvehent? Taurus paucissimorum iugerum pascuo impletur; una silva elephantis pluribus sufficit; homo et terra et mari pascitur. Quid ergo? Tam insatiabilem nobis natura alvum dedit, cum tam modica corpora dedisset, ut vastissimorum edacissimorumque animalium aviditatem vinceremus? Minime. Quantulum est enim, quod naturae datur?

1 nostram quoque Buecheler; quoque nostram MSS. ; quandoque nostram Muretus. 2 ita quasi Haase ; quasi ita or ita MSS.

422

EPISTLES LIX., LX.

from without. Just because it is not in the power of another to bestow, neither is it subject to another's whims. That which Fortune has not given, she cannot take away. Farewell.

LX. ON HARMFUL PRAYERS

I file a complaint, I enter a suit, I am angry. Do you still desire what your nurse, your guardian, or your mother, have prayed for in your behalf? Do you not yet understand what evil they prayed for? Alas, how hostile to us are the wishes of our own folk! And they are all the more hostile in proportion as they are more completely fulfilled. It is no surprise to me, at my age, that nothing but evil attends us from our early youth; for we have grown up amid the curses invoked by our parents. And may the gods give ear to our cry also, uttered in our own behalf,—one which asks no favours!

How long shall we go on making demands upon the gods, as if we were still unable to support ourselves ? How long shall we continue to fill with grain the market-places of our great cities? How long must the people gather it in for us? How long shall many ships convey the requisites for a single meal, bring- ing them from no single sea? The bull is filled when he feeds over a few acres; and one forest is large enough for a herd of elephants. Man, how- ever, draws sustenance both from the earth and from the sea. What, then? Did nature give us bellies so insatiable, when she gave us these puny bodies, that we should outdo the hugest and most voracious animals in greed? Not at all. How small is the amount which will satisfy naturer A very

423

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Parvo illa dimittitur. Non fames nobis ventris nostri

4 magno constat, sed ambitio. Hos itaque, ut ait Sallustius, “ventri oboedientes” animalium loco numeremus, non hominum, quosdam vero ne anima- lium quidem, sed mortuorum. Vivit is, qui multis usui est, vivit is, qui se utitur; qui vero latitant et torpent, sic in domo sunt, quomodo in conditivo. Horum licet in limine ipso nomen marmori inscribas, mortem suam antecesserunt. VALE.

LXE SenEca LvcILIO SVO SALVTEM

l Desinamus, quod voluimus, velle. Ego certe id ago: senex ea desii velle! quae puer volui. In hoc unum eunt dies, in hoc noctes, hoc opus meum est, haec cogitatio: inponere veteribus malis finem. Id ago, ut mihi instar totius vitae dies sit. Nec meher- cules tamquam ultimum rapio, sed sic illum aspicio,

2 tamquam esse vel ultimus possit. Hoc animo tibi hance epistulam scribo, tamquam me cum maxime scribentem mors evocatura sit. Paratus exire sum et ideo fruar vita, quia quam diu futurum hoc sit, non nimis pendeo.

Ante senectutem curavi, ut bene viverem, in senectute, ut bene moriar; bene autem mori est

1 senex; ea desit velle Schultess; senex cadem velle pLVPb; senex ne eadem velle videar later MSS; senex ne eadem velim Uense after Madvig.

@ Catiline, i. 1.

> i.e., like animals.

¢ i.e., you may put an epitaph upon his dwelling as if it were a tomb.

424

EPISTLES LX., LXI.

little will send her away contented. It is not the natural hunger of our bellies that costs us dear, but our solicitous cravings. Therefore those who, as Sallust®% puts it, “hearken to their bellies,’ should be numbered among the animals, and not among men; and certain men, indeed, should be numbered, not even among the animals, but among the dead. He really lives who is made use of by many; he really lives who makes use of himself. Those men, however, who creep into a hole and grow torpid? are no better off in their homes than if they were in their tombs. Right there on the marble lintel of the house of such a man you may inscribe his name,¢ for he has died before he is dead. Farewell.

LXI. ON MEETING DEATH CHEERFULLY

Let us cease to desire that which we have been desiring. I, at least, am doing this: in my old age I have ceased to desire what I desired when a boy. To this single end my days and my nights are passed; this is my task, this the object of my thoughts,—to put an end to my chronic ills. I am endeavouring to live every day as if it were a com- plete life. I do not indeed snatch it up as if it were my last; I do regard it, however, as if it might even be my last. The present letter is written to you with this in mind,—as if death were about to call me away in the very act of writing. I am ready to depart, and I shall enjoy life just because I am not over-anxious as to the future date of my departure.

Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying

425

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libenter mori. Da operam, ne quid umquam invitus

3 facias. Quicquid necesse futurum est repugnanti, volenti necessitas non est. Ita dico: qui imperia libens excipit, partem acerbissimam servitutis effugit, facere quod nolit. Non qui iussus aliquid facit, miser est, set qui invitus facit. Itaque sic animum conpona- mus, ut quicquid res exiget, id velimus et in primis

4ut finem nostri sine tristitia cogitemus. Ante ad mortem quam ad vitam praeparandi sumus. Satis instructa vita est, sed nos in instrumenta eius avidi sumus; deesse aliquid nobis videtur et semper vide- bitur. Ut satis vixerimus, nec anni nec dies faciunt, sed animus. Vixi, Lucili carissime, quantum satis erat; mortem plenus exspecto. VaLe.

LXIL. Seneca LyciLio svo sALVTEM

1 Mentiuntur, qui sibi obstare ad studia liberalia turbam negotiorum videri volunt; simulant occupa- tiones et augent et ipsi se occupant. Vaco, Lucili, vaco et ubicumque sum, ibi meus sum. Rebus enim me non trado, sed commodo, nec consector perdendi temporis causas. Et quocumque constiti loco, ibi cogitationes meas tracto et aliquid in animo salutare

¢ A reminiscence of Lucretius, iii. 938 f. Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis Aequo reat gS securam, stulte, quietem? Cf. also Horace, Sat. i. 1. 1181. vita Vedat uti con- vira satur.

426

EPISTLES LXI., LXII.

well means dying gladly. See to it that you never do anything unwillingly. That which is bound to bea necessity if you rebel, is not a necessity if you desire it. This is what I mean: he who takes his orders gladly, escapes the bitterest part of slavery,—doing what one does not want to do. The man who does something under orders is not unhappy ; he is unhappy who does something against his will. Let us therefore so set our minds in order that we may desire whatever is demanded of us by circumstances, and above all that we may reflect upon our end with- out sadness. We must make ready for death before we make ready for life. Life is well enough furnished, but we are too greedy with regard to its furnishings ; something always seems to us lacking, and will always seem lacking. To have lived long enough depends neither upon our years nor upon our days, but upon our minds. I have lived, my dear friend Lucilius, long enough. I have had my fill?; I await death, Farewell.

LXII. ON GOOD COMPANY

We are deceived by those who would have us believe that a multitude of affairs blocks their pursuit of liberal studies; they make a pretence of their engagements, and multiply them, when their en- gagements are merely with themselves. As for me, Lucilius, my time is free; it is indeed free, and wherever I am, I am master of myself. For I do not surrender myself to my affairs, but loan- myself to them, and I do not hunt out excuses for wasting my time. And wherever I am situated, I carry on my own meditations and ponder in my mind some

427

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2 converso. Cum me amicis dedi non tamen mihi abduco, nec cum illis moror, quibus me tempus ali- quod congregavit aut causa ex officio nata civili,! sed cum optimo quoque sum ; ad illos, in quocumque loco, in quocumque saeculo fuerunt, animum meum mitto.

3 Demetrium, virorum optimum, mecum circumfero et relictis conchyliatis cum illo seminudo loquor, illum admiror. Quidni admirer? Vidi nihil ei deesse. Contemnere aliquis omnia potest, omnia habere nemo potest. Brevissima ad divitias per contemptum divitiarum via est. Demetrius autem noster sic vivit, non tamquam contempserit omnia, sed tamquam aliis habenda permiserit. Wace.

LXE Seneca LyctLio svo sALVrEM

1 Moleste fero decessisse Flaccum, amicum tuum, plus tamen aequo dolere te nolo. Illud, ut non doleas, vix audebo exigere; et esse melius scio. Sed cui ista firmitas animi continget nisi iam multum supra fortunam elato? Illum quogue ista res velli- cabit, sed tantum vellicabit. Nobis autem ignosci potest prolapsis ad lacrimas, si non nimiae decucur- rerunt, si ipsi illas repressimus. Nec sicci sint oculi

} civili late MSS. ; civi the rest, followed by Hense.

+ Demetrius of Sunium, the Cynic philosopher, who taught in Rome in the reign of Caligula and was banished by Nero. > a.¢., he has achieved the Stoic ideal of independence of all external control ; he is a king and has all things to bestow upon others, but needs nothing for himself. 428

EPISTLES LXII., LXIII.

wholesome thought. When I give myself to my friends, I do not withdraw from my own company, nor do I linger with those who are associated with me through some special occasion or some case which arises from my official position. But I spend my time in the company of all the best; no matter in what lands they may have lived, or in what age, I let my thoughts fly to them. Demetrius,’ for instance, the best of men, I take about with me, and, leaving the wearers of purple and fine linen, I talk with him, half-naked as he is, and hold him in high esteem. Why should I not hold him in high esteem? I have found that he lacks nothing. It is in the power of any man to despise all things, but of no man to possess all things. The shortest cut to riches is to despise riches. Our friend Demetrius, however, lives not merely as if he has learned to despise all things, but as if he has handed them over for others to possess.? Farewell.

LXIII. ON GRIEF FOR LOST FRIENDS

I am grieved to hear that your friend Flaccus is dead, but I would not have you sorrow more than is fitting. That you should not mourn at all I shall hardly dare to insist; and yet I know that it is the better way. But what man will ever be so blessed with that ideal steadfastness of soul, unless he has already risen far above the reach of Fortune? Even such a man will be stung by an event like this, but it will be only a sting. We, however, may be for- given for bursting into tears, if only our tears have not flowed to excess, and if we have checked them by our own efforts. Let not the eyes be dry when

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

amisso amico nec fluant. Lacrimandum est, non plorandum.

2 Duram tibi legem videor ponere, cum poetarum Graecorum maximus ius flendi dederit in unum dumtaxat diem, cum dixerit etiam Niobam de cibo cogitasse? Quaeris, unde sint lamentationes, unde inmodici fletus? Per lacrimas argumenta desiderii quaerimus et dolorem non sequimur, sed ostendimus. Nemo tristis sibi est. O infelicem stultitiam! Est aliqua et doloris ambitio.

3 “Quidergo?” inquis, “Obliviscar amici?” Brevem illi apud te memoriam promittis, si cum dolore man- sura est; iam istam frontem ad risum quaelibet fortuita res transferet. Non differo in longius tempus, quo desiderium omne mulcetur, quo etiam acerrimi luctus residunt. Cum primum te observare desieris, imago ista tristitiae discedet; nune ipse custodis dolorem tuum. Sed custodienti quoque elabitur eoque citius, quo est acrior, desinit.

4 {d agamus, ut iucunda nobis amissorum fiat re- cordatio. Nemo libenter ad id redit, quod non sine tormento cogitaturus est. Sic et! illud fieri necesse est, ut cum aliquo nobis morsu amissorum, quos amavimus, nomen occurrat. Sed hic quoque morsus

5 habet suam voluptatem. Nam, ut dicere solebat Attalus noster, “sic amicorum defunctorum memoria

1 sic et Hense; sic ut pLV; sic Pb.

« Homer, Iliad, xix. 229 and xxiv. 602. » The teacher of Seneca, often mentioned by him.

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EPISTLE LXIII.

we have lost a friend, nor let them overflow. We may weep, but we must not wail.

Do you think that the law which I lay down for you is harsh, when the greatest of Greek poets has extended the privilege of weeping to one day only, in the lines where he tells us that even Niobe took thought of food%? Do you wish to know the reason for lamentations and excessive weeping? It is because we seek the proofs of our bereavement in our tears, and do not give way to sorrow, but merely parade it. No man goes into mourning for his own sake. Shame on our ill-timed folly! There is an element of self-seeking even in our sorrow.

« What,” you say, “am I to forget my friend?” It is surely a short-lived memory that you vouchsafe to him, if it is to endure only as long as your grief; presently that brow of yours will be smoothed out in laughter by some circumstance, however casual. It is to a time no more distant than this that I put off the soothing of every regret, the quieting of even the bitterest grief. As soon as you cease to observe yourself, the picture of sorrow which you have con- templated will fade away ; at present you are keeping watch over your own suffering. But even while you keep watch it slips away from you, and the sharper it is, the more speedily it comes to an end.

Let us see to it that the recollection of those whom we have lost becomes a pleasant memory to us. No man reverts with pleasure to any subject which he will not be able to reflect upon without pain. So too it cannot but be that the names of those whom we have loved and lost come back to us with a sort of sting; but there is a pleasure even in this sting. For, as my friend Attalus® used to say: “The re- membrance of lost friends is pleasant in the same

VOL. I P 431

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

iucunda est, quomodo poma quaedam sunt suaviter aspera, quomodo in vino nimis veteri ipsa nos amaritudo delectat; cum vero intervenit spatium, omne, quod angebat, extinguitur et pura ad nos 6 voluptas venit.” Si illi credimus, “ Amicos incolumes cogitare melle ac placenta frui est; eorum, qui fuerunt, retractatio non sine acerbitate quadam iuvat. Quis autem negaverit haec acria quoque et habentia 7 austeritatis aliquid stomachum excitare?”’ Ego non idem sentio, mihi amicorum defunctorum cogitatio dulcis ac blanda est. Habui enim illos tamquam amissurus, amisi tamquam habeam. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod aequitatem tuam decet, desine beneficium fortunae male interpretari; abs- 8 tulit, sed dedit. Ideo amicis avide fruamur, quia quamdiu contingere hoc possit, incertum est. Cogi- temus, quam saepe illos reliquerimus in aliquam pere-

grinationem longinquam exituri, quam saepe eodem

morantes loco non viderimus; intellegemus plus nos —

9 temporis in vivis perdidisse. Feras autem hos, qui neglegentissime amicos habent, miserrime lugent, nec amant quemquam, nisi perdiderunt? Ideoque tunc effusius maerent, quia verentur, ne dubium sit, an

10 amaverint; sera indicia adfectus sui quaerunt. Si

habemus alios amicos, male de iis et meremur et 432

EPISTLE LXIII.

way that certain fruits have an agreeably acid taste, or as in extremely old wines it is their very bitterness that pleases us. Indeed, after a certain lapse of time, every thought that gave pain is quenched, and the pleasure comes to us unalloyed.” If we take the word of Attalus for it, “to think of friends who are alive and well is like enjoying a meal of cakes and honey ; the recollection of friends who have passed away gives a pleasure that is not without a touch of bitter- ness. Yet who will deny that even these things, which are bitter and contain an element of sourness, do serve to arouse the stomach?” For my part, I do not agree with him. To me, the thought of my dead friends is sweet and appealing. For I have had them as if I should one day lose them; I have lost them as if I have them still.

Therefore, Lucilius, act as befits your own serenity of mind, and cease to put a wrong interpre- tation on the gifts of Fortune. Fortune has taken away, but Fortune has given. Let us greedily enjoy our friends, because we do not know how long this privilege will be ours. Let us think how often we shall leave them when we: go upon distant journeys, and how often we shall fail to see them when we tarry together in the same place; we shal] thus understand that we have lost too much of their time while they were alive. But will you tolerate men who are most careless of their friends, and then mourn them most abjectly, and do not love anyone unless they have lost him? The reason why they lament too unrestrainedly at such times is that they are afraid lest men doubt whether they really have loved; all too late they seek for proofs of their emotions. If we have other friends, we surely deserve ill at their hands and think ill of them, if

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existimamus, qui parum valent in unius elati solacium; si non habemus, maiorem iniuriam ipsi nobis fecimus quam a fortuna accepimus; illa unum abstulit, nos, quemcumque non fecimus. Deinde ne unum quidem nimis amavit, qui plus quam unum amare non potuit. Si quis despoliatus amissa unica tunica conplorare se malit quam cireumspicere, quomodo frigus effugiat et aliquid inveniat, quo tegat scapulas, nonne tibi videa- tur stultissimus ?

Quem amabas, extulisti; quaere, quem ames. Satius est amicum reparare quam flere. Scio per- tritum iam hoc esse, quod adiecturus sum, non ideo tamen praetermittam, quia ab omnibus dictum est: finem dolendi etiam qui consilio non fecerat, tempore invenit. Turpissimum autem est in homine prudente remedium maeroris lassitudo maerendi. Malo relin- quas dolorem quam ab illo relinquaris, et quam primum id facere desiste, quod etiam si voles, diu facere non

13 poteris. Annum feminis ad lugendum constituere

maiores, non ut tam diu lugerent, sed ne diutius ; viris nullum legitimum tempus est, quia nullum honestum. Quam tamen mihi ex illis mulierculis dabis vix retractis a rogo, vix a cadavere revulsis, cui lacrimae in totum mensem duraverint? Nulla res

@ The reason is, as Lipsius observed, that friendship is essentially a social virtue, and is not confined to one object. The pretended friendship for one and only one is a form of self-love, and is not unselfish love.

» According to tradition, from the timeof Numa Pompilius.

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they are of so little account that they fail to console us for the loss of one. If, on the other hand, we have no other friends, we have injured ourselves more than Fortune has injured us; since Fortune has robbed us of one friend, but we have robbed ourselves of every friend whom we have failed to make. Again, he who has been unable to love mure than one, has had none too much love even for that one. If a man who has lost his one and only tunic through robbery chooses to bewail his plight rather than look about him for some way to escape the cold, or for something with which to cover his shoulders, would you not think him an utter fool ?

You have buried one whom you loved; look about for someone to love. It is better to replace your friend than to weep for him. What I am about to add is, I know, a very hackneyed remark, but I shall not omit it simply because it is a common phrase : A man ends his grief by the mere passing of time, even if he has not ended it of his own accord. But the most shameful cure for sorrow, in the case of a sensible man, is to grow weary of sorrowing. I should prefer you to abandon grief, rather than have grief abandon you; and you should stop grieving as soon as possible, since, even if you wish to do so, it is impossible to keep it up for a long time. Our fore- fathers” have enacted that, in the case of women, a year should be the limit for mourning ; not that they needed to mourn for so long, but that they should mourn no longer. In the case of men, no rules are laid down, because to mourn at all is not regarded as honourable. For all that, what woman can you show me, of all the pathetic females that could scarcely be dragged away from the funeral-pile or torn from the corpse, whose tears have lasted a whole month?

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citius in odium venit quam dolor, qui recens con- solatorem invenit et aliquos ad se adducit, inveteratus vero deridetur, nec inmerito. Aut enim simulatus aut stultus est.

Haec tibi scribo is, qui Annaeum Serenum, carissi- mum mihi, tam inmodice flevi, ut, quod minime velim, inter exempla sim eorum, quos dolor vicit. | Hodie autem factum meum damno et intellego maximam mihi causam sic lugendi fuisse, quod numquam cogi- taveram mori eum ante me posse. Hoe unum mili occurrebat, minorem esse et multo minorem, tamquam ordinem fata servarent.

Itaque adsidue cogitemus tam de nostra quam omnium, quos diligimus, mortalitate. Tune ego! debui dicere: “ Minor est Serenus meus; quid ad rem pertinet? Post me mori debet, sed ante me potest.” Quia non feci, inparatum subito fortuna percussit. Nunc cogita omnia et mortalia esse et incerta lege mortalia. Hodie fieri potest, quicquid umquam potest. Cogitemus ergo, Lucili carissime, cito nos eo perventuros, quo illum pervenisse maeremus. Et fortasse, si modo vera sapientium fama est recipitque nos locus aliquis, quem putamus perisse, praemissus est. VALE.

1 ego the other MSS. ; ergo p, possibly rightly.

* An intimate friend of Seneca, probably a relative, who died in the year 63 from eating poisoned mushrooms (Pliny, N. If. xxii. 96). Seneca dedicated to Serenus several of his philosophical] essays.

> Cf. the closing chapter of the Agricola of Tacitus : si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore exstinguuntur magnae animae, etc.

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Nothing becomes offensive so quickly as grief; when fresh, it finds someone to console it and attracts one or another to itself; but after becoming chronic, it is ridiculed, and rightly. For it is either assumed or foolish.

He who writes these words to you is no other than I, who wept so excessively for my dear friend Annaeus Serenus @ that, in spite of my wishes, I must be included among the examples of men who have been overcome by grief. To-day, however, I con- demn this act of mine, and I understand that the reason why I lamented so greatly was chiefly that I had. never imagined it possible for his death to pre- cede mine. The only thought which occurred to my mind was that he was the younger, and much younger, too,—as if the Fates kept to the order of our ages!

Therefore let us continually think as much about our own mortality as about that of all those we love. In former days I ought to have said: “ My friend Serenus is younger than I; but what does that matter? He would naturally die after me, but he may precede me.” It was just because I did not do this that I was unprepared when Fortune dealt me the sudden blow. Now is the time for you to reflect, not only that all things are mortal, but also that their mortality is subject to no fixed law. Whatever can happen at any time can happen to-day. Let us therefore reflect, my beloved Lucilius, that we shall soon come to the goal which this friend, to our own sorrow, has reached. And perhaps, if only the tale told by wise men is true? and there is a bourne to welcome us, then he whom we think we have lost has only been sent on ahead. Farewell.

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eT. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

Fuisti here nobiscum. Potes! queri, si here tantum. Ideo adieci “nobiscum.’”” Mecum enim semper es. Intervenerant quidam amici, propter quos maior fumus fieret, non hic, qui erumpere ex lautorum culinis et terrere vigiles solet, sed hic 2 modicus, qui hospites venisse significet. | Varius nobis fuit sermo, ut in convivio, nullam rem usque ad exitum adducens, sed aliunde alio transiliens. Lectus est deinde liber Quinti Sextii patris, magni, si quid mihi credis, viri et, licet neget, Stoici. 3 Quantus in illo, di boni, vigor est, quantum animi! Hoc non in omnibus philosophis invenies ; quorundam scripta clarum habentium? nomen exanguia sunt. Instituunt, disputant, cavillantur, non faciunt animum, quia non habent; cum legeris Sextium, dices: “ Vivit, viget, liber est, supra hominem est, dimittit me 4 plenum ingentis fiduciae.”’ In qua positione mentis sim, cum hunce lego, fatebor tibi: libef omnis casus provocare, libet exclamare: ‘“ Quid cessas, fortuna? Congredere; paratum vides.” Illius animum induo, qui quaerit, ubi se experiatur, ubi virtutem suam ostendat,

1 »wotes later MSS. ; potest pLVPb. 2 habentium Bickel; habent tum ps; habent tantum LVPb.

@ See on Fp. lix.7. As the following sentence indicates, he seems to have considered himself an eclectic in philosophy, and to have been half Stoic, half Pythagorean.

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EXTY. (ON THE PHILOSOPHERS .WASK

Yesterday you were with us. You might complain if I said “yesterday”’ merely. This is why I have added “with us.’ For, so far as I am concerned, you are always with me. Certain friends had happened in, on whose account a somewhat brighter fire was laid,—not the kind that generally bursts from the kitchen chimneys of the rich and scares the watch, but the moderate blaze which means that guests have come. Our talk ran on various themes, as is natural at a dinner; it pursued no chain of thought to the end, but jumped from one topic to another. We then had read to us a book by Quintus Sextius the Elder. He is a great man, if you have any confidence in my opinion, and a real Stoic, though he himself denies it. Ye Gods, what strength and spirit one finds in him! This is not the case with all philosophers; there are some men of illustrious name whose writings are sapless. They lay down rules, they argue, and they quibble; they do not infuse spirit simply because they have no spirit. But when you come to read Sextius, you will sayce Tie is*alives “he “is ‘strong; ne is ‘iree’; he is more than a man; he fills me with a mighty confidence before I close his book.” I shall acknow- ledge to you the state of mind I am in when I read his works: I want to challenge every hazard; I want to cry: “Why keep me waiting, Fortune? Enter the lists! Behold, I am ready for you!” I assume the spirit of a man who seeks where he may make trial of himself, where he may show his worth :

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Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis Optat aprum aut fulvum descendere monte leonem.

5 Libet aliquid habere quod vincam, cuius patientia exercear. Nam hoc quoque egregium Sextius habet, quod et ostendet tibi beatae vitae magnitudinem et desperationem eius non faciet; scies esse illam in excelso, sed volenti penetrabilem.

6 Hoc idem virtus tibi ipsa praestabit, ut illam admireris et tamen speres. Mihi certe multum auferre temporis solet contemplatio ipsa sapientiae ; non aliter illam intueor obstupefactus quam ipsum interim mundum, quem saepe tamquam spectator

7 novus video. Veneror itaque inventa sapientiae inventoresque ; adire tamquam multorum hereditatem iuvat. Mihi ista adquisita, mihi laborata sunt. Sed agamus bonum patrem familiae; faciamus ampliora, quae accepimus. Maior ista hereditas a me ad posteros transeat. Multum adhuc restat operis multumque restabit, nec ulli nato post mille saecula

8 praecludetur occasio aliquid adhuc adiciendi. Sed etiam si omnia a veteribus inventa sunt, hoc semper novum erit,! usus et inventorum ab aliis scientia ac dispositio. Puta relicta nobis medicamenta, quibus sanarentur oculi; non opus est mihi alia quaerere,

1 erit the other MSS. ; ille erit L, for which Haase pro- poses ili. AR Vergil, Aeneid, iv. 158f. The boy Ascanius, at Dido’s hunt, longs for wilder game than the deer and the goats. 4.4.0

EPISTLE LXIV.

And fretting ’mid the unwarlike flocks he prays Some foam-flecked boar may cross his path, or else A tawny lion stalking down the hills.¢

I want something to overcome, something on which I may test my endurance. For this is another remarkable quality that Sextius possesses: he will show you the grandeur of the happy life and yet will not make you despair of attaining it; you will understand that it is on high, but that it is accessible to him who has the will to seek it.

And virtue herself will have the same effect upon you, of making you admire her and yet hope to attain her. In my own case, at any rate, the very contemplation of wisdom takes much of my time; I gaze upon her with bewilderment, just as I some- times gaze upon the firmament itself, which I often behold as if I saw it for the first time. Hence I worship the discoveries of wisdom and their dis- coverers ; to enter, as it were, into the inheritance of many predecessors is a delight. It was for me that they laid up this treasure; it was for me that they toiled. But we should play the part of a careful householder; we should increase what we have inherited. This inheritance shall pass from me to my descendants larger than before. Much still remains to do, and much will always remain, and he who shall be born a thousand ages hence will not be barred from his opportunity of adding something further. But even if the old masters have discovered everything, one thing will be always new,—the application and the scientific study and classification of the discoveries made by others. Assume that prescriptions have been handed down to us for the healing of the eyes; there is no need of my searching for others in addition; but

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sed haec tamen morbis et temporibus aptanda sunt. Hoc asperitas oculorum conlevatur ; hoc palpebrarum crassitudo tenuatur; hoc vis subita et umor! avertitur ; hoc acuetur visus ; teras ista oportet et eligas tempus, adhibeas singulis modum.

Animi remedia inventa sunt ab antiquis ; quomodo autem admoveantur aut quando, nostri operis est quaerere. Multum egerunt, qui ante nos fuerunt, sed non peregerunt. Suspiciendi tamen sunt et ritu deorum colendi. Quidni ego magnorum virorum et imagines habeam incitamenta animi et natales celebrem? Quidni ego illos honoris causa semper appellem? Quam venerationem praeceptoribus meis debeo, eandem illis praeceptoribus generis humani, a quibus tanti boni initia fluxerunt. Si consulem videro aut praetorem, omnia, quibus honor haberi honori solet, faciam ; equo desiliam, caput adaperiam, semita cedam. Quid ergo? Marcum Catonem utrumque et Laelium Sapientem et Socraten cum Platone et Zenonem Cleanthenque in animum meum sine dignatione summa recipiam? Ego vero illos

veneror et tantis nominibus semper adsurgo. VALE.

1 subita et umor LVPb; subite timor p; subita et timor Cornelissen.

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for all that, these prescriptions must be adapted to the particular disease and to the particular stage of the disease. Use this prescription to relieve granu- lation of the eyelids, that to reduce the swelling of the lids, this to prevent sudden pain or a rush of tears, that to sharpen the vision. Then compound these several prescriptions, watch for the right time of their application, and apply the proper treatment in each case.

The cures for the spirit also have been discovered by the ancients; but it is our task to learn the method and the time of treatment. Our pre- decessors have worked much improvement, but have not worked out the problem. They deserve respect, however, and should be worshipped with a divine ritual. Why should I not keep statues of great men to kindle my enthusiasm, and celebrate their birth- days? Why should I not continually greet them with respect and honour? The reverence which [ owe to my own teachers I owe in like measure to those teachers of the human race, the source from which the beginnings of such great blessings have flowed. If I meet a consul or a praetor, I shall pay him all the honour which his post of honour is wont to receive: I shall dismount, uncover, and yield the road, What, then? Shall I admit into my soul with less than the highest marks of respect Marcus Cato, the Elder and the Younger, Laelius the Wise, Socrates and Plato, Zeno and Cleanthes? I worship them in very truth, and always rise to do hunour to such noble names. Farewell.

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LXV. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Hesternum diem divisi cum mala valetudine; antemeridianum illa sibi vindicavit, postmeridiano mihi cessit. Itaque lectione primum temptavi animum. Deinde cum hanc recepisset, plus _illi imperare ausus sum, immo permittere ; aliquid scripsi et quidem intentius quam soleo, dum cum materia difficili contendo et vinci nolo, donec intervenerunt amici, qui mihi vim adferrent et tamquam aegrum

2intemperantem coercerent. In locum stili sermo successit, ex quo eam partem ad te perferam, quae in lite est. Te arbitrum addiximus. Plus negotii habes quam existimas ; triplex causa est.

Dicunt, ut scis, Stoici nostri duo esse in rerum natura, ex quibus omnia fiant, causam et materiam. Materia iacet iners, res ad omnia parata, cessatura, si nemo moveat. Causa autem, id est ratio, materiam format et quocumque vult versat, ex illa varia opera producit. Esse ergo debet, unde fiat aliquid, deinde a quo fiat. Hoc causa est, illud materia.

3 Omnis ars naturae imitatio est. Itaque quod de universo dicebam, ad haec transfer, quae ab homine

« For Seneca’s troubles in this regard see also L’pp. liv. and civ.

» The arbiter was a judge appointed to try a case accord- ing to bona fides (equity), as contrasted with the iwdex proper, whose duty was defined by the magistrate.

¢ See Zeller’s Stoics (translated by Reichel), pp. 139 ff.

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EPISTLE LXV.

LXV. ON THE FIRST CAUSE

I shared my time yesterday with ill health®; it claimed for itself all the period before noon; in the afternoon, however, it yielded to me. And so I first tested my spirit by reading; then, when reading was found to be possible, I dared to make more demands upon the spirit, or perhaps I should say, to make more concessions to it. I wrote a little, and indeed with more concentration than usual, for I am struggling with a difficult subject and do not wish to be downed. Inthe midst of this, some friends visited me, with the purpose of employing force and of restraining me, as if I were a sick man indulging in some excess. So conversation was substituted for writing ; and from this conversation I shall communi- cate to you the topic which is still the subject of debate; for we have appointed you referee.2 You have more of a task on your hands than you suppose, for the argument is threefold.

Our Stoic philosophers, as you know, declare that there are two things in the universe which are the source of everything,—namely, cause and matter.° Matter lies sluggish, a substance ready for any use, but sure to remain unemployed if no one sets it in motion. Cause, however, by which we mean reason, moulds matter and turns it in whatever direction it will, producing thereby various concrete results. Accordingly, there must be, in the case of each thing, that from which it is made, and, next, an agent by which it is made. The former is its material, the latter its cause.

All art is but imitation of nature; therefore, let me apply these statements of general principles to

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facienda sunt. Statua et materiam habuit, quae pateretur artificem, et artificem, qui materiae daret faciem. Ergo in statua materia aes fuit, causa opifex Eadem condicio rerum omnium est; ex eo constant, 4 quod fit, et ex eo, quod facit. Stoicis placet unam causam esse, id, quod facit. Aristoteles putat causam tribus modis dici: ‘ Prima,” inquit, “causa est ipsa materia, sine qua nihil potest effici; secunda opifex. Tertia est forma, quae unicuique operi inponitur tamquam statuae”’; nam hanc Aristoteles idos vocat. “ Quarta quoque,” inquit, “his accedit, propositum 5 totius operis.”” Quid sit hoc, aperiam. Aes prima statuae causa est. Numquam enim facta esset, nisi fuisset id, ex quo funderetur ducereturve. Secunda causa artifex est. Non potuisset enim aes illud in habitum statuae figurari, nisi accessissent peritae manus. Tertia causa est forma. Neque enim statua ista doryphoros aut diadumenos vocaretur, nisi haec illi esset inpressa facies. Quarta causa est faciendi propositum. Nam nisi hoc fuisset, facta non esset. 6 Quid! est propositum? Quod invitavit artificem, quod ille secutus fecit; vel pecunia est haec, si venditurus fabricavit, vel gloria, si laboravit in nomen, vel religio, si donum templo paravit. Ergo et haec 1 guid the later MSS.; quod pLVPb.

¢ The statue figure is a frequent one in philosophy ; cf. Ep. ix. 5. The ‘form” of Aristotle goes back to the ‘‘idea” of Plato. These four causes are the causes of Aristotle,—matter (t\7), form (eldos), force (7d xivodv), and the end (7d 7éA\os); when they all concur, we pass from possibility to fact. Aristotle gives eight categories in Phys. 225 b 5; and ten in Categ. 1 b 25,—substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, situation, possession, action, passion. Fora definition of eldos see Aristotle, Phys. 190 b 20 ylyverac way &x Te Tod Uroxemévov Kal ris popPpjs (1.6. Too

elSous). > Well-known works of Polyclitus, fifth century B.c.

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EPISTLE LXV.

the things which have to be made by man. Astatue, for example, has afforded matter which was to undergo treatment at the hands of the artist, and has had an artist who was to give form to the matter. Hence, in the case of the statue, the material was bronze, the cause was the workman. And so it goes with all things,—they consist of that which is made, and of the maker. The Stoics believe in one cause only,— the maker; but Aristotle thinks that the word “eause’’ can be used in three ways: “ The first cause, he says, “is the actual matter, without which nothing can be created. Thesecond is the workman. The third is the form, which is impressed upon every work,—a statue, for example.” This last is what Aristotle calls the zdos.t ‘There is, too,” says he, “a fourth,—the purpose of the work as a whole.” Now I shall show you what this last means. Bronze is the “ first cause”’ of the statue, for it could never have been made unless there had been something from which it could be cast and moulded. The “second cause’”’ is the artist; for without the skilled hands of a workman that bronze could not have been shaped to the outlines of the statue. The “third cause” is the form, inasmuch as our statue could never be called The Lance-Bearer or The Boy Binding his Hair,? had not this special shape been stamped upon it. The “fourth cause”’ is the purpose of the work. For if this purpose had not existed, the statue would not have been made. Now what is this purpose? It is that which attracted the artist, which he followed when he made the statue. It may have been money, if he has made it for sale; or renown, if he has worked for reputation ; or religion, if he has wrought it as a gift for a temple. Therefore this also is a cause contributing towards the making of the statue ;

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causa est, propter quam fit; an non putas inter causas facti operis esse numerandum, quo remoto factum non esset ?

7 His quintam Plato adicit exemplar, quam ipse idean vocat; hoc est enim, ad quod respiciens artifex id, quod destinabat, effecit. Nihil autem ad rem pertinet, utrum foris habeat exemplar, ad quod referat oculos, an intus, quod ibi ipse concepit et posuit. Haec exemplaria rerum omnium deus intra se habet numerosque universorum, quae agenda sunt, et modos mente conplexus est; plenus his figuris est, quas Plato ideas appellat, inmortales, inmutabiles, infatigabiles. Itaque homines quidem pereunt, ipsa autem humanitas, ad quam homo effingitur, permanet, et hominibus laborantibus, intereuntibus illa nihil

8 patitur. Quinque ergo causae sunt, ut Plato dicit: id ex quo, id a quo, id in quo, id ad quod, id propter quod. Novissime id quod ex his est. Tamquam in statua, quia de hac loqui coepimus, id ex quo aes est, id a quo artifex est, id in quo forma est, quae aptatur illi, id ad quod exemplar est, quod imitatur is, qui facit, id propter quod facientis propositum est, id

g quod ex istis est, ipsa statua est. Haec omnia mundus quoque, ut ait Plato, habet: facientem: hic deus est. Ex quo fit: haec materia est. Formam: haec est habitus et ordo mundi, quem videmus. Exemplar, scilicet, ad quod deus hane magnitudinem

¢ Explaining the derivation of the Greek word, — léetv, ‘“*to behold.” For a discussion of Plato’s ‘‘ideas,” those ‘*independent, separate, self-existing, perfect, and eternal essences ” (/tepublic vi. and vii.) see Adam, The Republic of Plato, ii. 168-179. According to Adam, Plato owes his theory of ideas to Socrates, the Eleatics, and the study of geometry ; but his debt is not so great as his discovery.

> i.e., the four categories as established by Aristotle, plus the ‘*idea”’ of Plato.

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or do you think that we should avoid including, among the causes of a thing which has been made, that element without which the thing in question would not have been made?

To these four Plato adds a fifth cause, —the pattern which he himself calls the “idea” ; for it is this that the artist gazed upon @ when he created the work which he had decided to carry out. Now it makes no difference whether he has his pattern outside himself, that he may direct his glance to it, or within himself, conceived and placed there by himself. God has within himself these patterns of all things, and his mind comprehends the harmonies and the measures of the whole totality of things which are to be carried out; he is filled with these shapes which Plato calls the “ ideas,’’—imperishable, unchangeable, not subject to decay. And therefore, though men die, humanity itself, or the idea of man, according to which man is moulded, lasts on, and though men toil and perish, it suffers no change. Accordingly, there are five causes, as Plato says?: the material, the agent, the make-up, the model, and the end in view. Last comes the result of all these. Just as in the case of the statue,—to go back to the figure with which we began,—the material is the bronze, the agent is the artist, the make-up is the form which is adapted to the material, the model is the pattern imitated by the agent, the end in view is the purpose in the maker’s mind, and, finally, the result of all these is the statue itself. The universe also, in Plato’s opinion, possesses all these elements. The agent is God; the source, matter; the form, the shape and the arrangement of the visible world. The pattern is doubtless the model according to which God has made this great and most beautiful

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10 operis pulcherrimi fecit. Propositum, propter quod fecit. Quaeris, quod sit propositum deo? Bonitas Ita certe Plato ait: “ Quae deo faciendi mundum fuit causa? Bonus est; bono nulla cuiusquam boni invidia est. Fecit itaque quam optimum potuit.”” Fer ergo, iudex, sententiam et pronuntia, quis tibi videatur verissimum dicere, non quis verissimum dicat. Id enim tam supra nos est quam ipsa veritas.

11 Haec, quae ab Aristotele et Platone ponitur, turba causarum aut nimium multa aut nimium_ pauca conprendit. Nam si, quocumque remoto quid effici non potest, id causam iudicant esse faciendi, pauca dixerunt. Ponant inter causas tempus ; nihil sine tempore potest fieri. Ponant locum; si non fuerit, ubi fiat aliquid, ne fiet quidem. Ponant motum; nihil sine hoc nec fit nec perit. Nulla sine motu ars,

12 nulla mutatio est. Sed nos nunc primam et gene- ralem quaerimus causam. MHaec simplex esse debet ; nam et materia simplex est. Quaerimus, quid sit causa? Ratio scilicet faciens, id est deus.! Ista enim, quaecumque rettulistis, non sunt multae et singulae causae, sed ex una pendent, ex ea, quae

13 faciet. Formam dicis causam esse? MHanc inponit artifex operi; pars causae est, non causa. Exemplar quoque non est causa, sed instrumentum causae necessarium. Sic necessarium est exemplar artifici,

1 id est deus was regarded as a gloss by Schweighdauser.

@ The Stoic view (see § 2 of this letter), besides making the four categories of ‘*‘ substance,” ‘* form,” ‘‘ variety,” and ‘‘ variety of relation,” regarded material things as the only things which possessed being. The Stoics tlius differ from Aristotle and Plato in holding that nothing is real except matter; besides, they relate everything to one ultimate cause, the acting force or efficient cause.

> t.e., the Adyos omepuarixés, the creative force in nature, that is, Providence, or the will of Zeus.

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EPISTLE LXV.

creation. The purpose is his object in sodoing. Do you ask what God’s purpose is? It is goodness. Plato, at any rate, says: “ What was God’s reason for creating the world? God is good, and no good person is grudging of anything that is good. There- fore, God made it the best world possible.’”’ Hand down your opinion, then, O judge; state who seems to you to say what is truest, and not who says what is absolutely true. For to do that is as far beyond our ken as truth itself.

This throng of causes, defined by Aristotle and by Plato, embraces either too much or too little.* For if they regard as “causes”’ of an object that is to be made everything without which the object cannot be made, they have named too few. Time must be included among the causes; for nothing can be made without time. They must also include place; for if there be no place where a thing can be made, it will not be made. And motion too; nothing is either made or destroyed without motion. There is no art without motion, no change of any kind. Now, how- ever, I am searching for the first, the general cause ; this must be simple, inasmuch as matter, too, is simple. Do we ask what cause is? It is surely Creative Reason,2-—in other words, God. For those elements to which you referred are not a great series of independent causes; they all hinge on one alone, and that will be the creative cause. Do you maintain that form is a cause? This is only what the artist stamps upon his work ; it is part of a cause, but not the cause. Neither is the pattern a cause, but an indispensable tool of the cause. His pattern is as

451

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

quomodo scalprum, quomody lima; sine his pro-

cedere ars non potest. Non tamen hae partes artis

14 aut causae sunt. “ Propositum,” inquit, “ artificis,

propter quod ad faciendum aliquid accedit, causa est.” Ut sit causa, non est efficiens causa, sed superveniens. Hae autem innumerabiles sunt; nos de causa generali quaerimus. [llud vero non pro solita ipsis subtilitate dixerunt, totum mundum et consummatum opus causam esse. Multum enim interest inter opus et causam operis.

Aut fer sententiam aut, quod facilius in eiusmodi rebus est, nega tibi liquere et nos reverti iube. “ Quid te,” inquis, “ delectat tempus inter ista con- terere, quae tibi nullum affectum eripiunt, nullam cupiditatem abigunt?’’ Ego quidem ut potiora! illa ago ac tracto, quibus pacatur animus, et me prius scrutor, deinde hunc mundum. Ne nunc quidem tempus, ut existimas, perdo. Ista enim omnia, si non concidantur nec in hanc subtilitatem inutilem distra- hantur, attollunt et levant animum, qui gravi sarcina pressus explicari cupit et reverti ad illa, quorum fuit. Nam corpus hoc animi pondus ac poena est ; premente illo urgetur, in vinclis est, nisi accessit philosophia

et illum respirare rerum naturae spectaculo iussit et

1 ut potiora Hense ; peiora or priora MSS.

* 4.e., restate the question and hear the evidence again.

452

EPISTLE JV.XV.

indispensable to the artist as the chisel or the file; without these, art can make no progress. But for all that, these things are neither parts of the art, nor causes of it. ‘Then,’ perhaps you will say, “the purpose of the artist, that which leads him to under- take to create something, is the cause.” It may be a cause; it is not, however, the efficient cause, but only an accessory cause. But there are countless accessory causes; what we are discussing is the general cause. Now the statement of Plato and Aristotle is not in accord with their usual penetration, when they maintain that the whole universe, the perfectly wrought work, is a cause. For there is a great difference between a work and the cause of a work.

Either give your opinion, or, as is easier in cases of this kind, declare that the matter is not clear and call for another hearing.“ But you will reply: “ What pleasure do you get from wasting your time on these problems, which relieve you of none of your emotions, rout none of your desires?” So far as I am con- cerned, I treat and discuss them as matters which contribute greatly toward calming the spirit, and I search myself first, and then the world about me. And not even now am I, as you think, wasting my time. For all these questions, provided that they be not chopped up and torn apart into such unprofitable refinements, elevate and lighten the soul, which is weighted down by a heavy burden and desires to be freed and to return to the elements of which it was once a part. For this body of ours is a weight upon the soul and its penance; as the load presses down the soul is crushed and is in bondage, unless philosophy has come to its assistance and has bid it take fresh courage by contemplating the

453

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

a terrenis ad divina dimisit. Haec libertas eius est, haec evagatio; subducit interim se custodiae, in qua

17 tenetur, et caelo reficitur. Quemadmodum artifices ! alicuius rei subtilioris, quae intentione oculos de- fetigat, si malignum habent et precarium? lumen, in publicum prodeunt et in aliqua regione ad populi otium dedicata oculos libera luce delectant ; sic animus in hoc tristi et obscuro domicilio clusus, quotiens potest, apertum petit et in rerum naturae contemplatione requiescit.

18 Sapiens adsectatorque sapientiae adhaeret quidem in corpore suo, sed optima sui parte abest et cogi- tationes suas ad sublimia intendit. Velut sacramento rogatus hoc, quod vivit, stipendium putat. Et ita formatus est, ut illi nee amor vitae nec odium sit, patiturque mortalia, quamvis sciat ampliora superesse.

19 Interdicis mihi inspectione rerum naturae, a toto abductum redigis in partem? Ego non quaeram, quae sint initia universorum? Quis rerum formator? Quis omnia in uno mersa et materia inerti convoluta discreverit? Non quaeram, quis sit istius artifex mundi? Qua ratione tanta magnitudo in legem et ordinem venerit? Quis sparsa collegerit, confusa distinxerit, in una deformitate iacentibus faciem diviserit? Unde lux tanta fundatur? Ignis sit, an

1 ex after artifices deleted by Haase.

2 precarium O and a MS. of Opsopoeus ; praeclarium or praeclarum pV LPb.

@ According to the Stoics the soul, which consisted of fire or breath and was a part of the divine essence, rose at death into the ether and became one with the stars. Seneca elsewhere (Consolatio ad Marciam) states that the soul went through a sort of purifying process,—a view which may have had some influence on Christian thought. The souls of the good, the Stoics maintained, were destined to last until the end of the world, the souls of the bad to be extinguished before that time.

454

EPISTLE LXV.

universe, and has turned it from things earthly to things divine. There it has its liberty, there it can roam abroad”; meantime it escapes the custody in which it is bound, and renews its life in heaven. Just as skilled workmen, who have been engaged upon some delicate piece of work which wearies their eyes with straining, if the light which they have is niggardly or uncertain, go forth into the open air and in some park devoted to the people’s recrea- tion delight their eyes in the generous light of day ; so the soul, imprisoned as it has been in this gloomy and darkened house, seeks the open sky whenever it can, and in the contemplation of the universe finds rest.

The wise man, the seeker after wisdom, is bound closely, indeed, to his body, but he is an absentee so far as his better self is concerned, and he concentrates his thoughts upon lofty things. Bound, so to speak, to his oath of allegiance, he regards the period of life as his term of service. He is so trained that he neither loves nor hates life; he endures a mortal lot, although he knows that an ampler lot is in store for him. Do you forbid me to contemplate the universe ? Do you compel me to withdraw from the whole and restrict me to a part? May I not ask what are the beginnings of all things, who moulded the universe, who took the confused and conglomerate mass of sluggish matter, and separated it into its parts? May I not inquire who is the Master-Builder of this universe, how the mighty bulk was brought under the control of law and order, who gathered together the scattered atoms, who separated the disordered elements and assigned an outward form to elements that lay in one vast shapelessness? Or whence came all the expanse of light? And whether is it fire, or

455

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

20 aliquid igne lucidius? Ego ista nonquaeram? Ego nesciam, unde descenderim? Semel haec mihi videnda sint, an saepe nascendum? Quo hinc iturus sim? Quae sedes exspectet animam solutam legibus servitutis humanae? Vetas me caelo interesse, id

91 est iubes me vivere capite demisso? Maior sum et ad maiora genitus, quam ut mancipium sim mei corporis, quod equidem non aliter aspicio quam vinclum aliquod libertati meae circumdatum. Hoe itaque oppono fortunae, in quo resistat, nec per illud ad me ullum transire vulnus sino. Quicquid in me potest iniuriam pati, hoc est. In hoc obnoxio domi-

22 cilio animus liber habitat. Numquam me caro ista conpellet ad metum, numquam ad indignam bono simulationem ; numquam in honorem huius corpus- culi mentiar. Cum visum erit, distraham cum illo societatem. Et nunc tamen, dum haeremus, non erimus aequis partibus socii; animus ad se omne ius ducet. Contemptus corporis sui certa libertas est.

23 Utad propositum revertar, huic libertati multum conferet et illa, de qua modo loquebamur, inspectio. Nempe universa ex materia et ex deo constant. Deus ista temperat, quae circumfusa rectorem secuntur et ducem. Potentius autem est ac pretiosius, quod facit,

24 quod est deus, quam materia patiens dei. Quem in

¢ The sequence of elements from the earth outwards and upwards was earth, water, air, and fire. The upper fire was ether. Zeno (quoted by Cicero, Acad. i. 11. 39) refused to acknowledge a fifth essence: statwebat enim ignem esse ipsam naturam, quae quaeque gigneret, et mentem et sensus.

> The ‘‘ prison of the body ” is a frequent figure in Stoic as in all philosophy. See, for example, § 16 of this letter, “the soul in bondage.”

¢ A restatement of the previous remark made in this letter ; see note on § 11.

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EPISTLE LXV.

something even brighter than fire?* Am I not to ask these questions? Must I be ignorant of the heights whence I have descended? Whether I am to see this world but once, or to be born many times? What is my destination afterwards? What abode awaits my soul on its release from the laws of slavery among men? Do you forbid me to have a share in heaven? In other words, do you bid me live with my head bowed down? No, I am above such an existence; I was born to a greater destiny than to be a mere chattel of my body, and I regard this body as nothing but a chain® which manacles my freedom. There- fore, I offer it as a sort of buffer to fortune, and shall allow no wound to penetrate through to my soul. For my body is the only part of me which can suffer injury. In this dwelling, which is exposed to peril, my soul lives free. Never shall this flesh drive me to feel fear, or to assume any pretence that is unworthy of a good man. Never shall [ lie in order to honour this petty body. When it seems proper, I shall sever my connexion with it. And at present, while we are bound together, our alliance shall nevertheless not be one of equality; the soul shall bring all quarrels before its own tribunal. To despise our bodies is sure freedom.

To return to our subject; this freedom will be greatly helped by the contemplation of which we were just speaking. All things are made up of matter and of God’; God controls matter, which encompasses him and follows him as its guide and leader. And that which creates, in other words, God, is more powerful and precious than matter, which is acted upon by God. God’s place in the

457

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

hoc mundo locum deus obtinet, hune in homine animus. Quod est illic materia, id in nobis corpus est ; serviant ergo deteriora melioribus. Fortes simus adversus fortuita. Non contremescamus iniurias, non vulnera, non vincula, non egestatem. Mors quid est? Aut finis aut transitus. Nec desinere timeo, idem est enim, quod non coepisse, nec transire, quia nusquam tam anguste ero. Vatk.

453

EPISTLE LXV.

universe corresponds to the soul’s relation to man. World-matter corresponds to our mortal body ; there- fore let the lower serve the higher. Let us be brave in the face of hazards. Let us not fear wrongs, or wounds, or bonds, or poverty. And what is death? It is either the end, or a process of change. I have no fear of ceasing to exist; it is the same as not having begun. Nor do I shrink from changing into another state, because I shall, under no conditions, be as cramped as I am now. Farewell.

459

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

Acapemic School of Philo- sophy, its lofty ideals, bora bein 6

L. Accius (Roman poet, 2nd century B.c.), lvili. 5

Acheron (the lake), lv. 6

Aelius Sejanus (prime minis- ter of Tiberius), dangers of acquaintance with, lv. 3

Aetna, celebrated by poets, li, al

Alexander the Great (356- 323 B.c.), sayings of, liii. 10; ix: 12

Aristo (of Chios, Stoic philo- sopher, 3rd century B.c.), saying of, xxxvi. 3

Aristo (philosopher, identity unknown), anecdotes of,

xxix. 6

Aristotle (384-322 z.c.), debt to Socrates, vi. 6; on genus and species, Ivili. 9; on cause, form, matter, etc., Ixv. 4

Asinius Gallus(sonof Asinius Pollio), dangers of friend- ship with, lv. 3

Athenodorus (of Tarsus, librarian at Pergamus, friend of Cato), on frank- ness toward the gods, x. 5

Athens, visited by wise meu from the East, lviii. 31

Attalus (Stoic philosopher, teacher of Seneca), on friendship, ix. 7; on the memory of lost friends, Ixiii. 5

T. Pomponius Atticus, made immortal by Cicero’s correspondence, xxi. 4

Baza and Isio, futility of, xvii 9

Baiae, luxuries of, li. 1 ff., lv. passim, lvii. 1

Aufidius Bassus (perhaps the historian whose work the Elder Pliny continued, see Plin. Hp. iii. 5. 6), illness ofc. SE,

C. Jutrus Cagsar, hostility tO. ALO. pki, to 0. ako, 8; villas of, li. 11

Gaius Caesar (Caligula), slain by Chaerea, iv. 7

Callistus (a favourite of the Emperor Claudius), dis- dains his former master, xlvii. 9

Campania, thoughts inspired

461

INDEX

by the sight of, xlix) 2; its effect upon Hannibal, li. 5; home-sickness for, ives

Candavian desert, xxxi. 9

Canopus, vices of, li. 3

M. orcius Cato (the Censor), effect of the mob upon, vii. 6; model for good conduct, xi. 10, xxv. 6

M. Cato (the younger), his glory, xiii. 14; bravery, xiv. 12 ff. ; last moments, xxiv. 6ff.; scorn of loose living, li. 12; as species, Ilviii. 12; deserving of honour, lxiv. 10

Cerberus, false ideas con- cerning, xxiv. 18 ff.

Chaerea, Cassius, murderer of Caligula, iv. 7

Charinus, archon at Athens, Xvill. 9

Chrysippus (successor of Cleanthes as head of the Stoic school), saying of, ix. 14; advice of, xxii. 11, XXxXlli, 4

Chrysippus (unknown), victim of greetings, lvi. 3

Cicero, his tribute to philo- sophy, xvii. 2; confers immortality upon Atticus, xxi. 4; his deliberate speech, xl. 11 ; his opinion of the lyric poets, xlix. 5; on the use of essentia, lviii. 6; as species, lviii. 12

Cleanthes (successor of Zeno as head of the Stoic school), disciple of Zeno, vi. 6; dicta of, xxxiii. 4 ff. ; his humble station, xliv. 3;

462

object of veneration, Ixiv. 10

M. Licinius Crassus (the triumvir), death of, iv. 7

Crates (of Thebes, Cynic philosopher c. 300 B.c.), his advice to a young man, > ed |

Croesus, captivity of, xlvii. 12

Cumae, lv. 2

Cynic School of Philosophy, its high standards, xxix. il; free speech, =xps, 1

Darius, the mother of, in captivity, xlvii. 12

Demetrius Poliorcetes (ac- quired control of Athens 307 B.c.), conversation of, ix, 18 f.

Demetrius (of Sunium), con- sistent simplicity of, xx. 9; companion of Seneca, ixiie3

Democritus (Greek atomic philosopher, 5th and 4th centuries B.c.), on the im- portance of the individual, vii. 10 ‘

Dexter (the tribune who executed Lepidus), iv. 7 Diogenes(Cynic philosopher, 4th century B.c.), his free speech, xxix. 1; slavery,

xlvii. 12

Ecyprians, customs of bandits among the, li. 13 Q. Ennius (Roman poet,

239-169 B.c.), lviii. 5 Epicurean, the spirit of an, xlviii. 1

INDEX

Epicurus (founder of the school, 342-279 s.c.), his influence, vi. 6, xxi. 3; self-denial, xviii. 6 ff. ; addressed, xx. 11; confers glory, xxi. 3ff.; wide ap- plication of his sayings, Vili.) (8, foe ON) acxxiii. 2; arguments concerning mythology, xxiv. 18; bravery, xxxiii. 2; Lucilius’ style resembles his, xlvi. 1; quoted, ii. 5f., iv. 10, vii. Li: ville Fol “and 20, xi. 8, xii. 10, xiii. 16, xiv. ‘7, xve Spenvidiigexviiy 1, xviii. 14, xix. 10, xx. 9, xxi. 3ff., xxii. 6 and 14, xxili. 9, xxiv. 22 ff., xxv.

Sit) sexrxvirn 28, droexvins (19, xxviii. 9, xxix. 10, xxx. 14, lii. 3 f.

Euripides, quoted, xlix. 12

Parrrius Fasranus (an ad- viser and_ teacher of Seneca), his modesty, xi. 4; deliberate style, xl. 12; calmness of his audience,

lii. 11; authority for the use of the word essentia, lviii. 6

Felicio, pet slave of Seneca, son of Philositus, xii. 3 Flaccus (friend of Lucilius),

death of, Lxiii. 1 ff.

Germany, training of chil- dren in, xxxvi. 7

Julius Graecinus (man of noble character, slain by Caligula), witticism of, Xx1x. 6

VOL. I Q

Graian Alps, xxxi. 9

Greeks, He word oestrus used by, lviii. 2; proverbs and maxims of, xxxiii. 7; headlong style of, xl. 11; as species of man, lviii. 12; their idea of the poet, lviii. 17

HANNIBAL, weakened by Campanian luxuries, li. 5 f.

Harpaste, blindness of, 1. 2 f.

Q. Haterius (orator of the fay Empire), rapidity of, xl. 10

Hecato (a philosopher of Rhodes and pupil of Panaetius, c. 100 B.c.), on hope and fear, v. 7; on self-knowledge, vi. 7; on love, ix. 6

Hecuba (Queen of Troy), captivity of, xlvii. 12

Heraclitus (philosopher of Ephesus, c. 500 B.c.), say- ings of, xii. 7, lviii. 23

Hermarchus (successor of Epicucus as head of the school), close adherence to Epicurus, vi. 6; dicta of, xxxili. 4; a philosopher of the third grade, lii. 4

Herodotus (Greek historian, 5th century B.c.), remi- niscence of, vi. 5

Hesiod, reminiscence of, i. 5; misquoted by Sabinus. XXVii. 6

Homer, cailed the poet by the Greeks, lviii. 17; on the rapid and gentle styles, xl. 2; misquoted by Sabinus, XxVii. 6

463

INDEX

IpomENEUs (prominent in state affairs and a con- temporary of Epicurus), correspondence with Epi- curus, xxi. 3ff., xxii. 5

Ixion, torments of, in the lower world, xxiv. 18 ff.

Jupiter, amid the Stoic con- flagration, ix. 16; happi- ness of, xxv. 4; popularly called the father of Alex- ander, lix. 12

Juvenal, compared, xiv. 9 n.

C. Laetrus Sapiens (states- man and friend of Scipio the Younger), effect of the mob upon, vii. 6; a model for mankind, xxv. 6; worthy of honour, lxiv. 10

Latin Language, narrow limits of, lviii. passim

Aemilius Lepidus (favourite of Caligula, slain by him A.D. 39), iv. 7

Liternum (town on sea-coast of Campania, near Cumae), abode of Scipio in exile, li, 14

T. Livius (the historian, age of Augustus), comparison of his style with that of Lucilius, xlvi. 1

Lucilius, procurator in Sicily, KXxxiy) /Ok., 6 liv is iibyeeat Pompeii or Naples, xlix. 1; a Roman knight, xliv. 2 ff. ; interested in philosophy, passim, esp. xl. 2; author, xlvi. 1; poctry of, viii. 10,

464

xxiv. 21. See Introduction, joe ox:

Lucretius (Roman poet, Ist century B.c.), as species of man, lviii. 12

Maecenas, character of, xix. 9 f. ; quoted, ib.

M. Tullius Marcellinus (a friend of Seneca), faults of, xxix tts

C. Marius (rival of Sulla), the massacres of his epoch, xlvii. 10; villas of, li. 11

M. Valerius Messala Cor- vinus (statesman and man of letters, b. 59 B.c.) de- scribes Aetna, li. 1

Meta Sudans (see ad loc.), the haunt of noisy pedlars, lvi. 4

Q. Caecilius Metellus Numi- dicus (Roman general and statesman, retired into exile, 100 B.c.), conduct in exile, xxiv. 4

Metrodorus (follower of Epi- curus), vi. 6; xiv. 17; his simple life, xviii. 9; dicta, Xxxill. 4; a genius of the second grade, lii. 3

Mucius Scaevola (hero of Roman- Etruscan wars), puts his hand into the flames, xxiv. 5

NaPLes, memories of, xlix. 1; journey to, Ivii. 1

P. Ovidius Naso (Roman poet, age of Augustus), quoted, xxxiii. 4

Nesis (islet in the bay of Naples), liii. 1

INDEX

Nile, the distracting noise of its waters, lvi. 3

Niobe, restraint of, in her mourning, lxiii. 2

Pacuvius (a vice- governor of Syria under Tiberius), mock-funerals of, xii. 8

Panaetius (head of Stoic school, 2nd century B.c.), dicta assigned to, xxxiii. 4

Parthenope (another name for Naples), favourite place of Lucilius, liii. 1

Parthia, kings of, xvii. 11

Parthian, allusion to the de- feat and death of Crassus, 53 B.c., iv. 7; training of Parthian children, xxxvi. 7 ; as species of man, lviii. 12

Pennine Alps, xxxi. 9

Peripatetics, their dislike for the common herd, xxix. bls) referrediitonsimagest, ibid. 6

Persians, bravery of, xxxiii. 2

Phidias, the sculptor, ix. 5

Plato (Athenian philosopher, 428-347 B.c.), debt to Soc- rates, vi. 6; read by Cato, xxiv. 6; ennobled by philo- sophy, xliv. 3f.; captive, xlvii. 12; theory of ideas, Ixv. 7; worthy of honour, Ixiv. 10; on being, lviii. 1 and 5 saa te quoted, xliv. 4 and passim

Polyaenus (correspondent of Epicurus), influence of Epicurus upon, vi. 6, xviii. 9

Polyclitus (Greek sculptor,

5th century B.c.), works of, Ixv. 5

Pompeii, probable home of Lucilius, xlix. 1

Pompeius (the triumvir), his shyness, xi. 4; death, iv. 7; villas, li. 11; disagrees with Cato, xiv. 12f.

Pomponius (possibly Pom- ponius Secundus, a con- temporary of Seneca, writer of tragedies and letters), iii. 6

Porsenna (Etruscan king), encounter with Mucius, xxiv. 5

Posidonius (Stoic philo- sopher, pupil of Panaetius and friend of Cicero), dicta assigned to, xxxili. 4

Prometheus, title of a work of Maecenas, xix. 9

Publilius Syrus (writer of farces and mimes, Ist century B.c.), greatness of, viii. 8 f.

Puteoli(near Naples), voyage of Seneca to, liii. 1

Pythagoras (Greek philo- sopher, 6th century B.c.), rules of, lii. 10

Pythocles, a friend of Ido- meneus, xxi. 7 f.

Roman style, dignity and slowness of, xl. 113 Romans as species of man, lviii. 12

Rome, complicated life in, Lis

P. Rutilius Rufus (orator and statesman, banished 92 B.c.), exile of, xxiv. 4

465

INDEX

Carvistus Sapinus (a typical arvenu), his illiteracy and faa taste, xxvii. 5 ff.

Sallust, compared, xx. 5; quoted, Ix. 4

Satellius Quadratus, ridi- cules Sabinus, xxvii. 7 ff.

Saturnalia, description of the, xviii. 1

Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus (prominent but unscrupu- lous statesman in the reign of Tiberius), witticism of, xxix. 6

P. Cornelius Scipio (Afri- canus Major), a model for mankind, xxv. 6; his exile at Liternum, li. 11

Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio (father-in-law of Pompey), heroism of, xxiv. 9 ff.

L. Annacus Seneca, see In- troduction

Serapio (unknown), — dis- ordered utterances of, xl. 2

Annaeus Serenus (friend and possibly relative of Seneca; praefectus vigilum at Rome), loss of, lxiii. 14 f.

Q. Sextius (the Elder), in- spiring writings of, lxiv. 2 ff. ; a simile of, lix. 7

Sicily, Scylla, and Charybdis, dangers of, xiv. 8, xxxi. 9, xlvi-2

Sisyphus, punishedin Hades, xxiv. 18 ff.

Socrates, inspiring person- ality of, vi. 6; effect of the mob upon, vii. 6; glory of, xiii. 14; his resignation, xxiv. 4; on globe-trotting,

466

xxviii. 2; facing the Thirty Tyrants, xxviii. 8; humble birth, xliv. 3; worthy of reverence, Ixiv. 10

Sotion (the Pythagorean), recollections of, xlix. 2

Stilbo (Megarian philosopher and a strong influence on the Cynic and Stoic schools, fl. 4th century B.c.), attacked by Epicurus, ix. 1 ff. ; teacher of Crates, x. 1; quoted, ix. 18

Stoics (passim), agreement with Stilbo, ix. 19; bold- ness of their style, xiii. 4; their caution, xxii. 7; wise advice of their leaders, xxil. 11; their lofty aims, xxix. 11; free ideas, xxxiii. 4; theory on the fate of the soul at death, lvii. 7; definitions of the primary genus, lviii. 13 ff. ; views on pleasure, lix. 1; on cause and matter, lxv. 2 and

assim

Sulla (dictator at Rome, Ist century B.c.), anger of, xi. 4; disobeyed by Rutilius, Xxiv. 4

Syria, governed by Pacuvius, xii. 8

Syrtes (quicksands), xxxi. 9

THEOPHRAS?Tus (successor of Aristotle as head of the Peripatetic School), views on friendship, iii. 2

Tiberius (Roman emperor, 14-37 a.p.), mentioned with other royal connex- ions of Atticus, xxi. 4

INDEX

Timon, dinners like those of, XVili. 7

UtyssEs, temptations of, xxxi. 2; victim of seasick- ness, liii. 4; remedy against Siren Songs, lvi. 15

C. Vaterus Rurus (Roman poet, b. 81 B.c.), describes Aetna, li. 1

P. Terentius Varro (sur- named Atacinus, Latin poet, 82-37 B.c.), quoted, vi. 6

Servilius Vatia (rich man of leisureintheearly Empire), country-house of, lv. 2 ff.

P. Vergilius Maro (Roman poet, 70-19 b.c.), immortal-

izes Nisus and Euryalus, xxi. 5; the artist’s con- ception of, lviii. 20; men- tioned in illustration of obsolete worus, lviii. 2 ff. ; quoted, xii. 9, xviii. 12, Sxl. 5; oxavinl. ob wand 3, KK, Li. AKXVEL. See: Xivilk, 24. xl de) lik. S. Leh. 12 lv 2 dr. ic. 17, lxiv. 4

P. Vinicius, ridiculed by Asellius and Varius for his stammering, xl. 9 f.

Zeno (founder of the Stoic school, jl. c. 300 B.c.), model for Cleanthes, vi. 6; advice of, xxii. 11: dicta of, xxxiii. 4 ff. ; object of veneration, lxiv. 10

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SENECA, Lucius Annaeus, born at Corduba (Cordova) c.s or 4 mee., of a noble and wealthy family, after an ailing childhood and youth at Rome in an aunt’s care, was a victim of life-long neurosis but became famous in rhetoric, philosophy, money-making, and imperial service. After some disgrace during Claudinis’ reign he became tutor and then, in a.p, GA, advising minister to Nero, some of whose worst misdeeds he did not prevent. In- volved (innocently?) in a conspiracy, he killed himself by order in a.v. 65. Wealthy, he preached indifference to wealth; evader of pain and death, he preached scorn of both; and there were other contrasts between practice and principle. Wicked himself he was not. Of his works we have 10 mis-called ‘Dialogi’, seven being philosophical — on providence, steadfastness, happy life, anger, leisure, calmness of mind, shortness of life; 3 other treatises (on money, benefits, and natural phenomena); 124 ‘Epistulae morales’ all addressed to one person; a skit on the official deification of Claudius ; and 9 rhetorical tragedies (not for acting) onancient Greek themes. Many ‘Epistulae’ and all his speeches are lost. Much of his thought is clever rather than deep, and his style is pointed rather than ample.

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SENECA

AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE MORALES

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY RICHARD M. GUMMERE, Ph.D.

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CONTENTS OF VOLUME II

LETTERS—

PAGK LXVI. ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF VIRTUE : : Z

LXVII. ON ILL-HEALTH AND ENDURANCE OF

SUFFERING ; : ; : 5 Go ees

LXVIII. ON WISDOM AND RETIREMENT ; : 44 LXIX. ON REST AND RESTLESSNESS . : ‘ a2 LXX. ON THE PROPER TIME TO SLIP THE CABLE 56 LXXI. ON THE SUPREME GOOD 5 ; : 72 LXXII. ON BUSINESS AS THE ENEMY OF PHILOSOPHY 96 LXXIII. ON PHILOSOPHERS AND KINGS ; . 104

LXXIV. ON VIRTUE AS A REFUGE FROM WORLDLY DISTRACTIONS . , ‘ ‘ PaO i ee LXXV. ON THE DISEASES OF THE SOUL : SO LXXVI. ON LEARNING WISDOM IN OLD AGE . Lo TAG LXXVII. ON TAKING ONE’S OWN LIFE . : kos LXXVIJI. ON THE HEALING POWER OF THE MIND. 180 LXXIX. ON THE REWARDS OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY 200 LXXX. ON WORLDLY DECEPTIONS : ‘ a meg ed LXXXI. ON BENEFITS : : F : oe 218 LXXXII. ON THE NATURAL FEAR OF DEATH . 2 240 LXXXIII. ON DRUNKENNESS ; : 5 ao LXXXIV. ON GATHERING IDEAS . : P7240:

CONTENTS

LXXXV. ON SOME VAIN SYLLOGISMS ., : : LXXXVI. ON SCIPIO’S VILLA : ; : : LXXXVII. SOME ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THE SIMPLE LIFE . ; ; : :

LXXXVIII. ON LIBERAL AND VOCATIONAL STUDIES. LXXXIX. ON THE PARTS OF PHILOSOPHY : . XC. ON THE PART PLAYED BY PHILOSOPHY IN

THE PROGRESS OF MAN... :

XCI. ON THE LESSON TO BE DRAWN FROM THE BURNING OF LYONS . ; ; :

XCII. ON THE HAPPY LIFE. ; é : APPENDIX : : ; : : INDEX OF PROPER NAMES , : : : :

Jab. ERiot LES OF SENECA

L. ANNAEI SENECAE AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE

LXVI.

Seneca LyvycI_io svo SALVTEM

1 Claranum, condiscipulum meum, vidi post multos annos. Non, puto, exspectas, ut adiciam senem, sed mehercules viridem animo ac vigentem et cum cor- pusculo suo conluctantem. Inique enim se natura gessit et talem animum male conlocavit ; aut fortasse voluit hoc ipsum nobis ostendere, posse ingenium fortissimum ac beatissimum sub qualibet cute latere. Vincit tamen omnia inpedimenta et ad cetera con-

2 temnenda a contemptu sui venit. Errare mihi visus est, qui dixit

gratior et pulchro veniens e! corpore virtus,

Non enim ullo honestamento eget ; ipsa magnum sui decus est et corpus suum consecrat. Aliter? certe Claranum nostrum coepi intueri; formosus mihi videtur et tam rectus corpore quam est animo. 3 Potest ex casa vir magnus exire, potest et ex deformi humilique corpusculo formosus animus ac magnus. Quosdam itaque mihi videtur in hoc tales natura

1 The Vergil MSS. give in. 2 consecrat aliter Haase ; consecraliter MSS.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

LAVI. ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF VIRTUE

I Have just seen my former school-mate Claranus for the first time in many years. You need not wait for me to add that he is an old man; but I assure you that I found him hale in spirit and sturdy, although he is wrestling with a frail and feeble body. For Nature acted unfairly when she gave him a poor domicile for so rare a soul; or perhaps it was because she wished to prove to us that an absolutely strong and happy mind can lie hidden under any exterior. Be that as it may, Claranus overcomes all these hindrances, and by despising his own body has arrived at a stage where he can despise other things also. The poet who sang

Worth shows more pleasing in a form that’s fair,”

is, in my opinion, mistaken. For virtue needs nothing to set it off; it is its own great glory, and it hallows the body in which it dwells. At any rate, I have begun to regard Claranus in a different light ; he seems to me handsome, and as well-set-up in body asin mind. A great man can spring from a hovel ; so can a beautiful and great soul from an ugly and insignificant body. For this reason Nature seems to

* Vergil, Aeneid, v. 314. VOL. 11 see? 8

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

generare, ut adprobet virtutem omni loco nasci. Si posset per se nudos edere animos, fecisset; nunc, quod amplius est, facit; quosdam enim edit cor- poribus inpeditos, sed nihilominus perrumpentes 4 obstantia. Claranus mihi videtur in exemplar editus, ut scire possemus non deformitate corporis foedari animum, sed pulchritudine animi corpus ornari. Quamvis autem paucissimos una fecerimus dies, tamen multi nobis sermones fuerunt, quos subinde 5 egeram et ad te permittam. Hoc primo die quaesi- tum est: quomodo possint paria! bona esse, si triplex eorum condicio est. Quaedam, ut nostris videtur, prima bona sunt, tamquam gaudium, pax, salus patriae ; quaedam secunda, in materia infelici expressa, tamquam tormentorum patientia et in morbo gravi temperantia. Illa bona derecto optabi- mus nobis, haec, si necesse erit. Sunt adhuc tertia, tamquam modestus incessus et conpositus ac probus 6 voltus et conveniens prudenti viro gestus. Quomodo ista inter se paria! esse possunt, cum alia optanda sint, alia aversanda? Si volumus ista distinguere, ad primum bonum revertamur et consideremus id quale sit: animus intuens vera, peritus fugiendorum ac

1 paria the later MSS. ; tria pVPb.

# Seneca is not speaking here of the three generic virtues (physical, ethical, logical), nor of the three kinds of goods (based on bodily advantage) which were classified by the Peripatetic school; he is only speaking of three sorts of circumstances under which the good can manifest itself. And in §§ 36 ff. he shows that he regards only the first two classes as real goods. See Zeller, Stoics, p. 230, n. 3.

EPISTLE LXVI.

me to breed certain men of this stamp with the idea of proving that virtue springs into birth in any place whatever. Had it been possible for her to produce souls by themselves and naked, she would have done so; as it is, Nature does a still greater thing, for she produces certain men who, though hampered in their bodies, none the less break through the obstruction. I think Claranus has been produced as a pattern, that we might be enabled to understand that the soul is not disfigured by the ugliness of the body, but rather the opposite, that the body is beautified by the comeliness of the soul.

Now, though Claranus and I have spent very few days together, we have nevertheless had many con- versations, which I will at once pour forth and pass on to you. ‘The first day we investigated this problem: how can goods be equal if they are of three kinds?* For certain of them, according to our philosophical tenets, are primary, such as joy, peace, and the welfare of one’s country. Others are of the second order, moulded in an unhappy material, such as the endurance of suffering, and self-control during severe illness. We shall pray outright for the goods of the first class; for the second class we shall pray only if the need shall arise. ‘There is still a third variety, as, for example, a modest gait, a calm and honest countenance, and a bearing that suits the man of wisdom. Now how can these things be equal when we compare them, if you grant that we ought to pray for the one and avoid the other? If we would make distinctions among them, we had better return to the First Good, and consider what its nature is: the soul that gazes upon truth, that is skilled in what should be sought and what should

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

petendorum, non ex opinione, sed ex natura pretia rebus inponens, toti se inserens mundo et in omnes eius actus contemplationem suam mittens, cogita- tionibus actionibusque intentus, ex aequo magnus ac vehemens, asperis blandisque pariter invictus, neutri se fortunae summittens, supra omnia quae contingunt acciduntque eminens, pulcherrimus, ordinatissimus cum decore tum! viribus, sanus ac siccus, inpertur- batus, intrepidus, quem nulla vis frangat, quem nec adtollant fortuita nee deprimant; talis animus virtus

Zest. Haec eius est facies, si sub unum veniat aspectum et semel tota se ostendat. Ceterum multae eius species sunt. Pro vitae varietate et pro actionibus explicantur ; nec minor fit aut maior ipsa. Decrescere enim summum bonum non potest nec virtuti ire retro licet; sed in alias atque alias quali- tates convertitur ad rerum, quas actura est, habitum

8 figurata. Quidquid attigit, in similitudinem sui adducit et tinguit; actiones, amicitias, interdum domos totas, quas intravit disposuitque, condecorat. Quidquid tractavit, id amabile, conspicuum, mirabile facit.

Itaque vis eius et magnitudo ultra non potest surgere, quando incrementum maximo non est. Nihil invenies rectius recto, non magis quam verius

9 vero, quam temperato temperatius. Omnis sine 1 tum Haase; cum MSS.

« Siccus (not in the sense of Ep. xviii. 4) here means “vigorous,” “healthy,” ‘‘dry”; i¢., free from dropsy, catarrh, etc.

> Of., from among many passages, Lp. Ixxi. 20 f. and xcii. 16 ff.

EPISTLE LXVI.

be avoided, establishing standards of value not according to opinion, but according to nature,—the soul that penetrates the whole world and directs its contemplating gaze upon all its phenomena, paying strict attention to thoughts and actions, equally great and forceful, superior alike to hardships and blandishments, yielding itself to neither extreme of fortune, rising above all blessings and tribulations, absolutely beautiful, perfectly equipped with grace as well as with strength, healthy and _ sinewy,? unruffled, undismayed, one which no violence can shatter, one which acts of chance can neither exalt nor depress,—a soul like this is virtue itself. There you have its outward appearance, if it should ever come under a single view and show itself once in all its completeness. But there are many aspects of it. They unfold themselves accord- ing as life varies and as actions differ; but virtue itself does not become less or greater. For the Supreme Good cannot diminish, nor may virtue retrograde; rather is it transformed, now into one quality and now into another, shaping itself accord- ing to the part which it is to play. Whatever it has touched it brings into likeness with itself, and dyes with its own colour. It adorns our actions, our friendships, and sometimes entire households which it has entered and set in order. Whatever it has handled it forthwith makes lovable, notable, admirable. ;

Therefore the power and the greatness of virtue cannot rise to greater heights, because increase is denied to that which is superlatively great. You will find nothing straighter than the straight, nothing truer than the truth, and nothing more temperate than that which is temperate. Every virtue is

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

modo ! est virtus ; modo certa mensura est. Constantia non habet, quo procedat, non magis quam fiducia aut veritas aut fides. Quid accedere perfecto potest ? Nihil, aut perfectum non erat, cui accessit. Ergo ne virtuti quidem, cui si quid adici potest, defuit. Honestum quoque nullam_ accessionem recipit ; honestum est enim propter ista, quae rettuli. Quid porro? Decorum et iustum et legitimum non eiusdem esse formae putas, certis terminis con- prensum? Crescere posse inperfectae rei signum est.

Bonum omne in easdem cadit leges; iuncta est privata et publica utilitas, tam mehercules quam inseparabile est laudandum petendumque. Ergo virtutes inter se pares sunt et opera virtutis et omnes homines, quibus illae contigere. Satorum vero animaliumque virtutes cum mortales sint, fragiles quoque caducaeque sunt et incertae. LExiliunt residuntque et ideo non eodem pretio aestimantur ; una inducitur humanis virtutibus regula. Una enim est ratio recta simplexque. Nihil est divino divinius, caelesti caelestius. Mortalia minuuntur, cadunt, deteruntur, crescunt, exhauriuntur, inplentur. Itaque illis in tam incerta sorte inaequalitas est; divinorum una natura est. Ratio autem nihil aliud est quam in corpus humanum pars divini spiritus

1 sine modo Capps; in modo MSS. and Hense.

@ j.¢., constancy, fidelity, etc.

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limitless ; for limits depend upon definite measure- ments. Constancy cannot advance further, any more than fidelity, or truthfulness, or loyalty. What can be added to that which is perfect? Nothing; otherwise that was not perfect to which something has been added. Nor can anything be added to virtue, either, for if anything can be added thereto, it must have contained a defect. Honour, also, permits of no addition; for it is honourable because of the very qualities which I have men- tioned. What then? Do you think that propriety, justice, lawfulness, do not also belong to the same type, and that they are kept within fixed limits? The ability to increase is proof that a thing is still imperfect.

The good, in every instance, is subject to these same laws. The advantage of the state and that of the individual are yoked together; indeed it is as impossible to separate them as to separate the commendable from the desirable. Therefore, virtues are mutually equal; and so are the works of virtue, and all men who are so fortunate as to possess these virtues. But, since the virtues of plants and of animals are perishable, they are also frail and fleeting and uncertain. ‘They spring up, and they sink down again, and for this reason they are not rated at the same value; but to human virtues only one rule applies. For right reason is single and of but one kind. Nothing is more divine than the divine, or more heavenly than the heavenly. Mortal things decay, fall, are worn out, grow up, are exhausted, and replenished. Hence, in their case, in view of the uncertainty of their lot, there is inequality; but of things divine the nature is one. Reason, however, is nothing else than a portion of the divine spirit set

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mersa. Si ratio divina est, nullum autem bonum sine ratione est, bonum omne divinum est. Nullum porro inter divina discrimen est; ergo nec inter bona. Paria itaque sunt et gaudium et fortis atque obstinata tormentorum perpessio; in utroque enim eadem est animi magnitudo, in altero remissa et

13 laeta, in altera pugnax et intenta. Quid? Tu non putas parem esse virtutem eius, qui fortiter hostium moenia expugnat, et eius, qui cbsidionem patientissime sustinet ? Magnus! Scipio, qui Numan- tiam cludit et conprimit cogitque invictas manus in exitium ipsas suum verti; magnus ille obsessorum animus, qui scit non esse clusum, cui mors aperta est, et in conplexu libertatis expirat. Aeque reliqua quoque inter se paria sunt, tranquillitas, simplicitas, liberalitas, constantia, aequanimitas, tolerantia. Omnibus enim istis una virtus subest, quae animum rectum et indeclinabilem praestat.

14 «Quid ergo? Nihil interest inter gaudium et dolorum inflexibilem patientiam?” Nihil, quantum ad ipsas virtutes; plurimum inter illa, in quibus virtus utraque ostenditur. In altero enim naturalis est animi remissio ac laxitas, in altero contra naturam dolor. Itaque media sunt haec, quae plurimum intervalli recipiunt; virtus in utroque par est.

15 Virtutem materia non mutat; nec peiorem facit dura

1 et magnus MSS. ; Haase deletes et.

@ Ratio (\éyos) is also defined as God, as Absolute Truth, Destiny, etc. The same idea is evident in the definition of sapientia (the object of philosophy) as rerum divinarum et humanarum . . . scientia (Cic. Off. ii. 2. 5, etc.), and nosse divina ect humana et horum causas, ete.

>’ A Spanish city, reduced and razed to the ground in 133 B.c. by Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Carthage.

° Cf. Ep. xxxi. 4 and footnote (Vol. I.).

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in a human body.*? If reason is divine, and the good in no case lacks reason, then the good in every case is divine. And furthermore, there is no distinction between things divine ; hence there is none between goods, either. Therefore it follows that joy and a brave unyielding endurance of torture are equal goods; for in both there is the same greatness of soul, relaxed and cheerful in the one case, in the other combative and braced for action. What? Do you not think that the virtue of him who bravely storms the enemy’s stronghold is equal to that of him who endures a siege with the utmost patience? Great is Scipio when he invests Numantia,? and constrains and compels the hands of an enemy, whom he could not conquer, to resort to their own destruction. Great also are the souls of the defenders—men who know that, as long as the path to death lies open, the blockade is not complete, men who breathe their last in the arms of liberty. In like manner, the other virtues are also equal as compared with one another: tranquillity, simplicity, generosity, con- stancy, equanimity, endurance. For underlying them all is a single virtue—that which renders the soul straight and unswerving.

“ What then,” you say; “is there no difference between joy and unyielding endurance of pain?” None at all, as regards the virtues themselves; very great, however, in the circumstances in which either of these two virtues is displayed. In the one case, there is a natural relaxation and loosening of the soul; in the other there is an unnatural pain. Hence these circumstances, between which a great distinc- tion can be drawn, belong to the category of in- different things,* but the virtue shown in each case is equal. Virtue is not changed by the matter with

— ~I

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ac difficilis, nee meliorem hilaris et laeta. Necesse est ergo par sit.) In utraque enim quod fit, aeque recte fit, aeque prudenter, aeque honeste. Ergo aequalia sunt bona, ultra quae? nec hic potest se melius in hoc gaudio gerere nec ille melius in illis cruciatibus. Duo autem, quibus nihil fieri melius potest, paria sunt. Nam si, quae extra virtutem posita sunt, aut minuere illam aut augere possunt, desinit unum bonum esse, quod honestum. Si hoc concesseris, omne honestum perit. Quare? Dicam: quia nihil honestum est, quod ab invito, quod coactum ° fit. Omne honestum voluntarium est. Admisce illi pigritiam, querellam, tergiversationem, metum ; quod habet in se optimum, perdidit, sibi placere. Non potest honestum esse, quod non est liberum ; nam quod timet, servit. Honestum omne securum est, tranquillum est; si recusat aliquid, si conplorat, si malum iudicat, perturbationem recepit et in magna discordia volutatur. Hine enim species recti vocat, illine suspicio mali retrahit. Itaque qui honeste aliquid facturus est, quicquid opponitur, id etiam si incommoduu: putat, malum non putet, velit, libens faciat. Omne honestum iniussum incoactumque est, sincerum et nulli malo mixtum.

Scio, quid mihi responderi hoc loco possit: “ hoc

1 nar sit Haase ; pars sit p ete.

2 ultra quae Haase ; litieraywe MSS. 8 coactum Haase; aco actum p; a coacto Vb; aco acto P.

a Of, Cicero, De Fin. ii. 14 f. Rackham translates as «‘ moral worth,”—a reminiscence of 76 kaNév.

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which it deals; if the matter is hard and stubborn, it does not make the virtue worse; if pleasant and joyous, it does not make it better. Therefore, virtue necessarily remains equal. For, in each case, what is done is done with equal uprightness, with equal wisdom, and with equal honour. Hence the states of goodness involved are equal, and it is impessible for a man to transcend these states of goodness by con- ducting himself better, either the one man in his Joy, or the other amid his suffering. And two goods, neither of which can possibly be better, are equal. For if things which are extrinsic to virtue can either diminish or increase virtue, then that which is honcur- able“ ceases to be the only good. If you grant this, honour has wholly perished. And why? Let me tell you: it is because no act is honourable that is done by an unwilling agent, that is compulsory. Every honourable act is voluntary. Alloy it with - reluctance, complaints, cowardice, or fear, and it loses its best characteristic—self-approval. That which is not free cannot be honourable; for fear means slavery. The honourable is wholly free from anxiety and is calm; if it ever objects, laments, or regards anything as an evil, it becomes subject to disturbance and begins to flounder about amid great confusion. For on one side the semblance of right calls to it, on the other the suspicion of evil drags it back. Therefore, when a man is about to do something honourable, he should not regard any obstacles as evils, even though he regard them as inconvenient, but he should will to do the deed, and do it willingly. For every honourable act is done without commands or compulsion; it is unalloyed

and contains no admixture of evil. I know what you may reply to me at this point: iS

20)

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nobis persuadere conaris, nihil interesse, utrum aliquis in gaudio sit an in eculeo iaceat ac tortorem suum lasset?”’ Poteram respondere: Epicurus quoque ait sapientem, si in Phalaridis tauro peruratur, exclama- turum: “dulce est et ad me nihil pertinet.” Quid miraris, si ego paria bona dico alterius in convivio iacentis,! alterius inter tormenta fortissime stantis, cum quod? incredibilius est dicat Epicurus, dulce esse torreri? Sed? hoc respondeo, plurimum inter- esse inter gaudium et dolorem ; si quaeratur electio, alterum petam, alterum vitabo. [llud secunduin naturam est, hoc contra. Quamdiu sic aestimantur, magno inter se dissident spatio; cum ad virtutem ventum est, utraque par est et quae per laeta procedit et quae per tristia. Nullum habet momentum vexatio et dolor et quicquid aliud incommodi est; virtute enim obruitur. Quemadmodum minuta lumina claritas solis obscurat, sic dolores, molestias, iniurias virtus magnitudine sua elidit atque opprimit et quocumque adfulsit, ibi quicquid sine illa apparet, extinguitur; nec magis ullam portionem habent incommoda, cum in virtutem inciderunt, quam in mari nimbus.

Hoe ut scias ita esse, ad omne pulchrum vir bonus sine ulla cunctatione procurret; stet illic licet carnifex, stet tortor atque ignis, perseverabit nec quid passurus, sed quid facturus sit, aspiciet, et se

1 alterius in convivio iacentis Arg. B, according to Oberlin, Not in the other MSS.

2 cum quod later MSS. ; quod cum or quocum MSS.

3 torreri sed Ludwig von Jan; terroris et MSS.

# One of the stock bits of heroism attributed to the ideal wiseman. C/. Epicurus (Frag. 601 Usener), Cicero, 7s. ii. T. 11, ete,

EPISTLE LXVLI.

« Are you trying to make us believe that it does not matter whether a man feels joy, or whether he lies upon the rack and tires out his torturer?’’ I might say in answer: “picurus also maintains that the wise man, though he is being burned in the bull of Phalaris,* will cry out: ‘’Tis pleasant, and con- cerns me not at all.’” Why need you wonder, if I maintain that he who reclines at a banquet and the victim who stoutly withstands torture possess equal goods, when Epicurus maintains a thing that is harder to believe, namely, that it is pleasant to be roasted in this way? But the reply which I do -- make, is that there is great difference between joy and pain; if I am asked to choose, I shall seek the former and avoid the latter. The former is according to nature, the latter contrary to it. So long as they are rated by this standard, there is a great gulf between; but when it comes to a ques- tion of the virtue involved, the virtue in each case is the same, whether it comes through joy or through sorrow. Vexation and pain and other inconveniences are of no consequence, for they are overcome by virtue. Just as the brightness of the sun dims all lesser lights, so virtue, by its own greatness, shatters and overwhelms all pains, annoy- ances, and wrongs; and wherever its radiance reaches, all lights which shine without the help of virtue are extinguished ; and inconveniences, when they come in contact with virtue, play no more important a part than does a storm-cloud at sea.

This can be proved to you by the fact that the good man will hasten unhesitatingly to any noble deed; even though he be confronted by the hangman, the torturer, and the stake, he will persist, regarding not what he must suffer, but what he must do; and

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honestae rei tamquam bono viro credet; utilem illam sibi iudicabit, tutam, prosperam. Eundem locum habebit apud illum honesta res, sed tristis atque aspera, quem vir bonus pauper aut exul ac pallidus.

22 Agedum pone ex alia parte virum bonum divitiis abundantem, ex altera nihil habentem, sed in se omnia; uterque aeque vir bonus erit, etiam si fortuna dispari utetur. Idem, ut dixi, in rebus iudicium est, quod in hominibus; aeque laudabilis virtus est in corpore valido ac libero posita quam in morbido ac

23 vincto. Ergo tuam quoque virtutem non magis lauda- bis, si corpus illi tuum? integrum fortuna praestiterit quam si ex aliqua parte mutilatum ; alioqui hoc erit ex servorum habitu dominum aestimare. Omnia enim ista, in quae dominium casus exercet, serva sunt, pecunia et corpus et honores, inbecilla, fluida, mortalia, possessionis incertae. Illa rursus libera et invicta opera virtutis, quae non ideo magis adpetenda sunt, si benignius a fortuna tractantur, nec minus, si aliqua iniquitate rerum premuntur.

294 Quod amicitia in hominibus est, hoc in rebus adpetitio. Non, puto, magis amares virum bonum locupletem quam pauperem, nec robustum et lacerto- sum quam gracilem et languidi corporis; ergo ne rem

quidem magis adpetes aut amabis hilarem ac pacatam

1 illituum VP; illibatum a MS. of Opsopoeus, perhaps correctly, as Hiense thinks.

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he will entrust himself as readily to an honourable deed as he would to a good man; lie will consider it advantageous to himself, safe, propitious. And he will hold the same view concerning an honourable deed, even though it be fraught with sorrow and hardship, as concerning a good man who is poor or wasting away in exile. Come now, contrast a good man who is rolling in wealth with a man who has nothing, except that in himself he has all things; they will be equally good, though they experience unequal fortune. This same standard, as I have remarked, is to be applied to things as well as to men; virtue is just as praiseworthy if it dwells in a sound and free body, as in one which is sickly or in bondage. Therefore, as regards your own virtue also, you will not praise it any more, if fortune has favoured it by granting you a sound body, than if fortune has endowed you with a body that is crippled in some member, since that would mean rating a master low because he is dressed like a slave. For all those things over which Chance holds sway are chattels,— money, person, position; they are weak, shifting, prone to perish, and of uncertain tenure. On the other hand, the works of virtue are free and unsubdued, neither more worthy to be sought when fortune treats them kindly, nor less worthy when any adversity weighs upon them.

Now friendship in the case of men corresponds to desirability in the case of things. You would not, I fancy, love a good man if he were rich any more than if he were poor, nor would you love a strong and muscular person more than one who was slender and of delicate constitution. Accordingly, neither will you seek or love a good thing that is mirthful and tranquil more than one that is full of perplexity

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25 quam distractam et operosam. Aut si hoc! est, magis

diliges ex duobus aeque bonis viris nitidum et unctum quam pulverulentum et horrentem. Deinde hoc usque pervenies, ut magis diligas integrum omnibus membris et inlaesum quam debilem aut luscum. Paulatim fastidium tuum illo usque procedet, ut ex duobus aeque iustis ac prudentibus comatum et crispulum? malis. Ubi par in utroque virtus est, non conparet aliarum rerum inaequalitas. Omnia enim alia non partes, sed accessiones sunt. Num quis tam iniquam censuram inter suos agit, ut sanum filium quam aegrum magis diligat, procerumve et excelsum quam brevem aut modicum? Fetus suos non dis- tinguunt ferae et se in alimentum pariter omnium sternunt ; aves ex aequo partiuntur cibos. Vlixes ad Ithacae suae saxa sic properat, quemadmodum Aga- memnon ad Mycenarum nobiles muros. Nemo enim patriam quia magna est amat, sed quia sua.

Quorsus haec pertinent? Ut scias virtutem omnia opera velut fetus suos isdem oculis intueri, aeque indulgere omnibus et quidem inpensius laborantibus, quoniam quidem etiam parentium amor magis in ea, quorum miseretur, inclinat. Virtus quoque opera sua, quae videt adfici et premi, non magis amat, sed parentium bonorum more magis conplectitur ac fovet.

Quare non est ullum bonum altero maius? Quia

1 aut si hoc Haase; et si hoc MSS. ; at si hoc Schweig- hiiuser.

2 Buecheler suggests the addition, after crispulum, of guam calveum et horridulum.,

@ A slight variation of the idea in Cicero, De Orat. i. 196 si nos... nostra patria delectat, cuius rei tanta est vis ac tanta natura, ut Ithacam illam in asperrimis saxulis tamquam nidulum adfixam sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret,

EPISTLE LXVI.

and toil. Or, if you do this, you will, in the case of two equally good men, care more for him who is neat and well-groomed than for him who is dirty and unkempt. You would next go so far as to care more for a good man who is sound in all his limbs and without blemish, than for one who is weak or purblind ; and gradually your fastidiousness would reach such a point that, of two equally just and prudent men, you would choose him who has long curling hair! Whenever the virtue in each one is equal, the in- equality in their other attributes is not apparent. For all other things are not parts, but merely accessories. Would any man judge his children so unfairly as to care more for a healthy son than for one who was sickly, or for a tall child of unusual stature . more than for one who was short or of middling height? Wild beasts show no favouritism among their offspring ; they lie down in order to suckle all alike; birds make fair distribution of their food. Ulysses hastens back to the rocks of his Ithaca as eagerly as Agamemnon speeds to the kingly walls of Mycenae. For no man loves his native land because it is great; he loves it because it is his own.@

And what is the purpose of all this? That you may know that virtue regards all her works in the same light, as if they were her children, showing equal kindness to all, and still deeper kindness to those which encounter hardships; for even parents lean with more affection towards those of their off- spring for whom they feel pity. Virtue, too, does not necessarily love more deeply those of her works which she beholds in trouble and under heavy burdens, but, like good parents, she gives them more of her fostering care.

Why is no good greater than any other good?

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA non est quicquam apto aptius, quia plano nihil est planius. Non potes dicere hoc magis par esse alicui quam illud; ergo nec honesto honestius quicquam

29 est. Quod si par omnium virtutum natura est, tria genera bonorum in aequo sunt. Ita dico: in aequo est moderate gaudere et moderate dolere. Laetitia illa non vincit hance animi firmitatem sub tortore gemitus devorantem; illa bona optabilia, haec mirabilia sunt, utraque nihilominus paria, quia quid- quid incommodi est, vi tanto maioris boni tegitur.

30 Quisquis haec inparia iudicat, ab ipsis virtutibus avertit oculos et exteriora circumspicit; bona vera idem pendent, idem patent. Illa falsa multum habent vani. Itaque speciosa et magna contra visentibus, cum ad pondus revocata sunt, fallunt.

31 Ita est, mi Lucili; quicquid vera ratio commendat, solidum et aeternum est, firmat animum attollitque semper futurum in excelso; illa quae temere laudantur et vulgi sententia bona sunt, inflant inanibus laetos. Rursus ea, quae timentur tamquam mala, iniciunt formidinem mentibus et illas non aliter

32 quam animalia species periculi agitant. Utraque

* i.¢., of the soul, of the body, and of external goods. * Buecheler thinks that this alliterative phrase of Seneca’s is an echo of some popular proverb or line taken from a play.

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It is because nothing can be more fitting than that which is fitting, and nothing more level than that which is level. You cannot say that one thing is more equal to a given object than another thing; hence also nothing is more honourable than that which is honourable. Accordingly, if all the virtues are by nature equal, the three varieties of goods are equal. This is what I mean: there is an equality between feeling joy with self-control and suffering pain with self-control. The joy in the one case does not sur- pass in the other the steadfastness of soul that gulps down the groan when the victim is in the clutches of the torturer; goods of the first kind are desirable, while those of the second are worthy of admiration ; and in each case they are none the less equal, because whatever inconvenience attaches to the latter is compensated by the qualities of the good, which is so much greater. Any man who believes them to be un- equal is turning his gaze away from the virtues them- selves and is surveying mere externals ; true goods have the same weight and the same width.’ The spu- rious sort contain much emptiness ; hence, when they are weighed in the balance, they are found wanting, although they look imposing and grand to the gaze.

Yes, my dear Lucilius, the good which true reason approves is solid and everlasting; it strengthens the spirit and exalts it, so that it will always be on the heights; but those things which are thought- lessly praised, and are goods in the opinion of the mob, merely puff us up with empty joy. And again, those things which are feared as if they were evils merely inspire trepidation in men’s minds, for the mind is disturbed by the semblance of danger, just as animals are disturbed. Hence it is without

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ergo res sine causa animum et diffundit et mordet ; nec illa gaudio nec haec metu digna est. Sola ratio inmutabilis et iudicii tenax est. Non enim servit, sed imperat sensibus. Ratio rationi par est, sicut rectum recto; ergo et virtus virtuti. Virtus! non aliud quam recta ratio est.” Omnes virtutes rationes sunt. Rationes sunt, si rectae sunt. Si rectae sunt, et pares sunt. Qualis ratio est, tales et actiones sunt; ergo omnes pares sunt. Nam cum similes rationi sint, similes et inter se sunt. Pares autem actiones inter se esse dico, qua* honestae rectaeque sunt. Ceterum magna habebunt discrimina variante materia, quae modo latior est, modo angustior, modo inlustris, modo ignobilis, modo ad multos pertinens, modo ad paucos. In omnibus tamen istis id, quod optimum est, par est; honestae sunt. Tamquam viri boni omnes pares sunt, qua* boni sunt. Sed habent differentias aetatis: alius senior est, alius iuvenior; habent corporis: alius formosus, alius deformis est; habent fortunae : ille dives, hic pauper est, ille gratio- sus, potens, urbibus notus et populis, hic ignotus plerisque et obscurus. Sed per illud, quo boni sunt, pares sunt. De bonis ac malis sensus non iudicat ; quid utile sit, quid inutile, ignorat. Non potest ferre sententiam, nisi in rem praesentem perductus est. Nec futuri providus est nec praeteriti memor ; quid sit consequens, nescit. Ex hoc autem rerum

1 yirtuti. Virtus added by Schweighauser. Hilgenfeld would remove the two sentences ratio rationi . . . recta ratio est.

2 ratio est M; ratio VPb.

3 gua Muretus ; quia MSS. 4 gua Erasmus”; guia MSS.

~~ @ Here Seneca is reminding Lucilius, as he so often does in the earlier letters, that the evidence of the senses is only a stepping-stone to higher ideas—an Epicurean tenet.

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reason that both these things distract and sting the spirit; the one is not worthy of joy, nor the other of fear. It is reason alone that is unchangeable, that holds fast to its decisions. For reason is not a slave to the senses, but a ruler over them. Reason is equal to reason, as one straight line to another; therefore virtue also is equal to virtue. Virtue is nothing else than right reason. All virtues are reasons. Reasons are reasons, if they are right reasons. If they are right, they are also equal. As reason is, so also are actions; therefore all actions are equal. For since they resemble reason, they also resemble each other. Moreover, I hold that actions are equal to each other in so far as they are honourable and right actions. There will be, of course, great differences according as the material varies, as it becomes now broader and now narrower, now glorious and now base, now manifold in scope and now limited. However, that which is best in all these cases is equal; they are all honourable. In the same way, all good men, in so far as they are good, are equal. There are, indeed, differences of age,— one is older, another younger; of body,—one is comely, another is ugly; of fortune,—this man is rich, that man poor, this one is influential, powerful, and well-known to cities and peoples, that man is unknown to most, and is obscure. But all, in respect of that wherein they are good, are equal. The senses* do not decide upon things good and evil; they do not know what is useful and what is not useful. They cannot record their opinion unless they are brought face to face with a fact; they can neither see into the future nor recollect the past ; and they do not know what results from what. But it is from such knowledge that a sequence and

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ordo seriesque contexitur et unitas vitae per rectum itura. Ratio ergo arbitra est bonorum ac malorum ; aliena et externa pro vilibus habet et ea, quae neque bona sunt neque mala, accessiones minimas ac levissi- mas iudicat. Omne enim illi bonum in animo est. 386 Ceterum bona quaedam prima existimat, ad quae! ex proposito venit, tamquam victoriam, bonos liberos, salutem patriae. Quaedam secunda, quae non apparent nisi in rebus adversis, tamquam aequo animo pati morbum magnum, exilium. Quaedam media, quae nihilo magis secundum naturam sunt quam contra naturam, tamquam prudenter ambulare, conposite sedere. Non enim minus secundum 37 naturam est sedere quam stare aut ambulare. Duo illa bona superiora diversa sunt. Prima enim secundum naturam sunt: gaudere liberorum pietate, patriae incolumitate. Secunda contra naturam sunt: fortiter opstare tormentis et sitim perpeti morbo urente 38 praecordia. “Quid ergo? Aliquid contra naturam bonum est?” Minime; sed id aliquando contra naturam est, in quo bonum illud existit. Vulnerari enim et subiecto igne tabescere et adversa valetudine adfligi contra naturam est, sed inter ista servare 39 animum infatigabilem secundum naturam est. Et ut quod volo exprimam breviter, materia boni aliquando contra naturam est, bonum numquam,

1 ad quae Hense ; atgue MSS. 24

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succession of actions is woven, and a unity of life is created,—a unity which will proceed in a straight course. Reason, therefore, is the judge of good and evil; that which is foreign and external she regards as dross, and that which is neither good nor evil she judges as merely accessory, insignificant and trivial. For all her good resides in the soul.

But there are certain goods which reason regards as primary, to which she addresses herself purposely ; these are, for example, victory, good children, and the welfare of one’s country. Certain others she regards as secondary ; these become manifest only in adversity,—for example, equanimity in enduring severe illness or exile. Certain goods are indifferent ; these are no more according to nature than contrary to nature, as, for example, a discreet gait and a sedate posture in a chair. For sitting is an act that is not less according to nature than standing or walking. The two kinds of goods which are of a higher order are different; the primary are accord- ing to nature,—such as deriving joy from the dutiful behaviour of one’s children and from the well-being of one’s country. The secondary are contrary to nature,—such as fortitude in resisting torture or in enduring thirst when illness makes the vitals feverish. ‘“ What then,” you say; “can any- thing that is contrary to nature be a good?” Of course not; but that in which this good takes its rise is sometimes contrary to nature. For being wounded, wasting away over a fire, being aflicted with bad health,—such things are contrary to nature; but it is in accordance with nature for a man to pre- serve an indomitable soul amid such distresses. To explain my thought briefly, the material with which a good is concerned is sometimes contrary to nature,

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quoniam bonum sine ratione nullum est, sequitur autem ratio naturam.

“ Quid est ergo ratio?”” Naturaeimitatio. “Quod est summum hominis bonum?” Ex naturae voluntate

40 se gerere. “Non est’’ inquit “dubium, quin felicior

pax sit numquam lacessita quam multo reparata sanguine. Non est dubium” inquit “quin felicior res sit inconcussa valetudo quam ex gravibus morbis et extrema minitantibus in tutum vi quadam et patientia educta. Modem modo non erit dubium, quin maius bonum sit gaudium quam obnixus animus ad perpetiendos cruciatus vulnerum aut ignium.” Minime. Illa enim, quae fortuita sunt, plurimum discriminis recipiunt; aestimantur enim utilitate sumentium. Bonorum unum propositum est con- sentire naturae; hoc in omnibus! par est. Cum alicuius in senatu sententiam sequimur, non potest dici: ille magis adsentitur quam ille; ab omnibus in eandem sententiam itur. Idem de virtutibus dico : omnes naturae adsentiuntur. Idem de bonis dico: omnia naturae adsentiuntur. Alter adulescens decessit, alter senex, aliquis praeter hos infans, cui nihil amplius contigit quam prospicere vitam. Omnes hi aeque fuere mortales, etiam si mors aliorum longius

1 hoc in omnibus Muretus ; hoc contire (contingere V Pb) in omnibus p ; consentire omnibus Haase.

@ Another definition, developing further the thought expressed in § 12,

EPISTLE LXVI.

but a good itself never is contrary, since no good is without reason, and reason is in accordance with nature.

‘What, then,” you ask, “is reason?” It ig copying nature.* “And what,” you say, “is the greatest good that man can possess?” It is to

conduct oneself according to what nature wills. «There is no doubt,” says the objector, “ that peace affords more happiness when it has not been assailed than when it has been recovered at the cost of great slaughter.” “There is no doubt also,” he continues, “that health which has not been impaired affords more happiness than health which has been restored to soundness by means of force, as it were, and by endurance of suffering, after serious illnesses that threaten life itself. And similarly there will be no doubt that joy is a greater good than a soul’s struggle to endure to the bitter end the torments of wounds or burning at the stake.” Bynomeans. For things that result from hazard admit of wide distinctions, since they are rated according to their usefulness in the eyes of those who experience them; but with regard to goods, the only point to be considered is that they are in agreement with nature; and this is equal in the case of all goods. When at a meeting of the Senate we vote in favour of someone’s motion, it cannot be said, “ A. is more in accord with the motion than B.” All alike vote for the same motion. I make the same statement with regard to virtues,—they are all in accord with nature; and I make it with regard to goods also,—they are all in accord with nature. One man dies young, another in old age, and still another in infancy, having enjoyed nothing more than a mere glimpse out into life. They have all been equally subject to death,

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vitam passa est procedere, aliorum in medio flore praecidit, aliorum interrupit ipsa principia. Alius inter cenandum solutus est. Alterius continuata mors somno est. Aliquem concubitus extinxit. His oppone ferro transfossos aut exanimatos serpentium morsu aut fractos! ruina aut per longam nervorum contractionem extortos minutatim. Aliguorum melior dici, aliquorum peior potest exitus; mors quidem omnium par est. Per quae desinunt,? diversa sunt; in quod? desinunt, unum est. Mors nulla maior aut minor est; habet enim eundem in omnibus modum, finisse vitam.

Idem tibi de bonis dico: hoe bonum inter meras voluptates est, hoc inter tristia et acerba. I[lud fortunae indulgentiam rexit, hoc violentiam domuit. Utrumque aeque bonum est, quamvis illud plana et molli via ierit,t hoc aspera. Idem finis omnium est: bona sunt, laudanda sunt, virtutem rationemque comitantur ; virtus aequat inter se, quicquid agnoscit. Nec est, quare hoc inter nostra placita mireris ; apud Epicurum duo bona sunt, ex quibus summum illud beatumque conponitur, ut corpus sine dolore sit, animus sine perturbatione. Haec bona non crescunt, si plena sunt. Quo enim crescet, quod plenum est? Dolore corpus caret; quid ad hane accedere in-

1 fractos later MSS. ; fructus (fluctus) pVPb. 2 desinunt Hense ; veniunt or venit MSS. 3 in quod Haase; in id quod MSS. 4 et molli via werit Gertz; emollwerit VPb; et molli velerit p; et molli venerit Wolters.

@ Frag. 434 Usener. 28

EPISTLE LXVI.

even though death has permitted the one to proceed farther along the pathway of life, has cut off the life of the second in his flower, and has broken off the life of the third at its very beginning. Some get their release at the dinner-table. Others extend their sleep into the sleep of death. Some are blotted out during dissipation. Now contrast with these persons individuals who have been pierced by the sword, or bitten to death by snakes, or crushed in ruins, or tortured piecemeal out of existence by the prolonged twisting of their sinews. Some of these departures may be regarded as better, some as worse; but the act of dying is equal in all. The methods of ending life are different; but the end is one and the same. Death has no degrees of greater or less; for it has the same limit in all instances, —the finishing of life.

The same thing holds true, I assure you, concern- ing goods; you will find one amid circumstances of pure pleasure, another amid sorrow and _ bitterness. The one controls the favours of fortune; the other overcomes her onslaughts. Each is equally a good, although the one travels a level and easy road, and the other a rough road. And the end of them all is the same: they are goods, they are worthy of praise, they accompany virtue and reason. Virtue makes all the things that it acknowledges equal to one another. You need not wonder that this is one of our principles; we find mentioned in the works of Epicurus* two goods, of which his Supreme Good, or blessedness, is composed, namely, a body free from pain and a soul free from disturbance. These goods, if they are complete, do not increase; for how can that which is complete increase? The body is, let us suppose, free from pain; what increase can there be to this

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dolentiam potest? Animus constat sibi et placidus est; quid accedere ad hance tranquillitatem potest? Quemadmodum serenitas caeli non recipit maiorem adhue claritatem in sincerissimum nitorem repurgata, sic hominis corpus animumque curantis et bonum suum ex utrogue nectentis perfectus est status et summam voti sui invenit, si nee aestus animo est nec dolor corpori. Si qua extra blandimenta contingunt, non augent summum bonum, sed ut ita dicam, con- diunt et oblectant. Absolutum enim illud humanae naturae bonum corporis et animi pace contentum est. Dabo apud Epicurum tibi etiamnunce simillimam huic nostrae divisionem bonorum. Alia enim sunt apud illum, quae malit contingere sibi, ut corporis quietem ab omni incommodo liberam et animi remis- sionem bonorum suorum contemplatione gaudentis. Alia sunt, quae quamvis nolit accidere, nihilominus laudat et conprobat, tamquam illam, quam paulo ante dicebam, malae valetudinis et dolorum gravissi- morum perpessionem, in qua Epicurus fuit illo summo ac fort. »atissimo die suo. Ait enim se vesicae et exul erati ventris tormenta tolerare ulteriorem do as accessionem non recipientia, esse nihilominus sibi illum beatum diem. Beatum autem agere, nisi qui est in summo bono, non potest.

Ergo et apud Epicurum sunt haec bona, quae malles non experiri, sed quia ita res tulit, et ample-

@ Frag. 449 Usener. > Frag. 138 Usener ¢ See above, § 47. :

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absence of pain? The soul is composed and calm; what increase can there be to this tranquillity? Just as fair weather, purified into the purest brilliancy, does not admit of a still greater degree of clearness ; so, when a man takes care of his body and of his soul, weaving the texture of his good from both, his con- dition is perfect, and he has found the consummation of his prayers, if there is no commotion in his soul or pain in his body. Whatever delights fall to his lot over and above these two things do not increase his Supreme Good; they merely season it, so to speak, and add spice to it. For the absolute good of man’s nature is satisfied with peace in the body and peace in the soul. I can show you at this moment in the writings of Epicurus% a graded list of goods just like that of our own school. For there are some things, he declares, which he prefers should fall to his lot, such as bodily rest free from all inconvenience, and relaxation of the soul as it takes delight in the con- templation of its own goods. And there are other things which, though he would prefer that they did not happen, he nevertheless praises and approves,— for example, the kind of resignation, in times of ill- health and serious suffering, to which I alluded a moment ago, and which Epicurus displayed on that last and most blessed day of his life. For he tells us ? that he had to endure excruciating agony from a diseased bladder and from an ulcerated stomach,— so acute that it permitted no increase of pain; “and yet,” he says, “that day was none the less happy.” And no man can spend such a day in happiness unless he possesses the Supreme Good.

We therefore find mentioned, even by Epicurus,‘ those goods which one would prefer not to experience ; which, however, because circumstances have decided

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xanda et laudanda et exaequanda summis sunt. Non potest dici, hoc non esse par maximis bonum, quod beatae vitae clausulam inposuit, cui Epicurus extrema

49 voce gratias egit. Permitte mihi, Lucili virorum

optime, aliquid audacius dicere: si ulla bona maiora esse aliis possent, haec ego, quae tristia videntur, mollibus illis et delicatis praetulissem, haec maiora dixissem. Maius est enim difficilia perfringere quam

50 laeta moderari. Eadem ratione fit, scio, ut aliquis

felicitatem bene et ut calamitatem fortiter ferat. Aeque esse fortis potest, qui pro vallo securus excubuit nullis hostibus castra temptantibus et qui succisis poplitibus in genua se excepit nec arma dimisit ; “ macte virtute esto’ sanguinolentis ! ex acie redeun- tibus dicitur. Itaque haec magis laudaverim bona exercita et fortia et cum fortuna rixata. Ego dubitem, quin magis laudem truncam illam et retorridam manum Mucii quam cuiuslibet fortissimi salvam Stetit hostium flammarumque contemptor et manum suam in hostili foculo destillantem perspectavit, donec Porsenna, cuius poenae favebat, gloriae invidit et ignem invito eripi iussit.

Hoc bonum quidni inter? prima numerem tantoque

1 et after sanguinolentis deleted by Schweighauser, 2 guidni inter later MSS. ; quid inter pV Pb.

@ Clausula has, among other meanings, that of ‘‘a period” (Quintil. viii. 5), and ‘* the rhythmic close of a period ” (Cic. De Orat. iii. 192).

> For a full discussion of this phrase see Conington, Excursus to Vergil’s Aeneid, ix. 641.

¢ For the story see Livy, ii. 12 ff.

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thus, must be welcomed and approved and placed on a level with the highest goods. We cannot say that the good which has rounded out @ a happy life, the good for which Epicurus rendered thanks in the last words he uttered, is not equal to the greatest. Allow me, excellent Lucilius, to utter a still bolder word : if any goods could be greater than others, I should prefer those which seem harsh to those which are mild and alluring, and should pronounce them greater. For it is more of an accomplishment to break one’s way through difficulties than to keep joy within bounds. It requires the same use of reason, I am fully aware, for a man to endure prosperity well and also to endure misfortune bravely. That man may be just as brave who sleeps in front of the ramparts without fear of danger when no enemy attacks the camp, as the man who, when the tendons of his legs have been severed, holds himself up on his knees and does not let fall his weapons ; but it is to the blood-stained soldier returning from the front that men cry: “Well done, thou hero!” ® And therefore I should bestow greater praise upon those goods that have stood trial, and show courage, and have fought it out with fortune. Should | hesitate whether to give greater praise to the maimed and shrivelled hand of Mucius ¢ than to the uninjured hand of the bravest man in the world? There stood Mucius, despising the enemy and despising the fire, and watched his hand as it dripped blood over the fire on his enemy’s altar, until Porsenna, envying the fame of the hero whose punishment he was advocat- ing, ordered the fire to be removed against the

will of the victim. Why should I not reckon this good among the primary goods, and deem it in so far greater than 33

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maius putem quam illa secura et intemptata fortunae, quanto rarius est hostem amissa manu vicisse quam armata? “Quid ergo?” inquis, “hoc bonum tibi optabis?’”’ Quidni? Hoc enim nisi qui potest et

53 optare, non potest facere. An potius optem, ut malaxandos articulos exoletis meis porrigam? Ut muliercula aut aliquis in mulierculam ex viro versus digitulos meos ducat? Quidni ego feliciorem putem Mucium, quod sic tractavit ignem, quasi illam manum tractatori praestitisset? In integrum restituit quid- quid erraverat ; confecit bellum inermis ac mancus et illa manu trunca reges duos vicit. VALE.

LXVII.

Seneca LyciLtio svo SALVTEM

1 Vt a communibus initium faciam, ver aperire se coepit, sed iam inclinatum in aestatem, quo tempore calere debebat, intepuit nec adhuc illi fides est. Saepe enim in hiemem revolvitur. Vis scire, quam dubium adhuc sit? Nondum me committo frigidae verae, adhuc rigorem eius infringo. “Hoc est,” inquis, “ nec calidum nec frigidum pati.” Ita est, mi Lucili; iam aetas mea contenta est suo frigore. Vix

a A rare word—sometimes spelled malacisso,—used by Plautus (Bacch, 73) and Laberius, but not in a technical sense.

> Porsenna and Tarquin.

¢ See Introduction (Vol. I. p.x), and the opening sentences of Epp. lxxvii., lxxxvii., and others,

EPISTLES LXVI., UXVII.

those other goods which are unattended by danger and have made no trial of fortune, as it is a rarer thing to have overcome a foe with a hand lost than with a hand armed? “What then?” you say; “shall you desire this good for yourself?”” Of course I shall. For this is a thing that a man cannot achieve unless he can also desire it. Should I desire, instead, to be allowed to stretch out my limbs for my slaves to massage,” or to have a woman, or a man changed into the likeness of a woman, pull my finger-joints? I cannot help believing that Mucius was all the more lucky because he manipulated the flames as calmly as if he were holding out his hand to the manipulator. He had wiped out all his previous mistakes; he finished the war unarmed and maimed; and with that stump of a hand he conquered two kings.? Farewell.

LXVII. ON ILL-HEALTH AND ENDURANCE OF SUFFERING

If I may begin with a commonplace remark,’ spring is gradually disclosing itself; but though it is round- ing into summer, when you would expect hot weather, it has kept rather cool, and one cannot yet be sure of it. For it often slides back into winter weather. Do you wish to know how uncertain it still is? I do not yet trust myself toa bath which is absolutely cold; even at this time I break its chill. You may say that this is no way to show the endurance either of heat or of cold; very true, dear Lucilius, but at my time of life one is at length contented with the natural chill of the body. I can scarcely thaw out in

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2 media regelatur aestate. Itaque maior pars in vesti- mentis degitur. Ago gratias senectuti, quod me lectulo adfixit. Quidni gratias illi hoe nomine agam f Quicquid debebam nolle, non possum. Cum libellis mihi plurimus sermo est. Si quando intervenerunt epistulae tuae, tecum esse mihi videor et sic adficior animo, tamquam tibi non rescribam, sed respondeam. Itaque et de hoc, quod quaeris, quasi conloquar tecum, quale sit, una scrutabimur.

3 Quaeris, an omne bonum optabile sit. “Si bonum est,” inquis, “ fortiter torqueri et magno animo uri et patienter aegrotare, sequitur, ut ista optabilia sint. Nihil autem video ex istis voto dignum. Neminem certe adhuc scio eo nomine votum solvisse, quod flagellis caesus esset aut podagra distortus aut eculeo

4longior factus.” Distingue, mi Lucili, ista, et intelleges esse in iis aliquid optandum. Tormenta abesse a me velim; sed si sustinenda fuerint, ut me in illis fortiter, honeste, animose geram, optabo. Quidni ego malim non incidere bellum? Sed si inciderit, ut vulnera, ut famem et omnia, quae bellorum necessitas adfert, generose feram, optabo. Non sum tam demens, ut aegrotare cupiam; sed si aegrotandum fuerit, ut nihil intemperanter, nihil effeminate faciam, optabo. Ita non incommoda optabilia sunt, sed virtus, qua perferuntur incommoda.

a Seneca had a delicate constitution (see Introduction). In the Letters he speaks of suffering from asthma (liv.), catarrh (Ixxviii.), and fever (civ.).

® Cf. lxxv. 1 qualis sermo meus esset, si una sederemus aut ambularemus.

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the middle of summer. Accordingly, I spend most of the time bundled up; and I thank old age for keeping me fastened to my bed.* Why should I not thank old age on this account? That which I ought not to wish to do, I lack the ability to do. Most of my converse is with books. Whenever your letters arrive, I imagine that I am with you, and I have the feeling that I am about to speak my answer, instead of writing it. Therefore let us together investigate the nature of this problem of yours, just as if we were conversing with one another.?

You ask me whether every good is desirable. You say: “If it is a good to be brave under torture, to go to the stake with a stout heart, to endure illness with resignation, it follows that these things are desirable. But I do not see that any of them is worth praying for. At any rate I have as yet known of no man who has paid a vow by reason of having been cut to pieces by the rod, or twisted out of shape by the gout, or made taller by the rack.” My dear Lucilius, you must distinguish between these cases; you will then comprehend that there is something in them that is to be desired. I should prefer to be free from torture ; but if the time comes when it must be endured, I shall desire that I may conduct myself therein with bravery, honour, and courage. Of course I prefer that war should not occur ; but if war does occur, I shall desire that I may nobly endure the wounds, the starvation, and all that the exigency of war brings. Nor am I so mad as to crave illness ; but if I must suffer illness, I shall desire that I may do nothing which shows lack of restraint, and nothing that isunmanly. The conclusion is, not that hardships are desirable, but that virtue is desir- able, which enables us patiently to endure hardships.

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5 Quidam ex nostris existimant omnium istorum fortem tolerantiam non esse optabilem, sed ne abominandam quidem, quia voto purum bonum peti debet et tranquillum et extra molestiam positum. Ego dissentio. Quare? Primum quia fieri non potest, ut aliqua res bona quidem sit, sed optabilis non sit. Deinde si virtus optabilis est, nullum autem sine virtute bonum est, omne bonum optabile est. Deinde etiam! tormentorum fortis patientia optabilis est.

6 Ktiamnunc interrogo: nempe ? fortitudo optabilis est ? Atqui pericula contemnit et provocat. Pulcherrima pars eius maximeque mirabilis illa est, non cedere ignibus, obviam ire vulneribus, interdum tela ne vitare quidem, sed pectore excipere. Si fortitudo optabilis est, et tormenta patienter ferre optabile est ; hoc enim fortitudinis pars est. Sed® separa ista, ut dixi; nihil erit quod tibi faciat errorem. Non enim pati tormenta optabile est, sed pati fortiter. Illud opto “ fortiter,’’ quod est virtus.

7 Quis tamen umquam hoc sibi optavit ?””? Quaedam vota aperta et professa sunt, cum particulatim fiunt, quaedam latent, cum uno voto multa conprensa sunt. Tamquam opto mihi vitam honestam. Vita autem honesta actionibus variis constat; in hac est Reguli arca, Catonis scissum manu sua vulnus, Rutili exilium, calix venenatus, qui Socraten transtulit e carcere in caelum. Ita cum optavi mihi vitam honestam, et

1 etiam si MSS. ; Madvig deleted si. 2 nempe Haase ; neme MSS. 3 Buecheler would delete sed.

@ 7.¢., the Stoics. > Banished from Rome in 92 B.c. Cf. Hp. xxiv. 4.

EPISTLE LXVII.

Certain of our school® think that, of all such qualities, a stout endurance is not desirable,—though not to be deprecated either,—because we ought to seek by prayer only the good which is unalloyed, peaceful, and beyond the reach of trouble. Person- ally, Ido not agree with them. And why? First, because it is impossible for anything to be good without being also desirable. Because, again, if virtue is desirable, and if nothing that is good lacks virtue, then everything good is desirable. And, lastly, because a brave endurance even under torture is desirable. At this point I ask you: Is not bravery desirable? And yet bravery despises and challenges danger. The most beautiful and most admirable part of bravery is that it does not shrink from the stake, advances to meet wounds, and sometimes does not even avoid the spear, but meets it with opposing breast. If bravery is desirable, so is patient endur- ance of torture; for this is a part of bravery. Only sift these things, as I have suggested; then there will be nothing which can lead you astray. For it is not mere endurance of torture, but brave endur- ance, that is desirable. I therefore desire that “brave”? endurance; and this is virtue.

“ But,” you say, “who ever desired such a thing for himself?’’ Some prayers are open and outspoken, when the requests are offered specifically ; other prayers are indirectly expressed, when they include many requests under one title. For example, I desire a lifeofhonour. Nowa life of honour includes various kinds of conduct; it may include the chest in which Regulus was confined, or the wound of Cato which was torn open by Cato’s own hand, or the exile of Rutilius,? or the cup of poison which removed Socrates from gaol to heaven. Accordingly, in praying for a life of

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haec optavi, sine quibus interdum honesta non potest esse.

8 O terque quaterque beati,

Quis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis Contigit oppetere !

Quid interest, optes hoc alicui an optabile fuisse

9 fatearis? Decius se pro re publica devovit; in medios hostes concitato equo mortem petens inruit. Alter post hunc, paternae virtutis aemulus, conceptis sollemnibus ac iam familiaribus verbis in aciem confertissiman incucurrit, de hoc sollicitus tantum, ut litaret, optabilem rem putans! bonam mortem. Dubitas ergo, an optimum sit memorabilem mori et

10 in aliquo opere virtutis? Cum aliquis tormenta fortiter patitur, omnibus virtutibus utitur. Fortasse una in promptu sit et maxime appareat patientia. Ceterum illic est fortitudo, cuius patientia et perpessio et tolerantia rami sunt. Illic est prudentia, sine qua nullum initur consilium, quae suadet, quod effugere non possis, quam fortissime ferre. Illic est constantia, quae deici loco non potest et propositum nulla vi extorquente dimittit. Illic est individuus ille comitatus virtutum; quicquid honeste fit, una virtus facit, sed ex consilii sententia. Quod autem ab omnibus virtutibus conprobatur, etiam si ab una fieri videtur, optabile est.

11 Quid? Tu existimas ea tantum optabilia esse,

1 putans later MSS. ; putas pVPb.

@ Vergil, Aeneid, i. 94 ff.

> Of. Livy, viii. 9. 6 ff. . . . legiones auxiliaque hostium mecum deis manibus Tellurique devoveo.

¢ Ut litaret: i.e., that by his sacrifice he might secure an omen of success. Cf. Pliny, V.H. viii. 45, and Suetonius, Augustus, 96: ** At the siege of Perusia, when he found the sacrifices were not favourable (sacrificio non litanti), Augustus called for more victims.”

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honour, I have prayed also for those things without which, on some occasions, life cannot be honourable.

O thrice and four times blest were they Who underneath the lofty walls of Troy Met happy death before their parents’ eyes !4

What does it matter whether you offer this prayer for some individual, or admit that it was desirable in the past? Decius sacrificed himself for the State; he set spurs to his horse and rushed into the midst of the foe, seeking death. The second Decius, rivalling his father’s valour, reproducing the words which had become sacred? and already household words, dashed into the thickest of the fight, anxious only that his sacrifice might bring omen of success,° and regarding a noble death as a thing to be desired. Do you doubt, then, whether it is best to die glorious and performing some deed of valour? When one endures torture bravely, one is using all the virtues. Endurance may perhaps be the only virtue that is on view and most manifest; but bravery is there too, and endurance and resignation and long-suffering are its branches. There, too, is foresight ; for without foresight no plan can be undertaken; it is foresight that advises one to bear as bravely as possible the things one cannot avoid. There also is steadfastness, which cannot be dislodged from its position, which the wrench of no force can cause to abandon its purpose. There is the whole inseparable company of virtues; every honourable act is the work of one single virtue, but it is in accordance with the judgment of the whole council. And that which is approved by all the virtues, even though it seems to be the work of one alone, is desirable. What? Do you think that those things only are 41

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quae per voluptatem et otium veniunt, quae ex- cipiuntur foribus ornatis? Sunt quaedam tristis voltus bona. Sunt quaedam vota, quae non gratu- lantium coetu, sed adorantium venerantiumque

12 celebrantur. Ita tu non putas Regulum optasse, ut ad Poenos perveniret? Indue magni viri animum et ab opinionibus volgi secede paulisper. Cape, quantam debes, virtutis pulcherrimae ac magnifi- centissimae speciem, quae nobis non ture nec sertis,

13 sed sudore et sanguine colenda est. Adspice M. Catonem sacro illi pectori purissimas manus ad- moventem et vulnera parum alte! demissa laxantem. Utrum tandem illi dicturus es “ vellem quae velles” et “moleste fero” an “ feliciter quod agis”’?

14 Hoe loco mihi Demetrius noster occurrit, qui vitam securam et sine ullis fortunae incursionibus mare mortuum vocat. Nihil habere, ad quod exciteris, ad quod te concites, cuius denuntiatione et incursu firmitatem animi tui temptes, sed in otio inconcusso

15 jacere non est tranquillitas; malacia? est. Attalus Stoicus dicere solebat: “malo me fortuna in castris suis quam in deliciis habeat. Torqueor, sed fortiter ; bene est. Occidor, sed fortiter; bene est.” Audi Epicurum, dicet et “dulce est.” Ego tam honestae

16 rei ac severae numquam molle nomen inponam. Uror,

1 alte Hense and Buecheler; ante Gertz; autem p; omitted by VPb.

2 malacia (malatia) p; malitia V Pb.

4 Donaria at the doors of temples signified public re- joicing ; cf. Tibullus, i. 15 f. Flava Ceres, tibi sit nostro de rure corona Spicea, quae templi pendeat ante fores. Myrtle decorated the bridegroom’s house-door; garlands heralded the birth of a child (Juvenal, ix. 85). > Cf. Pliny, V.H. iv. 13. Besides the Dead Sea of Pales- tine, the term was applied to any sluggish body of water.

EPISTLE LXVII.

desirable which come to us amid pleasure and ease, and which we bedeck our doors to welcome4? There are certain goods whose features are forbidding. There are certain prayers which are offered by a throng, not of men who rejoice, but of men who bow down reverently and worship. Was it not in this fashion, think you, that Regulus prayed that he might reach Carthage? Clothe yourself with a hero’s courage, and withdraw for a little space from the opinions of the common man. Form a proper conception of the image of virtue, a thing of exceed- ing beauty and grandeur; this image is not to be worshipped by us with incense or garlands, but with sweat and blood. Behold Marcus Cato, laying upon that hallowed breast his unspotted hands, and tearing apart the wounds which had not gone deep enough to kill him! Which, pray, shall you say to him: “I hope all will be as you wish,’ and “I am grieved,’ or shall it be “Good fortune in your undertaking !”’?

In this connexion I think of our friend Demetrius, who calls an easy existence, untroubled by the attacks of Fortune, a “Dead Sea.”® If you have nothing to stir you up and rouse you to action, nothing which will test your resolution by its threats and hostilities; if you recline in unshaken comfort, it is not tranquillity; it is merely a flat calm. The Stoic Attalus was wont to say: “I should prefer that Fortune keep me in her camp rather than in the lap of luxury. If I am tortured, but bear it bravely, all is well; if I die, but die bravely, it is also well.” Listen to Epicurus; he will tell you that it is actually pleasant. I myself shall never apply an effeminate word to an act so honourable and austere. If I go

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sed invictus. Quidni hoc optabile putem!—non quod urit me ignis, sed quod non vincit? Nihil est virtute praestantius, nihil pulchrius. Et bonum est et optabile, quicquid ex huius geritur imperio. Vate.

LXVIII.

SENECA LyCILIO SVO SALVTEM

1 Consilio tuo accedo; absconde te in otio. Sed et ipsum otium absconde. Hoc te facturum Stoicorum etiam si non praecepto, at exemplo licet scias. Sed ex praecepto quoque facies”; et tibi et cui? voles

2 adprobabis. Nec ad omnem rem publicam mittimus mec .Semper, mec sine ullo. fine.--. Practerea; cum sapienti rem publicam ipso dignam dedimus, id est mundum, non est extra rem publicam, etiam si reces- serit, immo fortasse relicto uno angulo in maiora atque ampliora transit et caelo inpositus intellegit, cum sellam aut tribunal ascenderet, quam humili loco sederit. Depone hoc apud te, numquam plus agere sapientem, quam quom# in conspectum °® eius divina atque humana venerunt.

3 Nune ad illud revertor, quod suadere tibi coeperam,

1 optabile putem Hense; obtabile autem p; optabile sit VPb. 2 facies Muretus ; facias Msg. 3 cui Buecheler ; cum MSS. * guam guom Hense; yuam or quam cum MSS. > conspectunr later MSS. ; conspectu pV Pb.

’

« Stoicism preached ‘‘ world-citizenship,” and this was interpreted in various ways at different periods. ‘The Greek teachers saw in it an opportunity for wider culture; the Romans, a more practical mission. For further discussion

EPISTLES LXVII., LXVIIL.

to the stake, I shall go unbeaten. Why should I not regard this as desirable—not because the fire burns me, but because it does not overcome me? Nothing is more excellent or more beautiful than virtue ; whatever we do in obedience to her orders is both good and desirable. Farewell.

LXVIII. ON WISDOM AND RETIREMENT

I fall in with your plan; retire and conceal your- self in repose. But at the same time conceal your retirement also. In doing this, you may be sure that you will be following the example of the Stoics, if not their precept. But you will be acting according to their precept also; you will thus satisfy both yourself and any Stoic you please. We Stoics 4 do not urge men to take up public life in every case, or at all times, or without any qualification. Besides, when we have assigned to our wise man that field of public life which is worthy of him,—in other words, the universe,—he is then not apart from public life, even if he withdraws ; nay, perhaps he has abandoned only one little corner thereof and has passed over into greater and wider regions; and when he has been set in the heavens, he understands how lowly was the place in which he sat when he mounted the curule chair or the judgment-seat. Lay this to heart, —that the wise man is never more active in affairs than when things divine as well as things human have come within his ken.

I now return to the advice which I set out to give of this topic in Seneca see Hp. Ixxiii. 1 ff. Seneca’s argu- ments are coloured by the facts of his life at this time.

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ut otium tuum ignotum sit. Non est quod inscribas tibi philosophiam aut quietem.! Aliud proposito tuo nomen inpone; valetudinem et inbecillitatem voca et desidiam. Gloriari otio iners ambitio est. 4 Animalia quaedam ne inveniri possint, vestigia sua circa ipsum cubile confundunt; idem tibi faciendum est. Aliogui non deerunt, qui semper sequantur. Multi aperta transeunt, condita et abstrusa rimantur ; furem signata sollicitant. Vile videtur, quicquid patet, aperta effractarius praeterit. Hos mores habet popuius, hos imperitissimus quisque: in secreta in- rumpere cupit. Optimum itaque est non iactare 5 otium suum. lactandi autem genus est niris latere et a conspectu hominum secedere. Ille Tarentum se abdidit, ille Neapoli inclusus est, ille multis annis non transit domus suae limen. Convocat turbam, $ quisquis otio suo aliquam fabulam inposuit. Cum secesseris, non est hoc agendum, ut de te homines loquantur, sed ut ipse tecum loquaris. Quid autem loqueris? Quod homines de aliis libentissime faciunt, de te apud te male existima; adsuesces et dicere verum et audire. Id autem maxime tracta, quod in 7 te esse infirmissimum senties. Nota habet sui quisque corporis vitia. Itaque alius vomitu levat stomachum, alius frequenti? cibo fulcit, alius inter- 1 aut quietem O. Rossbach ; aut qui etiam p; atqui etiam

VPb. 2 frequenti later MSS. ; a frequenti pVPb.

« Cf. Ep. lv. §§ 3 ff. for the retirement of Vatia: dalle latere sciebat, non vivere.

EPISTLE LXVIII.

you,—that you keep your retirement in the back- ground. There is no need to fasten a placard upon yourself with the words : “ Philosopher and Quietist.” Give your purpose some other name; call it ill-health and bodily weakness, or mere laziness. To boast of our retirement is but idle self-seeking. Certain animals hide themselvesfrom discovery by confusing the marks of their foot-prints in the neighbourhood of their lairs. You should do the same. Otherwise, there will always be someone dogging your footsteps. Many men pass by that which is visible, and peer after things hidden and concealed ; a locked room in- vites the thief. Things which lie in the open appear cheap; the house-breaker passes by that which is exposed to view. ‘This is the way of the world, and the way of all ignorant men: they crave to burst in upon hidden things. It is therefore best not to vaunt one’s retirement. Itis, however, a sort of vaunt- ing to make too much of one’s concealment and of one’s withdrawal from the sight of men. So-and-so @ has gone into his retreat at Tarentum; that other man has shut himself up at Naples; this third person for many years has not crossed the threshold of his own house. ‘To advertise one’s retirement is to collect a crowd. When you withdraw from the world, your business is to talk with yourself, not to have men talk about you. But what shall you talk about? Do just what people are fond of doing when they talk about their neighbours,—speak ill of yourself when by yourself; then you will become accustomed both to speak and to hear the truth. Above all, however, ponder that which you come to feel is your greatest weakness. Each man knows best the defects of his own body. And so one relieves his stomach by vomiting, another props it up by frequent eating,

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posito ieiunio corpus exhaurit et purgat. i, quorum pedes dolor repetit, aut vino aut balineo abstinent. In cetera neglegentes huic, a quo saepe infestantur, occurrunt; sic in animo nostro sunt quaedam quasi causariae partes, quibus adhibenda curatio est.

8 Quid in otio facio? Uleus meum curo. _ Si ostenderem tibi pedem turgidum, lividam manum aut contracti cruris aridos nervos, permitteres mihi uno loco iacere et fovere morbum meum. Maius malum est hoc, quod non possum tibi ostendere ; in pectore ipso collectio et vomica est. Nolo nola laudes, nolo dicas: “o magnum virum! contempsit omnia et damnatis humanae vitae furoribus fugit.”

9 Nihil damnavi nisi me. Non est quod _ proficiendi causa venire ad me velis. Erras, qui hine aliquid auxilii speras; non medicus, sed aeger hic habitat. Malo, cum discesseris, dicas: ‘ego istum beatum hominem putabam et eruditum. Erexeram aures ; destitutus sum. Nihil vidi, nihil audii,! quod con- cupiscerem, ad quod reverterer.”” Si hoc sentis, si hoc loqueris, aliquid profectum est. Malo ignoscas otio meo quam invideas.

10 “QOtium,” inquis, “Seneca, commendas mihi?

1 audii Rossbach ; audivi VPb; laudi p.

# Causarii (Livy, vi. 6) were soldiers on sick leave. > For an argument of the same sort see Horace, /pist. i. 1. 93-104:

Si curatus inaequali tonsore capillos Occurri, rides... .. . quid, mea cum pugnat sententia secum?

EPISTLE LXVIII.

another drains and purges his body by periodic fast- ing. Those whose feet are visited by pain abstain either from wine or from the bath. In general, men who are careless in other respects go out of their way to relieve the disease which frequently afflicts them. So it is with our souls; there are in them certain parts which are, so to speak, on the sick-list,“ and to these parts the cure must be applied.

What, then, am I myself doing with my leisure ? ° I am trying to cure my own sores. If I were to show you a swollen foot, or an inflamed hand, or some shrivelled sinews in a withered leg, you would permit me to lie quiet in one place and to apply lotions to the diseased member.? But my trouble is greater than any of these, and I cannot show it to you. The abscess, or ulcer, is deep within my breast. Pray, pray, do not commend me, do not say: “What a great man! He has learned to despise all things; condemning the madnesses of man’s life, he has made his escape!” I have con- demned nothing except myself. There is no reason why you should desire to come to me for the sake of making progress. You are mistaken if you think that you will get any assistance from this quarter ; it isnot a physician that dwells here, but a sick man. I would rather have you say, on leaving my presence: “T used to think him a happy man and a learned one, and I had pricked up my ears to hear him; but I have been defrauded. I have seen nothing, heard nothing which I craved and which I came back to hear.” If you feel thus, and speak thus, some progress has been made. I prefer you to pardon rather than envy my retirement.

Then you say: “Is it retirement, Seneca, that you are recommending to me? You will soon be

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Ad Epicureas voces delaberis.”” Otium tibi com- mendo, in quo maiora agas et pulchriora quam quae reliquisti; pulsare superbas potentiorum fores, digerere in litteram senes orbos, plurimum in foro posse invidiosa potentia ac brevis est et, si verum

1] aestimes, sordida. [lle me gratia forensi longe antecedet, ille stipendiis militaribus et quaesita per hoe dignitate, ille clientium turba; est tanti ab omnibus vinci, dum a me fortuna vincatur, cui in turba par esse non possum ;! plus habet gratiae.

12. Utinam quidem hoc propositum sequi olim fuisset animus tibi! Utinam de vita beatanon in conspectu mortis ageremus! Sed nunc quoque non moremur.? Multa enim, quae supervacua esse et inimica credituri

13 fuimus rationi, nunc experientiae credimus. Quod facere solent, qui serius exierunt? et volunt tempus celeritate reparare, calcar addamus; haec aetas optime facit ad haec studia; iam despumavit.4 Iam vitia primo fervore adulescentiae indomita lassavit, non multum superest ut extinguat.

14.“ Et quando,” inquis, “ tibi proderit istud, quod in exitu discis,5 aut in quam rem?” In hance, ut exeam melior. Non est tamen quod existimes ullam aetatem

1 Haase’s punctuation. Hense regards cui inturba... gratiae as an interpolation.

2 moremur Erasmus ; moramur MSS.

3 exierunt later MSS. ; exverunt pV Pb.

* despumavit cod. Vat. reg. ; disputavit pV Pb. 5 discis later MSS. ; dicis pV Pb.

« This is a reference to the.saying of Epicurus, \a6é Biwoas, “live in retirement.”

» Cf. Horace, Sat. ii. 5. 23 ff. : captes astutus ubique testa- menta senum and vivet uter locuples sine gnatis . . . illius esto defensor. 'The captator was a well-known figure at Rome ; cf. also Pliny’s notorious enemy Regulus, and Juvenal’s many words of scorn for those who practised the art.

¢ 4,¢., Fortune’s support comes from crowds.

EPISTLE LXVII1.

falling back upon the maxims of Epicurus!”% Ido recommend retirement to you, but only that you may use it for greater and more beautiful activities than those which you have resigned; to knock at the haughty doors of the influential, to make alphabetical lists of childless old men,? to wield the highest author- ity in public life,—this kind of power exposes you to hatred, is short-lived, and, if you rate it at its true value, is tawdry. One man shall be far ahead of me as regards his influence in public life, another in salary as an army officer and in the position which results from this, another in the throng of his clients ; but it is worth while to be outdone by all these men, provided that I myself can outdo Fortune. And Iam no match for her in the throng; she has the greater backing.°

Would that in earlier days you had been minded to follow this purpose! Would that we were not discussing the happy life in plain view of death! But even now let us have no delay. For now we can take the word of experience, which tells us that there are many superfluous and hostile things; for this we should long since have taken the word of reason. Let us do what men are wont to do when they are late in setting forth, and wish to make up for lost time by increasing their speed—let us ply the spur. Our time of life is the best possible for these pursuits; for the period of boiling and foaming is now past.? The faults that were uncontrolled in the first fierce heat of youth are now weakened, and but little further effort is needed to extinguish them.

«And when,’ you ask, “will that profit you which you do not learn until your departure, and how will it profit you?” Precisely in this way, that I shall depart a better man. You need not think,

@ Cf. De Ira, ii. 20 ut nimius ille fervor despumet. 51

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aptiorem esse ad bonam mentem quam quae se multis experimentis, longa ac frequenti rerum paenitentia edomuit, quae ad salutaria mitigatis adfectibus venit. Hoc est huius boni tempus; quisquis senex ad sapientiam pervenit, annis pervenit. VALE.

LXIX. Seneca LyciLio svo sALVTEM

1 Mutare te loca et aliunde alio! transilire nolo; primum, quia tam frequens migratio instabilis animi est. Coalescere otio non potest, nisi desit circum- spicere et errare. Ut animum possis continere,

2 primum corporis tui fugam siste. Deinde plurimum remedia continuata proficiunt. Interrumpenda non est quies et vitae prioris oblivio. Sine dediscere oculos tuos, sine aures adsuescere sanioribus verbis. Quotiens processeris, in ipso transitu aliqua, quae

3 renovent cupiditates tuas, tibi occurrent. Quemad- modum ei,? qui amorem exuere conatur, evitanda est omnis admonitio dilecti corporis, nihil enim facilius quam amor recrudescit, ita qui deponere vult desideria rerum omnium, quarum cupiditate flagravit,

1 aliunde alio Haase; alium de alio pPb; in alium de

alio V. 2 @ later MSS. ; e¢ pV Pb.

@ Of. Ep.ii.§3 nil aequesanitatem impedit quam remediorum erebra mutatio.

EPISTLES LXVIII., LXIX.

however, that any time of life is more fitted to the attainment of a sound mind than that which has gained the victory over itself by many trials and by long and oft-repeated regret for past mistakes, and, its passions assuaged, has reached a state of health. This is indeed the time to have acquired this good; he who has attained wisdom in his old age, has attained it by his years. Farewell.

LXIX. ON REST AND RESTLESSNESS

I po not like you to change your headquarters and scurry about from one place to another, My reasons are,—first, that such frequent flitting means an unsteady spirit. And the spirit cannot through retirement grow into unity unless it has ceased from its inquisitiveness and its wanderings. To be able to hold your spirit in check, you must first stop the run- away flight of the body. My second reason is, that the remedies which are most helpful are those which are not interrupted.* You should not allow your quiet, or the oblivion to which you have consigned your former life, to be broken into. Give your eyes time to unlearn what they have seen, and your ears to grow accustomed to more wholesome words. When- ever you stir abroad you will meet, even as you pass from one place to another, things that will bring back your old cravings. Just as he who tries to be rid of an old love must avoid every reminder of the person once held dear (for nothing grows again so easily as love), similarly, he who would lay aside his desire for all the things which he

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et oculos et aures ab iis, quae reliquit, avertat. Cito

4rebellat adfectus. Quocumque se verterit, pretium aliquod praesens occupationis suae aspiciet. Nullum sine auctoramento malum est. Avaritia pecuniam promittit, luxuria multas ac varias voluptates, ambitio purpuram et plausum et ex hoc potentiam et quic-

5 quid potest potentia.! Mercede te vitia sollicitant ; hic tibi gratis vivendum est. Vix effici toto saeculo potest, ut vitia tam longa licentia tumida subigantur et iugum accipiant, nedum, si tam breve tempus intervallis caedimus.2 Unam quamlibet rem vix ad

g perfectum perducit adsidua vigilia et intentio. Si me quidem velis audire, hoc meditare et exerce, ut mortem et excipias et, si ita res suadebit, accersas. Interest nihil, illa ad nos veniat an ad illam nos. Illud imperitissimi cuiusque verbum falsum esse tibi ipse persuade: “Bella res est mori sua morte.” Nemo moritur nisi sua morte. Illud praeterea tecum licet cogites: nemo nisi suo die moritur. Nihil perdis ex tuo tempore; nam quod relinquis, alienum est. VALE.

1 potest potentia Hense ; potentia VPb; potia p; potentia potest later MSS 2 tempus intervallis caedimus Madvig ; intervallum dis- cedimus (discidimus) pV Pb.

@ Perhaps the converse idea of ‘living one’s own life.” It means ‘‘ dying when the proper time comes,” and is the common man’s argument against suicide. The thought perhaps suggests the subject matter of the next letter.

EPISTLE LXIX.

used to crave so passionately, must turn away both eyes and ears from the objects which he has aban- doned. The emotions soon return to the attack; at every turn they will notice before their eyes an object worth their attention. There is no evil that does not offer inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasures ; ambition, a purple robe and applause, and the influence which results from applause, and all that influence can do. Vices tempt you by the rewards which they offer; but in the life of which I speak, you must live without being paid. Scarcely will a whole life-time suffice to bring our vices into subjec- tion and to make them accept the yoke, swollen as they are by long-continued indulgence; and still less, if we cut into our brief span by any interrup- tions. Even constant care and attention can scarcely bring any one undertaking to full completion. If you will give ear to my advice, ponder and practise this,—how to welcome death, or even, if circum- stances commend that course, to invite it. There is no difference whether death comes to us, or whether we go to death. Make yourself believe that all ignorant men are wrong when they say: “It is a beautiful thing to die one’s own death.’”’* But there is no man who does not die his own death. What is more, you may reflect on this thought: No one dies except on his own day. You are throwing away none of your own time; for what you leave behind does not belong to you. Farewell.

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| H.0, & Seneca LvcILIo svO SALVTEM

1 Post longum intervallum Pompeios tuos vidi. In conspectum adulescentiae meae reductus sum. Quic- quid illic iuvenis feceram, videbar mihi facere adhuc

2 posse et paulo ante fecisse. Praenavigavimus, Lucili, vitam et quemadmodum in mari, ut ait Vergilius noster,

Terraeque urbesque recedunt,

sic in hoc cursu rapidissimi temporis primum pueritiam abscondimus, deinde adulescentiam, deinde quidquid est illud inter iuvenem et senem medium, in utriusque confinio positum, deinde ipsius senectutis optimos annos. Novissime incipit ostendi publicus finis

3 generis humani. Scopulum esse illum putamus dementissimi; portus est, aliquando petendus, num- quam recusandus, in quem si quis intra primos annos delatus est, non magis queri debet quam qui cito navigavit. Alium enim, ut scis, venti segnes ludunt ac detinent et tranquillitatis lentissimae taedio lassant, alium pertinax flatus celerrime perfert.

4 Idem evenire nobis puta: alios vita velocissime adduxit, quo veniendum erat etiam cunctantibus, alios maceravit et coxit. Quae, ut scis, non semper

a Probably the birthplace of Lucilius. b Aeneid, iii. 72.

EPISTLE LXX.,

LXX. ON THE PROPER TIME TO SLIP THE CABLE

After a long space of time I have seen your beloved Pompeii. I was thus brought again face to face with the days of my youth. And it seemed to me that I could still do, nay, had only done a short time ago, all the things which I did there when a young man. We have sailed past life, Lucilius, as if we were on a voyage, and just as when at sea, to quote from our poet Vergil,

Lands and towns are left astern,®

even so, on this journey where time flies with the greatest speed, we put below the horizon first our boyhood and then our youth, and then the space which lies between young manhood and middle age and borders on both, and next, the best years of old age itself. Last of all, we begin to sight the general bourne of the race of man. Fools that we are, we believe this bourne to be a dangerous reef; but it is the harbour, where we must some day put in, which we may never refuse to enter; and if a man has reached this harbour in his early years, he has no more right to complain than a sailor who has made a quick voyage. For some sailors, as you know, are tricked and held back by sluggish winds, and grow weary and sick of the slow-moving calm; while others are carried quickly home by steady gales. You may consider that the same thing happens to us: life has carried some men with the greatest rapidity to the harbour, the harbour they were bound to reach even if they tarried on the way, while others it has fretted and harassed. To such a life, as you

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retinenda est. Non enim vivere bonum est, sed bene vivere. Itaque sapiens vivit, quantum debet, non

B quantum potest. Videbit ubi victurus sit, cum

quibus, quomodo, quid acturus. Cogitat semper, qualis vita, non quanta sit. Si multa! occurrunt molesta et tranquillitatem turbantia, emittit se. Nec hoe tantum in necessitate ultima facit, sed cum primum illi coepit suspecta esse fortuna, diligenter circumspicit, numquid ideo? desinendum sit. Nihil existimat sua referre, faciat finem an accipiat, tardius fiat an citius. Non tamquam de magno detrimento timet; nemo multum ex stilicidio potest perdere.

6 Citius mori aut tardius ad rem non pertinet, bene

mori aut male ad rem pertinet. Bene autem mori est effugere male vivendi periculum.

Itaque effeminatissimam vocem illius Rhodii existimo, qui cum in caveam coniectus esset a tyranno et tamquam ferum aliquod animal aleretur, suadenti cuidam, ut abstineret cibo: ‘ omnia,’ inquit,

* “homini, dum vivit, speranda sunt.” Ut sit hoc

verum, non omni pretio vita emenda est. Quaedam licet magna, licet certa sint, tamen ad illa turpi infirmitatis confessione non veniam. Ego cogitem in eo, qui vivit, omnia posse fortunam, potius quam cogitem in eo, qui scit mori, nil posse fortunam?

1 si multa later MSS. ; si (sit p) simulata pVPb. 2 ideo C. Brakman ; illo MSS. ; illo die Muretus.

@ Although Socrates says (Phaedo, 61 f.) that the philo- sopher must, according to Philolaus, not take his own life against the will of God, the Stoics interpreted the problem in different ways. Some held that a noble purpose justified suicide ; others, that any reason was good enough. Cf. Ep. Ixxvii. 5 ff.

’ Telesphorus of Rhodes, threatened by the tyrant Lysimachus. On the proverb see Cicero, Ad Att. ix. 10. 3, and Terence, Heauton. 981 modo liceat vivere, est spes.

EPISTLE LXX.

are aware, one should not always cling. For mere living Is nota good, but living well. Accordingly, the wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can.* He will mark in what place, with whom, and how he is to conduct his existence, and what he is about to do. He always reflects concern- ing the quality, and not the quantity, of his life. As soon as there are many events in his life that give him trouble and disturb his peace of mind, he sets himself free. And this privilege is his, not only when the crisis is upon him, but as soon as Fortune seems to be playing him false; then he looks about carefully and sees whether he ought, or ought not, to end his life on that account. He holds that it makes no difference to him whether his taking-off be natural or self-inflicted, whether it comes later or earlier. He does not regard it with fear, as if it were a great loss; for no man can lose very much when but a driblet remains. It is not a question of dying earlier or later, but of dying well or ill. And dying well means escape from the danger of living ill.

That is why I regard the words of the well-known Rhodian ? as most unmanly. This person was thrown into a cage by his tyrant, and fed there like some wild animal. And when a certain man advised him to end his life by fasting, he replied: “ A man may hope for anything while he has life.” This may be true; but life is not to be purchased at any price. No matter how great or how well-assured certain rewards may be, I shall not strive to attain them at the price of a shameful confession of weakness. Shall I reflect that Fortune has all power over one who lives, rather than reflect that she has no power over one who knows how to die? There

VOL, II c 5g

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8 Aliquando tamen, etiam si certa mors instabit et destinatum sibi supplicium sciet, non commodabit ! poenae suae manum; sibi commodaret. Stultitia est timore mortis mori. Venit qui occidat. Expecta. Quid occupas? Quare suscipis alienae crudelitatis procurationem? Utrum invides carnifici tuo an

g parcis? Socrates potuit abstinentia finire vitam et inedia potius quam veneno mori. ‘Triginta tamen dies in carcere et in expectatione mortis exegit, non hoc animo tamquam omnia fieri possent, tamquam multas spes tam longum tempus reciperet, sed ut praeberet se legibus, ut fruendum amicis extremum Socraten daret. Quid erat stultius quam mortem

- contemnere, venenum timere ?

10 = Scribonia, gravis femina, amita Drusi Libonis fuit, adulescentis tam stolidi? quam nobilis, maiora spe- rantis quam illo saeculo quisquam sperare poterat aut ipse ullo. Cum aeger a senatu in lectica relatus esset non sane frequentibus exequiis, omnes enim necessarii deseruerant impie iam non reum, sed funus; habere coepit consilium, utrum conscisceret mortem an expectaret. Cui Scribonia: “Quid te,”

1 commodabit later MSS. ; commendabit VPb; commen- davit p. 2 stolidi Torrentius ; solidi MSS.

@ 4.¢., if he must choose between helping along his punish- ment by suicide, or helping himself by staying alive under torture and practising the virtues thus brought into play, he will choose the latter,—sibi commodare.

> See the imaginary dialogue in Plato’s Crito (50 ff.) between Socrates and the Laws—a passage which develops this thought.

¢ And to commit suicide in order to escape poisoning.

@ For a more complete account of this tragedy see

EPISTLE LXX.

are times, nevertheless, when a man, even though certain death impends and he knows that torture is in store for him, will refrain from lending a hand to his own punishment; to himself, however, he would lend a hand.@ It is folly to die through fear of dying. The executioner is upon you; wait. for him. Why anticipate him? Why assume the management of a cruel task that belongs to another? Do you grudge your executioner his privilege, or do you merely relieve him of his task? Socrates might have ended his life by fasting; he might have died by starvation rather than by poison. But instead of this he spent thirty days in prison awaiting death, not with the idea “everything may happen,” or “so long an imterval has room for many a hope” but in order that he might show himself submissive to the laws? and make the last moments of Socrates an edification to his friends. What would have been more foolish than to scorn death, and yet fear poison ? ¢

Scribonia, a woman of the stern old type, was an aunt of Drusus Libo.4 This young man was as stupid as he was well born, with higher ambitions than anyone could have been expected to entertain in that epoch, or a man like himself in any epoch at all. When Libo had been carried away ill from the senate-house in his litter, though certainly with a very scanty train of followers,—for all his kins- folk undutifully deserted him, when he was no longer a criminal but a corpse,—he began to con- sider whether he should commit suicide, or await death. Scribonia said to him: “ What pleasure do Tacitus, Annals, ii. 27 ff. Libo was duped by Firmius Catus

(16 a.p.) into seeking imperial power, was detected, and finally forced by Tiberius to commit suicide. 61

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inquit, “delectat alienum negotium agere?’’ Non persuasit illi; manus sibi attulit nec sine causa. Nam post diem tertium aut quartum inimici mori- turus arbitrio si vivit, alienum negotium agit.

Non possis itaque de re in universum pronuntiare, cum mortem vis externa denuntiat, occupanda sit an expectanda. Multa enim sunt, quae in utramque vartem trahere possunt. Si altera mors cum tor- mento, altera simplex et facilis est, quidni huic ini- cienda sit manus? Quemadmodum navem eligam navigaturus et domum habitaturus, sic mortem exi- turus e vita. Praeterea quemadmodum non utique melior est longior vita, sic peior est utique mors longior. In nulla re magis quam in morte morem animo gerere debemus. Exeat, qua impetum cepit ; sive ferrum appetit sive laqueum sive aliquam potio- nem venas occupantem, pergat et vincula servitutis abrumpat. Vitam et aliis adprobare quisque debet, mortem sibi. Optima est, quae placet. Stulte haec cogitantur: “aliquis dicet me parum fortiter fecisse, aliquis nimis temere, aliquis fuisse aliquod genus mortis animosius.” Vis tu cogitare id in manibus esse consilium, ad quod fama non pertinet! Hoc unum intuere, ut te fortunae quam celerrime

« When the ‘“‘natural advantages” (ra xara pour) of living are outweighed by the corresponding disadvantages, the honourable man may, according to the general Stoic view, take his departure. Socrates and Cato were right in so doing, according to Seneca ; but he condemns (Ep. xxiv. 25) those contemporaries who had recourse to suicide as a mere whim of fashion.

EPISTLE LXX.

you find in doing another man’s work?” But he did not follow her advice; he laid violent hands upon himself. And he was right, after all; for when a man is doomed to die in two or three days at his enemy's pleasure, he is really “doing another man’s work” if he continues to live.

No general statement can be made, therefore, with regard to the question whether, when a power beyond our control threatens us with death, we should anticipate death, or await it. For there are many arguments to pull us in either direction. If one death is accompanied by torture, and the other is simple and easy, why not snatch the latter? Just as I shall select my ship when I am about to go on a voyage, or my house when I propose to take a residence, so I shall choose my death when I am about to depart from life. Moreover, just as a long-drawn- out life does not necessarily mean a better one, so a long-drawn-out death necessarily means a worse one. There is no occasion when the soul should be humoured more than at the moment of death. Let the soul depart as it feels itself impelled to go;4 whether it seeks the sword, or the halter, or some draught that attacks the veins, let it proceed and burst the bonds of its slavery. Every man ought to make his life acceptable to others besides himself, but his death to himself alone. The best form of death is the one we like. Men are foolish who reflect thus: “One person will say that my conduct was not brave enough; another, that I was too headstrong; a third, that a particular kind of death would have betokened more spirit.” What you should really reflect is: “ I have under consideration a purpose with which the talk of men has no concern!” Your sole aim should be to escape from Fortune as

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eripias; alioquin aderunt, qui de facto tuo male existiment.

Invenies etiam professos sapientiam, qui vim adferendam vitae suae negent et nefas iudicent ipsum interemptorem sui fieri; expectandum esse exitum,! quem natura decrevit. Hoc qui dicit, non videt se libertatis viam cludere. Nil melius aeterna lex fecit, quam quod unum introitum nobis ad vitam dedit, exitus multos. Ego expectem vel morbi crudelitatem vel hominis, cum possim per media exire tormenta et adversa discutere? Hoc est unum, cur de vita non possimus? queri: neminem tenet. Bono loco res humanae sunt, quod nemo nisi vitio suo miser est. Placet; vive. Non placet; licet eo

16 reverti, unde venisti. Ut dolorem capitis levares,

sanguinem saepe misisti. Ad extenuandum corpus vena percutitur. Non opus est vasto vulnere dividere praecordia; scalpello aperitur ad illam magnam liber- tatem via et puncto securitas constat.

Quid ergo est, quod nos facit pigros inertesque? Nemo nostrum cogitat quandoque sibi ex hoc domi- cilio exeundum; sic veteres inquilinos indulgentia

17 loci et consuetudo etiam inter iniurias detinet. Vis

adversus hoc corpus liber esse? Tamquam migra- turus habita. Propone tibi quandoque hoe contu- bernio carendum; fortior eris ad necessitatem exeundi. Sed quemadmodum suus finis veniet in

1 exspectandum esse exitum later MSS. ; expectanovum esse exitum VPb. 2 possimus Erasmus ; possemus p 3 possumus VPb.

« By means of the cucurbita, or cupping-glass. Cf. Juvenal, xiv. 58 caput ventosa cucurbita quaerat. It was often used as a remedy for insanity or delirium.

EPISTLE LXX.

speedily as possible ; otherwise, there will be no lack of persons who will think ill of what you have done.

You can find men who have gone so far as to profess wisdom and yet maintain that one should not offer violence to one’s own life, and hold it accursed for a man to be the means of his own destruction ; we should wait, say they, for the end decreed by nature. But one who says this does not see that he is shutting off the path to freedom. ‘The best thing which eternal law ever ordained was that it allowed to us one entrance into life, but many exits. Must I await the cruelty either of disease or of man, when I can depart through the midst of torture, and shake off my troubles? This is the one reason why we cannot complain of life: it keeps no one against his will. Humanity is well situated, because no man is unhappy except by his own fault. Live, if you so desire; if not, you may return to the place whence you came. You have often been cupped in order to relieve headaches. You have had veins cut for the purpose of reducing your weight. If you would pierce your heart, a gaping wound is not necessary ; a lancet will open the way to that great freedom, and tranquillity can be purchased at the cost of a pin-prick.

What, then, is it which makes us lazy and sluggish ? None of us reflects that some day he must depart from this house of life; just so old tenants are kept from moving by fondness for a particular place and by custom, even in spite of ill-treatment. Would you be free from the restraint of your body? Live in it as if you were about to leave it. Keep thinking of the fact that some day you will be deprived of this tenure; then you will be more brave against the necessity of departing. But how will a man

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mentem omnia sine fine concupiscentibus? Nullius rei meditatio tam necessaria est. Alia enim fortasse exercentur in supervacuum. Adversus paupertatem praeparatus est animus; permansere divitiae. Ad contemptum nos doloris armavimus; nunquam a nobis exegit huius virtutis experimentum integri ac sani felicitas corporis. Ut fortiter amissorum desideria pateremur praecepimus nobis; omnes, quos amabamus, superstites fortuna servavit. Huius unius rei usum qui exigat! dies veniet.

Non est quod existimes magnis tantum viris hoc robur fuisse, quo servitutis humanae claustra perrum- perent; non est quod iudices hoc fieri nisi a Catone non posse, qui quam ferro non emiserat animam manu extraxit. Vilissimae sortis homines? ingenti impetu in tutum evaserunt,? cumque e commodo? mori non licuisset nec ad arbitrium suum instrumenta mortis eligere, obvia quaeque rapuerunt et quae natura non erant noxia, vi sua tela fecerunt. Nuper in ludo bestiariorum unus e Germanis, cum ad matutina spectacula pararetur, secessit ad exoneran- dum corpus; nullum aliud illi dabatur sine custode secretum. Ibi lignum id, quod ad emundanda obscena adhaerente spongia positum est, totum in gulam farsit et interclusis® faucibus spiritum elisit.

1 exigat later MSS. ; excitat pVPb.

2 extraxit: vilissimae sortis homines several editors, in- cluding Hense and Haase; eatraxit hutilissimae sortis hominis p; extraxit cum vilissimae sortis homines V Pb.

3 evaserunt Haase ; evaserit or evaserint MSS.

4 cumque e(x) commodo C.F.G. Mueller ; cumgue commodo (quonodo) Pb ; cumque incommodo p.

5 interclusis Hense ; inperclusis VPb ; in perclusi p.

EPISTLE LXX.

take thought of his own end, if he craves all things without end? And yet there is nothing so essential for us to consider. For our training in other things is perhaps superfluous. Our souls have been made ready to meet poverty ; but our riches have held out. We have armed ourselves to scorn pain; but we have had the good fortune to possess sound and healthy bodies, and so have never been forced to put this virtue to the test. We have taught ourselves to endure bravely the loss of those we love; but Fortune has preserved to us all whom we loved. It is in this one matter only that the day will come which will require us to test our training.

You need not think that none but great men have had the strength to burst the bonds of human servitude ; you need not believe that this cannot be done except by a Cato,—Cato, who with his hand dragged forth the spirit which he had not succeeded in freeing by the sword. Nay, men of the meanest lot in life have by a mighty impulse escaped to safety, and when they were not allowed to die at their own convenience, or to suit themselves in their choice of the instruments of death, they have snatched up whatever was lying ready to hand, and by sheer strength have turned objects which were by nature harmless into weapons of their own. For example, there was lately in a training-school for wild-beast gladiators a German, who was making ready for the morning exhibition ; he withdrew in order to relieve himself,—the only thing which he was allowed to do in secret and without the presence of a guard. While so engaged, he seized the stick of wood, tipped with a sponge, which was devoted to the vilest uses, and stuffed it, just as it was, down his throat ; thus he blocked up his windpipe, and choked

VOL. II c2 67

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Hoc fuit morti contumeliam facere. Ita prorsus; parum munde et parum decenter; quid est stultius

91 quam fastidiose mori? O virum fortem, o dignum, cui fati daretur electio! Quam fortiter ille gladio usus esset, quam animose in profundam se altitudinem maris aut abscisae rupis inmisisset! Undique desti- tutus invenit, qaemadmodum et mortem sibi deferret ! et telum, ut scias ad moriendum nihil aliud in mora esse quam velle. Existimetur de facto hominis acerrimi, ut cuique visum erit, dum hoc constet, praeferendam esse spurcissimam mortem servituti mundissimae.

22 Quoniam coepi sordidis exemplis uti, perseverabo. Plus enim a se quisque exiget, si viderit hanc rem etiam a contemptissimis posse contemni. Catones Scipionesque et alios, quos audire cum admiratione consuevimus, supra imitationem positos putamus; iam ego istam virtutem habere tam multa exempla in ludo bestiario quam in ducibus belli civilis

23 ostendam. Cum adveheretur nuper inter custodias quidam ad matutinum spectaculum missus, tamquam somno premente nutaret, caput usque eo demisit, donec radiis insereret, et tamdiu se in sedili suo tenuit, donee cervicem circumactu rotae frangeret. Eodem vehiculo, quo ad poenam ferebatur, effugit.

24 Nihil obstat erumpere et exire cupienti. In

1 deferret Hense ; deberet MSS.

@ Custodia in the sense of ‘‘ prisoner” (abstract for concrete) is a post-Augustan usage. See Hp. v. 7, and Summers’ note.

EPISTLE LXX.

the breath from his body. That was truly to insult death! Yes, indeed; it was not a very elegant or becoming way to die; but what is more foolish than to be over-nice about dying? What a brave fellow! He surely deserved to be allowed to choose his fate ! How bravely he would have wielded a sword! With what courage he would have hurled himself into the depths of the sea, or down a precipice! Cut off from resources on every hand, he yet found a way to furnish himself with death, and with a weapon for death. Hence you can understand that nothing but the will need postpone death. Let each man judge the deed of this most zealous fellow as he likes, provided we agree on this point,—that the foulest death is preferable to the fairest slavery. Inasmuch as I began with an illustration taken from humble life, I shall keep on with that sort. For men will make greater demands upon themselves, if they see that death can be despised even by the most despised class of men. ‘The Catos, the Scipios, and the others whose names we are wont to hear with admiration, we regard as beyond the sphere of imitation; but I shall now prove to you that the virtue of which I speak is found as frequently in the gladiators’ training-school as among the leaders in a civil war. Lately a gladiator, who had been sent forth to the morning exhibition, was being conveyed in a cart along with the other prisoners*; nodding as if he were heavy with sleep, he let his head fall over so far that it was caught in the spokes; then he kept his body in position long enough to break his neck by the revolution of the wheel. So he made his escape by means of the very wagon which was carrying him to his punishment.

When a man desires to burst forth and take his

lo cor

bo ba |

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA rperto nos natura custedit. Cui permittit necessitas sua, circumspiciat exitum mollem ; cuiad manum plura sunt, per quae sese adserat, is dilectum agat et qua potissimum liberetur, consideret; cui difficilis oceasio est, is proximam gquamgue pro optima arripiat, sit licet inaudita, sit nova. Non deerit ad mortem ingenium, cul non deiuerit animus. Vides, quemad- modum extrema quogue mancipia, ubi illis stimulos adegit dolor, excitentur et intentissimas custodias fallant? Mlle vir magnus est, qui mortem sibi non tantum imperavit, sed invenit. \ Ex eodem tibi munere plura exempla promisi. Secundo naumachiae spectaculo unus e_ barbaris lanceam, quam in adversarios acceperat, totam iugulo suo mersit. “Quare, quare,’ inquit, “non omne tormentum, omne ludibrium iamdudum effugio?

>» 37 =

Quare ego mortem armatus expecto: Tanto hoe

5 - speciosius spectaculum fuit, quanto honestius mori

discunt homines quam occidere. Quid ergo? Quod animi perditi quodque noxiosi habent, non habebunt illi, quos adversus hos casus

instruxit longa meditatio et magistra rerum omnium

‘ratio? Illa nos docet fati varios esse accessus, finem

eundem, nihil autem interesse, unde incipiat qued \ 70

EPISTLE LXX.

departure, nothing stands in his way. It is an open space in which Nature guards us. When our plight is such as to permit it, we may look about us for an easy exit. If you have many opportunities ready to hand, by means of which you may liberate yourself, you may make a selection and think over the best way of gaining freedom; but if a chance is hard to find, instead of the best, snatch the next best, even though it be something unheard of, something new. If you do not lack the courage, you will not lack the cleverness, to die. See how even the lowest class of slave, when suffering goads him on, is aroused and discovers a way to deceive even the most watch- ful guards! He is truly great who not only has given himself the order to die, but has also found the means.

I have promised you, however, some more illustra- tions drawn from the same games. During the second event in a sham sea-fight one of the bar- barians sank deep into his own throat a spear which had been given him for use against his foe. “Why, oh why,” he said, “ have I not long ago escaped from all this torture and all this mockery? Why should I be armed and yet wait for death to come?” This exhibition was all the more striking because of the lesson men learn from it that dying is more honour- able than killing.

What, then? If such a spirit is possessed by abandoned and dangerous men, shall it not be possessed also by those who have trained themselves to meet such contingencies by long meditation, and by reason, the mistress of all things? It is reason which teaches us that fate has various ways of approach, but the same end, and that it makes no difference at what point the inevitable event begins.

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28 venit. Eadem illa ratio monet, ut, si licet, moriaris quemadmodum placet; si minus,! quemadmodum potes, et quicquid obvenerit ad vim adferendam tibi invadas. Iniuriosum est rapto vivere, at contra pulcherrimum mori rapto. VAate,

sO. 4B Seneca LyvciILio svo SALVTEM

1 Subinde me de rebus singulis consulis oblitus vasto nos mari dividi. Cum magna pars consilii sit in tempore, necesse est evenire, ut de quibusdam rebus tunc ad te perferatur sententia mea, cum iam contraria potior est. Consilia enim rebus aptantur. Res nostrae feruntur, immo volvuntur. Ergo con- silium nasci sub diem debet; et hoc quoque nimis tardum est; sub manu, quod aiunt, nascatur. Quem- admodum autem inveniatur, ostendam.

9 Quotiens, quid fugiendum sit aut quid petendum, voles scire, ad summum bonum, propositum totius vitae tuae, respice. Illi enim consentire debet, qguicquid agimus; non disponet singula, nisi cui iam vitae suae summa proposita est. Nemo, quamvis paratos habeat colores, similitudinem reddet, nisi iam constat, quid velit pingere. Ideo peccamus, quia de partibus vitae omnes deliberamus, de tota

1 Hense, following Schweighiuser, inserts guemadmodum placet ; si minus.

« j.e., by robbing oneself of life; but the antithesis to Vergil’s phrase (Aen. ix. 613) is artificial.

> A similar argument is found in Lp. lxv. §§ 5 ff., con- taining the same figure of thought.

EPISTLES LXX., LXXI.

Reason, too, advises us to die, if we may, according to our taste; if this cannot be, she advises us to die according to our ability, and to seize upon whatever means shall offer itself for doing violence to our- selves. It is criminal to “live by robbery’’%; but, on the other hand, it is most noble to “die by robbery.” Farewell.

LXXI. ON THE SUPREME GOOD

You are continually referring special questions to me, forgetting that a vast stretch of sea sunders us. Since, however, the value of advice depends mostly on the time when it is given, it must necessarily result that by the time my opinion on certain matters reaches you, the opposite opinion is the better. For advice conforms to circumstances; and our circum- stances are carried along, or rather whirled along. Accordingly, advice should be produced at short notice; and even this is too late; it should “ grow while we work,’ as the saying is. And I propose to show you how you may discover the method.

= As often as you wish to know what is to be avoided or what is to be sought, consider its relation to the Supreme Good, to the purpose of your whole life. For whatever we do ought to be in harmony with this; no man can set in order the details unless he has already set before himself the chief purpose of his life. The artist may have his colours all prepared, but he cannot produce a likeness unless he has already made up his mind what he wishes to paint.’ The reason we make mistakes is because we all consider the parts of life, but never life as a whole. a : \ ® .

Nios Tez

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3 nemo deliberat. Scire debet quid petat ille, qui sagittam vult mittere, et tune derigere ac moderari manu telum. Errant consilia nostra, quia non habent, quo derigantur. Ignoranti, quem portum_petat, nullus suus ventus est. Necesse est multum in vita

4 nostra casus possit, quia vivimus casu. Quibusdam autem evenit, ut quaedam scire se nesciant. Quemad- modum quaerimus saepe eos, cum quibus stamus, ita plerumque finem summi boni ignoramus adpositum.

Nec multis verbis nec circumitu longo, quod sit summum bonum, colliges!; digito, ut ita dicam, demonstrandum est nec in multa spargendum. Quid enim ad rem pertinet in particulas illud diducere, cum possis dicere: summum bonum est, quod honestum est? Et quod magis admireris: unum bonum est, quod honestum est, cetera falsa et

5 adulterina bona sunt. Hoe si persuaseris tibi et virtutem adamaveris, amare enim parum est, quic- quid illa contigerit, id tibi, qualecumque aliis vide- bitur, faustum felixque erit. Et torqueri, si modo jacueris ipso torquente securior, et aegrotare, si non male dixeris fortunae, si non cesseris morbo, omnia denique, quae ceteris videntur mala, et mansuescent et in bonum abibunt, si super illa eminueris.

Hoc liqueat, nihil esse bonum nisi honestum, et omnia incommoda suo iure bona vocabuntur, quae

1 colliges Muretus ; colligis MSS. @ Fora definition of honestum see Cicero, De Fin. ii. 45 ff.,

and Rackham’s note, explaining it as *‘ 7d «adév, the morally beautiful or good.”

74: “ = ' j ; aa oj * wth 4 A 1 Mee — 26 SSE RB €:

one at

EPISTLE LXXI.

The archer must know what he is seeking to hit; then he must aim and control the weapon by his skill. Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When aman does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind. Chance must necessarily have great influence over our lives, because we live by chance. It is the case with certain men, however, that they do not know that they know certain things. Just as we often go searching for those who stand beside us, so we are apt to forget that the goal of the Supreme Good lies near us.

To infer the nature of this Supreme Good, one does not need many words or any round-about dis- cussion ; it should be pointed out with the forefinger, so to speak, and not be dissipated into many parts. For what good is there in breaking it up into tiny bits, when you can say: the Supreme Good is that which is honourable*? Besides (and you may be still more surprised at this), that which is honourable is the only good ; all other goods are alloyed and debased. If you once convince yourself of this, and if you come to love virtue devotedly (for mere loving is not enough), anything that has been touched by virtue will be fraught with blessing and prosperity for you, no matter how it shall be regarded by others. Torture, if only, as you lie suffering, you are more calm in mind than your very torturer; illness, if only you curse not Fortune and yield not to the disease—in short, all those things which others regard as ills will become manageable and will end in good, if you succeed in rising above them.

Let this once be clear, that there is nothing good except that which is honourable, and all hardships will have a just title to the name of “ goods,’ when

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

6 modo virtus honestaverit. Multis videmur maiora promittere quam recipit humana condicio; non inmerito. Ad corpus enim respiciunt. Revertantur ad animum; iam hominem deo metientur. Erige te, Lucili virorum optime, et relinque istum ludum literarium philosophorum, qui rem magnificentissimam ad syllabas vocant, qui animum minuta docendo demittunt et conterunt; fies similis illis, qui in- venerunt ista, non qui docent et id agunt, ut philo- sophia potius difficilis quam magna videatur.

“6 Socrates qui totam philosophiam revocavit ad mores et hanc summam dixit esse sapientiam, bona malaque distinguere, “sequere,”’ inquit, ‘illos, si quid apud te habeo auctoritatis, ut sis beatus, et te alicui stultum videri sine. Quisquis volet, tibi contumeliam faciat et iniuriam, tu tamen_ nihil patieris, si modo tecum erit virtus. Si vis,” inquit, “beatus esse, si fide bona vir bonus, sine contemnat te aliquis.’” Hoc nemo praestabit, nisi qui omnia bona exaequaverit, quia nec bonum sine honesto est

8 et honestum in omnibus par est. “Quid! ergo? Nihil interest inter praeturam Catonis et repulsam? Nihil interest, utrum Pharsalica acie Cato vincatur an vincat? Hoc eius bonum, quo victis partibus

1 Hense gives quid ergo... componeret pacem? to the supposed objector.

2 See, for example, the syllogistic display which is ridiculed in Ep. xlvili. 6.

> i.e., from being mere word-play.

¢ Hense suggests that Seneca may be rendering the phrase of Simonides—dvip ayOas aya0os.

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once virtue has made them honourable. Many chink that we Stoics are holding out expectations greater than our human lot admits of; and they have a right to think so. For they have regard to the body only. But let them turn back to the soul, and they will soon measure man by the standard of God. Rouse yourself, most excellent Lucilius, and leave off all this word-play of the philosophers, who reduce a most glorious subject to a matter of syllables, and lower and wear out the soul by teach- ing fragments; then you will become like the men who discovered these precepts, instead of those who by their teaching do their best to make philosophy seem difficult rather than great.”

Socrates, who recalled? the whole of philosophy to rules of conduct, and asserted that the highest wisdom consisted in distinguishing between good and evil, said: “Follow these rules, if my words carry weight with you, in order that you may be happy; and let some men think you even a fool. Allow any man who so desires to insult you and work you wrong ; but if only virtue dwells with you, you will suffer nothing. If you wish to be happy, if you would be in good faith a good man,’ let one person or another despise you.”” No man can accomplish this unless he has come to regard all goods as equal, for the reason that no good exists without that which is honourable, and that which is honourable is in every case equal. You may say: “ What then? Is there - no difference between Cato’s being elected praetor and his failure at the polls? Or whether Cato is conquered or conqueror in the battle-line of Phar- salia? And when Cato could not be defeated, though his party met defeat, was not this goodness of his equal to that which would have been his if

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non potest vinci, par erat illi bono, quo victor rediret in patriam et conponeret pacem?”’ Quidni par sit ? Eadem enim virtute et mala fortuna vincitur et ordinatur bona. Virtus autem non potest maior aut 9 minor fieri; unius staturae est. “Sed Cn. Pompeius amittet exercitum, sed illud pulcherrimum rei publicae praetextum, optimates, et prima acies Pompeianarum partium, senatus ferens arma, uno proelio profligabuntur et tam magni ruina imperii in totum dissiliet orbem; aliqua pars eius in Aegypto, aliqua in Africa, aliqua in Hispania cadet. Ne hoc quidem miserae rei publicae continget, semel ruere.”

10 Omnia licet fiant; Iubam in regno suo non locorum notitia adiuvet, non popularium pro rege suo virtus obstinatissima, Vticensium quoque fides malis fracta deficiat et Scipionem in Africa nominis sui fortuna destituat. Olim provisum est, ne quid Cato detri- menti caperet.

11 “Victus est tamen.” Et hoc numera inter repulsas Catonis; tam magno animo feret aliquid sibi ad victoriam quam ad_ praeturam obstitisse. Quo die repulsus est, lusit, qua nocte periturus fuit, legit. Eodem loco habuit praetura et vita excidere ; omnia, quae acciderent, ferenda esse persuaserat sibi.

12 Quidni ille mutationem rei publicae forti et aequo

a Egypt—47 s.c.; Africa (Thapsus)—46 B.c.; Spain (Munda)—45 B.c.

> A sort of serious parody of the senatus consultum ulti- mum. For a discussion of the history and meaning of the phrase see W. Warde Fowler’s Cicero, pp. 151-158.

¢ Plato’s Phaedo. Cato slew himself at Utica, 46 B.c., after Scipio’s defeat at Thapsus.

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he had returned victorious to his native land and arranged a peace?”’’ Of course it was; for it is by the same virtue that evil fortune is overcome and good fortune is controlled. Virtue, however, cannot be increased or decreased; its stature is uniform. “ But,” you will object, “Gnaeus Pompey will lose his army; the patricians, those noblest patterns of the State’s creation, and the front-rank men of Pompey’s party, a senate under arms, will be routed in a single engagement; the ruins of that great oligarchy will be scattered all over the world; one division will fall in Egypt, another in Africa, and another in Spain!* And the poor State will not be allowed even the privilege of being ruined once for all!” Yes, all this may happen; Juba’s familiarity with every position in his own kingdom may be of no avail to him, of no avail the resolute bravery of his people when fighting for their king; even the men of Utica, crushed by their troubles, may waver in their allegiance; and the good fortune which ever attended men of the name of Scipio may desert Scipio in Africa. But long ago destiny “saw to it that Cato should come to no harm.” ?

“He was conquered in spite of it all!’’ Well, you may include this among Cato’s “ failures” ; Cato will bear with an equally stout heart anything that thwarts him of his victory, as he bore that which thwarted him of his praetorship. The day whereon he failed of election, he spent in play; the night wherein he intended to die, he spent in reading. He regarded in the same light both the loss of his praetorship and the loss of his life; he had convinced himself that he ought to endure anything which might happen. Why should he not suffer, bravely and calmly, a change in the govern-

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pateretur animo? Quid enim mutationis periculo exceptum? Non terra, non caelum, non totus hic rerum omnium contextus, quamvis deo agente ducatur. Non semper tenebit hune ordinem, sed

13 illum ex hoc cursu aliquis dies deiciet. Certis eunt cuncta temporibus; nasci debent, crescere, extingui. Quaecumque supra nos vides currere, et haec, quibus inmixti atque inpositi sumus veluti solidissimis carpentur ac desinent. Nulli non senectus sua est; inaequalibus ista spatiis eodem natura dimittit. Quicquid est, non erit, nec peribit, sed resolvetur.

14 Nobis solvi perire est, proxima enim intuemur; ad ulteriora non prospicit mens hebes et quae se corpori addixerit; alioqui fortius finem sui suorumque pateretur, si speraret, ut} omnia illa, sic vitam mor- temque per vices ire et composita dissolvi, dissoluta componi, in hoe opere aeternam artem cuncta tem- perantis dei verti.

15 Itaque ut M. Cato, cum aevum animo percucurrerit, dicet: “omne humanuin genus, quodque est quodque erit, morte damnatum est. Omnes, quae usquam rerum potiuntur urbes quaeque alienorum imperiorum

magna sunt decora, ubi fuerint, aliquando quaeretur 1 ut added by Haase.

2 Cf. Ep. ix. 16f. resolute mundo, ete, 890

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ment? For what is free from the risk of change? Neither earth, nor sky, nor the whole fabric of our universe, though it be controlled by the hand of God. It will not always preserve its present order ; it will be thrown from its course in days to come.% All things move in accord with their appointed times; they are destined to be born, to grow, and to be destroyed. The stars which you see moving above us, and this seemingly immovable earth to which we cling and on which we are set, will be consumed and will cease to exist. There is nothing that does not have its old age; the intervals are merely unequal at which Nature sends forth all these things towards the same goal. Whatever is will cease to be, and yet it will not perish, but will be resolved into its elements. To our minds, this process means perishing, for we behold only that which is nearest ; our sluggish mind, under allegiance to the body, does not penetrate to bournes beyond. Were it not so, the mind would endure with greater courage its own ending and that of its possessions, if only it could hope that life and death, like the whole universe about us, go by turns, that whatever has been put together is broken up again, that whatever has been broken up is put together again, and that the eternal craftsmanship of God, who controls all things, is working at this task.

Therefore the wise man will say just what a Marcus Cato would say, after reviewing his past life: “The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to be, is condemned to die. Of all the cities that at any time have held sway over the world, and of all that have been the splendid orna- ments of empires not their own, men shall some day ask where they were, and they shall be swept away

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et vario exitii! genere tollentur; alias destruent bella, alias desidia paxque ad inertiam versa consumet et magnis opibus exitiosa res, luxus. Omnes hos fertiles campos repentina? maris inundatio abscondet aut in subitam cavernam considentis soli lapsus abducet. Quid est ergo quare indigner aut doleam, si exiguo momento publica fata praecedo?’’ Magnus animus deo pareat et quicquid lex universi iubet, sine cunctatione patiatur; aut in meliorem emittitur vitam lucidius tranquilliusque inter divina mansurus aut certe sine ullo futurus incommodo sui? naturae remiscebitur et revertetur in totum.

Non est ergo M. Catonis maius bonum honesta vita quam mors honesta, quoniam non _ intenditur virtus. Idem esse dicebat Socrates veritatem et virtutem. Quomodo illa non crescit, sic ne virtus quidem; habet numeros suos, plena est. Non est itaque quod mireris paria esse bona, et quae ex proposito sumenda sunt et quae si ita res tulit. Nam si hance inaequalitatem receperis, ut fortiter torqueri in minoribus bonis numeres, numerabis etiam in malis, et infelicem Socraten dices in carcere, infelicem Catonem vulnera sua animosius quam

1 exitit later MSS. ; exhilit V ; exilit Pb. 2 repentina later MSS. ; repentint VPb. 3 suzt G. Gemoll ; si VPb.

@ For a clear and full discussion regarding Stoic views of the immortality of the soul, and Seneca’s own opinion thereon, see E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism, pp. 262 ff.

> Cf. § 20 of this letter: rigida re quid amplius intendi potest ?

¢ i.e, knowledge of facts, as Seneca so often says. Cf. Plato, Meno, 87 c émisrjun tis 4 dpery, and Aristotle, Hth. vi. 13 Swxpdrns . . . Abyous Tas apeTas Mero elvat, émiary- was yap elvat raoas.

4 This is the accepted Stoic doctrine; see Ep. lxvi. 5. Goods are equal, absolute, and independent of circumstances;

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by destructions of various kinds; some shall be ruined by wars, others shall be wasted away by inactivity and by the kind of peace which ends in sloth, or by that vice which is fraught with destruc- tion even for mighty dynasties,—luxury. All these fertile plains shall be buried out of sight by a sudden overflowing of the sea, or a slipping of the soil, as it settles to lower levels, shall draw them suddenly into a yawning chasm. Why then should I be angry or feel sorrow, if I precede the general destruction by a tiny interval of time?” Let great souls comply with God’s wishes, and suffer un- hesitatingly whatever fate the law of the universe ordains; for the soul at death is either sent forth into a better life, destined to dwell with deity amid greater radiance and calm, or else, at least, without suffering any harm to itself, it will be mingled with nature again, and will return to the universe.“

Therefore Cato’s honourable death was no less a good than his honourable life, since virtue admits of no stretching.» Socrates used to say that verity ° and virtue were the same. Just as truth does not grow, so neither does virtue grow; for it has its due proportions and is complete. You need not, there- fore, wonder that goods are equal,” both those which are to be deliberately chosen, and those which circumstances have imposed. For if you once adopt the view that they are unequal, deeming, for in- stance, a brave endurance of torture as among the lesser goods, you will be including it among the evils also; you will pronounce Socrates unhappy in his prison, Cato unhappy when he reopens_ his wounds with more courage than he showed in although, as Seneca here maintains, circumstances may bring one or another of them into fuller play.

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fecerat retractantem, calamitosissimum omnium Regulum fidei poenas etiam hostibus servatae pen- dentem. Atqui nemo hoc dicere, ne ex mollissimis quidem, ausus est. Negant enim illum esse beatum, 18 sed tamen negant miserum. Academici veteres beatum quidem esse etiam inter hos cruciatus fatentur, sed non ad perfectum nec ad plenum. Quod nullo modo potest recipi; nisi beatus est, in summo bono non est. Quod summum bonum est, supra se gradum non habet, si modo illi virtus inest, si illam adversa non minuunt, si! manet etiam com- minuto corpore incolumis; manet autem. Virtutem enim intellego animosam et excelsam, quam incitat 19 quicquid infestat. Hune animum, quem _ saepe induunt generosae indolis iuvenes, quos alicuius honestae rei pulchritudo percussit, ut omnia fortuita contemnant, profecto sapientia nobis? infundet et tradet. Persuadebit unum bonum esse, quod honestum; hoc nec remitti nec intendi posse, non magis quam regulam, qua rectum probari solet, flectes. Quicquid ex illa mutaveris, iniuria est recti. 20 Idem ergo de virtute dicemus: et haec recta est, flexuram non recipit. Rigida re® quid amplius intendi potest ? Haec de omnibus rebus iudicat, de hac nulla. Si rectior ipsa non potest fieri, ne quae # 1 si later MSS. ; sed VPb. 2 nobis Chatelain ; non VPb. 3 rigida re Capps ; rigidart MSS. * ne quae Haase; neque P; nec quae Vb.

@ ¢.g., Xenocrates and Speusippus; cf. Ep. lxxxv. 18. For another answer to the objection that the good depends upon outward circumstances cf. Lp. xcii. 14f.

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inflicting them, and Regulus the most ill-starred of all when he pays the penalty for keeping his word even with his enemies. And yet no man, even the most effeminate person in the world, has ever dared to maintain such an opinion. For though such persons deny that a man like Regulus is happy, yet for all that they also deny that he is wretched, The earlier Academics @ do indeed admit that a man is happy even amid such tortures, but do not admit that he is completely or fully happy. With this view we cannot in any wise agree; for unless a man is happy, he has not attained the Supreme Good; and the good which is supreme admits of no higher degree, if only virtue exists within this man, and if adversity does not impair his virtue, and if, though the body be injured, the virtue abides unharmed. And it does abide. For I understand virtue to be high-spirited and exalted, so that it is aroused by anything that molests it. This spirit, which young men of noble breeding often assume, when they are so deeply stirred by the beauty of some honourable object that they despise all the gifts of chance, is assuredly infused in us and communicated to us by wisdom. Wisdom will bring the conviction that there is but one good— that which is honourable; taat this can neither be shortened nor extended, any more than a carpenter's rule, with which straight lines are tested, can be bent. Any change in the rule means spoiling the straight line. Applying, therefore, this same figure to virtue, we shall say: Virtue also is straight, and admits of no bending. What can be made more tense than a thing which is already rigid? Such is virtue, which passes judgment on everything, but nothing passes judgment on virtue. And if this rule, virtue, cannot

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ab illa fiunt quidem alia aliis rectiora sunt. Huie enim necesse est respondeant; ita paria sunt.

“Quid ergo?” inquis,! “iacere in convivio et torqueri paria sunt?”’ Hoc mirum videtur tibi? I}lud licet magis admireris ; iacere in convivio malum, in eculeo bonum est,? si illud turpiter, hoc honeste fits Bona ista aut mala non efficit materia, sed virtus. Haec ubicumque apparuit, omnia eiusdem mensurae ac pretii sunt. In oculos nune mihi manus intentat ille, qui omnium animum aestimat ex suo, quod dicam paria bona esse honeste iudicantis et honeste periclitantis,t quod dicam paria bona esse eius, qui triumphat, et eius, qui ante currum vehitur invictus animo. Non putant enim fieri, quicquid facere non possunt; ex infirmitate sua de virtute ferunt sententiam. Quid miraris, si uri, vulnerari, occidi, alligari iuvat, aliquando etiam libet? Luxurioso frugalitas poena est, pigro supplicii loco labor est, delicatus miseretur industrii, desidioso studere torqueri est. Eodem modo haec, ad quae omnes inbecilli sumus, dura atque intoleranda credimus, obliti, quam multis tormentum sit vino carere aut prima luce excitari. Non ista difficilia sunt natura,

1 inguis later MSS. ; inquit VPb. '

2 This reading is based on the authority of late MSS. VPb read iacere in eculeo bonum est.

3 honeste fit later MSS. ; honeste sit Vb 3 honestum sit P. * et honeste periclitantis added by Gertz.

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itself be made more straight, neither can the things created by virtue be in one case straighter and in another less straight. For they must necessarily correspond to virtue; hence they are equal. “What,” you say, “do you call reclining at a banquet and submitting to torture equally good?” Does this seem surprising to you? You may be still more surprised at the following,—that reclining at a banquet is an evil, while reclining on the rack is a good, if the former act is done in a shameful, and the latter in an honourable manner. It is not the material that makes these actions good or bad; it is the virtue. All acts in which virtue has disclosed itself are of the same measure and value. At this moment the man who measures the souls of all men by his own is shaking his fist in my face because I hold that there is a parity between the goods in- volved in the case of one who passes sentence honourably, and of one who suffers sentence honour- ably ; or because I hold that there is a parity between the goods of one who celebrates a triumph, and of one who, unconquered in spirit, is carried before the victor’s chariot. For such critics think that whatever they themselves cannot do, is not done; they pass judgment on virtue in the light of their own weak- nesses. Why do you marvel if it helps a man, and on occasion even pleases him, to be burned, wounded, slain, or bound in prison? To a luxurious man, a simple life is a penalty; to a lazy man, work is pun- ishment; the dandy pities the diligent man; to the slothful,studies aretorture, Similarly, weregard those things with respect to which we are all infirm of disposi- tion, as hard and beyond endurance, forgetting what a torment it is to many men to abstain from wine or to

be routed from their beds at break of day. These 87

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sed nos fluvidi et enerves. Magne animo de rebus magnis iudicandum est; alioqui videbiturillarum vitium esse, quod nostrum est. Sic quaedam rectissims, cum inaquam demissa sunt,speciemcurvi praefra tique visentibus reddunt. Non tantum quid videas, sed quemadmodum, refert ; animus noster ad vera perspi- cienda caligat. Da mihi adulescentem incorruptum et ingenio vegetum ; dicet fortunatiorem sibi videri, qui omnia rerum adversarum onera rigida cervice sustollat, qui supra fortunam existat.! Non mirum est in tran- quillitate non concuti ; illud mirare, ibi extolli aliquem ubi omnes deprimuntur, ibi stare ubi omnes iacent. Quid est in tormentis, quid est in aliis, quae adversa appellamus, mali? Hoe, ut opinor, succidere mentem et incurvari et succumbere. Quorum nihil sapienti viro potest evenire ; stat rectus sub quolibet pondere. Nulla illum res minorem facit; nihil illi eorum, quae ferenda sunt, displicet. Nam quicquid cadere in hominem potest, in se cecidisse non queritur. Vires suas novit. Scit se esse oneri ferendo. Non educo sapientem ex hominum numero nec dolores ab illo sicut ab aliqua rupe nullum sensum admittente summoveo. Memini ex duabus illum partibus esse compositum; altera est inrationalis, haec mordetur, uritur, dolet; altera rationalis, haec inconcussas opiniones habet, intrepida est et indomita.

1 exsistat cod. Bern.; extat VPb?; exeat b!; exiliat Hermes ; Hense suggests eatet.

@ «* An oar, though quite whole, presents the appearance

of being broken when seen in clear shallow water.” —Seneca, NV.Q. 1. 3 (Clarke and Geikie).

» This dualism of soul and body goes back to earlier religions, and especially to the Persian. The rational part (7d NoytoreKdv), though held by most Stoics to be corporeal, or part of the world-stuff, is closely related to the 7yeuovixdv, or ‘‘ principate.”

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actions are not essentially difficult; it is we ourselves that are soft and flabby. We must pass judgment concerning great matters with greatness of soul; otherwise, that which is really our fault will seem to be their fault. So it is that certain objects which are perfectly straight, when sunk in water appear to the onlooker as bent or broken off. It matters not only what you see, but with what eyes you see it; our souls are too dull of vision to perceive the truth. But give me an unspoiled and sturdy-minded young man; he will pronounce more fortunate one who sustains on unbending shoulders the whole weight . of adversity, who stands out superior to Fortune. It ~ is not a cause for wonder that one is not tossed about when the weather is calm; reserve your wonderment for cases where a man is lifted up when all others sink, and keeps his footing when all others are prostrate. What element of evil is there in torture and in the other things which we call hardships? It seems to me that there is this evil,—that the mind sags, and bends, and collapses. But none of these things can happen to the sage; he stands erect under any load. Nothing can subdue him; nothing that must be endured annoys him. For he does not complain that he has been struck by that which can strike any man. He knows his own strength; he knows that he was born to carry burdens. I do not withdraw the wise man from the category of man, nor do I deny to him the sense of pain as though he were a rock that has no feelings at all. I remember that he is made up of two parts: the one part is irrational,—it is this that may be bitten, burned, or hurt; the other part is rational,—it is this which holds resolutely to opinions, is courageous, and unconquerable.2 In the

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In hae positum est summum illud hominis bonum. Antequam impleatur, incerta mentis volutatio est; cum vero perfectum est, inmota illa! stabilitas est. Itaque inchoatus et ad summa procedens cultorque virtutis, etiam si adpropinquat perfecto bono, sed ei nondum summam manum inposuit, ibit? interim cessim et remittet aliquid ex intentione mentis. Nondum enim incerta transgressus est, etiamnunc versatur in lubrico. Beatus vero et virtutis exactae tune se maxime amat, cum fortissime expertus est, et metuenda ceteris, si alicuius honesti officii pretia sunt, non tantum fert, sed amplexatur multoque audire mavult “ tanto melior” quam “ tanto felicior.”

Venio nunc illo, quo me vocat expectatio tua. Ne extra rerum naturam vagari virtus nostra videatur, et tremet? sapiens et dolebit et expallescet. Hi enim omnes corporis sensus sunt. Ubi ergo calamitas, ubi illud malum verum est? Tlic scilicet, si ista animum detrahunt, si ad confessionem servitutis adducunt, si illi paenitentiam sui faciunt. Sapiens quidem vincit virtute fortunam, at multi _professi sapientiam levissimis nonnumquam minis exterriti sunt. Hoc loco nostrum vitium est, qui idem a sapiente exigimus et a proficiente. Suadeo adhue

1 Buecheler prefers ili. 2 abit Gruter ; ibi VPb. 3 tremet the common reading; tremebit VPb; Hense suggests tremescet.

Sh SSP a tee Pe NR de Doe GO es Soi Sales Pe ets VS PS) @ 7,¢., because he has endured and conquered misfortune rather than escaped it.

> For a similar thought cf. Ep. xi. 6.

¢ Three stages of progress (mpoxow7) were defined by Chrysippus. Cf. also Sen. Lpp. Ixxii. 6 and Ixxv. 8 f, 90

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latter is situated man’s Supreme Good. Before this is completely attained, the mind wavers in uncer- tainty ; only when it is fully achieved is the mind fixed and steady. And so when one has just begun, or is on one’s way to the heights and is cultivating virtue, or even if one is drawing near the perfect good but has not yet put the finishing touch upon it, one will retrograde at times and there will be a certain slackening of mental effort. For such a man has not yet traversed the doubtful ground; he is still standing in slippery places. But the happy man, whose virtue is complete, loves himself most of all when his bravery has been submitted to the severest test, and when he not only endures but welcomes that which all other men regard with fear, if it is the price which he must pay for the performance of a duty which honour imposes, and he greatly prefers to have men say of him: “how much more noble!” rather than “how much more lucky#!”

And now I have reached the point to which your patient waiting summons me. You must not think that our human virtue transcends nature; the wise man will tremble, will feel pain, will turn pale.? For all these are sensations of the body. Where, then, is the abode of utter distress, of that which is truly an evil? In the other part of us, no doubt, if it is the mind that these trials drag down, force to a confession of its servitude, and cause to regret its existence. The wise man, indeed, overcomes Fortune by his virtue, but many who profess wisdom are sometimes frightened by the most unsubstantial threats. And at this stage it is a mistake on our part to make the same demands upon the wise man and upon the learner.’ I still exhort myself to do

VOL. II D Ol

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mihi ista, quae laudo, nondum persuadeo. Etiam si persuasissem, nondum tam parata haberem aut tam exercitata, ut ad omnes casus procurrerent. Quemad- modum lana quosdam colores semel ducit, quosdam nisi saepius macerata et recocta non perbibit; sic alias disciplinas ingenia, cum accepere, protinus praestant, haec, nisi alte descendit et diu sedit et animum non coloravit, sed infecit, nihil ex his,

32 quae promiserat, praestat. Cito hoc potest tradi et

paucissimis verbis: unum bonum esse virtutem, nullum certe sine virtute, et ipsam virtutem in parte nostri meliore, id est rationali, positam. Quid erit haee virtus? Iudicium verum et inmotum. Ab hoc enim impetus venient mentis, ab hoc omnis species,

33 quae impetum movet, redigetur ad liquidum. Huic

iudicio consentaneum erit omnia, quae virtute con- tacta sunt, et bona iudicare et inter se paria. Corporum autem bona corporibus quidem bona sunt, sed in totum non sunt bona. His pretium quidem erit aliquod, ceterum dignitas non erit; magnis inter se intervallis distabunt; alia minora, alia maiora erunt. Et in ipsis sapientiam sectantibus magna discrimina esse fateamur necesse est. Alius iam in tantum profecit, ut contra fortunam audeat adtollere oculos, sed non pertinaciter, cadunt! enim nimio splendore praestricti; alius in tantum, ut

1 cadunt Haase ; cedunt or caedunt MSS.

@ Ovid, Metam. vi. 9, speaks of bibula lana, and Horace, Ep. i. 10. 27, of vellera potantia fucum.

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that which I recommend; but my exhortations are not yet followed. And even if this were the case, I should not have these principles so ready for practice, or so well trained, that they would rush to my assistance in every crisis. Just as wool takes up certain colours at once,“ while there are others which it will not absorb unless it is soaked and steeped in them many times; so other systems of doctrine can be immediately applied by men’s minds after once being accepted, but this system of which I speak, unless it has gone deep and has sunk in for a long time, and has not merely coloured but thoroughly permeated the soul, does not fulfil any of its promises. The matter can be imparted quickly and in very few words: “ Virtue is the only good; at any rate there is no good without virtue ; and virtue itself is situated in our nobler part, that is, the rational part.” And what will this virtue be? A true and never-swerving judgment. For therefrom will spring all mental impulses, and by its agency every external appearance that stirs our impulses will be clarified. It will be in keeping with this judgment to judge all things that have been coloured by virtue as goods, and as equal goods.

Bodily goods are, to be sure, good for the body ; but they are not absolutely good. There will indeed be some value in them; but they will possess no genuine merit, for they will differ greatly ; some will be less, others greater. And we are con- strained to acknowledge that there are great differ- ences among the very followers of wisdom. One man has already made so much progress that he dares to raise his eyes and look Fortune in the face, but not persistently, for his eyes soon drop, dazzled by her overwhelming splendour; another has made

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possit cum illa conferre vultum, nisi’ iam pervenit

35 ad summum et fiduciae plenus est. Inperfecta necesse

est labent et modo prodeant, modo sublabantur aut succidant. Sublabentur autem, nisi ire et niti perseveraverint ; si quicquam ex studio et fideli intentione laxaverint, retro eundum est. Nemo pro- fectum ibi invenit, ubi reliquerat. Instemus itaque et perseveremus. Plus, quam profligavimus, restat, sed magna pars est profectus velle proficere.

Huius rei conscius mihi sum; volo et mente tota volo. Te quoque instinctum esse et magno ad pul- cherrima properare impetu video. Properemus; ita demum vita beneficium erit. Alioqui mora est, et quidem turpis inter foeda versantibus. Id agamus,

ut nostrum omne tempus sit. Non erit autem, nisi

37 prius nos nostri esse coeperimus. Quando continget

contemnere utramque fortunam, quando continget omnibus oppressis adfectibus et sub arbitrium suum adductis hane vocem emittere “vici’”? Quem vicerim quaeris? Non Persas nec extrema Medorum nec si quid ultra Dahas bellicosum iacet, sed avaritiam, sed ambitionem, sed metum mortis, qui victores gentium vicit. VALE. 1 yultum, nisi Hense ; vultum si MSS.

ih A 5 ER aR de se a ln ea @ In which case, he would be completely superior to her. > A nomad Scythian tribe east of the Caspian Sea.

EPISTLE LXXI.

so much progress that he is able to match glances with her,—that is, unless he has already reached the summit and is full of confidence. That which is short of perfection must necessarily be unsteady, at one time progressing, at another slipping or growing faint; and it will surely slip back unless it keeps struggling ahead ; for if a man slackens at all in zeal and faithful application, he must retrograde. No one can resume his progress at the point where he left off. Therefore let us press on and persevere. There remains much more of the road than we have put behind us; but the greater part of progress is the desire to progress.

I fully understand what this task is. It is a thing which I desire, and I desire it with all my heart. I see that you also have been aroused and are hastening with great zeal towards infinite beauty. Let us, then, hasten ; only on these terms will life be a boon to us; otherwise, there is delay, and indeed disgraceful delay, while we busy ourselves with revolting things. Let us see to it that all time belongs to us. This, however, cannot be unless first of all our own selves begin to belong to us. And when will it be our privilege to despise both kinds of fortune? When will it be our privilege, after all the passions have been subdued and brought under our own control, to utter the words “I have conquered!” ? Do you ask me whom I have conquered? Neither the Persians, nor the far-off Medes, nor any warlike race that lies beyond the Dahae?; not these, but greed, ambition, and the fear of death that has conquered the conquerors of the world. Farewell.

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LXXII.

Seneca LycILio svO SALVTEM

Quod quaeris a me, liquebat mihi, sie rem edidi- ceram, per se. Sed diu non retemptavi memoriam meam, itaque non facile me sequitur. Quod evenit libris situ cohaerentibus, hoc evenisse mihi sentio; explicandus est animus et quaecumque apud illum deposita sunt, subinde excuti debent, ut parata sint, quotiens usus exegerit. Ergo hoc in _praesentia differamus ; multum enim operae, multum diligentiae poscit. Cum primum longiorem eodem loco spera- vero moram, tunc istud in manus sumam. Quaedam enim sunt, quae possis et in cisio scribere. Quaedam lectum et otium et secretum desiderant. Nihilo- minus his quoque occupatis diebus agatur aliquid et quidem totis. Numquam enim non _ succedent occupationes novae; serimus illas, itaque ex una exeunt plures. Deinde ipsi nobis dilationem damus: “cum hoc peregero, toto animo incumbam” et “si hance rem molestam composuero, studio me dabo.”

Non cum vacaveris, philosophandum est; omnia alia neglegenda, ut huic adsideamus, cui nullum

¢ The context furnishes no clue as to what the subject was,

» Seneca is fond of legal figures; cf. Ep. Ixv. 15. For the dilatio see Pliny, Hp. i. 18. 1 rogas ut dilationem petam.

¢ Cf. Ep. liii. 9 (philosophia) non est res subsiciva (‘ta matter for spare time”), ordinaria est ; domina est, adcsse abet.

EPISTLE LXXII.

LXXII. ON BUSINESS AS THE ENEMY OF .PHILOSOPHY

The subject * concerning which you question me was once clear to my mind, and required no thought, so thoroughly had I mastered it. But I have not tested my memory of it for some time, and therefore it does not readily come back to me. I feel that I have suffered the fate of a book whose rolls have stuck together by disuse; my mind needs to be unrolled, and whatever has been stored away there ought to be examined from time to time, so that it may be ready for use when occasion demands. Let us therefore put this subject off for the present ; for it demands much labour and much care. As soon as | can hope to stay for any length of time in the same place, I shall then take your question in hand. For there are certain subjects about which you can write even while travelling in a gig, and there are also subjects which need a study-chair, and quiet, and seclusion. Nevertheless I ought to accomplish something even on days like these,— days which are fully employed, and indeed from morning till night. For there is never a moment when fresh employments will not come along; we sow them, and for this reason several spring up from one. Then, too, we keep adjourning our own cases,? saying: “As soon as I am done with this, I shall settle down to hard work,” or: “If I ever set this troublesome matter in order, I shall devote myself to study.”

But the study of philosophy is not to be postponed until you have leisure;° everything else is to be neglected in order that we may attend to philosophy,

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tempus satis magnum est, etiam si a pueritia usque ad longissimos humani aevi terminos vita producitur. Non multum refert, utrum omittas philosophiam an intermittas ; non enim ubi interrupta est, manet, sed eorum more, quae intenta dissiliunt, usque ad initia sua recurrit, quod a continuatione discessit. Resis- tendum est occupationibus, nec explicandae, sed sub- movendae sunt. Tempus quidem nullum parum est idoneum studio salutari; atqui multi inter illa non 4student, propter quae studendum est. “ Incidet aliquid, quod inpediat.” Non quidem eum, cuius animus in omni negotio laetus atque alacer est; inperfectis adhuc interscinditur laetitia, sapientis vero contexitur gaudium, nulla causa rumpitur, nulla fortuna, semper et ubique tranquillus! est. Non enim ex alieno pendet nec favorem fortunae aut hominis expectat. Domestica illi felicitas est ; exiret 5 ex animo, si intraret; ibi nascitur. Aliquando ex- trinsecus, quo admoneatur mortalitatis, intervenit, sed id leve et quod summam cutem stringat. Aliquo, inquam, incommodo adflatur; maximum autem illud bonum est fixum. Ita dico: extrinsecus aliqua sunt incommoda, velut in corpore interdum robusto solidoque eruptiones quaedam pusularum et ulcuscula, 6 nullum in alto malum est. Hoc, inquam, interest

1 tranquillus Haase ; tranguillum MSS.

2 Cf. Ep. xlv. 9 intrepidus, quem aliqua vis movet, nulla perturbat, quem fortuna . . . pungit, non vulnerat, et hoc raro.

EPISTLE LXXII.

for no amount of time is long enough for it, even though our lives be prolonged from boyhood to the uttermost bounds of time allotted toman. It makes little difference whether you leave philosophy out altogether or study it intermittently ; for it does not stay as it was when you dropped it, but, because its continuity has been broken, it goes back to the position in which it was at the beginning, like things which fly apart when they are stretched taut. We must resist the affairs which occupy our time; they must not be untangled, but rather put out of the way. Indeed, there is no time that is unsuitable for helpful studies; and yet many a man fails to study amid the very circumstances which make study necessary. He says: “Something will happen to hinder me.” No, not in the case of the man whose spirit, no matter what his business may be, is happy and alert. It is those who are still short of per- fection whose happiness can be broken off; the joy | of a wise man, on the other hand, is a woven fabric, rent by no chance happening and by no change of fortune ; at all times and in all places he is at peace. For his joy depends on nothing external and looks for no boon from man or fortune. His happiness is something within himself; it would depart from his soul if it entered in from the outside; it is born there. Sometimes an external happening reminds him of his mortality, but it is a light blow, and merely grazes the surface of hisskin.* Some trouble, I repeat, may touch him like a breath of wind, but that Supreme Good of his is unshaken. This is what I mean: there are external disadvantages, like pimples and boils that break out upon a body which is normally strong and sound; but there is no deep-seated malady. The difference, I say, between

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inter consummatae sapientiae virum et alium pro- cedentis, quod inter sanum et ex morbo gravi ac diutino emergentem, cui sanitatis loco est levior accessio: hic nisi adtendit, subinde gravatur et in eadem revolvitur, sapiens recidere non potest, ne incidere quidem amplius. Corpori enim ad tempus bona valetudo est, quam medicus, etiam si reddidit, non praestat, saepe ad eundem, qui! advocaverat, excitatur. Animus? semel in totum sanatur.

7 Dicam, quomodo intellegam*® sanum: si se ipso contentus est, si confidit sibi, si scit omnia vota mortalium, omnia beneficia quae dantur petunturque, nullum in beata vita habere momentum. Nam cui aliquid accedere potest, id inperfectum est; cui aliquid abscedere potest, id inperpetuum est; cuius perpetua futura laetitia est, is suo gaudeat. Omnia autem, quibus vulgus inhiat, ultro citroque fluunt. Nihil dat fortuna mancipio. Sed haec quoque fortuita tunc delectant, cum illa ratio temperavit ac miscuit ; haec est, quae etiam externa commendet, quorum

8 avidis usus ingratus est. Solebat Attalus hac imagine uti: “ vidisti aliquando canem missa a domino frusta panis aut carnis aperto ore captantem? Quicquid excepit, protinus integrum devorat et semper ad

1 gui Lipsius ; guem MSS.

2 animus added by Muretus. 8 intellegam Koch ; intellegas MSS.

* Cf. Lucretius, iii. 971 vita mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu. Our lives are merely loaned to us ; Nature retains the dominium. Cf. also Seneca’s frequent figure of life as an inn, contrasted with a house over which one has ownership.

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a man of perfect wisdom and another who is pro- gressing in wisdom is the same as the difference between a healthy man and one who is convalesc- ing from a severe and lingering illness, for whom “health” means only a lighter attack of his disease. If the latter does not take heed, there is an im- mediate relapse and a return to the same old trouble; but the wise man cannot slip back, or slip into any more illness at all. For health of body is a temporary matter which the physician cannot guarantee, even though he has restored it; nay, he is often roused from his bed to visit the same patient who summoned him before. The mind, however, once healed, is healed for good and all.

I shall tell you what I mean by health: if the - mind is content with its own self; if it has con- fidence in itself; if it understands that all those things for which men pray, all the benefits which are bestowed and sought for, are of no importance in relation toa life of happiness; under such conditions it is sound. For anything that can be added to is imperfect ; anything that can suffer loss is not last- ing; but let the man whose happiness is to be lasting, rejoice in what is truly his own. Now all that which the crowd gapes after, ebbs and flows. Fortune gives us nothing which we can really own. But even these gifts of Fortune please us when reason has tempered and blended them to our taste ; for it is reason which makes acceptable to us even external goods that are disagreeable to use if we absorb them too greedily. Attalus used to employ the following simile: “Did you ever see a dog snapping with wide-open jaws at bits of bread or meat which his master tosses to him? Whatever he catches, he straightway swallows whole, and always

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spem venturi hiat. Idem evenit nobis; quicquid expectantibus fortuna proiecit, id sine ulla voluptate demittimus statim, ad rapinam alterius erecti et adtoniti.” Hoc sapienti non evenit; plenus est. Etiam si quid obvenit, secure excipit ac reponit. 9 Laetitia fruitur maxima, continua, sua. Habet aliquis bonam voluntatem, habet profectum, sed cui multum desit a summo; hic deprimitur alternis et extollitur ac modo in caelum adlevatur, modo defertur ad terram. Imperitis! ac rudibus nullus praecipitationis finis est; in Epicureum illud chaos decidunt, inane,

10 sine termino. Est adhuc genus tertium eorum, qui sapientiae adludunt, quam non quidem contigerunt, in conspectu tamen et, ut ita dicam, sub ictu habent ; hi non concutiuntur, ne defluunt quidem. Nondum in sicco, iam in portu sunt.

11 Ergo cum tam magna sint inter summos imosque discrimina, cum medios quoque sequatur fluctus? suus, sequatur ingens periculum ad deteriora redeundi, non debemus occupationibus indulgere. Excludendae sunt; si semel intraverint, in locum suum alias sub- stituent. Principiis illarum obstemus. Melius non

incipient, quam desinent. VALE.

1 imperitis later MSS. ; impeditis V Pb. 2 fluctus later MSS. ; fructus VPb.

@ The Void (inane), or infinite space, as contrasted with the atoms which form new worlds in continuous succession.

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opens his jaws in the hope of something more. So it is with ourselves; we stand expectant, and wiat- ever Fortune has thrown to us we forthwith bolt, without any real pleasure, and then stand alert and frantic for something else to snatch.” But it is not so with the wise man; he is satisfied. Even if something falls to him, he merely accepts it carelessly and lays it aside. The happiness that he enjoys is supremely great, is lasting, is his own. Assume that a man has good intentions, and has made progress, but is still far from the heights; the result is a series of ups and downs; he is now raised to heaven, now brought down to earth. For those who lack experience and training, there is no limit to the downhill course; such a one falls into the Chaos of Epicurus,—empty and boundless. There is still a third class of men,—those who toy with wisdom; they have not indeed touched it, but yet are in sight of it, and have it, so to speak, within striking dis- tance. They are not dashed about, nor do they drift back either; they are not on dry land, but are already in port.

Therefore, considering the great difference be- tween those on the heights and those in the depths, and seeing that even those in the middle are pursued by an ebb and flow peculiar to their state, and pursued also by an enormous risk of returning to their degenerate ways, we should not give ourselves up to matters which occupy our time. They should be shut out; if they once gain an entrance, they will bring in still others to take their places. Let us resist them in their early stages. It is better that they shall never begin than that they shall be made to cease. Farewell.

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Seneca LyciILio svO SALVTEM

1 Errare mihi videntur, qui existimant philosophiae fideliter deditos contumaces esse ac refractarios, con- temptores magistratuum aut regum eorumve, per quos publica administrantur. Ex contrario enim nulli adversus illos gratiores sunt; nec inmerito, Nullis enim plus praestant quam quibus frui tranquillo

Z otio licet. Itaque ii, quibus multum? ad propositum bene vivendi confert securitas publica, necesse est auctorem huius boni ut parentem colant, multo quidem magis quam illi inquieti et in medio positi, qui multa principibus debent, sed multa et inputant, quibus numquam tam plene occurrere ulla liberalitas potest, ut cupiditates illorum, quae crescunt, dum implentur, exsatiet. Quisquis autem de accipiendo cogitat, oblitus accepti est; nec ullum habet malum

3 cupiditas maius, quam quod ingrata est. Adice nunc, quod nemo eorum, qui in re publica versantur, quot vineat, sed a quibus vincatur, aspicit. Et illis non tam iucundum est multos post se videre quam grave aliquem ante se. Habet hoc vitium omnis ambitio ; non respicit. Nec ambitio tantum instabilis est, verum cupiditas omnis, quia incipit semper a fine.

4 At ille vir sincerus ac purus, qui reliquit et curiam et forum et omnem administrationem rei publicae,

1 multum Haase; altum VPb.

« This letter is especially interesting because of its auto- biographical hints, and its relation to Seneca’s own efforts to be rid of court life and seek the leisure of the sage. See the Introduction to Vol. I. pp. viii f.

® Cf. Horace, Sat. i. 1. 115 f.—

Instat equis auriga suos vincentibus, illum Praeteritum temnens extremos inter euntem.

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XXIII. ON PHILOSOPHERS AND KINGS4

It seems to me erroneous to believe that those who have loyally dedicated themselves to philosophy are stubborn and rebellious, scorners of magistrates or kings or of those who control the administration of public affairs. For, on the contrary, no class of man is so popular with the philosopher as the ruler is; and rightly so, because rulers bestow upon no men a greater privilege than upon those who are allowed to enjoy peace and leisure. Hence, those who are greatly profited, as regards their purpose of right living, by the security of the State, must needs cherish as a father the author of this good; much more so, at any rate, than those restless persons who are always in the public eye, who owe much to the ruler, but also expect much from him, and are never so generously loaded with favours that their cravings, which grow by being supplied, are thoroughly satis- fied. And yet he whose thoughts are of benefits to come has forgotten the benefits received ; and there is no greater evil in covetousness than its ingratitude. Besides, no man in public life thinks of the many whom he has outstripped ; he thinks rather of those by whom he is outstripped. And these men find it less pleasing to see many behind them than annoying to see anyone ahead of them.2 That is the trouble with every sort of ambition; it does not look back. Nor is it ambition alone that is fickle, but also every sort of craving, because it always begins where it ought to end.

But that other man, upright and pure, who has left the senate and the bar and all affairs of state, that

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ut ad ampliora secederet, diligit eos, per quos hoc ei facere tuto licet solusque!? illis gratuitum testimonium reddit et magnam rem nescientibus debet. Quemad- modum praeceptores suos veneratur ac suspicit, quo- rum beneficio illis inviis exit, sic et hos,? sub quorum

5 tutela positus exercet artes bonas. “ Verum alios quoque? rex viribus suis protegit.” Quis negat? Sed quemadmodum Neptuno plus debere se iudicat ex is, qui eadem tranquillitate usi sunt, qui plura et pretiosiora illo mari vexit, animosius a mercatore quam a vectore solvitur votum, et ex ipsis mercatori- bus effusius gratus est, qui odores ac purpuras et auro pensanda portabat quam qui vilissima quaeque et saburrae loco futura congesserat; sic huius pacis beneficium ad omnes pertinentis altius ad eos per- venit, qui illa bene utuntur.

6 Multi enim sunt ex his togatis, quibus pax operosior bello est. An idem existimas pro pace debere eos, qui illam ebrietati aut libidini inpendunt aut aliis vitiis, quae vel bello rumpenda sunt? Nisi forte tam iniquum putas esse sapientem, ut nihil viritim se debere pro communibus bonis iudicet. Soli lunaeque plurimum debeo, et non uni mihi oriuntur. Anno temperantique annum deo privatim obligatus

1 solusque Muretus ; solumgue VPb. * hos later MSS. ; his VPb. 5 alios quoque later MSS. ; quoque alios VPb.

@ For an interesting account of philosophy and its relation to Roman history see E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism, chap. xvi. This subject is discussed fully by Cicero, De Of. i. 71 f., and by Seneca, Ep. xc.

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he may retire to nobler affairs, cherishes those who have made it possible for him to do this in security ; he is the only person who returns spontaneous thanks to them, the only person who owes them a great debt without their knowledge. Just as a man honours and reveres his teachers, by whose aid he has found release from his early wanderings, so the sage honours these men, also, under whose guardianship he can put his good theories into practice. But you answer: “Other men too are protected by a king’s personal power.” Perfectly true. But just as, out of a number of persons who have profited by the same stretch of calm weather, a man deems that his debt to Neptune is greater if his cargo during that voyage has been more extensive and valuable, and just as the vow is paid with more of a will by the merchant than by the passenger, and just as, from among the merchants themselves, heartier thanks are uttered by the dealer in spices, purple fabrics, and objects worth their weight in gold, than by him who has gathered cheap merchandise that will be nothing but ballast for his ship; similarly, the benefits of this peace, which extends to all, are more deeply appreciated by those who make good use of it.

For there are many of our toga-clad citizens to whom peace brings more trouble than war. Or do those, think you, owe as much as we do for the peace they enjoy, who spend it in drunkenness, or in lust, or in other vices which it were worth even a war to interrupt? No, not unless you think that the wise man is so unfair as to believe that as an individual he owes nothing in return for the advantages which he enjoys with all the rest. I owe a great debt to the sun and to the moon; and yet they do not rise for me alone. I am personally beholden to the seasons

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sum, quamvis nihil in meum honorem! discripta sint. Stulta avaritia mortalium possessionem pro- prietatemque discernit nec quicquam suum credit esse, quod publicum est. At ille sapiens nihil iudicat suum magis quam cuius illi cum humano genere con- sortium est. Nec enim essent ita communia, nisi pars illorum pertineret ad singulos; socium efficit

8 etiam quod ex minima portione commune est. Adice nunc, quod magna et vera bona non sic dividuntur, ut exiguum in singulos cadat; ad unumquemque tota perveniunt. Ex congiario tantum ferunt homines, quantum in capita promissum est. Epulum et visceratio et quicquid? aliud manu capitur, discedit in partes. At haec individua bona, pax et libertas, et? tam omnium tota quam singulorum sunt.

9 Cogitat itaque, per quem sibi horum usus fruc- tusque contingat, per quem non ad arma illum nec ad servandas vigilias nec ad tuenda moenia et multi- plex belli tributum publica necessitas vocet, agitque gubernatori suo gratias. Hoc docet philosophia praecipue, bene debere* beneficia, bene solvere;

10 interdum autem solutio est ipsa confessio. Confite- bitur crgo multum se debere ei, cuius administratione ac providentia contingit illi pingue otium et arbitrium

1 Hense suggests the possibility of tempora after honorem, 2 et quicquid later MSS. ; quid or quicquid VPb. 3 et later MSS. ; ea VP. 4 dehbere later MSS. ; dedere VPb.

@ For this figure cf. Ep. lxxii. 7 and note; see also the similar language of lxxxviii. 12 hoc, quod tenes, quod tuum dicis, publicum est et quidem generis humant.

> During certain festivals, either cooked or raw meat was distributed among the people.

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and to the god who controls them, although in no respect have they been apportioned for my benefit. The foolish greed of mortals makes a distinction between possession and ownership,’ and believes that it has ownership in nothing in which the general public has a share. But our philosopher considers nothing more truly his own than that which he shares in partnership with all mankind. For chese things would not be common property, as indeed they are, unless every individual had his quota; even a joint interest based upon the slightest share makes one a partner. Again, the great and true goods are not divided in such a manner that each has but a slight interest; they belong in their entirety to each individual. At a distribution of grain men receive only the amount that has been promised to each person; the banquet and the meat- dole,’ or all else that a man can carry away with him, are divided into parts. These goods, however, are indivisible,—I mean peace and liberty,—and they belong in their entirety to all men just as much as they belong to each individual.

Therefore the philosopher thinks of the person who makes it possible for him to use and enjoy these things, of the person who exempts him when the state’s dire need summons to arms, to sentry duty, to the defence of the walls, and to the manifold exactions of war; and he gives thanks to the helms- man of his state. This is what philosophy teaches most of all,—honourably to avow the debt of benefits received, and honourably to pay them; sometimes, however, the acknowledgment itself constitutes payment. Our philosopher will therefore acknow- ledge that he owes a large debt to the ruler who makes it possible, by his management and foresight,

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sui temporis et inperturbata publicis occupationibus quies.

O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit : Namque erit ille mihi semper deus.

11 Si illa quoque otia multum auctori suo debent, quorum munus hoc maximum est:

Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum Ludere quae vellem calamo permisit agresti ;

quanti aestimamus hoc otium, quod inter deos agitur, 12 quod deos facit? Ita dico, Lucili, et te in caelum compendiario voco.

Solebat Sextius dicere Iovem plus non posse quam bonum virum. Plura Iuppiter habet, quae praestet hominibus, sed inter duos bonos non est melior, qui locupletior, non magis quam inter duos, quibus par scientia regendi gubernaculum est, meliorem dixeris,

13 cui maius speciosiusque navigium est. Iuppiter quo antecedit virum bonum? Diutius bonus est; sapiens nihilo se minoris existimat, quod virtutes eius spatio breviore cluduntur. Quemadmodum ex duobus sapientibus qui senior decessit, non est beatior eo, cuius intra pauciores annos terminata virtus est, sic deus non vincit sapientem felicitate, etiam si vincit

14 aetate. Non est virtus maior, quae longior. Iuppiter omnia habet, sed nempe aliis tradidit habenda; ad

¢ Vergil, [clogue, i. 6 f. Wergil owes a debt to the Emperor, and regards him as a ‘‘god”’ because of the bestowal of earthly happiness; how much greater is the debt of the philosopher, who has the opportunity to study heavenly things!

> Vergil, Eclogue, i. 9 f.

e In the Christian religion, God is everything; among the Stoics, the wise man is equal to the gods. C/, for example, Hp. xli. 4.

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for him to enjoy rich leisure, control of his own time, and a tranquillity uninterrupted by public employ- ments.

Shepherd! a god this leisure gave to me, For he shall be my god eternally.

And if even such leisure as that of our poet owes a great debt to its author, though its greatest boon is this:

As thou canst see,

He let me turn my cattle out to feed, And play what fancy pleased on rustic reed ;°

how highly are we to value this leisure of the philo- sopher, which is spent among the gods, and makes us gods? Yes, that is what I mean, Lucilius; and I invite you to heaven by a short cut.

Sextius used to say that Jupiter had no more power than the good man. Of course, Jupiter has more gifts which he can offer to mankind; but when you are choosing between two good men, the richer is not necessarily the better, any more than, in the case of two pilots of equal skill in managing the tiller, you would call him the better whose ship is larger and more imposing. In what respect is Jupiter superior to our good man? His goodness lasts longer; but the wise man does not set a lower value upon himself, just because his virtues are limited by a briefer span. Or take two wise men; he who has died at a greater age is not happier than he whose virtue has been limited to fewer years: similarly, a god has no advantage over a wise man in point of happiness,° even though he has such an advantage in point of years. That virtue is not greater which lasts longer. Jupiter possesses all things, but he has surely given over the possession of

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ipsum hie unus usus pertinet, quod utendi omnibus causa est. Sapiens tam aequo animo omnia apud alios videt contemnitque quam Iuppiter et hoc se magis suspicit, quod Iuppiter uti illis non potest, sapiens non vult. Credamus itaque Sextio monstranti pulcherrimum iter et clamanti: “hac ‘itur ad astra,’ hac secundum frugalitatem, hac secundum temperan- tiam, hac secundum fortitudinem.”’

Non sunt di fastidiosi, non invidi; admittunt et ascendentibus manum porrigunt. Miraris hominem ad deos ire? Deus ad homines venit, immo quod est propius, in homines venit; nulla sine deo mens bona est. Semina in corporibus humanis divina dispersa sunt, quae si bonus cultor excipit, similia origini prodeunt et paria iis, ex quibus orta sunt, surgunt; si malus, non aliter quam humus sterilis ac palustris necat ac deinde creat purgamenta pro frugibus. VALE.

LXXIV.

Seneca Lycitio svo SALVTEM

Epistula tua delectavit me et marcentem excitavit, memoriam quoque meam, quae iam mihi segnis ac lenta est, evocavit.

Quidni tu, mi Lucili, maximum putes instrumentum

@ Vergil, Aeneid, ix. 641. > Of. Ep. xii. §§ 1 f. prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.

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them to others; the only use of them which belongs to him is this: he is the cause of their use to all men. The wise man surveys and scorns all the possessions of others as calmly as does Jupiter, and regards himself with the greater esteem because, while Jupiter cannot make use of them, he, the wise man, does not wish to do so. Let us therefore believe Sextius when he shows us the path of perfect beauty, aud, cries: “« this is “the. way to the stars >. this is the way, by observing thrift, self-restraint, and courage!”

The gods are not disdainful or envious; they open the door to you; they lend a hand as you climb. Do you marvel that man goes to the gods? God comes to men; nay, he comes nearer,—he comes into men.2 No mind that has not God, is good. Divine seeds are scattered throughout our mortal bodies; if a good husbandman receives them, they spring up in the likeness of their source and of a parity with those from which they came. If, however, the husbandman be bad, like a barren or marshy soil, he kills the seeds, and causes tares to grow up instead of wheat. Farewell.

LXXIV. ON VIRTUE AS A REFUGE FROM WORLDLY DISTRACTIONS

Your letter has given me pleasure, and has roused me from sluggishness. It has also prompted my memory, which has been for some time slack and nerveless.

You are right, of course, my dear Lucilius, in deeming the chief means of attaining the happy life

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beatae vitae hane persuasionem, unum bonum esse, quod honestum est? Nam gui alia bona iudicat, in fortunae venit potestatem, alieni arbitrii fit; qui omne bonum honesto circumscripsit, intra se est felix.} 2 Hic amissis liberis maestus, hic sollicitus aegris, hic turpibus et aliquam passis infamiam tristis. Illum videbis alienae uxoris amore cruciari, illum suae. Non deerit quem repulsa distorqueat; erunt quos ipse 3 honor vexet. Illa vero maxima ex omni mortalium populo turba miserorum, quam expectatio mortis exagitat undique inpendens. Nihil enim est, unde non subeat. Itaque ut in hostili regione versantibus hue et illue circumspiciendum est et ad omnem strepitum circumagenda cervix; nisi hic timor e pectore eiectus est, palpitantibus praecordiis vivitur. 4 Occurrent acti in exilium et evoluti bonis. Occurrent, quod genus egestatis gravissimum est, in divitiis inopes. Occurrent naufragi similiave naufragis passi, quos aut popularis ira aut invidia, perniciosum optimis telum, inopinantes securosque disiecit procellae more, quae in ipsa sereni fiducia solet emergere, aut fulminis

1 intra se est felix Hense; intra se felix VPb; intra se felix est later MSS.

« A doctrine often expressed in the Letters; cf, for example, Ixxi. 4.

® Cf. Horace, Carm. iii. 16. 28 magnas inter opes mops.

¢ For the same thought ef. Ep. iv. 7 Neminem eo fortuna provexit, ut non tantum illi minaretur, quantum permiserat. Noli huic tranquillitati confidere ; momento mare evertitur. Liodem die ubi luserunt navigia, sorbentur.

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to consist in the belief that the only good lies in that which is honourable. For anyone who deems other things to be good, puts himself in the power of Fortune, and goes under the control of another; but he who has in every case defined the good by the honourable, is happy with an inward happiness.

One man is saddened when his children die; another is anxious when they become ill; a third is embittered when they do something disgraceful, or suffer a taint in their reputation. One man, you will observe, is tortured by passion for his neighbour’s wife, another by passion for his own. You will find men who are completely upset by failure to win an election, and others who are actually plagued by the offices which they have won. But the largest throng of unhappy men among the host of mortals are those whom the expectation of death, which threatens them on every hand, drives to despair. For there is no quarter from which death may not approach. Hence, like soldiers scouting in the enemy’s country, they must look about in all directions, and turn their heads at every sound; unless the breast be rid of this fear, one lives with a palpitating heart. You will readily recall those who have been driven into exile and dispossessed of their property. You will also recall (and this is the most serious kind of destitution) those who are poor in the midst of their riches.2 You will recall men who have suffered shipwreck, or those whose sufferings resemble ship- wreck ; for they were untroubled and at ease, when the anger or perhaps the envy of the populace,—a missile most deadly to those in high places,°— dismantled them like a storm which is wont to rise when one is most confident of continued calm, or like a sudden stroke of lightning which even causes

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subiti, ad cuius ictum etiam vicina tremuerunt. Nam ut illic quisquis ab igne propior stetit, percusso similis obstipuit, sic in his per aliquam vim accidentibus unum calamitas opprimit, ceteros metus, paremque passis tristitiam facit pati posse.

5 Omnium animos mala aliena ac repentina sollici- tant. Quemadmodum aves etiam inanis fundae sonus territat, nos ita non ad ictum tantum exagitamur, sed ad crepitum. Non potest ergo quisquam beatus esse, qui huic se opinioni credidit. Non enim beatum est, nisi quod intrepidum ; inter suspecta male vivitur.

6 Quisquis se multum fortuitis dedit, ingentem sibi materiam perturbationis et inexplicabilem fecit ; una haec via est ad tuta vadenti, externa despicere et honesto contentum esse. Nam qui aliquid virtute melius putat aut ullum praeter illam bonum, ad haec, quae a fortuna sparguntur, sinum expandit et

7 sollicitus missilia eius expectat. Hance enim imaginem animo tuo propone, ludos facere fortunam et in hunc mortalium coetum honores, divitias, gratiam excutere, quorum alia inter diripientium manus scissa sunt, alia infida societate divisa, alia magno detrimento eorum, in quos devenerant, prensa. Ex quibus quaedam

aliud agentibus inciderunt, quaedam, quia nimis

4 i.e., engaged upon something else. Cf Hp. i. 1.

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the region round about it totremble. For just as any- one who stands near the bolt is stunned and resembles one who is struck, so in these sudden and violent mishaps, although but one person is overwhelmed by the disaster, the rest are overwhelmed by fear, and the possibility that they may suffer makes them as downcast as the actual sufferer.

Every man is troubled in spirit by evils that come suddenly upon his neighbour. Like birds, who cower even at the whirr of an empty sling, we are distracted by mere sounds as well as by blows. No man there- fore can be happy if he yields himself up to such foolish fancies. For nothing brings happiness unless it also brings calm; it is a bad sort of existence that is spent in apprehension. Whoever has largely sur- rendered himself to the power of Fortune has made for himself a huge web of disquietude, from which he cannot get free; if one would win a way to safety, there is but one road,—to despise externals and to be contented with that which is honourable. For those who regard anything as better than virtue, or believe that there is any good except virtue, are spreading their arms to gather in that which Fortune tosses abroad, and are anxiously awaiting her favours. Picture now to yourself that Fortune is holding a festival, and is showering down honours, riches, and influence upon this mob of mortals; some of these gifts have already been torn to pieces in the hands of those who try to snatch them, others have been divided up by treacherous partnerships, and_ still others have been seized to the great detriment of those into whose possession they have come. Certain of these favours have fallen to men while they were absent-minded®; others have been lost to theif seekers because they were snatching too eagerly for

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captabantur, amissa et, dum avide rapiuntur, expulsa sunt. Nulli vero etiam cui rapina feliciter cessit, gaudium rapti duravit in posterum.

Itaque prudentissimus quisque cum primum induci videt munuscula, a theatro fugit et scit magno parva constare. Nemo manum conserit cum recedente,

8 nemo exeuntem ferit ; circa praemium rixa est. Idem in his evenit, quae fortuna desuper iactat: aestuamus miseri, distringimur, multas habere cupimus manus, modo in hance partem,! modo in illam respicimus. Nimis tarde nobis mitti videntur, quae cupiditates nostras inritant, ad paucos perventura, expectata

g omnibus. Ire obviam cadentibus cupimus. Gau- demus, si quid invasimus, invadendique ? aliquos spes vana delusit; vilem praedam magno aliquo incom- modo luimus aut destituti fallimur.2 Secedamus itaque ab istis ludis et demus raptoribus locum; illi spectent bona ista pendentia et ipsi magis pendeant.

10 Quicumque beatus esse constituet, unum esse bonum putet, quod honestum est. Nam si ullum aliud esse existimat, primum male de _providentia

1 modo in hane partem VPb omit. The words are found in certain inferior MSS.

2 invadendique later MSS. ; invidendique V ; invidentique P.

3 aut destituti fallimur Buecheler; aut deur falli- mur V ; aut de. aut fallimus P ; aut inde fallimur b.

@ A distribution of coins, etc., at the public games. Food was also doled out to the populace on similar occasions. * » This figure of the dole as applied to Fortune is sustained to an extent which is unusual with Seneca.

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them, and, just because they are grecdily seized upon, have been knocked from their hands. There is not a man among them all, however,—even he who has been lucky in the booty which has fallen to him,—whose joy in his spoil has lasted until the morrow.

The most sensible man, therefore, as soon as he sees the dole being brought in,* runs from the theatre ; for he knows that one pays a high price for small favours. No one will grapple with him on the way out, or strike him as he departs; the quarrelling takes place where the prizes are. Similarly with the gifts which Fortune tosses down to us; wretches that we are, we become excited, we are torn asunder, we wish that we had many hands, we look back now in this direction and now in that. All too slowly, as it seems, are the gifts thrown in our direction ; they merely excite our cravings, since they can reach but few and are awaited by all. We are keen to inter- cept them as they fall down. We rejoice if we have laid hold of anything; and some have been mocked by the idle hope of laying hold; we have either paid a high price for worthless plunder with some disadvantage to ourselves, or else have been defrauded and are left in the lurch. Let us therefore withdraw from a game like this, and give way to the greedy rabble; let them gaze after such “goods,’ which hang suspended above them, and be themselves still more in sus- pense.?

Whoever makes up his mind to be happy should conclude that the good consists only in that which is honourable. For if he regards anything else as good, he is, in the first place, passing an unfavourable judgment upon Providence because of the fact that

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iudicat, quia multa incommoda iustis viris accidunt et quia, quicquid nobis dedit, breve est et exiguum, si compares mundi totius aevo.

Ex hac deploratione nascitur, ut ingrati divinorum interpretes simus; querimur, quod non semper, quod et pauca nobis et incerta et abitura contingant. Inde est, quod nec vivere nec mori volumus; vitae nos odium tenet, timor mortis. Natat omne consilium nec inplere nos ulla felicitas potest. Causa autem est, quod non pervenimus ad illud bonum inmensum et insuperabile, ubi necesse est resistat voluntas nostra, quia ultra summum! non est locus. Quaeris, guare virtus nullo egeat? Praesentibus gaudet, non concupiscit absentia. Nihil non illi magnum est, quod satis.

Ab hoe discede iudicio; non pietas constabit, non fides. Multa enim utramque praestare cupienti patienda sunt ex iis, quae mala vocantur; multa inpendenda ex iis, quibus indulgemus tamquam

13 bonis. Perit fortitudo, quae periculum facere debet

sui; perit magnanimitas, quae non potest eminere, nisi omnia velut minuta contempsit, quae pro maximis ? volgus optat; perit gratia et relatio gratiae, si timemus laborem,? si quicquam pretiosius fide novimus, si non optima spectamus. Sed ut illa praeteream, aut ista bona non sunt, 1 summum later MSS. ; summam VPb.

2 pro maximis later MSS. ; proximis V Pb. 3 laborem later MSS. ; labor VPb.

2 This phrase recalls the title of one of Seneca’s philo- sophical essays: De Providentia, or Quare Bonis Viris Mala Accidant cum sit Providentia.

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upright men often suffer misfortunes,* and that the time which is allotted to us is but short and scanty, if you compare it with the eternity which is allotted to the universe.

It is a result of complaints like these that we are unappreciative in our comments upon the gifts of heaven; we complain because they are not always granted to us, because they are few and unsure and fleeting. Hence we have not the will either to live or to die; we are possessed by hatred of life, by fear of death. Our plans are all at sea, and no amount of prosperity can satisfy us. And the reason for all this is that we have not yet attained to that good which is immeasurable and unsurpassable, in which all wishing on our part must cease, because there is no place beyond the highest. Do you ask why virtue needs nothing? Because it is pleased with what it has, and does not lust after that which it has not. Whatever is enough is abundant in the eyes of virtue.

Dissent from this judgment, and duty and loyalty will not abide. For one who desires to exhibit these two qualities must endure much that the world calls evil; we must sacrifice many things to which we are addicted, thinking them to be:goods Gone is courage, which should be continually testing itself; gone is greatness of soul, which cannot stand out clearly unless it has learned to scorn as trivial every- thing that the crowd covets as supremely important ; and gone is kindness and the repaying of kindness, if we fear toil, if we have acknowledged anything to be more precious than loyalty, if our eyes are fixed upon anything except the best.

But to pass these questions by: either these so- called goods are not goods, or else man is more

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quae vocantur, aut homo felicior deo est, quoniam quidem quae parata nobis sunt, non habet in usu deus. Nec enim libido ad illum nec epularum lautitiae nec opes nec quicquam ex his hominem inescantibus et vili voluptate ducentibus pertinet. Ergo aut non! incredibile est bona deo deesse aut hoc ipsum argumentum est bona non esse, quod deo

15 desunt. Adice, quod multa, quae bona videri volunt, animalibus quam homini pleniora contingunt. Illa cibo avidius utuntur, venere non aeque fatigantur, virium illis maior est et aequabilior firmitas, Sequitur, ut multo feliciora sint homine. Nam sine nequitia, sine fraudibus degunt. Fruuntur voluptatibus, quas et magis capiunt et ex facili sine ullo pudoris aut paenitentiae metu.

16 Considera tu itaque, an id bonum vocandum sit, quo deus ab homine vincitur. Summum bonum in animo contineamus; obsolescit, si ab optima nostri parte ad pessimam transit et transfertur ad sensus, qui agiliores sunt animalibus mutis. Non est summa felicitatis nostrae in carne ponenda; bona illa sunt vera, quae ratio dat, solida ac sempiterna, quae cadere

17 non possunt, ne decrescere quidem aut? minui. Cetera opinione bona sunt et nomen quidem habent commune cum veris, proprietas in illis boni non est. Itaque commoda vocentur et, ut nostra lingua loquar,

1 non added by Hense. 2 aut later MSS. ; ac VPb.

a Of. Ep, \xxiii. § 14 Luppiter uti ills non potest. 122

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fortunate than God, because God has no enjoyment of the things which are given to us.* For lust pertains not to God, nor do elegant banquets, nor wealth, nor any of the things that allure mankind and lead him on through the influence of degrading pleasure. ‘Therefore, it is either not incredible that there are goods which God does not possess, or else the very fact that God does not possess them is in itself a proof that these things are not goods. Besides, many things which are wont to be regarded as goods are granted to animals in fuller measure than to men. Animals eat their food with better appetite, are not in the same degree weakened by sexual indulgence, and have a greater and more uniform constancy in their strength. Consequently, they are much more fortunate than man. For there is no wickedness, no injury to themselves, in their way of living. They enjoy their pleasures and they take them more often and more easily, without any of the fear that results from shame or regret. This being so, you should consider whether one has a right to call anything good in which God is outdone by man. Let us limit the Supreme Good to the soul; it loses its meaning if it is taken from the best part of us and applied to the worst, that is, if it is transferred to the senses; for the senses are more active in dumb beasts. The sum total of our happiness must not be placed in the flesh; the true goods are those which reason bestows, substantial and eternal; they cannot fall away, neither can they grow less or be diminished. Other things are goods according to opinion, and though they are called by the same name as the true goods, the essence of goodness is not in them. Let us therefore call them “advantages,” and, to use our technical term,

VOL. II E 123

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producta. Ceterum sciamus mancipia nostra esse, non partes; et sint apud nos, sed ita, ut meminerimus extra nos esse. Etiam si apud nos sint, inter subiecta et humilia numerentur propter quae nemo se ad- tollere debeat. Quid enim stultius quam aliquem 18 eo sibi placere, quod ipse non fecit? Omnia ista nobis accedant, non haereant, ut si abducentur, sine ulla nostri laceratione discedant. Utamur illis, non gloriemur, et utamur parce tamquam depositis apud nos et abituris. Quisquis illa sine ratione possedit, non diu tenuit, ipsa enim se felicitas, nisi tem- peratur, premit. Si fugacissimis bonis credidit, cito deseritur et, ut non deseratur, adfligitur. Paucis deponere felicitatem molliter licuit; ceteri cum iis, inter quae eminuere, labuntur et illos degravant ipsa, 19 quae extulerant. Ideo adhibebitur prudentia, quae modum illis aut parsimoniam imponat, quoniam quidem licentia opes suas praecipitat atque urget. Nec umquam inmodica durarunt, nisi illa moderatrix ratio conpescuit. Hoc multarum tibi urbium ostendet eventus, quarum in ipso flore luxuriosa imperia ceci-

derunt et quicquid virtute partum erat, intemperantia

* Producta is a translation of the Stoic term zponypéva. For a clear exposition of this topic see Cicero, De Fin. iii. 52 ff.

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“preferred” things.* Let us, however, recognize that they are our chattels, not parts of ourselves ; and let us have them in our possession, but take heed to remember that they are outside ourselves. Even though they are in our possession, they are to be reckoned as things subordinate and poor, the possession of which gives no man a right to plume himself. For what is more foolish than being self- complacent about something which one has not accomplished by one’s own efforts? Let everything of this nature be added to us, and not stick fast to us, so that, if it is withdrawn, it may come away without tearing off any part of us. Let us use these things, but not boast of them, and let us use them sparingly, as if they were given for safe-keeping and will be withdrawn. Anyone who does not employ reason in his possession of them never keeps them long; for prosperity of itself, if uncontrolled by reason, overwhelms itself. If anyone has put his trust in goods that are most fleeting, he is soon bereft of them, and, to avoid being bereft, he suffers distress. Few men have been permitted to lay aside prosperity gently. The rest all fall, together with the things amid which they have come into eminence, and they are weighted down by the very things which had before exalted them. For this reason foresight must be brought into play, to insist upon a limit or upon frugality in the use of these things, since licence overthrows and destroys its own abundance. That which has no limit has never endured, unless reason, which sets limits, has held it in check. The fate of many cities will prove the truth of this; their sway has ceased at the very prime because they were given to luxury, and excess has ruined all that had been won by virtue. We

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corruit. Adversus hos casus muniendisumus. Nullus autem contra fortunam inexpugnabilis murus est; intus instruamur. Si illa pars tuta est, pulsari homo potest, capi non potest.

Quod sit hoc instrumentum, scire desideras? Nihil indignetur sibi accidere sciatque illa ipsa, quibus laedi videtur, ad conservationem! universi pertinere et ex iis esse, quae cursum mundi officium- que consummant. Placeat homini, quicquid deo placuit; ob hoc ipsum se? suaque miretur, quod non potest vinci, quod mala ipsa sub se tenet, quod ratione, qua valentius nihil est, casum doloremque et iniuriam subigit. Amarationem! MHuius te amor contra durissima armabit. Feras catulorum amor in venabula inpingit feritasque et inconsultus impetus praestat indomitas; iuvenilia nonnumquam ingenia cupido gloriae in contemptum tam ferri quam ignium misit; species quosdam atque umbra virtutis in mortem voluntariam trudit. Quanto his omnibus fortior ratio est, quanto constantior, tanto vehe- mentius per metus ipsos et pericula exibit.

* Nihil agitis,’ inquit, “quod negatis ullum ? esse aliud honesto bonum; non faciet vos haec munitio tutos a fortuna et inmunes. Dicitis enim inter bona

1 conservationem later MSS. ; conversationem V Pb.

2 se added by Ed. Rom. 3 wllum later MSS. ; unum VPb.

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should fortify ourselves against such calamities. But no wall can be erected against Fortune which she cannot take by storm; let us strengthen our inner defences. If the inner part be safe, man can be attacked, but never captured.

Do you wish to know what this weapon of defence is? It is the ability to refrain from chafing over whatever happens to one, of knowing that the very agencies which seem to bring harm are working for the preservation of the world, and are a part of the scheme for bringing to fulfilment the order of the universe and its functions. Let man be pleased with whatever has pleased God; let him marvel at him- self and his own resources for this very reason, that he cannot be overcome, that he has the very powers of evil subject to his control, and that he brings into subjection chance and pain and wrong by means of that strongest of powers—reason. Love reason! The love of reason will arm you against the greatest hardships. Wild beasts dash against the hunter's spear through love of their young, and it is their wildness and their unpremeditated onrush that keep them from being tamed ; often a desire for glory has stirred the mind of youth to despise both sword and stake; the mere vision and semblance of virtue impel certain men to a self-imposed death. In pro- portion as reason is stouter and steadier than any of these emotions, so much the more forcefully will she make her way through the midst of utter terrors and dangers.

Men say to us: “ You are mistaken if you main- tain that nothing is a good except that which is honourable ; a defence like this will not make you safe from Fortune and free from her assaults. For you maintain that dutiful children, and a well-

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esse liberos pios et bene moratam patriam et parentes bonos; horum pericula non potestis spectare securi. Perturbabit vos obsidio patriae, liberorum mors, parentum servitus.” Quid adversus hos pro nobis responderi soleat, ponam ; deinde tunc adiciam, quid praeterea respondendum putem.

Alia condicio est in iis, quae ablata in locum suum aliquid incommodi substituunt ; tamquam bona valitudo vitiata in malam transfertur; acies oculorum exstincta caecitate nos adficit!; non tantum velocitas perit poplitibus incisis, sed debilitas pro illa subit. Hoc non est periculum in iis, quae paulo ante ret- tulimus. Quare? Si amicum bonum amisi, non est mihi pro illo perfidia patienda, nec si bonos liberos extuli, in illorum locum impietas succedit. Deinde non amicorum illic? aut liberorum interitus, sed corporum est. Bonum autem uno modo perit, si in malum transit; quod natura non patitur, quia omnis virtus et opus omne virtutis incorruptum manet. Deinde etiam si amici perierunt, etiam si probati respondentesque voto patris liberi, est quod illorum expleat locum. Quid sit quaeris? Quod illos quo- que bonos fecerat, virtus. Haec nihil vacare patitur loci, totum animum tenet, desiderium omnium tollit ;

1 afficit later MSS. ; adfecit VPb. 2 illic Buecheler ; illis V Pb.

@ See Ep. Ixvi. 6. The Stoics, unlike the Academics and the Peripatetics, maintained that the good must have “an unconditional value ” (Zeller).

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governed country, and good parents, are to be reckoned as goods; but you cannot see these dear objects in danger and be yourself at ease. Your calm will be disturbed by a siege conducted against your country, by the death of your children, or by the enslaving of your parents.” I will first state what we Stoics usually reply% to these objectors, and then will add what additional answer should, in my opinion, be given.

The situation is entirely different in the case of goods whose loss entails some hardship substituted in their place; for example, when good health is impaired there is a change to ill-health; when the eye is put out, we are visited with blindness ; we not only lose our speed when our leg-muscles are cut, but infirmity takes the place of speed. But no such danger is involved in the case of the goods to which we referred a moment ago. And why? If I have lost a good friend, I have no false friend whom I must endure in his place; nor if I have buried a dutiful son, must I face in exchange unfilial conduct. In the second place, this does not mean to me the taking-off of a friend or of a child; it is the mere taking-off of their bodies. Buta good can be lost in only one way, by changing into what is bad; and this is impossible according to the law of nature, because every virtue, and every work of virtue, abides uncorrupted. Again, even if friends have perished, or children of approved goodness who fulfil their father’s prayers for them, there is something that can fill their place. Do you ask what this is? It is that which had made them good in the first place, namely, virtue. Virtue suffers no space in us to be unoccupied ; it takes possession of the whole soul and removes all sense of loss. It alone is

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sola satis est, omnium enim bonorum vis et origo in ipsa est. Quid refert, an aqua decurrens inter- cipiatur atque abeat,! si fons, ex quo fluxerat, salvus est? Non dices vitam iustiorem salvis liberis quam amissis nec ordinatiorem nec prudentiorem nec honestiorem ; ergo ne meliorem quidem. Non facit adiectio? amicorum® sapientiorem, non facit stulti- orem detractio, ergo nec beatiorem aut miseriorem. Quamdiu virtus salva fuerit, non senties, quidquid 4 abscesserit. “Quid ergo? Non est beatior et amicorum et liberorum turba succinctus?’’ Quidni non sit? Summum enim bonum nec infringitur nec augetur; in suo modo permanet, utcumque fortuna se gessit. Sive illi senectus longa contigit sive citra senectutem finitus est, eadem mensura summi boni est, quamvis aetatis diversa sit.

Utrum maiorem an minorem circulum scribas, ad spatium eius pertinet, non ad formam. Licet alter diu manserit, alterum statim obduxeris et in eum in quo scriptus est pulverem solveris, in eadem uterque forma fuit. Quod rectum est, nec magnitudine aestimatur nec numero nec temporé; non magis produci quam contrahi potest. Honestam vitam ex centum annorum numero in quantum voles corripe et in unum diem coge; aeque honesta est.

1 qheat later MSS. ; habitat Pb; haebetaet V ; habetat Mi}. 2 adiectio Madvig ; adiecto V ; alecto P; allecto b. 3 amicorum later MSS. ; amico VPb.

4 quidquid Gertz; quid VP; quib.

@ Cf. Itane in geometriae pulvere haerebo ?, Ep, \xxxviii. 39 and note. ® See the argument in Fp. xii. 6 f., and often elsewhere,

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sufficient; for the strength and beginnings of all goods exist in virtue herself. What does it matter if running water is cut off and flows away, as long as the fountain from which it has flowed is unharmed ? You will not maintain that a man’s life is more just if his children are unharmed than if they have passed away, nor yet better appointed, nor more intelligent, nor more honourable; therefore, no better, either. The addition of friends does not make one wiser, nor does their taking away make one more foolish ; therefore, not happier or more wretched, either. As long as your virtue is unharmed, you will not feel the loss of anything that has been withdrawn from you. You may say: “Come now; is not a man happier when girt about with a large company of friends and children?” Why should this be so? For the Supreme Good is neither impaired nor increased thereby; it abides within its own limits, no matter how Fortune has conducted herself. Whether a long old age falls to one’s lot, or whether the end comes on this side of old age—the measure of the Supreme Good is unvaried, in spite of the difference in years.

Whether you draw a larger or a smaller circle, its size affects its area, not its shape. One circle may remain as it is for a long time, while you may contract the other forthwith, or even merge it com- pletely with the sand in which it was drawn ;% yet each circle has had the same shape. That which is straight is not judged by its size, or by its number, or by its duration; it can no more be made longer than it can be made shorter. Scale down the honourable life as much as you like from the full hundred years, and reduce it to a single day; it is equally honourable.2 Sometimes virtue is wide-

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28 Modo latius virtus funditur, regna urbes provincias temperat, fert leges, colit amicitias, inter propinquos liberosque dispensat officia, modo arto fine con- cluditur paupertatis exilii orbitatis. Non tamen minor est, si ex altiore fastigio in privatum, ex regio

29 in humile? subducitur, ex publico et spatioso iure in angustias domus vel anguli coit. Aeque magna est, etiam si in se recessit undique exclusa. Nihilominus enim magni spiritus est et erecti, exactae prudentiae, indeclinabilis iustitiae. Ergo aeque beata est. Beatum enim illud uno loco positum est, in ipsa mente, grande, stabile, tranquillum, quod sine scientia divinorum humanorumque non potest effici.

30 Sequitur illud, quod me responsurum esse dicebam. Non adfligitur sapiens liberorum amissione, non ami- corum. Eodem enim animo fert illorum mortem, quo suam expectat. Non magis hance timet quam illam dolet. Virtus enim convenientia constat; omnia opera eius cum ipsa concordant et congruunt. Haec concordia perit, si animus, quem excelsum esse oportet, luctu aut desiderio summittitur. Inhonesta est omnis trepidatio et sollicitudo, in ullo actu pigritia. Honestum enim securum et expeditum est, interri-

31 tum est, in procinctu stat. “Quidergo? Non aliquid perturbationi simile patietur? Non et color eius

1 humile Haase ; humilem VPb.

@ See § 23.

> Called by the early Stoics 6uoroyia; the idea of ‘*‘ con- formity with nature” is a fundamental doctrine of the school. See Rackham on Cicero, De Fin. iii. 21.

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spread, governing kingdoms, cities, and provinces, creating laws, developing friendships, and regulating the duties that hold good between relatives and children ; at other times it is limited by the narrow bounds of poverty, exile, or bereavement. But it is no smaller when it is reduced from prouder heights to a private station, from a royal palace to a humble dwelling, or when from a general and broad jurisdic- tion it is gathered into the narrow limits of a private house or a tiny corner. Virtue is just as great, even when it has retreated within itself and is shut in on all sides. For its spirit is no less great and upright, its sagacity no less complete, its justice no less in- flexible. It is, therefore, equally happy. For happi- ness has its abode in one place only, namely, in the mind itself, and is noble, steadfast, and calm; and this state cannot be attained without a knowledge of things divine and human.

The other answer, which I promised % to make to your objection, follows from this reasoning. The wise man is not distressed by the loss of children or of friends. For he endures their death in the same spirit in which he awaits his own. And he fears the one as little as he grieves for the other. For the underlying principle of virtue is conformity ;° all the - works of virtue are in harmony and agreement with virtue itself. But this harmony is lost if the soul, which ought to be uplifted, is cast down by grief or a sense of loss. It is ever a dishonour for a man to be troubled and fretted, to be numbed when there is any call for activity. For that which is honourable is free from care and untrammelled, is unafraid, and stands girt for action. ‘ What,” you ask, “will the wise man experience no emotion like disturbance of spirit? Will not his features change

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mutabitur et vultus agitabitur et artus refrigescent ? Et quicquid aliud non ex imperio animi, sed in- consulto quodam naturae impetu geritur.” Fateor; sed manebit illi persuasio eadem, nihil illorum malum esse nec dignum, ad quod mens sana deficiat. Omnia, quae facienda erunt, audaciter facit et prompte. Hoc enim stultitiae proprium quis dixerit, ignave et contumaciter facere, quae faciat, et alio corpus in- pellere, alio animum distrahique inter diversissimos motus. Nam propter illa ipsa, quibus extollit se miraturque, contempta est et ne illa quidem, quibus gloriatur, libenter facit. Si vero aliquod! timetur malum, eo proinde, duin expectat, quasi venisset, urgetur et quicquid ne patiatur timet, iam metu patitur. Quemadmodum in corporibus insidentis languoris ? signa praecurrunt, quaedam enim segnitia enervis est et sine labore ullo lassitudo et oscitatia et horror membra percurrens; sic infirmus animus multo ante quam opprimatur malis quatitur. Prae- sumit illa et ante tempus cadit.

Quid autem dementius quam angi futuris nec se tormento reservare, sed arcessere sibi miserias et admovere? Quas optimum est differre, si discutere non possit. Vis scire futuro neminem debere tor- queri? Quicumque audierit post quinquagesimum annum sibi patienda supplicia, non perturbatur, nisi

1 aliquod later MSS. ; aliquid V Pb. 2 insidentis languoris Hense; insignis langore or insigni languore MSS.

« Cf. Epp. xi. 6 and Ixxi. 29. > Perhaps a sort of malaria.

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colour,” his countenance be agitated, and his limbs grow cold? And there are other things which we do, not under the influence of the will, but uncon- sciously and as the result of a sort of natural impulse.” I admit that this is true; but the sage will retain the firm belief that none of these things is evil, or im- portant enough to make a healthy mind break down. Whatever shall remain to be done virtue can do with courage and readiness. For anyone would admit that it is a mark of folly to do in a slothful and rebellious spirit whatever one has to do, or to direct the body in one direction and the mind in another, and thus to be torn between utterly conflicting emotions. For folly is despised precisely because of the things for which she vaunts and admires herself, and she does not do gladly even those things in which she prides herself. But if folly fears some evil, she is burdened by it in the very moment of awaiting it, just as if it had actually come,—already suffering in apprehension whatever she fears she may suffer. Just as in the body symptoms of latent ill-health precede the disease—there is, for example, a certain weak sluggishness,? a lassitude which is not the result of any work, a trembling, and a shivering that pervades the limbs,—so the feeble spirit is shaken by its ills a long time before it is overcome by them. It anticipates them, and totters before its time.

But what is greater madness than to be tortured by the future and not to save your strength for the actual suffering, but to invite and bring on wretched ness? If you cannot be rid of it, you ought at least to postpone it. Will you not understand that no man should be tormented by the future? The man who has been told that he will have to endure torture fifty years from now is not disturbed thereby,

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si medium spatium transiluerit et se in illam saeculo post futuram sollicitudinem inmiserit ; eodem modo fit, ut animos libenter aegros et captantes causas doloris vetera atque obliterata contristent. Et quae praeterierunt et quae futura sunt, absunt; neutra sentimus.! Non est autem nisi ex eo, quod sentias, dolor. VALE.

LXXV. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Minus tibi accuratas a me epistulas mitti quereris. Quis enim accurate loquitur, nisi qui vult putide logui? Qualis sermo meus esset, si una sederemus aut ambularemus, inlaboratus et facilis, tales esse epistulas meas volo, quae nihil habent accersitum nec

2fictum. Si fieri posset, quid sentiam, ostendere quam loqui mallem. Etiam si disputarem, nec supploderem pedem nec manum iactarem nec at- tollerem vocem, sed ista oratoribus_ reliquissem, contentus sensus meos ad te pertulisse, quos nec

3 exornassem nec abiecissem. Hoc unum plane tibi adprobare vellem: omnia me illa sentire, quae dicerem, nec tantum sentire, sed amare. Aliter homines amicam, aliter liberos osculantur; tamen in hoc quoque amplexu tam sancto et moderato satis apparet adfectus.

1 sentimus later MSS. ; sentiamus Pb; sentiam V.

* For putidum (that which offends the taste, a.e. is too artificially formal) see Cic. De Orat. iii. 41 nolo exprimi litteras putidius, nolo obscurari neglegentius.

> Cf. Ep. Ixvii. 2 si quando intervenerunt epistulae tuae, tecum esse mihi videor, ete.

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unless he has leaped over the intervening years, and has projected himself into the trouble that is destined to arrive a generation later. In the same way, souls that enjoy being sick and that seize upon excuses for sorrow are saddened by events long past and effaced from the records. Past and future are both absent; we feel neither of them. But there can be no pain except as the result of what you feel. Farewell.

LXXV. ON THE DISEASES OF THE SOUL

You have been complaining that my letters to you are rather carelessly written. Now who talks carefully unless he also desires to talk affectedly 4? I prefer that my letters should be just what my conversation ® would be if you and I were sitting in one another’s company or taking walks together,— spontaneous and easy; for my letters have nothing strained or artificial about them. If it were possible, I should prefer to show, rather than speak, my feelings. Even if I were arguing a point, I should not stamp my foot, or toss my arms about, or raise my voice; but I should leave that sort of thing to the orator, and should be content to have conveyed my feelings to you without having either embellished them or lowered their dignity. I should like to convince you entirely of this one fact,—that I feel whatever I say, that I not only feel it, but am wedded to it. It is one sort of kiss which a man gives his mistress, and another which he gives his children; yet in the father’s embrace also, holy and restrained as it is, plenty of affection is disclosed.

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Non mehercules ieiuna esse et arida volo, quae de rebus tam magnis dicentur; neque enim philo- sophia ingenio renuntiat. Multum tamen operae

4inpendi verbis non oportet. Haec sit propositi nostri summa: quod sentimus loquamur, quod loguimur sentiamus; concordet sermo cum vita. [lle promissum suum inplevit, qui, et cum videas

5 illum et cum audias, idem est. Videbimus, qualis sit, quantus sit; unus sit. Non delectent verba nostra, sed prosint. Si tamen contingere eloquentia non sollicito potest, si aut parata est aut parvo constat, adsit et res pulcherrimas prosequatur. Sit talis, ut res potius quam se ostendat. Aliae artes ad ingenium totae pertinent, hic animi negotium agitur.

6 Non quaerit aeger medicum eloquentem,! sed, si ita conpetit, ut idem ille, qui sanare potest, compte de iis, quae facienda sunt, disserat, boni consulet. Non tamen erit, quare gratuletur sibi, quod inciderit in medicum etiam disertum. Hoc enim tale est, quale si peritus gubernator etiam formosus est.

7 Quid aures meas scabis? Quid oblectas? Aliud agitur; urendus, secandus, abstinendus sum. Ad haec adhibitus es.

Curare debes morbum veterem, gravem, publicum. Tantum negotii habes, quantum in_ pestilentia

1 ¢loquentem later MSS. ; loquentem VPb.

a Of. Ep. cxiv. 1 talis hominibus fuit oratio qualis vita, and passim in Epp. xl., xxv. and cxiv.

> Eloquence and the other arts please mainly by their cleverness ; nor does philosophy abjure such cleverness as style ; but here in these letters, wherein we are discussing the soul, the graces of speech are of no concern,

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I prefer, however, that our conversation on matters so important should not be meagre and dry; for even philosophy does not renounce the company of cleverness. One should not, however, bestow very much attention upon mere words. Let this be the kernel of my idea: let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life. That man has fulfilled his promise who is the same person both when you see him and when you hear him. We shall not fail to see what sort of man he is and how large a man he is, if only he is one and the same. Our words should aim not to please, but to help. If, however, you can attain eloguence without painstaking, and if you either are naturally gifted or can gain eloquence at slight cost, make the most of it and apply it to the noblest uses. But let it be of such a kind that it displays facts rather than itself. It and the other arts are wholly concerned with cleverness ®; but our business here is the soul.

A sick man does not call in a physician who is eloquent; but if it so happens that the physician who can cure him likewise discourses elegantly about the treatment which is to be followed, the patient will take it in good part. For all that, he will not find any reason to congratulate himself on having discovered a physician who is eloquent. For the case is no different from that of a skilled pilet who is also handsome. Why do you tickle my ears? Why do you entertain me? There is other business at hand; I am to be cauterized, operated upon, or put on adiet. That is why you were summoned to treat me!

You are required to cure a disease that is chronic and serious,—one which affects the general weal. You have as serious a business on hand as a physician

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medicus. Circa verba occupatus es? Jamdudum gaude, si sufficis rebus. Quando, quae multa disces ? Quando, quae didiceris, adfiges tibi ita, ut excidere non possint? Quando illa experieris? Non enim ut cetera, memoriae tradidisse satis est; in opere temptanda sunt. Non est beatus, qui scit illa, sed qui facit.!. “Quid ergo? Infra illum nulli gradus sunt? Statim a sapientia praeceps cst?’’ Non, ut existimo. Nam qui proficit, in numero quidem stultorum est, magno tamen intervallo ab illis didu- citur. Inter ipsos quoque proficientes sunt magna discrimina. In tres classes, ut quibusdam placet, dividuntur: primi sunt, qui sapientiam nondum habent, sed iam in vicinia eius constiterunt. ‘Tamen etiam quod prope est, extra? est. Qui sint hi quaeris? Qui omnes iam adfectus ac vitia posuerunt, quae erant complectenda, didicerunt, sed illis adhuc inexperta fiducia est. Bonum suum nondum in usu habent, iam tamen in illa, quae fugerunt, decidere non possunt. Iam ibi sunt, unde non est retro lapsus, sed hoc illis de se nondum liquet; quod in quadam epistula scripsisse me memini, “scire se nesciunt.”’ Jam contigit illis bono suo frui, nondum confidere. Quidam hoe proficientium genus, de quo locutus sum, ita complectuntur, ut illos dicant iam effugisse morbos animi, adfectus nondum, et adhuc

1 gui facit later MSS. ; facit VPb. 2 extra later MSS. ; ex ora (hora) VPb.

4 Chrysippus, however, recognized only the first two classes, as did Epictetus (iv. 2).

> Hp. \xxi. 4. 140

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has during a plague. Are you concerned about nords? Rejoice this instant if you can cope with things. When shall you learn all that there is to learn? When shall you so plant in your mind that which you have learned, that it cannot escape? When shall you put it all into practice? For it is not sufficient merely to commit these things to memory, like other matters; they must be practically tested. He is not happy who only knows them, but he who does them. You reply: “What? Are there no degrees of happiness below your ‘happy’ man? Is there a sheer descent immediately below wisdom?” I think not. For though he who makes progress is stil] numbered with the fools, yet he is separated from them by a long interval. Among the very persons who are making progress there are also great spaces intervening. ‘They fall into three classes,” as certain philosophers believe. First come those who have not yet attained wisdom but have already gained a place near by. Yet even that which is not far away is still outside. These, if you ask me, are men who have already laid aside all passions and vices, who have learned what things are to be embraced; but their assurance is not yet tested. They have not yet put their good into practice, yet from now on they cannot slip back into the faults which they have escaped. They have already arrived at a point from which there is no slipping back, but they are not yet aware of the fact; as I remember writing in another letter, “They are ignorant of their knowledge.” ® It has now been vouchsafed to them to enjoy their good, but not yet to be sure of it. Some define this class, of which I have been speaking,—a class of men who are making progress,—as having escaped the diseases of the mind,

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in lubrico stare, quia nemo sit extra periculum malitiae, nisi qui totam eam excussit. Nemo autem illam excussit, nisi qui pro illa sapientiam adsumpsit.

11 Quid inter morbos animi intersit et adfectus, saepe iam dixi. Nunc quoque te admonebo: morbi sunt inveterata vitia et dura, ut avaritia, ut ambitio ; nimio! artius? haec animum inplicuerunt et perpetua eius mala esse coeperunt. Ut breviter finiam, morbus est iudicium in pravo pertinax, tamquam valde ex- petenda sint, quae leviter expetenda sunt. Vel si mavis, ita finiamus: nimis inminere leviter petendis vel ex toto non petendis, aut in magno pretio habere

12 in aliquo habenda vel in nullo. Adfectus sunt motus animi inprobabiles, subiti et concitati, qui frequentes neglectique fecere morbum, sicut destillatio una nec adhue in morem adducta tussim facit, adsidua et vetus phthisin. Itaque qui plurimum _profecere, extra morbos sunt, adfectus adhuc sentiunt perfecto proximi.

13. Secundum genus est eorum, qui et maxima animi mala et adfectus deposuerunt, sed ita, ut non sit illis securitatis suae certa possessio. Possunt enim

14in eadem relabi. Tertium illud genus extra multa

1 nimio Rossbach; nimia VP; ninia b. 2 artius later MSS. ; actus VPb.

#@ For Seneca’s own struggles with this disease cf. Ep. Ixxvili. 1.

> The difference between the first and the second classes is well described in Ep. Ixxii. 6 hoc interest inter con- summatae sapientiae virum et alium procedentis, quod inter sanum et ex morbo gravi ac diutino emergentem.

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but not yet the passions, and as still standing upon slippery ground; because no one is beyond the dangers of evil except him who has cleared himself of it wholly. But no one has so cleared himself except the man who has adopted wisdom in its stead.

I have often before explained the difference between the diseases of the mind and its passions. And I shall remind you once more: the diseases are hardened and chronic vices, such as greed and ambition ; they have enfolded the mind in too close a grip, and have begun to be permanent evils thereof. To give a brief definition: by “disease”’ we mean a persistent perversion of the judgment, so that things which are mildly desirable are thought to be highly desirable. Or, if you prefer, we may define it thus: to be too zealous in striving for things which are only mildly desirable or not desirable at all, or to value highly things which ought to be valued but slightly or valued not at all. “ Passions”’ are objectionable impulses of the spirit, sudden and vehement; they have come so often, and so little attention has been paid to them, that they have caused a state of disease; just as a catarrh,? when there has been but a single attack and the catarrh has not yet become habitual, produces a cough, but causes consumption when it has become regular and chronic. ‘Therefore we may say that those who have made most progress are beyond the reach of the “diseases”; but they still feel the “ passions”’ even when very near perfection.

The second class is composed of those who have laid aside both the greatest ills of the mind and its passions, but yet are not in assured possession of immunity. For they can still slip back into their former state. The third class are beyond the reach

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et magna vitia est, sed non extra omnia. Effugit avaritiam, sed iram adhuc sentit; iam non sol- licitatur libidine, etiamnune ambitione; iam non concupiscit, sed adhuc timet. Et in ipso metu ad quaedam satis firmus est, quibusdam cedit. Mortem econtemnit, dolorem reformidat.

15. De hoe loco aliquid cogitemus. Bene nobiscum agetur, si in hunc admittimur numerum. Magna felicitate naturae magnaque et adsidua intentione studii secundus occupatur gradus; sed ne hic quidem contemnendus est color tertius. Cogita, quantum circa te videas malorum, aspice, quam nullum sit nefas sine exemplo, quantum cotidie nequitia pro- ficiat, quantum publice privatimque peccetur; in- telleges satis nos consequi, si inter pessimos non sumus.

16 “Ego vero,” inquis, “spero me posse et amplioris ordinis fieri.” Optaverim hoc nobis magis quam promiserim ; praeoccupati sumus. Ad virtutem con- tendimus inter vitia districti. Pudet dicere: honesta colimus, quantum vacat. At quam grande praemium expectat, si occupationes nostras et mala tenacissima abrumpimus. Non cupiditas nos, non timor pellet.

17 Inagitati_ terroribus, incorrupti voluptatibus nec mortem horrebimus nec deos; sciemus mortem malum non esse, deos malo! non esse. Tam in-

1 malo Hense; maio PM!'; maiores V ; malos b.

« This idea is a favourite with Seneca ; cf. Ep. liii. 8 non est quod precario philosopheris, and § 9 (philosophia) non esi res subsicwwa, ‘*an occupation for one’s spare time.”

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of many of the vices and particularly of the great vices, but not beyond the reach of all. They have escaped avarice, for example, but still feel anger ; they no longer are troubled by lust, but are still troubled by ambition; they no longer have desire, but they still have fear. And just because they fear, although they are strong enough to withstand certain things, there are certain things to which they yield ; they scorn death, but are in terror of pain.

Let us reflect a moment on this topic. It will be well with us if we are admitted to this class. The second stage is gained by great good fortune with regard to our natural gifts and by great and unceasing application to study. But not even the third type is to be despised. Think of the host of evils which you see about you; behold how there is no crime that is not exemplified, how far wickedness advances every day, and how prevalent are sins in home and commonwealth. You will see, therefore, that we are making a considerable gain, if we are not numbered among the basest.

“ But as for me,” you say, “I hope that it is in me to rise to a higher rank than that!” I should pray, rather than promise, that we may attain this; we have been forestalled. We hasten towards virtue while hampered by vices. I am ashamed to say it; but we worship that which is honourable only in so far as we have time to spare.* But what a rich reward awaits us if only we break off the affairs which forestall us and the evils that cling to us with utter tenacity! Then neither desire nor fear shall rout us. Undisturbed by fears, unspoiled by pleasures, we shall be afraid neither of death nor of the gods; we shall know that death is no evil and that the gods are not powers of evil. That which harms has

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becillum est quod nocet quam cui nocetur, optima

18 vi noxia carent. Expectant nos, si! ex hac aliquando faece in illud evadimus sublime et excelsum, tran- quillitas animi et expulsis erroribus absoluta libertas. Quaeris quae sit ista? Non homines timere, non deos; nec turpia velle nec nimia; in se ipsum habere maximam potestatem. Inaestimabile bonum est suum fieri. Vate.

EXXVA, Seneca Lycitio svo SALVTEM

1 = Inimicitias mihi denuntias, si quicquam ex iis, quae cotidie facio, ignoraveris. Vide, quam sim- pliciter tecum vivam: hoc quoque tibi committam. Philosophum audio et quidem quintum iam diem habeo, ex quo in scholam eo et ab octava disputantem audio. ‘ Bona,” inquis, “aetate.’”” Quidni bona? Quid autem stultius est quam, quia diu non didiceris,

2non discere? “Quid ergo? Idem faciam, quod trossuli et iuvenes?’’ Bene mecum agitur, si hoc unum senectutem meam dedecet.2° Omnis aetatis homines haec schola admittit. ‘“ In hoc senescamus, ut iuvenes sequamur?”’’ In theatrum senex ibo et

1 si added by Pincianus, on the authority of ‘‘ ancient

MSS.” 2 dedecet Pincianus ; decet VPb.

« Therefore death has no power to harm, since man is not harmed thereby, and the gods, who are utterly good, cannot be the source of evil.

>» A mock-heroic nickname for the knights, derived from the town of Trossulum in Etruria, which pop bite captured by a sensational charge. See Persius, i. 82, Seneca, [ip. Ixxxvii. 9.

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no greater power than that which receives harm, and things which are utterly good have no power at all toharm.* There await us, if ever we escape from these low dregs to that sublime and lofty height, peace of mind and, when all error has been driven out, perfect liberty. You ask what this freedom is? It means not fearing either men or gods; it means not craving wickedness or excess; it means possess- ing supreme power over oneself. And it is a priceless good to be master of oneself. Farewell.

LXXVI, ON LEARNING WISDOM IN OLD AGE

You have been threatening me with your enmity, if I do not keep you informed about all my daily actions. But see, now, upon what frank terms you and I live: for I shall confide even the following fact to your ears. I have been hearing the lectures of a philosopher ; four days have already passed since I have been attending his school and listening to the harangue, which begins at two o'clock. ‘A fine time of life for that!” you say. Yes, fine indeed! Now what is more foolish than refusing to learn, simply because one has not been learning for a long time? “What do you mean? Must I follow the fashion set by the fops® and youngsters?” But Iam pretty well off if this is the only thing that discredits my declining years. Men of all ages are admitted to this class-room. You retort: “Do we grow old merely in order to tag after the youngsters?” But if I, an old man, go to the theatre, and am carried to

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in circum deferar et nullum par sine me depugnabit ad philosophum ire erubescam ?

Tamdiu discendum est, quamdiu nescias; si pro- verbio credimus, quamdiu vivas. Nec ulli hoc rei magis convenit quam huic: tamdiu discendum est, quemadmodum vivas, quamdiu vivas. Ego tamen illic aliquid et doceo. Quaeris, quid doceam? Etiam seni esse discendum. Pudet autem me _ generis humani, quotiens scholam intravi. Praeter ipsum theatrum Neapolitanorum, ut scis, transeundum est Metronactis petenti! domum. Illud quidem fartum est et ingenti studio, quis sit pythaules bonus, iudicatur; habet tubicen quoque Graecus et praeco concursum. At in illo loco, in quo vir bonus quaeritur, in quo vir bonus discitur, paucissimi sedent, et hi plerisque videntur nihil boni negotii habere quod agant; inepti et inertes vocantur. Mihi con- tingat iste derisus; aequo animo audienda sunt inperitorum conyicia et ad honesta vadenti contem- nendus est ipse contemptus.

Perge, Lucili, et propera, tibi ne et ipsi? accidat, quod mihi, ut senex discas ; immo ideo magis propera, quoniam diu? non adgressus es, quod perdiscere vix senex possis. “Quantum,” inquis, “ proficiam?”

1 yetenti Erasmus ; petentes VPb; petentibus later MSS.

2 tibi ne et ipsi Hense; tibi nec (ne Vb) tibi VPb3; ne tabi

later MSS. 3 diu Buecheler ; id VPb.

@ See also E’p. xciii. 148

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the races, and allow no duel in the arena to be fought to a finish without my presence, shall I blush to attend a philosopher’s lecture ?

You should keep learning as long as you are ignorant,—even to the end of your life, if there is anything in the proverb. And the proverb suits the present case as well as any: “ As long as you live, keep learning how to live.” For all that, there is also something which I can teach in that school. You ask, do you, what I can teach? That even an old man should keep learning. But I am ashamed of mankind, as often as I enter the lecture-hall. On my way to the house of Metronax* I am com- pelled to go, as you know, right past the Neapolitan Theatre. The building is jammed; men are de- ciding, with tremendous zeal, who is entitled to be called a good flute-player; even the Greek piper and the herald draw their crowds. But in the other place, where the question discussed is: ‘ What is a good man?” and the lesson which we learn is. “ How to be a good man,” very few are in attend- ance, and the majority think that even these few are engaged in no good business; they have the name of being empty-headed idlers. I hope I may be blessed with that kind of mockery; for one should listen in an unruffled spirit to the railings of the ignorant; when one is marching toward the goal of honour, one should scorn scorn itself.

Proceed, then, Lucilius, and hasten, lest you your- self be compelled to learn in your old age, as is the case with me. Nay, you must hasten all the more, because for a long time you have not approached the subject, which is one that you can scarcely learn thoroughly when you are old. “ Flow much progress shall I make?” you ask. Just as much as you try

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6 Quantum temptaveris. Quid expectas? Nulli sapere casu obtigit. Pecunia veniet ultro, honor offeretur, gratia ac dignitas fortasse ingerentur tibi; virtus in te non incidet. Ne levi quidem opera aut parvo labore cognoscitur ; sed est tanti laborare omnia bona semel occupaturo. Unum est enim bonum, quod honestum; in illis nihil invenies veri, nihil certi,

7 quaecumque famae placent. Quare autem unum sit bonum, quod honestum, dicam, quoniam parum me exsecutum priore epistula iudicas magisque hanc rem tibi laudatam quam probatam putas, et in artum, quae dicta sunt, contraham.

8 Omnia suo bono constant. Vitem fertilitas com- mendat et sapor vini, velocitas cervum. Quam fortia dorso iumenta sint quaeris, quorum hic unus est usus, sarcinam ferre. In cane sagacitas prima est, si investigare debet feras, cursus, si consequi, audacia, si mordere et invadere. Id in quoque optimum

9 esse debet, cui nascitur, quo censetur. In homine optimum quid est? Ratio; hac antecedit animalia, deos sequitur. Ratio ergo perfecta proprium bonum est, cetera illi cum animalibus satisque communia

sunt. Valet; et leones. Formosus est; et pavones.

@ Ep. \xxiv. 150

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to make. Why do you wait? Wisdom comes haphazard to no man. Money will come of its own accord; titles will be given to you; influence and authority will perhaps be thrust upon you; but virtue will not fall upon you by chance. Neither is know- ledge thereof to be won by light effort or small toil ; but toiling is worth while when one is about to win all goods at a single stroke. For there is but a single good,—namely, that which is honourable ; in all those other things of which the general opinion approves, you will find no truth or certainty. Why it is, however, that there is but one good, namely, that which is honourable, I shall now tell you, inasmuch as you judge that in my earlier letter@ I did not carry the discussion far enough, and think that this theory was commended to you rather than proved. I shall also compress the remarks of other authors into narrow compass.

Everything is estimated by the standard of its own good. ‘The vine is valued for its productiveness and the flavour of its wine, the stag for his speed. We ask, with regard to beasts of burden, how sturdy of back they are; for their only use is to bear burdens. If a dog is to find the trail of a wild beast, keenness of scent is of first importance; if to catch his quarry, swiftness of foot; if to attack and harry it, courage. In each thing that quality should be best for which the thing is brought into being and by which it is judged. And what quality is best in man? It is reason; by virtue of reason he surpasses the animals, and is surpassed only by the gods. Perfect reason is therefore the good peculiar to man; all other qualities he shares in some degree with animals and plants. Man is strong; so is the lion. Man is comely; so is the peacock, Man is

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Velox est ; et equi. Non dico, in his omnibus vincitur. Non quaero, quid in se maximum habeat, sed quid suum. Corpus habet; et arbores. Habet impetum ac motum voluntarium; et bestiae et vermes. Habet vocem; sed quanto clariorem canes, acutiorem aquilae, graviorem tauri, dulciorem mobilioremque

10 luscinii? Quid in homine proprium? Ratio. Haec recta et consummata felicitatem hominis implevit.! Ergo si omnis res, cum bonum suum perfecit, lauda- bilis est et ad finem naturae suae pervenit ; homini autem suum bonum ratio est; si hanc perfecit, laudabilis est et finem naturae suae tetigit. Haec ratio perfecta virtus vocatur eademque honestum est.

iF Id itaque unum bonum est in homine, quod unum hominis est. Nune enim non quaerimus, quid sit bonum, sed quid sit hominis bonum. Si nullum aliud est hominis quam ratio, haec erit unum eius bonum, sed pensandum cum omnibus. Si sit aliquis malus, puto improbabitur; si bonus, puto probabitur. Id ergo in homine primum solumque est, quo et probatur

12et inprobatur. Non dubitas, an hoc sit bonum; dubitas an solum bonum sit. Si quis omnia alia habeat, valetudinem, divitias, imagines multas, frequens atrium, sed malus ex confesso sit, inprobabis

1 The words quid in homine . . . implevit are suspected by Hilgenfeld.

« Literally ‘‘ many masks” of his ancestors. These were placed in the atrium.

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swift; so is the horse. I do not say that man is surpassed in all these qualities. I am not seeking to find that which is greatest in him, but that which is peculiarly his own. Man has body; so also have trees. Man has the power to act and to move at will; so have beasts and worms. Man has a voice; but how much louder is the voice of the dog, how much shriller that of the eagle, how much deeper that of the bull, how much sweeter and more melodi- ous that of the nightingale! What then is peculiar to man? Reason. When this is right and has reached perfection, man’s felicity is complete. Hence, if everything is praiseworthy and has arrived at the end intended by its nature, when it has brought its peculiar good to perfection, and if man’s peculiar good is reason; then, if a man has brought his reason to perfection, he is praiseworthy and has reached the end suited to his nature. This perfect reason is called virtue, and is likewise that which is honourable.

Hence that in man is alone a good which alone belongs to man. For we are not now seeking to discover what is a good, but what good is man’s. And if there is no other attribute which belongs peculiarly to man except reason, then reason will be his one peculiar good, but a good that is worth all the rest put together. If any man is bad, he will, I suppose, be regarded with disapproval; if good, I suppose he will be regarded with approval. There- fore, that attribute of man whereby he is approved or disapproved is his chief and only good. You do not doubt whether this is a good; you merely doubt whether it is the sole good. If a man possess all other things, such as health, riches, pedigree,® a crowded reception-hall, but is confessedly bad, you

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illum. Item si quis nihil quidem eorum, quae rettuli, habeat, deficiatur pecunia, clientium turba, nobilitate et avorum proavorumque serie, sed ex confesso bonus sit, probabis illum. Ergo hoc unum est bonum hominis, quod qui habet, etiam si aliis destituitur, laudandus est, quod qui non habet, in omnium aliorum copia damnatur ac reicitur. Quae condicio rerum, eadem hominum est. Navis bona dicitur non quae pretiosis coloribus picta est nec cui argenteum aut aureum rostrum est nec cuius tutela ebore caelata est nec quae fiscis atque opibus regiis pressa est, sed stabilis et firma et iuncturis aquam excludentibus spissa, ad ferendum incursum maris solida, guber- naculo parens, velox et non sentiens ventum. Gladium bonum dices non cui auratus est balteus nec cuius vagina gemmis distinguitur, sed cui et ad secandum subtilis acies est et mucro munimentum omne rupturus. Regula non quam formosa, sed quam recta sit quaeritur. Ko quidque laudatur, cui comparatur, quod illi proprium est.

Ergo in homine quoque nihil ad rem pertinet, quantum aret, quantum faeneret, a quam multis salutetur, quam pretioso incumbat lecto, quam per- lucido poculo bibat, sed quam bonus sit. Bonus autem est, si ratio eius explicita et recta est et ad naturae suae voluntatem accommodata. Haec

@ Literally ‘‘the guardian deity”; cf. Horace, Od. i. 14. 10. These were images of the gods, carried and invoked by the ancients, in the same manner as St. Nicholas to-day.

> The fiscus was the private treasury of the Roman Emperor, as contrasted with the aerarium, which theoreti- cally was controlled by the Senate.

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will disapprove of him. Likewise, if a man possess none of the things which I have mentioned, and lacks money, or an escort of clients, or rank and a line of grandfathers and great-grandfathers, but is confessedly good, you will approve of him. Hence, this is man’s one peculiar good, and the possessor of it is to be praised even if he lacks other things; but he who does not possess it, though he possess every- thing else in abundance, is condemned and rejected. The same thing holds good regarding men as regard- ing things. A ship is said to be good not when it is decorated with costly colours, nor when its prow is covered with silver or gold or its figure-head 4 embossed in ivory, nor when it is laden with the imperial revenues? or with the wealth of kings, but when it is steady and staunch and taut, with seams that keep out the water, stout enough to endure the buffeting of the waves, obedient to its helm, swift and caring naught for the winds. You will speak of a sword as good, not when its sword-belt is of gold, or its scabbard studded with gems, but when its edge is fine for cutting and its point will pierce any armour. Take the carpenter’s rule: we do not ask how beautiful it is, but how straight it is. Each thing is praised in regard to that attribute which is taken as its standard, in regard to that which is its peculiar quality.

Therefore in the case of man also, it is not pertinent to the question to know how many acres he ploughs, how much money he has out at interest, how many callers attend his receptions, how costly is the couch on which he lies, how transparent are the cups from which he drinks, but how good he is. He is good, however, if his reason is well-ordered and right and adapted to that which his nature has

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vocatur virtus, hoc est honestum et unicum hominis bonum. Nam cum sola ratio perficiat hominem, sola ratio perfecta beatum facit ; hoc autem unum bonum est, quo uno beatus efficitur. Dicimus et illa bona esse, quae a virtute profecta contractaque sunt, id est opera eius omnia; sed ideo unum ipsa bonum est, quia nullum sine illa est. Si omne in animo bonum est, quicquid illum confirmat, extollit, ampli- ficat, bonum est; validiorem autem animum et ex- celsiorem et ampliorem facit virtus. Nam cetera, quae cupiditates nostras inritant, deprimunt quoque animum et labefaciunt et, cum videntur adtollere, inflant ac multa vanitate deludunt. Ergo unum id bonum est, quo melior animus efficietur.

Omnes actiones totius vitae honesti ac turpis respectu temperantur; ad haec faciendi et non faciendi ratio derigitur. Quid sit hoc, dicam: vir bonus quod honeste se facturum putaverit, faciet, etiam si! laboriosum erit, faciet, etiam si damnosum erit, faciet, etiam si periculosum erit; rursus quod turpe erit, non faciet, etiam si pecuniam adferet, etiam si voluptatem, etiam si potentiam. Ab honesto nulla re deterrebitur, ad turpia nulla invitabitur. Ergo si honestum utique secuturus est, turpe utique vitaturus et in omni actu vitae spectaturus haec duo,

1 etiam si later MSS. ; etiam sine pecunia si VPb.

@ 4.¢., “moral worth.” » j.¢., peace, the welfare of one’s country, dutiful children, ete.

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willed. It is this that is called virtue; this is what we mean by “honourable’’*; it is man’s unique good. For since reason alone brings man to per- fection, reason alone, when perfected, makes man happy. This, moreover, is man’s only good, the only means by which he is made happy. We do indeed say that those things also® are goods which are furthered and brought together by virtue,—that is, all the works of virtue ; but virtue itself is for this reason the only good, because there is no good with- out virtue. If every good is in the soul, then whatever strengthens, uplifts, and enlarges the soul, is a good; virtue, however, does make the soul stronger, loftier, and larger. For all other things, which arouse our desires, depress the soul and weaken it, and when we think that they are uplifting the soul, they are merely puffing it up and cheating it with much emptiness. Therefore, that alone is good which will make the soul better.

All the actions of life, taken as a whole, are con- trolled by the consideration of what is honourable or base; it is with reference to these two things that our reason is governed in doing or not doing a particular thing. I shall explain what I mean: A good man will do what he thinks it will be honour- able for him to do, even if it involves toil; he will do it even if it involves harm to him; he will do it even if it involves peril; again, he will not do that which will be base, even if it brings him money, or pleasure, or power. Nothing will deter him from that which is honourable, and nothing will tempt him into baseness. Therefore, if he is determined invari- ably to follow that which is honourable, invariably to avoid baseness, and in every act of his life to have regard for these two things, deeming nothing

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nec aliud bonum quam honestum! nec aliud malum quam turpe, si una indepravata virtus est et sola permanet tenoris sui; unum est bonum virtus, cui iam accidere, ne sit bonum, non potest. Mutationis periculum effugit; stultitia ad sapientiam erepit, sapientia in stultitiam non revolvitur.

Dixi, si forte meministi, concupita volgo et for- midata inconsulto impetu plerosque calcasse. In- ventus est, qui flammis inponeret manum, cuius risum non interrumperet tortor, qui in funere libe- rorum lacrimam non mitteret, qui morti non trepidus occurreret. Amor enim, ira,? cupiditas pericula depoposcerunt. Quod potest brevis obstinatio animi aliquo stimulo excitata, quanto magis virtus, quae non ex impetu nec subito, sed aequaliter valet, cui perpetuum robur est. Sequitur, ut quae ab incon- sultis saepe contemnuntur, a sapientibus semper, ea nec bona sint nec mala. Unum ergo bonum ipsa virtus est, quae inter hanc fortunam et illam superba incedit cum magno utriusque contemptu.

Si hance opinionem receperis, aliquid bonum esse praeter honestum, nulla non virtus laborabit. Nulla

enim optineri poterit, si quicquam extra se respexerit.

1 nec aliud bonum nisi (quam Hense) honestwm, omitted by VPb, is supplied by the Venice edition of 1492. 2 amor enim, ira Chatelain; amor é in ira V; amore in ira Pb. * Cf. Ep. \xxiv. 21. 158

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else good except that which is honourable, and nothing else bad except that which is base ; if virtue alone is unperverted in him and by itself keeps its even course, then virtue is that man’s only good, and nothing can thenceforth happen to it which may make it anything else than good. It has escaped all risk of change; folly may creep upwards towards wisdom, but wisdom never slips back into folly.

You may perhaps remember my saying @ that the things which have been generally desired and feared have been trampled down by many a man in moments of sudden passion. There have been found men who would place their hands in the flames, men whose smiles could not be stopped by the torturer, men who would shed not a tear at the funeral of their children, men who would meet death unflinchingly. It is love, for example, anger, lust, which have challenged dangers. If a momentary stubbornness can accomplish all this when roused by some goad that pricks the spirit, how much more can be accomplished by virtue, which does not act impulsively or suddenly, but uniformly and with a strength that is lasting! It follows that the things which are often scorned by the men who are moved with a sudden passion, and are always scorned by the wise, are neither goods nor evils. Virtue itself is therefore the only good; she marches proudly between the two extremes of fortune, with great scorn for both.

If, however, you accept the view that there is anything good besides that which is honourable, all the virtues will suffer. For it will never be possible for any virtue to be won and held, if there is any- thing outside itself which virtue must take into con- sideration. If there is any such thing, then it is at

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Quod si est, rationi repugnat, ex qua virtutes sunt, et veritati, quae sine ratione non est. Quaecumque

23 autem opinio veritati repugnat, falsa est. Virum bonum concedas necesse est summae pietatis erga deos esse. Itaque quicquid illi accidit, aequo animo sustinebit; sciet enim id accidisse lege divina, qua universa procedunt. Quod si est, unum illi bonum erit, quod honestum; in hoc enim positum est et parere dis nec excandescere ad subita nec deplorare sortem suam, sed patienter excipere fatum et facere

94imperata. Si ullum aliud est bonum quam honestum, sequetur nos aviditas vitae, aviditas rerum vitam instruentium, quod est intolerabile, infinitum, vagum. Solum ergo bonum est honestum, cui modus est.

95 Diximus futuram hominum feliciorem vitam quam deorum, si ea bona sunt, guorum nullus! dis usus est, tamquam pecunia, honores. Adice nunc, quod si modo solutae corporibus animae manent, felicior illis status restat quam est, dum versantur in corpore. Atqui si ista bona sunt, quibus per corpora utimur, emissis erit peius, quod contra fidem est, feliciores esse liberis et in universum datis clausas et obsessas.

26 Illud quoque dixeram, si bona sunt ea, quae tam homini contingunt quam mutis animalibus, et muta

1 nullus later MSS. ; nullwm VPb.

« Cf. Ep. \xxiv. 14 aut ista bona non sunt, quae vocantur, aut homo felicior deo est, quoniam quidem quae parata nobis sunt, non habet in usu deus.

> ¢.9., Ep. Ixxiv. 16 summum bonum . . . obsolescit, si ab optima nostri parte ad pessimam transit et transfertur ad sensus, qui agiliores sunt animalibus mutis,

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variance with reason, from which the virtues spring, and with truth also, which cannot exist without reason. Any opinion, however, which is at variance with truth, is wrong. A good man, you will admit, must have the highest sense of duty toward the gods. Hence he will endure with an unruffled spirit what- ever happens to him; for he will know that it has happened as a result of the divine law, by which the whole creation moves. ‘This being so, there will be for him one good, and only one, namely, that which is honourable; for one of its dictates is that we shall obey the gods and not blaze forth in anger at sudden misfortunes or deplore our lot, but rather patiently accept fate and obey its commands. If anything except the honourable is good, we shall be hounded by greed for life, and by greed for the things which provide life with its furnishings,—an intolerable state, subject to no limits, unstable. The only good, therefore, is that which is honourable, that which is subject to bounds.

I have declared® that man’s life would be more blest than that of the gods, if those things which the gods do not enjoy are goods,—such as money and offices of dignity. There is this further con- sideration: if only it is true that our souls, when released from the body, still abide, a happier condition is in store for them than is theirs while they dwell in the body. And yet, if those things are goods which we make use of for our bodies’ sake, our souls will be worse off when set free; and that is contrary to our belief, to say that the soul is happier when it is cabined and confined than when it is free and has betaken itself to the universe. I also said ® that if those things which dumb animals possess equally with man are goods, then dumb animals also will

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animalia beatam vitam actura; quod fieri nullo modo potest. Omnia pro honesto patienda sunt; quod non erat faciendum, si esset ullum aliud bonum quam honestum.

Haec quamvis latius exsecutus essem_priore epistula, constrinxi et breviter percucurri. Num- quam autem vera tibi opinio talis videbitur, nisi animum adleves et te ipse interroges, si res exegerit, ut pro patria moriaris et salutem omnium civium tua redimas, an porrecturus sis cervicem non tantum patienter, sed etiam libenter. Si hoc facturus es, nullum aliud bonum est. Omnia enim relinquis, ut hoc habeas. Vide quanta vis honesti sit: pro re publica morieris, etiam si statim facturus hoc eris, cum scieris tibi esse faciendum. Interdum ex re pulcherrima magnum gaudium etiam exiguo tempore ac brevi capitur, et quamvis fructus operis peracti nullus ad defunctum exemptumque rebus humanis pertineat, ipsa tamen contemplatio futuri operis iuvat, et vir fortis ac iustus, cum mortis suae pretia ante se posuit, libertatem patriae, salutem omnium, pro quibus dependit animam, in summa voluptate est et periculo suo fruitur. Sed ille quoque, cui hoc

gaudium eripitur, quod! tractatio operis maximi et

1 guod Arg. b; quam VPb. 162

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lead a happy life; which is of course impossible, One must endure all things in defence of that which is honourable; but this would not be necessary if there existed any other good besides that which is honourable.

Although this question was discussed by me pretty extensively in a previous letter,* I have discussed it summarily and briefly run through the argument. But an opinion of this kind will never seem true to you unless you exalt your mind and ask yourself whether, at the call of duty, you would be willing to die for your country, and buy the safety of all your fellow-citizens at the price of your own; whether you would offer your neck not only with patience, but also with gladness. If you would do this, there is no other good in your eyes. For you are giving up everything in order to acquire this good. Consider how great is the power of that which is honourable: you will die for your country, even at a moment’s notice, when you know that you ought to do so. Sometimes, as a result of noble conduct, one wins great joy even in a very short and fleeting space of time; and though none of the fruits of a deed that has been done will accrue to the doer after he is dead and removed from the sphere of human affairs, yet the mere contemplation of a deed that is to be done is a delight, and the brave and upright man, picturing to himself the guerdons of his death,—guerdons such as the freedom of his country and the deliverance of all those for whom he is paying out his life,—partakes of the greatest pleasure and enjoys the fruit of his own peril. But that man also who is deprived of this joy, the joy which is afforded by the contemplation

@ Ep. lxxiv., esp. § 14. VOL. II ee 163

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ultimi! praestat, nihil cunctatus desiliet in mortem, facere recte pieque contentus. Oppone etiamnunc illi multa quae dehortentur, dic: ‘“factum tuum matura sequetur oblivio et parum grata existimatio civium” ; respondebit? tibi: “ista omnia extra opus meum sunt. Ego ipsum contemplor. Hoc esse honestum scio. Itaque quocumque ducit ac vocat, venio.”

Hoe ergo unum bonum est, quod non tantum perfectus animus, sed generosus quoque et indolis bonae sentit; cetera levia sunt, mutabilia. Itaque sollicite possidentur. Etiam si favente fortuna in unum congesta sunt, dominis suis incubant gravia et illos semper premunt, aliquando et inlidunt.2 Nemo ex istis, quos purpuratos vides, felix est, non magis quam ex illis, quibus sceptrum et chlamydem in scaena fabulae adsignant ; cum praesente populo lati incesserunt et coturnati, simul exierunt, excalceantur et ad staturam suam redeunt. Nemo istorum, quos divitiae honoresque in altiore fastigio ponunt, magnus est. Quare ergo magnus videtur? Cum basi illum sua metiris. Non est magnus pumilio, licet in monte constiterit; colossus magnitudinem suam servabit, etiam si steterit in puteo. Hoc laboramus errore, sic nobis imponitur, quod neminem aestimamus eo, quod est, sed adicimus illi et ea, quibus adornatus

1 maximi et ultimi Sanctolonius and Madvig ; —e et —e, or —ae et —ae MSS.

2 respondebit or respondet later MSS. ; respondit V Pb.

3 inlidunt Gruter ; inludunt VP.

« Compare the argument in Ep. Ixxx. § 7, ‘‘This farce of living, in which we act our parts so ill”; § 8, the loud- mouthed impersonator of heroes, who sleeps on rags; and § 9 hominem involutum aestimas ?

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of some last noble effort, will leap to his death with- out a moment’s hesitation, content to act rightly and dutifully. Moreover, you may confront him with many discouragements; you may say: “Your deed will speedily be forgotten,” or “ Your fellow-citizens will offer you scant thanks.’’ He will answer: “ All these matters lie outside my task. My thoughts are on the deed itself. I know that this is honourable. Therefore, whithersoever I am led and summoned by honour, I will go.”

This, therefore, is the only good, and not only is every soul that has reached perfection aware of it, but also every soul that is by nature noble and of right instincts; all other goods are trivial and mut- able. For this reason we are harassed if we possess them. Even though, by the kindness of Fortune, they have been heaped together, they weigh heavily upon their owners, always pressing them down and sometimes crushing them. None of those whom you behold clad in purple is happy, any more than one of these actors* upon whom the play bestows a sceptre and a cloak while on the stage; they strut their hour before a crowded house, with swelling port and buskined foot; but when once they make their exit the foot-gear is removed and they return to their proper stature. None of those who have been raised to a loftier height by riches and honours is really great. Why then does he seem great to you? It is because you are measuring the pedestal along with the man. A dwarf is not tall, though he stand upon a mountain-top ; a colossal statue will still be tall, though you place it in a well. This is the error under which we labour; this is the reason why we are imposed upon: we value no man at what he is, but add to the man himself the trappings in

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est. Atqui cum voles veram hominis aestimationem inire et scire, qualis sit, nudum inspice; ponat patri- monium, ponat honores et alia fortunae mendacia, corpus ipsum exuat. Animum intuere, qualis quan- tusque sit, alieno an suo magnus.

33 Si rectis oculis gladios micantes videt et si scit sua nihil interesse, utrum anima per os an per iugulum exeat, beatum voca; si cum illi denuntiata sunt corporis tormenta et quae casu veniunt et quae potentioris iniuria, si vincula et exilia et vanas huma-

narum formidines mentium securus audit et dicit:

**Non ulla laborum, O virgo, nova mi facies inopinave surgit ; Omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ipse peregi.

Tu hodie ista denuntias ; ego semper denuntiavi mihi 34 et hominem paravi ad humana.” Praecogitati mali mollis ictus venit. At stultis et fortunae credentibus omnis videtur nova rerum et inopinata facies ; magna autem pars est apud imperitos mali novitas. Hoc ut scias, ea quae putaverant aspera, fortius, cum adsue- 35 vere, patiuntur. Ideo sapiens adsuescit futuris malis et quae alii diu patiendo levia faciunt, hic levia facit

# As the world-soul is spread through the universe, so the human soul (as fire, or breath) is diffused through the body, and may take its departure in various ways.

> Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 103 ff. (The answer of Aeneas to the Sibyl’s prophecy.)

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which he is clothed. But when you wish to inquire into a man’s true worth, and to know what manner of man he is, look at him when he is naked; make him lay aside his inherited estate, his titles, and the other deceptions of fortune ; let him even strip off his body. Consider his soul, its quality and its stature, and thus learn whether its greatness is borrowed, or its own.

If a man can behold with unflinching eyes the flash of a sword, if he knows that it makes no difference to him whether his soul takes flight through his mouth or through a wound in his throat,* you may call him happy; you may also call him happy if, when he is threatened with bodily torture, whether it be the result of accident or of the might of the stronger, he can without concern hear talk of chains, or of exile, or of all the idle fears that stir men’s minds, and can say:

**O maiden, no new sudden form of toil Springs up before my eyes ; within my soul I have forestalled and surveyed everything.®

To-day it is you who threaten me with these terrors ; but I have always threatened myself with them, and have prepared myself as a man to meet man’s destiny.” If an evil has been pondered beforehand, the blow is gentle when it comes. To the fool, however, and to him who trusts in fortune, each event as it arrives “comes in a new and sudden form,” and a large part of evil, to the inexperienced, consists in its novelty. This is proved by the fact that men endure with greater courage, when they have once become accustomed to them, the things which they had at first regarded as_ hardships. Hence, the wise man accustoms himself to coming trouble, lightening by long reflection the evils which

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diu cogitando. Audimus aliquando voces imperitorum dicentium: “sciebam! hoc mihi restare” ; sapiens scit sibi omnia restare. Quicquid factum est, dicit: “sciebam.” VALE.

LN TE: Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Subito nobis hodie Alexandrinae naves appa- ruerunt, quae praemitti solent et nuntiare secuturae classis adventum; tabellarias vocant. Gratus illarum Campaniae aspectus est; omnis in pilis Puteolorum turba consistit et ex ipso genere velorum Alexan- drinas quamvis in magna turba navium intellegit. Solis enim licet siparum intendere, quod in alto omnes

2 habent naves. Nulla enim res aeque adiuvat cursum quam summa pars veli; illinc maxime navis urgetur. Itaque quotiens ventus increbruit maiorque est quam expedit, antemna summittitur; minus habet virium flatus ex humili. Cum intravere Capreas et promun- turium, ex quo

Alta procelloso speculatur vertice Pallas,

ceterae velo iubentur esse contentae; siparum Alexandrinarum insigne est.?

3 In hoc omnium discursu properantium ad litus mag- nam ex pigritia mea sensi voluptatem, quod epistulas meorum accepturus non properavi scire, quis illic esset

1 The old editors read nesciebam, which seems more in

accord with the argument. * indicium before est deleted by Muretus.

2 Puteoli, in the bay of Naples, was the head-quarters in Italy of the important grain-trade with Egypt, on which the Roman magistrates relied to feed the populace.

’ Author unknown.

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EPISTLES LXXVI., LXXVII.

others lighten by long endurance. We sometimes hear the inexperienced say: “I knew that this was

in store for me.” But the wise man knows that all things are in store for him. Whatever happens, he says: “I knew it.” Farewell.

LXXVITI. ON TAKING ONE'S OWN LIFE

Suddenly there came into our view to-day the “ Alexandrian”? ships,—I mean those which are usually sent ahead to announce the coming of the fleet ; they are called “ mail-boats.” The Campanians are glad to see them; all the rabble of Puteoli4 stand on the docks, and can recognize the “ Alexan- drian” boats, no matter how great the crowd of vessels, by the very trim of their sails. For they alone may keep spread their topsails, which all ships use when out at sea, because nothing sends a ship along so well as its upper canvas; that is where most of the speed is obtained. So when the breeze has stiffened and becomes stronger than is comfortable, they set their yards lower; for the wind has less force near the surface of the water. Accordingly, when they have made Capreae and the headland whence

Tall Pallas watches on the stormy peak,’

all other vessels are bidden to be content with the mainsail, and the topsail stands out conspicuously on the “ Alexandrian”’ mail-boats.

While everybody was bustling about and hurrying to the water-front, I felt great pleasure in my laziness, because, although I was soon to receive letters from my friends, I was in no hurry to know how my affairs

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rerum mearum status, quid adferrent ; olim iam nec perit quicquam mihi nec adquiritur. Hoc, etiam si senex non essem, fuerat sentiendum ; nunc vero multo magis. Quantulumcumque haberem, tamen plus iam mihi superesset viatici quam viae, praesertim cum eam viam simus! ingressi, quam peragere non est necesse. 4 Iter inperfectum erit, si in media parte aut citra petitum locum steteris ; vita non est inperfecta, si honesta est. Ubicumque desines, si bene desines, tota est. Saepe autem et fortiter desinendum est et non ex maximis causis; nam nec eae? maximae sunt, quae nos tenent. 5 Tullius Marcellinus, quem optime noveras, adu- lescens quietus* et cito senex, morbo et non in- sanabili correptus sed longo et molesto et multa imperante, coepit deliberare de morte. Convocavit complures amicos. Unusquisque aut quia timidus erat, id illi suadebat, quod sibi suasisset, aut quia adulator et blandus, id consilium dabat, quod de- 6 liberanti gratius fore suspicabatur; amicus noster Stoicus, homo egregius et, ut verbis illum, quibus laudari dignus est, laudem, vir fortis ac strenuus, videtur mihi optime illum cohortatus. Sic enim coepit: “Noli, mi Marcelline, torqueri, tamquam de 1 simus later MSS. ; sumus VPb. 2 mec eae O. Rossbach ; nec et VPb.

3 J. W. Duff would read, with Kron., vietus, ‘old,” ‘¢ withered.”

« This thought, found in Ep. xii. 6 and often elsewhere, is a favourite with Seneca.

> It is not likely that this Marcellinus is the same person as the Marcellinus of Ep. xxix., because of their different views on philosophy (Summers). But there is no definite evidence for or against.

¢ A Roman compliment; the Greeks would have used kadds kayabds ; cf. Horace, Hp. i. 7. 46

Strenuus et fortis causisque Philippus agendis Clarus.

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were progressing abroad, or what news the letters were bringing; for some time now I have had no losses, nor gains either. Even if I were not an old man, I could not have helped feeling pleasure at this; but as it is, my pleasure was far greater. For, however small my possessions might be, I sheuld still have left over more travelling-money than journey to travel, especially since this journey upon which we have set out is one which need not be followed to the end. An expedition will be incomplete if one stops half-way, or anywhere on this side of one’s destination ; but life is not incomplete if it is honour- able. At whatever point you leave off living, pro- vided you leave off nobly, your life is a whole.% Often, however, one must leave off bravely, and our reasons therefore need not be momentous; for neither are the reasons momentous which hold us here.

Tullius Marcellinus,? a man whom you knew very well, who in youth was a quiet soul and became old prematurely, fell ill of a disease which was by no means hopeless; but it was protracted and trouble- some, and it demanded much attention; hence he began to think about dying. He called many of his friends together. Each one of them gave Marcellinus advice,—the timid friend urging him to do what he had made up his mind to do ; the flatter- ing and wheedling friend giving counsel which he supposed would be more pleasing to Marcellinus when he came to think the matter over; but our Stoic friend, a rare man, and, to praise him in language which he deserves, a man of courage and vigour,° admonished him best of all, as it seems to me. For he began as follows : “ Do not torment yourself, my dear Marcellinus, as if the question which you are

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re magna deliberes. Non est res magna vivere; omnes servi tui vivunt, omnia animalia; magnum est honeste mori, prudenter, fortiter. Cogita, quamdiu iam idem facias: cibus, somnus, libido, per hunc circulum curritur. Mori velle non tantum prudens aut fortis aut miser, etiam fastidiosus potest.”

7 Non opus erat suasore illi, sed adiutore; servi parere nolebant. Primum detraxit illis metum et indicavit tune familiam periculum adire, cum in- certum esset, an mors domini voluntaria fuisset; alioqgui tam mali exempli esse occidere dominum

8 quam prohibere. Deinde ipsum Marcellinum ad- monuit non esse inhumanum, quemadmodum cena peracta reliquiae circumstantibus dividantur, sic peracta vita aliquid porrigi iis, qui totius vitae ministri fuissent. Erat Marcellinus facilis animi et liberalis, etiam cum de suo fieret. Minutas itaque summulas distribuit flentibus servis et illos ultro

9 consolatus est. Non fuit illi opus ferro, non sanguine; triduo abstinuit et in ipso cubiculo poni taberna- culum iussit. Solium deinde inlatum est, in quo diu iacuit et calda subinde suffusa paulatim defecit, ut aiebat, non sine quadam voluptate, quam adferre solet lenis dissolutio non inexperta nobis, quos aliquando liquit animus.

¢ For this frequent ‘‘ banquet of life” simile see Ep. xcvili. 15 ipse vitae plenus est, etc.

’ So that the steam might not escape. One thinks of Seneca’s last hours: Tac. Ann. xv. 64 stagnum calidae aquae introut .. . exin balneo inlatus et vapore eius exani- matus,

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weighing were a matter of importance. It is not an important matter to live; all your slaves live, and so do all animals; but it is important to die honourably, sensibly, bravely. Reflect how long you have been doing the same thing: food, sleep, lusi——this 1s one’s daily round. The desire to die may be felt, not only by the sensible man or the brave or unhappy man, but even by the man who is merely surfeited.”’ Marcellinus did not need someone to urge him, but rather someone to help him; his slaves refused to do his bidding. The Stoic therefore removed their fears, showing them that there was no risk involved for the household except when it was un- certain whether the master’s death was self-sought or not; besides, it was as bad a practice to kill one’s master as it was to prevent him forcibly from killing himself. Then he suggested to Marcellinus himself that it would be a kindly act to distribute gifts to those who had attended him throughout his whole life, when that life was finished, just as, when a banquet is finished,“ the remaining portion is divided among the attendants who stand about the table. Mar- cellinus was of a compliant and generous disposition, even when it was a question of his own property ; so he distributed little sums among his sorrowing slaves, and comforted them besides. No need had he of sword or of bloodshed ; for three days he fasted and had a tent put up in his very bedroom.? Then a tub was brought in; he lay in it for a long time, and, as the hot water was continually poured over him, he gradually passed away, not without a feeling of pleasure, as he himself remarked,—such a feeling as a slow dissolution is wont to give. Those of us who have ever fainted know from experience what

this feeling is. 173

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10 = In fabellam excessi non ingratam tibi. Exitum enim amici tui cognosces non difficilem nec miserum. Quamvis enim mortem sibi consciverit, tamen mollis- sime excessit et vita elapsus est. Sed ne inutilis quidem haec fabella fuerit. Saepe enim talia exempla necessitas exigit. Saepe debemus mori nec

11 volumus, morimur nec volumus. Nemo tam imperitus est, ut nesciat quandoque moriendum; tamen cum prope accessit, tergiversatur, tremit, plorat. Nonne tibi videbitur stultissimus omnium, qui flevit, quod ante annos mille non vixerat? Aeque stultus est, qui flet, quod post annos mille non vivet. Haec paria sunt; non eris nec fuisti. Utrumque tempus

12 alienum est. In hoc punctum coniectus es, quod ut extendas, quo usque extendes? Quid fles? Quid optas? Perdis operam.

Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Rata et fixa sunt et magna atque aeterna necessitate ducuntur. Eo ibis, quo omnia eunt. Quid tibi novi est? Ad hance legem natus es. Hoc patri tuo accidit, hoc matri, hoc maioribus, hoc omnibus ante te, hoc omnibus post te. Series invicta et nulla 13 mutabilis ope inligavit ac trahit cuncta. Quantus te

populus moriturorum sequetur? Quantus comita-

« For the same thought cf. Ep. xlix. 3 punctum est quod vivimus et adhuc puncto minus. > Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 376.

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This little anecdote into which I have digressed will not be displeasing to you. For you will see that your friend departed neither with difficulty nor with suffering. Though he committed suicide, yet he withdrew most gently, gliding out of life. The anecdote may also be of some use; for often a crisis demands just such examples. ‘There are times when we ought to die and are unwilling; sometimes we die and are unwilling. No one is so ignorant as not to know that we must at some time die; neverthe- less, when one draws near death, one turns to flight, trembles, and laments. Would you not think him an utter fool who wept because he was not alive a thousand years ago? And is he not just as much of a fool who weeps because he will not be alive a thousand years from now? It is all the same; you will not be, and you were not. Neither of these periods of time belongs to you. You have been cast upon this point of time; if you would make it longer, how much longer shall you make it? Why weep? Why pray? You are taking pains to no purpose.

Give over thinking that your prayers can bend Divine decrees from their predestined end.?

These decrees are unalterable and fixed; they are governed by a mighty and everlasting compulsion. Your goal will be the goal of all things. What is there strange in this to you? You were born to be subject to this law; this fate befell your father, your mother, your ancestors, all who came before you; and it will befall all who shall come after you. A sequence which cannot be broken or altered by any power binds all things together and draws all things in its course. Think of the multitudes of men doomed to death who will come after you, of the

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bitur? Fortior, ut opinor, esses, si multa milia tibi commorerentur; atqui multa milia et hominum et animalium hoc ipso momento, quo tu mori dubitas, animam variis generibus emittunt. Tu autem non putabas te aliquando ad id perventurum, ad quod semper ibas? Nullum sine exitu iter est.

Exempla nune magnorum virorum me tibi iudicas relaturum? Puerorumreferam. Lacon ille memoriae traditur inpubis adhuc, qui captus clamabat “non serviam’”’ sua illa Dorica lingua, et verbis fidem inposuit ; ut primum iussus est servili fungi et con- tumelioso ministerio, adferre enim vas obscenum iubebatur, inlisum parieti caput rupit. Tam prope libertas est; et servit aliquis? Ita non sic perire filium tuum malles quam per inertiam senem fieri? Quid ergo est, cur perturberis, si mori fortiter etiam puerile est? Puta nolle te sequi; duceris. Fac tui juris, quod alieni est. Non sumes pueri spiritum, ut dicas “non servio”? Infelix, servis hominibus, servis rebus, servis vitae. Nam vita, si moriendi virtus abest, servitus est.

Ecquid habes, propter quod expectes? Voluptates ipsas, quae te morantur ac retinent, consumpsisti. Nulla tibi nova est, nulla non iam odiosa ipsa satie-

«@ See Plutarch, Mor. 234 b, for a similar act of the Spartan boy captured by King Antigonus. Hense (Rhein. Mus. xvii. pp. 220 f.) thinks that this story may be taken from Bion, the third-century satirist and moral philosopher.

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multitudes who will go with you! You would die more bravely, I suppose, in the company of many thousands; and yet there are many thousands, both of men and of animals, who at this very moment, while you are irresolute about death, are breathing their last, in their several ways. But you,—did you believe that you would not some day reach the goal towards which you have always been travelling? No journey but has its end.

You think, I suppose, that it is now in order for me to cite some examples of great men. No, I shall cite rather the case of a boy. The story of the Spartan lad has been preserved: taken captive while still a stripling, he kept crying in his Doric dialect, “1 will not be a slave!” and he made good his word ; for the very first time he was ordered to perform a menial and degrading service,—and the command was to fetch a chamber-pot,—he dashed out his brains against the wall. So near at hand is freedom, and is anyone still a slave? Would you not rather have your own son die thus than reach old age by weakly yielding? Why therefore are you distressed, when even a boy can die so bravely? Suppose that you refuse to follow him; you will be led. Take into your own control that which is now under the control of another. Will you not borrow that boy’s courage, and say: “I am no slave!”? Unhappy fellow, you are a slave to men, you are a slave to your business, you are a slave to life. For life, if courage to die be lacking, is slavery.

Have you anything worth waiting for? Your very pleasures, which cause you to tarry and hold you back, have already been exhausted by you. None of them is a novelty to you, and there is none that has not already become hateful because you are

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

tate. Quis sit vini, quis mulsi sapor, scis. Nihil interest, centum per vesicam tuam an mille amphorae transeant; saccus es.! Quid sapiat ostreum, quid mullus, optime nosti; nihil tibi luxuria tua in futuros annos intactum reservavit; atqui haec sunt, a quibus invitus divelleris. Quid est aliud, quod tibi eripi doleas? Amicos? Quis enim tibi potest? amicus esse? Patriam? Tanti enim illam putas, ut tardius cenes? Solem? Quem, si posses, extingueres. Quid enim umquam fecisti luce dignum? Confitere non curiae te, non fori, non ipsius rerum naturae desiderio tardiorem ad moriendum fieri; invitus relinquis macellum, in quo nihil reliquisti.

Mortem times; at quomodo illam media boleta- tione contemnis? Vivere vis; scis enim? Mori times; quid porro? Ista vita non mors est? C. Caesar,? cum illum transeuntem per Latinam viam unus ex custodiarum agmine demissa usque in pectus vetere barba rogaret mortem: “nunc enim,’ inquit, “vivis?’’ Hoe istis respondendum est, quibus succursura mors est: mori times; nune enim vivis? “Sed ego,” inquit, “vivere volo, qui multa honeste

1 es later MSS. ; est VPb.

2 amicos? quis enim tibi potest added by Madvig.

3 C,. Caesar Bentley and O. Rossbach; ¢. caesar VO; caesar Pb.

@ About 5? gallons.

> Cf. Pliny, xiv. 22 quin immo ut plus capiamus, sacco frangimus vires. Strained wine could be drunk in greater quantities without intoxication.

¢ Cf. Dio Cassius, xl. 54, for the exiled Milo’s enjoyment of the mullets of Marseilles.

4 Probably the strong tone of disapproval used in this paragraph is directed against the Roman in general rather than against the industrious Lucilius. It is characteristic of the diatribe.

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cioyed with it. You know the taste of wine and cordials. It makes no difference whether a hundred or a thousand measures ® pass through your bladder ; you are nothing but a wine-strainer.2 You are a connoisseur in the flavour of the oyster and of the mullet®; your luxury has not left you anything untasted for the years that are to come; and yet these are the things from which you are torn away unwillingly. What else is there which you would regret to have taken from you? Friends? But who can be a friend to you? Country? What? Do you think enough of your country to be late to dinner? The light of the sun? You would ex- tinguish it, if you could; for what have you ever done that was fit to be seen in the light? Confess the truth; it is not because you long for the senate- chamber or the forum, or even for the world of nature, that you would fain put off dying; it is because you are loth to leave the fish-market, though you have exhausted its stores.@

You are afraid of death; but how can you scorn it in the midst of a mushroom supper*? You wish to live; well, do you know how to live? You are afraid to die. But come now: is this life of yours anything but death? Gaius Caesar was passing along the Via Latina, when a man stepped out from the ranks of the prisoners, his grey beard hanging down even to his breast, and begged to be put to death. “What!” said Caesar, “are you alive now?” That is the answer which should be given to men to whom death would come as a relief. “ You are afraid to die; what! are you alive now?” “But,” says one, “I wish to live, for I am engaged in many

¢ Seneca may be recalling the death of the Emperor Claudius.

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facio. Invitus relinquo officia vitae, quibus fideliter et industrie fungor.” Quid? Tu nescis unum esse ex vitae officiis et mori? Nullum officium relinquis. Non enim certus numerus, quem debeas explere,

20 finitur. Nulla vita est non brevis. Nam si ad naturam rerum respexeris, etiam Nestoris et Sattiae brevis est, quae inscribi monumento suo iussit annis se nonaginta novem vixisse. Vides aliquem gloriari senectute longa. Quis illam ferre potuisset, si con- tigisset centesimum implere? Quomodo fabula, sic vita non quam diu, sed quam bene acta sit, refert. Nihil ad rem pertinet, quo loco desinas. Quocumque voles desine; tantum bonam clausulam inpone. VALE.

LXXVIII.

Seneca LvcILio svo SALVTEM

1 Vexari te destillationibus crebris ac febriculis, quae longas destillationes et in consuetudinem ad- ductas secuntur, eo molestius mihi est, quia expertus sum hoe genus valetudinis, quod inter initia con- tempsi; poterat adhuc adulescentia iniurias ferre et se adversus morbos contumaciter gerere. Deinde succubui et eo perductus sum, ut ipse destillarem ad

2summam maciem deductus. Saepe impetum cepi abrumpendae vitae ; patris me indulgentissimi senec- tus retinuit. Cogitavi enim non quam fortiter ego

¢ A traditional example of old age, mentioned by Martial and the elder Pliny.

’ Compare the last words of the Emperor Augustus: amicos percontatus ecquid is videretur mimum vitae commode transegisse (Suet. dug. 99).

¢ 'To such a degree that Seneca’s enemy Caligula refrained from executing him, on the ground that he would soon die.

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honourable pursuits. I am loth to leave life’s duties, which I am fulfilling with loyalty and zeal.” Surely you are aware that dying is also one of life’s duties? You are deserting no duty; for there is no definite number established which you are bound to complete. There is no life that is not short. Compared with the world of nature, even Nestor’s life was a short one, or Sattia’s,“ the woman who bade carve on her tombstone that she had lived ninety and nine years. Some persons, you see, boast of their long lives; but who could have endured the old lady if she had had the luck to complete her hundredch year? It is with life as it is with a play,—it matters not how long the action is spun out, but how good the acting is. It makes no difference at what point you stop. Stop whenever you choose; only see to it that the closing period is well turned.” Farewell.

LXXVIITI. ON THE HEALING POWER OF THE MIND

That you are frequently troubled by the snuffling of catarrh and by short attacks of fever which follow after long and chronic catarrhal seizures, I am sorry to hear; particularly because I have experienced this sort of illness myself, and scorned it in its early stages. For when I was still young, I could put up with hardships and show a bold front to illness. But I finally succumbed, and arrived at such a state that I could do nothing but snuffle, reduced as I was to the extremity of thinness.? I often entertained the impulse of ending my life then and there; but the thought of my kind old father kept me back. For I reflected, not how bravely I

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mori possem, sed quam ille fortiter desiderare non posset. Itaque imperavi mihi, ut viverem. Ali- quando enim et vivere fortiter facere est.

3 Quae mihi tunc fuerint solacio dicam, si prius hoc dixero,! haec ipsa, quibus adquiescebam, medicinae vim habuisse. In remedium cedunt honesta solacia, et quicquid animum erexit, etiam corpori prodest. Studia mihi nostra saluti fuerunt. Philosophiae aeceptum fero, quod surrexi, quod convalui. Ili

4 vitam debeo et nihil illi minus debeo. Multum mihi contulerunt ad bonam valetudinem amici, quorum adhortationibus, vigiliis, sermonibus adlevabar. Nihil aeque, Lucili, virorum optime, aegrum reficit atque adiuvat quam amicorum adfectus; nihil aeque ex- pectationem mortis ac metum subripit. Non iudica- bam me, cum illos superstites relinquerem,? mori. Putabam, inquam, me victurum non cum illis, sed per illos. Non effundere mihi spiritum videbar, sed tradere.§

Haec mihi dederunt voluntatem adiuvandi me et patiendi omne tormentum ; alioqui miserrimum est, cum animum moriendi proieceris, non habere vivendi.

5 Ad haec ergo remedia te confer. Medicus tibi quantum ambules, quantum exercearis, monstrabit ; ne indulgeas otio, ad quod vergit iners valetudo; ut legas clarius et spiritum, cuius iter ac receptaculum

1 dixero or dixerim later MSS. ; dixeris VPb.

2 relinquerem later MSS. ; relinquere VPb. 3 tradere Muretus ; trahere VPb.

@ Of. Ep. xv. Tf. 182

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had the power to die, but how little power he had to bear bravely the loss of me. And so I com- manded myself to live. For sometimes it is an act of bravery even to live.

Now I shall tell you what consoled me during those days, stating at the outset that these very aids to my peace of mind were as efficacious as medicine. Honourable consolation results in a cure; and what- ever has uplifted the soul helps the body also. My studies were my salvation. I place it to the credit of philosophy that I recovered and regained my strength. I owe my life to philosophy, and that is the least of my obligations! My friends, too, helped me greatly toward good health; I used to be comforted by their cheering words, by the hours they spent at my bedside, and by their conversation, Nothing, my excellent Lucilius, refreshes and aids a sick man so much as the affection of his friends ; nothing so steals away the expectation and the fear of death. In fact, I could not believe that, if they survived me, I should be dying atall. Yes, I repeat, it seemed to me that I should continue to live, not with them, but through them. I imagined myself not to be yielding up my soul, but to be making it over to them.

All these things gave me the inclination to succour myself and to endure any torture; besides, it is a most miserable state to have lost one’s zest for dying, and to have no zest in living. These, then, are the remedies to which you should have recourse. The physician will prescribe your walks and your exercise ; he will warn you not to become addicted to idleness, as is the tendency of the inactive invalid; he will order you to read in a louder voice and to exercise your lungs,* the passages

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laborat, exerceas ; ut naviges et viscera molli iacta- tione concutias; quibus cibis utaris, vinum quando virium causa advoces, quando intermittas, ne inritet et exasperet tussim. Ego tibi illud praecipio, quod non tantum huius morbi, sed totius vitae remedium est: contemne mortem. Nihil triste est, cum huius

6 metum effugimus. ‘Tria haec in omni morbo gravia sunt: metus mortis, dolor corporis, intermissio volup- tatum. De morte satis dictum est; hoc unum dicam, non morbi hunc esse sed naturae metum. Multorum mortem distulit morbus et saluti illis fuit videri perire. Morieris, non quia aegrotas, sed quia vivis. Ista te res et sanatum manet; cum convalueris, non mortem, sed valetudinem effugies.

7 Ad illud nunc proprium incommodum revertamur : magnos cruciatus habet morbus. Sed hos tolerabiles intervalla faciunt. Nam summi doloris intentio in- venit finem. Nemo potest valde dolere et diu; sic nos amantissima nostri natura disposuit, ut dolorem

8 aut tolerabilem aut brevem faceret. Maximi dolores consistunt in macerrimis corporis partibus ; nervi arti- culique et quicquid aliud exile est, acerrime saevit, cum in arto vitia concepit. Sed cito hae partes obstupescunt et ipso dolore sensum doloris amittunt,

@ 4,e¢,, men have become healthier after passing through serious illness.

® Cf. Epicurus, Frag. 446 Usener.

¢ Compare, from among many parallels, Hp. xxiv. 14 (dolor) levis es, si ferre possum, brevis es, sv ferre non possum, 184

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and cavity of which are affected ; or to sail and shake up your bowels by a little mild motion ; he will recommend the proper food, and the suitable time for aiding your strength with wine or refraining from it in order to keep your cough from being irritated and hacking. But as for me, my counsel to you is this,—and it is a cure, not merely of this disease of yours, but of your whole life,— Despise death.”’ There is no sorrow in the world, when we have escaped from the fear of death. There are these three serious elements in every disease: fear of death, bodily pain, and interruption of pleasures. Concerning death enough has been said, and I shall add only a word: this fear is not a fear of disease, but a fear of nature. Disease has often postponed death, and a vision of dying has been many a man’s salvation. You will die, not because you are ill, but because you are alive; even when you have been cured, the same end awaits you; when you have recovered, it will be not death, but ill-health, that you have escaped.

Let us now return to the consideration of the characteristic disadvantage of disease: it is accom- panied by great suffering. The suffering, however, is rendered endurable by interruptions ; for the strain of extreme pain must come to an end.2 No man can suffer both severely and for a long time; Nature, who loves us most tenderly, has so constituted us as to make pain either endurable or short. The severest pains have their seat in the most slender parts of our body; nerves, joints, and any other of the narrow passages, hurt most cruelly when they have developed trouble within their contracted spaces. But these parts soon become numb, and by reason of the pain itself lose the sensation of pain,

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sive quia spiritus naturali prohibitus cursu et mutatus in peius vim suam, qua viget admonetque nos, perdit, sive quia corruptus umor, cum desiit habere, quo confluat, ipse se elidit et iis, quae nimis implevit,

g excutit sensum. Sic podagra et cheragra et omnis

vertebrarum dolor nervorumque!? interquiescit,? cum illa, quae torquebat, hebetavit?; omnium istorum prima verminatio vexat, impetus mora extinguitur et finis dolendi est optorpuisse. Dentium, oculorum, aurium dolor ob hoe ipsum acutissimus est, quod inter angusta corporis nascitur, non minus, mehercule, quam capitis ipsius; sed si incitatior est, in aliena- tionem soporemque convertitur. Hoc itaque solacium vasti doloris est, quod necesse est desinas illum sentire, si nimis senseris. Illud autem est, quod imperitos in vexatione corporis male habet: non adsueverunt animo esse contenti. Multum illis cum corpore fuit. Ideo vir magnus ac prudens animum diducit a corpore et multum cum meliore ac divina parte versatur, cum hac querula et fragili quantum necesse est.

“Sed molestum est,’ inquit, ‘“carere adsuetis voluptatibus, abstinere cibo, sitire, esurire.”” Haec prima abstinentia gravia sunt. Deinde cupiditas relanguescit ipsis per quae* cupimus fatigatis ac

1 nervorumque later MSS. ; et nervorumg. PbV’; e ner- vorum edition of Mentelin.

2 interquiescit later MSS. ; interciet (sciet b) scit Pb; in

tertiae scitscit V. 3 hebetavit later MSS. ; hebetabit VPb. 4 per quae Muretus ; per se quae MSS.

@ See also Ep. xcv. 17. The word literally means *‘ maggots,” ** bots,” in horses or cattle.

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whether because the life-force, when checked in its natural course and changed for the worse, loses the peculiar power through which it thrives and through which it warns us, or because the diseased humours of the body, when they cease to have a place into which they may flow, are thrown back upon them- selves, and deprive of sensation the parts where they have caused congestion. So gout, both in the feet and in the hands, and all pain in the vertebrae and in the nerves, have their intervals of rest at the times when they have dulled the parts which they before had tortured; the first twinges,? in all such cases, are what cause the distress, and their onset is checked by lapse of time, so that there is an end of pain when numbness has set in. Pain in the teeth, eyes, and ears is most acute for the very reason that it begins among the narrow spaces of the body,—no less acute, indeed, than in the head itself. But if it is more violent than usual, it turns to delirium and stupor. This is, accordingly, a consolation for excessive pain,—that you cannot help ceasing to feel it if you feel it to excess. The reason, however, why the inexperienced are impatient when their bodies suffer is, that they have not accustomed themselves to be contented in spirit. They have been closely associated with the body. Therefore a high-minded and sensible man divorces - soul from body, and dwells much with the better or divine part, and only as far as he must with this complaining and frail portion.

“ But it is a hardship,’ men say, “to do without our customary pleasures,—to fast, to feel thirst and hunger.’ These are indeed serious when one first abstains from them. Later the desire dies down, because the appetites themselves which lead to

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deficientibus ; inde morosus est stomachus, inde cuius! fuit aviditas cibi, odium est. Desideria ipsa moriuntur. Non est autem acerbum carere eo, quod cupere desieris. Adice, quod nullus non _ inter- mittitur dolor aut certe remittitur. Adice, quod licet cavere venturum et obsistere inminenti remediis. Nullus enim non signa praemittit, utique qui ex solito revertitur. ‘Tolerabilis est morbi patientia, si contempseris id quod extremum minatur. Noli mala tua facere tibi ipse? graviora et te querellis onerare. Levis est dolor, si nihil illi opinio adiecerit; contra, si exhortari te coeperis ac dicere: “ Nihil est aut certe exiguum est. Duremus; iam desinet”’; levem illum, dum putas, facies. Omnia ex opinione suspensa sunt ; non ambitio tantum ad illam respicit et luxuria et avaritia. Ad opinionem dolemus. ‘Tam miser est quisque quam credidit. Detrahendas praeteritorum dolorum conquestiones puto et illa verba: “ Nulli umquam fuit peius. Quos cruciatus, quanta mala pertuli! Nemo me surrecturum putavit. Quotiens deploratus sum a meis, quotiens a medicis relictus ! In eculeum inpositi non sic distrahuntur.3”’ Etiam si sunt vera ista, transierunt. Quid iuvat praeteritos dolores retractare et miserum esse, quia fueris? Quid, quod nemo non multum malis suis adicit et

1 cuius Madvig ; quibus MSS. 2 ipse Haase ; ipsi MSS. 5 distrahuntur later MSS. ; detra(h)untur VPb.

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desire are wearied and forsake us; then the stomach becomes petulant, then the food which we craved before becomes hateful. Our very wants die away. But there is no bitterness in doing without that which you have ceased to desire. Moreover, every pain sometimes stops, or at any rate slackens; moreover, one may take precautions against its return, and, when it threatens, may check it by means of remedies. Every variety of pain has its premonitory symptoms; this is true, at any rate, of pain that is habitual and recurrent. One can endure the suffering which disease entails, if one has come to regard its results with scorn. But do not of your own accord make your troubles heavier to bear and burden yourself with complaining. Pain is slight if opinion has added nothing to it; but if, on the other hand, you begin to encourage yourself and say, “Tt is nothing,—a trifling matter at most; keep a stout heart and it will soon cease’’; then in think- ing it slight, you will make it slight. Everything depends on opinion; ambition, luxury, greed, hark back to opinion. It is according to opinion that we suffer. A man is as wretched as he has convinced himself that he is. I hold that we should do away with complaint about past sufferings and with all language like this: “None has ever been worse off than I. What sufferings, what evils have I endured! No one has thought that I shall recover. How often have my family bewailed me, and the physicians given me over! Men who are placed on the rack are not torn asunder with such agony!’ However, even if all this is true, it is over and gone. What benefit is there in reviewing past sufferings, and in being unhappy, just because once you were un- happy? Besides, every one adds much to his own

189

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sibi ipse mentitur? Deinde quod acerbum fuit ferre,! tulisse iucundum est; naturale est mali sui fine gaudere.

Circumcidenda ergo duo sunt, et futuri timor et veteris incommodi memoria; hoc ad me iam non pertinet, illud nondum. In ipsis positus difficultati- bus dicat:

Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

Toto contra ille? pugnet animo ; vincetur, si cesserit, vincet, si se contra dolorem suum intenderit. Nunc hoc plerique faciunt, adtrahunt in se ruinam, cui obstandum est. Istud quod premit, quod inpendet, quod urget, si subducere te coeperis, sequetur et gravius incumbet ; si contra steteris et obniti volueris, repelletur. Athletae quantum plagarum ore, quan- tum toto corpore excipiunt? Ferunt tamen omne tormentum gloriae cupiditate nec tantum quia pug- nant, ista patiuntur, sed ut pugnent. Exercitatio ipsa tormentum est. Nos quoque evincamus omnia, quorum praemium non corona nec palma est nec tubicen praedicationi nominis nostri silentium faciens, sed virtus et firmitas animi et pax in ceterum parta, si semel in aliquo certamine debellata fortuna est. “ Dolorem gravem sentio.” Quid ergo? Non sentis,

1 fuit ferre, tulisse Bartsch ; fuit retulisse MSS. 2 {lle Hense; illa or allum MSS.

@ Vergil, Aeneid, i. 203. 190

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ills, and tells lies to himself. And that which was bitter to bear is pleasant to have borne; it is natural to rejoice at the ending of one’s ills.

Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all,—the fear of future suffering, and the recollec- tion of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet. But when set in the very midst of troubles one should say :

Perchance some day the memory of this sorrow Will even bring delight.

Let such a man fight against them with all his might: if he once gives way, he will be vanquished ; but if he strives against his sufferings, he will conquer. As it is, however, what most men do is to drag down upon their own heads a falling ruin which they ought to try to support. If you begin to withdraw your support from that which thrusts toward you and totters and is ready to plunge, it will follow you and lean more heavily upon you; but if you hold your ground and make up your mind to push against it, it will be forced back. What blows do athletes receive on their faces and all over their bodies! Nevertheless, through their desire for fame they endure every torture, and they undergo these things not only because they are fighting but in order to be able to fight. Their very training means torture. So let us also win the way to victory in all our struggles,—for the reward is not a garland or a palm or a trumpeter who calls for silence at the proclama- tion of our names, but rather virtue, steadfastness of soul, and a peace that is won for all time, if fortune has once been utterly vanquished in any combat. You say, “I feel severe pain.” What then; are

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si illum muliebriter tuleris? Quemadmodum per- niciosior est hostis fugientibus, sic omne fortuitum incommodum magis instat cedenti et averso. “Sed grave est.” Quid? Nos ad hoc fortes sumus, ut levia portemus? Utrum vis longum esse morbum an concitatum! et brevem? Si longus est, habet intercapedinem, dat refectioni locum, multum tem- poris donat, necesse est, ut exurgit,? et desinat. Brevis morbus ac praeceps alterutrum faciet: aut extinguetur aut extinguet. Quid autem interest, non sit an non sim? In utroque finis dolendi est.

18 Illud quoque proderit, ad alias cogitationes avertere animuin et a dolore discedere. Cogita quid honeste, quid fortiter feceris; bonas partes tecum ipse tracta. Memoriam in ea, quae maxime miratus es, sparge. Tunc tibi fortissimus quisque et victor doloris occur- rat: ille, qui cum? varices exsecandas praeberet, legere librum perseveravit ; ille, qui non desiit ridere, cum hoe ipsum irati tortores omnia instrumenta crudelitatis suae experirentur. Non vincetur dolor

19 ratione, qui victus est risu? Quicquid vis nunc licet dicas, destillationes et vim continuae tussis egerentem viscerum partes et febrem praecordia ipsa torrentem et sitim et artus in diversum articulis exeuntibus tortos; plus est flamma et eculeus et lammina et vulneribus ipsis intumescentibus quod illa renovaret

1 concitatum later MSS. ; cogitatwm V Pb. 2 exurgit Haase ; ex(s)urgat MSS. 3 cum Haase; dum MSS.

@ Literally, perhaps, ‘‘the noble réles which you have played.” Summers compares Ep. xiv. 13 ultimas partes Catonis—*: the closing scenes of Cato’s life.”

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you relieved from feeling it, if you endure it like a woman? Just as an enemy is more dangerous to a retreating army, so every trouble that fortune brings attacks us all the harder if we yield and turn our backs. ‘“ But the trouble is serious.” What? Is it for this purpose that we are strong,—that we may have light burdens to bear? Would you have your illness long-drawn-out, or would you have it quick and short? If it is long, it means a respite, allows you a period for resting yourself, bestows upon you the boon of time in plenty; as it arises, so it must also subside. A short and rapid illness will do one of two things: it will quench or be quenched. And what difference does it make whether it is not or

Iam not? In either case there is an end of pain. This, too, will help—to turn the mind aside to thoughts of other things and thus to depart from pain. Call to mind what honourable or brave deeds you have done; consider the good side of your own life. Run over in your memory those things which you have particularly admired. Then think of all the brave men who have conquered pain: of him who continued to read his book as he allowed the cutting out of varicose veins; of him who did not cease to smile, though that very smile so enraged his torturers that they tried upon him every instru- ment of their cruelty. If pain can be conquered by a smile, will it not be conquered by reason? You may tell me now of whatever you like—of colds, hard coughing-spells that bring up parts of our entrails, fever that parches our very vitals, thirst, limbs so twisted that the joints protrude in different directions ; yet worse than these are the stake, the rack, the red-hot plates, the instrument that reopens wounds while the wounds themselves are still swollen 193

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et altius urgeret inpressum. Inter haec tamen aliquis non gemuit. “ Parum est”; non rogavit. “ Parum est’; non respondit. “ Parum est”’; risit et quidem ex animo. Vis tu post hoc dolorem deridere ?

20 “Sed nihil,” inquit, “agere sinit morbus, qui me omnibus abduxit officiis.’’ Corpus tuum valetudo tenet, non et animum. Itaque cursoris moratur pedes, sutoris aut fabri manus inpediet; si animus tibi esse in usu solet, suadebis docebis, audies disces,} quaeres recordaberis. Quid porro? Nihil agere te credis, si temperans aeger sis? Ostendes morbum

21 posse superari vel certe sustineri. Est, mihi crede, virtuti etiam in lectulo locus. Non tantum arma et acies dant argumenta alacris animi indomitique terro- ribus; et in vestimentis vir fortis apparet. Habes, quod agas: bene luctare cum morbo. Si nihil te coegerit, si nihil] exoraverit, insigne prodis exemplum. O quam magna erat gloriae materia, si spectaremur aegri! Ipse te specta,? ipse te lauda.

92 Praeterea duo genera sunt voluptatum. Corporales morbus inhibet, non tamen tollit. Immo, si verum

aestimes, incitat; magis iuvat bibere sitientem;

1 disces later MSS. ; dices VPb. 2 specia later MSS. ; expecta VPb.

« Of. Ep. xiv. 4f. and the crucibus adfixi, flamma usti, etc., of Tac. Ann. xv. 44.

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and that drives their imprint still deeper.4 Never- theless there have been men who have not uttered a moan amid these tortures. “More yet!” says the torturer; but the victim has not begged for release. “More yet!” he says again; but no answer has come. “ More yet!” the victim has smiled, and heartily, too. Can you not bring yourself, after an example like this, to make a mock at pain?

“ But,’ you object, “my illness does not allow me to be doing anything; it has withdrawn me from all my duties.” It is your body that is hampered by ill-health, and not your soul as well. It is for this reason that it clogs the feet of the runner and will hinder the handiwork of the cobbler or the artisan ; but if your soul be habitually in practice, you will plead and teach, listen and learn, investigate and meditate. What more is necessary? Do you think that you are doing nothing if you possess self- control in your illness? You will be showing that a disease can be overcome, or at any rate endured. There is, I assure you, a place for virtue even upon a bed of sickness. It is not only the sword and the battle-line that prove the soul alert and unconquered by fear; a man can display bravery even when wrapped in his bed-clothes. You have something to do: wrestle bravely with disease. If it shall compel you to nothing, beguile you to nothing, it is a notable example that you display. O what ample matter were there for renown, if we could have spectators of our sickness! Be your own spectator ; seek your own applause.

Again, there are two kinds of pleasures. Disease checks the pleasures of the body, but does not do away with them. Nay, if the truth is to be con- sidered, it serves to excite them; for the thirstier

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gratior est esurienti cibus. Quicquid ex abstinentia contigit, avidius excipitur. Illas vero animi volup- tates, quae maiores certioresque sunt, nemo medicus aegro negat. Has quisquis sequitur et bene intellegit, omnia sensuum blandimenta contemnit. “O in- felicem aegrum!’’ Quare? Quia non vino nivem diluit? Quia non rigorem potionis suae, quam capaci scypho miscuit, renovat fracta insuper glacie? Quia non ostrea illi Lucrina in ipsa mensa aperiuntur ? Quia non circa cenationem eius tumultus cocorum est ipsos cum opsoniis focos transferentium? Hoe enim iam luxuria commenta est: ne quis intepescat cibus, ne quid palato iam calloso parum ferveat,

.cenam culina prosequitur. “O infelicem aegrum!”’

edet, quantum concoquat. Non iacebit in conspectu aper ut vilis caro a mensa relegatus, nec in repositorio eius pectora avium, totas enim videre fastidium est, congesta ponentur. Quid tibi mali factum est? Cenabis tamquam aeger, immo aliquando tamquam sanus.

Sed omnia ista facile perferemus, sorbitionem, aquam calidam et quicquid aliud intolerabile videtur delicatis et luxu fluentibus magisque animo quam corpore morbidis; tantum mortem desinamus horrere. Desinemus autem, si fines bonorum ac malorum

@ The lacus Lucrinus was a salt-water lagoon, near Baiae in Campania.

> i.e., to be looked at; there are better dainties on the table.

¢ Sanus is used (1) as signifying ‘*sound in body ” and (2) as the opposite of insanus.

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a man is, the more he enjoys a drink; the hungrier he is, the more pleasure he takes in food. Whatever falls to one’s lot after a period of abstinence is welcomed with greater zest. The other kind, how- ever, the pleasures of the mind, which are higher and less uncertain, no physician can refuse to the sick man. Whoever seeks these and knows well what they are, scorns all the blandishments of the senses. Men say, “ Poor sick fellow!” But why? Is it because he does not mix snow with his wine, or because he does not revive the chill of his drink— mixed as it is in a good-sized bowl—by chipping ice into it? Or because he does not have Lucrine @ oysters opened fresh at his table? Or because there is no din of cooks about his dining-hall, as they bring in their very cooking apparatus along with their viands? For luxury has already devised this fashion—of having the kitchen accompany the dinner, so that the food may not grow luke-warm, or fail to be hot enough for a palate which has already become hardened. “ Poor sick fellow !””—he will eat as much as he can digest. There will be no boar lying before his eyes,? banished from the table as if it were a common meat; and on his sideboard there will be heaped together no breast- meat of birds, because it sickens him to see birds served whole. But what evil has been done to you? You will dine like a sick man, nay, sometimes like a sound man.°

All these things, however, can be easily endured —gruel, warm water, and anything else that seems insupportable to a fastidious man, to one who is wallowing in luxury, sick in soul rather than in body —if only we cease to shudder at death. And we shall cease, if once we have gained a knowledge of

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cognoverimus; ita demum nec vita taedio erit nec mors timori. Vitam enim occupare satietas sui non potest tot res varias, magnas, divinas percensentem ; in odium illam sui adducere solet iners otium. Rerum naturam peragranti numquam in fastidium veritas veniet; falsa satiabunt. Rursus si mors accedit et vocat, licet inmatura sit, licet mediam_praecidat aetatem, perceptus longissimae ! fructus est. Cognita est illi ex magna parte natura. Scit tempore honesta non crescere; iis mecesse est videri omnem vitam brevem, qui illam voluptatibus vanis et ideo infinitis metiuntur.

His te cogitationibus recrea et interim epistulis nostris vaca. Veniet aliquando? tempus, quod nos iterum iungat ac misceat; quantulumlibet sit illud, longum faciet scientia utendi. Nam, ut Posidonius ait, “unus dies hominum eruditorum plus patet quam inperitis longissima aetas.’’ Interim hoc tene, hoe morde: adversis non succumbere, laetis non credere, omnem fortunae licentiam in oculis habere, tamquam quicquid potest facere, factura sit. Quicquid ex- pectatum est diu, lenius® accedit. VALE.

1 longissimae Madvig ; longissime VPb. 2 vaca. veniet aliguando P. Thomas; vacando veniet aliquod (aligquando) MSS. lenius Wolters ; levius MSS.

@ Perhaps a reminiscence of Lucretius i. 74 omne im- mensum peragravit mente animoque.

’ Seneca often quotes Posidonius, as does Cicero also. These words may have been taken from his IIpovperrixd (or Aéyou mporperrixol), Exhortations, a work in which he main- tained that men should make a close study of philosophy, in spite of the varying opinions of its expositors.

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the limits of good and evil; then, and then only, life will not weary us, neither will death make us afraid. For surfeit of self can never seize upon a life that surveys all the things which are manifold, great, divine ; only idle leisure is wont to make men hate their lives. To one who roams? through the universe, the truth can never pall; it will be the untruths that will cloy. And, on the other hand, if death comes near with its summons, even though it be un- timely in its arrival, though it cut one off in one’s prime, a man has had a taste of all that the longest life can give. Such a man has in great measure come to understand the universe. He knows that honourable things do not depend on time for their growth ; but any life must seem short to those who measure its length by pleasures which are empty and for that reason unbounded.

Refresh yourself with such thoughts as these, and meanwhile reserve some hours for our letters. There will come a time when we shall be united again and brought together; however short this time may be, we shall make it long by knowing how to employ it. For, as Posidonius says®: “ A single day among the learned lasts longer than the longest life of the ignorant.” Meanwhile, hold fast to this thought, and grip it close: yield not to adversity; trust not to prosperity; keep before your eyes the full scope of Fortune’s power, as if she would surely do whatever is in her power to do. That which has been long expected comes more gently. Farewell.

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LXXIX.

Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

Expecto epistulas tuas, quibus mihi indices, cir- cuitus Siciliae totius quid tibi novi ostenderit, et ante! omnia de ipsa Charybdi certiora. Nam Scyllam saxum esse et quidem non terribile navigantibus optime scio; Charybdis an respondeat fabulis, per- scribi mihi desidero et, si forte observaveris, dignum est autem quod observes, fac nos certiores, utrum uno tantum vento agatur in vertices an omnis tempestas aeque mare illud contorqueat, et an verum sit, quicquid illo freti turbine abreptum est, per multa milia trahi conditum et circa Tauromenitanum litus emergere. Si haec mihi perscripseris, tune tibi audebo mandare, ut in honorem meum Aetnam quoque ascendas, quam consumi et sensim subsidere ex hoc colligunt quidam, quod aliquando longius navigantibus solebat ostendi. Potest hoc accidere, non quia montis altitudo descendit, sed quia ignis evanuit et minus vehemens ac largus effertur, ob eandem causam fumo quoque per diem segniore.” Neutrum autem incredibile est, nec montem, qui

1 ante added by Wolters. 2 segniore Pincianus ; segnior MSS.

@ Ellis suggests that the poem Aetna, of uncertain author- ship, may have been written by Lucilius in response to this letter. His view is plausible, but not universally accepted.

o See Hp. xiv. § 8 and note (Vol. I.).

¢ The modern Taormina.

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LXXIX. ON THE REWARDS OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

I have been awaiting a letter from you, that you might inform me what new matter was revealed to you during your trip round Sicily,“ and especially that you might give me further information regard- ing Charybdis itself.2 I know very well that Scylla is a rock—and indeed a rock not dreaded by mariners ; but with regard to Charybdis I should like to have a full description, in order to see whether it agrees with the accounts in mythology ; and, if you have by chance investigated it (for it is indeed worthy of your investigation), please enlighten me concerning the following: Is it lashed into a whirlpool by a wind from only one direction, or do all storms alike serve to disturb its depths? Is it true that objects snatched downwards by the whirlpool in that strait are carried for many miles under water, and then come to the surface on the beach near Tauromenium °¢ ? If you will write me a full account of these matters, I shall then have the boldness to ask you to perform another task,—also to climb Aetna at my special request. Certain naturalists have inferred that the mountain is wasting away and gradually settling, because sailors used to be able to see it from a greater distance. The reason for this may be, not that the height of the mountain is decreasing, but because the flames have become dim and the eruptions less strong and less copious, and because for the same reason the smoke also is less active by day. However, either of these two things is possible to believe: that on the one hand the mountain is

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devoretur cotidie, minui, nec manere eundem, quia non ipsum exest,! sed in aliqua inferna valle con- ceptus exaestuat et aliis pascitur. In ipso monte non

3 alimentum habet, sed viam. In Lycia regio notissima est, Hephaestion incolae vocant, foratum pluribus locis solum, quod sine ullo nascentium damno ignis innoxius circumit. Laeta itaque regio est et herbida nihil flammis adurentibus, sed tantum vi remissa ac languida refulgentibus.

4 Sed reservemus ista tune quaesituri, cum tu mihi scripseris, quantum ab ipso ore montis nives absint, quas ne aestas quidem solvit; adeo tutae sunt ab igne vicino. Non est autem quod istam curam im- putes mihi. Morbo enim tuo daturus eras, etiam si

) nemo mandaret. Quid tibi do, ne Aetnam describas 2 in tuo carmine, ne hunc sollemnem omnibus poetis locum adtingas ? Quem quo minus Ovidius tractaret, nihil obstitit, quod iam Vergilius impleverat. Ne Severum quidem Cornelium uterque deterruit. Om- nibus praeterea feliciter hic locus se dedit et qui praecesserant, non praeripuisse mihi videntur, quae dici poterant, sed aperuisse.

6 Multum? interest, utrum ad consumptam materiam

1 ipsum ewvest Haase ; ipsum evesse or ipsum ex se est MSS.

2 nemo... describas Rubenius; nemo quid mandaret tibi donec aetnam describas (t) MSS.

3 sed before mulium deleted by Madvig.

@ Another description of this region is given by Pliny, NV. HH, ii. 106, who says that the stones in the rivers were red-hot ! The phenomenon is usually explained by supposing springs of burning naphtha.

> i.e., merely as an episode, instead of devoting a whole poem to the subject.

¢ Metam. xv. 340 ff.

@ Aeneid, iii. 570 ff.

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growing smaller because it is consumed from day to day, and that, on the other hand, it remains the same in size because the mountain is not devouring itself, but instead of this the matter which seethes forth collects in some subterranean valley and is fed by other material, finding in the mountain itself not the food which it requires, but simply a passage-way out. There is a well-known place in Lycia—called by the inhabitants “ Hephaestion” *—where the ground is full of holes in many places and is sur- rounded by a harmless fire, which does no injury to the plants that grow there. Hence the place is fertile and luxuriant with growth, because the flames do not scorch but merely shine with a force that is mild and feeble.

But let us postpone this discussion, and look into the matter when you have given me a descrip- tion just how far distant the snow lies from the crater,—I mean the snow which does not melt even in summer, so safe is it from the adjacent fire. But there is no ground for your charging this work to my account; for you were about to gratify your own craze for fine writing, without a commission from anyone at all. Nay, what am I to offer you not merely to describe ® Aetna in your poem, and not to touch lightly upon a topic which is a matter of ritual for all poets? Ovid * could not be prevented from using this theme simply because Vergil ¢ had already fully covered it; nor could either of these writers frighten off Cornelius Severus. Besides, the topic has served them all with happy results, and those who have gone before seem to me not to have forestalled all that could be said, but merely to have opened the way.

It makes a great deal of difference whether you

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an ad subactam accedas; crescit in dies et inventuris inventa non obstant. Praeterea condicio optima est ultimi; parata verba invenit, quae aliter instructa novam faciem habent. Nec illis manus inicit tam- quam alienis. Sunt enim publica.! Aut ego te non novi aut Aetna tibisalivam movet. Iam cupis grande aliquid et par prioribus scribere. Plus enim sperare modestia tibi tua non permittit, quae tanta in te est, ut videaris mihi retracturus ingenii tui vires, si vincendi periculum sit; tanta tibi priorum reverentia

Sest. Inter cetera hoc habet boni sapientia: nemo

ab altero potest vinci, nisi dum ascenditur. Cum? ad summum perveneris, paria sunt, non est incre- mento locus, statur. Numquid sol magnitudini suae adicit? Numquid ultra quam solet, luna procedit? Maria non crescunt. Mundus eundem habitum ac modum servat. -Extollere se, quae iustam magni- tudinem implevere, non possunt. Quicumque fuerint sapientes, pares erunt et aequales. Habebit unus- quisque ex iis proprias dotes: alius erit adfabilior, alius expeditior, alius promptior in eloquendo, alius facundior ; illud, de quo agitur, quod beatum facit, aequalest 3 in omnibus. An Aetna tua possit sublabi

1 The phrase iurisconsulti negant quicguam publicum usu capt, which occurs here in the MSS., is transferred by Wolters to Hp. 88. 12, where it suits the context.

2 cum ad Gronovius ; dum ad MSS.

> aequale est later MSS. ; aequale VPb.

« The usual meaning of paria esse, or paria facere (a favourite phrase with Seneca—see for example Jp. ci. 7), is “*to square the account,” ‘* balance even.”

> «* Qualities desirable in themselves, but not essential for the possession of wisdom, the mponyuéva of the Stoics (Summers).

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approach a subject that has been exhausted, or one where the ground has merely been broken; in the latter case, the topic grows day by day, and what is already discovered does not hinder new discoveries. Besides, he who writes last has the best of the bargain; he finds already at hand words which, when marshalled in a different way, show a new face. And he is not pilfering them, as if they belonged to someone else, when he uses them, for they are common property. Now if Aetna does not make your mouth water, | am mistaken in you. You have for some time been desirous of writing something in the grand style and on the level of the older school. For your modesty does not allow you to set your hopes any higher; this quality of yours is so pro- nounced that, it seems to me, you are likely to curb the force of your natural ability, if there should be any danger of outdoing others; so greatly do you reverence the old masters. Wisdom has this advan- tage, among others,—that no man can be outdone by another, except during the climb. But when you have arrived at the top, it is a draw%; there is no room for further ascent, the game is over. Can the sun add to his size? Can the moon advance beyond her usual fulness? The seas do not increase in bulk. The universe keeps the same character, the same limits. Things which have reached their full stature cannot grow higher. Men who have attained wisdom will therefore be equal and on the same footing. Each of them will possess his own peculiar gifts ®: one will be more affable, another more facile, another more ready of speech, a fourth more eloquent ; but as regards the quality under discussion, —the element that produces happiness, —it is equal in them all. I do not know whether this Aetna of

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et in se ruere, an hoc excelsum cacumen et conspi- cuum per vasti maris spatia detrahat adsidua vis ignium, nescio; virtutem non flamma, non ruina in- ferius adducet. Haec una maiestas deprimi nescit. Nec proferri ultra nec referri potest. Sic huius, ut caelestium, stata magnitudo est. Ad hance nos conemur educere.

11 Iam multum operis effecti est; immo, si verum fateri volo, non multum. Nec enim bonitas est pessimis esse meliorem. Quis oculis glorietur, qui suspicetur diem? Cui sol per caliginem splendet, licet contentus interim sit effugisse tenebras, adhuc

12 non fruitur bono lucis. Tune animus noster habebit, quod gratuletur sibi, cum emissus his tenebris, in quibus volutatur, non tenui visu clara prospexerit, sed totum diem admiserit et redditus caelo suo fuerit, cum receperit locum, quem occupavit sorte nascendi. Sursum illum vocant initia sua. Erit autem illic etiam antequam hac custodia exsolvatur, cum vitia disiecerit purusque ac levis in cogitationes divinas emicuerit.

13. Hoe nos agere, Lucili carissime, in hoc ire impetu toto, licet pauci sciant, licet nemo, iuvat. Gloria umbra virtutis est; etiam invitam! comitabitur. Sed

1 invitam Velz. ; invita V Pb.

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yours can collapse and fall in ruins, whether this lofty summit, visible for many miles over the deep sea, is wasted by the incessant power of the flames ; but I do know that virtue will not be brought down to a lower plane either by flames or by ruins. Hers is the only greatness that knows no lowering ; there can be for her no further rising or sinking. Her stature, like that of the stars in the heavens, is fixed. Let us therefore strive to raise ourselves to this altitude.

Already much of the task is accomplished ; nay, rather, if I can bring myself to confess the truth, not much. For goodness does not mean merely being better than the lowest. Who that could catch but a mere glimpse of the daylight would boast his powers of vision? One who sees the sun shining through a mist may be contented meanwhile that he has escaped darkness, but he does not yet enjoy the blessing of light. Our souls will not have reason to rejoice in their lot until, freed from this darkness in which they grope, they have not merely glimpsed the brightness with feeble vision, but have absorbed the full light of day and have been restored to their place in the sky,—until, indeed, they have regained the place which they held at the allotment of their birth. The soul is summoned upward by its very origin. And it will reach that goal even before it is released from its prison below, as soon as it has cast off sin and, in purity and lightness, has leaped up into celestial realms of thought.

I am glad, beloved Lucilius, that we are occupied with this ideal, that we pursue it with all our might, even though few know it, or none. Fame is the shadow of virtue; it will attend virtue even against

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quemadmodum umbra aliquando antecedit, aliquando sequitur vel a tergo est, ita gloria aliquando ante nos est visendamque se praebet, aliquando in averso est maiorque quo serior, ubi invidia secessit. Quamdiu videbatur furere Democritus! Vix recepit Socraten fama. Quamdiu Catonem civitas ignoravit! Respuit nec intellexit, nisi cum perdidit. Rutili innocentia ac virtus lateret, nisi accepisset iniuriam ; dum violatur, effulsit. .Numaquid non sorti suae gratias egit et exilium suum complexus est? De his loquor, quos inlustravit fortuna, dum vexat; quam multorum pro- fectus in notitiam evasere post ipsos! Quam multos

15 fama non excepit, sed eruit! Vides Epicurum quant-

opere non tantum eruditiores, sed haec quoque im- peritorum turba miretur. Hic ignotus ipsis Athenis fuit, cirea quas delituerat. Multis itaque iam annis Metrodoro suo superstes in quadam epistula, cum amicitiam suam et Metrodori grata commemoratione cecinisset, hoc novissime adiecit, nihil sibi et Metro- doro inter bona tanta nocuisse, quod ipsos illa nobilis Graecia non ignotos solum habuisset, sed paene inauditos. _Numquid ergo non postea quam esse desierat, inventus est? Numquid non opinio eius enituit? Hoc Metrodorus quoque in quadam epistula

@ There is an unauthenticated story that the men of Abdera called in Hippocrates to treat his malady.

> Cf. Ep. xxiv. 4 exilium... tulit Rutilius etiam libenter,

e Frag. 188 Usener. @ Frag. 43 Korte.

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her will. But, as the shadow sometimes precedes and sometimes follows or even lags behind, so fame sometimes goes before us and shows herself in plain sight, and sometimes is in the rear, and is all the greater in proportion as she is late in coming, when once envy has beaten a retreat. How long did men believe Democritus % to be mad! lory barely came to Socrates. And how long did our state remain in ignorance of Cato! They rejected him, and did not know his worth until they had lost him. If Rutilius® had not resigned himself to wrong, his innocence and virtue would have escaped notice; the hour of his suffering was the hour of his triumph. Did he not give thanks for his lot, and welcome his exile with open arms? I have mentioned thus far those to whom Fortune has brought renown at the very moment of persecution; but how many there are whose progress toward virtue has come to light only after their death! And how many have been ruined, not rescued, by their reputation? There is Epicurus, for example; mark how greatly he is admired, not only by the more cultured, but also by this ignorant rabble. This man, however, was un- known to Athens itself, near which he had hidden himself away. And so, when he had already survived by many years his friend Metrodorus, he added in a letter these last words, proclaiming with thankful appreciation the friendship that had existed between them: “So greatly blest were Metrodorus and I that it has been no harm to us to be unknown, and almost unheard of, in this well-known land of Greece.” ¢ Is it not true, therefore, that men did not discover him until after he had ceased to be? Has not his renown shone forth, for all that? Metrodorus also admits this fact in one of his letters¢: that Epicurus

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confitetur, se et Epicurum non satis enotuisse; sed post se et Epicurum magnum paratumque nomen habituros, qui voluissent per eadem ire vestigia.

17. ~—“ Nulla virtus latet, et latuisse non ipsius est dam- num. Veniet qui conditam et saeculi sui malignitate conpressam dies publicet. Paucis natus est, qui populum aetatis suae cogitat. Multa annorum milia, multa populorum supervenient; ad illarespice. Etiam si omnibus tecum viventibus silentium livor indixerit, venient qui sine offensa, sine gratia iudicent. Si quod est pretium virtutis ex fama, nec hoc interit. Ad nos quidem nihil pertinebit posterorum sermo ; tamen etiam non sentientes colet ac frequentabit.

18 Nulli non virtus et vivo et mortuo rettulit gratiam, si modo illam bona secutus est fide, si se non exor- navit et pinxit, sed idem fuit, sive ex denuntiato videbatur, sive inparatus ac subito. Nihil simulatio proficit. Paucis inponit leviter extrinsecus inducta facies; veritas in omnem partem sui eadem est. Quae decipiunt, nihil habent solidi. Tenue est menda-

cium; perlucet, si diligenter inspexeris. VaLe.

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and he were not well known to the public; but he declares that after the lifetime of Epicurus and him- self any man who might wish to follow in their foot- steps would win great and ready-made renown.

Virtue is never lost to view; and yet to have been lost to view is no loss. There will come a day which will reveal her, though hidden away or suppressed by the spite of her contemporaries. That man is born merely for a few, who thinks only of the people of his own generation. Many thousands of years and many thousands of peoples will come after you; it is to these that you should have regard. Malice may have imposed silence upon the mouths of all who were alive in your day; but there will come men who will judge you without prejudice and without favour. If there is any reward that virtue receives at the hands of fame, not even this can pass away. We ourselves, indeed, shall not be affected by the talk of posterity ; nevertheless, posterity will cherish and celebrate us even though we are not conscious thereof. Virtue has never failed to reward a man, both during his life and after his death, pro- vided he has followed her loyally, provided he has not decked himself out or painted himself up, but has been always the same, whether he appeared before men’s eyes after being announced, or suddenly and without preparation. Pretence accomplishes nothing. Few are deceived by a mask that is easily drawn over the face. ‘Truth is the same in every part. Things which deceive us have no real sub- stance. Lies are thin stuff; they are transparent, if you examine them with care. Farewell.

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LXXX.

Seneca Lyvcitio svo SALVTEM

Hodierno die non tantum meo beneficio mihi vaco, sed spectaculi, quod omnes molestos ad sphae- romachian avocavit. Nemo inrumpet, nemo cogitatio- nem meam impediet, quae hac ipsa fiducia procedit audacius. Non crepuit subinde ostium, non adleva- bitur velum ; licebit tuto vadere,! quod magis neces- sarium est per se eunti et suam sequenti viam. Non ergo sequor priores? Facio, sed permitto mihi et invenire aliquid et mutare et relinquere. Non servio illis, sed adsentior.

Magnum tamen verbum dixi, qui mihi silentium promittebam et sine interpellatore secretum. Ecce ingens clamor ex stadio perfertur et me non excutit mihi, sed in huius ipsius rei contentionem transfert. Cogito mecum, quam multi corpora exerceant, ingenia quam pauci; quantus ad spectaculum non fidele et lusorium fiat concursus, quanta sit circa artes bonas solitudo ; quam inbecilli animo sint, quorum lacertos umerosque miramur. I[llud maxime reyolvo mecum : si corpus perduci exercitatione ad hanc patientiam potest, qua et pugnos pariter et calces non unius hominis ferat, qua solem ardentissimum in ferventis- simo pulvere sustinens aliquis et sanguine suo madens

1 tuto vadere Hense; uno vadere MSS.

« Probably a contest in which the participants attached leaden weights to their hands in order to increase the force of the blows.

’ Compare Pliny’s ‘‘den” (Ep. ii. 17. 21): quae speculari- bus et velis obductis reductisve modo adicitur cubiculo modo aufertur.

¢ Compare the ideas expressed in Ep. xv. 2 f.

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LXXX. ON WORLDLY DECEPTIONS

To-day I have some free time, thanks not so much to myself as to the games, which have attracted all the bores to the boxing-match.* No one will interrupt me or disturb the train of my thoughts, which go ahead more boldly as the result of my very confidence. My door has not been continually creaking on its hinges nor will my curtain be pulled aside ;® my thoughts may march safely on,—and that is all the more necessary for one who goes independently and follows out his own path. Do I then follow no predecessors? Yes, but I allow myself to discover something new, to alter, to reject. I am not a slave to them, although I give them my approval.

And yet that was a very bold word which I spoke when I assured myself that I should have some quiet, and some uninterrupted retirement. For lo, a great cheer comes from the stadium, and while it does not drive me distracted, yet it shifts my thought to a con- trast suggested by this very noise. How many men, I say to myself, train their bodies, and how few train their minds!¢ What crowds flock to the games,— spurious as they are and arranged merely for pastime, —and what a solitude reigns where the good arts are taught! How feather-brained are the athletes whose muscles and shoulders we admire! The question which I ponder most of all is this: if the body can be trained to such a degree of endurance that it will stand the blows and kicks of several opponents at once, and to such a degree that a man can last out the day and resist the scorching sun in the midst of the burning dust, drenched all the while

213

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA diem ducat ; quanto facilius animus conroborari possit, ut fortunae ictus invictus excipiat, ut proiectus, ut conculcatus exsurgat.

Corpus enim multis eget rebus, ut valeat; animus ex se crescit, se ipse alit, se exercet. IIllis multo cibo, multa potione opus est, multo oleo, longa denique opera; tibi continget virtus sine apparatu, sine inpensa. Quicquid facere te potest bonum,

4 tecum est. Quid tibi opus est, ut sis bonus? Velle. Quid autem melius potes velle quam eripere te huic servituti, quae omnes premit, quam mancipia quoque condicionis extremae et in his sordibus nata omni modo exuere conantur? Peculium suum, quod con- paraverunt ventre fraudato, pro capite numerant; tu non concupisces quanticumque ad_ libertatem

5 pervenire, qui te in illa putas natum? Quid ad arcam tuam respicis? Emi non potest. Itaque in tabulas vanum coicitur nomen libertatis, quam nec qui emerunt, habent nec qui vendiderunt. ‘Tibi des oportet istud bonum, a te petas.

Libera te primum metu mortis: illa nobis iugum

6 inponit ; deinde metu paupertatis. Si vis scire, quam nihil in illa mali sit, compara inter se pauperum et

divitum vultus; saepius pauper et fidelius ridet;

@ For this figure see the ‘‘ lucellum,” ‘* diurna mercedula,” etc., of the opening letters of the correspondence (Vol. I.).

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with his own blood,—if this can be done, how much more easily might the mind be toughened so that it could receive the blows of Fortune and not be con- quered, so that it might struggle to its feet again after it has been laid low, after it has been trampled under foot ?

For although the body needs many things in order to be strong, yet the mind grows from within, giving to itself nourishment and exercise. Yonder athletes must have copious food, copious drink, copious quantities of oil, and long training besides ; but you can acquire virtue without equipment and without expense. All that goes to make you a good man lies within yourself. And what do you need in order to become good? To wish it. But what better thing could you wish for than to break away from this slavery,—a slavery that oppresses us all, a slavery which even chattels of the lowest estate, born amid such degradation, strive in every possible way to strip off? In exchange for freedom they pay out the savings which they have scraped together by cheating their own bellies; shall you not be eager to attain liberty at any price, seeing that you claim it as your birthright? Why cast glances toward your strong-box? Liberty cannot be bought. It is therefore useless to enter in your ledger® the item of “Freedom,” for freedom is possessed neither by those who have bought it nor by those who have sold it. You must give this good to yourself, and seek it from yourself.

First of all, free yourself from the fear of death, for death puts the yoke about our necks; then free yourself from the fear of poverty. If you would know how little evil there is in poverty, compare the faces of the poor with those of the rich; the poor

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nulla sollicitudo in alto est; etiam si qua incidit cura, velut nubes levis transit. Horum, qui felices vocantur, hilaritas ficta est at! gravis et subpurata tristitia, eo quidem gravior, quia interdum non licet palam esse miseros, sed inter aerumnas cor ipsum

7 exedentes necesse est agere felicem. Saepius hoc exemplo mihi utendum est, nec enim ullo efficacius exprimitur hic humanae vitae mimus, qui nobis partes, quas male agamus, adsignat. Ile, qui in scaena latus incedit et haec resupinus dicit

En impero Argis ; regna mihi liquit Pelops, Qua ponto ab Helles atque ab Ionio mari Urgetur Isthmos,

servus est, quinque modios accipit et quinque de- 8 narios; ille qui superbus atque inpotens et fiducia virium tumidus ait:

Quod nisi quieris, Menelae, hac dextra occides,

diurnum accipit, in centunculo dormit. Idem de istis licet omnibus dicas, quos supra capita hominuim supraque turbam delicatos lectica suspendit ; omnium istorum personata felicitas est. Contemnes illos, si despoliaveris.

9 Equum empturus solvi iubes stratum, detrahis vestimenta venalibus, ne qua vitia corporis lateant ;

1 at Madvig ; aut MSS.

@ Authors unknown; Ribbeck, Frag. Trag. pp. 289 and 276. The first passage (with one change) is also quoted by Quintilian, ix. 4. 140. See, however, Tyrrell, Latin Poetry, p. 39, who calls this passage the beginning of Attius’s Atreus.

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man smiles more often and more genuinely; his troubles do not go deep down; even if any anxiety comes upon him, it passes like a fitful cloud. But the merriment of those whom men call happy is feigned, while their sadness is heavy and festering, and all the heavier because they may not meanwhile display their grief, but must act the part of happi- ness in the midst of sorrows that eat out their very hearts. I often feel called upon to use the following illustration, and it seems to me that none expresses more effectively this drama of human life, wherein we are assigned the parts which we are to play so badly. Yonder is the man who stalks upon the stage with swelling port and head thrown back, and says:

Lo, I am he whom Argos hails as lord,

Whom Pelops left the heir of lands that spread From Hellespont and from th’ Ionian sea

E’en to the Isthmian straits.

And who is this fellow? He is but a slave; his wage is five measures of grain and five denarii. Yon other who, proud and wayward and_ puffed up by confidence in his power, declaims:

Peace, Menelaus, or this hand shall slay thee !4

receives a daily pittance and sleeps on rags. You may speak in the same way about all these dandies whom you see riding in litters above the heads of men and above the crowd; in every case their happiness is put on like the actor's mask. Tear it off, and you will scorn them.

When you buy a horse, you order its blanket to be removed; you pull off the garments from slaves that are advertised for sale, so that no bodily flaws may escape your notice; if you judge a man, do you

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hominem involutum aestimas? Mangones quicquid est, quod displiceat, aliquo lenocinio abscondunt, itaque ementibus ornamenta ipsa suspecta sunt. Sive crus alligatum sive brachium aspiceres, nudari iuberes

10 et ipsum tibi corpus ostendi. Vides illum Scythiae Sarmatiaeve regem insigni capitis decorum? Si vis illum aestimare totumque scire, qualis sit, fasciam solve; multum mali sub illa latet. Quid de aliis loquor? Si perpendere te voles, sepone pecuniam, domum, dignitatem, intus te ipse considera. Nune qualis sis, aliis credis. VALE

LXXXI. Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Quereris incidisse te in hominem ingratum. Si hoc nune primum, age aut fortunae aut diligentiae tuae gratias. Sed nihil facere hoc loco diligentia potest nisi te malignum. Nam si hoc periculum vitare volueris, non dabis beneficia ; ita ne apud alium pereant, apud te peribunt.

Non respondeant potius quam non dentur. Et post malam segetem serendum est; saepe quicquid perierat adsidua infelicis soli sterilitate, unius anni

2 restituit ubertas. Est tanti, ut gratum invenias, experiri et ingratos. Nemo habet tam certam in

@ A favourite trick; cf. Quintil. ii. 15. 25 mangones, qui colorem fuco et verum robur inant sagina mentiuntur.

»’ The reader will be interested to compare this letter with the treatise (or essay) Of Benefits, translated by Thomas Lodge in 1614 from Seneca’s work De Benejiciis, which was dedicated to Aebutius Liberalis, the subject of Ep. xci,

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judge him when he is wrapped ina disguise? Slave- dealers hide under some sort of finery any defect which may give offence,* and for that reason the very trappings arouse the suspicion of the buyer. If you catch sight of a leg or an arm that is bound up in cloths, you demand that it be stripped and that the body itself be revealed to you. Do you see yonder Scythian or Sarmatian king, his head adorned with the badge of his office? If you wish to see what he amounts to, and to know his full worth, take off his diadem; much evil lurks beneath it. But why do I speak of others? If you wish to set a value on yourself, put away your money, your estates, your honours, and look into your own soul. At present, you are taking the word of others for what you are. Farewell.

LXXXI. ON BENEFITS.

You complain that you have met with an ungrate- ful person. If this is your first experience of that sort, you should offer thanks either to your good luck or to your caution. In this case, however, caution can effect nothing buttomake you ungenerous. — For if you wish to avoid such a danger, you will not confer benefits; and so, that benefits may not be lost with another man, they will be lost to yourself.

It is better, however, to get no return than to confer no benefits. Even after a poor crop one should sow again; for often losses due to continued barrenness of an unproductive soil have been made good by one year’s fertility. In order to discover one grateful person, it is worth while to make trial of many ungrateful ones. No man has so unerring

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beneficiis manum, ut non saepe fallatur; aberrent, ut aliquando haereant. Post naufragium maria temp- tantur. Faeneratorem non fugat a foro decoctor.! Cito inerti otio vita torpebit, si relinquendum est, quicquid offendit ; te vero benigniorem haec ipsa res faciat. Nam cuius rei eventus incertus est, id ut

3 aliquando procedat, saepe temptandum est. Sed de isto satis multa in iis libris locuti sumus, qui de beneficiis inscribuntur.

Illud magis quaerendum videtur, quod non satis, ut existimo, explicatum est, an is, qui? profuit nobis, si postea nocuit, paria fecerit et nos debito solverit. Adice, si vis, et illud: multo plus postea nocuit quam

4 ante profuerat. Si rectam illam rigidi iudicis senten- tiam quaeris, alterum ab altero absolvet et dicet: “ Quamvis iniuriae praeponderent, tamen beneficiis donetur, quod ex iniuria superest.”” Plus nocuit; sed prius® profuit. Itaque habeatur et temporis ratio,

5 Iam illa manifestiora sunt, quam ut admoneri debeas quaerendum esse, quam libenter profuerit, quam invitus nocuerit, quoniam animo et beneficia et

iniuriae constant. “ Nolui beneficium dare; victus

1 decoctor Muretus, ‘from an old MS.” ; coctor, coactor, tortor, various hands of VPb.

2 is qui later MSS. ; id quod VPb.

3 prius Pincianus ; pius or plus MSS.

@ See De Ben. i. 1. 9 f. non est autem quod tardiores faciat ad bene merendum turba ingratorum.

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a hand when he confers benefits that he is not frequently deceived ; it is well for the traveller to wander, that he may again cleave to the path. After a shipwreck, sailors try the sea again. ‘The banker is not frightened away from the forum by the swindler. If one were compelled to drop every- thing that caused trouble, life would soon grow dull amid sluggish idleness; but in your case this very condition may prompt you to become more charitable. For when the outcome of any undertaking is unsure, you must try again and again, in order to succeed ultimately. I have, however, discussed the matter with sufficient fulness in the volumes which I have written, entitled “ On Benefits.” @

What I think should rather be investigated is this,—a question which I feel has not been made sufficiently clear: “ Whether he who has helped us has squared the account and has freed us from our debt, if he has done us harm later.”” You may add this question also, if you like: “when the harm done later has been more than the help rendered previously.” If you are seeking for the formal and just decision of a strict judge, you will find that he checks off one act by the other, and declares: “Though the injuries outweigh the benefits, yet we should credit to the benefits anything that stands over even after the injury.” The harm done was indeed greater, but the helpful act was done first. Hence the time also should be taken into account. Other cases are so clear that I need not remind you that you should also look into such points as: How gladly was the help offered, and how reluctantly was the harm done,—since benefits, as well as in- juries, depend on the spirit. “I did not wish to confer the benefit; but I was won over by my

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sum aut verecundia aut instantis pertinacia aut spe.” Ko animo quidque debetur, quo datur, nec quantum sit, sed a quali profectum voluntate, perpenditur. Nunc coniectura tollatur; et illud beneficium fuit et hoe, quod modum beneficii prioris excessit, iniuria est. Vir bonus utrosque calculos sic ponit, ut se ipse circumscribat ; beneficio adicit, iniuriae demit.

Alter ille remissior iudex, quem esse me malo, iniuriae oblivisci iubebit,! officii meminisse. ‘ Hoc certe,’ inquis,? “iustitiae convenit, suum cuique reddere, beneficio gratiam, iniuriae talionem aut certe malam gratiam.” Verum erit istud, cum alius iniuriam fecerit, alius beneficium dederit; nam si idem est, beneficio vis iniuriae extinguitur. Nam cui, etiam si merita non antecessissent, oportebat ignosci, post beneficia laedenti plus quam venia debe- tur. Non pono utrique par pretium. Pluris aestimo beneficium quam iniuriam. Non omnes grati sciunt debere beneficium ; potest etiam inprudens et rudis et unus e turba, utique dum prope est ab accepto; ignorat autem, quantum pro eo debeat. Uni sapienti notum est, quanti res quaeque taxanda sit. Nam

1 jubebit Gertz ; debebit VPb. 2 inquis later MSS. ; ingquam VPb.

# Calculi were counters, spread out on the abacus, or counting-board ; they ran in columns, by millions, hundred thousands, etc.

» Talio (from talis, *‘ just so much ”) is the old Roman law of ‘‘eye for eye and tooth for tooth.” As law became less crude, it gave way to fines.

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respect for the man, or by the importunity of his request, or by hope.” Our feeling about every obligation depends in each case upon the spirit in which the benefit is conferred; we weigh not the bulk of the gift, but the quality of the good-will which prompted it. So now let us do away with guess-work ; the former deed was a benefit, and the latter, which transcended the earlier benefit, is an injury. The good man so arranges the two sides of his ledger® that he voluntarily cheats himself by adding to the benefit and subtracting from the injury.

The more indulgent magistrate, however (and I should rather be such a one), will order us to forget the injury and remember the accommodation. “ But surely,” you say, “it is the part of justice to render to each that which is his due,—thanks in return for a benefit, and retribution,? or at any rate ill-will, in return for an injury!” This, I say, will be true when it is one man who has inflicted the injury, and a different man who has conferred the benefit ; for if it is the same man, the force of the injury is nullified by the benefit conferred. Indeed, a man who ought to be pardoned, even though there were no good deeds credited to him in the past, should receive something more than mere leniency if he commits a wrong when he has a benefit to his credit. I do not set an equal value on benefits and injuries. I reckon a benefit at a higher rate than an injury. Not all grateful persons know what it involves to be in debt for a benefit; even a thoughtless, crude fellow, one of the common herd, may know, especially soon after he has received the gift; but he does not know how deeply he stands in debt therefor. Only the wise man knows exactly what value should be put

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ille, de quo loquebar modo, stultus etiam si bonae voluntatis est, aut minus quam debet aut alio quam debet tempore! aut quo non debet loco reddit. Id

9 quod referendum est, effundit atque abicit. Mira in

quibusdam rebus verborum proprietas est et con- suetudo sermonis antiqui quaedam efficacissimis et officia docentibus notis signat. Sic certe solemus loqui: “ille illi gratiam rettulit.’”’ Referre est ultro, quod debeas, adferre. Non dicimus “ gratiam red- didit,’ reddunt enim et qui reposcuntur et qui in- viti et qui ubilibet et qui per alium. Non dicimus “yeposuit beneficium”’ aut “solvit’”’; nullum nobis

10 placuit, quod aeri alieno convenit, verbum. Referre

est ad eum, a quo acceperis, rem ferre. Haec vox significat voluntariam relationem; qui rettulit, ipse se appellavit.

Sapiens omnia examinabit secum: quantum ac- ceperit, a quo, quando, ubi, quemadmodum. Itaque negamus quemquam scire gratiam referre nisi sapien- tem; non magis quam beneficium dare quisquam scit nisi sapiens, hic scilicet, qui magis dato gaudet quam alius accepto. Hoc aliquis inter illa numerat, quae

1 aut alio quam debet tempore Buecheler ; aut tempore MSS.

« This ‘‘long-established terminology” applies to the verborum proprietas of philosophic diction, with especial reference to 7a kxa@jxovra, the appropriate duties of the philosopher and the seeker after wisdom. Thus, Bg is distinguished from reddere, reponere, solvere, and other financial terms.

> 2.¢., the Stoics.

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upon everything; for the fool whom I just men- tioned, no matter how good his intentions may be, either pays less than he owes, or pays it at the wrong time or the wrong place. That for which he should make return he wastes and loses. There isa marvellously accurate phraseology applied to certain subjects,t a long-established terminology which indicates certain acts by means of symbols that are most efficient and that serve to outline men’s duties. We are, as you know, wont to speak thus: “ A. has made a return for the favour bestowed by B.” Making a return means handing over of your own accord that which you owe. We do not say, “He has paid back the favour”’; for “pay back” is used of a man upon whom a demand for payment is made, of those who pay against their will, of those who pay under any circumstances whatsoever, and of those who pay through a third party. We do not say, “ He has ‘restored’ the benefit,” or ‘settled’ it; we have never been satisfied with a word which applies properly to a debt of money. Making a return means offering something to him from whom you have received something. The phrase implies a voluntary return; he who has made such a return has served the writ upon himself.

The wise man will inquire in his own mind into all the circumstances: how much he has received, from whom, when, where, how. And so we? declare that none but the wise man knows how to make return for a favour; moreover, none but the wise man knows how to confer a benefit,—that man, I mean, who enjoys the giving more than the recipient enjoys the receiving. Now some person will reckon this remark as one of the generally surprising state-

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infusae, quod opportune dati mille denarii. Multum enim interest, donaveris an succurreris, servaverit illum tua liberalitas an instruxerit. Saepe quod datur, exiguum est, quod sequitur ex eo, magnum. Quantum autem existimas interesse, utrum aliquis quod derat a se,! quod praestabat, sumpserit an beneficium acceperit ut daret?

Sed ne in eadem, quae satis scrutati sumus, re- volvamur. In hae conparatione beneficii et iniuriae vir bonus iudicabit quidem quod erit aequissimum, sed beneficio favebit; in hance erit partem proclivior. Plurimum autem momenti persona solet adferre in rebus eiusmodi: “ Dedisti mihi beneficium in servo, iniuriam fecisti in patre. Servasti mihi filium, sed patrem 2 abstulisti.’” Alia deinceps, per quae procedit omnis conlatio, prosequetur et, si pusillum erit, quod intersit, dissimulabit. Etiam si multum fuerit, sed si id donari salva pietate ac fide poterit, remittet; id est, si ad ipsum tota pertinebit iniuria. Summa rei haec est: facilis erit in conmutando. Patietur plus inputari sibi. Invitus beneficium per conpensationem iniuriae solvet. In hance partem inclinabit, hue verget, ut cupiat debere gratiam, cupiat referre.

1 derat a se Haase; derata sed VP; dederat sed b; daret,

@ se, quod praesto erat Madvig. 2 patrem edd. ; patri Vb; patia P.

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thousand denaru given at the right time. Now it makes a great deal of difference whether you give outright, or come to a man’s assistance, whether your generosity saves him, or sets him up in life. Often the gift is small, but the consequences great. And what a distinction do you imagine there is between taking something which one lacks,—some- thing which was offered,— and receiving a benefit in order to confer one in return?

But we should not slip back into the subject which we have already sufficiently investigated. In this balancing of benefits and injuries, the good man will, to be sure, judge with the highest degree of fairness, but he will incline towards the side of the benefit ; he wiil turn more readily in this direction. Moreover, in affairs of this kind the person concerned is wont to count for a great deal. Men say: “ You conferred a benefit upon me in that matter of the slave, but you did me an injury in the case of my father”; or, “ You saved my son, but robbed me of a father.” Similarly, he will follow up all other matters in which comparisons can be made, and if the difference be very slight, he will pretend not to notice it. Even though the difference be great, yet if the concession can be made without impairment of duty and loyalty, our good man will overlook it— that is, provided the injury exclusively affects the good man himself. To sum up, the matter stands thus: the good man will be easy-going in striking a balance; he will allow too much to be set against his credit. He will be unwilling to pay a benefit by balancing the injury against it. The side towards which he will lean, the tendency which he will exhibit, is the desire to be under obligations for the favour, and the desire to make return therefor. For

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Sed ne in eadem, quae satis scrutati sumus, re- volvamur. In hae conparatione beneficii et iniuriae vir bonus iudicabit quidem quod erit aequissimum, sed beneficio favebit; in hane erit partem proclivior. Plurimum autem momenti persona solet adferre in rebus eiusmodi: “ Dedisti mihi beneficium in servo, iniuriam fecisti in patre. Servasti mihi filium, sed patrem 2 abstulisti.” Alia deinceps, per quae procedit omnis conlatio, prosequetur et, si pusillum erit, quod intersit, dissimulabit. Etiam si multum fuerit, sed si id donari salva pietate ac fide poterit, remittet ; id est, si ad ipsum tota pertinebit iniuria. Summa rei haec est: facilis erit in conmutando. Patietur plus inputari sibi. Invitus beneficium per conpensationem injuriae solvet. In hane partem inclinabit, hue verget, ut cupiat debere gratiam, cupiat referre.

1 derat a se Haase; derata sed VP; dederat sed b; daret,

a@ se, quod praesto erat Madvig. 2 patrem edd. ; patri Vb; patia P,

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thousand denarw given at the right time. Now it makes a great deal of difference whether you give outright, or come to a man’s assistance, whether your generosity saves him, or sets him up in life. Often the gift is small, but the consequences great. And what a distinction do you imagine there is between taking something which one lacks,—some- thing which was offered,— and receiving a benefit in order to confer one in return?

But we should not slip back into the subject which we have already sufficiently investigated. In this balancing of benefits and injuries, the good man will, to be sure, judge with the highest degree of fairness, but he will incline towards the side of the benefit ; he will turn more readily in this direction. Moreover, in affairs of this kind the person concerned is wont to count for a great deal. Men say: “ You conferred a benefit upon me in that matter of the slave, but you did me an injury in the case of my father” ; or, “ You saved my son, but robbed me of a father.” Similarly, he will follow up all other matters in which comparisons can be made, and if the difference be very slight, he will pretend not to notice it. Even though the difference be great, yet if the concession can be made without impairment of duty and loyalty, our good man will overlook it— that is, provided the injury exclusively affects the good man himself. To sum up, the matter stands thus: the good man will be easy-going in striking a balance; he will allow too much to be set against his credit. He will be unwilling to pay a benefit by balancing the injury against it. The side towards which he will lean, the tendency which he will exhibit, is the desire to be under obligations for the favour, and the desire to make return therefor. For

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Errat enim, si quis beneficium accipit libentius quam reddit. Quanto hilarior est, qui solvit quam qui mutuatur, tanto debet laetior esse, qui se maximo aere alieno accepti benefici exonerat, quam qui cum maxime obligatur. Nam in hoe quoque falluntur ingrati, quod creditori quidem praeter sortem extra ordinem numerant, beneficiorum autem usum esse gratuitum putant. Et illa crescunt mora tantoque plus solvendum est, quanto tardius. Ingratus est, qui beneficium reddit sine usura. Itaque huius quo- que rei habebitur ratio, cum conferentur accepta et expensa. Omnia facienda sunt, ut quam gratissimi simus.

Nostrum enim hoe bonum est, quemadmodum iustitia non est, ut vulgo creditur, ad alios pertinens ; magna pars eius in se redit. Nemo non, cum alteri prodest, sibi profuit, non eo nomine dico, quod volet adiuvare adiutus, protegere defensus, quod bonum exemplum circuitu ad facientem revertitur, sicut mala exempla recidunt in auctores nec ulla miseratio contingit iis, qui patiuntur iniurias, quas posse fieri faciendo docuerunt, sed quod virtutum omnium pretium in ipsis est. Non enim exercentur ad prae- mium; recte facti fecisse merces est. Gratus sum, non ut alius mihi libentius praestet priore inritatus

« Literally, ‘‘ more than the capital and in addition to the rate of interest.”

» Beneficence is a subdivision of the second cardinal

virtue of the Stoics, Justice. Cicero discusses this topic at length in De Off. i. 42 ff.

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anyone who receives a benefit more gladly than he repays it is mistaken. By as much as he who pays is more light-hearted than he who borrows, by so much ought he to be more joyful who unburdens himself of the greatest debt—a benefit received— than he who incurs the greatest obligations. For ungrateful men make mistakes in this respect also: they have to pay their creditors both capital and interest,* but they think that benefits are currency which they can use without interest. So the debts grow through postponement, and the later the action is postponed the more remains to be paid. A man is an ingrate if he repays a favour without interest. Therefore, interest also should be allowed for, when you compare your receipts and your expenses. We should try by all means to be as grateful as possible. For gratitude is a good thing for ourselves, in a sense in which justice, that is commonly supposed to concern other persons, is not; gratitude returns in large measure unto itself. There is not a man who, when he has benefited his neighbour, has not benefited himself,—I do not mean for the reason that he whom you have aided will desire to aid you, or that he whom you have defended will desire to protect you, or that an example of good conduct returns in a circle to benefit the doer, just as examples of bad conduct recoil upon their authors, and as men find no pity if they suffer wrongs which they themselves have demonstrated the possibility of committing ; but that the reward for all the virtues lies in the virtues themselves. For they are not practised with a view to recompense; the wages of a good deed is to have done it.2 I am grateful, not in order that my neighbour, provoked by the earlier act of kind- ness, may be more ready to benefit me, but simply 231

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA exemplo, sed ut rem iucundissimam ac pulcherrimam faciam; gratus sum, non quia expedit, sed quia iuvat. Hoc ut scias ita esse, si gratum esse non licebit, nisi ut videar ingratus, si reddere beneficium non aliter quam per speciem iniuriae potero, aequissimo animo ad honestum consilium per mediam infamiam tendam. Nemo mihi videtur pluris aestimare virtutem, nemo illi magis esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit, ne conscientiam perderet. Itaque, ut dixi, maiori tuo quam alterius bono gratus es. Illi enim vulgaris et cottidiana res contigit, recipere, quod dederat, tibi magna et ex beatissimo animi statu profecta, gratum fuisse. Nam si malitia miseros facit, virtus beatos, gratum autem esse virtus est, rem usitatam reddidisti, inaestimabilem consecutus es, conscientiam grati, quae nisi in eee divinum fortunatumque non pervenit. Contrarium autem huie adfectum summa infelicitas urget ; nemo si ingratus est, miser erit. Non differo illum, statim miser est.

Itaque ingrati esse vitemus, non aliena causa, sed nostra. Minimum ex nequitia levissimumque ad alios redundat. Quod pessimum ex illa est et, ut ita dicam,

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in order that I may perform a most pleasant and beautiful act ; I feel grateful, not because it profits me, but because it pleases me. And, to prove the truth of this to you, I declare that even if I may not be grateful without seeming ungrateful, even if I am able to return a benefit only by an act which resembles an injury; even so, I shall strive in the utmost calmness of spirit toward the purpose which honour demands, in the very midst of disgrace. No one, I think, rates virtue higher or is more con- secrated to virtue than he who has lost his reputa- tion for being a good man in order to keep from losing the approval of his conscience. Thus, as I have said, your being grateful is more conducive to your own good than to your neighbour’s good. For while your neighbour has had a common, everyday experience,—namely, receiving back the gift which he had bestowed,—you have had a great experience which is the outcome of an utterly happy condition of soul,—to have felt gratitude. For if wickedness makes men unhappy and virtue makes men blest, and if it is a virtue to be grateful, then the return which you have made is only the customary thing, but the thing to which you have attained is price- less,—the consciousness of gratitude, which comes only to the soul that is divine and blessed. The opposite feeling to this, however, is immediately attended by the greatest unhappiness; no man, if he be ungrateful, will be unhappy in the future. I allow him no day of grace; he is unhappy forthwith.

Let us therefore avoid being ungrateful, not for the sake of others, but for our own sakes. When we do wrong, only the least and lightest portion of it flows back upon our neighbour; the worst and, if

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spississimum, domi remanet et premit habentem, quemadmodum Attalus noster dicere solebat : “ mali- tia ipsa maximam partem veneni sui bibit.” Illud venenum, quod serpentes in alienam perniciem pro- ferunt, sine sua continent, non est huic simile; hoc habentibus pessimum est. Torquet ingratus se et macerat ; odit, quae accepit, quia redditurus est, et ex- tenuat, iniurias vero dilatat atque auget. Quid autem eo miserius, cui beneficia excidunt haerent iniuriae ?

At contra sapientia exornat omne beneficium ac sibi ipsa commendat et se adsidua eius commemora- tione delectat. Malis una voluptas est et haec brevis, dum accipiunt beneficia, ex quibus sapienti longum gaudium manet ac perenne. Non enim illum ac- cipere, sed accepisse delectat, quod inmortale est et adsiduum. Illa contemnit, quibus laesus est, nec obliviscitur per neglegentiam, sed volens. Non vertit omnia in peius nec quaerit, cui inputet casum, et peccata hominum ad fortunam potius refert. Non calumniatur verba nec vultus; quicquid accidit, be- nigne interpretando levat. Non offensae potius quam officii meminit. Quantum potest, in priore ac meliore se memoria detinet nec mutat animum adversus bene

@ Perhaps a figure from the vintage. [For the same metaphor, though in a different connexion, see Lp. i. 5, and Ep. cviii. 26: quemudmodum ex amphora primum, quod est sincerissimum, effiuit, gravissimum quodque turbi- dumque subsidit, sic in aetate nostra quod est optimum, in primo est.

> Of. § 6: ‘*The good man so arranges the two sides of his ledger that he voluntarily cheats himself by adding to the benefit and subtracting from the injury.” Cf also § 17: **The good man will be easy-going in striking a balance ; he will allow too much to be set against his credit.”

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I may use the term, the densest portion of it stays at home and troubles the owner.* My master Attalus used to say: “ Evil herself drinks the largest portion of her own poison.” The poison which serpents carry for the destruction of others, and secrete without harm to themselves, is not like this poison ; for this sort is ruinous to the possessor. The ungrateful man tortures and torments himself; he hates the gifts which he has accepted, because he must make a return for them, and he tries to belittle their value, but he really enlarges and exaggerates the injuries which he has received. And what is more wretched than a man who forgets his benefits and clings to his injuries?

Wisdom, on the other hand, lends grace to every benefit, and of her own free will commends it to her own favour, and delights her soul by continued recollection thereof. Evil men have but one pleasure in benefits, and a very short-lived pleasure at that ; it lasts only while they are receiving them. But the wise man derives therefrom an abiding and eternal joy. For he takes delight not so much in receiving the gift as in having received it; and this joy never perishes ; it abides with him always. He despises the wrongs done him; he forgets them, not accidentally, but voluntarily. He does not put a wrong construction upon everything, or seek for someone whom he may hold responsible for each happening ; he rather ascribes even the sins of men to chance. He will not misinterpret a word or a look ; he makes light of all mishaps by interpreting them in a generous way.? He does not remember an injury rather thana service. As far as possible, he lets his memory rest upon the earlier and the better deed, never changing his attitude towards those who have

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meritos, nisi multum male facta praecedunt et mani- festum etiam coniventi! discrimen est; tune quoque in hoc dumtaxat, ut talis sit post maiorem iniuriam qualis ante beneficium. Nam cum beneficio par est iniuria, aliquid in animo benivolentiae remanet.

26 Quemadmodum reus sententiis paribus absolvitur et semper quicquid dubium est humanitas inclinat in melius, sic animus? sapientis, ubi paria maleficiis merita sunt, desinet quidem debere, sed non desinit velle debere et hoc facit, quod qui post tabulas novas solvunt.

27 Nemo autem gratus esse potest, nisi contempsit ista, propter quae vulgus insanit; si referre vis gratiam, et in exilium eundum est et effundendus sanguis et suscipienda egestas et ipsa innocentia saepe maculanda indignisque obicienda rumoribus.

28 Non parvo sibi constat homo gratus. Nihil carius aestimamus quam beneficium, quamdiu petimus, nihil vilius, cum accepimus. Quaeris quid sit, quod ob- livionem nobis acceptorum faciat? Cupiditas acci- piendorum. Cogitamus non quid inpetratum, sed quid petendum sit. Abstrahunt a recto divitiae, honores, potentia et cetera, quae opinione nostra cara

29 sunt, pretio suo vilia. Nescimus aestimare res, de

1 conniventi later MSS. ; contuenti VPb. 2 animus later MSS. ; animo VPb.

@ When by law or special enactment novae tabellae were granted to special classes of debtors, their debts, as in our bankruptcy courts, were cancelled.

> Cf. Ep. xxxi. 6 quid ergo est bonum ? rerum scientia.

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deserved well of him, except in cases where the bad deeds far outdistance the good, and the space between them is obvious even to one who closes his eyes to it; even then only to this extent, that he strives, after receiving the preponderant injury, to resume the attitude which he held before he received the benefit. For when the injury merely equals the benefit, a certain amount of kindly feeling is left over. Just as a defendant is acquitted when the votes are equal, and just as the spirit of kindliness always tries to bend every doubtful case toward the better interpretation, so the mind of the wise man, when another’s merits merely equal his bad deeds, will, to be sure, cease to feel an obligation, but does not cease to desire to feel it, and acts precisely like the man who pays his debts even after they have been legally cancelled.¢

But no man can be grateful unless he has learned to scorn the things which drive the common herd to distraction ; if you wish to make return for a favour, you must be willing to go into exile, or to pour forth your blood, or to undergo poverty, or,—and this will frequently happen,—even to let your very innocence be stained and exposed to shameful slanders. It is no slight price that a man must pay for being grate- ful. We hold nothing dearer than a benefit, so long as we are seeking one; we hold nothing cheaper after we have received it. Do you ask what it is that makes us forget benefits received? It is our extreme greed for receiving others. We consider not what we have obtained, but what we are to seek. We are deflected from the right course by riches, titles, power, and everything which is valuable in our opinion but worthless when rated at its real value. We do not know how to weigh matters? ;

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quibus non cum fama, sed cum rerum natura de- liberandum est; nihil habent ista magnificum, quo mentes in se nostras trahant, praeter hoc, quod mirari illa consuevimus. Non enim, quia concupiscenda sunt, laudantur, sed concupiscuntur, quia laudata sunt, et cum singulorum error publicum fecerit, singulorum errorem facit publicus.

Sed quemadmodum illa credidimus, sic et hoc eidem populo credamus, nihil esse grato animo honestius. Omnes hoc urbes, omnes etiam ex bar- baris regionibus gentes conclamabunt. In hoc bonis malisque conveniet. Erunt qui voluptates laudent, erunt qui labores malint ; erunt qui dolorem maxi- mum malum dicant, erunt qui ne malum quidem appellent; divitias aliquis ad summum bonum ad- mittet, alius illas dicet malo vitae humanae repertas, nihil esse eo locupletius, cui quod donet fortuna non invenit. In tanta iudiciorum diversitate referendam bene merentibus gratiam omnes tibi uno, quod aiunt, ore adfirmabunt. In hoe tam discors turba consen- tiet; cum interim iniurias pro beneficiis reddimus, et prima causa est, cur quis ingratus sit, si satis gratus esse non potuit. Eo perductus est furor, ut periculosissima res sit beneficia in aliquem magna conferre; nam quia putat turpe non reddere, non

vult esse, cui reddat. Tibi habe, quod accepisti;

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we should take counsel regarding them, not with their reputation but with their nature; those things possess no grandeur wherewith to enthral our minds, except the fact that we have become accustomed to marvel at them. For they are not praised because they ought to be desired, but they are desired because they have been praised ; and when the error of individuals has once created error on the part of the public, then the public error goes on creating error on the part of individuals.

But just as we take on faith such estimates of values, so let us take on the faith of the people this truth, that nothing is more honourable than a grate- ful heart. This phrase will be echoed by all cities, and by all races, even those from savage countries. Upon this point good and bad will agree. Some praise pleasure, some prefer toil; some say that pain is the greatest of evils, some say it is no evil at al]; some will include riches in the Supreme Good, others will say that their discovery meant harm to the human race, and that none is richer than he to whom Fortune has found nothing to give. Amid all this diversity of opinion all men will yet with one voice, as the saying is, vote “aye” to the proposition that thanks should be returned to those who have deserved well of us. On this question the common herd, rebellious as they are, will all agree, but at present we keep paying back injuries instead of benefits, and the primary reason why a man is ungrateful is that he has found it impossible to be grateful enough. Our madness has gone to such lengths that it is a very dangerous thing to confer great benefits upon a person; for just because he thinks it shameful not to repay, so he would have none left alive whom he should repay. ‘‘ Keep for yourself what you

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non repeto, non exigo. Profuisse tutum sit. Nullum est odium perniciosius quam e beneficii violati pudore. VALE,

LXXXII.

Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Desii iam de te esse sollicitus. “Quem,” inquis, “deorum sponsorem accepisti?” Kum scilicet, qui neminem fallit, animum recti ac boni amatorem. In tuto pars tui melior est. Potest fortuna tibi iniuriam facere ; quod ad rem magis pertinet, non timeo, ne tu facias tibi. I, qua ire coepisti et in isto te vitae

2habitu conpone placide, non molliter. Male mihi esse malo quam molliter; male! nunc sic excipe, quemadmodum a populo solet dici: dure, aspere, laboriose. Audire solemus sic quorundam vitam laudari, quibus invidetur: “molliter vivit”; hoe dicunt: “mollis est.” Paulatim enim effeminatur animus atque in similitudinem otii sui et pigritiae, in qua iacet, solvitur. Quid ergo? Viro non vel obrigescere satius est? Deinde idem delicati timent,? cui vitam suam fecere similem. Multum interest

1 male added by Muretus. 2 morti after timent deleted by Madvig.

4 The words are put into the mouth of an imaginary benefactor who fears for his own life.

> Of. Tac. Agric. 42 proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris.

¢ One who incurs liability by taking upon himself the debt of another. It is part of the process known as inter- cessio. # Rather than moliis.

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have received; I do not ask it back; I do not demand it. Let it be safe to have conferred a favour.’ * There is no worse hatred than that which springs from shame at the desecration of a benefit. ? Farewell.

LXXXII. ON THE NATURAL FEAR OF DEATH

I have already ceased to be anxious about you. “Whom then of the gods,’ you ask, “have you found as your voucher?’’¢ A god, let me tell you, who deceives no one,—a soul in love with that which is upright and good. The better part of yourself is on safe ground. Fortune can inflict injury upon you; what is more pertinent is that~I have no fears lest you do injury to yourself. Proceed as you have begun, and settle yourself in this way of living, not luxuriously, but calmly. I prefer to be in trouble rather than in luxury; and you had better interpret the term “in trouble” as popular usage is wont to interpret it: living a “hard,” “rough,” “toilsome” life. We are wont to hear the lives of certain men praised as follows, when they are objects of unpopularity: “‘So-and-So lives luxuriously”; but by this they mean: “ He is softened by luxury.” For the soul is made womanish by degrees, and is weakened until it matches the ease and laziness in which it lies. Lo, is it not better for one who is really a man even to become hardened 4? Next, these same dandies fear that which they have made their own lives resemble. Much difference is there between

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3inter otium et conditivum. “Quid ergo?” inquis, “non satius est vel sic iacere quam in istis officiorum verticibus volutari?” Utraque res detestabilis est, et contractio et torpor. Puto, aeque qui in odoribus iacet, mortuus est quam qui rapitur unco.

Otium sine litteris mors est et hominis vivi 4sepultura. Quid deinde prodest secessisse? Tam- quam non trans maria nos sollicitudinum causae persequantur! Quae latebra est, in quam non intret metus mortis? Quae tam emunita et in altum subducta vitae quies, quam non dolor territet? Quacumque te abdideris, mala humana circumstre- pent. Multa extra sunt, quae circumeunt nos, quo aut! fallant aut urgeant, multa intus, quae in media solitudine exaestaant.

5 — Philosophia circumdanda est, inexpugnabilis murus, quem fortuna multis machinis lacessitum non transit. In insuperabili loco stat animus, qui externa deseruit, et arce se sua vindicat; infra illum omne telum cadit. Non habet, ut putamus, fortuna longas manus ; nemi-

6 nem occupat nisi haerentem sibi. Itaque quantum possumus, ab illa resiliamus ; quod sola praestabit sui naturaeque cognitio.? Sciat, quo iturus sit, unde ortus, quod illi bonum, quod malum sit, quid petat, quid evitet, quae sit illa ratio, quae adpetenda ac

1 guo aut later MSS. ; quae aut VPb. 2 cognitio later MSS. ; conditio Vb; condicio p.

*@ Conditivwm (more frequently and properly conditorium) is a grim jest. The word is mostly found in an adjectival sense applying to fruits and grain stored for later use.

» Compare Arnold’s nineteenth-century definition of culture.

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lying idle and lying buried*! “ But,” you say, “is it not better even to lie idle than to whirl round in these eddies of business distraction?” Both extremes are to be deprecated—both tension and sluggishness. I hold that he who lies on a perfumed couch is no less dead than he who is dragged along by the executioner’s hook.

Leisure without study is death; it is a tomb for the living man. What then is the advantage of retirement? As if the real causes of our anxieties did not follow us across the seas! What hiding- place is there, where the fear of death does not enter? What peaceful haunts are there, so fortified and so far withdrawn that pain does not fill them with fear? Wherever you hide yourself, human ills will make an uproar all around. There are many external things which compass us about, to deceive us or to weigh upon us; there are many things within which, even amid solitude, fret and ferment.

Therefore, gird yourself about with philosophy, - an impregnable wall. Though it be assaulted by many engines, Fortune can find no passage into it. The soul stands on unassailable ground, if it has abandoned external things; it is independent in its own fortress; and every weapon that is hurled falls short of the mark. Fortune has not the long reach with which we credit her; she can seize none ex- cept him that clings to her. Let us then recoil from her as far as we are able. This will be possible for us only through knowledge of self and of the world ? of Nature. The soul should know whither it is going and whence it came, what is good for it and what is evil, what it seeks and what it avoids, and what is that Reason which distinguishes between the desirable and the undesirable, and thereby tames

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fugienda discernat, qua cupiditatum mansuescit insania, timorum saevitia conpescitur.

7 ~~ Haec quidam! putant ipsos etiam sine philosophia repressisse. Sed, cum securos aliquis casus expertus est, exprimitur sera confessio. Magna verba ex- cidunt, cum tortor poposcit manum, cum mors pro- pius? accessit. Possis illi dicere: facile provocabas mala absentia; ecce dolor, quem tolerabilem esse dicebas, ecce mors, quam contra multa animose

locutus es; sonant flagella, gladius micat : Nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.

8 Faciet autem illud firmum adsidua meditatio, si non verba exercueris, sed animum, si contra mortem te praeparaveris, adversus quam non exhortabitur nec adtollet, qui cavillationibus tibi persuadere tempta- verit mortem malum non esse. Libet enim, Lucili virorum optime, ridere ineptias Graecas, quas nondum,

9 quamvis mirer, excussi. Zenon noster hac collectione utitur: “nullum malum gloriosum est; mors autem gloriosa est ; mors ergo non est malum.” Profecisti ; liberatus sum metu; post hoc non dubitabo porrigere eervicem. Non vis severius loqui nec morituro risum

1 guidam later MSS. ; quidem VPb. 2 propius later MSS. ; potius VPb.

@ Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 261. > Frag. 196 von Arnim.

244.

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the madness of our desires and calms the violence of our fears.

Some men flatter themselves that they have checked these evils by themselves even without the aid of philosophy; but when some accident catches them off their guard, a tardy confession of error is wrung from them. Their boastful words perish from their lips when the torturer commands them to stretch forth their hands, and when death draws nearer! You might say tosucha man: “ It was easy for you to challenge evils that were not near-by ; but here comes pain, which you declared you could endure; here comes death, against which you uttered many a courageous boast! The whip cracks, the sword flashes :

Ah now, Aeneas, thou must needs be stout And strong of heart !”*4

This strength of heart, however, will come from con- stant study, provided that you practise, not with the tongue but with the soul, and provided that you pre- pare yourself to meet death. To enable yourself to meet death, you may expect no encouragement or cheer from those who try to make you believe, by means of their hair-splitting logic, that death is no evil. For I take pleasure, excellent Lucilius, in poking fun at the absurdities of the Greeks, of which, to my continual surprise, I have not yet succeeded in ridding myself. Our master Zeno? uses a syllogism like this: “ No evil is glorious ; but death is glorious ; therefore death is no evil.’ A cure, Zeno! I have been freed from fear; henceforth I shall not hesitate to bare my neck on the scaffold. Will you not utter sterner words instead of rousing a dying man to laughter? Indeed, Lucilius, I could

245

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movere? Non mehercules facile tibi dixerim, utrum ineptior fuerit, qui se hac interrogatione iudicavit mortis metum extinguere, an qui hoc, tamquam ad rem pertineret, conatus est solvere. Nam et ipse interrogationem contrariam opposuit ex eo natam, quod mortem inter indifferentia ponimus, quae aduapopa Graeci vocant. “ Nihil,” inquit, “ indifferens gloriosum est; mors autem gloriosum est; ergo mors non est indifferens.” Haec interrogatio vides ubi obrepat: mors non est gloriosa, sed fortiter mori gloriosum est. Et cum dicis: “indifferens nihil gloriosum est,” concedo tibi ita, ut dicam_ nihil gloriosum esse nisi circa indifferentia. Tamquam indifferentia esse dico, id est nec bona nec mala, morbum, dolorem, paupertatem, exilium, mortem. Nihil horum per se gloriosum est, nihil tamen sine his. Laudatur enim non paupertas, sed ille, quem paupertas! non summittit nec? incurvat. Laudatur non exilium, sed ille qui in exilium ivit tanquam 3 misisset. Laudatur non dolor, sed ille, quem nihil coegit dolor. Nemo mortem laudat, sed eum, cuius mors ante abstulit animum quam conturbavit. Omnia ista per se non sunt honesta nec gloriosa, sed quic- quid ex illis virtus adiit tractavitque,; honestum et gloriosum facit ; illa in medio posita sunt; interest, utrum malitia illis an virtus manum admoverit. Mors enim illa, quae in Catone gloriosa est, in Bruto statim

1 Pb and V! omit sed . . . paupertas.

2 nec later MSS. ; sed VPb.

3 sed ille qui in ewilium ivit tanquam Madvig; ... wt

quam MSS.

@ Defined by the Greeks as ‘‘ things which have no direct

connexion either with happiness or with unhappiness.” See Cicero, De Finibus, iii. 50 ff.

> i.e., are ‘‘indifferent” (cf. § 14 indifferentia ac media dicuntur).

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not easily tell you whether he who thought that he was quenching the fear of death by setting up this syllogism was the more foolish, or he who attempted to refute it, just as if it had anything to do with the matter! For the refuter himself pro- posed a counter-syllogism, based upon the proposition that we regard death as “ indifferent,’—one of the things which the Greeks call adivigopu.* Nothing,” he says, “ that is indifferent can be glorious; death is glorious; therefore death is not indifferent.” You comprehend the tricky fallacy which is contained in this syllogism: mere death is, in fact, not glorious ; but a brave death is glorious. And when you say: ‘Nothing that is indifferent is glorious,’ I grant you this much, and declare that nothing is glorious - except as it deals with indifferent things. I classify as “indifferent,’--that is, neither good nor evil,— sickness, pain, poverty, exile, death. None of these things is intrinsically glorious; but nothing can be glorious apart from them. For it is not poverty that we praise, it is the man whom poverty cannot humble or bend. Nor is it exile that we praise, it is the man who withdraws into exile in the spirit in which he would have sent another into exile. It is not pain that we praise, it is the man whom pain has not coerced. One praises not death, but the man whose soul death takes away before it can confound it. All these things are in themselves neither honourable nor glorious ; but any one of them that virtue has visited and touched is made honourable and_ glorious by virtue; they merely lie in between,? and the decisive question is only whether wickedness or virtue has laid hold upon them. For instance, the death which in Cato’s case is glorious, is in the case

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turpis est et erubescenda. Hic est enim Brutus, qui cum periturus mortis moras quaereret,ad exonerandum ventrem secessit et evocatus ad mortem iussusque praebere cervicem: “ praebebo,” inquit, “ ita vivam.” Quae dementia est fugere, cum retro ire non possis ? “Praebebo,” inquit, “ita vivam.” — Paene adiecit: “vel sub Antonio.” O hominem dignum, qui vitae dederetur !

13. Sed, ut coeperam dicere, vides ipsam mortem nec malum esse nec bonum; Cato illa honestissime usus est, turpissime Brutus. Omnis res quod non habuit decus, virtute addita sumit. Cubiculum lucidum

14 dicimus, hoc idem obscurissimum est nocte. Dies illi lucem infundit, nox eripit; sic istis, quae a nobis indifferentia ac media dicuntur, divitiis, viribus, for- mae, honoribus, regno et contra morti, exilio, malae valetudini, doloribus quaeque alia aut minus aut magis pertimuimus, aut malitia aut virtus dat boni vel mali nomen. Massa per se nec calida nec frigida est; in fornacem coniecta concaluit, in aquam demissa ! re- frixit. Mors honesta est per illud, quod honestum 2 est, id est virtus et animus extrema contemnens.

15 Est et horum, Lucili, quae appellamus media, grande discrimen. Non enim sic mors indifferens est, quomodo utrum capillos pares an inpares? habeas. Mors inter illa est, quae mala quidem non sunt, tamen habent mali speciem; sui amor est et

1 Haase; remissa VPb. 2 Later MSS.; honesta VPb. 5 an impares added by Koch.

* Presumably D. Junius Brutus, who finally incurred the enmity of both Octavian and Antony. He was ignominiously put to death by a Gaul while fleeing to join M. Brutus in Macedonia.

° media: a technical word in Stoic philosophy, meaning neither good nor bad.

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of Brutus ® forthwith base and disgraceful. For this Brutus, condemned to death, was trying to obtain postponement; he withdrew a moment in order to ease himself; when summoned to die and ordered to bare his throat, he exclaimed : “ I will bare my throat, if only I may live!’ What madness it is to run away, when it is impossible to turn back! “TI will bare my throat, if only I may live!’’ He came very near saying also: “even under Antony!” This fellow deserved indeed to be consigned to life!

But, as I was going on to remark, you see that death in itself is neither an evil nor a good; Cato experienced death most honourably, Brutus most basely. Everything, if you add virtue, assumes a glory which it did not possess before. We speak of a sunny room, even though the same room is pitch- dark at night. It is the day which fills it with light, and the night which steals the light away; thus it is with the things which we call indifferent and ‘ middle,®”’ like riches, strength, beauty, titles, king- ship, and their opposites, — death, exile, ill-health, pain, and all such evils, the fear of which upsets us to a greater or less extent; it is the wickedness or the virtue that bestows the name of good or evil. An object is not by its own essence either hot or cold ; it is heated when thrown into a furnace, and chilled when dropped into water. Death is honourable when related to that which is honourable; by this I mean virtue and a soul that despises the worst hardships.

Furthermore, there are vast distinctions among these qualities which we call “middle.” For ex- ample, death is not so indifferent as the question whether your hair should be worn evenly or unevenly. Death belongs among those things which are not in- deed evils, but still have in them a semblance of evil ;

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permanendi conservandique se insita voluntas atque aspernatio dissolutionis, quia videtur multa nobis bona eripere et nos ex hac, cui adsuevimus, rerum copia educere. Illa quoque res morti nos alienat, quod haec iam novimus, illa, ad quae transituri sumus, nescimus, qualia sint, et horremus ignota. Naturalis praeterea tenebrarum metus est, in quas adductura mors creditur. Itaque etiam si indifferens mors est, non tamen ea est, quae facile neglegi possit. Magna exercitatione durandus est animus, ut conspectum eius accessumque patiatur.

Mors contemni debet magis quam solet. Multa enim de illa credidimus. Multorum ingeniis cer- tatum est ad augendam eius infamiam. Descriptus est carcer infernus et perpetua nocte oppressa regio, in qua

Ingens ianitor Orci Ossa super recubans antro semesa.cruento, Aeternum latrans exsangues terreat umbras. Etiam cum persuaseris istas fabulas esse nec quic- quam defunctis superesse, quod timeant, subit alius metus. Aeque enim timent, ne apud inferos sint, quam ne nusquam. His adversantibus, quae nobis offundit longa per-

suasio, fortiter pati mortem quidni gloriosum sit et

@ See Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 400 f. and viii. 296 f, 250

EPISTLE LXXXII.

for there are implanted in us love of self, a desire for existence and self-preservation, and also an abhorrence of dissolution, because death seems to rob us of many goods and to withdraw us from the abundance to

which we have become accustomed. And there is -

another element which estranges us from death: we are already familiar with the present, but are ignorant of the future into which we shall transfer ourselves, and we shrink from the unknown. Moreover, it is natural to fear the world of shades, whither death is supposed to lead. Therefore, although death is something indifferent, it is nevertheless not a thing which we can easily ignore. The soul must be hardened by long practice, so that it may learn to endure the sight and the approach of death.

Death ought to be despised more than it is wont to be despised. For we believe too many of the stories about death. Many thinkers have striven hard to increase its ill repute; they have portrayed the prison in the world below and the land over- whelmed by everlasting night, where

Within his blood-stained cave Hell’s warder huge Doth sprawl his ugly length on half-crunched bones, And terrifies the disembodied ghosts

With never-ceasing bark.

Even if you can win your point and prove that these are mere stories and that nothing is left for the dead to fear, another fear steals upon you. For the fear of going to the underworld is equalled by the fear of going nowhere.

In the face of these notions, which long-standing opinion has dinned in our ears, how can brave en- durance of death be anything else than glorious, and fit to rank among the greatest accomplishments of the

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inter maxima opera mentis humanae? Quae num- quam ad virtutem exsurget, si mortem malum esse crediderit ; exsurget, si putabit indifferens esse. Non recipit rerum natura, ut aliquis magno animo accedat ad id, quod malum iudicat; pigre veniet et cunc- tanter. Non est autem gloriosum, quod ab invito et tergiversante fit; nihil facit virtus, quia necesse 18 est. Adice nunc, quod nihil honeste fit, nisi cui totus animus incubuit atque adfuit, cui nulla parte sui repugnavit. Ubi autem ad malum acceditur aut peiorum metu aut spe bonorum, ad quae pervenire tanti sit devorata unius mali patientia, dissident inter se iudicia facientis. Hine est, quod iubeat proposita perficere, illinc, quod retrahat et ab re suspecta ac periculosa fugiat. Igitur in diversa distrahitur; si hoc est, perit gloria. Virtus enim concordi animo

decreta peragit. Non timet, quod facit.

Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito Qua tua te fortuna sinet.

19 Non ibis audentior, si mala illa esse credideris. Eximendum hoc e pectore est; alioqui haesitabit inpetum moratura suspicio. Trudetur in id, quod invadendum est.

Nostri quidem videri volunt Zenonis interroga-

@ Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 95 f., the advice of the Sibyl to Aeneas.

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EPISTLE LXXXII.

human mind? For the mind wil! never rise to virtue if it believes that death is an evil; but it will so rise if it holds that death is a matter of indifference. It is not in the order of nature that a man shall proceed with a great heart to a destiny which he believes to be evil; he will go sluggishly and with reluctance. But nothing glorious can result from unwillingness and cowardice; virtue does nothing under compulsion. Besides, no deed that a man does is honourable un- less he has devoted himself thereto and attended to it with all his heart, rebelling against it with no portion of his being. When, however, a man goes to face an evil, either through fear of worse evils or in the hope of goods whose attainment is of sufli- cient moment to him that he can swallow the one evil which he must endure,—in that case the judgment of the agent is drawn in two directions. On the one side is the motive which bids him carry out his pur- pose; on the other, the motive which restrains him and makes him flee from something which has aroused his apprehension or leads to danger. Hence he is torn in different directions ; and if this happens, the glory of his act is gone. For virtue accomplishes its plans only when the spirit is in harmony with itself. There is no element of fear in any of its actions.

Yield not to evils, but, still braver, go Where’er thy fortune shall allow.¢

You cannot “still braver go,” if you are persuaded that those things are the real evils. Root out this idea from your soul; otherwise your apprehensions will remain undecided and will thus check the impulse to action. You will be pushed into that towards which you ought to advance like a soldier.

Those of our school, it is true, would have men

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tionem veram esse, fallacem autem alteram et falsam, quae illi opponitur. Ego non redigo ista ad legem dialecticam et ad illos artificii veternosissimi nodos. Totum genus istue exturbandum iudico, quo cireum- scribi se, qui interrogatur, existimat et ad con- fessionem perductus aliud respondet, aliud putat. Pro veritate simplicius agendum est, contra metum

20 fortius. Haec ipsa, quae volvuntur ab illis, solvere

malim et expendere, ut persuadeam, non ut inponam.

In aciem educturus exercitum pro coniugibus ac liberis mortem obiturum quomodo exhortabitur ? Do tibi Fabios totum rei publicae bellum in unam trans- ferentes domum. Laconas tibi ostendo in_ ipsis Thermopylarum angustiis positos. Nec victoriam sperant nec reditum. [lle locus illis sepulchrum futurus est. Quemadmodum exhortaris, ut totius gentis ruinam obiectis corporibus excipiant et vita potius quam loco cedant? Dices: “quod malum est, gloriosum non est; mors gloriosa est; mors ergo non malum”? O efficacem contionem! Quis post hance dubitet se infestis ingerere mucronibus et stans mori! At ille Leonidas quam fortiter illos adlocutus est! “Sic,” inquit, “commilitones, prandete tamquam apud inferos cenaturi.” Non in ore crevit cibus, non

@ Cf. 8 9 and 10. > Cf. Ep. xviii. 4 ff.

¢ Cf. Livy, ii. 49. 1 familiam unam subisse civitatis onus.

4 Olrws dpiutare ws év adov dervjcovtes, — quoted by Stobaeus, Plutarch, and Diodorus. Cicero says (Juse. i. 101) hodie apud inferos fortasse cenabimus.

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think that Zeno’s syllogism is correct, but that the second “ I mentioned, which is set up against his, is deceptive and wrong. But I for my part decline to reduce such questions to a matter of dialectical rules or to the subtleties of an utterly worn-outsystem. Away, I say, with all that sort of thing, which makes a man feel, when a question is propounded to him, that he is hemmed in, and forces him to admit a premiss, and then makes him say one thing in his answer when his real opinion is another.2 When truth is at stake, we must act more frankly; and when fear is to be combated, we must act more bravely. Such questions, which the dialecticians involve in subtleties, I prefer to solve and weigh rationally, with the purpose of winning conviction and not of forcing the judgment.

When a general is about to lead into action an army prepared to meet death for their wives and children, how will he exhort them to battle? I remind you of the Fabii,° who took upon a single clan a war which concerned the whole state. I point out to you the Lacedaemonians in position at the very pass of Thermopylae! They have no hope of victory, no hope of returning. The place where they stand is to be their tomb. In what language do you en- courage them to bar the way with their bodies and take upon themselves the ruin of their whole tribe, and to retreat from life rather than from their post? Shall you say: “That which is evil is not glorious ; but death is glorious ; therefore death is not an evil”’? What a powerful discourse! After such words, who would hesitate to throw himself upon the serried spears of the foemen, and die in his tracks? But take Leonidas: how bravely did he address his men! He said: “ Fellow-soldiers, let us to our breakfast, knowing that we shall sup in Hades!” 4 The food

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haesit in faucibus, non elapsus est manibus; alacres

22 et ad prandium illi promiserunt et ad cenam. Quid? Dux ille Romanus, qui ad occupandum locum milites missos, cum per ingentem hostium exercitum ituri essent, sic adlocutus est: “ire, commilitones, illo necesse est, unde redire non est necesse.”

Vides, quam simplex et imperiosa virtus sit ; quem mortalium circumscriptiones vestrae fortiorem facere, quem erectiorem possunt? Frangunt animum, qui numquam minus contrahendus est et in minuta ac spinosa cogendus, quam cum aliquid grande com-

23 ponitur. Non trecentis, sed omnibus mortalibus mortis timor detrahi debet. Quomodo illos doces malum non esse? Quomodo opiniones totius aevi, quibus protinus infantia inbuitur, evincis? Quod auxilium invenis! inbecillitati humanae? Quid dicis, quo inflammati in media pericula inruant? Qua vratione hune timendi consensum, quibus ingeni viribus obnixam contra te persuasionem humani generis avertis? Verba mihi captiosa conponis et interrogatiunculas nectis? Magnis telis magna por-

24 tenta feriuntur. Serpentem illam in Africa saevam et Romanis legionibus bello ipso terribiliorem frustra sagittis fundisque petierunt; ne Pythio quidem vulnerabilis erat, cum ingens magnitudo pro vastitate

1 After invenis, Gertz removed quid dicis ...

« Calpurnius, in Sicily, during the first Punic war. Cf. Livy, xxii. 60. 11.

> The soldiers of Leonidas.

e Anespecially large machine for assaulting walls ; a nick- name, like the modern ‘* Long Tom.”

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of these men did not grow lumpy in their mouths, or stick in their throats, or slip from their fingers; eagerly did they accept the invitation to breakfast, and to supper also! Think, too, of the famous Roman general ;% his soldiers had been dispatched to seize a position, and when they were about to make their way through a huge army of the enemy, he addressed them with the words: “ You must go now, fellow-soldiers, to yonder place, whence there is no ‘must’ about your returning! ”’

You see, then, how straightforward and _ per- emptory virtue is; but what man on earth can your deceptive logic make more courageous or more up- right? Rather does it break the spirit, which should never be less straitened or forced to deal with petty and thorny problems than when some great work is being planned. It is not the Three Hundred,? —it is all mankind that should be relieved of the fear of death. But how can you prove to all those men that death is no evil? How can you overcome the notions of all our past life,—notions with which we are tinged from our very infancy ? What succour can you discover for man’s helplessness? What can you say that will make men rush, burning with zeal, into the midst of danger? By what persuasive speech can you turn aside this universal feeling of fear, by . what strength of wit can you turn aside the conviction of the human race which steadfastly opposes you? Do you propose to construct catchwords for me, or to string together petty syllogisms? It takes great weapons to strike down great monsters. You recall the fierce serpent in Africa, more frightful to the Roman legions than the war itself, and assailed in vain by arrows and slings; it could not be wounded even by “ Pythius,’° since its huge size, and the

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corporis solida ferrum et quicquid humanae torserant manus reiceret. Molaribus demum fracta saxis est. Et adversus mortem tu tam! minuta iacularis? Subula leonem excipis? Acuta sunt ista, quae dicis; nihil est acutius arista. Quaedam inutilia et inefficacia ipsa subtilitas reddit. Vate.

LXXXIII.

Seneca LyvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 Singulos dies tibi meos et quidem totos indicari iubes; bene de me iudicas, si nihil esse in illis putas, quod abscondam. Sic certe vivendum est, tamquam in conspectu vivamus; sic cogitandum, tamquam aliquis in pectus intimum introspicere? possit; et potest. Quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum? Nihil deo clusum est. Interest animis nostris et cogitationibus mediis intervenit—sic inter-

2 venit, dico, tamquam aliquando discedat. Faciam ergo, quod iubes, et quid agam et quo ordine, libenter tibi scribam. Observabo me protinus et, quod est utilissimum, diem meum recognoscam. Hoc nos pessimos facit, quod nemo vitam suam respicit. Quid facturi simus cogitamus. Atqui consilium futuri ex praeterito venit.

1 tu tam later MSS. ; totam VPb. 2 introspicere Hense ; prospicere VPb.

@ Cf. Ep. \xxxv. 1 pudet in aciem descendere pro dis hominibusque susceptam subula armatum.

’ Of. Ep. xli. 2 sacer intra nos spiritus, . . . malorwm bonorumgque nostrorum observator et custos.

¢ Of. Ep. i. 4 ratio constat inpensae (referring to his attempt to employ his time profitably).

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toughness which matched its bulk, made spears, or any weapon hurled by the hand of man, glance off. It was finally destroyed by rocks equal in size to mill- stones. Are you, then, hurling petty weapons like yours even against death? Can you stop a lion’s charge by an awl?% Your arguments are indeed sharp; but there is nothing sharper than a stalk of grain. And certain arguments are rendered useless and unavailing by their very subtlety. Farewell.

LXXXIII. ON DRUNKENNESS

You bid me give you an account of each separate day, and of the whole day too; so you must have a good opinion of me if you think that in these days of mine there is nothing to hide. At any rate, it is thus that we should live,—as if we lived in plain sight of all men; and it is thus that we should think, —as if there were someone who could look into our inmost souls; and there is one who can so look. For what avails it that something is hidden from man? Nothing is shut off from the sight of God. He is witness of our souls,? and he comes into the very midst of our thoughts—comes into them, I say, as one who may at any time depart. I shall therefore do as you bid, and shall gladly inform you by letter what I am doing, and in what sequence. I shall keep watching myself continually, and—a most useful habit—shall review each day.¢ For this is what makes us wicked: that no one of us looks back over his own life. Our thoughts are devoted only to what we are about todo. And yet our plans for the future always depend on the past.

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3 Hodiernus dies solidus est ; nemo ex illo quicquam inihi eripuit. Totus inter stratum lectionemque divisus est. Minimum exercitationi corporis datum, et hoc nomine ago gratias senectuti: non magno mihi constat ; cum me movi, lassus sum. Hie autem

4 st exercitationis etiam fortissimis finis. Progym- nastas meos quaeris? Unus mihi sufficit Pharius! puer, ut scis, amabilis, sed mutabitur. Iam aliquem teneriorem quaero. Hic quidem ait nos eandem crisin habere, quia utrique dentes cadunt. Sed iam vix illum adsequor currentem et intra paucissimos dies non potero; vide, quid exercitatio cotidiana proficiat. Cito magnum intervallum fit inter duos in diversum euntes. Eodem tempore ille adscendit, ego descendo, nec ignoras, quanto ex his velocius alterum fiat. Mentitus sum; iam enim aetas nostra non de-

5 scendit, sed cadit. Quomodo tamen hodiernum certa-

men nobis cesserit quaeris? Quod raro cursoribus

evenit, hieran fecimus. Ab hac fatigatione magis quam exercitatione in frigidam descendi; hoc apud me vocatur parum calda. Ile tantus psychrolutes, qui kalendis Januariis euripum salutabam, qui anno novo quemadmodum legere, scribere, dicere aliquid, sic auspicabar in Virginem desilire, primum ad

Tiberim transtuli castra, deinde ad hoc solium, quod, 1 Pharius some MSS. ; farvius b; farivus PV ; Earinus

Erasmus.

@ See lp. xii. 3 for a similar witticism. > JIieran (coronam), as Lipsius thinks, when the result was doubtful, the garland was offered to the gods. From the Greek iepés, sacred. ¢ Constructed by Marcus Agrippa; now the fountain of Trevi.

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To-day has been unbroken; no one has filched the slightest part of it from me. The whole time has been divided between rest and reading. A brief space has been given over to bodily exercise, and on this ground I can thank old age—my exercise costs very little effort; as soon as I stir, | am tired. And weariness is the aim and end of exercise, no matter how strong one is. Do you ask who are my pace- makers? One is enough for me,—the slave Pharius, a pleasant fellow, as you know; but I shall exchange him for another. At my time of life I need one who is of still more tender years. Pharius, at any rate, says that he and I are at the same period of life; for we are both losing our teeth.* Yet even now I can scarcely follow his pace as he runs, and within a very short time I shall not be able to follow him at all; so you see what profit we get from daily exercise. Very soon does a wide interval open between two persons who travel different ways. My slave is climbing up at the very moment when I am coming down, and you surely know how much quicker the latter is. - Nay, I was wrong; for now my life is not coming down ; itis falling outright. Do you ask, for all that, how our race resulted to-day? We raced toa tie,’— something which rarely happens in a running contest. After tiring myself out in this way (for I cannot call it exercise), I took a cold bath; this, at my house, means just short of hot. I, the former cold-water enthusiast, who used to celebrate the new year by taking a plunge into the canal, who, just as naturally as I would set out to do some reading or writing, or to compose a speech, used to inaugurate the first of the year with a plunge into the Virgo aqueduct,’ have changed my allegiance, first to the Tiber, and then to my favourite tank, which is warmed only by the

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cum fortissimus sum et omnia bona fide fiunt, so} temperat. Non multum mihi ad balneum superest.

6 Panis deinde siccus et sine mensa prandium, post quod non sunt Javandae manus. Dormio minimum. Consuetudinem meam nosti: brevissimo somno utor et quasi interiungo. Satis est mihi vigilare desisse. Aliquando dormisse me scio, aliquando suspicor.

7 Ecce circensium obstrepit clamor. Subita aliqua et universa voce feriuntur aures meae. Nec cogita- tionem meam excutiunt, ne interrumpunt quidem. Fremitum patientissime fero. Multae voces et in unum confusae pro fluctu mihi sunt aut vento silvam verberante et ceteris sine intellectu sonantibus.

8 Quid ergo est nunc, cui animum adiecerim ? Dicam. Superest ex hesterno mihi cogitatio: quid sibi voluerint prudentissimi viri, qui rerum maximarum probationes levissimas et perplexas fecerunt, quae ut

9 sint verae, tamen mendacio similes sunt. Vult nos ab ebrietate deterrere Zenon, vir maximus, huius sectae fortissimae ac sanctissimae conditor. Audi ergo, quemadmodum colligat virum bonum non futurum ebrium: “ebrio secretum sermonem nemo comunittit; viro autem bono committit; ergo vir bonus ebrius non erit.” Quemadmodum opposita interrogatione simili derideatur, adtende. Satis est enim unam

«The same word is used by Seneca in De Trang. An. xvii. 7 quidam medio die interiunxerunt et in postmeridianas horas aliquid levioris operae distulerunt.

> Cf. Ep. lvi. 3 istum fremitum non magis curo quam Yuctum aut deiectum aquae.

¢ Zeno, Frag. 229 von Arnim,—quoting also Philo’s ef rq pedvovre odk dv Tis EvAdywS Adyov admOppnTOv WapaKkaTdBoTO... ovK dpa meBver 0 aoTetos.

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sun, at times when I am most robust and when there is not a flaw in my bodily processes. I have very little energy left for bathing. After the bath, some stale bread and breakfast without a table; no need to wash the hands after such a meal. Then comes a very short nap. You know my habit; I avail myself of a scanty bit of sleep, — unharnessing, as it were. For I am satisfied if I can just stop staying awake. Sometimes I know that I have slept; at other times, I have a mere suspicion.

Lo, now the din of the Races sounds about me! My ears are smitten with sudden and _ general cheering. But this does not upset my thoughts or even break their continuity. I can endure an uproar with complete resignation. The medley of voices blended in one note sounds to me like the dashing of waves,? or like the wind that lashes the tree-tops, or like any other sound which conveys no meaning.

What is it, then, you ask, to which I have been giving my attention? I will tell you. A thought. | sticks in my mind, left over from yesterday,—namely, what men of the greatest sagacity have meant when they have offered the most trifling and intricate proofs for problems of the greatest importance, — proofs which may be true, but none the less resemble. fallacies. Zeno, that greatest of men, the revered founder of our brave and holy school of philosophy, wishes to discourage us from drunkenness. Listen, then, to his arguments proving that the good man will not get drunk: “No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man ; but one will entrust a secret to a good man; therefore, the good man will not get drunk.” ¢ Mark how ridiculous Zeno is made when we set up a similar syllogism in contrast with his. ‘There are

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ponere ex multis: “dormienti nemo secretum sermonem committit; viro autem bono committit ; vir bonus ergo non dormit.” Quo uno modo potest, Posidonius Zenonis nostri causam agit, sed ne sic quidem, ut existimo, agi potest. Ait enim ebrium duobus modis dici: altero, cum aliquis vino gravis est et inpos sui; altero, si solet ebrius fieri et huic obnoxius vitio est. Hune a Zenone dici, qui soleat fieri ebrius, non qui sit. Huic autem neminem com- missurum arcana, quae per vinum eloqui possit. Quod est falsum. Prima enim illa interrogatio conplectitur eum, qui est ebrius, non eum, qui futurus est. Plurimum enim interesse concedes et inter ebrium et ebriosum. Potest et qui ebrius est, tune primum esse nec habere hoc vitium, et qui ebriosus est, saepe extra ebrietatem esse. Itaque id intellego, quod significari verbo isto solet, praesertim cum ab homine diligentiam professo ponatur et verba exa- minante. Adice nunc quod, si hoc intellexit Zenon et nos intellegere voluit, ambiguitate verbi quaesiit locum fraudi, quod faciendum non est, ubi veritas quaeritur.

Sed sane hoc senserit ; quod sequitur, falsum est, ei qui soleat ebrius fieri, non committi sermonem secretum. Cogita enim, quam multis militibus non semper sobriis et imperator et tribunus et centurio

a Cf. Ep. xlix. 8 quod non perdidisti, hahes; cornua autem non perdidisti ; cornua ergo habes,—and the syllogisms given in Ep, xlviii.

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many, but one will be enough: “ No one entrusts a secret to aman when he is asleep ; but one entrusts a secret to a good man ; therefore, the good man does not go to sleep.” % Posidonius pleads the cause of our master Zeno in the only possible way ; but it cannot, I hold, be pleaded even in this way. For Posidonius maintains that the word “drunken”’ is used in two ways,—in the one case of a man who is loaded with wine and has no control over himself; in the other, of a man who is accustomed to get drunk, and isa slave to the habit. Zeno, he says, meant the latter, —the man who is accustomed to get drunk, not the man who is drunk; and no one would entrust to this person any secret, for it might be blabbed out when the man was in his cups. This is a fallacy. For the first syllogism refers to him who is actually drunk and not to him who is about to get drunk. You will surely admit that there is a great difference between a man who is drunk and adrunkard. He who is actually drunk may be in this state for the first time and may not have the habit, while the drunkard is often free from drunkenness. I therefore interpret the word in its usual meaning, especially since the syllogism is set up by a man who makes a business of the careful use of words, and who weighs his language. Moreover, if this is what Zeno meant, and what he wished it to mean to us, he was trying to avail himself of an equivocal word in order to work in a fallacy ; and no man ought to do this when truth is the object of inquiry.

But let us admit, indeed, that he meant what Posidonius says; even so, the conclusion is false,— that secrets are not entrusted to an habitual drunkard. Think how many soldiers who are not always sober have been entrusted by a general or a captain or a centurion with messages which might not be divulged!

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tacenda mandaverint. De illa C. Caesaris caede, illius dico, qui superato Pompeio rem publicam tenuit, tam creditum est Tillio Cimbro! quam C. Cassio. Cassius tota vita aquam bibit, Tillius Cimber et nimius erat in vino et scordalus. In hane rem locutus est ipse: “ego,” inquit, “ quemquam feram, qui vinum ferre non possum?” Sibi quisque nunc nominet eos, quibus scit et vinum male credi et sermonem bene, unum tamen exemplum, quod occurrit mihi, referam, ne intercidat. Instruenda est enim vita exemplis inlustribus. Non semper confugiamus ad vetera.

L. Piso, urbis custos, ebrius ex quo semel factus est, fuit. Maiorem noctis partem in convivio exigebat; usque in horam fere sextam dormiebat ; hoc eius erat matutinum. Officium tamen suum, quo tutela urbis continebatur, diligentissime administravit. Huic et divus Augustus dedit secreta mandata, cum illum praeponeret Thraciae, quam perdomuit, et Tiberius proficiscens in Campaniam, cum multa in urbe et suspecta relinqueret et invisa. Puto, quia illi bene cesserat Pisonis ebrietas, postea Cossum fecit urbis praefectum, virum gravem, moderatum, sed mersum et vino madentem, adeo ut ex senatu aliquando, in quem e convivio venerat, obpressus inexcitabili somno tolleretur. Huic tamen Tiberius

1 Tillio Cimbro Muretus ; illi Cimbro V ; illine imbro P ; illic imbro b.

@In 11 s3.c., when the Thracians were attacking Macedonia. The campaign lasted for three years, and Piso was rewarded with a triumph at its close.

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EPISTLE LXXXIII.

With regard to the notorious plot to murder Gaius Caesar,—I mean the Caesar who conquered Pompey and got control of the state,—Tillius Cimber was trusted with it no less than Gaius Cassius. Now Cassius throughout his life drank water ; while Tillius Cimber was a sot as well as a brawler. Cimber him- self alluded to this fact, saying: “ J carry a master? I cannot carry my liquor!’’ So let each one call to mind those who, to his knowledge, can be ill trusted with wine, but well trusted with the spoken word ; and yet one case occurs to my mind, which I shall relate, lest it fall into oblivion. For life should be provided with conspicuous illustrations. Let us not always be harking back to the dim past.

Lucius Piso, the Director of Public Safety at Rome, was drunk from the very time of his appoint- ment. He used to spend the greater part of the night at banquets, and would sleep until noon. That was the way he spent his morning hours. Neverthe- less, he applied himse!f most diligently to his official duties, which included the guardianship of the city. Even the sainted Augustus trusted him with secret orders when he placed him in command of Thrace. Piso conquered that country. Tiberius, too, trusted him when he took his holiday in Campania, leaving behind him in the city many a critical matter that aroused both suspicion and hatred. I fancy that it was because Piso’s drunkenness turned out well for the Emperor that he appointed to the office of city prefect Cossus, a man of authority and balance, but so soaked and steeped in drink that once, at a meet- ing of the Senate, whither he had come after banqueting, he was overcome by a slumber from which he could not be roused, and had to be carried home. It was to this man that Tiberius sent many

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multa sua manu scripsit, quae committenda ne ministris quidem suis iudicabat. Nullum Cosso aut privatum secretum aut publicum elapsum est.

Itaque declamationes istas de medio removeamus : “ Non est animus in sua potestate ebrietate devinctus. Quemadmodum musto dolia ipsa rampuntur et omne, quod in imo iacet, in summam partem vis caloris eiectat; sic vino exaestuante, quicquid in imo iacet abditum, effertur et prodit in medium. Onerati mero quemadmodum non continent cibum vino redundante, ita ne secretum quidem. Quod suum alienumque est, pariter effundunt.” Sed quamvis hoe soleat accidere, ita et illud solet, ut cum iis, quos sciamus libentius bibere, de rebus necessariis deliberemus. Falsum ergo est hoc, quod patrocinii loco ponitur, ei qui soleat ebrius fieri, non dari tacitum.

Quanto satius est aperte accusare ebrietatem et vitia eius exponere, quae etiam tolerabilis homo vitaverit, nedum perfectus ac sapiens, cui satis est sitim extinguere, qui, etiam si quando hortata est hilaritas aliena causa producta longius, tamen citra ebrietatem resistit. Nam de illo videbimus, an sapientis animus nimio vino turbetur et faciat ebriis solita; interim, si hoc colligere vis virum bonum non debere ebrium fieri, cur syllogismis agis? Dic, quam turpe sit plus sibi ingerere quam capiat et stomachi sui non nosse mensuram, guam multa ebrii 268

EPISTLE LXXXIII.

orders, written in his own hand, — orders which he believed he ought not to trust even to the officials of his household. Cossus never let a single secret slip out, whether personal or public.

So let us abolish all such harangues as this: “No man in the bonds of drunkenness has power over his soul. As the very vats are burst by new wine, and as the dregs at the bottom are raised to the surface by the strength of the fermentation; so, when the wine effervesces, whatever lies hidden below is brought up and made visible. As aman overcome by liquor can- not keep down his food when he has over-indulged in wine, so he cannot keep back a secret either. He pours forth impartially both his own secrets and those of other persons.” ‘This, of course, is what commonly happens, but so does this,—that we take counsel on serious subjects with those whom we know to be in the habit of drinking freely. Therefore this proposi- tion, which is laid down in the guise of a defence of Zeno’s syllogism, is false,—that secrets are not entrusted to the habitual drunkard.

How much better it is to arraign drunkenness frankly and to expose its vices! For even the middling good man avoids them, not to mention the perfect sage, who is satisfied with slaking his thirst ; the sage, even if now and then he is led on by good cheer which, for a friend’s sake, is carried somewhat too far, yet always stops short of drunkenness. We shall investigate later the question whether the mind of the sage is upset by too much wine and commits follies like those of the toper; but meanwhile, if you wish to prove that a good man ought not to get drunk, why work it out by logic? Show how base it is to pour down more liquor than one can carry, and not to know the capacity of one’s own stomach ; show

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faciant, quibus sobrii erubescant, nihil aliud esse ebrietatem quam voluntariam insaniam. Extende in plures dies illum ebrii habitum ; numquid de furore 19 dubitabis? Nunc quoque non est minor, sed brevior. Refer Alexandri Macedonis exemplum, qui Clitum, carissimum sibi ac fidelissimum, inter epulas trans- fodit et intellecto facinore mori voluit, certe debuit.! Omne vitium ebrietas et incendit et detegit, obstantem malis conatibus verecundiam removet. Plures enim pudore peccandi quam bona voluntate 20 prohibitis abstinent. Ubi possedit animum nimia vis vini, quicquid mali latebat, emergit. Non facit ebrietas vitia, sed protrahit; tunc libidinosus ne cubiculum quidem expectat, sed cupiditatibus suis quantum petierunt sine dilatione permittit; tunc inpudicus morbum profitetur ac publicat; tune petulans non linguam, non manum continet. Crescit insolenti superbia, crudelitas saevo, malignitas livido.

21 Omne vitium laxatur? et prodit. Adice illam ignorationem sui, dubia et parum explanata verba, incertos oculos, gradum errantem, vertiginem capitis, tecta ipsa mobilia velut aliquo turbine circumagente totam domum, stomachi tormenta, cum effervescit merum ac viscera ipsa distendit. ~Tunc tamen

1 debuit Lipsius ; deruit VPb ; meruit Gruter. 2 laxatur Lipsius ; tawatur or texatur MSS.

@ Like anger, which was interpreted by the ancients as “ short-lived madness.”

>» For a dramatic account of the murder see Plutarch’s Alexander, ch. 51.

¢ This is the firm conviction of Seneca, himself a most temperate man. §§ 14and 15 admit that natural genius may triumph over drunkenness ; § 17 may allow (with Chrysippus) a certain amount of hilarity ; but the general conclusion is obvious.

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how often the drunkard does things which make him blush when he is sober; state that drunkenness ”% is nothing but a condition of insanity purposely assumed. Prolong the drunkard’s condition to several days ; will you have any doubt about his madness? Even as it is, the madness is no less; it merely lasts a shorter time. Think of Alexander of Macedon,’ who stabbed Clitus, his dearest and most loyal friend, at a banquet; after Alexander understood what he had done, he wished to die, and assuredly he ought to have died.

Drunkenness kindles and discloses every kind of vice, and removes the sense of shame that veils our evil undertakings.° For more men abstain from forbidden actions because they are ashamed of sinning than because their inclinations are good. When the strength of wine has become too great and has gained control over the mind, every lurking evil comes forth from its hiding-place. Lrunkenness does not create vice, it merely brings it into view; at such times the lustful man does not wait even for the privacy of a bedroom, but without postponement gives free play to the demands of his passions; at such times the unchaste man proclaims and publishes his malady ; at such times your cross-grained fellow does not restrain his tongue or his hand. The haughty man increases his arrogance, the ruthless man his cruelty, the slanderer his spitefulness. Every vice is given free play and comes to the front. Besides, we forget who we are, we utter words that are halting and poorly enunciated, the glance is unsteady, the step falters, the head is dizzy, the very ceiling moves about as if a cyclone were whirling the whole house, and the stomach suffers torture when the wine generates gas and causes our very bowels to swell.

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

utcumque tolerabile est, dum illi vis sua est; quid, cum somno vitiatur et quae ebrietas fuit, cruditas facta est?

Cogita, quas clades ediderit publica ebrietas ; haec acerrimas gentes bellicosasque hostibus tradidit, haec multorum annorum pertinaci! bello defensa moenia patefecit, haee contumacissimos et iugum recusantes in alienum egit arbitrium, haec invictos acie mero domuit. Alexandrum, cuius modo feci mentionem, tot itinera, tot proelia, tot hiemes, per quas victa tem- porum locorumque difficultate transierat, tot flumina ex ignoto cadentia, tot maria tutum dimiserunt; intemperantia bibendi et ille Herculaneus ac fatalis scyphus condidit.

Quae gloria est capere multumr Cum penes te palma fuerit et propinationes tuas strati somno ac vomitantes recusaverint, cum superstes toti convivio fueris, cum omnes viceris virtute magnifica et nemo vini tam capax fuerit, vinceris a dolio. M. Antonium, magnum virum et ingenii nobilis, quae alia res per- didit et in externos mores ac vitia non Romana traiecit quam ebrietas nec minor vino Cleopatrae amor? Hifaec illum res hostem rei publicae, haec

1 wertinaci later MSS. ; pertinacia VPb.

@ Lipsius quotes Athenaeus as saying that Boeotian silver cups of large size were so called because the Boeotian Hercules drank from them ; Servius, however, on Verg. den. viii. 278, declared that the name was derived from the large wooden bow! brought by Hercules to italy and used for sacrificial purposes.

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However, at the time, these troubles can be endured, so long as the man retains his natural strength; but what can he do when sleep impairs his powers, and when that which was drunkenness becomes indigestion ?

Think of the calamities caused by drunkenness in anation! This evil has betrayed to their enemies the most spirited and warlike races; this evil has made breaches in walls defended by the stubborn warfare of many years; this evil has forced under alien sway peoples who were utterly unyielding and defiant of the yoke; this evil has conquered by the wine-cup those who in the field were invincible. Alexander, whom I have just mentioned, passed through his many marches, his many battles, his many winter campaigns (through which he worked his way by overcoming disadvantages of time or place), the many rivers which flowed from unknown sources, and the many seas, all in safety; it was intemperance in drinking that laid him low, and the famous death- dealing bowl of Hercules.%

What glory is there in carrying much liquor? When you have won the prize, and the other banqueters, sprawling asleep or vomiting, have de- clined your challenge to still other toasts ; when you are the last survivor of the revels; when you have vanquished every one by your magnificent show of prowess and there is no man who has proved him- self of so great capacity as you,—you are vanquished by the cask. Mark Antony was a great man, a man of distinguished ability; but what ruined him and drove him into foreign habits and un-Roman vices, if it was not drunkenness and—no less potent than wine—love of Cleopatra? This it was that made him an enemy of the state; this it was that rendered him

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hostibus suis imparem reddidit ; haec crudelem fecit, cum capita principum civitatis cenanti referrentur, cum inter apparatissimas epulas luxusque regales ora ac manus proscriptorum recognosceret, cum vino gravis sitiret tamen sanguinem. Intolerabile erat, quod ebrius fiebat, cum haec faceret; quanto in- tolerabilius, quod haec in ipsa ebrietate faciebat ! 26 Fere vinolentiam crudelitas sequitur; vitiatur enim exasperaturque sanitas mentis. Ut querulos difficiles- que! faciunt diutini morbi et ad minimam rabidos? offensionem, ita ebrietates continuae efferant animos. Nam cum saepe apud se non sint,’? consuetudo insaniae durat et ‘ vitia vino concepta etiam sine illo valent. 27 + Die ergo, quare sapiens non debeat ebrius fieri. Deformitatem rei et inportunitatem ostende rebus, non verbis. Quod facillimum est, proba istas, quae voluptates vocantur, ubi transcenderunt modum, poenas esse. Nam si illud argumentaberis, sapientem multo vino inebriari et retinere rectum tenorem, etiam si temulentus sit; licet colligas nee veneno poto moriturum nec sopore sumpto dormiturum nec elleboro accepto, quicquid in visceribus haerebit, eiecturum deiecturumque. Sed si temptantur pedes,

1 ut querulos difficilesque Madvig ; quem difficilesque VPb. rabidos Haupt; radios VPb; babidos Arg b. 3 sint later MSS. ; sunt VPb. 4 durat et Wolters ; durata, duracta, or durat ac MSS.

a «‘ Antony gave orders to those that were to kill Cicero, to cut off his head and right hand. . . ; and, when they were brought before him, he regarded them joyfully, actually bursting out more than once into laughter, and, when he had satiated himself with the sight of them, ordered them to be hung up... in the forum” (Clough’s translation of Plutarch’s Antony, p. 172).

> A plant which possessed cathartic properties and was

Q7 4

EPISTLE LXXXIIIL.

no match for his enemies; this it was that made him cruel, when as he sat at table the heads of the leaders of the state were brought in; when amid the most elaborate feasts and royal luxury he would identify the faces and hands of men whom he had proscribed ; # when, though heavy with wine, he yet thirsted for blood. It was intolerable that he was getting drunk while he did such things ; how much more intolerable that he did these things while actually drunk! Cruelty usually follows wine-bibbing; for a man’s soundness of mind is corrupted and made savage. Just as a lingering illness makes men querulous and irritable and drives them wild at the least crossing of their desires, so continued bouts of drunkenness bestialize the soul. For when people are often beside themselves, the habit of madness lasts on, and the vices which liquor generated retain their power even when the liquor is gone.

Therefore you should state why the wise man ought not to get drunk. Explain by facts, and not by mere words, the hideousness of the thing, and its haunting evils. Do that which is easiest of all—namely, demonstrate that what men call pleasures are punish- ments as soon as they have exceeded due bounds. For if you try to prove that the wise man can souse himself with much wine and yet keep his course straight, even though he be in his cups, you may go on to infer by syllogisms that he will not die if he swallows poison, that he will not sleep if he takes a sleeping-potion, that he will not vomit and reject the matter which clogs his stomach when you give him hellebore.?’. But, when a man’s feet totter

widely used by the ancients. It was also applied in cases of mental derangement. The native Latin term is veratrum.

215

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lingua non constat, quid est, quare illum existimes in parte sobrium esse, in parte ebrium? VaLe,

LXXXIV.

Seneca LvcILIo svO SALVTEM

1 = Itinera ista, quae segnitiam mihi excutiunt, et valitudini meae prodesse iudico et studiis. Quare valitudinem adiuvent, vides: cum pigrum me! et neglegentem corporis litterarum amor faciat, aliena opera exerceor; studio quare prosint, indicabo: a lectionibus nihil? recessi. Sunt autem, ut existimo, necessariae, primum ne sim me uno contentus; deinde ut, cum ab aliis quaesita cognovero, tum et de inventis iudicem et cogitem de inveniendis. Allit lectio ingenium et studio fatigatum, non sine studio

2 tamen, reficit. Nec scribere tantum nec tantum legere debemus; altera res contristabit vires et exhauriet, de stilo dico, altera solvet ac diluet. Invicem hoe et illo commeandum est et alterum altero temperandum, ut quicquid lectione collectum est, stilus redigat in corpus.

8 Apes, ut aiunt, debemus imitari, quae vagantur et flores ad mel faciendum idoneos carpunt, deinde quicquid attulere, disponunt ac per favos digerunt et, ut Vergilius noster ait,

1 me later MSS. ; viae VPb. 2 nihil added by Buecheler, omitted by VPb.

« A considerable part of this letter is found in the preface to the Saturnalia of Macrobius, without any acknowledg- ment of indebtedness.

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and his tongue is unsteady, what reason have you for believing that he is half sober and half drunk? Farewell.

LXXXIV. ON GATHERING IDEAS2

The journeys to which you refer—journeys that shake the laziness out of my system—I hold to be profitable both for my health and for my studies. You see why they benefit my health: since my passion for literature makes me lazy and careless about my body, I can take exercise by deputy; as for my studies, I shall show you why my journeys help them, for I have not stopped my reading in the slightest degree. And reading, I hold, is indis- pensable—primarily, to keep me from being satisfied with myself alone, and besides, after I have learned what others have found out by their studies, to enable me to pass judgment on their discoveries and reflect upon discoveries that remain to be made. Reading nourishes the mind and refreshes it when it is wearied with study; nevertheless, this refresh- ment is not obtained without study. We ought not to confine ourselves either to writing or to reading ; the one, continuous writing, will cast a gloom over our strength, and exhaust it; the other will make our strength flabby and watery. It is better to have recourse to them alternately, and to blend one with the other, so that the fruits of one’s reading may be reduced to concrete form by the pen.

We should follow, men say, the example of the bees, who flit about and cull the flowers that are suitable for producing honey, and then arrange and assort in their cells all that they have brought in; these bees, as our Vergil says,

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liquentia mella Stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas.

4 De illis non satis constat, utrum sucum ex floribus ducant, qui protinus mel sit, an quae collegerunt, in hune saporem mixtura quadam et proprietate spiritus sui mutent. Quibusdam enim placet non faciendi mellis scientiam esse illis, sed colligendi. Aiunt inveniri apud Indos mel in arundinum foliis, quod aut ros illius caeli aut ipsius arundinis umor dulcis et pinguior gignat. In nostris quoque herbis vim eandem, sed minus manifestam et notabilem poni, quam persequatur et contrahat animal huic rei genitum. Quidam existimant conditura et dis- positione in hanc qualitatem verti, quae ex tenerrimis virentium florentiumque decerpserint, non sine quo- dam, ut ita dicam, fermento, quo in unum diversa coalescunt.

5 Sed ne ad aliud quam de quo agitur abducar,! nos quoque has apes debemus imitari et quaecumque ex diversa lectione congessimus, separare, melius enim distincta servantur, deinde adhibita ingenii nostri cura et facultate in unum saporem varia illa libamenta confundere, ut etiam si apparuerit, unde sumptum sit, aliud tamen esse quam unde sumptum est, appareat. Quod in corpore nostro videmus sine

6 ulla opera nostra facere naturam: alimenta, quae

1 abducar Erasmus ; adducar VPb.

@ Aeneid, i. 432 f. > Cf. mel in harundinibus collectwm (from India) in Pliny, N.H. xii. 32 (Summers).

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pack close the flowing honey, And swell their cells with nectar sweet.2

It is not certain whether the juice which they obtain from the flowers forms at once into honey, or whether they change that which they have gathered into this delicious object by blending something therewith and by a certain property of their breath. For some authorities believe that bees do not possess the art of making honey, but only of gathering it ; and they say that in India honey has been found on the leaves of certain reeds, produced by a dew peculiar to that climate, or by the juice of the reed itself, which has an unusual sweetness and richness.2. And in our own grasses too, they say, the same quality exists, although less clear and less evident; and a creature born to fulfil such a function could hunt it out and collect it. Certain others maintain that the materials which the bees have culled from the most delicate of blooming and flowering plants is transformed into this peculiar substance by a process of preserving and careful storing away, aided by what might be called fermentation,—whereby separate elements are united into one substance.

But I must not be led astray into another subject than that which we are discussing. We also, I say, ought to copy these bees, and sift whatever we have gathered from a varied course of reading, for such things are better preserved if they are kept separate ; then, by applying the supervising care with which our nature has endowed us,—in other words, our natural gifts,—we should so blend those several flavours into one delicious compound that, even though it betrays its origin, yet it nevertheless is clearly a different thing from that whence it came. This is what we see nature doing in our own bodies without any labour

279

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accepimus, quamdiu in sua qualitate perdurant et solida innatant stomacho, onera sunt; at cum ex eo, quod erant, mutata sunt, tum demum in vires et in sanguinem transeunt. Idem in his, quibus aluntur ingenia, praestemus, ut quaecumque hausimus, non

7 patiamur integra esse, ne aliena sint. Concoquamus illa; alioqui in memoriam ibunt, non in ingenium. Adsentiamur illis fideliter et nostra faciamus, ut unum quiddam fiat ex multis, sicut unus numerus fit ex singulis, cum minores summas et dissidentes conputatio una comprendit. Hoc faciat animus noster: omnia, quibus est adiutus, abscondat, ipsum

8 tantum ostendat, quod effecit. Etiam si cuius in te comparebit similitudo, quem admiratio tibi altius fixerit, similem esse te volo quomodo filium, non quomodo imaginem ; imago res mortua est.

“ Quid ergo? Non intellegetur, cuius imiteris ora- tionem, cuius argumentationem, cuius sententias?” Puto aliquando ne intellegi quidem posse, si imago vera sit; haec enim! omnibus, quae ex quo velut exemplari traxit, formam suam inpressit, ut in uni-

9 tatem illa conpetant.? Non vides, quam multorum vocibus chorus constet? Unus tamen ex omnibus redditur ; aliqua illic acuta est, aliqua gravis, aliqua

1 si imago vera sit ; haec enim Madvig ; st magni viri nec enim V Pb. 2 competant later MSS. ; conparavit or conpetat MSS.

* The same figure is used with reference to reading, in Ep. ii. 2f., non prodest cibus nec corpori accedit, qui statim sumptus emittitur, etc.

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on our part; the food we have eaten, as long as it retains its original quality and floats in our stomachs as an undiluted mass, is a burden;% but it passes into tissue and blood only when it has been changed from its original form. So it is with the food which nourishes our higher nature,—we should see to it that whatever we have absorbed should not be allowed to remain unchanged, or it will be no part of us. We must digest it; otherwise it will merely enter the memory and not the reasoning power. Let us loyally welcome such foods and make them our own, so that something that is one may be formed out of many elements, just as one number is formed of several elements whenever, by our reckoning, lesser sums, each different from the others, are brought together. This is what our mind should do: it should hide away all the materials by which it has been aided, and bring to light only what it has made of them. Even if there shall appear in you a likeness to him who, by reason of your admiration, has left a deep impress upon you, I would have you resemble him as a child resembles his father, and not as a picture resembles its original ; for a picture is a lifeless thing.

« What,” you say, “will it not be seen whose style you are imitating, whose method of reasoning, whose pungent sayings?’’ J think that sometimes it is impossible for it to be seen who is being imitated, if the copy is a true one; for a true copy stamps its own form upon all the features which it has drawn from what we may call the original, in such a way that they are combined into a unity. Do you not see how many voices there are in a chorus? Yet out of the many only one voice results. In that chorus one voice takes the tenor, another the bass,

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media. Accedunt viris feminae, interponuntur tibiae. 10 Singulorum illic latent voces, omnium apparent. De choro dico, quem veteres philosophi noverant; in commissionibus nostris plus cantorum est quam in theatris olim spectatorum fuit. Cum omnes vias ordo canentium inplevit et cavea aenatoribus! cincta est et ex pulpito omne tibiarum genus organorumque consonuit, fit concentus ex dissonis. Talem animum nostrum esse volo; multae in illo artes, multa praecepta sint, multarum aetatum 11 exempla, sed in unum conspirata. “ Quomodo,” in- quis, “hoe effici poterit?’’ Adsidua intentione; si nihil egerimus nisi ratione suadente. Hance si audire volueris, dicet tibi: relinque ista iamdudum, ad quae discurritur. Relinque divitias, aut periculum possi- dentium aut onus. Relinque corporis atque animi voluptates; molliunt et enervant. Relinque am- bitum ; tumida res est, vana, ventosa, nullum habet terminum, tam sollicita est, ne quem ante se videat, quam ne quem post se. Laborat invidia et quidem duplici ; vides autem, quam miser sit, si is cui invide- tur et invidet. 12 Intueris illas potentium domos, illa tumultuosa rixa salutantium limina? Multum habent contu- 1 qenatoribus Buecheler; aeneatoribus VPb; cantoribus

Arg.b ; a venatoribus later MSS. 2 ne quem post se Hense ; ne se VWPb; ne post se later MSS.

@ Commissio means an entertainment, or a concert; cf, Pliny, Panegyric 54, ludis et commissionibus.

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EPISTLE LXXXIV.

another the baritone. There are women, too, as well as men, and the flute is mingled with them. In that chorus the voices of the individual singers are hidden; what we hear is the voices of all together. To be sure, I am referring to the chorus which the old-time philosophers knew; in our present - day exhibitions “ we have a larger number of singers than there used to be spectators in the theatres of old. All the aisles are filled with rows of singers; brass instruments surround the auditorium; the stage resounds with flutes and instruments of every description; and yet from the discordant sounds a harmony is produced.

I would have my mind of such a quality as this ; it should be equipped with many arts, many precepts, and patterns of conduct taken from many epochs of history ; but all should blend harmoniously into one. « How,’ you ask, “can this be accomplished?” By constant effort, and by doing nothing without the approval of reason. And if you are willing to hear her voice, she will say to you: ‘ Abandon those pursuits which heretofore have caused you to run hither and thither. Abandon riches, which are either a danger or a burden to the possessor. Abandon the pleasures of the body and of the mind ; they only soften and weaken you. Abandon your quest for office; it is a swollen, idle, and empty thing, a thing that has no goal, as anxious to see no one outstrip it as to see no one at its heels. It is afflicted with envy, and in truth with a twofold envy ; and you see how wretched a man’s plight is if he who is the object of envy feels envy also.”

Do you behold yonder homes of the great, yonder thresholds uproarious with the brawling of those who would pay their respects? They have many

VOL. II K 283

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meliarum, ut intres, plus, cum intraveris. Praeteri istos gradus divitum et magno adgestu suspensa vestibula; non in praerupto tantum istic stabis, sed in lubrico. Huc potius te ad sapientiam derige tran- quillissimasque res eius et simul amplissimas pete. (Juaecumque videntur eminere in rebus humanis, quamvis pusilla sint et comparatione humillimorum extent, per difficiles tamen et arduos tramites adeun- tur. Confragosa in fastigium dignitatis via est; at si conscendere hunce verticem libet, cui se fortuna sum- misit, omnia quidem sub te, quae pro excelsissimis habentur, aspicies, sed tamen venies ad summa per planum. VALE.

LXXXV.

Seneca LyciLio svo SALVTEM

Peperceram tibi et quicquid nodosi adhuc super- erat, praeterieram, contentus quasi gustum tibi dare eorum, quae a nostris dicuntur, ut probetur virtus ad explendam beatam vitam sola satis efficax. Iubes me quicquid est interrogationum aut nostrarum aut ad traductionem nostram excogitatarum comprendere. Quod si facere voluero, non erit epistula, sed liber. Illud totiens testor, hoc me argumentorum genere

@ For such treatment cf. Juvenal iii. 152 f.—

Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se Quam quod ridiculos homines facit, ete.

’ Such as that in Hp. lxxxiii. 9 (constructed, however, by Seneca himself) dormienti nemo secretum sermonem com- mittit, etc. See ad loc. and n.

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an insult” for you as you enter the door, and still more after you have entered. Pass by the steps that mount to rich men’s houses, and the porches rendered hazardous by the huge throng; for there you will be standing, not merely on the edge of a precipice but also on slippery ground. Instead of this, direct your course hither to wisdom, and seek her ways, which are ways of surpassing peace and plenty. Whatever seems conspicuous in the affairs of men—however petty it may really be and prominent only by contrast with the lowest objects—is nevertheless approached by a difficult and toilsome pathway. It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness; but if you desire to scale this peak, which lies far above the range of Fortune, you will indeed look down from above upon all that men regard as most lofty, but none the less you can proceed to the top over level ground. Farewell.

LXXXV. ON SOME VAIN SYLLOGISMS

I had been inclined to spare you, and had omitted any knotty problems that still remained undiscussed ; I was satisfied to give you a sort of taste of the views held by the men of our school, who desire to prove that virtue is of itself sufficiently capable of rounding out the happy life. But now you bid me - include the entire bulk either of our own syllogisms or of those which have been devised? by other schools for the purpose of belittling us. If I shall be willing to do this, the result will be a book, instead of a letter. And I declare again and again that I take no pleasure in such proofs. I am ashamed to

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non delectari. Pudet in aciem descendere pro dis hominibusque susceptam subula armatum.

2 © Qui prudens est, et temperans est. Qui tempe- rans est, et constans. Qui constans est, inpertur- batus est. Qui inperturbatus est, sine tristitia est. Qui sine tristitia est, beatus est; ergo prudens beatus est et prudentia ad beatam vitam satis est.”

3 Huie collectioni hoe modo Peripatetici quidam respondent, ut inperturbatum et constantem et sine tristitia sic interpretentur, tamquam inperturbatus di- catur, qui raro perturbatur et modice, non qui num- quam. Item sine tristitia eum dici aiunt, qui non est obnoxius tristitiae nec frequens nimiusve in hoc vitio. Illud enim humanam naturam negare, alicuius animum inmunem esse tristitia. Sapientem non vinci maerore, ceterum tangi. Et cetera in hunc modum

4 sectae suae respondentia. Non his tollunt adfectus, sed temperant. Quantulum autem sapienti damus, si inbecillissimis fortior est et maestissimis laetior et effrenatissimis moderatior et humillimis maior? Quid, si miretur velocitatem suam Ladas! ad claudos debilesque respiciens ?

Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret Gramina nec cursu teneras laesisset aristas,

Vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti Ferret iter celeres nec tingueret aequore plantas,

1 Ladas Lipsius ; lawdans VPb.

@ Cf. Lp. Ixxxii. 24 subula leonem excipis ?

’ K. V. Arnold (Roman Stoicism, p. 333) calls attention to the passion of anger, for example, which the Peripatetics believed should be kept under control, but not stamped out.

¢ Vergil, Aeneid, vii. 808 ff. The lines describe Camilla, the Volscian warrior-huntress,

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EPISTLE LXXXV.

enter the arena and undertake battle on behalf of gods and men armed only with an awl.@

“He that possesses prudence is also self- restrained ; he that possesses self- restraint is also unwavering ; he that is unwavering is unperturbed ; he that is unperturbed is free from sadness; he that is free from sadness is happy. Therefore, the prudent man is happy, and prudence is sufficient to constitute the happy life.”

Certain of the Peripatetics ° reply to this syllogism by interpreting “unperturbed,” “unwavering,” and “free from sadness”’ in such a way as to make “ un- perturbed” mean one who is rarely perturbed and only to a moderate degree, and not one who is never perturbed. Likewise, they say that a person is called “free from sadness’’ who is not subject to sadness, one who falls into this objectionable state not often nor in too great a degree. It is not, they say, the way of human nature that a man’s spirit should be exempt from sadness, or that the wise man is not overcome by grief but is merely touched by it, and other arguments of this sort, all in accordance with the teachings of their school. They do not abolish the passions in this way; they only moderate them. But how petty is the superiority which we attribute to the wise man, if he is merely braver than the most craven, happier than the most dejected, more self-controlled than the most unbridled, and greater than the lowliest! Would Ladas boast his swiftness in running by comparing himself with the halt and the weak ?

For she could skim the topmost blades of corn And touch them not, nor bruise the tender ears ; Or travel over seas, well-poised above

The swolien floods, nor dip her flying feet

In ocean’s waters.°

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Haec est pernicitas per se aestimata, non quae tardis- simorum conlatione laudatur. Quid, si sanum voces leviter febricitantem? Non est bona valitudo medio-

5 critas morbi. “ Sic,’ inquit, “sapiens inperturbatus dicitur, quomodo apyrina dicuntur, non quibus nulla inest duritia granorum, sed quibus minor.” Falsum est. Non enim deminutionem malorum in bono viro intellego, sed vacationem; nulla debent esse, non parva. Nam si ulla sunt, crescent et interim in- pedient. Quomodo oculos maior et perfecta suffusio excaecat, sic modica turbat.

6 Si das aliquos adfectus sapienti, inpar illis erit ratio et velut torrente quodam auferetur, praesertim cum illi non unum adfectum des,! cum quo con- luctetur, sed omnis. Plus potest quamvis mediocrium

7 turba quam posset unius magni violentia. Habet pecuniae cupiditatem, sed modicam. Habet am- bitionem, sed non concitatam. MHabet iracundiam, sed placabilem. Habet inconstantiam, sed minus vagam ac mobilem. MHabet libidinem non insanam. Melius cum illo ageretur, qui unum vitium integrum haberet, quam cum eo, qui leviora quidem, sed omnia.

8 Deinde nihil interest, quam magnus sit adfectus ;

1 des later MSS. ; sed Pb; sit corr. from sed V.

a Seneca uses suffusio of jaundice in Ep. xev. 16. Celsus, vii. 7. 14, explains the cause of cataracts, vel ex morbo vel ex ictu concrescit humor, and outlines the treatment.

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This is speed estimated by its own standard, not the kind which wins praise by comparison with that which is slowest. Would you call a man well who has a light case of fever? No, for good health does not mean moderate illness. They say, “The wise man is called unperturbed in the sense in which pomegranates are called mellow—not that there is no hardness at all in their seeds, but that the hardness is less than it was before.” That view is wrong ; for I am not referring to the gradual weeding out of evils in a good man, but to the complete absence of evils; there should be in him no evils at all, not even any small ones. For if there are any, they will grow, and as they grow will hamper him. Just as a large and complete cataract “ wholly blinds the eyes, so a medium-sized cataract dulls their vision.

If by your definition the wise man has any passions whatever, his reason will be no match for them and will be carried swiftly along, as it were, on a rushing stream,—particularly if you assign to him, not one passion with which he must wrestle, but all the passions. And a throng of such, even though they be moderate, can affect him more than the violence of one powerful passion. He has a craving for money, although in a moderate degree. He has ambition, but it is not yet fully aroused. He has a hot temper, but it can be appeased. He has inconstancy, but not the kind that is very capricious or easily set in motion. He has lust, but not the violent kind. We could deal better with a person who possessed one full-fledged vice, than with one who possessed all the vices, but none of them in extreme form. Again, it makes no difference how great the passion is; no matter what its size may

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quantuscumque est, parere nescit, consilium non accipit. Quemadmodum rationi nullum animal optemperat, non ferum, non domesticum et mite, natura enim illorum est surda suadenti; sic non secuntur, non audiunt adfectus, quantulicumque sunt. Tigres leonesque numquam feritatem exuunt, aliquando summittunt, et cum minime expectaveris, exasperatur torvitas mitigata. Numquam bona fide vitia mansuescunt. Deinde, si ratio proficit, ne in- cipient quidem adfectus; si invita ratione coeperint, invita perseverabunt. Facilius est enim initia illo- rum prohibere quam impetum regere. Falsa est ita- que ista mediocritas et inutilis, eodem loco habenda, quo si quis diceret modice insaniendum, modice aegrotandum. Sola virtus habet, non _ recipiunt animi mala temperamentum. Facilius sustuleris illa quam rexeris. Numquid dubium est, quin vitia mentis humanae inveterata et dura, quae morbos vocamus, inmoderata sint, ut avaritia, ut crudelitas, ut inpotentia!? Ergo inmoderati sunt et adfectus. Ab his enim ad illa transitur. Deinde si das aliquid juris tristitiae, timori, cupiditati, ceteris motibus ? pravis, non erunt in nostra potestate. Quare? Quia extra nos sunt, quibus inritantur. Itaque crescent, prout magnas habuerint? minoresve causas, quibus concitentur. Maior erit timor, si plus, quo exter- reatur, aut propius aspexerit, acrior cupiditas, quo 1 inpietas, after inpotentia, removed by Madvig as a gloss; inpotentia later MSS. ; innocentia VPb ; inimicitia V?.

2 motibus later MSS. ; moribus VPb. 3 habuerint later MSS. ; habuerunt VPb.

# Another reply to the Peripatetic claim of § 3. 290

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be, it knows no obedience, and does not welcome advice. Just as no animal, whether wild or tamed and gentle, obeys reason, since nature made it deaf to advice; so the passions do not follow or listen, however slight they are. Tigers and lions never put off their wildness ; they sometimes moderate it, and then, when you are least prepared, their softened fierceness is roused to madness. Vices are never genuinely tamed. Again, if reason prevails, the passions will not even get a start; but if they get under way against the will of reason, they will main- tain themselves against the will of reason. For it is easier to stop them in the beginning than to control them when they gather force. This half-way ground is accordingly misleading and useless; it is to be regarded just as the declaration that we ought to be “moderately” insane, or “moderately” ill. Virtue alone possesses moderation; the evils that afflict the mind do not admit of moderation. You can more easily remove than control them. Can one doubt that the vices of the human mind, when they have become chronic and callous (“ diseases” we call them), are beyond control, as, for example, greed, cruelty, and wantonness? Therefore the passions also are beyond control; for it is from the passions that we pass over to the vices. Again, if you grant any privileges to sadness, fear, desire, and all the other wrong impulses, they will cease to lie within our jurisdiction. And why? Simply because the means of arousing them lie outside our own power. They will accordingly increase in proportion as the causes by which they are stirred up are greater or less. Fear will grow to greater proportions, if that which causes the terror is seen to be of greater magnitude or in closer proximity ; and desire will grow keener

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12 illam amplioris rei spes evocaverit. Si in nostra

potestate non est, an sint adfectus, ne illud quidem est, quanti sint; si ipsis permisisti incipere, cum causis suis crescent tantique erunt, quanti fient. Adice nunc, quod ista, quamvis exigua sint, in maius excedunt. Numquam perniciosa servant modum. Quamvis levia initia morborum serpunt et aegra cor- pora minima interdum mergit accessio.

I}lud vero cuius dementiae est, credere, quarum rerum extra nostrum arbitrium posita principia sunt, earum nostri esse arbitrii terminos? Quomodo ad id finiendum satis valeo, ad quod prohibendum parum

valui, cum facilius sit excludere quam admissa con-

14 primere? Quidam ita distinxerunt, ut dicerent:

‘‘Temperans ac prudens positione quidem mentis et habitu tranquillus est, eventu non est. Nam, quan- tum ad habitum mentis suae, non perturbatur, nec contristatur nec timet, sed multae extrinsecus causae incidunt, quae illi perturbationem adferant.” Tale est, quod volunt dicere: iracundum quidem illum non esse, irasci tamen aliquando; et timidum quidem non esse, timere tamen aliquando; id est, vitio timoris carere, adfectu non carere. Quod si recipitur, usu frequenti timor transibit in vitium, et ira in

¢ For this topic of emotions as possible sources of the vices cf. Cicero, Zuse. iv. 10 ex perturbationibus autem primum morbi conficiuntur. . . . Hoc loco nimium operae con- sumitur a Stoicis.

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in proportion as the hope of a greater gain has summoned it to action. If the existence of the passions is not in our own control, neither is the extent of their power; for if you once permit them to get a start, they will increase along with their causes, and they will be of whatever extent they shall grow to be. Moreover, no matter how small these vices are, they grow greater. That which is harmful never keeps within bounds. No matter how trifling diseases are at the beginning, they creep on apace ; and sometimes the slightest augmentation of disease lays low the enfeebled body !

But what folly it is, when the beginnings of certain things are situated outside our control, to believe that their endings are within our control! How have I the power to bring something to a close, when [I have not had the power to check it at the beginning? For it is easier to keep a thing out than to keep it under after you have let it in. Some men have made a distinction as follows, say- ing: “If a man has self-control and wisdom, he is indeed at peace as regards the attitude and habit of his mind, but not as regards the outcome. For, as far as his habit of mind is concerned, he is not per- turbed, or saddened, or afraid; but there are many extraneous causes which strike him and bring per- turbation upon him.” What they mean to say is this: “So-and-so is indeed not a man of an angry disposition, but still he sometimes gives way to anger,” and “He is not, indeed, inclined to fear, but still he sometimes experiences fear’’; in other words, he is free from the fault, but is not free from the passion of fear. If, however, fear is once given an entrance, it will by frequent use pass over into a vice ;% and anger, once admitted into the mind, will

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animum admissa habitum illum ira carentis animi

16 retexet. Praeterea si non contemnit venientes ex-

trinsecus causas et aliquid timet, cum fortiter eundum erit adversus tela, ignes, pro patria, legibus, libertate, cunctanter exibit et animo recedente. Non cadit

17 autem in sapientem haec diversitas mentis.

Illud praeterea iudico observandum, ne duo, quae separatim probanda sunt, misceamus. Per se enim colligitur unum bonum esse, quod honestum, per se rursus, ad vitam beatam satis esse virtutem. Si unum bonum est, quod honestum, omnes concedunt ad beate vivendum sufficere virtutem ; e contrario non remit- tetur, si beatum sola virtus facit, unum bonum esse,

18 quod honestum est. Xenocrates et Speusippus

putant beatum vel sola virtute fieri posse, non tamen unum bonum esse, quod honestum est. Epicurus quogue iudicat eum qui! virtutem habeat, beatum esse, sed ipsam virtutem non satis esse ad beatam vitam, quia beatum efficiat voluptas, quae ex virtute est, non ipsa virtus. Inepta distinctio. Idem enim negat umquam virtutem esse sine voluptate ; ita si el iuncta semper est atque inseparabilis, et sola satis est. Habet enim secum voluptatem, sine qua non est, etiam cum sola est. Illud autem absurdum est, quod dicitur beatum quidem futurum vel sola virtute, non futurum autem perfecte beatum. Quod quem-

1 judicat eum qui Koch, on the authority of MSS. cited by Fickert ; tudicat cwm MSS.

@ Representing the views of the Academic School. > Frag. 508 Usener.

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alter the earlier habit of a mind that was formerly free from anger. Besides, if the wise man, instead of despising all causes that come from without, ever fears anything, when the time arrives for him to go bravely to meet the spear, or the flames, on behalf of his country, his laws, and his liberty, he will go forth reluctantly and with flagging spirit. Such inconsistency of mind, however, does not suit the character of a wise man.

Then, again, we should see to it that two principles which ought to be tested separately should not be confused. For the conclusion is reached independently that that alone is good which is honourable, and again independently the conclusion that virtue is sufficient for the happy life. If that alone is good which is honourable, everyone agrees that virtue is sufficient for the purpose of living happily ; but, on the contrary, if virtue alone makes men happy, it will not be conceded that that alone is good which is honourable. Xenocrates* and Speusippus® hold that a man can become happy even by virtue alone, not, however, that that which is honourable is the only good. FEpicurus also decides ® that one who possesses virtue is happy, but that virtue of itself is not sufficient for the happy life, because the pleasure that results from virtue, and not virtue itself, makes one happy. This is a futile distinction. For the same philosopher declares that virtue never exists without pleasure; and therefore, if virtue is always connected with pleasure and always inseparable therefrom, virtue is of itself sufficient. For virtue keeps pleasure in its company, and does not exist without it, even when alone. But it is absurd to say that a man will be happy by virtue alone, and yet not absolutely happy. I

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admodum fieri possit, non reperio. Beata enim vita bonum in se perfectum habet, inexsuperabile. Quod

si est, perfecte beata est. Si deorum vita nihil habet maius aut melius, beata autem vita divina est; nihil habet, in quod amplius 20 possit attolli. Praeterea si beata vita nullius est in- digens, omnis beata vita perfecta est eademque est et beata et beatissima. Numquid dubitas, quin beata vita summum bonum sit? Ergo si summum bonum habet, summe beata est. Quemadmodum summum bonum adiectionem non recipit (quid enim supra summum erit?), ita ne beata quidem vita, quae sine summo bono non est. Quod si aliquem magis beatum induxeris, induces et multo magis ; innumerabilia dis- crimina summi boni facies, cum. summum bonum in- 21 tellegam, quod supra se gradum non habet. Si est aliquis minus beatus quam alius, sequitur, ut hic alterius vitam beatioris magis concupiscat quam suam. Beatus autem nihil suae praefert. Utrum- libet ex his incredibile est: aut aliquid beato restare, quod esse quam quod est malit, aut id illum non malle, quod illo! melius est. Utique enim quo prudentior est, hoc magis se ad id, quod est optimum, extendet et id omni modo consequi cupiet. Quomodo autem beatus est, qui cupere etiamnunc potest, immo 22 qui debet? Dicam, quid sit, ex quo veniat hic error:

1 {llo later MSS. ; tlla VPb. 296

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cannot discover how that may be, since the happy life contains in itself a good that is perfect and cannot be excelled. Ifa man has this good, life is completely happy.

Now if the life of the gods contains nothing greater or better, and the happy life is divine, then there is no further height to which a man can be raised. Also, if the happy life is in want of nothing, then every happy life is perfect ; it is happy and at the same time most happy. Have you any doubt that the happy life is the Supreme Good? Accordingly, if it possesses the Supreme Good, it is supremely happy. Just as the Supreme Good does not admit of increase (for what will be superior to that which is supreme ?), exactly so the happy life cannot be increased either ; for it is not without the Supreme Good. If then you bring in one man who is “happier” than another, you will also bring in one who is “much happier” ; you will then be making countless distinctions in the Supreme Good; although I understand the Supreme Good to be that good which admits of no degree above itself. If one person is less happy than another, it follows that he eagerly desires the life of that other and happier man in preference to his own. But the happy man prefers no other man’s life to hisown. Either of these two things is incredible: that there should be anything left for a happy man to wish for in preference to what is, or that he should not prefer the thing which is better than what he already has. For certainly, the more prudent he is, the more he will strive after the best, and he will desire to attain it by every possible means. But how can one be happy who is still able, or rather who is still bound, to crave something else? I will tell you what is the

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nesciunt beatam vitam unam esse. In optimo illam statu ponit qualitas sua, non magnitudo. Itaque in aequo est longa et brevis, diffusa et angustior, in multa loca multasque partes distributa et in unum coacta. Qui illam numero aestimat et mensura et partibus, id illi, quod habet eximium, eripit. Quid autem est in beata vita eximium? Quod plena est.

23 Finis, ut puto, edendi bibendique satietas est. Hic plus edit, ille minus; quid refert? Uterque iam satur est. Hic plus bibit, ille minus; quid refert? Uterque non sitit. Hic pluribus annis vixit, hic paucioribus; nihil interest, si tam illum multi anni beatum fecerunt quam hunc pauci. Ille, quem tu minus beatum vocas, non est beatus; non _ potest nomen inminui.

94 © Qui fortis est, sine timore est. Qui sine timore est, sine tristitia est. Qui sine tristitia est, beatus est.’ Nostrorum haec interrogatio est. Adversus hance sic respondere conantur: falsam nos rem et con- troversiosam pro confessa vindicare, eum, qui fortis est, sine timore esse. “Quid ergo?” inquit, “ fortis inminentia mala non timebit? Istuc dementis alienati- que, non fortis est. TIlle vero,” inquit, “‘ moderatis- sime timet, sed in totum extra metum non est.”

25 Qui hoe dicunt, rursus in idem revolvuntur, ut illis

@ The happy life constitutes virtue ; and virtue, as Seneca says so often, is absolute, permitting neither increase nor diminution.

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source of this error: men do not understand that the happy life is a unit; for it is its essence, and not its extent, that establishes such a life on the noblest plane. Hence there is complete equality between the life that is long and the life that is short, between that which is spread out and that which is confined, between that whose influence is felt in many places and in many directions, and that which is restricted to one interest. Those who reckon life by number, or by measure, or by parts, rob it of its distinctive quality. Now, in the happy life, what is the dis- tinctive quality? Itis its fulness. Satiety, I think, is the limit to our eating or drinking. A eats more and B eats less; what difference does it make? Each is now sated. Or A drinks more and B drinks less; what difference does it make? LKach is no longer thirsty. Again, A lives for many years and B for fewer; no matter, if only A’s many years have brought as much happiness as B’s few years. He whom you maintain to be “less happy” is not happy; the word admits of no diminution.

“ He who is brave is fearless; he who is fearless is free from sadness; he who is free from sadness is happy.” It is our own school which has framed this syllogism ; they attempt to refute it by this answer, namely, that we Stoics are assuming as admitted a premiss which is false and distinctly controverted, —that the brave man is fearless. “ What!” they say, “will the brave man have no fear of evils that threaten him? That would be the condition of a madman, a lunatic, rather than of a brave man. The brave man will, it is true, feel fear in only a very slight degree; but he is not absolutely free from fear.’”’ Now those who assert this are doub- ling back to their old argument, in that they regard

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virtutum loco sint minora vitia. Nam qui timet quidem, sed rarius et minus, non caret malitia, sed leviore vexatur. “At enim dementem puto, qui mala imminentia non extimescit.”” WVerum est, quod dicis, si mala sunt; sed si scit mala illa non esse et unam tantum turpitudinem malum iudicat, debebit secure pericula aspicere et aliis timenda contemnere. Aut si stulti et amentis est mala non timere, quo quis 26 prudentior est, hoc timebit magis. “Ut vobis,”’ inquit, “videtur, praebebit se periculis fortis.” Minime; non timebit illa, sed vitabit. Cautio illum decet, timor non decet. “Quid ergo?” inquit, “mortem, vincla, ignes, alia tela fortunae non timebit?” Non. Scit enim illa non esse mala, sed videri. Omnia ista 27 humanae vitae formidines! putat. Describe captivi- tatem, verbera, catenas, egestatem et membrorum lacerationés vel per morbum vel per iniuriam et quic- quid aliud adtuleris: inter lymphatos metus numerat. Ista timidis timenda sunt. An id existimas malum, ad quod aliquando nobis nostra sponte veniendum est? 98 Quaeris quid sit malum? Cedere iis, quae mala

vocantur, et illis libertatem suam dedere, pro qua

1 Hense would add inanes after either humanae or formi- dines.

@ i.¢,, thereby allowing the aforesaid increase or diminu- tion in virtue.

> For the argument compare J’p. Ixxxii. 7 ff.—the topic, contra mortem te praeparare.

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vices of less degree as equivalent to virtues.* For indeed the man who does feel fear, though he feels it rather seldom and to a slight degree, is not free from wickedness, but is merely troubled by it in a milder form. “Not so,’ is the reply, “for I hold that a man is mad if he does not fear evils which hang over his head.” What you say is perfectly true, if the things which threaten are really evils ; but if he knows that they are not evils and believes that the only evil is baseness, he will be bound to face dangers without anxiety and to despise things which other men cannot help fearing. Or, if it is the characteristic of a fool and a madman not to fear evils, then the wiser a man is the more he will fear such things! “It is the doctrine of you Stoics, then,’ they reply, “that a brave man will expose himself to dangers.’” By no means; he will merely not fear them, though he will avoid them. It is proper for him to be careful, but not to be fearful.? “What then? Is he not to fear death, imprison- ment, burning, and all the other missiles of Fortune ?”’ Not at all ; for he knows that they are not evils, but only seem to be. He reckons all these things as the bugbears of man’s existence. Paint him a picture of slavery, lashes, chains, want, mutilation by disease or by torture,—or any thing else you may care to mention; he will count all such things as terrors caused by the derangement of the mind. These things are only to be feared by those who are fearful. Or do you regard as an evil that to which some day we may be compelled to resort of our own free will ?

What then, you ask, isanevil? Itis the yielding to those things which are called evils; it is the surrendering of one’s liberty into their control, when really we ought to suffer all things in order to pre-

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cuncta patienda sunt. Perit libertas, nisi illa con- temnimus, quae nobis iugum inponunt. Non dubi- tarent, quid conveniret forti viro, si scirent, quid esset fortitudo. Non est enim inconsulta temeritas nec periculorum amor nec formidabilium adpetitio ; scientia est distinguendi, quid sit malum et quid non sit. Diligentissima in tutela sui! fortitudo est et eadem patientissima eorum, quibus falsa species malorum est. “Quid ergo? Si ferrum intentatur cervicibus viri fortis, si pars subinde alia atque alia suffoditur, si viscera sua in sinu suo vidit, si ex inter- vallo, quo magis tormenta sentiat, repetitur et per adsiccata viscera recens demittitur sanguis, non timet? Istum tu dices nec dolere?”’ Iste vero dolet. Sensum enim hominis nulla exuit virtus. Sed non timet; invictus ex alto dolores suos spectat. Quaeris quis tune animus illi sit? Qui aegrum ami- cum adhortantibus.

“ Quod maium est, nocet. Quod nocet, deteriorem facit. Dolor et paupertas deteriorem ‘non faciunt ; ergo mala non sunt.” “ Falsum est,” inquit, “ quod proponitis ; non enim, si quid nocet, etiam deteriorem facit. Tempestas et procella nocet gubernatori, non tamen illum deterioremefacit.” Quidam e Stoicis ita adversus hoe respondent: deteriorem fieri guberna-

1 sui later MSS. ; vi VPb.

@ Besides this definition (a standard Stoic one) of the third cardinal virtue, we also find ‘*a knowledge of what to choose and what to avoid,” ‘* knowing how to endure things,” and finally ‘* the will to undertake great enterprises.”

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serve this liberty. Liberty is lost unless we despise those things which put the yoke upon our necks, If men knew what bravery was, they would have no doubts as to what a brave man’s conduct should be. For bravery is not thoughtless rashness, or love of danger, or the courting of fear-inspiring objects; it is the knowledge which enables us to distinguish between that which is evil and that which is not. Bravery takes the greatest care of itself, and likewise endures with the greatest patience all things which have a false appearance of being evils. “ What then?” is the query; “if the sword is brandished over your brave man’s neck, if he is pierced in this place and in that continually, if he sees his entre:!- in his lap, if he is tortured again after being kept wait- ing in order that he may thus feel the torture more keenly, and if the blood flows afresh out of bowels where it has but lately ceased to flow, has he no fear? Shall you say that he has felt no pain either?” Yes, he has felt pain; for no human virtue can rid itself of feelings. But he has no fear; unconquered he looks down from a lofty height upon his sufferings. Do you ask me what spirit animates him in these circumstances? It is the spirit of one who is comfort- ing a sick friend.

“That which is evil does harm; that which does harm makes a man worse. But pain and poverty do not make a man worse; there! -e they are not evils.” ‘Your proposition,” -says the objector, “is wrong; for what harms one dcvs not necessarily make one worse. The storm and the squall work harm to the pilot, but they do not make a worse pilot of him for all that.” Certain of the Stoic school reply to this argument as follows: “The pilot becomes a worse pilot because of storms or

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tore tempestate ac procella, quia non possit id, quod proposuit, efficere nec tenere cursum suum ; deterio- rem illum in arte sua non fieri, in opere fieri. Quibus Peripateticus “ergo,” inquit, “et sapientem deterio- rem faciet paupertas, dolor et quicquid aliud tale fuerit. Virtutem enim illi non eripiet, sed opera eius inpediet.’’ Hoc recte diceretur, nisi dissimilis esset gubernatoris condicio et sapientis. Huic enim propositum est in vita agenda non utique, quod temp- tat, efficere, sed omnia recte facere. Gubernatori propositum est utique navem in portum perducere. Artes ministrae sunt, praestare debent, quod promit- tunt. Sapientia domina rectrixque est; artes serviunt vitae, sapientia imperat.

Ego aliter respondendum iudico: nec artem guber- natoris deteriorem ulla tempestate fieri nec ipsam ad- ministrationem artis. Gubernator tibi non felicitatem promisit, sed utilem operam et navis regendae scien- tiam. Haec eo magis apparet, quo illi magis aliqua fortuita vis obstitit. Qui hoc potuit dicere “ Neptune, numquam hance navem nisi rectam,” arti satis fecit ; tempestas non opus gubernatoris impedit, sed succes- sum. “ Quid ergo?”’ inquit, “non nocet gubernatori ea res, quae illum tenere portum vetat, quae conatus eius inritos efficit, quae aut refert illum aut detinet

@ Cf. Diogenes Laertius, ii. 79 rods Tov éyKuKNiwy mavdevudTwy peTacxivTas, Pirocodpias bé amoderpOévTas, dmolous érevyev elvat Tots THS Il yvedomys uynoTi pow.

> The figure of the pilot is a frequent one in philosophy, from Plato down. See Seneca, /’p. viii. 4. The same argument, as applied to the musician, is found in Ep, Ixxxvii. 12 ff 304

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squalls, inasmuch as he cannot carry cut his purpose and hold to his course; as far as his art is concerned, he becomes no worse a pilot, but in his work he does become worse.” To this the Peripatetics retort : “Therefore, poverty will make even the wise man worse, and so will pain, and so will anything else of that sort. For although those things will not rob him of his virtue, yet they will hinder the work of virtue.” This would be a correct statement, were it not for the fact that the pilot and the wise man are two different kinds of person. ‘The wise man’s purpose in conducting his life is not to accomplish at all hazards what he tries, but to do all things rightly ; the pilot’s purpose, however, is to bring his ship into port at all hazards. The arts are hand- maids ;% they must accomplish what they promise to do. But wisdom is mistress and ruler. The arts render a slave’s service to life; wisdom issues the commands.

For myself, I maintain that a different answer should be given: that the pilot’s art is never made worse by the storm, nor the application of his art either. The pilot has promised you, not a prosperous voyage, but a serviceable performance of his task— that is, an expert knowledge of steering a ship. And the more he is hampered by the stress of fortune, so much the more does his knowledge become apparent. He who has been able to say, “Neptune, you shall never sink this ship except on an even keel,” ® has fulfilled the requirements of his art; the storm does not interfere with the pilot’s work, but only with his success. “What then,” you say, “is not a pilot harmed by any circumstance which does not permit him to make port, frustrates all his efforts, and either carries him out to sea, or

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et exarmat?”’ Non tamquam gubernatori, sed tam- quam naviganti nocet; alioqui gubernator ille non est. Gubernatoris ! artem aden non inpedit, ut ostendat ; tranquillo enim, ut aiunt, quilibet gubernator est. Navigio ista obsunt, non rectori eius, qua rector est. 35 Duas personas habet gubernator: alteram communem cum omnibus, qui eandem conscenderunt navem: ipse quoque vector est; alteram propriam: gubernator est. ‘Tempestas tamquam vectori nocet, non tam- 36 quam gubernatori. Deinde gubernatoris ars alienum bonum est: ad eos, quos vehit, pertinet, quomodo medici ad eos, quos curat. Commune bonum est sapientis?: est et eorum, cum quibus vivit, et pro- prium ipsius. Itaque gubernatori fortasse noceatur,? cuius ministerium aliist promissum tempestate in- 37 peditur ; sapienti non nocetur a paupertate, non a dolore, non ab aliis tempestatibus vitae. Non enim prohibentur opera eius omnia, sed tantum ad alios pertinentia; ipse semper in actu est, in effectu tune maximus, cum illi fortuna se opposuit. Tune enim ipsius sapientiae negotium agit, quam 38 diximus et alienum bonum esse et suum. Prae- terea ne aliis quidem tune prodesse prohibetur, cum illum aliquae necessitates premunt. Propter paupertatem prohibetur docere, quemadmodum tractanda res publica sit, at illud docet, quemad- modum sit tractanda paupertas. Per totam vitam

opus eius extenditur. Ita nulla fortuna, nulla res actus sapientis excludit.

1 alioqui gubernator ille non est. gubernatoris Buecheler ; alioquin gubernatis V ; alioqui bnatoris P. 2 est sapientis added by Hense. 3 noceatur Schweighaeuser ; noccat MSS. * alvis later MSS. ; abits VP ; abhis b.

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holds the ship in irons, or strips her masts?” No, it does not harm him as a pilot, but only as a voyager ; otherwise, he is no pilot. It is indeed so far from hindering the pilot’s art that it even exhibits the art; for anyone, in the words of the proverb, is a pilot on a calm sea. These mishaps obstruct the voyage but not the steersman qua steersman. A pilot has a double réle: one he shares with all his fellow-passengers, for he also is a passenger; the other is peculiar to him, for he is the pilot. The storm harms him as a passenger, but not as a pilot. Again, the pilot’s art is another’s good—it concerns his passengers just as a physician’s art concerns his patients. But the wise man’s good is a common .- good—it belongs both to those in whose company he lives, and to himself also. Hence our pilot may perhaps be harmed, since his services, which have been promised to others, are hindered by the storm ; but the wise man is not harmed by poverty, or by pain, or by any other of life’s storms. For all his functions are not checked, but only those which pertain to others; he himself is always in action, and is greatest in performance at the very time when fortune has blocked his way. For then he is actually engaged in the business of wisdom; and this wisdom I have declared already to be both the good of others, and also his own. Besides, he is not prevented from helping others, even at the time when constraining circumstances press him down. Because of his poverty he is prevented from showing how the State should be handled; but he teaches, none the less, how poverty should be handled. His

work goes on throughout his whole life. Thus no fortune, no external circumstance, can shut off the wise man from action. For the very 307

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Id enim ipsum agit, quo alia agere prohibetur. Ad utrosque casus aptus est: bonorum rector est, malo- 39 rum victor. Sic, inquam, se exercuit, ut virtutem tam in secundis quam in adversis exhiberet nec materiam eius, sed ipsam intueretur. Itaque nec paupertas illum nec dolor nee quicquid aliud imperi- tos avertit et praecipites agit, prohibet. Tu illum 40 premi putas malis? Utitur. Non ex ebore tantum Phidias sciebat facere simulacra; faciebat ex aere. Si marmor illi, si adhuc viliorem materiam obtulisses, fecisset, quale ex illa fieri optimum posset. Sic sapiens virtutem, si licebit, in divitiis explicabit, si minus, in paupertate; si poterit, in patria, si minus, in exilio; si poterit, imperator, si minus, miles; si poterit, integer, si minus, debilis. Quamcumque fortunam acceperit, aliquid ex illa meimorabile efficiet. 4} Certi sunt domitores ferarum, qui saevissima ani- malia et ad occursum expavescenda! hominem pati subigunt ? nec asperitatem excussisse contenti usque in contubernium mitigant. Leonibus magister manum insertat, osculatur tigrim suus custos, elephantum minimus Aethiops iubet subsidere in genua et ambu- lare per funem. Sic sapiens artifex est domandi mala. Dolor, egestas, ignominia, carcer, exilium

1 expavescenda Gertz; expavescentia VPb. 2 subigunt Ludwig von Jan; sub iugum VPb.

« Cf. De Ben. i. 5 leonum ora a magistris inpune tractantur.

> Cf. Suet. Galba 6: atthe Floralia Galba novum spectaculi genus elephantos funambulos edidit ; also id. Nero, 1], and Pliny, V.H. viii. 2.

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thing which engages his attention prevents him from attending to other things. He is ready for either outcome: if it brings goods, he controls them; if evils, he conquers them. So thoroughly, I mean, has he schooled himself that he makes manifest his virtue in prosperity as well as in adversity, and keeps his eyes on virtue itself, not on the objects with which virtue deals. Hence neither poverty, nor pain, nor anything else that deflects the inexperienced and drives them headlong, restrains him from his course. Do you suppose that he is weighed down by evils? He makes use of them. It was not of ivory only that Phidias knew how to make statues; he also made statues of bronze. If you had given him marble, or a still meaner material, he would have made of it the best statue that the material would permit. So the wise man will develop virtue, if he may, in the midst of wealth, or, if not, in poverty; if possible, in his own country—if not, in exile; if possible, as a commander—if not, as a common soldier; if possible, in sound health—if not, enfeebled. Whatever fortune he finds, he will

accomplish therefrom something noteworthy. Animal-tamers are unerring; they take the most savage animals, which may well terrify those who encounter them, and subdue them to the will of man; not content with having driven out their ferocity, they even tame them so that they dwell in the same abode. The trainer puts his hand into the lion’s mouth®; the tiger is kissed by his “keeper... The’ tiny “Acthiopian “orders ‘‘the elephant to sink down on its knees, or to walk the rope.? Similarly, the wise man is a skilled hand at taming evils. Pain, want, disgrace, im- prisonment, exile,—these are universally to be 309

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ubique horrenda, cum ad hunc pervenere, mansueta sunt«? VALE:

LXXXVI.

Seneca LyvciLio svo SALVTEM

1 In ipsa Scipionis Africani villa iacens haec tibi scribo adoratis manibus eius et ara, quam sepulchrum esse tanti viri suspicor. Animum quidem eius in caelum, ex quo erat, redisse persuadeo mihi, non quia magnos exercitus duxit, hos enim et Cambyses furio- sus ac furore feliciter usus habuit, sed ob egregiam moderationem pietatemque, quam magis in illo ad- mirabilem iudico, cum reliquit patriam, quam cum defendit ; aut Scipio Romae esse debebat aut Roma

2 in libertate. “ Nihil,” inquit, “ volo derogare legibus, nihil institutis. Aequum inter omnes cives ius sit. Utere sine me beneficio meo, patria. Causa tibi libertatis fui, ero et argumentum ; exeo, si plus quam tibi expedit, crevi.”

3 Quidni ego admirer hance magnitudinem animi, qua in exilium voluntarium secessit et civitatem exoneravit? Eo perducta res erat, ut aut libertas Scipioni aut Scipio libertati faceret iniuriam. Neu- trum fas erat. Itaque locum dedit legibus et se

@ See E>. li. 11.

> Cf. Livy xxxvili. 53 morientem rure eo ipso loco sepeliri se lussisse ferunt monumentumque ibi aedificari.

¢ Herodotus iii. 25 éupavis te wy Kal ob ppevnpys.

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feared; but when they encounter the wise man, they are tamed. Farewell.

LXXXVE, ON SCIPIO'’S., VILLA

I am resting at the country-house which once belonged to Scipio Africanus® himself; and I write to you after doing reverence to his spirit and to an altar which I am inclined to think is the tomb? of that great warrior. That his soul has indeed returned to the skies, whence it came, I am convinced, not because he commanded mighty armies—for Cambyses also had mighty armies, and Cambyses was a mad- man ¢ who made successful use of his madness—but because he showed moderation and a sense of duty to a marvellous extent. I regard this trait in him as more admirable after his withdrawal from his native land than while he was defending her; for there was the alternative: Scipio should remain in Rome, or Rome should remain free. “It is my wish,” said he, “not to infringe in the least upon our laws, or upon our customs; let all Roman citizens have equal rights. O my country, make the most of the good that I have done, but without me. I have been the cause of your freedom, and I shall also be its proof; I go into exile, if it is true that I have grown beyond what is to your advantage !”’

What can I do but admire this magnanimity, which led him to withdraw into voluntary exile and to relieve the state of its burden? Matters had gone so far that either liberty must work harm to Scipio, or Scipio to liberty. Either of these things was wrong in the sight of heaven. So he gave way

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Liternum recepit tam suum exilium rei publicae in- putaturus quam Hannibalis.

4 Vidi villam extructam lapide quadrato, murum circumdatum silvae, turres quoque in propugnaculum villae utrimque subrectas, cisternam aedificiis ac viri- dibus subditam, quae sufficere in usum vel exercitus posset, balneolum angustum, tenebricosum ex con- suetudine antigua; non videbatur maioribus nostris caldum nisi obscurum. Magna ergo me voluptas

6 subiit contemplantem mores Scipionis ac nostros. In hoe angulo ille Carthaginis horror, cui Roma debet, quod tantum semel capta est, abluebat corpus labori- bus rusticis fessum. Exercebat enim opere se ter- ramque, ut mos fuit priscis, ipse subigebat. Sub hoc ille tecto tam sordido stetit, hoc illum pavimentum tam vile sustinuit.

6 At nunc guis est, qui sic lavari sustineat ? Pauper sibi videtur ac sordidus, nisi parietes magnis et pre- tiosis orbibus refulserunt, nisi Alexandrina marmora Numidicis crustis distincta sunt, nisi illis undique operosa et in picturae modum variata circumlitio praetexitur, nisi vitro absconditur camera, nisi Thasius lapis, quondam rarum in aliquo spectaculum templo, piscinas nostras cireumdedit, in quas multa sudatione corpora exinanita! demittimus, nisi aquam argentea

1 gxinanita edd. ; exsaniata Hense, with MSS.

@ Tivy’s account (see above) dwells more on the unwilling- ness of Scipio and his friends to permit the great conqueror to suffer the indignities of a trial.

> A phrase frequent in Roman literature; see Lucretius iii. 1034 Scipiadas, belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror.

¢ Porphyry, basalt, ete.

@ j.¢,, the so-called giallo antico, with red and yellow tints predominating.

e A white variety, from Thasos, an island off the Thracian coast.

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to the laws and withdrew to Liternum, thinking to make the state a debtor for his own exile no less than for the exile of Hannibal.¢

I have inspected the house, which is constructed of hewn stone; the wall which encloses a forest ; the towers also, buttressed out on both sides for the purpose of defending the house; the well, concealed among buildings and shrubbery, large enough to keep a whole army supplied; and the small bath, buried in darkness according to the old style, for our ancestors did not think that one could have a hot bath except in darkness. It was therefore a great pleasure to me to contrast Scipio’s ways with our own. Think, in this tiny recess the “terror of Carthage,’® to whom Rome should offer thanks because she was not captured more than once, used to bathe a body wearied with work in the fields! For he was accustomed to keep himself busy and te cultivate the soil with his own hands, as the good old Romans were wont todo. Beneath this dingy roof he stood; and this floor, mean as it is, bore his weight.

But who in these days could bear to bathe in such a fashion? We think ourselves poor and mean if our walls are not resplendent with large and costly mirrors; if our marbles from Alexandria ® are not set off by mosaics of Numidian stone,? if their borders are not faced over on all sides with difficult patterns, arranged in many colours like paintings; if our vaulted ceilings are not buried in glass; if our swimming-pools are not lined with Thasian marble,’ once a rare and wonderful sight in any temple— pools into which we let down our bodies after they have been drained weak by abundant perspiration ; and finally, if the water has not poured from silver

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7 epitonia fuderunt. Et adhuc plebeias fistulas loquor ; quid, cum ad balnea libertinorum pervenero? Quan- tum statuarum, quantum columnarum est nihil sus- tinentium, sed in ornamentum positarum inpensae causa! Quantum aquarum per gradus cum fragore labentium! Eo deliciarum pervenimus, ut nisi gem- mas calcare nolimus.

8 In hoc balneo Scipionis minimae sunt rimae magis quam fenestrae muro lapideo exsectae, ut sine iniuria munimenti lumen admitterent; at nunc blattaria vo- cant balnea, si qua non ita aptata sunt, ut totius diei solem fenestris amplissimis recipiant, nisi et lavantur simul et colorantur, nisi ex solio agros ac maria pro- spiciunt. Itaque quae concursum et admirationem habuerant, cum dedicarentur, devitantur et in! anti- quorum numerum reiciuntur, cum aliquid novi luxuria

9commenta est, quo ipsa se obrueret. At olim et pauca erant balnea nec ullo cultu exornata. Cur enim exornaretur res quadrantaria et in usum, non in oblectamentum reperta? Non suffundebatur aqua nec recens semper velut ex calido fonte currebat, nec referre credebant, in quam _ perlucida sordes

10 deponerent. Sed, di boni, quam iuvat illa balinea intrare obscura et gregali tectorio inducta, quae scires

1 dedicarentur, devitantur et in Hense ; dedicarentur et in VPb.

« Of. Pliny, Ep. ii. 17. 12 piscina, ex qua natanies mare aspiciunt. 314

EPISTLE LXXXVI.

spigots. I have so far been speaking of the ordinary bathing-establishments; what shall I say when I come to those of the freedmen? What a vast number of statues, of columns that support nothing, but are built for decoration, merely in order to spend money! And what masses of water that fall crashing from level to level! We have become so luxurious that we will have nothing but precious stones to walk upon.

In this bath of Scipio's there are tiny chinks— you cannot call them windows—cut out of the stone wall in such a way as to admit light without weaken- ing the fortifications; nowadays, however, people regard baths as fit only for moths if they have not been so arranged that they receive the sun all day long through the widest of windows, if men cannot bathe and get a coat of tan at the same time, and if they cannot look out from their bath-tubs over stretches of land and sea.“ So it goes; the establish- ments which had drawn crowds and had won admiration when they were first opened are avoided and put back in the category of venerable antiques as soon as luxury has worked out some new device, to her own ultimate undoing. In the early days, however, there were few baths, and they were not fitted out with any display. For why should men elaborately fit out that which costs a penny only, and was invented for use, not merely for delight? The bathers of those days did not have water poured over them, nor did it always run fresh as if from a hot spring ; and they did not believe that it mattered at all how perfectly pure was the water into which they were to leave their dirt. Ye gods, what a pleasure it is to enter that dark bath, covered with a common sort of roof, knowing that therein your hero Cato,

VOL. II b 315

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Catonem tibi aedilem aut Fabium Maximum aut ex Corneliis aliqguem manu sua temperasse? Nam hoc quoque nobilissimi aediles fungebantur officio intrandi ea loca, quae populum receptabant, exigendique mun- ditias et utilem ac salubrem temperaturam, non hanc, quae nuper inventa est similis incendio, adeo quidem, ut convictum in aliquo scelere servum vivum lavari oporteat. Nihil mihi videtur iam interesse, ardeat balineum an caleat.

11 = Quantae nunc aliqui rusticitatis damnant Scipio- nem, quod non in caldarium suum latis speculari- bus diem admiserat, quod non in multa luce deco- quebatur et expectabat,! ut in balneo concoqueret. O hominem calamitosum! Nesciit? vivere. Non saccata aqua lavabatur, sed saepe turbida et, cum plueret vehementius, paene lutulenta. Nec multum eius intererat, an? sic lavaretur; veniebat enim ut

12 sudorem illic ablueret, non ut unguentum. Quas nunc quorundam voces futuras credis? “ Non invideo Scipioni; vere in exilio vixit, qui sic lavabatur.” Immo, si scias, non cotidie lavabatur. ‘Nam, ut aiunt, qui priscos mores urbis tradiderunt, brachia et crura cotidie abluebant, quae scilicet sordes opere college- rant, ceterum toti nundinis lavabantur. Hoc loco dicet aliquis: “olim‘* liquet mihi inmundissimos fuisse. Quid putas illos oluisse?” Militiam, laborem,

1 expectabat later MSS. ; spectabat VPb. 2 nesciit Gothofredus ; nescit VPb. 3 an later MSS. ; ac VPb. 4 aliquis: olim Hense ; aliquotis, aliquo, aliquis MSS.

4 ¢.g., Varro, in the Catus: balneum non cotidianum.

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as aedile, or Fabius Maximus, or one of the Cornelii, has warmed the water with his own hands! For this also used to be the duty of the noblest aediles —to enter these places to which the populace resorted, and to demand that they be cleaned and warmed to a heat required by considerations of use and health, not the heat that men have recently made fashionable, as great as a conflagration — so much so, indeed, that a slave condemned for some criminal offence now ought to be bathed alive! It seems to me that nowadays there is no difference be- tween “ the bath is on fire,” and “the bath is warm.” How some persons nowadays condemn Scipio as a boor because he did not let daylight into his perspir- ing-room through wide windows, or because he did not roast in the strong sunlight and dawdle about until he could stew in the hot water! Poor fool,’ they say, “he did not know how to live! He did not bathe in filtered water; it was often turbid, and after heavy rains almost muddy!” But it did not matter much to Scipio if he had to bathe in that way ; he went there to wash off sweat, not ointment. And how do you suppose certain persons will answer me? They will say: “I don’t envy Scipio; that was truly an exile’s life—to put up with baths like those!"’ Friend, if you were wiser, you would know that Scipio did not bathe every day. Itis stated by those* who have reported to us the old-time ways of Rome that the Romans washed only their arms and legs daily—because those were the members which gathered dirt in their daily toil—and bathed all over only once a week. Here someone will retort : “Yes; pretty dirty fellows they evidently were! How they must have smelled!” But they smelled of the camp, the farm, and heroism. Now that Bil.

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virum. Postquam munda balnea inventa sunt, spur- 13 ciores sunt. Descripturus infamem et nimiis ? nota- bilem deliciis Horatius Flaccus quid ait ?

Pastillos Buccillus olet.

Dares nunc Buccillum; proinde esset ac si hircum oleret, Gargonii loco esset, quem idem Horatius Buccillo opposuit. Parum est sumere unguentum, nisi bis die terque renovatur, ne evanescat in corpore. Quid, quod hoe odore tamquam suo glioriantur?

14. +Haec si tibi nimium tristia videbuntur, villae in- putabis, in qua didici ab Aegialo, diligentissimo patre familiae, is enim nunc huius agri possessor est, quam- vis vetus arbustum posse transferri. Hoc nobis seni- bus discere necessarium est, quorum nemo non olive- tum alteri ponit. Quod vidi illud arborum trimum

15 et quadrimum fastidiendi fructus aut deponere.? Te quoque proteget illa, quae

Tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram,

ut ait Vergilius noster, qui non quid verissime, sed quid decentissime diceretur aspexit nec agricolas 16 docere voluit, sed legentes delectare. Nam, ut alia omnia transeam, hoe quod mihi hodie necesse fuit deprehendere, adscribam : 1 nimiis Lipsius ; nimis VPb.

2 The passage quod vidi . . . aut deponere is hopelessly corrupt.

@ Horace calls him Rufillus (Sat. i. 2. 27): pastillos Rufillus olet, Gargonws hircum.

6 This seems to be the general meaning of the passage.

EPISTLE LXXXVI.

spick - and -span bathing establishments have been devised, men are really fouler than of yore. What says Horatius Flaccus, when he wishes to describe a scoundrel, one who is notorious for his extreme luxury? He says: “ Buccillus® smells of perfume.” Show me a Buccillus in these days; his smell would be the veritable goat-smell—he would take the place of the Gargonius with whom Horace in the same passage contrasted him. It is nowadays not enough to use ointment, unless you put on a fresh coat two or three times a day, to keep it from evaporating on the body. But why should a man boast of this perfume as if it were his own ?

If what I am saying shall seem to you too pessi- mistic, charge it up against Scipio’s country-house, where I have learned a lesson from Aegialus, a most careful householder and now the owner of this estate; he taught me that a tree can be transplanted, no matter how far gone in years. We old men must learn this precept; for there is none of us who is not planting an olive-yard for his successor. I have seen them bearing fruit in due season after three or four years of unproductiveness.’ And you too shall be shaded by the tree which

Is slow to grow, but bringeth shade to cheer Your grandsons in the far-off years,°

as our poet Vergil says. Vergil sought, however, not what was nearest to the truth, but what was most appropriate, and aimed, not to teach the farmer, but to please the reader. For example, omitting all other errors of his, I will quote the passage in which it was incumbent upon me to-day to detect a fault :

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Vere fabis satio est: tunc te quoque, medica, putres Accipiunt sulci, et milio venit annua cura.

An uno! tempore ista ponenda sint et an utriusque verna sit satio, hinc aestimes licet: Junius mensis est, quo tibi scribo, iam proclivis in Iulium; eodem die vidi fabam metentes, milium serentes.

Ad olivetum revertar, quod vidi duobus modis depositum?: magnarum arborum truncos circumcisis ramis et ad unum redactis pedem cum rapo suo transtulit amputatis radicibus, relicto tantum capite ipso, ex quo illae pependerant. Hoc fimo tinctum in scrobem demisit, deinde terram non adgessit tantum,

18 sed calcavit et pressit. Negat quicquam esse hac, ut

ait, pisatione efficacius; videlicet frigus excludit et ventum. Minus praeterea movetur et ob hoc nas- centes radices prodire patitur ac solum adprendere, quas necesse est cereas® adhuc et precario haerentes levis quoque revellat agitatio. Rapum‘ autem arboris, antequam obruat, radit.2 Ex omni enim materia, quae nudata est, ut ait, radices exeunt novae. Non plures autem super terram eminere debet truncus quam tres aut quattuor pedes. Statim enim ab imo vestietur nec magna pars quemadmodum in olivetis veteribus arida et retorrida erit. Alter ponendi modus hic fuit: ramos fortes nec corticis duri, quales esse novellarum arborum solent, eodem genere

1 an uno later MSS. ; annuo VPb. 2 depositum Gronovius ; dispositum VPb. 3 cereas later MSS.; ceteras (caeteras) MSS. ; teneras Erasmus. 4 rapum Ludwig von Jan; parum MSS. 5 yadit Pincianus ; radix MSS.

®* Georgics, i. 215 f.

® In Vitruvius vii. 1 G reads pinsatione, referring to the pounding of stones for flooring.

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In spring sow beans ; then, too, O clover plant,

Thow’rt welcomed by the crumbling furrows ; and

The millet calls for yearly care.

You may judge by the following incident whether those plants should be set out at the same time, or whether both should be sowed in the spring. It is June at the present writing, and we are well on towards July; and I have seen on this very day farmers harvesting beans and sowing millet.

But to return to our olive-yard again. I saw it planted in two ways. If the trees were large, Aegialus took their trunks and cut off the branches to the length of one foot each; he then transplanted along with the ball, after cutting off the roots, leav- ing only the thick part from which the roots hang. He smeared this with manure, and inserted it in the hole, not only heaping up the earth about it, but stamping and pressing it down. There is nothing, he says, more effective than this packing process ?; in other words, it keeps out the cold and the wind. Besides, the trunk is not shaken so much, and for this reason the packing makes it possible for the young roots to come out and get a hold in the soil. These are of necessity still soft; they have but a slight hold, and a very little shaking uproots them. This ball, moreover, Aegialus lops clean before he covers it up. For he maintains that new roots spring from all the parts which have been shorn. Moreover, the trunk itself should not stand more than three or four feet out of the ground. For there will thus be at once a thick growth from the bottom, nor will there be a large stump, all dry and withered, as is the case with old olive-yards. The second way of setting them out was the following: he set out in similar fashion branches that were strong and of soft bark, as those

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deposuit. Hi paulo tardius surgunt, sed cum tam- quam a planta processerint, nihil habent in se abhorridum aut triste.

Ilud etiamnunce vidi, vitem ex arbusto suo annosam transferri; huius capillamenta quoque, si fieri potest, colligenda sunt, deinde liberalius sternenda vitis, ut etiam ex corpore radicescat. Et vidi non tantum mense Februario positas, sed etiam Martio exacto; tenent et conplexae sunt non suas ulmos. Omnes autem istas arbores, quae, ut ita dicam, grandiscapiae sunt, ait aqua adiuvandas cisternina, quae si prodest, habemus pluviam in nostra potestate.

Plura te docere non cogito, ne quemadmodum Aegialus me sibi adversarium paravit, sic ego parem te mihi. Vater.

LXXXVII.

Seneca LyvciLio svO SALVTEM

Naufragium, antequam navem adscenderem, feci. Quomodo acciderit, non adicio, ne et hoc putes inter Stoica paradoxa ponendum, quorum nullum esse fal- sum nec tam mirabile quam prima facie videtur, cum volueris, adprobabo, immo etiam si nolueris. Interim hoc me iter docuit, quam multa haberemus super- vacua et quam facile iudicio possemus deponere,

a An agricultural term not elsewhere found.

> 7.e., on my journey I travelled with almost as meagre an equipment as a shipwrecked man.

e Of, Ep. \xxxi. 11 and note. aa

EPISTLES LXXXVI., LXXXVII.

of young saplings are wont to be. These grow a little more slowly, but, since they spring from what is practically a cutting, there is no roughness or ugliness in them.

This too I have seen recently—an aged vine trans- planted from its own plantation. In this case, the fibres also should be gathered together, if possible, and then you should cover up the vine- stem more generously, so that roots may spring up even from the stock. I have seen such plantings made not only in February, but at the very end of March; the plants take hold of and embrace alien elms. But all trees, he declares, which are, so to speak, “thick-stemmed,’% should be assisted with tank-water; if we have this help, we are our own rain-makers.

I do not intend to tell you any more of these precepts, lest, as Aegialus did with me, I may be training you up to be my competitor. Farewell.

LXXXVII. SOME ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THE SIMPLE LIFE

“IT was shipwrecked before I got aboard.”? I shall not add how that happened, lest you may reckon this also as another of the Stoic paradoxes ; ¢ and yet I shall, whenever you are willing to listen, nay, even though you be unwilling, prove to you that these words are by no means untrue, nor so surprising as one at first sight would think. Mean- time, the journey showed me this: how much we possess that is superfluous ; and how easily we can make up our minds to do away with things whose

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quae, si quando necessitas abstulit, non sentimus ablata.

2 Cum paucissimis servis, quos unum capere vehicu- lum potuit, sine ullis rebus, nisi quae corpore nostro continebantur, ego et Maximus meus biduum iam beatissimum agimus. Culcita in terra iacet, ego in culeita. Ex duabus paenulis altera stragulum, altera

3 opertorium facta est. De prandio nihil detrahi potuit ; paratum fuit non magis hora, nusquam sine caricis, numquam sine pugillaribus. Illae, si panem_ habeo, pro pulmentario sunt, si non habeo, pro pane. Cotidie mihi annum novum faciunt, quem ego faustum et felicem reddo bonis cogitationibus et animi magni- tudine, qui numquam maior est, quam ubi aliena seposuit et fecit sibi pacem nihil timendo, fecit sibi

4 divitias nihil concupiscendo. Vehiculum, in quod inpositus sum, rusticum est ; mulae vivere se am- bulando testantur; mulio excalceatus, non propter aestatem. Vix a me obtineo, ut hoc vehiculum velim! videri meum. Durat adhuc perversa recti verecundia, et quotiens in aliquem comitatum lautiorem incidi- mus, invitus erubesco, quod argumentum est ista, quae probo, quae laudo, nondum habere certam sedem et inmobilem. Qui sordido vehiculo erubescit, pre- tioso gloriabitur.

5 Parum adhuce profeci. Nondum audeo frugalitatem palam ferre. Etiamnune curo opiniones viatorum.

1 yelim V2; nolim V'}Pb, etc.

@ As Pliny the Elder (a man of the same inquiring turn of mind) did on his journeys, Pliny, Fp. iii. 5. 15.

» Caricae were sent as New Year gifts, implying by their sweetness the good wishes of the sender.

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loss, whenever it is necessary to part with them, we do not feel.

My friend Maximus and I have been spending a most happy period of two days, taking with us very few slaves—one carriage-load—and no paraphernalia except what we wore on our persons. The mattress lies on the ground, and I upon the mattress. There are two rugs—one to spread beneath us and one to cover us. Nothing could have been subtracted from our luncheon ; it took not more than an hour to pre- pare, and we were nowhere without dried figs, never without writing tablets.? If 1 have bread, I use figs as arelish; if not, I regard figs as a substitute for bread. Hence they bring me a New Year feast every day,? and I make the New Year happy and prosperous by good thoughts and greatness of soul; for the soul is never greater than when it has laid aside all extrane- ous things, and has secured peace for itself by fear- ing nothing, and riches by craving no riches. The vehicle in which I have taken my seat is a farmer’s cart. Only by walking do the mules show that they are alive. The driver is barefoot, and not because it is summer either. I can scarcely force myself to wish that others shall think this cart mine. My false embarrassment about the truth still holds out, you see; and whenever we meet a more sumptuous party I blush in spite of myself—proof that this conduct which I approve and applaud has not yet gained a firm and steadfast dwelling-place within me. He who blushes at riding in a rattle-trap will boast when he rides in style.

So my progress is still insufficient. I have not yet the courage openly to acknowledge my thriftiness. Even yet I am bothered by what other travellers think of me. But instead of this, I should really

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Contra totius generis humani opiniones mittenda vox erat: “ Insanitis, erratis, stupetis ad supervacua, neminem aestimatis suo. Cum ad patrimonium ven- tum est, diligentissimi conputatores sic rationem ponitis singulorum, quibus aut pecuniam credituri estis aut beneficia, nam haec quoque iam expensa

6 fertis: late possidet, sed multum debet; habet domum formosam, sed alienis nummis paratam: familiam nemo cito speciosiorem producet, sed no- minibus non respondet ; si creditoribus solverit, nihil illi supererit. Idem in reliquis quoque facere debe- bitis, excutere quantum proprii quisque habeat.”’

7 Divitem illum putas, quia aurea supellex etiam in via sequitur, quia in omnibus provinciis arat, quia mag- nus kalendari liber volvitur, quia tantum suburbani agri possidet, quantum invidiose in desertis Apuliae possideret. Cum omnia dixeris, pauper est. Quare Quia debet. “Quantum?” inquis. Omnia. Nisi forte iudicas interesse, utrum aliquis ab homine an a

8 fortuna mutuum sumpserit. Quid ad rem pertinent mulae saginatae unius omnes coloris? Quid ista vehicula caelata?

Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis, Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent, Tecti auro fulvom mandunt sub dentibus aurum.

Ista nec dominum meliorem possunt facere nec mulam.

a Nomen in this sense means primarily the name entered in the ledger; secondarily, the item or transaction with which the name is connected.

> Vergil, Aeneid, vii. 277 ff., describing the gifts sent by King Latinus to Aeneas.

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have uttered an opinion counter to that in which mankind believe, saying, “ You are mad, you are misled, your admiration devotes itself to superfluous things! You estimate no man at his real worth. When property is concerned, you reckon up in this way with most scrupulous calculation those to whom you shall lend either money or benefits ; for by now you enter benefits also as payments in your ledger. You say: ‘His estates are wide, but his debts are large.’ ‘He has a fine house, but he has built it on borrowed capital.’ ‘No man will display a more brilliant retinue on short notice, but he cannot meet his debts. ‘If he pays off his creditors, he will have nothing left.’”’ So you will feel bound to do in all other cases as well,—to find out by elimination the amount of every man’s actual possessions.

I suppose you call a man rich just because his gold plate goes with him even on his travels, because he farms land in all the provinces, because he unrolls a large account-book, because he owns estates near the city so great that men would grudge his holding them in the waste lands of Apulia. But after you have mentioned all these facts, he is poor. And why? He is in debt. “To what extent?” you ask. For all that he has. Or perchance you think it matters whether one has borrowed from another man or from Fortune. What good is there in mules caparisoned in uniform livery? Or in decorated chariots and

Steeds decked with purple and with tapestry, With golden harness hanging from their necks, Champing their yellow bits, all clothed in gold ??

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9 M. Cato Censorius, quem tam e re publica fuit nasci quam Scipionem, alter enim cum hostibus nos- tris bellum, alter cum moribus gessit, cantherio vehe- batur et hippoperis quidem inpositis, ut secum utilia portaret. O quam cuperem illi nunc occurrere ali- quem ex his trossulis in via! cursores et Numidas et multum ante se pulveris agentem! Hic sine dubio cultior comitatiorque quam M. Cato videretur, hic, qui inter illos apparatus delicatos cum maxime dubi-

10 tat, utrum se ad gladium locet an ad cultrum. O quantum erat saeculi decus, imperatorem trium- phalem, censorium, quod super omnia haec est, Cato- nem uno caballo esse contentum et ne toto quidem ! Partem enim sarcinae ab utroque latere dependentes occupabant. Ita non omnibus obesis mannis et astur- conibus et tolutariis praeferres unicum illum equum

11 ab ipso Catone defrictum? Video non futurum finem in ista materia ullum, nisi quem ipse mihi fecero. Hic itaque conticescam, quantum ad ista, quae sine dubio talia divinavit futura, qualia nunc sunt, qui primus appellavit “inpedimenta.” Nunc volo pau- cissimas adhuc interrogationes nostrorum tibi reddere ad virtutem pertinentes, quam satisfaceré vitae beatae contendimus,

12. “Quod bonum est, bonos facit. Nam et in arte musica quod bonum est, facit musicum, Fortuita

1 After via Lipsius removed divitibus.

@ For trossuli cf. E'p. Ixxvi. 2, and footnote. > 7.¢., whether to turn gladiator or bestiarius. e «* Amblers ” from Asturia in Spain. Horses with rapid steps, compared with gradarii, ‘* slow pacers,” ef. np xl. 11- ¢ The literal meaning of impedimenta, ‘‘ luggage.” 328

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Marcus Cato the Censor, whose existence helped the state as much as did Scipio’s,—for while Scipio fought against our enemies, Cato fought against our bad morals,—used to ride a donkey, and a donkey, at that, which carried saddle-bags containing the master’s necessaries. O how I should love to see him meet to-day on the road one of our coxcombs,% with his outriders and Numidians, and a great cloud of dust before him! Your dandy would no doubt seem refined and well-attended in comparison with Marcus Cato,—your dandy, who, in the midst of all his luxurious paraphernalia, is chiefly concerned whether to turn his hand to the sword or to the hunting-knife.? O what a glory to the times in which he lived, for a general who had celebrated a triumph, a censor, and what is most noteworthy of all, a Cato, to be content with a single nag, and with less than a whole nag at that! For part of the animal was preempted by the baggage that hung down on either flank. Would you not therefore prefer Cato’s steed, that single steed, saddle-worn by Cato himself, to the coxcomb’s whole retinue of plump ponies, Spanish cobs,’ and trotters¢? I see that there will be no end in dealing with such a theme unless I make an end myself. So I shall now become silent, at least with reference to superfluous things like these ; doubtless the man who first called them “hindrances” @ had a _ prophetic inkling that they would be the very sort of thing they now are. At present I should like to deliver to you the syllogisms, as yet very few, belonging to our school and bearing upon the question of virtue, which, in our opinion, is sufficient for the happy life.

“That which is good makes men good. For example, that which is good in the art of music makes the musician. But chance events do not make a

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bonum non faciunt. Ergo non sunt bona.” Adver: sus hoe sic respondent Peripatetici, ut quod primum proponimus, falsum esse dicant. ‘“ Ab eo,” inquiunt, “ quod est bonum, non utique fiunt boni. In musica est aliquid bonum tamquam tibia aut chorda aut organum aliquod aptatum ad usus canendi. Nihil

13 tamen horum facit musicum.” Hic respondebimus: “ Non intellegitis, qaomodo posuerimus quod bonum est in musica. Non enim id dicimus, quod instruit musicum, sed quod facit; tu ad supellectilem artis, non ad artem venis. Si quid autem in ipsa arte

14 musica bonum est, id utique musicum faciet.” Etiam- nunc facere istuc! planius volo. Bonum in arte musica duobus modis dicitur, alterum, quo effectus musici adiuvatur, alterum, quo ars. Ad effectum pertinent instrumenta, tibiae et organa et chordae, ad artem ipsam non pertinent. Est enim artifex etiam sine istis; uti forsitan non potest arte. Hoc non est aeque duplex in homine; idem enim est bonum et hominis et vitae.

15 “Quod contemptissimo cuique contingere ac turpissimo potest, bonum non est. Opes autem et lenoni et lanistae contingunt. Ergo non sunt bona.” “Falsum est,’ inquiunt, “quod proponitis. Nam et in grammatice et in arte medendi aut gubernandi vi-

16 demus bona humillimis quibusque contingere.” Sed istae artes non sunt magnitudinem animi professae,

1 istuc Hense; is me or his me MSS.

« Cf. Plato, Phaedo 86, where Socrates contrasts the material lyre with the ‘‘incorporeal, fair, divine” harmony which makes the music.

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good man; therefore, chance events are not goods.”’ The Peripatetics reply to this by saying that the premiss is false; that men do not in every case become good by means of that which is good; that in music there is something good, like a flute, a harp, or an organ suited to accompany singing; but that none of these instruments makes the musician. We shall then reply: “ You do not understand in what sense we have used the phrase ‘ that which is good in music.’ For we do not mean that which equips the musician, but that which makes the musician; you, however, are referring to the instruments of the art, and not to the art itself* If, however, anything in the art of music is good, that will in every case make the musician.” And I should like to put this idea still more clearly. We define the good in the art of music in two ways: first, that by which the perform- ance of the musician is assisted, and second, that by which his art is assisted. Now the musical instru- ments have to do with his performance,—such as flutes and organs and harps; but they do not have to do with the musician’s art itself. For he is an artist even without them; he may perhaps be lack- ing in the ability to practise his art. But the good in man is not in the same way twofold ; for the good of man and the good of life are the same.

“That which can fall to the lot of any man, no matter how base or despised he may be, is not a good. But wealth falls to the lot of the pander and the trainer of gladiators; therefore wealth is not a good.” “Another wrong premiss,” they say, “for we notice that goods fall to the lot of the very lowest sort of men, not only in the scholar’s art, but also in the art of healing or in the art of navigating.” These arts, however, make no profession of greatness of

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non consurgunt in altum nec fortuita fastidiunt. Vir- tus extollit hominem et super cara mortalibus conlo- cat; nec ea, quae bona, nec ea, quae mala vocantur, aut cupit nimis aut expavescit. Chelidon, unus ex Cleopatrae mollibus, patrimonium grande possedit. Nuper Natalis tam inprobae linguae quam inpurae, in cuius ore feminae purgabantur, et multorum heres fuit et multos habuit heredes. Quid ergo? Utrum illum pecunia inpurum effecit an ipse pecuniam in- spurcavit ? Quae sic in quosdam homines quomodo 17 denarius in cloacam cadit. Virtus super ista consistit. Suo aere censetur. Nihil ex istis quolibet incurrenti- bus bonum iudicat. Medicina et gubernatio non interdicit sibi ac suis admiratione talium rerum. Qui non est vir bonus, potest nihilominus medicus esse, potest gubernator, potest grammaticus tam meher- cules quam cocus. Cui contingit habere rem non quamlibet, hune non quemlibet dixeris; qualia quis- 18 que habet, talis est. Fiscus tanti est, quantum habet; immo in accessionem eius venit, quodhabet. Quis pleno sacculo ullum pretium ponit nisi quod pecuniae in eo conditae numerus effecit? Idem evenit mag- norum dominis patrimoniorum: accessiones illorum et appendices sunt. Quare ergo sapiens magnus est? Quia magnum animum habet. Verum est ergo quod contemptis- 19 simo cuique contingit, bonum non esse. Itaque in-

@ See Hp. lxxxviii., which is devoted to the development of this thought. > ¢.¢., at its own worth.

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soul; they do not rise to any heights nor do they frown upon what fortune may bring.” It is virtue that uplifts man and places him superior to what mortals hold dear; virtue neither craves overmuch nor fears to excess that which is called good or that which is called bad. Chelidon, one of Cleopatra’s eunuchs, possessed great wealth; and recently Natalis —a man whose tongue was as shameless as it was dirty, a man whose mouth used to perform the vilest offices—was the heir of many, and also made many his heirs. What then? Was it his money that made him unclean, or did he himself besmirch his money? Money tumbles into the hands of certain men as a shilling tumbles down a sewer. Virtue stands above all such things. It is appraised in coin of its own minting ;? and it deems none of these random wind- falls to be good. But medicine and navigation do not forbid themselves and their followers to marvel at such things. One who is not a good man can nevertheless be a physician, or a pilot, or a scholar,— yes, just as well as he can be a cook! He to whose lot it falls to possess something which is not of a random sort, cannot be called a random sort of man; a person is of the same sort as that which he pos- sesses. A strong-box is worth just what it holds; or rather, it is a mere accessory of that which it holds. Who ever sets any price upon a full purse except the price established by the count of the money deposited therein? This also applies to the owners of great estates: they are only accessories and incidentals to their possessions.

Why, then, is the wise man great? Because he has a great soul. Accordingly, it is true that that which falls to the lot even of the most despicable person is not a good. Thus, I should never regard

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dolentiam numquam bonum dicam; habet illam cicada, habet pulex. Ne quietem quidem et molestia vacare bonum dicam; quid est otiosius verme? Quaeris, quae res sapientem faciat? Quaedeum. Des oportet illi divinum aliquid, caeleste, magnificum. Non in

omnes bonum cadit nec quemlibet possessorem pati- 20 tur. Vide

Et quid quaeque ferat regio et quid quaeque recuset : Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae.

Arborei fetus alibi atque iniussa virescunt

Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, India mittat ebur, molles sua tura Sabaei ?

At Chalybes nudi ferrum.

21 Ista in regiones discripta sunt, ut necessarium mortalibus esset inter ipsos commercium, si invicem alius aliquid ab alio peteret. Summum illud bonum habet et ipsum suam sedem. Non _ nascitur, ubi ebur, nec ubi ferrum. Quis sit summi boni locus quaeris? Animus. Hic nisi purus ac sanctus est, deum non capit.

22 © Bonum ex malo non fit. Divitiae fiunt autem ! ex avaritia. Divitiae ergo non sunt bonum.” “© Non est,” inquit, “ verum, bonum ex malo non nasci. Ex sacrilegio enim et furto pecunia nascitur. Itaque malum quidem est sacrilegium et furtum, sed ideo, quia plura mala facit quam bona. Dat enim lucrum, sed cum metu, sollicitudine, tormentis et animi et

23 corporis.” Quisquis hoc dicit, necesse est recipiat

1 divitiae fiunt autem Gemoll; divitiae fiunt. fiunt autem iss:

@ Cf. the argument in Ixxvi. 9 f. » i.c., perfect reason and obedience to Nature, ° Vergil, Georg. i. 53 ff.

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inactivity as a good; for even the tree-frog and the flea possess this quality.¢ Nor should I regard rest and freedom from trouble as a good ; for what is more at leisure than a worm? Do you ask what it is that produces the wise man? That which produces a god.2 You must grant that the wise man has an element of godliness, heavenliness, grandeur. The good does not come to every one, nor does it allow any random person to possess it. Behold

What fruits each country bears, or will not bear ; Here corn, and there the vine, grow richlier.

And elsewhere still the tender tree and grass Unbidden clothe themselves in green. Seest thou How Tmolus ships its saffron perfumes forth, And ivory comes from Ind ; soft Sheba sends

Its incense, and the unclad Chalybes

Their iron.°

These products are apportioned to separate countries in order that human beings may be constrained to trafic among themselves, each seeking something from his neighbour in his turn. So the Supreme Good has also its own abode. It does not grow where ivory grows, or iron. Do you ask where the Supreme Good dwells? In the soul. And unless the soul be pure and holy, there is no room in it for God.

“Good does not result from evil. But riches result from greed ; therefore, riches are not a good.” “It is not true,’ they say, “that good does not result from evil. For money comes from sacrilege and theft. Accordingly, although sacrilege and theft are evil, yet they are evil only because they work more evil than good. For they bring gain; but the gain is accompanied by fear, anxiety, and torture of mind and body.” Whoever says this

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sacrilegium, sicut malum sit, quia multa mala facit, ita bonum quoque ex aliqua parte esse, quia aliquid boni facit. Quo quid fieri portentuosius potest? Quamquam! sacrilegium, furtum, adulterium inter bona haberi prorsus persuasimus. Quam multi furto non erubescunt, quam multi adulterio gloriantur! Nam sacrilegia minuta puniuntur, magna in trium-

24 phis feruntur. Adice nunc, quod sacrilegium, si omnino ex aliqua parte bonum est, etiam honestum erit et recte factum vocabitur: nostra enim actio est.? Quod nullius mortalium cogitatio recipit.

Ergo bona nasci ex malo non possunt. Nam si, ut ° dicitis, ob hoc unum sacrilegium malum est, quia multum mali adfert, si remiseris illi supplicia, si securitatem spoponderis, ex toto bonum erit. Atqui

25 maximum scelerum supplicium in ipsis est. Erras, inquam, si illa ad carnificem aut carcerem differs ; statim puniuntur, cum facta sunt, immo dum fiunt. Non nascitur itaque ex malo bonum, non magis quam ficus ex olea. Ad semen nata respondent, bona degenerare non possunt. Quemadmodum ex turpi honestum non nascitur, ita ne ex malo quidem bonum. Nam idem est honestum et bonum.

26 Quidam ex nostris adversus hoc sic respondent: ‘“‘Putemus pecuniam bonum esse undecumque sump-

1 guamquam Gruter ; quam Vb. 2 Hense would read vocahitur ; honesta (so Gemoll) enim

actio recta actio est. 3 sf ut later MSS. ; sic ut Vb.

a The good is absolute. The Stoics held that virtue and moral worth were identical, although those who followed the argument to its logical conelusion had to explain away many seeming inconsistencies. Cf. Lp. Ixxxv. 17.

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must perforce admit that sacrilege, though it be an evil because it works much evil, is yet partly good because it accomplishes a certain amount of good. What can be more monstrous than this? We have, to be sure, actually convinced the world that sacrilege, theft, and adultery are to be regarded as among the goods. How many men there are who do not blush at theft, how many who boast of having committed adultery! For petty sacrilege is punished, but sacrilege on a grand scale is honoured by a triumphal procession. Besides, sacrilege, if it is wholly good in some respect, will also be honourable and will be called right conduct; for it is conduct which concerns ourselves. But no human being, on serious con- sideration, admits this idea.

Therefore, goods cannot spring from evil. For if, as you object, sacrilege is an evil for the single reason that it brings on much evil, if you but absolve sacrilege of its punishment and pledge it immunity, sacrilege will be wholly good. And yet the worst punishment for crime lies in the crime itself. You are mistaken, I maintain, if you propose to reserve your punishments for the hangman or the prison ; the crime is punished immediately after it is com- mitted; nay, rather, at the moment when it is committed. Hence, good does not spring from evil, any more than figs grow from olive-trees. Things which grow correspond to their seed; and goods cannot depart from their class. As that which is honourable does not grow from that which is base, so neither does good grow from evil. For the honour- able and the good are identical.@

Certain of our school oppose this statement as follows: “ Let us suppose that money taken from any source whatsoever is a good; even though it is taken by

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tam; non tamen ideo ex sacrilegio pecunia est, etiam si ex sacrilegio sumitur. Hoc sic intellege: in eadem urna et aurum est et vipera. Si aurum ex urna sus- tuleris, quia illic et vipera est, non ideo, inquam, mihi urna aurum dat, quia viperam habet, sed aurum dat, cum et viperam habeat. Eodem modo ex sacrilegio lucrum fit, non quia turpe et sceleratum est sacrile- gium, sed quia et lucrum habet. Quemadmodum in illa urna vipera malum est, non aurum, quod cum vipera iacet, sic in sacrilegio malum est scelus, non lucrum.” A quibus dissentio!: dissimillima enim utriusque rei condicio est. Illic aurum possum sine vipera tollere, hic lucrum sine sacrilegio facere non possum. Lucrum istud non est adpositum sceleri, sed inmixtum.

“Quod dum consequi volumus, in multa mala incidimus, id bonum non est. Dum divitias autem consequi volumus, in multa mala incidimus; ergo divitiae bonum non sunt.” Duas,” inquit, “ signi- ficationes habet propositio vestra, unam: dum divi- tias consequi volumus, in multa nos mala incidere. In multa autem mala incidimus et dum virtutem con- sequi volumus. Aliquis dum navigat studii causa, naufragium fecit, aliquis captus est. ' Altera signi- ficatio talis est: per quod in mala incidimus, bonum non est. Huic propositioni non erit consequens per

1 a quibus dissentio later MSS. ; a quibus VPb.

« That riches are not a good, but merely an advantage, was one of the Stoic paradoxes. In another passage (Dial. vii. 24. 5) Seneca speaks of them in a kindlier manner - divitias nego bonum esse; nam si essent, bonos facerent. Ceterum et habendas esse et utiles et magna commoda vitae adferentis fateor. Cf. § 36 of this letter.

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an act of sacrilege, the money does not on that account derive its origin from sacrilege. You may get my mean- ing through the following illustration: In the same jar there is a piece of gold and there is a serpent. If you take the gold from the jar, it is not just because the serpent is there too, I say, that the jar yields me the gold——because it contains the serpent as well,—but it yields the gold in spite of contain- ing the serpent also. Similarly, gain results from sacrilege, not just because sacrilege is a base and accursed act, but because it contains gain also. As the serpent in the jar is an evil, and not the gold which lies there beside the serpent; so in an act of sacrilege it is the crime, not the profit, that is evil.” But I differ from these men; for the conditions in each case are not at all the same. In the one instance I can take the gold without the serpent, in the other I cannot make the profit without com- mitting the sacrilege. The gain in the latter case does not lie side by side with the crime; it is blended with the crime.

“That which, while we are desiring to attain it, involves us in many evils, is not a good. But while we are desiring to attain riches, we become involved in many evils; therefore, riches are not a good,’ % “Your first premiss,” they say, “ contains two mean- ings; one is: we become involved in many evils while we are desiring to attain riches. But we also become involved in many evils while we are desiring to attain virtue. One man, while travelling in order to prosecute his studies, suffers shipwreck, and another is taken captive. The second meaning is as follows: that through which we become involved in evils is not a good. And it will not logically follow from our proposition that we become involved

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divitias nos aut per voluptates in mala incidere; aut si per divitias in multa mala incidimus, non tantum bonum non sunt divitiae, sed malum sunt; vos autem illas dicitis tantum bonum non esse. Praeterea,” inquit, “conceditis divitias habere aliquid usus. Inter commoda illas numeratis ; atqui eadem ratione ne! commodum quidem erunt. Per illas enim multa nobis incommoda eveniunt.’’ His quidam hoc respon- dent: “ Erratis, qui incommoda® divitiis inputatis. Ilae neminem laedunt ; aut sua nocet cuique stultitia aut aliena nequitia, sic quemadmodum gladius nemi- nem occidit ; occidentis telum est. Non ideo divitiae tibi nocent, si propter divitias tibi nocetur.” Posidonius, ut ego existimo, melius, qui ait divitias esse causam malorum, non quia ipsae faciunt aliquid, sed quia facturos inritant. Alia est enim causa efh- ciens, quae protinus necesse est noceat, alia prae- cedens. Hane praecedentem causam divitiae habent; inflant animos, superbiam pariunt, invidiam contra- hunt et usque eo mentem alienant, ut fama pecuniae nos etiam nocitura delectet. Bona autem omnia carere culpa decet; pura sunt, non corrumpunt ani- mos, non sollicitant. Extollunt quidem et dilatant, sed sine tumore. Quae bona sunt fiduciam faciunt,

divitiae audaciam. Quae bona sunt magnitudinem

1 ne inserted by Fickert. 2 gui incommoda later MSS. ; qui commoda Vb.

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but riches give us arrogance. And arrogance is nothing else than a false show of greatness.

* According to that argument,” the objector says, “riches are not only not a good, but are a positive evil.” Now they would be an evil if they did harm of themselves, and if, as I remarked, it were the efficient cause which inheres in them; in fact, how- ever, it is the antecedent cause which inheres in riches, and indeed it is that cause which, so far from merely arousing the spirit, actually drags it along by force. Yes, riches shower upon us a semblance of the good, which is like the reality and wins credence in the eyes of many men. The ante- cedent cause inheres in virtue also; it is this which brings on envy—for many men become un- popular because of their wisdom, and many men because of their justice. But this cause, though it inheres in virtue, is not the result of virtue itself, nor is it a mere semblance of the reality ; nay, on the contrary, far more like the reality is that vision which is flashed by virtue upon the spirits of men, summoning them to love it and marvel thereat.

Posidonius thinks that the syllogism should be framed as follows: “Things which bestow upon the soul no greatness or confidence or freedom from care are not goods. But riches and health and similar conditions do none of these things; therefore, riches and health are not goods.” This syllogism he then goes on to extend still further in the following way: “Things which bestow upon the soul no greatness or confidence or freedom from care, but on the other hand create in it arrogance, vanity, and insolence, are evils. But things which are the gift of Fortune drive us into these evil ways. Therefore these

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ergo non sunt bona.” “ Hac,” inquit, “ratione ne commoda quidem ista erunt.”’ Alia est commodorum condicio, alia bonorum; commodum est, quod plus usus habet quam molestiae. Bonum sincerum esse debet et ab omni parte innoxium. Non est id bonum, quod plus prodest, sed quod tantum prodest. Prae- terea commodum et ad animalia pertinet et ad inper- fectos homines et ad stultos. Itaque potest ei esse incommodum mixtum, sed commodum dicitur a maiore sui parte aestimatum; bonum ad unum sapientem pertinet ; inviolatum esse oportet.

Bonum animum habere ; unus tibi nodus, sed Her- culaneus restat: ‘ex malis bonum non fit. Ex multis paupertatibus divitiae fiunt; ergo divitiae bonum non sunt.’’ Hance interrogationem nostri non agnoscunt, Peripatetici et fingunt illam et solvunt. Ait autem Posidonius hoc sophisma, per omnes dia- lecticorum scholas iactatum, sic ab Antipatro refelli: “paupertas non per possessionem dicitur, sed per detractionem vel, ut antiqui dixerunt, orbationem. Graeci kata orépnow dicunt. Non quod habeat dicit, sed quod non habeat.! Itaque ex multis inanibus nihil inpleri potest; divitias multae res faciunt, non

1 Hense doubts the genuineness of non quod . . . habeat.

a The ‘* knot of Hercules” is associated with the caduceus (twining serpents) in Macrob. Sat. i. 19. 16; and in Pliny, N.H. xxviii. 63, it has magic properties in the binding up of wounds.

> Frag. 54 von Arnim.

¢ Per possessionem translates the Greek xa6’ eéwv, as per orbalionem (or detractionem) translates xara orépnow.

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things are not goods.” “ But,” says the objector, “by such reasoning, things which are the gift of Fortune will not even be advantages.’ No, advantages and goods stand each in a different situation. An advantage is that which contains more of usefulness than of annoyance. Buta geod ought to be unmixed and with no element in it of harmfulness. A thing is not good if it contains more benefit than injury, but only if it contains nothing but benefit. Besides, advantages may be predicated of animals, of men who are less than perfect, and of fools. Hence the advantageous may have an element of disadvantage mingled with it, but the word “advantageous” is used of the compound because it is judged by its predominant element. The good, however, can be predicated of the wise man alone; it is bound to be without alloy,

Be of good cheer; thereis only one knot® left for you to untangle, though it is a knot for a Hercules: “ Good does not result from evil. But riches result from numerous cases of poverty; there- fore, riches are not a good.’ This syllogism is not recognized by our school, but the Peripatetics both concoct it and give its solution. Posidonius, how- ever, remarks that this fallacy, which has been bandied about among all the schools of dialectic, is refuted by Antipater? as follows: “The word ‘poverty’ is used to denote, not the possession’ of something, but the non-possession or, as the ancients have put it, deprivation, (for the Greeks use the phrase ‘by deprivation, meaning ‘negatively ’). ‘Poverty’ states, not what a man has, but what he has not. Consequently there can be no fulness resulting from a multitude of voids ; many positive things, and not many deficiencies, make up riches.

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multae inopiae. Aliter,’ inquit, “quam debes, pau- pertatem intellegis. Paupertas enim est non quae pauca possidet, sed quae multa non possidet ; ita non ab eo dicitur, quod habet, sed ab eo, quod ei deest.”

40 Facilius, quod volo, exprimerem, si Latinum verbum esset, quo avurapéia significatur. Hane paupertati Antipater adsignat; ego non video, quid aliud sit paupertas quam parvi possessio. De isto videbimus, si quando valde vacabit, quae sit divitiarum, quae paupertatis substantia; sed tune quoque considera- bimus, numquid satius sit paupertatem permulcere, divitiis demere supercilium quam litigare de verbis, quasi iam de rebus iudicatum sit.

41 Putemus nos ad contionem vocatos; lex de abo- lendis divitiis fertur. His interrogationibus suasuri aut dissuasuri sumus? His effecturi, ut populus Romanus paupertatem, fundamentum et causam im- perii sui, requirat ac laudet,! divitias autem suas timeat, ut cogitet has se apud victos repperisse, hine ambitum et largitiones et tumultus in urbem sanctis- simam et temperantissimam inrupisse, nimis luxuriose ostentari gentium spolia, quod unus populus eripuerit

omnibus, facilius ab omnibus uni eripi posse? Hane

1 laudet later MSS. ; laudes VPb.

@ Seneca here bursts into a diatribe on the corruption of Rome, a habit which we find in many other of his writings, especially in the Naturales Quaestiones.

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You have,” says he, “a wrong notion of the meaning of what poverty is. For poverty does not mean the possession of little, but the non-possession of much ; it is used, therefore, not of what a man has, but of what he Jacks.”” I could express my meaning more easily if there were a Latin word which could trans- late the Greek word which means “ not-possessing.”’ Antipater assigns this quality to poverty, but for my part I cannot see what else poverty is than the possession of little. If ever we have plenty of leisure, we shall investigate the question: What is the essence of riches, and what the essence of poverty ; but when the time comes, we shall also consider whether it is not better to try to mitigate poverty, and to relieve wealth of its arrogance, than to quibble about the words as if the question of the things were already decided.

Let us suppose that we have been summoned to an assembly; an act dealing with the abolition of riches has been brought before the meeting. Shall we be supporting it, or opposing it, if we use these syllogisms? Will these syllogisms help us to bring it about that the Roman people shall demand poverty and praise it—poverty, the foundation and cause of their empire,—and, on the other hand, shall shrink in fear from their present wealth, reflecting that they have found it among the victims of their con- quests, that wealth is the source from which office- seeking and bribery and disorder® have burst into a city once characterized by the utmost scrupulousness and sobriety, and that because of wealth an exhibition all too lavish is made of the spoils of conquered nations ; reflecting, finally, that whatever one people has snatched away from all the rest may still more easily be snatched by all away from one? Nay, it

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satius est suadere! et expugnare adfectus, non cir- cumscribere. Si possumus, fortius loquamur; si minus, apertius. VALE.

LXXXVIII.

Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM

1 De liberalibus studiis quid sentiam, scire desideras: nullum suspicio, nullum in bonis numero, quod ad aes exit. Meritoria artificia sunt, hactenus utilia, si prae- parant ingenium, non detinent. Tamdiu enim istis inmorandum est, quamdiu nihil animus agere maius

2 potest ; rudimenta sunt nostra, non opera. Quare liberalia studia dicta sint, vides; quia homine libero digna sunt. Ceterum unum studium vere liberale est, quod liberum facit. Hoc est sapientiae, sublime, forte, magnanimum. Cetera pusilla et puerilia sunt; an tu quicquam in istis esse credis boni, quorum pro- fessores turpissimos omnium ac flagitiosissimos cernis ? Non discere debemus ista, sed didicisse.

Quidam illud de liberalibus studiis quaerendum judicaverunt, an virum bonum facerent; ne promit- tunt quidem nec huius rei scientiam adfectant.

1 After swadere Hense added re.

a The regular round of education, éyx’«dos madela, includ- ing grammar, music, geometry, arithmetic, astrology, and certain phases of rhetoric and dialectic, are in this letter contrasted with liberal studies—those which have for their object the pursuit of virtue. Seneca is thus interpreting studia liberalia in a higher sense than his contemporaries would expect. Compare J. R. Lowell’s definition of a university, ‘‘a place where nothing useful is taught.”

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were better to support this law by our conduct and to subdue our desires by direct assault rather than to circumvent them by logic. If we can, let us speak more boldly; if not, let us speak more frankly.

LXXXVIII. ON LIBERAL AND VOCATIONAL STUDIES

You have been wishing to know my views with regard to liberal studies. My answer is this: I respect no study, and deem no study good, which results in money-making. Such studies are profit- bringing occupations, useful only in so far as they give the mind a preparation and do not engage it permanently. One should linger upon them only so long as the mind can occupy itself with nothing greater ; they are our apprenticeship, not our real work. Hence you see why “liberal studies” are so called ; it is because they are studies worthy of a free-born gentleman. But there is only one really liberal study,—that which gives a man his liberty. It is the study of wisdom, and that is lofty, brave, and great-souled. All other studies are puny and puerile. You surely do not believe that there is good in any of the subjects whose teachers are, as you see, men of the most ignoble and base stamp? We ought not to be learning such things; we should have done with learning them.

Certain persons have made up their minds that the point at issue with regard to the liberal studies is whether they make men good; but they do not even profess or aim at a knowledge of this particular

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3 Grammaticus circa curam sermonis versatur et, si latius evagari vult, circa historias, iam ut longissime fines suos proferat, circa carmina. Quid horum ad virtutem viam sternit? Syllabarum enarratio et verborum diligentia et fabularum memoria et versuum lex ac modificatio? Quid ex his metum demit,

4 cupiditatem eximit, libidinem frenat?... Quaeritur! utrum doceant isti virtutem an non; si non docent, ne tradunt quidem. Si docent, philosophi sunt. Vis scire, quam non ad docendam virtutem con- sederint? Aspice, quam dissimilia inter se omnium studia sint; atqui similitudo esset idem docentium.

5 Nisi forte tibi Homerum philosophum fuisse persuadent, cum his ipsis, quibus colligunt, negent. Nam modo Stoicum illum faciunt, virtutem solam probantem et voluptates refugientem et ab honesto ne inmortalitatis quidem pretio recedentem, modo Epicureum, laudantem statum quietae civitatis et inter convivia cantusque vitam exigentis, modo Peri- pateticum, tria bonorum genera inducentem, modo Academicum, omnia incerta dicentem. Adparet nihil horum esse in illo, quia omnia sunt. Ista enim

1 After frenat MSS. give ad geometriam transeamus et ad musicen ; nihil apud illas invenies, quod vetet timere, vetet cupere. Quisquis ignorat, alia frustra scit, leaving an im- possible syntax before utrwm. Videndum utrum later MSS. Quaeritur would be a reasonable conjecture.

¢ Grammaticus in classical Greek means ‘fone who is familiar with the alphabet”; in the Alexandrian age a **student of literature”; in the Roman age the equivalent of litteratus. Seneca means here a ‘‘ specialist in linguistic science.”

> 7.e., philosophy (virtue).

¢ This theory was approved by Democritus, Hippias of Elis, and the allegorical interpreters; Xenophanes, Hera- clitus, and Plato himself condemned Homer for his supposed unphilosophic fabrications,

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subject. The scholar® busies himself with investiga- tions into language, and if it be his desire to go farther afield, he works on history, or, if he would extend his range to the farthest limits, on poetry. But which of these paves the way to virtue? Pro- nouncing syllables, investigating words, memorizing plays, or making rules for the scansion of poetry, what is there in all this that rids one of fear, roots out desire, or bridles the passions? The question is: do such men teach virtue, or not? If they do not teach it, then neither do they transmit it. If they do teach it, they are philosophers. Would you like to know how it happens that they have not taken the chair for the purpose of teaching virtue? See how unlike their subjects are ; and yet their subjects would resemble each other if they taught the same thing.?

It may be, perhaps, that they make you believe that Homer was a_ philosopher,’ although they disprove this by the very arguments through which they seek to prove it. For sometimes they make of him a Stoic, who approves nothing but virtue, avoids pleasures, and refuses to relinquish honour even at the price of immortality ; sometimes they make him an Epicurean, praising the condition of a state in repose, which passes its days in feasting and song ; sometimes a Peripatetic, classifying goodness in three ways?; sometimes an Academic, holding that all things are uncertain. It is clear, however, that no one of these doctrines is to be fathered upon Homer, just because they are all there ; for they are

4 The tria genera bonorum of Cicero’s De Fin. v. 84. Cf. ib. 18, where the three proper objects of man’s search are given as the desire for pleasure, the avoidance of pain, and the attainment of such natural goods as health, strength, and soundness of mind. ‘The Stoics held that the good was absolute.

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inter se dissident. Demus illis Homerum philoso- phum fuisse; nempe sapiens factus est, antequam carmina ulla cognosceret. Ergo illa discamus, quae Homerum fecere sapientem.

Hoc quidem me quaerere, uter maior aetate fuerit, Homerus an Hesiodus, non magis ad rem pertinet quam scire, cum minor Hecuba fuerit quam Helena, quare tam male tulerit aetatem. Quid? Inquam, annos Patrocli et Achillis inquirere ad rem existimas pertinere? Quaeris, Vlixes ubi erraverit, potius quam efflicias, ne nos semper erremus? Non vacat audire, utrum inter Italiam et Siciliam iactatus sit an extra notum nobis orbem, neque enim potuit in tam angusto error esse tam longus; tempestates nos animi cotidie iactant et nequitia in omnia Vlixis mala inpellit. Non deest forma, quae sollicitet oculos, non hostis; hine monstra effera et humano cruore gaudentia, hince insidiosa blandimenta aurium, hinc naufragia et tot varietates malorum. Hoc me doce, quomodo patriam amem, quomodo uxorem, quomodo patrem, quomodo ad haec tam honesta vel naufragus navigem. Quid inquiris, an Penelopa pudica! fuerit, an verba saeculo suo dederit? An Vlixem illum esse, quem videbat, antequam sciret, suspicata sit ?

1 pudica later MSS. ; inpudica VPb.

# Summers compares Lucian, Gall. 17. Seneca, however, does not take such gossip seriously.

> This sentence alludes to Calypso, Circe, the Cyclops, and the Sirens.

¢ Unfavourable comment by Lycophron, and by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. iii. 22 (Mercurius) ex quo et Penelopa Pana natum ferunt,

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irreconcilable with one another. We may admit to these men, indeed, that Homer was a philosopher ; yet surely he became a wise man before he had any knowledge of poetry. So let us learn the particular things that made Homer wise.

It is no more to the point, of course, for me to investigate whether Homer or Hesiod was the older poet, than to know why Hecuba, although younger than Helen,* showed her years so lamentably. What, in your opinion, I say, would be the point in trying to determine the respective ages of Achilles and Patroclus? Do you raise the question, “Through what regions did Ulysses stray?” instead of trying to prevent ourselves from going astray at all times? We have no leisure to hear lectures on the question whether he was sea-tost between Italy and Sicily, or outside our known world (indeed, so long a wandering could not possibly have taken place within its narrow bounds); we ourselves encounter storms of the spirit, which toss us daily, and our depravity drives us into all the ills which troubled Ulysses. For us there is never lacking the beauty to tempt our eyes, or the enemy to assail us; on this side are savage monsters that delight in human blood, on that side the treacherous allure- ments of the ear, and yonder is shipwreck and all the varied category of misfortunes.2 Show me rather, by the example of Ulysses, how I am to love my country, my wife, my father, and how, even after suffering shipwreck, I am to sail toward these ends, honourable as they are. Why try to discover whether Penelope was a pattern of purity,° or whether she had the laugh on her contemporaries? Or whether she suspected that the man in her presence was Ulysses, before she knew it was he? Teach me

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Doce me, quid sit pudicitia et quantum in ea bonum,

in corpore an in animo posita sit. $ Ad musicum transeo: doces me, quomodo inter se acutae ac graves consonent, quomodo nervorum dis- parem reddentium sonum fiat concordia; fac potius, quomodo animus secum meus consonet nec consilia mea discrepent. Monstras mihi, qui sint modi flebiles ; monstra potius, quomodo inter adversa non 10 emittam flebilem vocem. Metiri me geometres docet latifundia potius quam doceat, quomodo metiar, quantum homini satis sit. Numerare docet me et avaritiae commodat digitos potius quam doceat nihil ad rem pertinere istas conputationes, non _ esse feliciorem, cuius patrimonium tabularios lassat, imma quam supervacua possideat, qui infelicissimus futurus est, si quantum habeat per se conputare cogetur. 11 Quid mihi prodest scire agellum in partes dividere, si nescio cum fratre dividere? Quid prodest col- ligere subtiliter pedes iugeri et conprendere etiam si quid decempedam effugit, si tristem me facit vicinus inpotens et aliquid ex meo abradens? Docet quo- modo nihil perdam ex finibus meis; at ego discere 12 volo, quomodo totos hilaris amittam, “ Paterno agro

et avito,’ inquit, “expellor.” Quid? Ante avum

@ With acutae and graves supply voces. 6 Perhaps the equivalent of a ‘* minor.”

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rather what purity is, and how great a good we have in it, and whether it is situated in the body or in the soul.

Now I will transfer my attention to the musician. You, sir, are teaching me how the treble and the bass* are in accord with one another, and how, though the strings produce different notes, the result is a harmony; rather bring my soul into harmony with itself, and let not my purposes be out of tune. You are showing me what the doleful keys® are; show me rather how, in the midst of adversity, I may keep from uttering a doleful note. The mathematician teaches me how to lay out the dimensions of my estates; but I should rather be taught how to lay out what is enough for a man to own. He teaches me to count, and adapts my fingers to avarice; but I should prefer him to teach me that there is no point in such calculations, and that one is none the happier for tiring out the book- keepers with his possessions—or rather, how useless property is to any man who would find it the greatest misfortune if he should be required to reckon out, by his own wits, the amount of his holdings. What good is there for me in knowing how to parcel out a piece of land, if I know not how to share it with my brother? What good is there in working out to a nicety the dimensions of an acre, and in detecting the error if a piece has so much as escaped my measuring -rod, if I am embittered when an ill-tempered neighbour merely scrapes off a bit of my land? The mathematician teaches me how I may lose none of my boundaries; I, however, seek to learn how to lose them all with a light heart. “ But,” comes the reply, “I am being driven from the farm which my father and grandfather owned !” Well? Who owned the land before your grand-

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tuum quis istum agrum tenuit? Cuius, non dico hominis, sed populi fuerit, expedire potes? Non dominus isto, sed colonus intrasti. Cuius colonus es? Si bene tecum agitur, heredis. Negant iurisconsulti quicqguam usu capi! publicum ; hoc, quod tenes, quod tuum dicis, publicum est et quidem generis humani.

130 egregiam artem! Scis rotunda metiri, in qua- dratum redigis quamcumque acceperis formam, inter- valla siderum dicis, nihil est, quod in mensuram tuam non cadat. Si artifex es, metire hominis animum. Dic quam magnus sit, dic quam pusillus sit. Scis, quae recta sit linea; quid tibi prodest, si quid in vita rectum sit ignoras ?

14 Venio nunc ad illum, qui caelestium notitia gloriatur :

Frigida Saturni sese quo stella receptet, Quos ignis caeli Cyllenius erret in orbes.

Hoc scire quid proderit? Ut sollicitus sim, cum Saturnus et Mars ex contrario stabunt aut cum Mer- curius vespertinum faciet occasum vidente Saturno, potius quam hoc discam, ubicumque sunt ista, pro- 15 pitia esse, non posse mutari? Agit illa continuus ordo fatorum et inevitabilis cursus. Pér statas vices remeant et effectus rerum omnium aut movent aut

1 After usu capi the later MSS. give publicum .. . dicis; omitted by VPb.

a 4.¢e., for a certain term of years; see R. W. Leage, Roman Private Law, pp. 183 ff. Compare also Lucretius iii. 971, and Horace, Jvp. ii. 2. 159.

> Vergil, Georg. i. 336 f.

e Saturn and Mars were regarded as unlucky stars. Astrology, which dates back beyond 3000 x.c. in Babylonia, was developed by the Greeks of the Alexandrian age and got a foothold in Rome by the second century B.c., flourished

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father? Can you explain what people (I will not say what person) held it originally? You did not enter upon it as a master, but merely as a tenant. And whose tenant are you? If your claim is success- ful, you are tenant of the heir. The lawyers say that public property cannot be acquired privately by possession®; what you hold and call your own is public property—indeed, it belongs to mankind at large. O what marvellous skill! You know how to measure the circle; you find the square of any shape which is set before you; you compute the distances between the stars; there is nothing which does not come within the scope of your calculations. But if you are a real master of your profession, measure me the mind of man! Tell me how great it is, or how puny! You know what a straight line is; but how does it benefit you if you do not know what is straight in this life of ours?

I come next to the person who boasts his know- ledge of the heavenly bodies, who knows

Whither the chilling star of Saturn hides, And through what orbit Mercury doth stray.’

Of what benefit will it be to know this? That I shall be disturbed because Saturn and Mars are in opposition, or when Mercury sets at eventide in plain view of Saturn, rather than learn that those stars, wherever they are, are propitious,“ and that they are not subject to change? They are driven along by an unending round of destiny, on a course from which they cannot swerve. They return at stated seasons; they either set in motion, or mark the

greatly under Tiberius. Cf. Horace, Od. i. 11. 1 f.; Juv. iii. 42 f., and F. Cumont, Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans (trans.), esp. pp. 68 ff. and 84 ff.

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notant. Sed sive quicquid evenit faciunt, quid in- mutabilis rei notitia proficiet? Sive significant, quid refert providere quod effugere non possis? Scias 16 ista, nescias; fient. Si vero solem ad rapidum stellasque sequentes

Ordine respicies, numquam te crastina fallet Hora nec insidiis noctis capiere serenae.

Satis abundeque provisum est, ut ab insidiis tutus

17 essem. “Numquid me crastina non fallit hora? Fallit enim quod nescienti evenit.’’ Ego quid futurum sit, nescio; quid fieri possit, scio. Ex hoc nihil desperabo, totum expecto; si quid remittitur, boni consulo. Fallit me hora, si parcit, sed ne sic quidem fallit. Nam quemadmodum scio omnia accidere posse, sic scio et non utique casura. Utique secunda expecto, malis paratus sum.

18 In illo feras me necesse est non per praescriptum euntem. Non enim adducor, ut in numerum libera- lium artium pictores recipiam, non magis quam statuarios aut marmorarios aut ceteros luxuriae minis- tros. Aeque luctatores et totam oleo ac luto con- stantem scientiam expello ex his studiis liberalibus ; aut et unguentarios recipiam et cocos et ceteros! voluptatibus nostris ingenia accommodantes sua.

1 ceteros later MSS. ; ceteris VPb.

@ Vergil, Georg. i. 424 ff. > An allusion to the sand and oil of the wrestling-ring.

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intervals of the whole world’s work. But if they are responsible for whatever happens, how will it help you to know the secrets of the immutable? Or if they merely give indications, what good is there in foreseeing what you cannot escape? Whether you know these things or not, they will take place.

Behold the fleeting sun, The stars that follow in his train, and thou Shalt never find the morrow play thee false, Or be misled by nights without a cloud.¢

It has, however, been sufficiently and fully ordained that I shall be safe from anything that may mislead me. “What,” you say, “does the ‘morrow never play me false’? Whatever happens without my knowledge plays me false.” I, for my part, do not know what is to be, but I do know what may come to be. I shall have no misgivings in this matter ; I await the future in its entirety; and if there is any abatement in its severity, I make the most of it. If the morrow treats me kindly, it is a sort of de- ception; but it does not deceive me even at that. For just as I know that all things can happen, so I know, too, that they will not happen in every case. I am ready for favourable events in every case, but I am prepared for evil.

In this discussion you must bear with me if I do not follow the regular course. For I do not consent to admit painting into the list of liberal arts, any more than sculpture, marble - working, and other helps toward luxury. I also debar from the liberal studies wrestling and all knowledge that is com- pounded of oil and mud°; otherwise, I should be compelled to admit perfumers also, and cooks, and all others who lend their wits to the service of our

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19 Quid enim, oro te, liberale habent isti ieiuni vomi- tores, quorum corpora in sagina, animi in macie et veterno sunt? An liberale studium istuc_ esse iuventuti nostrae credimus, quam maiores nostri rectam exercuerunt hastilia iacere, sudem torquere, equum agitare, arma tractare? Nihil liberos suos docebant, quod discendum esset iacentibus. Sed nec hae nec illae docent aluntve virtutem. Quid enim prodest equum regere et cursum eius freno temperare, adfectibus effrenatissimis abstrahi? Quid prodest multos vincere luctatione vel caestu, ab iracundia vinci ?

20 “Quid ergo? Nihil nobis liberalia conferunt studia?” Ad alia multum, ad virtutem nihil. Nam et hae viles ex professo artes, quae manu constant, ad instrumenta vitae plurimum conferunt, tamen ad virtutem non pertinent. “Quare ergo liberalibus studiis filios erudimus?’”’ Non quia virtutem dare possunt, sed quia animum ad accipiendam virtutem praeparant. Quemadmodum prima illa, ut antiqui vocabant, litteratura, per quam pueris elementa traduntur, non docet liberales artes, sed mox per- cipiendis locum parat, sic liberales artes non perdu- cunt animum ad virtutem, sed expediunt.

e Of. Ep. xv. 3 copia ciborum subtilitas inpeditur.

> In a strict sense; not, as in § 2, as Seneca thinks that the term should really be defined—the ‘liberal ” study, ae. the pursuit of wisdom.

e For the rpérn aywyn see Quintilian, ii. 1. 4.

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pleasures. For what “liberal” element is there in these ravenous takers of emetics, whose bodies are fed to fatness while their minds are thin and dull?* Or do we really believe that the training which they give is “liberal” for the young men of Rome, who used to be taught by our ancestors to stand straight and hurl a spear, to wield a pike, to guide a horse, and to handle weapons? Our ancestors used to teach their children nothing that could be learned while lying down. But neither the new system nor the old teaches or nourishes virtue. For what good does it do us to guide a horse and control his speed with the curb, and then find that our own passions, utterly uncurbed, bolt with us? Or to beat many opponents in wrestling or boxing, and then to find that we ourselves are beaten by anger?

“What then,’ you say, “do the liberal studies contribute nothing to our welfare?” Very much in other respects, but nothing at all as regards virtue. For even these arts of which I have spoken, though admittedly of a low grade—depending as they do upon handiwork — contribute greatly toward the equipment of life, but nevertheless have nothing to do with virtue. And if you inquire, “ Why, then, do we educate our children in the liberal studies ?”’® it is not because they can bestow virtue, but because they prepare the soul for the reception of virtue. Just as that “primary course,’® as the ancients called it, in grammar, which gave boys their elementary training, does not teach them the liberal arts, but prepares the ground for their early acquisi- tion of these arts, so the liberal arts do not conduct the soul all the way to virtue, but merely set it going in that direction.

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Quattuor ait esse artium Posidonius genera: sunt volgares et sordidae, sunt ludicrae, sunt pueriles, sunt liberales. Volgares opificum, quae manu con- stant et ad instruendam vitam occupatae sunt, in quibus nulla decoris, nulla honesti simulatio est. Ludicrae sunt, quae ad voluptatem oculorum atque aurium tendunt. His adnumeres licet machinatores, qui pegmata per se surgentia excogitant et tabulata tacite in sublime crescentia et alias ex inopinato varietates aut dehiscentibus, quae cohaerebant, aut his, quae distabant, sua sponte coeuntibus aut his, quae eminebant, paulatim in se residentibus. His imperitorum feriuntur oculi omnia subita, quia causas non novere, mirantium. Pueriles sunt et aliquid habentes liberalibus simile hae artes, quas éyxuxA/ovs Graeci, nostri autem liberales vocant. Solae autem liberales sunt, immo, ut dicam verius, liberae, quibus curae virtus est.

“Quemadmodum,” inquit, “ est aliqua pars philoso- phiae naturalis, est aliqua moralis, est aliqua rationalis, sic et haec quoque liberalium artium turba locum sibi in philosophia vindicat. Cum ventum est ad naturales quaestiones, geometriae testimonio statur ; ergo eius, quam adiuvat, pars est.” Multa adiuvant

¢ From what work of Posidonius Seneca is here quoting we do not know; it may perhaps be from the Hoorpemrixd, or Exhortations, indicating the training preliminary to philosophy.

> See note a, p. 348.

¢ 74.é, mathematics is a department of philosophia naturalis.

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Posidonius® divides the arts into four classes: first we have those which are common and low, then those which serve for amusement, then those which refer to the education of boys, and, finally, the liberal arts. ‘The common sort belong to workmen and are mere hand-work ; they are concerned with equipping life; there is in them no pretence to beauty or honour. The arts of amusement are those which aim to please the eye and the ear. To this class you may assign the stage-machinists, who invent scaffolding that goes aloft of its own accord, or floors that rise silently into the air, and many other surprising devices, as when objects that fit together then fall apart, or objects which are separate then join together automatically, or objects which stand erect then gradually collapse. The eye of the inexperienced is struck with amazement by these things ; for such persons marvel at everything that takes place without warning, because they do not know the causes. The arts which belong to the education of boys, and are somewhat similar to the liberal arts, are those which the Greeks call the “cycle of studies,’ ® but which we Romans call the “liberal.”” However, those alone are really liberal —or rather, to give them a truer name, “ free” whose concern is virtue.

« But,” one will say, “just as there is a part of philosophy which has to do with nature, and a part which has to do with ethics, and a part which has to do with reasoning, so this group of liberal arts also claims for itself a place in philosophy. When one approaches questions that deal with nature, a decision is reached by means of a word from the mathe- matician. Therefore mathematics is a department of that branch which it aids.”¢ But many things

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nos nec ideo partes nostri! sunt. Immo si partes essent, non adiuvarent. Cibus adiutorium corporis nec tamen pars est. Aliquid nobis praestat geo- metriae ministerium ; sic philosophiae necessaria est, quomodo ipsi faber. Sed nec hic geometriae pars est nec illa philosophiae. Praeterea utraque fines suos habet. Sapiens enim causas naturalium et quaerit et novit, quorum numeros mensurasque geo- metres persequitur et subputat. Qua ratione con- stent caelestia, quae illis sit vis quaeve natura, sapiens scit; cursus et recursus et quasdam observationes, per quas descendunt et adlevantur ac speciem inter- dum stantium praebent, cum caelestibus stare non liceat, colligit mathematicus. Quae causa in speculo imagines exprimat, sciet sapiens ; illud tibi geometres potest dicere, quantum abesse debeat corpus ab imagine et qualis forma speculi quales imagines reddat. Magnum esse solem philosophus probabit ; quantus sit, mathematicus, qui usu quodam et exer- citatione procedit; sed ut procedat, impetranda illi quaedam principia sunt. Non est autem ars sui iuris, cui precarium fundamentum est. Philosophia nil ab alio petit, totum opus a solo excitat ; mathe- matice, ut ita dicam, superficiaria est, in alieno aedificat. Accipit prima, quorum beneficio ad ul-

1 nostri Madvig; nostrae MSS.

« This line of argument inversely resembles the criticism by Seneca of Posidonius in Hp. xc.—that the inventions of early science cannot be properly termed a part of philosophy.

2 pee LV.Q. 1. 4 if.

¢ According to Roman law, superficies solo cedit, ** the building goes with the ground.”

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aid us and yet are not parts of ourselves. Nay, if they were, they would not aid us. Food is an aid to the body, but is not a part of it. We get some help from the service which mathematics renders ; and mathematics is as indispensable to philosophy as the carpenter is to the mathematician. But carpentering is not a part of mathematics, nor is mathematics a part of philosophy. Moreover, each has its own limits; for the wise man investigates and learns the causes of natural phenomena, while the mathematician follows up and computes their numbers and their measurements.? The wise man knows the laws by which the heavenly bodies persist, what powers belong to them, and what attributes; the astronomer merely notes their comings and goings, the rules which govern their settings and their risings, and the occasional periods during which they seem to stand still, although as a matter of fact no heavenly body can stand still. The wise man will know what causes the reflection in a mirror; but the mathematician can merely tell you how far the body should be from the reflection, and what shape of mirror will produce a given reflection.2 The philosopher will demonstrate that the sun is a large body, while the astronomer will compute just how large, progressing in knowledge by his method of trial and experiment; but in order to progress, he must summon to his aid certain principles. No art, however, is sufficient unto itself, if the foundation upon which it rests depends upon mere favour. Now philosophy asks no favours from any other source; it builds everything on its own soil; but the science of numbers is, so to speak, a structure built on another man’s land—it builds on alien soil. It accepts first principles, and by their

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teriora perveniat. Si per se iret ad verum, si totius mundi naturam posset conprendere, dicerem multum conlaturam mentibus nostris, quae tractatu caelestium erescunt trahuntque aliquid ex alto.) Una re con- summatur animus, scientia bonorum ac malorum inmutabili; nihil? autem ulla ars alia de bonis ac malis quaerit.

99 Singulas lubet? circumire virtutes. Fortitudo contemptrix timendorum est; terribilia et sub iugum libertatem nostram mittentia despicit, provocat, frangit. Numquid ergo hanc liberalia studia cor- roborant? Fides sanctissimum humani_ pectoris bonum est, nulla necessitate ad fallendum cogitur, nullo corrumpitur praemio. “Ure,” inquit, “ caede, occide ; non prodam, sed quo magis secreta quaeret dolor, hoe illa altius condam.” Numquid liberalia studia hos animos facere possunt? Temperantia voluptatibus imperat, alias odit atque abigit, alias dispensat et ad sanum modum redigit nec umquam ad illas propter ipsas venit. Scit optimum esse modum cupitorum non quantum velis, sed quantum

30 debeas sumere. Humanitas vetat superbum esse adversus socios, vetat avarum. Verbis, rebus, ad- fectibus comem‘ se facilemque omnibus _praestat. Nullum alienum malum putat. Bonum autem suum ideo maxime, quod alicui bono futurum est, amat. Numquid liberalia studia hos mores praecipiunt ?

1 alto Gruter ; alio VP ; aliquo b. 2 Before nihil later MSS. give quae soli philosophias conpetit ; om. by the better MSS. 3 lubet Muretus ; hahet VPb. 4 comem later MSS. ; communem V Pb.

« Kxcept philosophy. > 7.e., in the more commonly accepted sense of the term.

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favour arrives at further conclusions. If it could march unassisted to the truth, if it were able to understand the nature of the universe, I should say that it would offer much assistance to our minds ; for the mind grows by contact with things heavenly, and draws into itself something from on_ high. There is but one thing that brings the soul to per- fection—the unalterable knowledge of good and evil. But there is no other art % which investigates good and evil.

I should like to pass in review the several virtues. Bravery is ascorner of things which inspire fear ; it - looks down upon, challenges, and crushes the powers of terror and all that would drive our freedom under the yoke. But do “ liberal studies ” 8 strengthen this virtue? Loyalty is the holiest good in the human heart; it is forced into betrayal by no constraint, and it is bribed by no rewards. Loyalty cries: “Burn me, slay me, kill me! I shall not betray my trust; and the more urgently torture shall seek to find my secret, the deeper in my heart will I bury it!’’ Can the “liberal arts’”’ produce such a spirit within us? Temperance controls our desires ; some it hates and routs, others it regulates and restores to a healthy measure, nor does it ever approach our desires for their own sake. Temperance knows that the best measure of the appetites is not what you want to take, but what you ought to take. Kindliness forbids you to be over-bearing towards your associates, and it forbids you to be grasping. In words and in deeds and in feelings it shows itself gentle and courteous to all men. It counts no evil as another’s solely. And the reason why it loves its own good is chiefly because it will some day be the good of another. Do “liberal studies” teach a man

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Non magis quam simplicitatem, quam modestiam ac moderationem, non magis quam frugalitatem ac par- simoniam, non magis quam clementiam, quae alieno sanguini tamquam suo parcit et scit homini non esse homine prodige utendum.

“Cum dicatis,” inquit, “ sine liberalibus studiis ad virtutem non perveniri, quemadmodum negatis illa nihil conferre virtuti?’” Quia nec sine cibo ad virtutem pervenitur, cibus tamen ad virtutem non pertinet. Ligna navi nihil conferunt, quamvis non fiat navis nisi ex lignis. Non est, inquam, cur aliquid putes eius adiutorio fieri, sine quo non potest fieri. Potest quidem etiam illud dici: sine liberalibus studiis veniri ad sapientiam posse; quamvis enim virtus discenda sit, tamen non per haec discitur.

Quid est autem, quare existimem non futurum sapientem eum, qui litteras nescit, cum sapientia non sit in litteris? Res tradit, non verba, et nescio an certior memoria sit, quae nullum extra se sub- sidium habet. Magna et spatiosa res est sapientia. Vacuo illi loco opus est. De divinis humanisque discendum est, de praeteritis de futuris, de caducis de acternis, de tempore. De quo uno vide quam multa quaerantur: primum an per se sit aliquid ; deinde an aliquid ante tempus sit sine tempore; cum

« This usage is a not infrequent one in Latin; ef. Petronius, Sat. 42 neminem nihil boni facere oportet ; id. ib. 58; Verg. Ecl. v. 25, etc. See Draeger, fist. Syn. ii. 75, and Roby, ii. 2246 ff.

> Cf. Epp. xxxi. 6 and lxxxi. 29 aestimare res, de quibus .. . cum rerum natura deliberandum est.

¢ The ancient Stoics defined Time as ‘‘ extension of the world’s motion.” ‘The seasons were said to be ‘‘alive” because they depended on material conditions. But the Stoics really acknowledged Time to be immaterial. The same problem of corporeality was discussed with regard to the ‘* good,

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such character as this? No; no more than they teach simplicity, moderation and_ self - restraint, thrift and economy, and that kindliness which spares a neighbour’s life as if it were one’s own and knows that it is not for man to make wasteful use of his fellow-man.

“ But,” one says, “since you declare that virtue cannot be attained without the ‘liberal studies,’ how is it that you deny that they offer any assistance to virtue?”’* Because you cannot attain virtue without food, either; and yet food has nothing to do with virtue. Wood does not offer assistance to a ship, although a ship cannot be built except of wood. There is no reason, I say, why you should think that anything is made by the assistance of that without which it cannot be made. We might even make the statement that it is possible to attain wisdom without the “liberal studies’; for although virtue is a thing that must be learned, yet it is not learned by means of these studies.

What reason have I, however, for supposing that one who is ignorant of letters will never be a wise man, since wisdom is not to be found in letters? Wisdom communicates facts ® and not words; and it may be true that the memory is more to be depended upon when it has no support outside itself. Wisdom is a large and_ spacious thing. It needs plenty of free room. One must learn about things divine and human, the past and the future, the ephemeral and the eternal; and one must learn about Time.“ See how many questions arise concerning time alone: in the first place, whether it is anything in and by itself; in the second place, whether anything exists prior to time and without time; and again, did time

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mundo coeperit an etiam ante mundum quia fuerit aliquid, fuerit et tempus. Innumerabiles quaestiones sunt de animo tantum: unde sit, qualis sit, quando esse incipiat, quamdiu sit; aliunde alio transeat et domicilia mutet in! alias animalium formas aliasque coniectus, an non amplius quam semel serviat et emissus vagetur in toto; utrum corpus sit an non sit; quid sit facturus, cum per nos aliquid facere desierit, quomodo libertate sua usurus, cum ex hac effugerit cavea; an obliviscatur priorum et illinc? nosse se incipiat, unde corpori abductus in sublime secessit.

Quamcumgue partem rerum humanarum divina- rumque conprenderis, ingenti copia quaerendorum ac discendorum fatigaberis. Haec tam multa, tam magna ut habere possint liberum hospitium, super- vacua ex animo tollenda sunt. Non dabit se in has angustias virtus; laxum spatium res magna desiderat. Expellantur omnia, totum pectus illi vacet.

«At enim delectat artium notitia multarum.” Tantum itaque ex illis retineamus, quantum neces- sarium est. An tu existimas reprendendum, qui supervacua usibus conparat et pretiosarum rerum pompam in domo explicat, non putas eum, qui occupatus est in supervacua litterarum supellectile ? Plus scire velle quam sit satis, intemperantiae genus

1 in Koch ; ad MSS. ® dllinc Hense ; ili (ille) (illic) ne MSS. 370

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begin along with the universe, or, because there was something even before the universe began, did time also exist then? There are countless questions con- cerning the soul alone: whence it comes, what is its nature, when it begins to exist, and how long it exists; whether it passes from one place to another and changes its habitation, being transferred succes- sively from one animal shape to another, or whether it isa slave but once, roaming the universe after it is set free ; whether it is corporeal or not; what will become of it when it ceases to use us as its medium ; how it will employ its freedom when it has escaped from this present prison ; whether it will forget all its past, and at that moment begin to know itself when, released from the body, it has withdrawn to the skies.

Thus, whatever phase of things human and divine you have apprehended, you will be wearied by the vast number of things to be answered and things to be learned. And in order that these manifold and mighty subjects may have free enter- tainment in your soul, you must remove therefrom all superfluous things. Virtue will not surrender herself to these narrow bounds of ours; a great subject needs wide space in which to move. Let all other things be driven out, and let the breast be emptied to receive virtue.

“ But it is a pleasure to be acquainted with many arts.” Therefore let us keep only as much of them as is essential. Do you regard that man as blame- worthy who puts superfluous things on the same footing with useful things, and in his house makes a lavish display of costly objects, but do not deem him blameworthy who has allowed himself to become engrossed with the useless furniture of learning? This desire to know more than is sufficient is a sort

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est. Quid? Quod ista liberalium artium consectatio molestos, verbosos, intempestivos, sibi placentes facit et ideo non discentes necessaria, quia supervacua didicerunt. Quattuor milia librorum Didymus grammaticus scripsit. Misererer, si tam multa supervacua legisset. In his libris de patria Homeri quaeritur, in his de Aeneae matre vera, in his libids- nosior Anacreon an ebriosior vixerit, in his an Sappho publica fuerit, et alia, quae erant dediscenda, si scires. I nunc et longam esse vitam nega. Sed ad nostros quoque cum _ perveneris, ostendam multa securibus recidenda.

Magno impendio temporum, magna alienarum aurium molestia laudatio haec constat: O hominem litteratum! Simus hoc titulo rusticiore contenti: O virum bonum! Itane est? Annales evolvam om- nium gentium et quis primus carmina scripserit quaeram? Quantum temporis inter Orphea intersit et Homerum, cum fastos non habeam, computabo? Et Aristarchi ineptias, quibus aliena carmina con- punxit, recognoscam et aetatem in syllabis conteram? Itane in geometriae pulvere haerebo? Adeo mihi praeceptum illud salutare excidit : “Tempori parce”’ ? Haec sciam? Et quid ignorem?

« Compare the schoolmaster of Juvenal (vii. 234 ff.), who must know

Nutricem Anchisae, nomen patriamque novercae Anchemoli, dicat quot Acestes vixerit annis, etc., and Friedlinder’s note.

> A tradition, probably begun by the Greek comic writers, and explained by Professor Smyth (Greek Melic Poets, pp. 227 f.) as due to the more independent position of women among the Aeolians.

¢ Marking supposedly spurious lines by the obelus, and using other signs to indicate variations, repetitions, and interpolations. He paid special attention to Homer, Pindar, Hesiod, and the tragedians.

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of intemperance. Why? Because this unseemly pursuit of the liberal arts makes men troublesome, wordy, tactless, self-satisfied bores, who fail to learn the essentials Just because they have learned the non-essentials. _Didymus the scholar wrote four thousand books. I should feel pity for him if he had only read the same number of superfluous volumes. In these books he investigates Homer's birthplace,@ who was really the mother of Aeneas, whether Anacreon was more of a rake or more of a drunkard, whether Sappho was a bad lot,? and other problems the answers to which, if found, were forthwith to be forgotten. Come now, do not tell me that life is long! Nay, when you come to consider our own countrymen also, I can show you many works which ought to be cut down with the axe.

It is at the cost of a vast outlay of time and of vast discomfort to the ears of others that we win such praise as this: “ What a learned man you are!” Let us be content with this recommendation, less citified though it be: “ What a good man you are!” Do I mean this? Well, would you have me unroll the annals of the world’s history and try to find out who first wrote poetry? Or, in the absence of written records, shall I make an estimate of the number of years which lie between Orpheus and Homer? Or shall I make a study of the absurd writings of Aristarchus, wherein he branded the text of other men’s verses, and wear my life away upon syllables? Shall I then wallow in the geometrician’s dust 7? Have I so far forgotten that useful saw “‘ Save your time”? Must I know these things ? And what may I choose not to know ?

ee geometricians drew their figures in the dust or sand.

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Apion grammaticus, qui sub C. Caesare tota circu- latus! est Graecia et in nomen Homeri ab omnibus civitatibus adoptatus, aiebat Homerum utraque materia consummata, et Odyssia et Iliade, principium adiecisse operi suo, quo bellum Troianum complexus est. Huius rei argumentum adferebat, quod duas litteras in primo versu posuisset ex industria librorum suorum numerum continentes. Talia sciat oportet, qui multa vult scire, non cogitare, quantum temporis tibi auferat mala valetudo, quantum occupatio publica, quantum occupatio privata, quantum occupatio coti- diana, quantum somnus. Metire aetatem tuam; tam multa non capit.

De liberalibus studiis loquor; philosophi quantum habent supervacui, quantum ab usu recedentis! Ipsi quoque ad syllabarum distinctiones et coniunctionum ac praepositionum proprietates descenderunt et in- videre grammaticis, invidere geometris. Quicquid in illorum artibus supervacuum erat, transtulere in suam. Sic effectum est, ut diligentius loqui scirent quam vivere. Audi, quantum mali faciat nimia sub- tilitas et quam infesta veritati sit. Protagoras ait de omni re in utramque partem disputari posse ex aequo et de hac ipsa, an omnis res in utramque partem dis- putabilis sit. Nausiphanes ait ex his, quae videntur esse, nihil magis esse quam non esse. Parmenides

1 circulatus a MS. of Lipsius ; circumlatus Vb.

@ Originally, rhapsodists who recited from Homer; in general, ‘‘interpreters and admirers—in short. the whole ‘spiritual kindred ’—of Homer” (D. B. Monro)

®’ An ancient explanation of the (now disproved) author- ship by Homer of such poems as the Cypria, Little Lliad Sack of Troy, ete.

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Apion, the scholar, who drew crowds to his lectures all over Greece in the days of Gaius Caesar and was acclaimed a Homerid® by every state, used to maintain that Homer, when he had finished his two poems, the J/iad and the Odyssey, added a preliminary poem to his work, wherein he embraced the whole Trojan war.?’. The argument which Apion adduced to prove this statement was that Homer had purposely inserted in the opening line two letters which contained a key to the number of his books. A man who wishes to know many things must know such things as these, and must take no thought of all the time which one loses by ill-health, public duties, private duties, daily duties, and sleep. Apply the measure to the years of your life; they have no room for all these things.

I have been speaking so far of liberal studies ; but think how much superfluous and unpractical matter the philosophers contain! Of their own accord they also have descended to establishing nice divisions of syllables, to determining the true mean- ing of conjunctions and prepositions; they have been envious of the scholars, envious of the mathe- maticians. They have taken over into their own art all the superfluities of these other arts; the result is that they know more about careful speaking than about careful living. Let me tell you what evils are due to over-nice exactness, and what an enemy it is of truth! Protagoras declares that one can take either side on any question and debate it with equal success—even on this very question, whether every subject can be debated from either point of view. Nausiphanes holds that in things which seem to exist, there is no difference between existence and non-existence. Parmenides maintains that nothing

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ait ex his, quae videntur, nihil esse uno excepto! universo. Zenon Eleates omnia negotia de negotio deiecit: ait nihil esse. Circa eadem fere Pyrrhonei versantur et Megarici et Eretrici? et Academici, qui novam induxerunt scientiam, nihil scire. Haec omnia in illum supervacuum studiorum liberalium gregem coice; illi mihi non profuturam scientiam tradunt, hi spem omnis scientiae eripiunt. Satius est supervacua scire quam nihil. Ili non praeferunt lumen, per quod acies derigatur ad verum; hi oculos mihi effodiunt. Si Protagorae credo, nihil in rerum natura est nisi dubium; si Nausiphani, hoc unum certum est, nihil esse certi; si Parmenidi, nihil est praeter unum; si Zenoni, ne unum quidem.

Quid ergo nos sumus? Quid ista, quae nos cir- cumstant, alunt, sustinent? Tota rerum natura umbra est aut inanis aut fallax. Non facile dixerim, utris magis irascar, illis, qui nos nihil scire voluerunt, an illis, qui ne hoe quidem nobis reliquerunt, nihil scire. VALE.

LXXXIX

Seneca LycILio svo SALVTEM Rem utilem desideras et ad sapientiam 8 prope-

1 uno excepto inserted by Kalbfleisch ; nihil esse universo Vb. 2 Eretrici Lipsius ; cretici Vb. 8 ad sapientiam later MSS. ; sapientem B.

« In other words, the unchangeable, perfect Being of the universe is contrasted with the mutable Non-Being of opinion and unreality.

> 7.¢., the universe.

¢ See §§ 9 ff., which give the normal division,

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exists of all this which seems to exist, except the universe alone.“ Zeno of Elea removed all the difficulties by removing one; for he declares that nothing exists. The Pyrrhonean, Megarian, Eretrian, and Academic schools are all engaged in practically the same task; they have introduced a new know- ledge, non-knowledge. You may sweep all these theories in with the superfiuous troops of “liberal” studies; the one class of men give me a knowledge that will be of no use to me, the other class do away with any hope of attaining knowledge. It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. One set of philosophers offers no light by which I may direct my gaze toward the truth ; the other digs out my very eyes and leaves me blind. If I cleave to Protagoras, there is nothing in the scheme of nature that is not doubtful; if I hold with Nausiphanes, I am sure only of this—that everything is unsure; if with Parmenides, there is nothing except the One®; if with Zeno, there is not even the One.

What are we, then? What becomes of all these things that surround us, support us, sustain us? The whole universe is then a vain or deceptive shadow. I cannot readily say whether I am more vexed at those who would have it that we know nothing, or with those who would not leave us even this privilege. Farewell.

LXXXIX. ON THE PARTS OF PHILOSOPHY ¢

It is a useful fact that you wish to know, one which is essential to him who hastens after wisdom

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ranti necessariam, dividi philosophiam et ingens corpus eius in membra disponi. F[acilius enim per partes in cognitionem! totius adducimur. Utinam quidem quemadmodum universa mundi facies in conspectum venit, ita philosophia tota nobis posset occurrere, simillimum mundo spectaculum. Profecto enim omnes mortales in admirationem sui raperet relictis iis, quae nunc magna magnorum ignorantia credimus. Sed quia contingere hoc non potest, est sic? nobis aspicienda,? quemadmodum mundi secreta cernuntur.

Sapientis quidem animus totam molem eius am- pleetitur nec minus illam velociter obit quam caelum acies nostra; nobis autem, quibus perrumpenda caligo est et quorum visus in proximo deficit, singula quaeque ostendi facilius possunt universi nondum capacibus. Faciam ergo quod exigis, et philosophiam in partes, non in frusta,* dividam. Dividi enim illam, non concidi, utile est. Nam conprehendere quem- admodum maxima ita minima difficile est. Dis- cribitur in tribus populus, in centurias exercitus. Quicquid in maius crevit, facilius agnoscitur, si discessit in partes, quas, ut dixi, innumerabiles esse et parvulas non oportet. Idem enim vitii habet nimia quod nulla divisio; simile confuso est, quid- quid usque in pulverem sectum est.

1 cognitionem later MSS. ; cogitationem B. 2 est sic Buecheler ; e¢ sic B; et sic erit later MSS. 3 aspicienda Mentel. ; abscienda B. 4 frusta later MSS. ; frustra B.

~ @ See Plato, especially Symposium 211 ff. > j.¢., an infinitely small divisio is the same as its opposite —confusio

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—namely, the parts of philosophy and the division of its huge bulk into separate members. For by studying the parts we can be brought more easily to understand the whole. I only wish that philosophy might come before our eyes in all her unity, just as the whole expanse of the firmament is spread out for us to gaze upon! It would be a sight closely resembling that of the firmament. For then surely philosophy would ravish all mortals with love for her“; we should abandon all those things which, in our ignorance of what is great, we believe to be great. Inasmuch, however, as this cannot fall to our lot, we must view philosophy just as men gaze upon the secrets of the firmament.

The wise man’s mind, to be sure, embraces the whole framework of philosophy, surveying it with no less rapid glance than our mortal eyes survey the heavens; we, however, who must break through the gloom, we whose vision fails even for that which is near at hand, can be shown with greater ease each separate object even though we cannot yet com- prehend the universe. I shall therefore comply with your demand, and shall divide philosophy into parts, but not into scraps. For it is useful that philosophy should be divided, but not chopped into bits. Just as it is hard to take in what is indefinitely large, so it is hard to take in what is indefinitely small. The people are divided into tribes, the army into centuries. Whatever has grown to greater size is more easily identified if it is broken up into parts ; but the parts, as I have remarked, must not be countless in number and diminutive in size. For over-analysis is faulty in precisely the same way as no analysis at all; whatever you cut so fine that it becomes dust is as good as blended into a mass again.?

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4 Primum itaque, si videtur! tibi, dicam, inter sapientiam et philosophiam quid intersit. Sapientia perfectum bonum est mentis humanae. Philosophia sapientiae amor est et adfectatio. Haec eo tendit,? quo illa pervenit. Philosophia unde dicta sit, ap- paret. Ipso enim nomine fatetur quid amet.’

5 Sapientiam quidam ita finierunt, ut dicerent divino- rum et humanorum scientiam. Quidam ita: sapientia est nosse divina et humana et horum causas. Su- pervacua mihi haec videtur adiectio, quia causae divinorum humanorumque pars divinorum sunt. Philosophiam quoque fuerunt qui aliter atque aliter finirent. Alii studium illam virtutis esse dixerunt, alii studium corrigendae mentis, a quibusdam dicta

6 est adpetitio rectae rationis. I[llud quasi constitit, aliquid inter philosophiam et sapientiam interesse. Neque enim fieri potest ut idem sit quod adfectatur et quod adfectat. Quomodo multum inter avaritiam et pecuniam interest, cum illa cupiat, haec concupis- catur, sic inter philosophiam et sapientiam. Haec enim illius effectus ac praemium est; illa venit, ad

7 hane venitur.4 Sapientia est, quam Graeci cod¢/av vocant. Hoc verbo Romani quoque utebantur, sicut philosophia nune quoque utuntur. Quod et togatae

1 si videtur Haase; si ut videtur MSS. 2 ¢o tendit Cornelissen ; ostendit B. 3 quid amet Madvig ; quidam et B.

4 venitur Hense ; itur MSS. W. Schultz argues that § 7 (sapientia . . . Dossenni lege) has by some error been trans- ferred from its proper position after quo illa pervenit in § 4 to its present place, where it disturbs the sequence of the thought.

@ ** T ove-of-Wisdom.”

» Qelwv Te Kal avOpwrivwv émiothun, quoted by Plutarch, De Plac. Phil. 874 §.

¢ Cicero, De Off. ii. 2. 5.

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In the first place, therefore, if you approve, I shall draw the distinction between wisdom and philosophy. Wisdom is the perfect good of the human inind; philosophy is the love of wisdom, and the endeavour to attain it. The latter strives toward the goal which the former has already reached. And it is clear why philosophy was so called. For it acknowledges by its very name the object of its love. Certain persons have defined wisdom as the knowledge of things divine and things human. Still others say: “ Wisdom is knowing things divine and things human, and their causes also.” ° This added phrase seems to me to be superfluous, since the causes of things divine and things human are a part of the divine system. Philosophy also has been defined in various ways; some have called it “the study of virtue,’ % others have referred to it as “a study of the way to amend the mind,’* and some have named it “the search for right reason.” One thing is practically settled, that there is some difference between philosophy and wisdom. Nor indeed is it possible that that which is sought and that which seeks are identical. As there is a great difference between avarice and wealth, the one being the subject of the craving and the other its object, so between philosophy and wisdom. For the one is a result and a reward of the other. Philosophy does the going, and wisdom is the goal. Wisdom is that which the Greeks call codia. The Romans also were wont to use this word in the sense in which they now use “philosophy” also. This will be proved to your satisfaction by our old national

@ The doxnors dperijs of the earlier Stoics. Seneca (Frag. 17) also calls it recta vivendi ratio. * i.6., to make a bona mens out of a mala mens.

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tibi antiquae probabunt et inscriptus Dossenni monumento titulus :

Hospes resiste et sophian Dossenni lege.

8 Quidam ex nostris, quamvis philosophia studium virtutis esset et haec peteretur, illa peteret, tamen non putaverunt illas distrahi posse. Nam nec philo- sophia sine virtute est nec sine philosophia virtus. Philosophia studium virtutis est, sed per ipsam virtutem; nec virtus autem esse sine studio sui potest nec virtutis studium sine ipsa. Non enim quemadmodum in iis, qui aliquid ex distanti loco ferire conantur, alibi est qui petit, alibi quod petitur. Nec quemadmodum itinera quae ad urbes perducunt, sic viae ad virtutem sunt! extra ipsam; ad virtutem venitur per ipsam; cohaerent inter se philosophia virtusque.

9 Philosophiae tres partes esse dixerunt et maximi et plurimi auctores: moralem, naturalem, rationalem. Prima conponit animum. Secunda rerum naturam scrutatur. Tertia proprietates verborum exigit et structuram et argumentationes, ne pro vero falsa subrepant. Ceterum inventi sunt et qui in pauciora

10 philosophiam et qui in plura diducerent. Quidam ex Peripateticis quartam partem adiecerunt ? civilem, quia propriam quandam exercitationem desideret et

1 sic . . . sunt added by Buecheler, giving the general sense ; there is a lacuna in B, in which traces of a corrupt

text can be made out. 2 adiecerunt later MSS. ; adicerent B.

@ It is doubtful whether this was the name of a real person, or a mere ‘‘Joe Miller” type from the Fabula Atellana. The character,in Tlorace,~ Hp. ii. 42. 1%5,_ is certainly the latter; and the testimony of Pliny (V.7. xiv. 15), who quotes a line from a play called Acharistio, is not reliable,

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plays, as well as by the epitaph that is carved on the tomb of Dossennus @ :

Pause, stranger, and read the wisdom of Dossennus.

Certain of our school, however, although philosophy meant to them “the study of virtue,” and though virtue was the object sought and philosophy the seeker, have maintained nevertheless that the two cannot be sundered. For philosophy cannot exist without virtue, nor virtue without philosophy. Philosophy is the study of virtue, by means, however, of virtue itself; but neither can virtue exist without the study of itself, nor can the study of virtue exist without virtue itself. For it is not like trying to hit a target at long range, where the shooter and the object to be shot at are in different places. Nor, as roads which lead into a city, are the approaches to virtue situated outside virtue herself; the path by which one reaches virtue leads by way of virtue herself; philosophy and virtue cling closely together.

The greatest authors, and the greatest number of authors, have maintained that there are three divisions of philosophy—moral, natural, and rational.® The first keeps the soul in order; the second in- vestigates the universe; the third works out the essential meanings of words, their combinations, and the proofs which keep falsehood from creeping in and displacing truth. But there have also been those who divided philosophy on the one hand into fewer divisions, on the other hand into more. Certain of the Peripatetic school have added a fourth division, “civil philosophy,’ because it calls for a special sphere of activity and is interested in

2'4.¢., logic;

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circa aliam materiam occupata sit. Quidam adie- cerunt his partem, quam otkovopiKyv vocant, ad- ministrandae familiaris rei scientiam. Quidam et de generibus vitae locum separaverunt. Nihil autem horum non in illa! parte morali reperietur.

11 Epicurei duas partes philosophiae putaverunt esse, naturalem atque moralem; rationalem remo- verunt. Deinde cum ipsis rebus cogerentur ambigua secernere, falsa sub specie veri latentia coarguere, ipsi quoque locum, quem de iudicio et regula appellant, alio nomine rationalem induxerunt, sed eum accessionem esse naturalis partis existimant.

12 Cyrenaici naturalia cum rationalibus sustulerunt et contenti fuerunt moralibus, sed hi quoque quae removent, aliter inducunt. In quinque enim partes moralia dividunt, ut una sit de fugiendis et petendis, altera de adfectibus, tertia de actionibus, quarta de causis, quinta de argumentis. Causae rerum ex

13 naturali parte sunt, argumenta ex rationali.? Ariston Chius non tantum supervacuas esse dixit naturalem et rationalem,’ sed etiam contrarias. Moralem quo-

1 non in illa the later MSS. ; non illa B. 2 rationali later MSS. ; morali B. Buecheler thinks that a phrase neutrum ex morali may have dropped out—“ neither

belongs to the ‘ moral.’ ” 3 rationalem later MSS. ; formalem B.

@ 7.¢., **the management of the home.”

» That is, of the various arts which deal with the depart- ments of living, such as generalship, politics, business, etc.

¢ Frag. 242 Usener.

4 Seneca by de iudicio is translating the Greek adjective dixavixds, **that which has to do with the courts of law.” and by de regula the word kavovxds, ‘* that which has to do with rules,” here the rules of logic. The Epicureans used for logic xavovixy, in contrast with Aristotle and his successors, who used doyix7. The Latin rationalis is a translation of the latter.

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a different subject matter. Some have added a department for which they use the Greek term ‘economics,’ * the science of managing one’s own household. Still others have made a distinct head- ing for the various kinds of life? There is no one of these subdivisions, however, which will not be found under the branch called “ moral” philosophy.

The Epicureans¢ held that philosophy was two- fold, natural and moral; they did away with the rational branch. Then, when they were compelled by the facts themselves to distinguish between equivocal ideas and to expose fallacies that lay hidden under the cloak of truth, they themselves also introduced a heading to which they give the name “forensic and regulative,’% which is merely “rational” under another name, although they hold that this section is accessory to the depart- ment of “natural” philosophy. The Cyrenaic ° school abolished the natural as well as the rational department, and were content with the moral side alone ; and yet these philosophers also include under another title that which they have rejected. For they divide moral philosophy into five parts: (1) What to avoid and what to seek, (2) The Passions, (3) Actions, (4) Causes, (5) Proofs. Now the causes of things really belong to the “natural” division, the proofs to the “rational.” Aristo’ of Chios remarked that the natural and the rational were not only superfluous, but were also contradictory. He even limited the “moral,” which was all that was

e Led by Aristippus of Cyrene. As the Cynics developed into the Stoics, so the Cyrenaics developed into the Epicureans.

f Frag. 357 von Arnim.

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que, quam solam reliquerat, cireumcidit; nam eum locum, qui monitiones continet, sustulit et paedagogi esse dixit, non philosophi, tamquam quidquam aliud sit sapiens quam humani generis paedagogus.

14 Ergo cum tripertita sit philosophia, moralem eius partem primum incipiamus disponere. Quam in tria rursus dividi placuit, ut prima esset inspectio suum cuique distribuens et aestimans quanto quidque dignum sit, maxime utilis. Quid enim est tam necessarium quam pretia rebus inponere? Secunda de impetu, de actionibus tertia.! Primum enim est, ut quanti? quidque sit indices, secundum, ut im- petum ad illa capias ordinatum temperatumque, tertium, ut inter impetum tuum actionemque con- veniat, ut in omnibus istis tibi ipse consentias.

15 Quicquid ex tribus defuit, turbat et cetera. Quid enim prodest inter se? aestimata habere omnia, si sis in impetu nimius? Quid prodest impetus repres- sisse et habere cupiditates in tua‘ potestate, si in ipsa rerum actione tempora ignores nec scias quando quidque et ubi et quaemadmodum agi debeat? Aliud est enim dignitates et pretia rerum nosse, aliud articulos, aliud impetus refrenare et ad agenda ire, non ruere. ‘Tunc ergo vita concors sibi est, ubi actio non destituit impetum, impetus ex dignitate rei cuius-

1 This is the order followed by Buecheler; B gives secunda de actionibus tertia de impetu. 2 quanti Muretus ; quantum B. 3 inter se Gloeckner ; inter B. 4 tua later MSS. ; sua B.

« Seneca translates dewpyrik7.

> ‘Opunrixy; the dpual, impetus, in the Stoic philosophy, are the natural instincts, which require training and regulation before they can be trusted.

EPISTLE LXXXIX.

left to him; for he abolished that heading which embraced advice, maintaining that it was the business of the pedagogue, and not of the philosopher —as if the wise man were anything else than the pedagogue of the human race !

Since, therefore, philosophy is threefold, let us first begin to set in order the moral side. It has been agreed that this should be divided into three parts. First, we have the speculative® part, which assigns to each thing its particular function and weighs the worth of each; it is highest in point of utility. For what is so indispensable as giving to everything its proper value? The second has to do with impulse,? the third with actions.“ For the first duty is to determine severally what things are worth ; the second, to conceive with regard to them a regulated and ordered impulse; the third, to make your impulse and your actions harmonize, so that under all these conditions you may be consistent with yourself. If any of these three be defective, there is confusion in the rest also. For what benefit is there in having all things appraised, each in its proper relations, if you go to excess in your impulses? What benefit is there in having checked your impulses and in having your desires in your own control, if when you come to action you are unaware of the proper times and seasons, and if you do not know when, where, and how each action should be carried out? It is one thing to under- stand the merits and the values of facts, another thing to know the precise moment for action, and still another to curb impulses and to proceed, instead of rushing, toward what is to be done. Hence life is in harmony with itself only when action has not deserted impulse, and when impulse toward an

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que, quam solam reliquerat, cireumcidit; nam eum locum, qui monitiones continet, sustulit et paedagogi esse dixit, non philosophi, tamquam quidquam aliud sit sapiens quam humani generis paedagogus.

14. Ergo cum tripertita sit philosophia, moralem eius partem primum incipiamus disponere. Quam in tria rursus dividi placuit, ut prima esset inspectio suum cuique distribuens et aestimans quanto quidque dignum sit, maxime utilis. Quid enim est tam necessarium quam pretia rebus inponere? Secunda de impetu, de actionibus tertia.! Primum enim est, ut quanti” quidque sit indices, secundum, ut im- petum ad illa capias ordinatum temperatumque, tertium, ut inter impetum tuum actionemque con- veniat, ut in omnibus istis tibi ipse consentias.

15 Quicquid ex tribus defuit, turbat et cetera. Quid enim prodest inter se? aestimata habere omnia, si sis in impetu nimius? Quid prodest impetus repres- sisse et habere cupiditates in tua‘ potestate, si in ipsa rerum actione tempora ignores nec scias quando quidque et ubi et quemadmodum agi debeat? Aliud est enim dignitates et pretia rerum nosse, aliud articulos, aliud impetus refrenare et ad agenda ire, non ruere. Tunc ergo vita concors sibi est, ubi actio non destituit impetum, impetus ex dignitate rei cuius-

1 This is the order followed by Buecheler; B gives secunda de actionibus tertia de impetu. 2 quanti Muretus ; quantum B. 3 inter se Gloeckner ; inter B. 4 tua later MSS. ; sua B.

« Seneca translates Qewpyriky.

> ‘Opunrixy; the dpual, impetus, in the Stoic philosophy, are the natural instincts, which require training and regulation before they can be trusted.

EPISTLE LXXXIX.

Since, therefore, philosophy is threefold, let us first begin to set in order the moral side. It has been agreed that this should be divided into three parts. First, we have the speculative® part, which assigns to each thing its particular function and weighs the worth of each; it is highest in point of utility. For what is so indispensable as giving to everything its proper value? The second has to do with impulse,? the third with actions.” For the first duty is to determine severally what things are worth ; the second, to conceive with regard to them a regulated and ordered impulse; the third, to make your impulse and your actions harmonize, so that under all these conditions you may be consistent with yourself. If any of these three be defective, there is confusion in the rest also. For what benefit is there in having all things appraised, each in its proper relations, if you go to excess in your impulses? What benefit is there in having checked your impulses and in having your desires in your own control, if when you come to action you are unaware of the proper times and seasons, and if you do not know when, where, and how each action should be carried out? It is one thing to under- stand the merits and the values of facts, another thing to know the precise moment for action, and still another to curb impulses and to proceed, instead of rushing, toward what is to be done. Hence life is in harmony with itself only when action has not deserted impulse, and when impulse toward an

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que concipitur proinde remissus vel acrior,! prout illa digna est peti.

16 Naturalis pars philosophiae in duo scinditur: cor- poralia et incorporalia. Utraque dividuntur in suos, ut ita dicam, gradus. Corporum locus in hos primum, in ea quae faciunt et quae ex his gignuntur; gignun- tur autem elementa. Ipse de? elementis locus, ut quidam putant, simplex est, ut quidam, in materiam et causam omnia moventem et elementa dividitur.

17. Superest ut rationalem partem philosophiae divi- dam. Omnis oratio aut continua est aut inter respondentem et interrogantem discissa. Hane Siadextixyy, illam pytopexynv placuit vocari. “Pytopixi) verba curat et sensus et ordinem. AvadAexrix?) in duas partes dividitur, in verba et significationes, id est in res quae dicuntur et vocabula quibus dicuntur. Ingens deinde sequitur utriusque divisio. Itaque hoc loco finem faciam et

Summa sequar fastigia rerum ;

alioqui si voluero facere partium partes, quaestionum 18 liber fiet. Haec, Lucili virorum optime, quo minus legas non deterreo, dummodo quicquid legeris,? ad mores statim referas. Illos conpesce, marcentia in te excita, soluta con- stringe, contumacia doma, cupiditates tuas publicas-

1 vel acrior some later MSS. ; acrior B; acriorque other MSS. 2 ipse de one later MS. ; de is omitted by B and the rest. = legeris later MSS. ; elegeris B.

@ Ywuarixyn and dowpuaros.

> Jlounrixa and radnrixd. ° i.e., has no subdivisions.

4 Vergil, Aeneid, i. 342,

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object arises in each case from the worth of the object, being languid or more eager as the case may be, according as the objects which arouse it are worth seeking.

The natural side of philosophy is twofold: bodily and non-bodily.¢ Each is divided into its own grades of importance, so to speak. The topic concerning bodies deals, first, with these two grades: the creative and the created’; and the created things are the elements. Now this very topic of the elements, as some writers hold, is integral °¢; as others hold, it is divided into matter, the cause which moves all things, and the elements.

It remains for me to divide rational philosophy into its parts. Now all speech is either continuous, or split up between questioner and answerer. It has been agreed upon that the former should be called rhetoric, and the latter dialectic. Rhetoric deals with words, and meanings, and arrangement. Dialectic is divided into two parts: words and their meanings, that is, into things which are said, and the words in which they are said. Then comes a subdivision of each—and it is of vast extent. There- fore I shall stop at this point, and

But treat the climax of the story ;4

for if I should take a fancy to give the subdivisions, my letter would become a debater’s handbook! I am not trying to discourage you, excellent Lucilius, from reading on this subject, provided only that you promptly relate to conduct all that you have read.

It is your conduct that you must hold in check ; you must rouse what is languid in you, bind fast what has become relaxed, conquer what is obstinate, persecute your appetites, and the appetites of man-

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que quantum potes vexa; et istis dicentibus “ quo

19 usque eadem?” responde: “ego debebam dicere ‘quo usque eadem peccabitis?’” Remedia ante vultis quam vitia desinere? Ego vero eo magis dicam et, quia recusatis, perseverabo. Tune incipit medicina proficere, ubi in corpore alienato dolorem tactus expressit. Dicam etiam invitis profutura. Aliquando aliqua ad vos non blanda vox veniat, et quia verum singuli audire non vultis, publice audite.

20 Quo usque fines possessionum propagabitis? Ager uni domino, qui populum cepit, angustus est. Quo usque arationes vestras! porrigetis, ne provinciarum quidem spatio? contenti circumscribere praediorum modum? Inlustrium fluminum per privatum de- cursus est et amnes magni magnarumque gentium termini usque ad ostium a fonte vestri sunt. Hoc quoque parum est, nisi latifundiis vestris maria cinxistis, nisi trans Hadriam et Ionium Aegaeumque vester vilicus regnat, nisi insulae, ducum domicilia magnorum, inter vilissima rerum numerantur. Quam vultis late possidete, sit fundus qued aliquando impe- rium vocabatur; facite vestrum quicquid potestis, duin plus sit alieno.

21 Nunc vobiscum loquor, quorum aeque spatiose luxuria quam illorum avaritia diffunditur. Vobis

1 arationes vestras Erasmus ; a rationib; vestris B. 2 spatio de Jan; statione B.

@ For the thought compare Petronius, Sat. 48 nunc coniungere agellis Siciliam volo, ut, cum Africam libuerit ire, per meos fines navigem.

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kind, as much as you can; and to those who say: a ce long will this unending talk go on?” answer with the words: “I ought io be asking you ‘ How long will these unending sins of yours go on?’” Bo. you oa lly desire my remedies to stop before your vices? But I shall speak of my remedies all the more, and just because you offer objections I shall keep on talking. Medicine begins to do good at the time when a touch makes the diseased body tingle with pain. I shall utter words that will help men even against their will. At times you should allow words other than compliments to reach your ears, and because as individuals you are unwilling to hear the truth, hear it collectively. How far will you extend the boundaries of your estates? An estate which held a nation is too narrow for a single lord. How far will you push forward your ploughed fields—you who are not content to confine the measure of your farms even within the amplitude of provinces?” You have noble rivers flowing down through your private grounds; you have mighty streams—boundaries of mighty nations—under your dominion from source to outlet. This also is too little for you unless you also surround whole seas with your estates, unless your steward holds sway on the other side of the Adriatic, the Ionian, and the Aegean seas, unless the islands, homes of famous chieftains, are reckoned by you as the most paltry of possessions! Spread them as widely as you will, if only you may have as a “farm” what was once called a kingdom ; make whatever you can your own, provided only that it is more than your neighbour's!

And now for a word with you, whose luxury spreads itself out as widely as the greed of those to whom I have just referred. To you I say; “ Will

391

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dico: quo usque nullus erit lacus cui non villarum vestrarum fastigia immineant? Nullum flumen cuius non ripas aedificia vestra praetexant? Ubicumque scatebunt aquarum calentium venae, ibi nova de- versoria luxuriae excitabuntur. Ubicumque in ali- quem sinum litus curvabitur, vos protinus fundamenta iacietis! nec contenti solo nisi quod manu feceritis, mare? agetis introrsus. Omnibus licet locis tecta vestra resplendeant, aliubi inposita montibus in vastum terrarum marisque prospectum, aliubi ex plano in altitudinem montium educta, cum multa aedificaveritis, cum ingentia, tamen et singula cor- pora estis et parvola. Quid prosunt multa cubicula ? In uno iacetis. Non est vestrum ubicumque non estis.

2 Ad vos deinde transeo, quorum profunda et in- satiabilis gula hine maria scrutatur, hine terras, alia hamis, alia laqueis, alia retium variis generibus cum magno labore persequitur ; nullis animalibus nisi ex fastidio pax est. Quantulum® ex istis epulis, quae per tot comparatis manus, fesso voluptatibus ore libatis? Quantulum ex ista fera periculose capta dominus crudus ac nauseans gustat? , Quantulum ex tot conchyliis tam longe advectis per istum stomachum inexplebilem labitur? Infelices, eequid 4 intellegitis maiorem vos famem habere quam ventrem ?

3 Haec aliis dic, ut dum dicis, audias ipse; scribe,

1 jacietis later MSS. ; facietis B. 2 marea MS. of Gruter; arme B.

3 guantulum later MSS. ; quantulum est B. 4 ecquid Gronovius ; esse quid B.

@ j.e., by building embankments, ete. Cf Horace, Od. in. 18. 22 parum locuples continente ripa.

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this custom continue until there is no lake over which the pinnacles of your country-houses do not tower? Until there is no river whose banks are not bordered by your lordly structures? Wherever hot waters shall gush forth in rills, there you will be causing new resorts of luxury to rise. Wherever the shore shall bend into a bay, there will you straightway be laying foundations, and, not content with any land that has not been made by art, you will bring the sea within your boundaries.* On every side let your house-tops flash in the sun, now set on mountain peaks where they command an extensive outlook over sea and land, now lifted from the plain to the height of mountains; build your manifold structures, your huge piles,—you are nevertheless but individuals, and puny ones at that! What profit to you are your many bed-chambers? You sleep in one. No place is yours where you yourselves are not. “Next I pass to you, you whose bottomless and insatiable maw explores on the one hand the seas, on the other the earth, with enormous toil hunting down your prey, now with hook, now with snare, now with nets of various kinds ; no animal has peace except when you are cloyed with it. And how slight a portion of those banquets of yours, prepared for you by so many hands, do you taste with your pleasure-jaded palate! How slight a portion of all that game, whose taking was fraught with danger, does the master’s sick and squeamish stomach relish? How slight a portion of all those shell-fish, imported from so far, slips down that insatiable gullet? Poor wretches, do you not know that your appetites are bigger than your bellies?” Talk in this way to other men,—provided that while you talk you also listen; write in this way,— 393

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ut dum scribis, legas, omnia ad mores et ad sedandam rabiem adfectuum referens. Stude, non ut plus aliquid scias, sed ut melius. VALE.

xe Seneca LvycILIO SVO SALVTEM

1 Quis dubitare, mi Lucili, potest, quin deorum im- mortalium munus sit quod vivimus, philosophiae quod bene vivimus? Itaque tanto plus huic nos debere quam dis, quanto maius beneficium est bona vita quam vita, pro certo haberetur, nisi ipsam philoso- phiam di tribuissent. Cuius scientiam nulli! de-

2 derunt, facultatem omnibus. Nam si hane quoque bonum vulgare fecissent? et prudentes nasceremur, sapientia quod in se optimum habet, perdidisset: inter fortuita non esse.2 Nunc enim hoc in illa pretiosum atque magnificum est, quod non obvenit, quod illam sibi quisque debet, quod non ab alio petitur.

Quid haberes quod in philosophia suspiceres, si

3 beneficiaria res esset? Huius opus unum est de divinis humanisque verum invenire.# Ab hac num- quam recedit religio, pietas, iustitia et omnis alius comitatus virtutum consertarum et inter se cohaeren-

1 nulli later MSS. ; ulli B. 2 fecissent later MSS. ; fecisset B. 8 non esse Gloeckner; non esset MSS. + invenire later MSS. ; inveniri B.

Rie? Th a eT ei ee ee ae ee oS ee 2 Of, § 18. : » Cf, Plato, Crito 48, ‘* not life itself, but a good life, is chiefly to be desired.”

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provided that while you write you read, remember-- ing that everything® you hear or read, is to be applied to conduct, and to the alleviation of passion’s fury. Study, not in order to add anything to your knowledge, but to make your knowledge better. Farewell.

nO ON. THE PARL PLAYED “BY, PHLLO- SOPHY IN THE PROGRESS OF MAN

Who can doubt, my dear Lucilius, that life is the gift of the immortal gods, but that living well® is the gift of philosophy? Hence the idea that our debt to philosophy is greater than our debt to the gods, in proportion as a good life is more of a benefit than mere life, would be regarded as correct, were not philosophy itself a boon which the gods have bestowed upon us. They have given the knowledge thereof to none, but the faculty of acquiring it they have given to all. For if they had made philosophy also a general good, and if we were gifted with understanding at our birth, wisdom would have lost her best attribute—that she is not one of the gifts of fortune. For as it is, the precious and noble characteristic of wisdom is that she does not advance to meet us, that each man is indebted to himself for her, and that we do not seek her at the hands of others.

What would there be in philosophy worthy of your respect, if she were a thing that came by bounty? Her sole function is to discover the truth about things divine and things human. From her side religion never departs, nor duty, nor justice, nor any of the whole company of virtues which cling

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tium. Haec docuit colere divina, humana diligere, et penes deos imperium esse, inter homines con- sortium. Quod aliquandiu inviolatum mansit, ante- quam societatem avaritia distraxit et paupertatis causa etiam is, quos fecit locupletissimos, fuit. Desierunt! enim omnia possidere, dum volunt propria.

4 Sed primi mortalium quique ex his geniti naturam incorrupti sequebantur, eundem habebant et ducem et legem, commissi melioris arbitrio. Naturae est enim potioribus deteriora summittere. Mutis quidem gregibus aut maxima corpora praesunt aut vehemen- tissima. Non praecedit armenta degener taurus, sed qui magnitudine ac toris ceteros mares vicit. Elephantorum gregem excelsissimus ducit; inter homines pro summo? est optimum. Animo itaque rector eligebatur, ideoque summa felicitas erat gen- tium, in quibus non poterat potentior esse nisi melior. Tuto® enim quantum vult potest, qui se nisi quod debet non putat posse.?

5 [lo ergo saeculo, quod aureum perhibent, penes sapientes fuisse regnum Posidonius iudicat. Hi con-

1 desierunt later MSS. ; desiderium B.

2 pro summo ed. Ven. (1492); proximo or pro maximo MSS.

3 tuto Buecheler; toto B; tantwm others.

4 putat posse some later MSS. ; putat esse B.

« Compare the ‘‘ knowledge of things divine and things human’ of Ixxxix. 5.

» The ‘** Golden Age” motif was a frequent one in Latin literature. Compare, ¢.g., Tibullus, i. 3. 35 ff., the passage beginning :

Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege, priusquam Tellus in longas est patefacta vias ! Cf. § 46, summing up the message of Seneca’s letter.

¢ While modern philosophy would probably side with Seneca rather than with Posidonius, it is interesting to know the opinion of Macaulay, who holds (Essay on Bacon) that

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together in close-united fellowship. Philosophy has taught us to worship that which is divine, to love that which is human®; she has told us that with the gods lies dominion, and among men, fellowship. This fellowship remained unspoiled for a long time, until avarice tore the community asunder and became the cause of poverty, even in the case of those whom she herself had most enriched. For men cease to possess all things the moment they desire all things for their own.

But the first men and those who sprang from them, still unspoiled, followed nature, having one man as both their leader and their law, entrusting themselves to the control of one better than them- selves. For nature has the habit of subjecting the weaker to the stronger. Even among the dumb animals those which are either biggest or fiercest hold sway. It is no weakling bull that leads the herd ; it is one that has beaten the other males by his might and his muscle. In the case of elephants, the tallest goes first; among men, the best is regarded as the highest. That is whyit was to the mind that a ruler was assigned ; and for that reason the greatest happiness rested with those peoples among whom a man could not be the more powerful unless he were the better. For that man can safely accomplish what he will who thinks he can do nothing except what he ought to do. |

Accordingly, in that age which is maintained to be the golden age,? Posidonius® holds that the government was under the jurisdiction of the wise.

there is much in common between Posidonius and the English inductive philosopher, and thinks but little of Seneca’s ideas on the subject. Cf W. C. Summers, Select Letters of Seneca, p. 312.

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tinebant manus et infirmiorem a validioribus tue- bantur, suadebant dissuadebantque et utilia atque inutilia monstrabant. _Horum prudentia ne quid deesset suis providebat, fortitudo pericula arcebat, beneficentia augebat! ornabatque subiectos. Officium erat imperare, non regnum. Nemo quantum posset, adversus eos experiebatur, per quos coeperat posse, nec erat cuiquam aut animus in iniuriam aut causa, cum bene imperanti bene pareretur nihilque rex maius minari male parentibus posset, quam ut abirent 2 e regno.

6 Sed postquam subrepentibus vitiis in tyrannidem regna conversa sunt, opus esse legibus coepit, quas et ipsas inter initia tulere sapientes. Solon qui Athenas aequo iure fundavit, inter septem fuit? sapientia notos. Lycurgum si eadem aetas tulisset, sacro illi numero accessisset octavus. Zaleuci leges Charondaeque laudantur. Hi non in foro nec in consultorum atrio, sed in Pythagorae tacito illo sanctoque secessu didicerunt iura, quae florenti tune Siciliae et per Italiam Graeciae ponerent.

7 Hactenus Posidonio adsentior; artes* quidem a philosophia inventas, quibus in cotidiano vita utitur, non concesserim nec illi fabricae adseram gloriam. “ I}la,” inquit, “ sparsos et aut cavis tectos ° aut aliqua

1 augebat later MSS. ; agehat B.

2 abirent later MSS.; abiret B; quam abire se regno Gronovius.

3 fuit Madvig ; cui B.

4 adsentior ; artes Erasraus ; adsentio partes (artes) MSS.

5 sparsos . . . tectos Lipsius; sparsose cuucasis lectos B.

a Cleobulus of Rhodes, Periander of Corinth, Pittacus of Mitylene, Bias of Priene, Thales of Miletus, Chilon of Sparta, and Solon of Athens. For some of these substitutions are made in certain lists.

® Of. Ep. Ixxxviii. 20 ad alia multum, ad viriutem nihil,

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EPISTLE XC.

They kept their hands under control, and protected the weaker from the stronger. They gave advice, both to do and not to do; they showed what was useful and what was useless. Their forethought provided that their subjects should lack nothing ; their bravery warded off dangers; their kindness enriched and adorned their subjects. For them ruling was a service, not an exercise of royalty. No ruler tried his power against those to whom he owed the beginnings of his power; and no one had the inclination, or the excuse, to do wrong, since the ruler ruled well and the subject obeyed well, and the king could utter no greater threat against disobedient subjects than that they should depart from the kingdom.

But when once vice stole in and kingdoms were transformed into tyrannies, a need arose for laws ; and these very laws were in turn framed by the wise. Solon, who established Athens upon a firm basis by just laws, was one of the seven men renowned for their wisdom. Had Lycurgus lived in the same period, an eighth would have been added to that hallowed number seven. The laws of Zaleucus and Charondas are praised; it was not in the forum or in the offices of skilled counsellors, but in the silent and holy retreat of Pythagoras, that these two men learned the principles of justice which they were to establish in Sicily (which at that time was prosperous) and throughout Grecian Italy.

Up to this point I agree with Posidonius; but that philosophy discovered the arts of which life makes use in its daily round? I refuse to admit, nor will I ascribe to it an artisan’s glory. Posidonius says: “When men were scattered over the earth, protected by caves or by the dug-out shelter of a

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rupe suffossa aut exesae arboris trunco docuit tecta moliri.”” Ego vero philosophiam iudico non magis excogitasse has machinationes tectorum supra tecta surgentium et urbium urbes prementium quam vivaria

g piscium in hoc clausa, ut tempestatum periculum

non adiret gula et quamvis acerrime pelago saeviente haberet luxuria portus suos, in quibus distinctos piscium greges saginaret. Quid ais? Philosophia homines docuit habere clavem et seram? Quid! aliud erat avaritiae signum dare? Philosophia haec cum tanto Relea periculo inminentia tecta suspendit? Parum enim erat fortuitis tegi et sine arte et sine difficultate naturale invenire sibi aliquod receptaculum. Mihi crede, felix illud saeculum ante architectos fuit, ante tectores.2 Ista nata sunt iam nascente luxuria, in quadratum tigna decidere et serra per designata currente certa manu trabem scindere, Nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum.

Non enim tecta cenationi epulum recepturae para- bantur, nec in hunc usum pinus aut abies deferebatur longo vehiculorum ordine vicis intrementibus, ut ex illa lacunaria auro gravia penderent. Furcae utrimque suspensae fulciebant casam. Spissatis ramalibus ac fronde congesta et in proclive disposita

1 quid later MSS. ; quidquid B. 2 ante architectos . . . ita Hense; antea architektos fuit. antetacteres. ista B.

* Vergil, Georg. i. 144. ’ Cf. Juvenal, iii. 254 ff. :

Longa coruscat Serraco veniente abies, atque altera pinum Plaustra vehunt, nutant alte populoque minantur.

Compare also the ‘‘ towering tenements” of § 8, 400

EPISTLE XC.

cliff or by the trunk of a hollow tree, it was philosophy that taught them to build houses.” But I, for my part, do not hold that philosophy devised these shrewdly - contrived dwellings of ours which rise story upon story, where city crowds against city, any more than that she invented the fish-preserves, which are enclosed for the purpose of saving men’s gluttony from having to run the risk of storms, and in order that, no matter how wildly the sea is raging, luxury may have its safe harbours in which to fatten fancy breeds of fish. What! Was it philosophy that taught the use of keys and bolts? Nay, what was that except giving a hint to avarice? Was it philosophy that erected all these towering tenements, so dangerous to the persons who dwell in them? Was it not enough for man to provide himself a roof of any chance covering, and to contrive for himself some natural retreat without the help of art and without trouble? Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders! All this sort of thing was born when luxury was being born,—this matter of cutting timbers square and cleaving a beam with unerring hand as the saw made its way over the marked-out line.

The primal man with wedges split his wood.@

For they were not preparing a roof for a future banquet-hall; for no such use did they carry the pine- trees or the firs along the trembling streets? with a long row of drays—merely to fasten thereon panelled ceilings heavy with gold. Forked poles erected at either end propped up their houses. With close- packed branches and with leaves heaped up and laid

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decursus imbribus quamvis magnis erat. Sub his tectis habitavere, sed securi. Culmus liberos texit, sub marmore atque auro servitus habitat. In illo quoque dissentio a Posidonio, quod ferra- menta fabrilia excogitata a sapientibus viris iudicat. 11 Isto enim modo dicat licet sapientes fuisse, per quos Tunc laqueis captare feras et fallere visco Inventum et magnos canibus circumdare saltus. Omnia enim ista sagacitas hominum, non sapientia 12 invenit. In hoe quoque dissentio, sapientes fuisse qui ferri metalla et aeris invenerint, cum incendio silvarum adusta tellus in summo venas iacentis lique- factas! fudisset ; ista® tales inveniunt, quales colunt. 13 Ne illa quidem tam suptilis mihi quaestio videtur quam Posidonio, utrum malleus in usu esse prius an forcipes coeperint. Utraque invenit aliquis excitati ingenii, acuti, non magni nec elati, et quicquid aliud corpore incurvato et animo humum spectante quae- rendum est. Sapiens facilis victu fuit, quidni?, Cum hoc quoque saeculo esse quam expeditissimus cupiat. 14 Quomods, oro te, convenit, ut et Diogenen mireris et Daedalum? Uter ex his sapiens tibi videtur? Qui serram commentus est, an ille qui cum vidisset puerum cava manu bibentem aquam, fregit protinus

1 liquefactas later MSS. ; liquefacta B. 2 ista Pincianus ; ipsa B.

@ Vergil, Georg. i. 139 f. > Cf. T. Rice Holmes, Ancient Britain, pp. 121 f., who concludes that the discovery of ore-smelting was accidental.

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sloping they contrived a drainage for even the heaviest rains. Beneath such dwellings they lived, but they lived in peace. A thatched roof once covered free men; under marble and gold dwells slavery.

On another point also I differ from Posidonius, when he holds that mechanical tools were the invention of wise men. For on that basis one might maintain that those were wise who taught the arts

Of setting traps for game, and liming twigs For birds, and girdling mighty woods with dogs.

It was man’s ingenuity, not his wisdom, that dis- covered all these devices. And I also differ from him when he says that wise men discovered our mines of iron and copper, “ when the earth, scorched by forest fires, melted the veins of ore which lay near the surface and caused the metal to gush forth.” ® Nay, the sort of men who discover such things are the sort of men who are busied with them. Nor doI consider this question so subtle as Posidonius thinks, namely, whether the hammer or the tongs came first into use. They were both invented by some man whose mind was nimble and keen, but not great or exalted; and the same holds true of any other discovery which can only be made by means of a bent body and of a mind whose gaze is upon the ground.

The wise man was easy-going in his way of living. And why not? Even in our own times he would prefer to be as little cumbered as possible. How, I ask, can you consistently admire both Diogenes and Daedalus? Which of these two seems to you a wise man—the one who devised the saw, or the one who, on seeing a boy drink water from the hollow of his hand, forthwith took his cup from his wallet and

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exemptum e perula calicem cum! hac obiurgatione sui: “quamdiu homo stultus supervacuas sarcinas habui]! ” qui se conplicuit in dolio et in eo cubitavit ?

15 Hodie utrum tandem sapientiorem putas, qui invenit

quemadmodum in inmensain altitudinem crocum Jatentibus fistulis exprimat, qui euripos subito aquarum impetu implet aut siccat et versatilia ce- nationum laquearia ita coagmentat, ut subinde alia facies atque alia succedat et totiens tecta quotiens fericula mutentur, an eum, qui et aliis et sibi hoc monstrat, quam nihil nobis natura durum ac difficile imperaverit, posse nos habitare sine marmorario ac fabro, posse nos vestitos esse sine commercio seri- corum,” posse nos habere usibus nostris necessaria, si contenti fuerimus iis quae terra posuit in summo ? Quem si audire humanum genus voluerit, tam super- vacuum sciet sibi cocum esse quam militem. _ Illi sapientes fuerunt aut certe sapientibus similes, quibus expedita erat tutela corporis. Simplici cura constant necessaria ; in delicias laboratur. Non desiderabis artifices ; sequere naturam.

Illa noluit esse districtos. Ad quaecumque nos cogebat, instruxit. “Frigus intolerabilest corpori_ nudo.” Quid ergo? Non pelles ferarum et aliorum animalium a frigore satis abundeque defendere queunt? Non corticibus arborum pleraeque gentes

1 cum added by Bachrens. 2 sericorum Fickert ; servorum B.

ee eee ee

* Cf. Diog. Laert. vi. 37 Oeacduerss more maidlov rais Xepot wivoy, éféppupe THs mipas rhv Kor’\nv, elroy, Iacdiov Me vevixnkey evTe Eig.

* Compare the halls of Nero which Seneca may easily have had in mind: (Suet. Mero 31) cenationes laqueatae tabulis eburneisversatilibus . . . praecipua cenationumrotunda, quae perpetuo diebus ac noctibus vice mundi circumageretur.

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broke it, upbraiding himself with these words :4% “ Fool that I am, to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time!’’ and then curled himself up in his tub and lay down to sleep? In these our own times, which man, pray, do you deem the wiser —the one who invents a process for spraying saffron perfumes to a tremendous height from hidden pipes, who fills or empties canals by a sudden rush of waters, who so cleverly constructs a dining-room with a ceiling of movable panels that it presents one pattern after another, the roof changing as often as the courses,2—or the one who proves to others, as well as to himself, that nature has laid upon us no stern and difficult law when she tells us that we can live without the marble-cutter and the engineer, that we can clothe ourselves without traffic in silk fabrics, that we can have everything that is indis- pensable to our use, provided only that we are content with what the earth has placed on _ its surface? If mankind were willing to listen to this sage, they would know that the cook is as super- fluous to them as the soldier. Those were wise men, or at any rate like the wise, who found the care of the body a problem easy to solve. The things that are indispensable require no elaborate pains for their acquisition; it is only the luxuries that call for labour. Follow nature, and you will need no skilled craftsmen.

Nature did not wish us to be harassed. For whatever she forced upon us, she equipped us. “ But cold cannot be endured by the naked body.’ What then? Are there not the skins of wild beasts and other animals, which can protect us well enough, and more than enough, from the cold? Do not many tribes cover their bodies with the bark of

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tegunt corpora? Non avium plumae in usum vestis conseruntur? Non hodieque magna Scytharum pars tergis vulpium induitur ac murum, quae tactu mollia et inpenetrabilia ventis sunt? “Opus est tamen calorem solis aestivi umbra crassiore propellere.” Quid ergo? Non vetustas multa dedit! loca, quae vel iniuria temporis vel alio quolibet casu excavata in specum recesserunt? Quid ergo? Non quilibet? virgeam cratem texuerunt manu et vili obliverunt luto, deinde stipula? aliisque silvestribus operuere fastigium, et pluviis per devexa labentibus hiemem transiere 4 securi? Quid ergo? Non in defosso latent Syrticae gentes quibusque propter nimios solis ardores nullum tegimentum satis repellendis caloribus solidum est nisi ipsa arens humus?

Non fuit tam inimica natura, ut, cum omnibus aliis animalibus facilem actum vitae daret, homo solus non posset sine tot artibus vivere. Nihil horum ab illa nobis imperatum est, nihil aegre quaerendum, ut possit vita produci. Ad parata nati sumus; nos omnia nobis difficilia facilium fastidio fecimus. Tecta tegimentaque et fomenta corporum et cibi et quae nune ingens negotium facta sunt, obvia erant et

1 dedit Madvig; abdidit MSS. Buecheler suspects the whole clause to be corrupt. H. Miiller suggests abdita dedit.

* quilibet later MSS.; quaelibet B. G. Gemoll believes that the words quid ergo . . . securi should be placed at the head of § 17.

® stipula Hense et al. ; despicula B; de stipula cod. Harl. followed by Haase.

4 transiere later MSS. ; transire B.

2 Of. Ovid, Met. i. 121 f. :

Domus antra fuerunt Et densi frutices et vinctae cortice virgae.

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trees? Are not the feathers of birds sewn together to serve for clothing? Even at the present day does not a large portion of the Scythian tribe garb itself in the skins of foxes and mice, soft to the touch and impervious to the winds? “ For all that, men must have some thicker protection than the skin, in order to keep off the heat of the sun in summer.” What then? Has not antiquity produced many retreats which, hollowed out either by the damage wrought by time or by any other occurrence you will, have opened into caverns? What then? Did not the very first- comers take twigs® and weave them by hand into wicker mats, smear them with common mud, and then with stubble and other wild grasses construct a roof, and thus pass their winters secure, the rains carried off by means of the sloping gables? What then? Do not the peoples on the edge of the Syrtes dwell in dug-out houses— and indeed all the tribes who, because of the too fierce blaze of the sun, possess no protection sufficient to keep off the heat except the parched soil itself? Nature was not so hostile to man that, when she gave all the other animals an easy réle in life, she made it impossible for him alone to live without all these artifices. None of these was imposed upon us by her; none of them had to be painfully sought out that our lives might be prolonged. All things were ready for us at our birth; it is we that have made everything difficult for ourselves, through our disdain for what is easy. Houses, shelter, creature comforts, food, and all that has now become the source of vast trouble, were ready at hand, free to Among many accounts by Roman writers of early man,

compare this passage of Ovid, and that in the fifth book of Lucretius.

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gratuita et opera levi parabilia. Modus enim omnium prout necessitas erat; nos ista pretiosa, nos mira,} nos magnis multisque conquirenda artibus fecimus.

19 Sufficit ad id natura, quod poscit. A natura luxuria descivit, quae cotidie se ipsa incitat et tot saeculis crescit et ingenio adiuvat vitia. Primo supervacua coepit concupiscere, inde contraria, novissime animum corpori addixit et illius deservire libidini iussit. Omnes istae artes, quibus aut circitatur civitas aut strepit, corporis? negotium gerunt, cui omnia olim tamquam servo praestabantur, nunc tamquam domino parantur. Itaque hine textorum, hine fabrorum officinae sunt, hinc odores coquentium, hine mollitia 3 molles corporis motus docentium mollesque cantus et infractos. Recessit enim ille naturalis modus desideria ope necessaria finiens; iam rusticitatis et miseriae est velle, quantum sat est.

20 = Incredibilest, mi Lucili, quam facile etiam magnos viros dulcedo orationis abducat vero. Ecce Posidonius, ut mea tert opinio, ex is‘ qui plurimum philosophiae contulerunt, dum vult describere primum, quemad- modum alia torqueantur fila, alia ex molli soluto-

que ducantur, deinde quemadmodum tela suspensis

1 mira Pincianus ; misera B. 2 conporis later MSS. ; corpori BA, mollitia added by Capps. 4 is Buecheler; his BA.

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all, and obtainable for trifling pains. For the limit everywhere corresponded to the need; it is we that have made all those things valuable, we that have made them admired, we that have caused them to be sought for by extensive and manifold devices. Nature suffices for what she demands. Luxury has turned her back upon nature ; each day she expands herself, in all the ages she has been gathering strength, and by her wit promoting the vices. At first, luxury began to lust for what nature regarded as superfluous, then for that which was contrary to nature ; and finally she made the soul a bondsman to the body, and bade it be an utter slave to the body’s lusts. All these crafts by which the city is patrolled —or shall I say kept in uproar—are but engaged in the body’s business; time was when all things were offered to the body as to a slave, but now they are made ready for it as for a master. Accordingly, hence have come the workshops of the weavers and the carpenters; hence the savoury smells of the professional cooks; hence the wantonness of those who teach wanton postures, and wanton and affected singing. For that moderation which nature pre- scribes, which limits our desires by resources restricted to our needs, has abandoned the field; it has now come to this—that to want only what is enough is a sign both of boorishness and of utter destitution.

It is hard to believe, my dear Lucilius, how easily the charm of eloquence wins even great men away from the truth. Take, for example, Posidonius— who, in my estimation, is of the number of those who have contributed most to philosophy—when he wishes to describe the art of weaving. He tells how, first, some threads are twisted and some drawn out from the soft, loose mass of wool; next, how the

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ponderibus rectum stamen extendat, quemadmodum subtemen insertum, quod duritiam utrimque! con- primentis tramae remolliat, spatha coire cogatur et iungi. ‘Textrini quoque artem a sapientibus dixit inventam, oblitus postea repertum hoc subtilius genus, in quo Tela iugo vincta? est, stamen secernit harundo, Inseritur medium radiis subtemen acutis, Quod lato paviunt® insecti pectine dentes. Quid, si contigisset illi adire* has nostri temporis telas, quibus® vestis nihil celatura conficitur, in qua non dico nullum corpori auxilium, sed nullum pudori este 21 ‘Transit deinde ad agricolas nec minus facunde describit proscissum aratro solum et iteratum,® quo solutior terra facilius pateat radicibus, tune sparsa semina et collectas manu herbas, ne quid fortuitum et agreste succrescat, quod necet segetem. Hoc quoque opus ait esse sapientium, tamquam non nunc quoque plurima cultores agrorum nova inveniant, per 22 quae fertilitas augeatur. Deinde non est contentus his artibus, sed in pistrinum sapientem summittit. Narrat enim quemadmodum rerum naturam imitatus panem coeperit facere. “ Receptas,’ inquit, “in os fruges concurrens inter se duritia dentium frangit, 1 utrimque later MSS. ; utrumque BA. 2 vincta (with Ovid) a later MS. ; iwncta BA. 3 paviunt Gruter ; pariunt BA. 4 adirve later MSS. ; addere BA.

5 quibus later MSS. ; in quibus BA. 6 iteratum Pincianus ; inter aratrum BA.

#@ Ovid, Met. vi. 55 ff.

» Professor Summers calls attention to the similarity of this passage and Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 131 ff. dentibus maunditur...a@ lingua adiuvari videtur ...im alvo... culore. . . in religuum corpus dividantur.

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upright warp keeps the threads stretched by means of hanging weights; then, how the inserted thread of the woof, which softens the hard texture of the web which holds it fast on either side, is forced by the batten to make a compact union with the warp. He maintains that even the weaver's art was discovered by wise men, forgetting that the more complicated art which he describes was invented in later days—the art wherein

The web is bound to frame ; asunder now

The reed doth part the warp. Between the threads

Is shot the woof by pointed shuttles borne ; The broad comb’s well-notched teeth then drive it home.?

Suppose he had had the opportunity of seeing the weaving of our own day, which produces the clothing that will conceal nothing, the clothing which affords —I will not say no protection to the body, but none even to modesty !

Posidonius then passes on to the farmer. With no less eloquence he describes the ground which is broken up and crossed again by the plough, so that the earth, thus loosened, may allow freer play to the roots; then the seed is sown, and the weeds plucked out by hand, lest any chance growth or wild plant spring up and spoil the crop. This trade also, he declares, is the creation of the wise,—just as if cultivators of the soil were not even at the present day discovering countless new methods of increasing the soil’s fertility! Furthermore, not confining his attention to these arts, he even degrades the wise man by sending him to the mill. For he tells us how the sage, by imitating the processes of nature, began to make bread. “The grain,’? he says, “once taken into the mouth, is crushed by the flinty teeth, which meet in hostile encounter, and

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et quicquid excidit, ad eosdem dentes lingua re- fertur; tune vero miscetur, ut facilius per fauces lubricas transeat. Cum pervenit in ventrem, aequali eius fervore concoquitur, tune demum corpori accedit.

23 Hoe aliquis secutus exemplar lapidem asperum aspero inposuit ad similitudinem dentium, quorum pars immobilis motum alterius exspectat ; deinde utriusque attritu grana franguntur et saepius rege- runtur, donec ad minutiam frequenter trita redigantur. Tum farinam aqua sparsit et adsidua tractatione per- domuit finxitque panem, quem primo cinis calidus et fervens testa percoxit, deinde furni paulatim reperti et alia genera, quorum fervor serviret arbitrio.” Non multum afuit, quin sutrinum quoque inventum a sapientibus diceret.

24 Omnia ista ratio quidem, sed non recta ratio com- menta est. Hominis enim, non sapientis inventa sunt, tam mehercules quam navigia, quibus amnes quibusque maria transimus aptatis ad excipiendum ventorum impetum velis et additis a tergo guber- naculis, quae hue atque illuc cursum navigii tor- queant. Exemplum a piscibus tractum est, qui cauda reguntur et levi eius in utrumque momento velocita-

25 tem suam flectunt. “ Omnia,’ inquit, “ haec sapiens

quidem invenit ; sed minora quam ut ipse tractaret,

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whatever grain slips out the tongue turns back to the selfsame teeth. Then it is blended into a mass, that it may the more easily pass down the slippery throat. When this has reached the stomach, it is digested by the stomach’s equable heat; then, and not till then, it is assimilated with the body. Following this pattern,” he goes on, “ someone placed two rough stones, the one above the other, in imitation of the teeth, one set of which is stationary and awaits the motion of the other set. Then, by the rubbing of the one stone against the other, the grain is crushed and brought back again and again, until by frequent rubbing it is reduced to powder. Then this man sprinkled the meal with water, and by continued manipulation subdued the mass and moulded the loaf. This loaf was, at first, baked by hot ashes or by an earthen vessel glowing hot ; later on ovens were gradually discovered and the other devices whose heat will render obedience to the sage’s will.” Posidonius came very near declaring that even the cobbler’s trade was the discovery of the wise man.

Reason did indeed devise all these things, but it was not right reason. It was man, but not the wise man, that discovered them; just as they invented ships, in which we cross rivers and seas—ships fitted with sails for the purpose of catching the force of the winds, ships with rudders added at the stern in order to turn the vessel’s course in one direction or another. The model followed was the fish, which steers itself by its tail, and by its slightest motion on this side or on that bends its swift course. “ But,” says Posidonius, “ the wise man did indeed discover all these things; they were, however, too petty for him to deal with himself and so he entrusted them

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sordidioribus ministris dedit.”” Immo non aliis ex- cogitata ista sunt quam quibus hodieque curantur. Quaedam nostra demum prodisse! memoria scimus, ut speculariorum usum perlucente testa clarum transmittentium lumen, ut suspensuras balneorum et inpressos parietibus tubos, per quos circumfunde- retur calor, qui ima simul ac summa foveret aequaliter. Quid loquar marmora, quibus templa, quibus domus fulgent ? Quid lapideas moles in rotundum ac leve formatas, quibus porticus et capacia populorum tecta suscipimus? Quid verborum notas, quibus quamvis citata excipitur oratio et celeritatem linguae manus sequitur? Vilissimorum mancipiorum ista commenta sunt; sapientia altius sedet nec manus edocet, ani- morum magistra est.

Vis scire, quid illa eruerit, quid effecerit? Non decoros? corporis motus nec varios per tubam ac tibiam cantus, quibus exceptus spiritus aut in exitu aut in transitu formatur in vocem. Non arma nec muros nec bello? utilia molitur, paci favet et genus humanum ad concordiam vocat. Non est, inquam, instrumentorum ad usus necessarios opifex. Quid illi tam parvola adsignas? Artificem vides vitae. Alias quidem artes sub dominio habet. Nam cui

1 prodisse later MSS. ; prodidisse BA. 2 decoros later MSS. ; dedecoros BA. 3 bello Madvig; bella BA.

« Besides lapis specularis (window-glass) the Romans used alabaster, mica, and shells for this purpose.

® Suetonius tells us that a certain Ennius, a grammarian of the Augustan age, was the first to develop shorthand on a scientific basis, and that Tiro, Cicero’s freedman, had invented the process. He also mentions Seneca as the most scientific and encyclopaedic authority on the subject.

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to his meaner assistants.” Not so; these early inventions were thought out by no other class of men than those who have them in charge to-day. We know that certain devices have come to light only within our own memory—such as the use of windows which admit the clear light through transparent tiles,“ and such as the vaulted baths, with pipes let into their walls for the purpose of diffusing the heat which maintains an even temperature in their lowest as well as in their highest spaces. Why need I mention the marble with which our temples and our private houses are resplendent? Or the rounded and_ polished masses of stone by means of which we erect colon- nades and buildings roomy enough for nations? Or our signs? for whole words, which enable us to take down a speech, however rapidly uttered, matching speed of tongue by speed of hand? All this sort of thing has been devised by the lowest grade of slaves. Wisdom’s seat is higher; she trains not the hands, but is mistress of our minds.

Would you know what wisdom has brought forth to light, what she has accomplished? It is not the graceful poses of the body, or the varied notes produced by horn and flute, whereby the breath is received and, as it passes out or through, is transformed into voice. It is not wisdom that con- trives arms, or walls, or instruments useful in war ; nay, her voice is for peace, and she summons all mankind to concord. It is not she, I maintain, who is the artisan of our indispensable implements of daily use. Why do you assign to her such petty things? You see in her the skilled artisan of life. The other arts, it is true, wisdom has under her

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vita, illi vitam ornantia quoque! serviunt; ceterum ad beatum statum tendit, illo ducit, illo vias aperit. Quae sint mala, quae videantur ostendit, vanitatem exuit mentibus, dat magnitudinem solidam, inflatam vero et ex inani speciosam reprimit, nec ignorari sinit inter magna quid intersit et tumida, totius naturae notitiam ac suae tradit. Quid sint di qua- lesque declarat, quid inferi, quid lares et genii, quid in secundam numinum 2 formam animae perpetuatae,’ ubi consistant, quid agant, quid possint, quid velint.

Haec eius initiamenta sunt, per quae non muni- cipale sacrum, sed ingens deorum omnium templum, mundus ipse reseratur, cuius vera simulacra verasque facies cernendas ‘ mentibus protulit. Nam ad specta- cula tam magna hebes visus est. Ad initia deinde rerum redit aeternamque rationem toti inditam et vim omnium seminum singula proprie figurantem. Tum de animo coepit inquirere, unde esset, ubi, quamdiu, in quot membra divisus Deinde a cor- poribus se ad incorporalia transtulit veritatemque et

1 yitam ornantia quoque Hense; vitae quoque ornantia MSS.

2 numinum Erasmus; nominum BA.

3 perpetuatae Schweighaeuser; perpetitae MSS. and Hense.

4 cernendas later MSS. ; cernendis BA.

@ Possibly either the manes or the indigitamenta of the early Roman religion. > 4.6.5 AOYos.

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control ; for he whom life serves is also served by the things which equip life. But wisdom’s course is toward the state of happiness; thither she guides us, thither she opens the way for us. She shows us what things are evil and what things are seemingly evil; she strips our minds of vain illusion. She bestows upon us a greatness which is substantial, but she represses the greatness which is inflated, and showy but filled with emptiness; and she does not permit us to be ignorant of the difference between what is great and what is but swollen; nay, she delivers to us the knowledge of the whole of nature and of her own nature. She discloses to us what the gods are and of what sort they are; what are the nether gods, the household deities, and the protecting spirits; what are the souls which have been endowed with lasting life and have been admitted to the second class of divinities,“ where is their abode and what their activities, powers, and will.

Such are wisdom’s rites of initiation, by means of which is unlocked, not a village shrine, but the vast temple of all the gods—the universe itself, whose true apparitions and true aspects she offers to the gaze of our minds. For the vision of our eyes is too dull for sights so great. Then she goes back to the beginnings of things, to the eternal Reason? which was imparted to the whole, and to the force which inheres in all the seeds of things, giving them the power to fashion each thing according to its kind. Then wisdom begins to inquire about the soul, whence it comes, where it dwells, how long it abides, into how many divisions it falls. Finally, she has turned her attention from the corporeal to the incorporeal, and has closely examined truth and the

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argumenta eius excussit, post haec quemadmodum discernerentur vitae aut vocis ambigua, in utraque enim falsa veris inmixta sunt.

Non abduxit, inquam, se, ut Posidonio videtur, ab istis artibus sapiens, sed ad illas omnino non venit. Nihil enim dignum inventu iudicasset, quod non erat dignum perpetuo usu iudicaturus. Ponenda non sumeret.

« Anacharsis,” inquit, “invenit rotam figuli, cuius circuitu vasa formantur.”” Deinde quia apud Homerum invenitur figuli rota, malunt ! videri versus falsos esse quam fabulam. Ego nee Anacharsim auctorem huius rei fuisse contendo et, si fuit, sapiens quidem hoc invenit, sed non tamquam sapiens, sicut multa sapientes faciunt, qua homines sunt, non qua sapientes. Puta velocissimum esse sapientem; cursu omnes anteibit, qua velox est, non qua sapiens. Cuperem Posidonio aliquem vitrearium ostendere, qui spiritu vitrum in habitus plurimos format, qui vix diligenti manu effingerentur. Haec inventa sunt, postquam sapientiam ? invenire desimus.

1 malunt MSS. ; mavult several editors. 2 sapientiam Buecheler ; sapientem BA.

@ Seneca, himself one of the keenest scientific observers in history (witness the Vat. Quaest., Epp. \vii., lxxix., etc.), is pushing his argument very far in this letter. His message is clear enough ; but the modern combination of natural science, psychology, and philosophy shows that Posidonius had some justification for his theories. Cf. also Lucretius, v. 1105-7 ff.

> This Scythian prince and friend of Solon, who visited Athens in the sixth century B.c., is also said to have invented the bellows and the anchor. Cf., however, /liad xviii. 600 f. ws dre Tis Tpoxdy dpuevoy év Taddunow Efduevos Kepameds mecpjoerat, and Leaf’s comment: ‘‘ The potter’s wheel was

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marks whereby truth is known, inquiring next how that which is equivocal can be distinguished from the truth, whether in life or in language; for in both are elements of the false mingled with the true.

It is my opinion that the wise man has not with- drawn himself, as Posidonius thinks, from those arts which we were discussing, but that he never took them up at all. For he would have judged that nothing was worth discovering that he would not afterwards judge to be worth using always. He would not take up things which would have to be laid aside.

“ But Anacharsis,” says Posidonius, “invented the potter's wheel, whose whirling gives shape to vessels.” Then because the potter's wheel is mentioned in Homer, people prefer to believe that Homer’s verses are false rather than the story of Posidonius! But I maintain that Anacharsis was not the creator of this wheel; and even if he was, although he was a wise man when he invented it, yet he did not invent it qua “wise man ’’—just as there are a great many things which wise men do as men, not as wise men. Suppose, for example, that a wise man is exceedingly fleet of foot; he will outstrip all the runners in the race by virtue of being fleet, not by virtue of his wisdom. I should like to show Posidonius some glass-blower who by his breath moulds the glass into manifold shapes which could scarcely be fashioned by the most skilful hand. Nay, these discoveries have been made since we men have ceased to discover wisdom.

known in pre-Mycenean times, and was a very ancient invention to the oldest Epic poets.” Seneca is right.

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“ Democritus,’ inquit, “ invenisse dicitur fornicem, ut lapidum curvatura paulatim inclinatorum medio saxo alligaretur.’’ Hoe dicam falsum esse; necesse est enim ante Democritum et pontes et portas fuisse, quarum fere summa curvantur. Excidit porro vobis eundem Democritum invenisse, quemadmodum ebur molliretur, quemadmodum decoctus calculus’ in zmaragdum converteretur, qua hodieque coctura in- venti lapides in! hoc utiles colorantur. Ista sapiens licet invenerit, non qua sapiens erat, invenit ; multa enim facit, quae ab inprudentissimis aut aeque fieri videmus ” aut peritius atque exercitatius.

Quid sapiens investigaverit, quid in lucem pro- traxerit, quaeris? Primum verum naturamque, quam non ut cetera animalia oculis secutus est tardis ad divina. Deinde vitae legem, quam ad_ universa derexit, nec nosse tantum sed sequi deos docuit et accidentia non aliter excipere quam imperata. Vetuit parere opinionibus falsis et quanti quidque esset, vera aestimatione perpendit. Damnavit mixtas paenitentia voluptates et bona semper placitura laudavit et palam fecit felicissimum esse cui felicitate

1 jin added by Schweighaeuser. 2 videmus Erasmus ; vidimus BA.

@ Seneca (see next sentence) is right again. The arch was known in Chaldaea and in Egypt before 3000 z.c. Greek bee-hive tombs, Etruscan gateways, and early Roman remains, testify to its immemorial use.

> The ancients judged precious stones merely by their colour; their smaragdus included also malachite, jade, and several kinds of quartz. Exposure to heat alters the colour of some stones; and the alchemists believed that the ‘‘angelical stone” changed common flints into diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc. See G. F. Kunz, The Magic of Jewels and Charms, p. 16. It was also an ancient superstition that emeralds were produced from jasper.

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But Posidonius again remarks: “ Democritus is said to have discovered the arch,* whose effect was that the curving line of stones, which gradually lean toward each other, is bound together by the key- stone.” I am inclined to pronounce this statement false. For there must have been, before Democritus, bridges and gateways in which the curvature did not begin until about the top. It seems to have quite slipped your memory that this same Democritus dis- covered how ivory could be softened, how, by boiling, a pebble could be transformed into an emerald,’ —the same process used even to-day for colouring stones which are found to be amenable to this treat- ment! It may have been a wise man who discovered all such things, but he did not discover them by virtue of being a wise man; for he does many things which we see done just as well, or even more skil- fully and dexterously, by men who are utterly lacking in sagacity.

Do you ask what, then, the wise man has found out and what he has brought to light? First of all there is truth, and nature; and nature he has not followed as the other animals do, with eyes too dull to perceive the divine in it. In the second place, there is the law of life, and life he has made to conform to universal principles ; and he has taught us, not merely to know the gods, but to follow them, and to welcome the gifts of chance precisely as if they were divine commands. He has forbidden us to give heed to false opinions, and has weighed the value of each thing by a true standard of appraise- ment. He has condemned those pleasures with which remorse is intermingled, and has praised those goods which will always satisfy ; and he has published the truth abroad that he is most happy who has no

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non opus est, potentissimum esse qui se habet in potestate.

35 Non de ea philosophia loquor, quae civem extra patriam posuit, extra mundum deos, quae virtutem donavit voluptati, sed de illa,) quae nullum bonum putat nisi quod honestum est, quae nec hominis nec fortunae muneribus deleniri? potest, cuius hoc pretium est, non posse pretio capi. Hance philosophiam fuisse illo rudi saeculo, quo adhue artificia deerant et ipso usu discebantur utilia, non credo.

36 Secutast 3 fortunata tempora, cum in medio iacerent beneficia naturae promiscue utenda, antequam avaritia atque luxuria dissociavere mortales et ad rapinam ex consortio discurrere.4 Non erant illi sapientes viri,

37 etiam si faciebant facienda sapientibus. Statum quidem generis humani non alium quisquam sus- pexerit magis, nec si cui permittat deus terrena formare et dare gentibus mores, aliud probaverit quam quod apud illos fuisse memoratur, apud quos

Nulli subigebant arva coloni, Ne signare quidem aut partiri limite campum Fas erat ; in medium quaerebant, ipsaque tellus Omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat.

38 Quid hominum illo genere felicius? In commune rerum natura fruebantur; sufficiebat illa ut parens

1 de illa attested by Pincianus ; dla BA. 2 deleniri Muretus ; deleri BA. 3 secutast Buecheler ; sicuéaut BA. 4 After discurrere Buecheler suggested docuere.

@ j.¢., the Epicureans, who withdrew from civil life and regarded the gods as taking no part in the affairs of men.

» i.¢., live according to nature.

¢ Verg. Georg. i. 125 ff.

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need of happiness, and that he is most powerful who has power over himself.

I am not speaking of that philosophy which has placed the citizen outside his country and the gods outside the universe, and which has bestowed virtue upon pleasure,” but rather of that philosophy which counts nothing good except what is honourable,—one which cannot be cajoled by the gifts either of man or of fortune, one whose value is that it cannot be bought for any value. That this philosophy existed in such a rude age, when the arts and crafts were still unknown and when useful things could only be learned by use, —this I refuse to believe.

Next there came the fortune-favoured period when the bounties of nature lay open to all, for men’s indis- criminate use, before avarice and luxury had broken the bonds which held mortals together, and they, abandoning their communal existence, had separated and turned to plunder. The men of the second age were not wise men, even though they did what wise men should do.2 Indeed, there is no other condition of the human race that anyone would regard more highly; and if God should commission a man to fashion earthly creatures and to bestow institutions upon peoples, this man would approve of no other system than that which obtained among the men of that age, when

No ploughman tilled the soil, nor was it right

To portion off or bound one’s property.

Men shared their gains, and earth more freely gave Her riches to her sons who sought them not.¢

What race of men was ever more blest than that race? They enjoyed all nature in_ partnership. Nature sufficed for them, now the guardian, as before

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ita tutela’ omnium, haec erat publicarum opum secura possessio. Quidni ego illud locupletissimum mortalium genus dixerim, in quo pauperem invenire non posses?

Inrupit in res optime positas avaritia et, dum seducere aliquid cupit atque in suum vertere, omnia fecit aliena et in angustum se ex inmenso redegit.? Avaritia paupertatem intulit et multa concupiscendo omnia amisit. Licet itaque nunc conetur reparare ® quod perdidit, licet agros agris adiciat vicinum vel pretio pellens* vel iniuria, licet in provinciarum spatium rura dilatet et possessionem vocet per sua longam peregrinationem, nulla nos finium propagatio eo reducet unde discessimus.

Cum omnia fecerimus, multum habebimus; universum habebamus. Terra ipsa fertilior erat in- laborata et in usus populorum non diripientium larga. Quidquid natura protulerat, id non minus invenisse quam inventum monstrare alteri voluptas, erat. Nec ulli aut superesse poterat aut deesse ; inter concordes dividebatur. Nondum valentior inposuerat infirmiori manum, nondum avarus abscondendo quod sibi iaceret, alium necessariis quoque excluserat ; par erat alterius ac suicura. Arma cessabant incruentaeque humano

1 ita tutela Buecheler ; in tutela or in tutelam MSS. * redegit Buecheler and a late MS. ; redacti BA. > conetur reparare Buecheler and Gloeckner ; concurreve parare BA. 4 pellens a late MS. ; pelleris BA.

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she was the parent, of all; and this her gift consisted of the assured possession by each man of the common resources. Why should I not even call that race the richest among mortals, since you could not find a poor person among them?

But avarice broke in upon a condition so happily ordained, and, by its eagerness to lay something away and to turn it to its own private use, made all things the property of others, and reduced itself from boundless wealth to straitencd need. It was avarice that introduced poverty and, by craving much, lost all. And so, although she now tries to make good her loss, although she adds one estate to another, evicting a neighbour either by buying him out or by wronging him, although she extends her country-seats to the size of provinces and defines ownership as meaning extensive travel through one’s own property,—in spite of all these efforts of hers, no enlargement of our boundaries will bring us back to the condition from which we have departed.

When there is no more that we can do, we shall possess much; but we once possessed the whole world! The very soil was more productive when untilled, and yielded more than enough for peoples who refrained from despoiling one another. What- ever gift nature had produced, men found as much pleasure in revealing it to another as in having dis- covered it. It was possible for no man either to surpass another or to fall short of him; what there was, was divided among unquarrelling friends. Not yet had the stronger begun to lay hands upon the weaker; not yet had the miser, by hiding away what lay before him, begun to shut off his neighbour from even the necessities of life; each cared as much for his neighbour as for himself. Armour lay

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sanguine manus odium omne in feras verterant. Dh quos aliquod nemus densum a sole protexerat, qui adversus saevitiam hiemis aut imbris vili receptaculo tuti sub fronde vivebant, placidas transigebant sine suspirio noctis. Sollicitudo nos in nostra purpura versat et acerrimis excitat stimulis ; at quam mollem somnum illis dura tellus dabat! Non inpendebant caelata laquearia, sed in aperto iacentes sidera super- labebantur et insigne spectaculum noctium mundus in praeceps agebatur silentio tantum opus ducens.! Tam interdiu illis quam nocte patebant? prospectus huius pulcherrimae domus. Libebat intueri signa ex media caeli parte vergentia, rursus ex occulto alia surgentia. Quidni iuvaret vagari inter tam late sparsa miracula? At vos ad omnem tectorum pavetis sonum et inter picturas vestras, si quid increpuit, fugitis adtoniti. Non habebant domos instar urbium. Spiritus ac liber inter aperta perflatus et levis umbra rupis aut arboris et perlucidi fontes rivique non opere nec fistula nec ullo coacto itinere obsolefacti, sed sponte currentes et prata sine arte formosa, inter haec agreste domicilium rustica politum manu. Haec erat secundum naturam domus, in qua libebat

1 ducens later MSS. ; dicens BA.

2 patebant MSS.; patebat an old reading found by Pincianus.

=°Cf. Horace, ‘Ep. 1.1020 f.%

Purior in vicis aqua tendit rumpere plumbum Quam quae per pronum trepidat cum murmure rivum ?

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unused, and the hand, unstained by human _ blood, had turned all its hatred against wild beasts. ‘The men of that day, who had found in some dense grove protection against the sun, and security against the severity of winter or of rain in their mean hiding- places, spent their lives under the branches of the trees and passed tranquil nights without a sigh. Care vexes us in our purple, and routs us from our beds with the sharpest of goads; but how soft was the sleep the hard earth bestowed upon the men of that day! No fretted and panelled ceilings hung over them, but as they lay beneath the open sky the stars glided quietly above them, and the firmament, night's noble pageant, marched swiftly by, conduct- ing its mighty task in silence. For them by day, as well as by night, the visions of this most glorious abode were free and open. It was their Joy to watch the constellations as they sank from mid-heaven, and others, again, as they rose from their hidden abodes. What else but joy could it be to wander among the marvels which dotted the heavens far and wide? But you of the present day shudder at every sound your houses make, and as you sit among your frescoes the slightest creak makes you shrink in terror. They had no houses as big as cities. The air, the breezes blowing free through the open spaces, the flitting shade of crag or tree, springs crystal-clear and streams not spoiled by man’s work, whether by water-pipe % or by any con- finement of the channel, but running at will, and meadows beautiful without the use of art,—amid such scenes were their rude homes, adorned with rustic hand. Such a dwelling was in accordance with nature; therein it was a joy to live, fearing neither the dwelling itself nor for its safety. In

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habitare nec ipsam nec pro ipsa timentem; nunc magna pars nostri metus tecta sunt.

Sed quamvis egregia illis vita fuerit et carens fraude, non fuere sapientes, quando hoc iam in opere maximo nomen est. Non tamen negaverim fuisse alti spiritus viros et, ut ita dicam, a dis recentes. Neque enim dubium est, quin meliora mundus non- dum effetus ediderit. Quemadmodum autem omni- bus indoles fortior fuit et ad labores paratior, ita non erant ingenia omnibus consummata. Non enim dat natura virtutem; ars est bonum fieri. Illi quidem non aurum nec argentum nec perlucidos lapides? in ? ima terrarum faece quaerebant parcebantque adhuc etiam mutis? animalibus; tantum aberat ut* homo hominem non iratus, non timens, tantum spectaturus occideret. Nondum vestis illis erat picta, nondum texebatur aurum, adhuc nec eruebatur.

Quid ergo est®? Ignorantia rerum innocentes erant. Multum autem interest, utrum peccare aliquis nolit an® nesciat. Deerat illis iustitia, deerat pru- dentia, deerat temperantia ac fortitudo.. Omnibus his virtutibus habebat similia quaedam rudis vita; virtus non contingit animo nisi instituto et edocto et ad summum adsidua exercitatione perducto. Ad hoc quidem, sed sine hoc nascimur et in optimis

1 lapides later MSS. ; omitted by BA. 2 in added by Schweighaeuser. 3 mutis later MSS. ; multis BA. * wt later MSS. ; omitted by BA.

5 est added by Feige. 6 an later MSS. ; aut BA.

# Because virtue depends upon reason, and none but voluntary acts should meet with praise or blame.

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these days, however, our houses constitute a large portion of our dread.

But no matter how excellent and guileless was the life of the men of that age, they were not wise men; for that title is reserved for the highest achievement. Still, I would not deny that they were men of lofty spirit and—if I may use the phrase—fresh from the gods. For there is no doubt that the world produced a better progeny before it was yet worn out. However, not all were endowed with mental faculties of highest perfection, though in all cases their native powers were more sturdy than ours and more fitted for toil. For nature does not bestow virtue; it is an art to become good. They, at least, searched not in the lowest dregs of the earth for gold, nor yet for silver or trans- parent stones; and they still were merciful even to the dumb animals—so far removed was that epoch from the custom of slaying man by man, not in anger or through fear, but just to make a show! They had as yet no embroidered garments nor did they weave cloth of gold; gold was not yet even mined.

What, then, is the conclusion of the matter? It was by reason of their ignorance of things that the men of those days were innocent; and it makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin. Justice was un- known to them, unknown prudence, unknown also self-control] and bravery ; but their rude life possessed certain qualities akin to all these virtues. Virtue is not vouchsafed to a soul unless that soul has been trained and taught, and by unremitting practice brought to perfection. For the attainment of this boon, but not in the possession of it, were we born ;

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quoque, antequam erudias, virtutis materia, non virtus est. VALE.

XCI

Seneca LyvcILio svO SALVTEM

Liberalis noster nunc tristis est nuntiato incendio, quo Lugdunensis colonia exusta est. Movere hic casus quemlibet posset, nedum hominem patriae suae amantissimum. Quae res effecit, ut firmitatem animi sui quaerat, quam videlicet ad ea, quae timeri posse putabat, exercuit. Hoc vero tam inopinatum malum et paene inauditum non miror si sine metu fuit, cum esset sine exemplo. Multas enim civitates incendium vexavit, nullam abstulit. Nam etiam ubi hostili manu in tecta! ignis inmissus est, multis locis deficit,? et quamvis subinde excitetur, raro tamen sic cuncta depascitur, ut nihil ferro relinquat. Terrarum quoque vix umquam tam gravis et perniciosus fuit motus, ut tota oppida everteret. _Numquam denique tam infestum ulli exarsit incendium, ut nihil alteri superesset incendio. Tot pulcherrima opera, quae singula inlustrare urbes singulas possent, una nox stravit, et in tanta pace quantum ne bello quidem timeri potest accidit. Quis hoc credat? Ubique

1 jn tecla Erasmus 3 iniecta MSS.

2 deficit later MSS. ; defecit BA.

@ In spite of the centesimus annus of § 14 (q.v.), the most probable date of this letter, based on Tac. Ann. xvi. 13 and other general evidence, is July-September 64 a.p. 58 a.p. would be too early for many reasons—among them that ‘* peace all over the world” would not be a true state- ment until January of 62. (See the monographs of Jonas, O. Binder, Peiper, and Schultess.)

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and even in the best of men, before you refine them by instruction, there is but the stuff of virtue, not virtue itself. Farewell.

XCI. ON THE LESSON TO BE DRAWN FROM THE BURNING OF LYONS24

Our friend Liberalis? is now downcast; for he has just heard of the fire which has wiped out the colony of Lyons. Such a calamity might upset any- one at all, not to speak of a man who dearly loves his country. But this incident has served to make him inquire about the strength of his own character, which he has trained, I suppose, just to meet situations that he thought might cause him fear. I do not wonder, however, that he was free from apprehension touching an evil so unexpected and practically unheard of as this, since it is without precedent. For fire has damaged many a city, but has annihilated none. Even when fire has been hurled against the walls by the hand of a foe, the flame dies out in many places, and although continually renewed, rarely devours so wholly as to leave nothing for the sword. Even an earthquake has scarcely ever been so violent and destructive as to overthrow whole cities. Finally, no conflagration has ever before blazed forth so savagely in any town that nothing was left for a second. So many beautiful buildings, any single one of which would make a single town famous, were wrecked in one night. In time of such deep peace an event has taken place worse than men can possibly fear even in time of war. Who can believe

» Probably Aebutius Liberalis, to whom the treatise De Beneficiis was dedicated.

431

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armis quiescentibus, cum toto orbe terrarum diffusa securitas sit, Lugudunum, quod ostendebatur in Gallia, quaeritur.

Omnibus fortuna, quos publice adflixit, quod passuri erant, timere permisit. Nulla res magna non aliquod habuit ruinae suae spatium; in hac una nox interfuit inter urbem maximam et nullam. Denique diutius illam tibi perisse quam perit narro.

Haec omnia Liberalis nostri adfectum inclinant! adversus sua firmum et erectum. Nec sine causa concussus est; inexpectata plus adgravant; novitas adicit calamitatibus pondus, nec quisquam mortalium non magis quod etiam miratus est, doluit.

Ideo nihil nobis inprovisum esse debet. In omnia praemittendus ? animus cogitandumque non quidquid solet, sed quicquid potest fieri. Quid enim est, quod non fortuna, cum voluit, ex florentissimo detrahat ? Quod non eo magis adgrediatur et quatiat, quo speciosius fulget? Quid illi arduum quidve difficile est? Non una via semper, ne tota quidem incurrit, modo nostras in nos manus advocat, modo suis con- tenta viribus invenit pericula sine auctore. Nullum tempus exceptum est; in ipsis voluptatibus causae

1 inclinant cod. Harl.; inclinandum BA. 2 praemittendus later MSS. ; permitiendus BA.

@ That Lyons, situated at the junction of the Arar and the Rhone, was of especial prominence in Gaul, may be also gathered from the fact that it boasted a government mint and the Ara Augusti—a shrine established for the annual worship of all the Gallic states. Moreover, the Emperor Claudius delivered his famous address in that city (see Tac, Ann. xi, 23'T.):

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it? When weapons are everywhere at rest, and when peace prevails throughout the world, Lyons, the pride of Gaul,“ is missing !

Fortune has usually allowed all men, when she has assailed them collectively, to have a foreboding of that which they were destined to suffer. Every great creation has had granted to it a period of reprieve before its fall ; but in this case, only a single night elapsed between the city at its greatest and the city non-existent. In short, it takes me longer to tell you it has perished than it took for the city to perish.

All this has affected our friend Liberalis, bending his will, which is usually so steadfast and erect in the face of his own trials. And not without reason has he been shaken; for it is the unexpected that puts the heaviest load upon us. Strangeness adds to the weight of calamities, and every mortal feels the greater pain as a result of that which also brings surprise.

Therefore, nothing ought to be unexpected by us. Our minds should be sent forward in advance to meet all problems, and we should consider, not what is wont to happen, but what can happen. For what is there in existence that Fortune, when she has so willed, does not drag down from the very height of its prosperity? And what is there that she does not the more violently assail the more brilliantly it shines? What is laborious or difficult for her? She does not always attack in one way, or even with her full strength; at one time she summons our own hands against us; at another time, content with her own powers, she makes use of no agent in devising perils for us. No time is exempt; in the midst of our very pleasures there spring up causes of suffering.

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doloris oriuntur. Bellum in media pace consurgit et auxilia securitatis in metum transeunt; ex amico inimicus, hostis ex socio. In subitas tempestates hibernisque maiores agitur aestiva tranquillitas. Sine hoste patimur hostilia, et cladis causas, si alia de- ficiunt, nimia sibi felicitas invenit. Invadit tem- perantissimos morbus, validissimos phthisis, inno- centissimos poena, secretissimos tumultus. Eligit aliquid novi casus, per quod velut oblitis 6 vires suas ingerat. Quidquid longa series multis laboribus, multa deum indulgentia struxit, id unus dies spargit ac dissipat. Longam moram dedit malis properantibus, qui diem dixit; hora! momentumque temporis evertendis imperiis sufficit. Esset aliquod inbecillitatis nostrae solacium rerumque nostrarum, si tam tarde perirent? cuncta quam fiunt?; nune incrementa lente exeunt, festinatur in damnum. 7 Nihil privatim, nihil publice stabile est ; tam hominum quam urbium fata volvuntur. Inter placidissima terror existit nihilque extra tumultuantibus causis mala, unde minime exspectabantur, erumpunt. Quae domesticis bellis steterant regna, quae externis, inpellente nullo ruunt. Quota quaeque felicitatem civitas pertulit ? Cogitanda ergo sunt omnia et animus adversus ea,

1 hora Gruter; horam BA. * tam tarde perirent later MSS. ; tanta reperirent BA. 3 fiunt later MSS. ; finiunt BA.

* Cf. Ep. iv. 7, esp. the words noli huic tranquillitati confidere ; momento mare evertitur.

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War arises in the midst of peace, and that which we depended upon for protection is transformed into a cause of fear; friend becomes enemy, ally becomes foeman. The summer calm is stirred into sudden storms, wilder than the storms of winter.* With no foe in sight we are victims of such fates as foes inflict, and if other causes of disaster fail, excessive good fortune finds them for itself. The most temperate are assailed by illness, the strongest by wasting disease, the most innocent by chastisement, the most secluded by the noisy mob.

Chance chooses some new weapon by which to bring her strength to bear against us, thinking we have forgotten her. Whatever structure has been reared by a long sequence of years, at the cost of great toil and through the great kindness of the gods, is scattered and dispersed by a single day. Nay, he who has said “a day” has granted too long a postponement to swift- coming misfortune; an hour, an instant of time, suffices for the overthrow of empires! It would be some consolation for the feebleness of our selves and our works, if all things should perish as slowly as they comejinto being ; but as it is, increases are of sluggish growth, but the way to ruin is rapid. Nothing, whether public or private, is stable; the destinies of men, no less than those of cities, are in a whirl. Amid the greatest calm terror arises, and though no external agencies stir up commotion, yet evils burst forth from sources whence they were least expected. Thrones which have stood the shock of civil and foreign wars crash to the ground though no one sets them tottering. How few the states which have carried their good fortune through to the end!

We should therefore reflect upon all contingencies,

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quae possunt evenire, firmandus. Exilia, tormenta morbi,! bella, naufragia meditare.2_ Potest te patriae, potest patriam tibi casus eripere, potest te in soli- tudines abigere,? potest hoc ipsum, in quo turba suffocatur, fieri solitudo. ‘Tota ante oculos sortis humanae condicio ponatur, nec quantum frequenter evenit, sed quantum plurimum potest evenire, prae- sumamus animo, si nolumus opprimi nec illis in- usitatis velut novis obstupefieri ; in plenum cogitanda fortuna est.

Quotiens Asiae, quotiens Achaiae urbes uno tre- more ceciderunt? Quot oppida in Syria, quot in Macedonia devorata sunt? Cypron quotiens vastavit haec clades? Quotiens in se Paphus corruit? Fre- quenter nobis nuntiati sunt totarum urbium interitus, et nos inter quos ista frequenter nuntiantur, quota pars omnium sumus ?

Consurgamus itaque adversus fortuita et quicquid inciderit, sciamus non esse tam magnum quam rumore iactetur. Civitas arsit opulenta ornamen- tumque provinciarum, quibus et inserta erat et excepta, uni tamen inposita et huic non latissimo 4

1 morbi BA; morbos later MSS.’

2 meditare later MSS. ; meditari BA. 3 abigere Matthiae; abicere BA.

4 latissimo Buecheler ; altissimo BA.

@ The passage bears a striking resemblance to the words of Theseus in an unknown play of Euripides (Nauck, Frag. 964) quoted by Cicero, Tuse. iii. 14. 29, and by Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius, 112 d.

» Seneca (NV.Q. vi. 26) speaks of Paphos (on the island of Cyprus) as having been more than once devastated. We know of two such accidents—one under Augustus and another under Vespasian. See the same passage for other earthquake shocks in various places.

¢ Lyons held an exceptional position in relation to the

436

EPISTLE XCIl.

and should fortify our minds against the evils which may possibly come. Exile, the torture of disease, wars, sShipwreck,—we must think on these. Chance may tear you from your country or your country from you, or may banish you to the desert; this very place, where throngs are stifling, may become a) desert...) Let us place.) before. our.,eyes in its entirety the nature of man’s lot, and if we would not be overwhelmed, or even dazed, by those un- wonted evils, as if they were novel, let us summon to our minds beforehand, not as great an evil as oftentimes happens, but the very greatest evil that possibly can happen. We must reflect upon fortune fully and completely.

How often have cities in Asia, how often in Achaia, been laid low by a single shock of earth- quake! How many towns in Syria, how many in Macedonia, have been swallowed up! How often has this kind of devastation laid Cyprus? in ruins! How often has Paphos collapsed! Not infrequently are tidings brought to us of the utter destruction of entire cities; yet how small a part of the world are we, to whom such tidings often come!

Let us rise, therefore, to confront the operations of Fortune, and whatever happens, let us have the assurance that it is not so great as rumour advertises it to be. A rich city has been laid in ashes, the jewel of the provinces, counted as one of them and yet not included with them’; rich though it was, nevertheless it was set upon a single hill,? and that

three Gallic provinces; it was a free town, belonging to none and yet their capital, much like the city of Washington in relation to the United States.

“ A fact mentioned merely to suggest Rome with her seven hills,

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monti; omnium istarum civitatium, quas nunc magni- ficas ac nobiles audis, vestigia quoque tempus eradet. Non vides, quemadmodum in Achaia clarissimarum urbium iam fundamenta consumpta sint nec quicquam extet, ex quo! appareat illas saltim fuisse? Non tantum manu facta labuntur, nec tantum humana arte atque industria posita vertit dies; iuga montium diffluunt, totae desedere regiones, operta sunt flucti- bus quae procul a conspectu maris stabant. Vasta vis? ignium colles, per quos relucebat, erosit et quondam altissimos vertices, solacia navigantium ac speculas, ad humile deduxit. Ipsius naturae opera vexantur et ideo aequo animo ferre debemus urbium excidia. Casurae stant.2 Omnes hic exitus manet, sive interna vis flatusque praeclusa via violenti pondus,* sub quo tenentur, excusserint, sive torren- tium impetus® in abdito vastior obstantia effregerit, sive fllammarum violentia conpaginem soli ruperit, sive vetustas, a qua® nihil tutum est, expugnaverit minutatim, sive gravitas caeli egesserit populos et situs deserta corruperit. Enumerare omnes fatorum vias longum est. Hoc unum scio: omnia mortalium

1 quo later MSS. ; qua BA. 2 vasta vis Haupt; vastavit BA. 3 casurae stant Haupt; casura evstant BA. 4 sive . . . pondus H. Mueck; sive . . . preclusa violents pondus MSS. 5 impetus added by Buecheler. 8 a qua Erasmus ; in qua BA.

a For example, Mycenae and Tiryns. 438

EPISTLE XCI.

not very large in extent. But of all those cities, of whose magnificence and grandeur you hear to-day, the very traces will be blotted out by time. Do you not see how, in Achaia, the foundations of the most famous cities have already crumbled to nothing, so that no trace is left to show that they ever even existed?% Not only does that which has been made with hands totter to the ground, not only is that which has been set in place by man’s art and man’s efforts overthrown by the passing days; nay, the peaks of mountains dissolve, whole tracts have settled, and places which once stood far from the sight of the sea are now covered by the waves. The mighty power of fires has eaten away the hills through whose sides they used to glow, and has levelled to the ground peaks which were once most lofty —the sailor's solace and his beacon. The works of nature herself are harassed; hence we ought to bear with untroubled minds the destruction of cities. They stand but to fall! This doom awaits them, one and all; it may be that some internal force, and blasts of violence which are tremendous because their way is blocked, will throw off the weight which holds then down; or that a whirlpool of raging currents, mightier because they are hidden in the bosom of the earth, will break through that which resists its power; or that the vehemence of flames will burst asunder the frame- work of the earth’s crust; or that time, from which nothing is safe, will reduce them little by little; or that a pestilential climate will drive their inhabitants away and the mould will corrode their deserted walls. It would be tedious to recount all the ways by which fate may come; but this one thing I know: all the works of mortal man have been doomed to

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opera mortalitate damnata sunt, inter peritura vivimus.

13 Haec ergo atque eiusmodi solacia admoveo Liberali nostro incredibili quodam patriae suae amore flagranti, quae fortasse consumpta est, ut in melius excitaretur. Saepe maiori fortunae locum fecit iniuria. Multa ceciderunt, ut altius surgerent. Timagenes felicitati urbis inimicus aiebat Romae sibi incendia ob hoc unum dolori esse, quod sciret meliora surrectura

14 quam arsissent. In hac quoque urbe veri simile est certaturos omnes, ut maijora certioraque quam amisere restituantur.! Sint utinam diuturna et melioribus auspiciis in aevum longius condita! Nam _ huic coloniae ab origine sua centensimus annus est, aetas ne homini quidem extrema. A Planco deducta in hance frequentiam ? loci opportunitate convaluit, quot tamen gravissimos casus intra spatium humanae senectutis tulit.®

15 itaque formetur animus ad intellectum patien- tiamque sortis suae et sciat* nihil inausum esse for- tunae, adversus imperia illam idem habere iuris quod adversus imperantes, adversus urbes, idem _ posse quod adversus homines. Nihil horum indignandum

1 restituantur Buecheler, who thought it the reading of BA, which is more probably restituant, according to Hense. 2 in hane frequentiam later MSS. ; in hac frequentia BA.

3 tulit added by Buecheler. 4 sciat later MSS. ; sciant BA.

@ Probably the writer, and intimate friend of Augustus, who began life in Rome as a captive from Egypt. Falling into disfavour with the Emperor, he took refuge with the malcontent Asinius Pollio at Tusculum, and subsequently died in the East. Cf. Seneca, De Ira, iii. 23.

® It was in 43 B.c. that Plancus led out the colonists who were chiefly Roman citizens driven from Vienna. Seneca would have been more accurate had he said ‘* one hundred and eighth (or seventh).” Buecheler and Schultess would

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mortality, and in the midst of things which have been destined to die, we live !

Hence it is thoughts like these, and of this kind, which I am offering as consolation to our friend Liberalis, who burns with a love for his country that is beyond belief. Perhaps its destruction has been brought about only that it may be raised up again to a better destiny. Oftentimes a reverse has but made room for more prosperous fortune. Many structures have fallen only to rise to a greater height. Timagenes,* who had a grudge against Rome and her prosperity, used to say that the only reason he was grieved when conflagrations occurred in Rome was his knowledge that better buildings would arise than those which had gone down in the flames. And probably in this city of Lyons, too, all its citizens will earnestly strive that everything shall be rebuilt better in size and security than what they have lost. May it be built to endure and, under happier auspices, for a longer existence! This is indeed but the hundredth year since this colony was founded—not the limit even of a man’s lifetime.2 Led forth by Plancus, the natural advantages of its site have caused it to wax strong and reach the numbers which it contains to-day ; and yet how many calamities of the greatest severity has it endured within the space of an old man’s life !

Therefore let the mind be disciplined to under- stand and to endure its own lot, and let it have the knowledge that there is nothing which fortune does not dare—that she has the same jurisdiction over empires as over emperors, the same power over cities as over the citizens who dwell therein. We must

(unnecessarily) emend to read centesimus septimus. But Seneca was using round numbers.

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est. In eum intravimus mundum, in quo his legibus vivitur. Placet; pare. Non placet; quacumque vis, exi. Indignare, si quid in te iniqui proprie con- stitutum est; sed si haec summos imosque necessitas alligat, in gratiam cum fato revertere, a quo omnia resolvuntur. Non est quod nos tumulis metiaris et his monumentis, quae viam disparia praetexunt ; aequat omnes cinis. Inpares nascimur, pares mori- mur. Idem de urbibus quod de urbium incolis dico: tam Ardea capta quam Roma est. Conditor ille iuris humani non natalibus! nos nec nominum clari- tate distinxit, nisi dum sumus. Ubi vero ad finem mortalium ventum est, “ discede,’” inquit, “ ambitio! omnium, quae terram premunt, siremps? lex esto.” Ad omnia patienda pares sumus ; nemo altero fragilior est, nemo in crastinum sui certior.

Alexander Macedonum rex discere geometriam coeperat, infelix, sciturus, quam pusilla terra esset, ex qua minimum occupaverat, Ita dico: infelix ob hoc, quod intellegere debebat falsum se gerere cognomen. Quis enim esse magnus in pusillo potest? Erant illa, quae tradebantur, suptilia et diligenti in- tentione discenda, non quae perciperet vesanus homo

1 natalibus later MSS. ; non talibus BA. 2 siremps Cuiacius ; seremiles B; sere miles A.

« Ardea, the earliest capital of Latium, and Rome, the present capital of the empire. Seneca probably refers to Ardea’s capture and destruction by the Samnites in the fourth century ; Rome was captured by the Celts in 390 B.c. The former greatness of Ardea was celebrated by Vergil. Aeneid, vii. 411 ff. :

et nunc magnum manet Ardea nomen, Sed fortuna fuit.

> Siremps (or sirempse—Plaut. Amph. 73), an ancient 44.2

EPISTLE XCl

not cry out at any of these calamities. Into such a world have we entered, and under such laws do we live. If you like it, obey ; if not, depart whitherso- ever you wish. Cry out in anger if any unfair measures are taken with reference to you individu- ally; but if this inevitable law is binding upon the highest and the lowest alike, be reconciled to fate, by which all things are dissolved. You should not estimate our worth by our funeral mounds or by these monuments of unequal size which line the road; their ashes level all men! We are unequal at birth, but are equal in death. What I say about cities I say also about their inhabitants: Ardea was captured as well as Rome.* The great founder of human law has not made distinctions between us on the basis of high lineage or of illustrious names, except while we live. When, however, we come to the end which awaits mortals, he says: “ Depart, ambition! To all creatures that burden the earth let one and the same ? law apply !”’ For enduring all things, we are equal; no one is more frail than another, no one more certain of his own life on the morrow.

Alexander, king of Macedon, began to study geometry °; unhappy man, because he would thereby learn how puny was that earth of which he had seized but a fraction! Unhappy man, I repeat, because he was bound to understand that he was bearing a false title. For who can be “ great” in that which is puny? The lessons which were being taught him were intricate and could be learned only by assiduous application; they were not the kind to be

legal term, is derived by Festus from similis re ipsa; but Corssen explains it as from sic rem pse. ¢ 4.¢,, surveying. See Hp. Ixxxviii. 10.

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et trans oceanum cogitationes suas mittens. “ Fa- cilia,” inquit, “me doce.” Cui praeceptor “ ista,” 18 inquit, “omnibus eadem sunt, aeque difficilia.” Hoe puta rerum naturam dicere: “ista, de quibus quereris, omnibus eadem sunt. Nulli dare faciliora possum,} sed quisquis volet, sibi ipse? illa reddet faciliora.”’ Quomodo? Aequanimitate. Et doleas oportet et sitias et esurias et senescas, si tibi longior contigerit inter homines mora, et aegrotes et perdas aliquid et 19 pereas. Non est tamen quod istis, qui te circum- strepunt, credas; nihil horum malum est, nihil in- tolerabile aut durum. Ex consensu istis metus est. Sic mortem times quomodo famam. Quid autem stultius homine verba metuente? Eleganter Demetrius noster solet dicere eodem loco sibi esse voces inperitorum, quo ventre redditos crepitus. “Quid enim,” inquit, “mea,? susum isti an deosum 20 sonent?” Quanta dementia est vereri, ne infameris ab infamibus? Quemadmodum famam extimuistis sine causa, sic et illa, quae numquam timeretis, nisi fama iussisset. Num quid detrimenti faceret vir 21 bonus iniquis rumoribus sparsus? Ne morti quidem hoc apud nos‘ noceat; et haec malam olitionem habet. Nemo eorum, qui illam accusant,> expertus est.

1 possum Buecheler; possunt BA. 2 ipse Haase; ipsi BA. 3 mea susum B corr.; mea refert susum B; meas refert

usum A. 4 nos later MSS. ; vos BA. 5 accusant later MSS. ; accusat BA.

@ i.¢., OQxeavds, the stream which encircles the earth.

» This plain-living, plain- speaking philosopher appears also in pp. xx. 9 and lxii. 3. Seneca refers to him as seminudum, quanto minus quam stramentis incubantem.

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comprehended by a madman, who let his thoughts range beyond the ocean.* “Teach me something easy!” he cries; but his teacher answers: “ These things are the same for all, as hard for one as for another.” Imagine that nature is saying to us: “Those things of which you complain are the same for all. I cannot give anything easier to any man, but whoever wishes will make things easier for himself.” In what way? By equanimity. You must suffer pain, and thirst, and hunger, and old age too, if a longer stay among men shall be granted you; you must be sick, and you must suffer loss and death. Nevertheless, you should not believe those whose noisy clamour surrounds you; none of these things is an evil, none is beyond your power to bear, or is burdensome. It is only by common opinion that there is anything formidable in them. Your fearing death is therefore like your fear of gossip. But what is more foolish than a man afraid of words? Our friend Demetrius® is wont to put it cleverly when he says: “For me the talk of ignorant men is like the rumblings which issue from the belly. For,” he adds, “what difference does it make to me whether such rumblings come from above or from below?” What madness it is to be afraid of dis- repute in the judgment of the disreputable! Just as you have had no cause for shrinking in terror from the talk of men, so you have no cause now to shrink from these things, which you would never fear had not their talk forced fear upon you. Does it do any harm to a good man to be besmirched by unjust gossip? Then let not this sort of thing damage death, either, in our estimation; death also is in bad odour. But no one of those who malign death has made trial of it.

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Interim temeritas est damnare, quod nescias. At illud scis, quam multis utilis sit, quam multos liberet tormentis, egestate, querellis, suppliciis, taedio. Non sumus in ullius potestate, cum mors in nostra potestate sit. Vater.

XCII

Seneca LvcILIO SVO SALVTEM

1 Puto, inter me teque conveniet externa corpori adquiri, corpus in honorem animi coli, in animo esse partes ministras, per quas movemur alimurque, propter ipsum principale nobis datas. In hoe principali est aliquid inrationale, est et rationale. Illud huic servit, hoc unum est, quod alio non refertur, sed omnia ad se refert.1 Nam illa quoque divina ratio omnibus praeposita est, ipsa sub nullo est; et haec autem nostra eadem est, quia? ex illa

2 est. Si de hoc inter nos convenit, sequitur ut de illo quoque conveniat, in hoc uno positam esse beatam vitam, ut in nobis ratio perfecta sit. Haec enim sola non submittit animum, stat contra fortu- nam; in quolibet rerum habitu securos% servat. Id autem unum bonum est, quod numquam defringitur. Is est, inguam, beatus quem nulla res minorem facit 5

1 refert a later MS. and Madvig ; perfert BA. 2 guia later MSS. ; quae BA. 3 securos later MSS. ; servitus BA.

@ The reader will find this topic treated at greater lengih in Seneca’s De Vita Beata.

> j.¢., the soul. See Aristotle, Hth. i. 13: ‘*It is stated that the soul has two parts, one irrational and the other possessing reason.” Aristotle further subdivides the irrational part into (1) that which makes for growth and increase, and (2) desire (which will, however, obey reason). In this passage Seneca uses ‘‘ soul” in its widest sense.

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Meanwhile it is foolhardy to condemn that of which you are ignorant. This one thing, however, you do know—that death is helpful to many, that it sets many free from tortures, want, ailments, sufferings, and weariness. We are in the power of nothing when once we have death in our own power! Farewell.

MCLE ON THE: HAPPY: LIBS

You and I will agree, I think, that outward things are sought for the satisfaction of the body, that the body is cherished out of regard for the soul, and that in the soul there are certain parts which minister to us, enabling us to move and to sustain life, bestowed upon us just for the sake of the primary part of us.2- In this primary part there is something irrational, and something rational. The former obeys the latter, while the latter is the only thing that is not referred back to another, but rather refers all things to itself. For the divine reason also is set in supreme command over all things, and is itself subject to none; and even this reason which we possess is the same, because it is derived from the divine reason. Now if we are agreed on this point, it is natural that we shall be agreed on the following also—namely, that the happy life depends upon this and this alone: our attainment of perfect reason. For it is naught but this that keeps the soul from being bowed down, that stands its ground against Fortune; whatever the condition of their affairs may be, it keeps men untroubled. And that alone is a good which is never subject to impairment. That man, I declare, is happy whom nothing makes

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tenet summa, et ne ulli quidem nisi sibi innixus, Nam qui aliquo auxilio sustinetur, potest cadere. Si aliter est, incipient multum in nobis valere non nostra. Quis autem vult constare fortunam! aut quis se prudens ob aliena miratur ?

3 Quid est beata vita? Securitas et perpetua tranquillitas. Hane dabit animi magnitudo, dabit constantia bene iudicati tenax. Ad haec quomodo pervenitur? Si veritas tota perspecta est; si servatus est in rebus ageridis ordo, modus, decor, innoxia voluntas ac benigna, intenta rationi nec umquam ab illa recedens, amabilis simul mirabilisque. Denique ut breviter tibi formulam scribam, talis animus esse sapientis viri debet, qualis deum deceat.

4 Quid potest desiderare is, cui omnia honesta con- tingunt? Nam si possunt aliquid non _ honesta conferre ad optimum statum, in his erit beata vita, sine quibus honesta.2 Et quid turpius stultiusve quam bonum rationalis animi ex inrationalibus

5 nectere? Quidam tamen augeri summum bonum iudicant, quia parum plenum sit fortuitis repugnan- tibus. Antipater quoque inter magnos sectae huius auctores aliquid se tribuere dicit externis, sed exiguum admodum, Vides autem quale sit die non ? esse contentum, nisi aliquis igniculus adluxerit. Quod potest in hac claritate solis habere scintilla

1 fortunam Buecheler ; fortuna BA. 2 honesta Hense ; non est BA. 3 die non Erasmus ; zenon BA.

@ Certain of the Peripatetic and Academic school.

’ Probably due to the criticism of the Stoics by Carneades, who said that everything which is according to nature should be classed among the goods.

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less strong than he is; he keeps to the heights, leaning upon none but himself; for one who sustains himself by any prop may fall. If the case is other- wise, then things which do not pertain to us will begin to have great influence over us. But who desires Fortune to have the upper hand, or what sensible man prides himself upon that which is not his own? What is the happy life? It is peace of mind, and lasting tranquillity. This will be yours if you possess greatness of soul; it will be yours if you possess the steadfastness that resolutely clings to a good judgment just reached. How does a man reach this condition? By gaining a complete view of truth, by maintaining, in all that he does, order, measure, fitness, and a will that is inoffensive and kindly, that is intent upon reason and never departs therefrom, that commands at the same time love and admiration. In short, to give you the principle in brief compass, the wise man’s soul ought to be such as would be proper for a god. What more can one desire who possesses all honourable things? For if dishonourable things can contribute to the best estate, then there will be the possibility of a happy life under conditions which do not include an honour- able life. And what is more base or foolish than to connect the good of a rational soul with things irrational? Yet there are certain philosophers who hold that the Supreme Good admits of increase because it is hardly complete when the gifts of fortune are adverse.* Even Antipater,? one of the great leaders of this school, admits that he ascribes some influence to externals, though only a very slight influence. You see, however, what absurdity lies in not being content with the daylight unless it is increased by a tiny fire. What importance can 449

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6 momentum? Si non es sola honestate! contentus, necesse est aut quietem adici velis, quam daoxAnoiav vocant Graeci, aut voluptatem. Horum alterum utcumque recipi potest. Vacat enim animus molestia liber ad inspectum universi, nihilque illum avocat a contemplatione naturae. Alterum illud, voluptas, bonum pecoris est. Adicimus rationali inrationale, honesto inhonestum. Ad hance vitam? facit titil-

7 latio corporis; quid ergo dubitatis dicere bene esse homini, si palato bene est? Et hune tu, non dico inter viros numeras, sed inter homines, cuius summum bonum saporibus et coloribus? sonisque* constat? Excedat ex hoe animaliuam numero pulcherrimo ac dis secundo: mutis adgregetur animal pabulo laetum.

8 _Inrationalis pars animi duas habet partes, alteram animosam, ambitiosam, inpotentem, positam in ad- fectionibus, alteram humilem, languidam, volup- tatibus deditam; illam effrenatam, meliorem tamen, certe fortiorem ac digniorem viro reliquerunt, hance necessariam beatae vitae putaverunt, et ener-

9 vem et abiectam. Huie rationem servire iusse- runt et fecerunt animalis generosissimi summum 6 bonum demissum et ignobile, praeterea mixtum portentosumque et ex diversis ac male’ con-

1 honestate later MSS. ; honesta BA,

2 ad hance vitam Buecheler; magno vitam B; magne- vitam A.

8 coloribus later MSS. ; caloribus BA.

4 sonisque Windhaus ; sonis or solis MSS.

5 et enervem Rossbach ; inenervem BA. :

ant oak summum Buecheler ; generosissimum (or -t) MSS.

7 ae male Schweighaeuser ; animalis BA.

4 If we call pleasure a good. ’ Cf. § 1 of this letter. Plato gives three divisions—the

450

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a spark have in the midst of this clear sunlight? If you are not contented with only that which is honourable, it must follow that you desire in addition either the kind of quiet which the Greeks call “ undisturbedness,” or else pleasure. But the former may be attained in any case. For the mind is free from disturbance when it is fully free to contemplate the universe, and nothing distracts it from the con- templation of nature. The second, pleasure, is simply the good of cattle. We are but adding @ the irrational to the rational, the dishonourable to the honourable. A pleasant physical sensation affects this life of ours ; why, therefore, do you hesitate to say that all is well with a man just because all is well with his appetite ? And do you rate, I will not say among heroes, but among men, the person whose Supreme Good is a matter of flavours and colours and sounds? Nay, let him withdraw from the ranks of this, the noblest class of living beings, second only to the gods; let him herd with the dumb brutes—an animal whose delight is in fodder !

The irrational part of the soul is twofold®: the one part is spirited, ambitious, uncontrolled ; its seat is in the passions; the other is lowly, sluggish, and devoted to pleasure. Philosophers have neglected the former, which, though unbridled, is yet better, and is certainly more courageous and more worthy of a man, and have regarded the latter, which is nerveless and ignoble, as indispensable to the happy life. They have ordered reason to serve this latter ; they have made the Supreme Good of the noblest living being an abject and mean affair, and a monstrous hybrid, too, composed of various members hoyorixdy, the ériOupunrixdy, and the @usuoedés which obeys either the first or the second. See his Republic, 440.

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gruentibus membris. Nam ut ait Vergilius noster in Scylla

Prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo

Pube tenus, postrema inmani corpore pistrix

Delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. Huic tamen Scyllae fera animalia adiuncta sunt, horrenda, velocia; at isti sapientiam ex quibus conposuere portentis! Prima ars hominis est ipsa virtus; huic committitur inutilis caro et fluida, receptandis tantum cibis habilis, ut ait Posidonius. Virtus illa divina in lubricum desinit et superioribus eius partibus venerandis atque caelestibus animal iners ac marcidum adtexitur. Illa utcumque altera quies nihil quidem ipsa praestabat animo, sed inpedimenta removebat; voluptas ultro dissolvit et omne robur emollit. Quae invenietur tam discors inter se iunctura corporum? Fortissimae rei inertis- sima adstruitur, severissimae parum seria, sanctissimae intemperans usque ad incesta.’ “Quid ergo?” inquit, “si virtutem nihil inpeditura sit bona valitudo et quies et dolorum vacatio,? non petes illas?” Quidni petam? Non quia bona sunt, sed quia secundum naturam sunt, et quia bono a me iudicio sumentur. Quid erit tune in illis bonum? Hoc unum, bene eligi. Nam cum? vestem qualem decet,

1 incesta Gruter ; ingesta BA.

2 yacatio later MSS. ; vagatio BA.

3 cum omitted in A and supplied by a late hand in B. Buecheler suggests nam vestem qualem decet cwm sumo.

a Aeneid, iii. 426 ft. 452

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which harmonize but ill. For as our Vergil, describ- ing Scylla, says?:

Above, a human face and maiden’s breast,— A beauteous breast,—below, a monster huge Of bulk and shapeless, with a dolphin’s tail Joined to a wolf-like belly.

And yet to this Scylla are tacked on the forms of wild animals, dreadful and swift ; but from what monstrous shapes have these wiseacres compounded wisdom ! Man’s primary art is virtue itself; there is joined to this the useless and fleeting flesh, fitted only for the reception of food, as Posidonius remarks. This divine virtue ends in foulness, and to the higher parts, which are worshipful and heavenly, there is fastened a sluggish and flabby animal. As for the second desideratum, — quiet,—although it would indeed not of itself be of any benefit to the soul, yet it would relieve the soul of hindrances ; pleasure, on the contrary, actually destroys the soul and softens all its vigour. What elements so inharmonious as these can be found united? To that which is most vigorous is joined that which is mest sluggish, to that which is austere that which is far from serious, to that which is most holy that which is unrestrained even to the point of impurity. “ What, then,’ comes the retort, “if good health, rest, and freedom from pain are not likely to hinder virtue, shall you not seek all these?” Of course I shall seek them, but not because they are goods,—I shall seek them because they are according to nature and because they will be acquired through the exercise of good judgment on my part. What, then, will be good in them? This alone,—that it is a good thing to choose them. For when I don suitable attire, or

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sumo, cum ambulo ut oportet, cum ceno quemad- modum debeo, non cena aut ambulatio aut vestis bona sunt, sed meum in iis propositum servantis in

12 quaque re rationi convenientem modum. Etiamnunce adiciam: mundae vestis electio adpetenda est homini. Natura enim homo mundum! et elegans animal est. Itaque non est bonum per se munda vestis, sed mundae vestis electio, quia non in re bonum est, sed in electione quali. Actiones nostrae

13 honestae sunt, non ipsa quae aguntur. Quod de veste dixi, idem me dicere de corpore existima. Nam hoc quoque natura ut quandam vestem animo circumdedit ; velamentum eius est. Quis autem umquam vestimenta aestimavit arcula? Nec bonum nec malum vagina gladium facit. Ergo de corpore quoque idem tibi respondeo: sumpturum quidem me, si detur electio, et sanitatem et vires, bonum autem futurum iudicium de illis meum, non ipsa.

14 “Est quidem,” inquit, “sapiens beatus; summum tamen illud bonum non consequitur, nisi illi et naturalia instrumenta respondeant. Ita miser qui- dem esse, qui virtutem habet, non potest, beatissimus autem non est, qui naturalibus bonis destituitur ut

15 valitudine, ut membrorum integritate.” Quod in- credibilius videtur, id concedis, aliquem in maximis et continuis doloribus non esse miserum, esse etiam beatum ; quod levius est, negas, beatissimum esse.

1 mundum later MSS. ; mundus BA. 45 A

EPISTLE XCII.

wall as I should, or dine as I ought to dine, it is not my dinner, or my walk, or my dress that are goods, but the deliberate choice which I show in regard to - them, as I observe, in each thing I do, a mean that conforms with reason. Let me also add that the choice of neat clothing is a fitting object of a man’s efforts ; for man is by nature a neat and well-groomed animal. Hence the choice of neat attire, and not neat attire in itself, is a good ; since the good is not in the thing selected, but in the quality of the selection. Our actions are honourable, but not the actual things which we do. And you may assume that what I have said about dress applies also to the body. For nature has surrounded our soul with the body as with a sort of garment; the body is its cloak. But who has ever reckoned the value of clothes by the wardrobe which contained them? The scabbard does not make the sword good or bad. Therefore, with regard to the body I shall return the same answer to you,—that, if I have the choice, I shall choose health and strength, but that the good involved will be my judgment regarding these things, and not the things themselves.

Another retort is: “Granted that the wise man is happy; nevertheless, he does not attain the Supreme Good which we have defined, unless the means also which nature provides for its attain- ment are at his call. So, while one who possesses virtue cannot be unhappy, yet one cannot be perfectly happy if one lacks such natural gifts as health, or soundness of limb.” But in saying this, you grant the alternative which seems the more difficult to believe,—that the man who is in the midst of un- remitting and extreme pain is not wretched, nay, is even happy; and you deny that which is much less

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Atqui si potest virtus efficere, ne miser aliquis sit, facilius efficiet, ut beatissimus sit. Minus enim intervalli a beato! ad beatissimum restat quam a misero ad beatum. An quae res tantum valet, ut ereptum calamitatibus inter beatos locet, non potest adicere quod superest, ut beatissimum faciat? In summo deficit clivo? Commoda sunt in vita? et incommoda, utraque extra nos. Si non est miser vir bonus, quamvis omnibus prematur incommodis, quo- modo non est beatissimus, si aliquibus commodis deficitur? Nam quemadmodum incommodorum onere usque ad miserum non deprimitur, sic commo- dorum inopia non deducitur a beatissimo, sed tam sine commodis beatissimus est, quam non est sub incommodis miser ; aut potest illi eripi bonum suum, si potest minui.

Paulo ante dicebam igniculum nihil conferre lumini solis. Claritate enim eius quicquid sine illo luceret absconditur. “Sed quaedam,’ inquit, “ soli quoque opstant.” At sol integer est? etiam inter opposita, et quamvis aliquid interiacet, quod nos prohibeat eius aspectu, in opere est, cursu suo fertur. Quotiens inter nubila eluxit, non est sereno minor,

1 a beato later MSS. ; beato BA. 2 in vila later MSS. ; invicta BA. 8 at sol integer est Buecheler ; ipsamasole integra est BA.

a § 5, 456

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serious,—that he is completely happy. And _ yet, if virtue can keep a man from being wretched, it will be an easier task for it to render him completely happy. For the difference between happiness and complete happiness is less than that between wretchedness and happiness. Can it be possible that a thing which is so powerful as to snatch a man from disaster, and place him among the happy, cannot also accomplish what remains, and render him supremely happy? Does its strength fail at the very top of the climb? There are in life things which are advantageous and disadvantageous,—both beyond our control. If a good man, in spite of being weighed down by all kinds of disadvantages, is not wretched, how is he not supremely happy, no matter if he does lack certain advantages? For as he is not weighted down to wretchedness by his burden of disadvantages, so he is not withdrawn from supreme happiness through lack of any advantages; nay, he is just as supremely happy without the advantages as he is free from wretched- ness though under the load of his disadvantages. Otherwise, if his good can be impaired, it can be snatched from him altogether.

A short space above, I remarked that a tiny fire does not add to the sun’s light. For by reason of the sun’s brightness any light that shines apart from the sunlight is blotted out. “ But,’ one may say, “there are certain objects that stand in the way even of the sunlight.” The sun, however, is un- impaired even in the midst of obstacles, and, though an object may intervene and cut off our view thereof, the sun sticks to his work and goes on his course. Whenever he shines forth from amid the clouds, he is no smaller, nor less punctual either, than when

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ne tardior quidem, quoniam multum interest, utrum

18 aliquid obstet tantum, an inpediat. Eodem modo virtuti opposita nihil detrahunt; non est minor, sed minus fulget. Nobis forsitan non aeque apparet ac nitet, sibi eadem est et more solis obscuri in occulto vim suam exercet. Hoc itaque adversus virtutem possunt calamitates et damna et iniuriae, quod adversus solem potest nebula.

19 Invenitur, qui dicat sapientem corpore parum prospero usum nec miserum esse nec beatum. Hic quogue fallitur, exaequat enim fortuita virtutibus et tantundem tribuit honestis quantum honestate carentibus. Quid autem foedius, quid indignius quam comparari veneranda contemptis? Veneranda enim sunt iustitia, pietas, fides, fortitudo, prudentia ; e contrario vilia sunt, quae saepe contingunt pleniora vilissimis, crus solidum et lacertus et dentes et

99 tororum! sanitas firmitasque. Deinde si sapiens, cui corpus molestum est, nec miser habebitur nec beatus, sed in medio? relinquetur, vita quoque eius nec adpetenda erit nec fugienda. Quid autem tam absurdum quam sapientis vitam adpetendam non esse? Aut quid tam extra fidem quam esse aliquam

vitam nec adpetendam nec fugiendam? Deinde si

1 tororum Capps; horum MES. ; ceterorwm Buecheler ; nervorum Kronenberg. 2 in medio later MSS. ; medio BA

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he is free from clouds; since it makes a great deal of difference whether there is merely something in the way of his light or something which interferes with his shining. Similarly, obstacles take nothing away from virtue; it is no smaller, but merely shines with less brilliancy. In our eyes, it may perhaps be less visible and less luminous than before; but as regards itself it is the same and, like the sun when he is eclipsed, is still, though in secret, putting forth its strength. Disasters, therefore, and losses, and wrongs, have only the same power over virtue that a cloud has over the sun.

We meet with one person who maintains that a wise man who has met with bodily misfortune is neither wretched nor happy. But he also is in error, for he is putting the results of chance upon a parity with the virtues, and is attributing only the same influence to things that are honourable as to things that are devoid of honour. But what is more detestable and more unworthy than to put contemptible things in the same class with things worthy of reverence! [For reverence is due to justice, duty, loyalty, bravery, and prudence; on the contrary, those attributes are worthless with which the most worthless men are often blessed in fuller measure, — such as a sturdy leg, strong shoulders, good teeth, and healthy and solid muscles. Again, if the wise man whose body is a trial to him shall be regarded as neither wretched nor happy, but shall be left in a sort of half-way position, his life also will be neither desirable nor undesirable. But what is so foolish as to say that the wise man’s life is not desirable? And what is so far beyond the bounds of credence as the opinion that any life is neither desirable nor undesirable? Again, if bodily

459

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damna corporis miserum non faciunt, beatum esse patiuntur. Nam quibus potentia non est in peiorem transferendi! statum, ne interpellandi quidem optimum.

“ Frigidum,’ inquit, “ aliquid et calidum novimus, inter utrumque tepidum est; sic aliquis beatus est, aliquis miser, aliquis nec beatus nec miser.’’ Volo hane contra nos positam imaginem excutere. Si tepido illi plus frigidi ingessero, fiet frigidum. Si plus calidi adfudero, fiet novissime calidum. At huic nee misero nec beato quantumcumque ad miserias adiecero, miser non erit, quemadmodum

2 dicitis ; ergo imago ista dissimilis est. Deinde trado

tibi hominem nec miserum nec beatum. MHuic adicio caecitatem ; non fit miser. Adicio debilitatem ; non fit miser. Adicio dolores continuos et graves; miser non fit. Quem tam multa mala in miseram vitam non transferunt, ne ex beata quidem educunt.

23 Si non potest, ut dicitis, sapiens ex beato in miserum

decidere, non potest in non beatum. Quare enim qui labi coepit,? alicubi subsistat? Quae res illum non patitur ad imum devolvi, retinet in summo. Quidni non possit beata vita rescindi? Ne remitti quidem potest, et ideo virtus ad illam per se ipsa satis est.

“ Quid ergo?” inquit, “sapiens non est beatior,

1 transferendi later MSS. ; transiendi BA. 2 qui labi coepit Muretus ; qui illa coepit BA.

2 Answering the objection raised in § 14.

EPISTLE XCII.

ills do not make a man wretched, they consequently allow him to be happy. For things which have no power to change his condition for the worse, have not the power, either, to disturb that condition when it is at its best.

«“ But,” someone will say, “we know what is cold and what is hot; a lukewarm temperature lies between. Similarly, A is happy, and B is wretched, and C is neither happy nor wretched.” I wish to examine this figure, which is brought into play against us. If I add to your lukewarm water a larger quantity of cold water, the result will be cold water. But if I pour in a larger quantity of hot water, the water will finally become hot. In the case, however, of your man who is neither wretched nor happy, no matter how much I add to his troubles, he will not be unhappy, according to your argument; hence your figure offers no analogy. Again, suppose that I set before you a man who is neither miserable nor happy. I add blindness to his misfortunes; he is not rendered unhappy. I cripple him; he is not rendered unhappy. I add afflictions which are un- ceasing and severe; he is not rendered unhappy. Therefore, one whose life is not changed to misery by all these ills is not dragged by them, either, from his life of happiness. Then if, as you say, the wise man cannot fall from happiness to wretchedness, he cannot fall into non-happiness. For how, if one has begun to slip, can one stop at any particular place? That which prevents him from rolling to the bottom, keeps him at the summit. Why, you urge, may not a happy life possibly be destroyed ? It cannot even be disjointed; and for that reason virtue is itself of itself sufficient for the happy life.¢

«“ But,” it is said, “is not the wise man happier if

461

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

qui diutius vixit, quem nullus avocavit dolor, quam ille, qui cum mala fortuna semper luctatus est?” Responde mihi: numquid et melior est et honestior ? Si haec non sunt, ne beatior quidem est. Rectius vivat oportet, ut beatius vivat ; si rectius non potest, ne beatius quidem.! Non intenditur virtus, ergo ne beata quidem vita, quae ex virtute est. Virtus enim tantum bonum est, ut istas accessiones minutas non sentiat, brevitatem aevi et dolorem et corporum varias offensiones. Nam voluptas non est digna, ad 25 quam respiciat. Quid est in virtute praecipuum ? Futuro non indigere nec dies suos computare ; in quantulo libet tempore bona aeterna consummat. Incredibilia nobis haec videntur et supra humanam naturam excurrentia. Maiestatem enim eius ex nostra inbecillitate metimur ? et vitiis nostris nomen virtutis inponimus. Quid porro? Non aeque in- credibile videtur aliquem in summis_ cruciatibus positum dicere “beatus sum”? Atqui haec vox in ipsa officina voluptatis audita est. “ Beatissimum,”’ inquit, “hune et hunc diem ago” Epicurus, cum illum hine urinae difficultas torqueret, hine insana- 26 bilis exulcerati dolor ventris. Quare ergo incredibilia ista sint aput eos, qui virtutem colunt, quom? aput eos quoque reperiantur,‘ aput quos voluptas imperavit ? Hi quoque degeneres et humillimae mentis aiunt in summis doloribus, in summis calamitatibus sapientem

1 ne beatius quidem later MSS. ; ne beatus quidem BA. 2 metimur later MSS. ; mentimur BA. 3 quom O. Rossbach ; cum BA. 4 reperiantur later MSS. ; aperiantur BA.

@ Cf. Ep. \xxi. 16 non intenditur virtus. 'The Stoic idea of tension may be combined here with the raising of a note to a higher pitch.

’ Frag. 138 Usener. Cf. Sen. Ep. Ixvi. 47.

462

EPISTLE XCII.

he has lived longer and has been distracted by no pain, than one who has always been compelled to grapple with evil fortune?” Answer me now,—is he any better or more honourable? If he is not, then he is not happier either. In order to live more happily, he must live more rightly; if he cannot do that, then he cannot live more happily either. Virtue cannot be strained tighter, and therefore neither can the happy life, which depends on virtue. For virtue is so great a good that it is not affected by such insignificant assaults upon it as shortness of life, pain, and the various bodily vexations. For pleasure does not deserve that virtue should even glance at it. Now what is the chief thing in virtue? It is the quality of not needing a single day beyond the present, and of not reckoning up the days that are ours; in the slightest possible moment of time virtue completes an eternity of good. These goods seem to us incredible and transcending man’s nature ; for we measure its grandeur by the standard of our own weakness, and we call our vices by the name of virtue. Furthermore, does it not seem just as incredible that any man in the midst of extreme suffering should say, “I am happy’? And yet this utterance was heard in the very factory of pleasure, when Epicurus said:’ “To-day and one other day have been the happiest of all!” although in the one case he was tortured by strangury, and in the other by the incurable pain of an ulcerated stomach. Why, then, should those goods which virtue bestows be incredible in the sight of us, who cultivate virtue, when they are found even in those who acknowledge pleasure as their mistress? These also, ignoble and base-minded as they are, declare that even in the midst of excessive pain and mis-

463

bo “I

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

nec miserum futurum nec beatum. Atqui hoc quoque incredibile est, immo incredibilius. Non video enim, quomodo non in infimum?’ agatur e fastigio suo deiecta virtus. Aut beatum praestare debet, aut si ab hoc depulsa est, non prohibebit fieri miserum. Stans non potest mitti; aut vincatur oportet aut vincat.

“Dis,” inquit, “inmortalibus solis et virtus et beata vita contigit, nobis umbra quaedam_ illorum bonorum et similitudo. Accedimus ad illa, non per- venimus.” Ratio vero dis hominibusque communis est; haec in illis consummata est, in nobis consum- mabilis. Sed ad desperationem nos vitia nostra perducunt; nam ille alter secundus est ut aliquis parum constans ad custodienda optima, cuius iudicium labat etiamnunc et incertum est. Desideret oculorum atque aurium sensum, bonam valitudinem et non foedum aspectum corporis et habitu manente suo aetatis praeterea longius spatium. Per hanc potest non paenitenda agi vita, at? inperfecto viro huic malitiae vis quaedam inest, quia animum _habet mobilem ad prava. Illa apparens malitia et exagitata 3 abest 4; non est adhuc bonus, sed in bonum fingitur. Cuicumque autem deest aliquid ad bonum, malus est.

1 non in infimum vulg.; non in imum Buecheler; non infirmum BA.

2 agi vita at Buecheler ; agitavit BA.

> apparens malitia et exagitata Buecheler ; aitarens malitia

et ea agitata BA. + A and B give de bono after abest ; in B the words are added at the end of the line.

4.04

EPISTLE XCII.

fortune the wise man will be neither wretched nor happy. And yet this also is incredible,—nay, still more incredible than the other case. For I do not understand how, if virtue falls from her heights, she can help being hurled all the way to the bottom. She either must preserve one in happiness, or, if driven from this position, she will not prevent us from becoming unhappy. If virtue only stands her ground, she cannot be driven from the field; she must either conquer or be conquered.

But some say: “Only to the immortal gods is given virtue and the happy life; we can attain but the shadow, as it were, and semblance of such goods as theirs. We approach them, but we never reach them.” Reason, however, is a common attribute of both gods and men; in the gods it is already perfected, in us it is capable of being perfected. But it is our vices that bring us to despair; for the second class of rational being, man, is of an inferior order,—a guardian, as it were, who is too unstable to hold fast to what is best, his judgment still wavering and uncertain. He may require the faculties of sight and hearing, good health, a bodily exterior that is not loathsome, and, besides, greater length of days conjoined with an unimpaired con- stitution. Though by means of reason he can lead a life which will not bring regrets, yet there resides in this imperfect creature, man, a certain power that makes for badness, because he possesses a mind which is easily moved to perversity. Suppose, how- ever, the badness which is in full view, and has previously been stirred to activity, to be removed ; the man is still not a good man, but he is being moulded to goodness. One, however, in whom there is lacking any quality that makes for goodness, is bad.

465

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA Sed

Si cui virtus animusque in corpore praesens,

hic deos aequat, illo tendit originis suae memor.

30 Nemo inprobe eo conatur ascendere, unde de-

scenderat. Quid est autem cur non existimes in eo divini aliquid existere, qui dei pars est? Totum hoc, quo continemur, et unum est et deus; et socii sumus eius et membra. Capax est noster animus, perfertur illo, si vitia non deprimant. Quemadmodum corporum nostrorum habitus erigitur et spectat in caelum, ita animus, cui in quantum vult licet porrigi, in hoe a natura rerum formatus est, ut paria dis vellet. Et si utatur suis viribus ac se in spatium suum extendat, non aliena via! ad summa nititur. Magnus erat labor ire in caelum; redit. Cum hoe iter nactus est, vadit audaciter contemptor omnium nec ad pecuniam respicit aurumque et argentum illis, in quibus iacuere, tenebris dignissima, non ab hoc aestimat splendore,? quo inperitorum’ verberantoculos, sed a vetere caeno,* ex quo illa secrevit cupiditas nostra et effodit. :

Scit, inquam, aliubi positas esse divitias quam quo congeruntur; animum impleri debere, non arcam. Hunc inpenere dominio rerum omnium licet, hune in possessionem rerum naturae inducere, ut sua

1 via Schweighaeuser ; vifa BA.

2 ab hoc aestimat splendore Rubenius; ad hoc aestimat splendorem BA.

3 inperitorum cod. Velz. ; inperitior B; inpericior A.

4 @ vetere caeno Rubenius ; avertero caelo BA.

@ Vergil, Aeneid, v. 363. WVergil MSS. read pectore. ’ 7.¢., to participation in the divine existence. 466

EPISTLE. ‘XCII- But

He in whose body virtue dwells, and spirit E’er present,

is equal to the gods; mindful of his origin, he strives to return thither. No man does wrong in attempting to regain the heights from which he once came down. And why should you not believe that some- thing of divinity exists in one who is a part of God? All this universe which encompasses us is one, and it is God; we are associates of God; we are his members. Our soul has capabilities, and is carried thither,? if vices do not hold it down. Just as it is the nature of our bodies to stand erect and look upward to the sky, so the soul, which may reach out as far as it will, was framed by nature to this end, that it should desire equality with the gods. And if it makes use of its powers and stretches upward into its proper region it is by no alien path that it struggles toward the heights. It would be a great task to journey heavenwards; the soul but returns thither. When once it has found the road, it boldly marches on, scornful of all things. It casts no backward glance at wealth; gold and silver— things which are fully worthy of the gloom in which they once lay—it values not by the sheen which smites the eyes of the ignorant, but by the mire of ancient days, whence our greed first detached and dug them out.

The soul, I affirm, knows that riches are stored elsewhere than in men’s heaped-up treasure-houses ; that it is the soul, and not the strong-box, which should be filled. It is the soul that men may set in dominion over all things, and may install as owner of the universe, so that it may limit its riches only

407

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA orientis occidentisque terminis finiat! deorumque ritu cuncta possideat,? cum opibus suis divites superne despiciat, quorum nemo tam suo laetus est

53 quam tristis alieno. Cum se in hance sublimitatem

tulit, corporis quogue ut? oneris necessarii non amator, sed procurator est nec se illi, cui inpositus est, subicit. Nemo liber est, qui corpori servit. Nam ut alios dominos, quos nimia pro illo sollicitudo invenit, transeas, ipsius morosum imperium delica-

34 tumque est. Ab hoc modo aequo animo exit, modo

magno prosilit, nec quis deinde relicti eius futurus sit exitus quaerit. Sed ut ex barba capilloque tonsa neglegimus, ita ille divinus animus egressurus hominem, quo receptaculum suum conferatur, ignis illud exurat an lapis includat‘ an terra contegat an ferae distrahant, non magis ad se iudicat pertinere quam secundas ad editum infantem. Utrum pro- iectum aves differant. an consumatur

Canibus data praeda marinis,'

5 quid ad illum, qui nullus est®*? Sed tune quoque,

cum inter homines est, non timet ullas7 post mortem minas €orum, quibus usque ad mortem timeri parum est. Non conterret, inquit, me nec uncus nec proiecti

? finiat later MSS. ; fiat BA.

* possidzat later MSS. : possideant BA.

* ut Buecheler ; rel or relut BA.

* After dlud Rossbach reads ecurat an lapis includat an terra, etc. ; ulud excludat an terra BA ; exurat (for excludat) later MSS.

* pracda Latinis Vergil.

* qui nullus est Hense: qui nullus BA.

7 est, non timet ullaz Buecheler ; est timet ullas BA.

* Vergil, Aeneid, ix. 485. 468

a ee

EPISTLE XCII,

by the boundaries of East and West, and, like the gods, may possess all things; and that it may, with its own vast resources, look down from on high upon the wealthy, no one of whom rejoices as much in his own wealth as he resents the wealth of another. When the soul has transported itself to this lofty height, it regards the body also, since it is a burden which must be borne, not as a thing to love, but as a thing to oversee; nor is it subservient to that over which it is set in mastery. For no man is free who is a slave to his body. Indeed, omitting all the other masters which are brought into being by excessive care for the body, the sway which the body itself exercises is captious and fastidious. Forth from this body the soul issues, now with un- ruffed spirit, now with exultation, and, when once it has gone forth, asks not what shall be the end of the deserted clay. No; just as we do not take thought for the clippings of the hair and the beard, even so that divine soul, when it is about to issue forth from the mortal man, regards the destination of its earthly vessel—whether it be consumed by fire, or shut in by a stone, or buried in the earth, or torn by wild beasts—as being of no more concern to itself than is the afterbirth to a child just born. And whether this body shall be cast out and plucked to pieces by birds, or devoured when

thrown to the sea-dogs as prey,*

how does that concern him who is nothing? Nay, even when it is among the living, the soul fears nothing that may happen to the body after death ; for though such things may have been threats, they were not enough to terrify the soul previous to the moment of death. It says: “I am not frightened

469

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

ad contumeliam cadaveris laceratio foeda visuris. Neminem de supremo officio rogo, nulli reliquias meas commendo. Ne quis imsepultus esset, rerum natura prospexit._ Quem saevitia proiecerit, dies condet.? Diserte Maecenas ait :

Nec tumulum curo. Sepelit natura relictos.

Alte cinctum putes dixisse. Habuit enim ingenium et grande et virile, nisi illud secundis discinxisset.* VaLe } prospezit Buecheler; prospicit BA. = cond later MSS. ;: condit BA. + sscundiz discinzissd later MSS. ; secundis cinzisset BA.

* Cf. Javenal, x. 65 Seianus ducifur unco zpectandus. The bodies of crimimals were dragged by the hook through the city to the Scealaz Gemoniaz, down which they were flung.

* Frag. 6 Lundersiedt.

———EoOOOoOoOo

EPISTLE XCII.

by the executioner’s hook,* nor by the revolting mutilation of the corpse which is exposed to the scorn of those who would witness the spectacle. I ask no man to perform the last rites for me; I entrust my remains to none. Nature has made provision that none shall go unburied. Time will lay away one whom cruelty has cast forth.” Those were eloquent words which Maecenas uttered :

I want no tomb; for Nature doth provide For outcast bodies burial.’

You would imagine that this was the saying of a man of strict principles. He was indeed a man of noble and robust native gifts, but in prosperity he impaired these gifts by laxness.© Farewell.

¢ The figure is taken from the Roman dress,—one who was “‘girt high ” (alie cinctus), ready for vigorous walking, being contrasted with the loosely-girdled person (discinctus), indolent or effeminate. On the character of Maecenas see Epp. cxiv. 4 ff., xix. 9, cxx. 19,

471

APPENDIX

containing some new readings found in the Codex Quiri-

nianus (Q), a MS. of the ninth or tenth century, published

at Brescia by Achilles Beltrami in 1916. The MS. includes

Epp. -LXXXVIII.

I. 5. superest, sat est vulg.

de homine moderato sat est Q. da hominem moderatum ; sat est Beltrami. VIII. 7. differetur Q. differtur vulg.

XIV. 17. adde Q, confirming L’; ede rell.

XXV. 2. perfecturus Q; profecturus vulg.

XXXIII. 9. quid est quod a(r) te Q; quid est quare et Hense ; etc.

XLVIII. 1. quae tam longa quam Q ; tam longam quam rell

LXV. 22. vindicet Q; ducet vulg.

LXVI. 32. virtuti: nihil enim aliud est virtus quam recta ratio. omnes virtutes rationes sunt Q, confirming Schweighaeuser.

LXXI. 7. Before nisi qui omnia bona exaequaverit, Q adds nisi qui omnia prior i(p)se contempserit.

LXXI. 12. de hoc cursu Q; ex h. c. vulg.

LXXII. 3. Q adds (after philosophandum est) sed ut philo- sopheris vacandum est.

LXXV. 1. desideremus Q ; sederemus vulg.

472

APPENDIX

LXXVI. 20. @ adds (after calcasse) inventus est qui divitias proiceret.

LXXVII. 17. Q adds (after doleas) amicos scis enim amicus esse.

LXXVIII. 9. longior impetus mora Q ; impetus mora rell.

LXXXI. 8. esse grati Q; esse rell.

LXXXI. 21. Q adds (after urget) nemo sibi gratus est qui alteri non fuit. hoe me putas dicere qui ingratus est maser erit.

LXXXII. 11. sed tlle Rutilius qui fortiore vultu in exilium vit quam misisset Q; ut quam misisset MSS. LXXXIII. 2. Q@ adds (after cogitamus) et id raro; quid

Secerimus non cogitamus.

LXXXIV. 11. Q adds nihil vitaverimus nisi ratione sua- dente, with a twelfth-century MS.

LXXXVII. 26. After sustuleris Q adds non ideo sustuleris,

LXXXVIII. 41. non vis cogitare Q, with some later MSS. 5 non cogitare rell.

473

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

Acapemic (School of Philo- sophy), a definition of happiness, lxxi. 18; scepti- cism of, Ixxxviii. 44 f.

Achaia (province of Greece), earthquakes in, xci. 9 f.

Achilles, age of, compared with that of Patroclus, Ixxxviii. 6

Aegialus, a farmer on the old estate of Scipio, Ixxxvi. 14 ff.

Aetna, proposed ascent of, by Lucilius, xxix. 2 ff.

Agamemnon, his desire to return home to Mycenae, Ixvi. 26

Alexander of Macedon (the Great, d. 323 3.c.), crimes and tragedy of, due to drink, Ixxxiii. 19 ff.; his desire to conquer the globe, SCL.

Alexandria, fast-sailing ships from, Ixxvii. If.

Anacharsis (Scythian philo- sopher, fl. 600 B.c.), dis-

cussed as the _ inventor of the potter’s wheel, xc. 31

47 4

Antipater (of Tarsus, Stoic philosopher, 2nd century B.c.), refutation of a Peri- patetic syllogism, Ixxxvii. 38 ff. ; his view regarding non-essentials, xcii. 5

M. Antonius (friend of Caesar and rival of Augustus), ruined by wine and Cleo- patra, Ixxxiii. 25

Apion (grammarian, Ist century a.pD.), his opinion concerning the authorship of the Homeric cycle, Ixxxviii. 40 f.

Ardea (ancient city of La- tium, capital of the Rutu- lians), capture of, xci. 16

Argos (kingdom in the Pelo- ponnesus), a fictitious king Ot.-ixxx: J

Aristo of Chius (Stoic, 3rd century B.c.), weeds out many departments of philo- sophy, Ixxxix. 13

Asia, earthquakes in, xci. 9

Attalus (Stoic, teacher of Seneca), on the value of pain, lxvii. 15 ; simile used by, lxxii. 8; on ‘‘ returning

INDEX

the chalice to our own lips,” lxxxi. 22

Augustus (Roman Emperor), confidence in the hard drinkers Piso and Cossus, Ixxxiii. 14 f.

Decimus Iuntus Brutus (ce. 84-43 B.c.,seen.), cowardly death of, Ixxxii. 12 f.

Gaius Carsar_ (Caligula, emperor 37-41 a.p.), witti- cism of, Ixxvii. 18

Gaius Iulius Caesar, con- queror of Pompey, Ixxxiil. 12

Cambyses (son of Cyrus the Great, king of the Medes and Persians, 6th century B.c.), madness of, Ixxxvi. 1

Capreae (modern Capri, the outpost of the bay of Naples), Ixxvii. 2

Gaius Cassius (one of the murderers of Caesar), tem- perate habits of Ixxxiii. 12

M. Porcius Cato (the Elder), simple life of, Ixxxvi. 10; his scorn of trappings, Ixxxvii. 9 ff.

M. Porcius Cato (the Younger, d. 46 3.c.), heroic suicide of, Levin? 13 = Tex.19; 22 ; defeat of, Ixxi. 8, 10, 11; obedience to fate, 1xxi. 16 f. ; dictum of, Ixxi. 15.

Charondas (Sicilian law- giver, 6th century B.c.),

xe.-6

Charybdis (between Italy and Sicily, opposite to Scylla), phenomena of, Ixxix. 1 f.

VOL. II

Chelidon (a eunuch of Cleo- patra), richness of, Ixxxvil. 16

Tillius Cimber (one of the con- spirators against Caesar), his inordinate love of liquor, xxiii: 12) f.

Claranus (a friend of Seneca), his heroic conduct during illness, Ixvi. 1-4

Cyprus, often wasted by earthquakes, xci. 9

Cyrenaic school (offshoot of Epicureanism), remove physics and logic, and are content with ethics alone, Ixxxix. 12

DanakE (see n.), objects of Roman conquest, xxi. ST.

P. Decius Mus (both father and son, heroes of the Latin wars, 4th century B.c.), heroism and _ self- sacrifice of, Ixvii. 9

Demetrius (of Sunium, philo- sopher and _ friend of Seneca), definition of an untroubled existence, Lxvii.

14; his contempt for gossip, xci. 19 Democritus (Greek philo-

sopher, of Abdera, 5th century B.c.), supposed madness of, Ixxix. 14; dis- cussed as the inventor of the arch, xc. 32 f. Didymus(surnamed‘‘Brazen- Bowels,” scholar of Alex- andria, fl. lst century B.c.), his voluminous and varie- gated writings, on Aeneas,

475

INDEX

Anacreon, Sappho, etc., Ixxxviii. 37

Diogenes (the Cynic), con- trasted as a philosopher with Daedalus the in- ventor, xc. 14

Dossennus (ancient Latin comic writer, or a type in the Atellane farce), in- scription on the tomb of, ixxexe i

Epicurean, a philosophy of leisure, Ixviii. 10; void, Ixxii. 9; definition of philosophy as_ twofold, Ixxxix. ‘11

Epicurus (founder of the school, 342-279 B.c.), on the joy of suffering, lxvi. 18, lxvii. 15; on the pain- less body and the serene mind, lxvi. 45; on the different classes of goods, Ixvi. 47 f.; late-won re- nown of, Ixxix. 15 f.; on the payment of obliga- tions, Ixxxi. 11; declares virtue alone not sufficient for happiness, lxxxv. 18; on calm amid pain, xcii. 25

Eretrian school (somewhat inclined toward the Socratic), scepticism of, Ixxxviii. 44 f.

Faxir (clan famous in early Roman history), sacrifice in behalf of the state, Ixxxii. 20

Q. Fabius Maximus (hero of second Punic war), simple life of, lxxxvi. 10

476

German (gladiator), revolt- ing suicide of a, lxx. 20 Graeci, their use of para- doxes (inopinata) in philo- sophy, lxxxi. 11; futilities of dialectic, Ixxxii. 8f. ; their use of indifferentia, Ixxxii. 10; encyclic arts of the, Ixxxviii. 23; definition of wisdom, lxxxix. 7; de- finition of orbatio, |xxxvii.

39; on calm, xcii. 6

Hawnipat, contrasted with Scipio, Ixxxvi. 3

Helen, age of, compared with Hecuba’s, Ixxxviil. 6

Hephaestion(volcanic region in Lycia, in Asia Minor), xxix...

Hesiod, compared’ with Homer in seniority, Ixxxviil. 6

Homer, claimed by various schools of philosophy as a witness in their behalf, Ixxxvili. 5f.3; in various connexions, Ixxxvili. pas- sim ; mentions the potter’s wheel, xc. 31

Q. Horatius Flaccus (Roman poet, 65-8 B.c.), quoted, Ixxxvi. 13

JuprrEr, comparison of, with the ideal sage, Ixxiii. 12 ff.

Lacon, Spartan boy who re- fused to do menial service, Ixxvii. 14 f.

Lacones (Spartans under

INDEX

Leonidas at Thermopylae), Ixxxii. 20 ff.

Ladas, a traditionally swift runner, Ixxxv. 4

Aebutius Liberalis (friend of Seneca), disconsolate over the Lyons conflagra- tion of wel: 642 ani xc. passim

Drusus Libo (duped into dreams of empire, com- mitted suicide a.p. 16), contemplated self-destruc- tion of, Ixx. 10

Liternum (Campanian coast- town), retreat of Scipio, Ixxxvi. 3

Lucilius (procurator in Sicily and contemporary of Seneca), addressed, pas- sim. See Introduction, Vol. ips ix

Lucrine oysters (from a lake near the Bay of Naples), fork taste of, Ixxviii.

Lugudunum (capital of Gaul, now Lyons), destruction of, xci. passim

Lycurgus (of Sparta, 9th cen- tury B.c. ?), giver of laws, xc. 6

Maceponta, earthquakes in, Xin 9

Maecenas (prime minister of Augustus), witty saying of, xcii. 35

Tullius Marcellinus (a friend of Seneca), suicide of, bexvilg Suit;

Maximus(a friend of Seneca), Ixxxvii. 2 ff.

Medi, objects of Roman con- quest, Ixxi. 37

Megaric school, scepticism of, Ixxxviii. 44 f.

Menelaus (Homeric hero), actor posing as, Ixxx. 8

Metrodorus (follower of Epi- curus), his modest manner of life, Ixxix. 15 f. ; on the thankfulness of the sage, Eoxxast'l

Metronax (a philosopher, see Ep. xciii. 1), lectures by, Ixxvi. 4

Naratis (early Empire), vile-

ness and richness of, Ixxxvii. 16 Nausiphanes (disciple of

Pyrrho the Sceptic, 4th century B.C.), on seeming and non-being, \xxxviil. 43 f.

Neapolis (now Naples), a place for retirement, Ixviii. 5; theatre at, Ixxvi. 4

Neptune, the god to whom the sailor prays, lxxiii. 5; invoked by the Rhodian pilot, Ixxxv. 33

Nestor (Homeric hero), long life of, lxxvii. 20

P. Ovintus Naso (Roman poet, 43 z.c.-18 a.p.), his description of Aetna, Ixxix. 5; quoted, xc. 20

Parnus (city on west coast of Cyprus), often wrecked by earthquakes, xci. 9

Parmenides (Greek philoso- pher, jf. 500 3.c.), on the One, Ixxxviii. 44 f.

477

INDEX

Penelope, moral character of, Ixxxviii. 8

Peripatetics, their softening of Stoic paradoxes, Ixxxv. 3;\o1, ete. s-) their, ebjec- tions to Stoic syllogisms, Ixxxvii. 12, 38; their estab- lishment of economic phil- osophy, Ixxxix. 10

Persae(the Persians), objects of Roman conquest, Ixxi. ai

Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigen- tum in Sicily (6th century B.c.), the bronze bull of, Ixvi. 18

Pharius, pacemaker for Seneca, lxxxiii. 4

Phidias (Athenian sculptor, 5th century B.c.), variety of his materials, Ixxxv. 40

Lucius Piso (Roman official under Augustus), ab- normal drunkenness of, Ixxxiii. 14 f.

L. Munatius Plancus (gov. of Transalpine Gaul, 43 B.c.), founder of Lyons, xci. 14

Pompeii (possibly the birth- place of Lucilius), recalls memories of Seneca’s boy- hood, Ixx. 1

Gn. Pompeius Magnus, three defeats of his forces, xxi. 8 ff.

Lars Porsenna, king of the Etruscans, who yielded to Mucius Scaevola, lxvi. 51 ff.

Posidonius (Stoic philoso- pher, fl. Ist century B.c.), on lengt of life, xxviii. 28; opinion on drunken-

4.78

ness, lxxxiii. 10 ; definition of riches, Ixxxvii. 31 ff. ; on the arts and crafts, Ixxxviii. 21; on the sage and the inventor, xc. 5 ff. ; on the weakness of the flesh, xcii. 10

Protagoras (Greek philoso- pher of Abdera, 5th cen- tury B.c.), opinion on the flexibility of dialectic, Ixxxviii. 43 f.

Puteoli (a coast-town near Naples in Campania), the idlers of, Ixxvii. 1

Pyrrhonic school, scepticism of, Ixxxviii. 44 f.

Pythagoras (Greek philoso- pher, 6th century B.c.), teacher of many famous lawgivers, xc. 6

M. Aririus Recutus (hero of first Punic war), the suffer- ines ak,” bovis 1671 oe" shis pledge of honour, lxxi. 17

Rhodian (Telesphorus the), cowardly words of, Ixx. 6

P. Rutilius Rufus (states- man, banished 92 B.c.), exile“of, lxvil.- #3 retire= ment of, Ixxix. 14

Sarmatia (on the eastern side of Scythia), vanity of its rulers, lxxx. 10

Sattia, anecdote about the longevity of, Ixxvii. 20

Gaius Mucius Scaevola (Roman legendary period), voluntary self-mutilation of, Ixvi, SEE

INDEX

P. Cornelius Scipio (Afri- canus Maior, conqueror of Hannibal), adoration by Seneca at his house and tomb, Ixxxvi. 1 ff.

P. Cornelius Scipio (Afri- canus Minor, conqueror of Carthage in 146 B.c., and of Numantia in 133 Bic)) dsviods

P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica (admiral, defeated by Caesar’s fleet, 46 B.c.), heroism of, lxx. 22 ; defeat of, xxi. 10

Scribonia (see n.), witty say- ing of, Ixx. 10

Scylla (dangerous rock on Italian side of Sicilian Strait); bacax., Pf. xcii.9.

Scythia (from the Car- pathians eastward), vanity Of dts rrillers, « bork. 10's clothing of its inhabitants, xe. LG

Seneca (see Introduction, vol. i.), addresses himself, Ixviii. 10

Cornelius Severus (contemp. of Ovid, author of a Bellum Siculum), descrip- tion of Aetna, Ixxix. 5

Sextius (see Ep. lxiv. 2 n., vol. i.), his comparison of the sage with Jupiter, Ixxiii. 12, 15

Sicily, Lucilius’ through, lxxix. 1

Socrates, drinks the poison, Ixvii. 7; resignation of, Ixx. 9, Ixxi. 17; emphasis upon character, lxxi. 7; on truth and virtue, lxxi.

travels

16; late-won renown of, Ixxix. 14

Solon (see n. ad loc.), law- giver of Athens, and one of the seven wise men, Xes6

Speusippus (4th century B.c., predecessor of Xenocrates as head of the Academy), qualifies the definition of the bonum, Ixxxv. 18

Stoic, a certain, who gave good advice to Marcelli- nus, Ixxvii. 6

Stoic (school of philosophy), recommendation of the quiet life, Ixviii. 1; reply to Peripatetics regarding virtue, Ixxxv. 31; para- doxes of the, Ixxxvii. 1

Syria, earthquakes in, xci. 9

Syrtes (north coastof Africa), cave-homes of dwellers by the, xe. 17

Tarentum (city in Southern Italy), a place for retire- ment, Ixviii. 5

Tauromenium (now ‘Taor- mina) in Sicily, Ixxix. 1

Tiberius (emperor 14-37 a.p.), his confidence in the drunken Cossus, Ixxxiii. 15

Timagenes (from Alexan- dria, historian, and one- time friend of Augustus), grudge against Rome, xci. 13

Utysses, home-sickness of, Ixvi. 26; wanderings of, Ixxxviii. 7 f.

479

INDEX

P. Vereitivs Maro (Roman poet, 70-19 B.c.), quoted, ixvii: S;.ixx. 9, ize. 40:4, 15, xxvii. 12, Ixxviii. 15; description of Aetna, Ixxix. 5; quoted, Ixxxii. 7, 16, 18, kxxxiv. 3, lxxxv. 4, Ixxxvi. 15 f., Ixxxvii. 20, Ixxxviii. 14, 16, Ixxxix. | Pe cee! Meee Ee Pees y gee 2 | Scylla, xcii. 9; quoted, xcll. 29, 34

Virgo, the aqueduct, a colder plunge than the Tiber, ixxxili. 5

XENOCRATES

(4th century

B.c., successor of Speusip- pus as head of the Acad- emy), qualifies the defini- tion of the bonum, lxxxv. 18

Za eucus (of Magna Graecia, 7th century Bs.c.), law- maker, xc. 6

Zeno (founder of Stoicism, ji. 300 B.c.), over-subitle syllogism of, Ixxxii. 9, 19; objections to drunkenness, Ixxxiii. 9 ff.

Zeno, of Elea (Greek dia- lectic philosopher, 5th century s.c.), denial of everything, lxxxviii. 44 f.

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SENECA

AD LUeiLIUM EPISTULAE MORALES

III

\ V

copy p.

SENECA

IN TEN VOLUMES VI

AD LUOILIUM BPISTULAB MORALES

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY

RICHARD M. GUMMERE, Ph.D.

HEADMASTER, WILLIAM PENN CHARTER SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA

IN THREE VOLUMES III

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD

MCMLXXI

American

ISBN 0-674-99086-2

British

ISBN 0 434 99077 9

First printed 1925 Repnnted 1943. 1953, 1962, 1971

Printed in Great Britain

HAROLD B lU LrS^AW MK)VO. UTAH

CONTENTS OF VOLUME III

LETTERS

XCIII, ON THE QUALITY, AS CONTRASTED WITH

THE LENGTH, OF LIFE . .

XCIV. ON THE VALUE OF ADVICE

XCV. ON THE USEFULNESS OF BASIC PRINCIPLES

XCVI. ON FACING HARDSHIPS

XCVII. ON THE DEGENERACY OF THE AGE

XCVI II. ON THE FICKLENESS OF FORTUNE

XCIX. ON CONSOLATION TO THE BEREAVED .

C. ON THE WRITINGS OF FAIJIANUS

CL ON THE FUTILITY OF PLANNING AHEAD

ClI. ON THE INTIMATIONS OF OUR IMMORTALITY

CIII. ON THE DANGEIIS OF ASSOCIATION WITH

OUR FELLOW-MEN CIV. ON CARE OF HEALTH AND PEACE OF MIND

CV. ON FACING THE WORLD WITH CONFIDENCE CVI. ON THE CORPOREALITY OF VIRTUE CVII. ON OBEDIENCE TO THE UNIVERSAL WILL CVIIL ON THE APPROACHES TO PHILOSOPHY CIX. ON THE FELLOWSHIP OF WISE MEN ex. ON TRUE AND FALSE RICHES CXI. ON THE VANITY OF MENTAL GYMNASTICS

PAGE

58 104 108 118 128 148 158 16S

186 190 212 216

222 228 254 264 276

CONTENTS

PAGB

CXII. ON REFORMING HARDENED SINNERS . ' 280 CXIII. ON THE VITALITY OF THE SOUL AND ITS

ATTRIBUTES ..... 282

CXIV. ON STYLE AS A MIRROR OF CHARACTER . 300

CXV. ON THE SUPERFICIAL BLESSINGS . . . 318

CXVI. ON SELF-CONTROL . . . . .332

CXVII. ON REAL ETHICS AS SUPERIOR TO SYLLO- GISTIC SUBTLETIES .... 3S6

CXVIII. ON THE VANITY OF PLACE-SEEKING . . 360

CXIX. ON NATURE AS OUR BEST PROVIDER . . 370

CXX. MORE ABOUT VIRTUE .... 380

CXXI. ON INSTINCT IN ANIMALS .... 396

CXXn. ON DARKNESS AS A VEIL FOR WICKEDNESS . 410 CXXIII. ON THE CONFLICT BETWEEN PLEASURE AND

VIRTUE ...... 424

CXXIV. ON THE TRUE GOOD AS ATTAINED BY REASON 434

APPENDIX A . , . . . . .451

APPENDIX B ...... . 453

INDEX OF PROPER NAMKS ..... 455

SUBJECT INDEX . • , « . . . 459

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

L. ANNAEI SENECAE AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE

XCIII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 In epistula, qua de morte Metronactis philosophi querebaris tamquam et potuisset diutius vivere et debuisset, aequitatem tuam desideravi, quae tibi in omni persona, in omni negotio superest, in una re deest, in qua omnibus. Multos inveni aequos ad- versus homine-s, adversus deos neminem. Obiurgamus cotidie fatum : ** quare ille in medio cursu raptus est ? Quare ille non rapitur ? Quare senectutem et sibi et aliis gravem extendit ? **

2 Utrum, obsecro te, aequius iudicas te naturae an tibi parere naturam ? Quid autem interest, quam cito exeas, unde utique exeundum est ? Non ut diu vivamus curandum est, sed ut satis ; nam ut diu vivas, fat© opus est, ut satis, animo. Longa est vita,

<* A philosopher of Naples, mentioned as giving lectures there : c/. Ep. Ixxvi. 4.

* i.^., " adequately," equivalent to wj Set,

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XCIII. ON THE QUALITY, AS CONTRASTED WITH THE LENGTH, OF LIFE

While reading the letter in which you were lamenting the death of the philosopher Metronax * as if he might have, and indeed ought to have, lived longer, I missed the spirit of fairness which abounds in all your discussions concerning men and things, but is lacking when you approach one single subject, — as is indeed the case with us all. In other words, I have noticed many who deal fairly with their fellow-men, but nome who de-als fairly with the gods. We rail every day at Fate, saying : ** Why has A. been carried off in the very middle of his career ? Why is not B. carried off instead ? Why should he prolong his old age, which is a burden to himself as well as to others ? '*

But tell me, pray, do you consider it fairer that you should obey Nature, or that Nature should obey you ? And what diiterence does it make how soon you depart from a place which you must depart from sooner or later ? We should strive, not to live long, but to live rightly ^ ; for to achieve long life you have need of Fate only, but for right living you

VOL. Ill A 2 3

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si plena est ; impletur autem, cum animus sibi bonum

3 suum reddidit et ad se potestatem sui transtulit. Quid ilium octoginta anni iuvant per inertiam exacti ? Non vixit iste, sed in vita moratus est, nee sero mortuus est, sed diu. Octoginta annis vixit. Interest, mortem

4 eius ex quo die numeres. At ille obiit viridis. Sed officia boni civis, boni amici, boni filii executus est ; in nulla parte cessavit. Licet aetas eius inperfecta sit, vita perfecta est. Octoginta annis vixit. Immo octoginta annis fuit, nisi forte sic vixisse eum dicis, quomodo dicuntur arbores vivere.

Obsecro te, Lucili, hoc agamus, ut quemadmodum pretiosa rerum sic vita nostra non multum pateat, sed multum pendeat. Actu illam metiamur, non tempore. Vis scire, quid inter hunc intersit vegetum contemptoremque fortunae functum omnibus vitae humanae stipendiis atque in summum bonum eius evectum, et ilium, cui multi anni transmissi sunt ? Alter post mortem quoque est, alter ante mortem periit.

5 Laudemus itaque et in numero felicium reponamus eum, cui quantulumcumque temporis contigit, bene conlocatum est. Vidit enim veram lucem. Non fuit

" For a complete definition of the Supreme Good c/. Ep. Ixxi. 4 ff.

^ i.e,y the Metronax mentioned above.

<' For the same phrase see Ep, Ixvi. 30 and footnote.

'* C/. Ep, Ix. 4 mortem suam antecesserunt,

EPISTLE XCIII.

need the soul. A life is really long if it is a full life ; but fulness is not attained until the soul has rendered to itself its proper Good,^ that is, until it has assumed control over itself. What benefit does this older man derive from the eighty years he has spent in idleness ? A person like him has not lived ; he has merely tarried awhile in life. Nor has he died late in life ; he has simply been a long time dying. He has lived eighty years, has he ? That depends upon the date from which you reckon his death ! Your other friend,* however, departed in the bloom of his manhood. But he had fulfilled all the duties of a good citizen, a good friend, a good son ; in no respect had he fallen short. His age may have been incomplete, but his life was complete. The other man has lived eighty years, has he ? Nay, he has existed eighty years, unless perchance you mean by ** he has lived *' what we mean when we say that a tree ** lives.*'

Pray, let us see to it, my dear Lucilius, that our lives, like jewels of great price, be noteworthy not because of their width but because of their weight.*' Let us measure them by their performance, not by their duration. Would you know wherein lies the difference between this hardy man who, despising Fortune, has served through every campaign of life and has attained to life's Supreme Good, and that other person over whose head many years have passed ? The former exists even after his death ; the latter has died even before he was dead.^

We should therefore praise, and number in the company of the blest, that man who has invested well the portion of time, however little, that has been allotted to him ; for such a one has seen the true light. He has not been one of the common herd.

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unus e multis. Et vixit et viguit. Aliquando sereno usus est, aliquando, ut solet, validi sideris fulgor per nubila emicuit. Quid quaeris quamdiu vixerit ? Vivit ; ad posteros usque transiluit et se in memoriam dedit.

6 Nee ideo mihi plures annos accedere recusaverim, nihil tamen mihi ad beatam vitam defuisse dicam, si spatium eius inciditur. Non enim ad eum diem me aptavi, quem ultimum mihi spes avida promiserat, sed nullum non tamquam ultimum aspexi. Quid me interrogas, quando natus sim, an inter iuniores adhuc

7 censear ? Habeo meum. Quemadmodum in minore corporis habitu potest homo esse perfectus, sic et in minore temporis modo potest vita esse perfecta. Aetas inter externa est. Quamdiu sim, alienum est ; quamdiu ero,^ ut sim, meum est. Hoc a me exige, ne velut per tenebras aevum ignobile emetiar, ut agam vitam, non ut praetervehar.

8 Quaeris quod sit amplissimum vitae spatium ? Usque ad sapientiam vivere. Qui ad illam pervenit, attigit non longissimum finem, sed maximum. Ille vero glorietur audacter et dis agat gratias interque eos sibi, et rerum naturae inputet, quod fuit. Merito enim inputabit ; meliorem illi vitam reddidit quam

^ ero Buecheler ; vero BA.

* i,e.^ the Sun.

^ As in the original comltia centuriata^ men between the ages of seventeen and forty-six. ^ As riches, health, etc.

EPISTLE XCIII.

He has not only lived, but flourished. Sometimes he enjoyed fair sides ; sometimes, as often happens, it was only through the clouds that there flashed to him the radiance of the mighty star.^ Why do you ask : " How long did he live ? " He still lives ! At one bound he has passed over into posterity and has consigned himself to the guardianship of memory.

And yet I would not on that account decline for myself a few additional years ; although, if my life's space be shortened, I shall not say that I have lacked aught that is essential to a happy life. For I have not planned to live up to the very last day that my greedy hopes had promised me ; nay, I have looked upon every day as if it were my last. Why ask the date of my birth, or whether I am still enrolled on the register of the younger men ? ^ What I have is my own. Just as one of small stature can be a perfect man, so a life of small compass can be a perfect life. Age ranks among the external things .^' How long I am to exist is not mine to decide, but how long I shall go on existing in my present way is in my own control. This is the only thing you have the right to require of me, — that I shall cease to measure out an inglorious age as it were in dark- ness, and devote myself to living instead of being carried along past life.

And what, you ask, is the fullest span of life ? It is living until you possess wisdom. He who has attained wisdom has reached, not the furthermost, but the most important, goal. Such a one may indeed exult boldly and give thanks to the gods — aye, and to himself also — and he may count himself Nature's creditor for having lived. He will indeed have the right to do so, for he has paid her back a better life than he has received. He has set up the

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accepit. Exemplar boni viri posuit, qualis quantus- que esset ostendit. Si quid adiecisset, fuisset simile praeterito. 9 Et tamen quo usque vivimus ? Omnium rerum cognitione fruiti sumus. Scimus a quibus principiis^ natura se adtollat, quemadmodum ordinet mundum, per quas annum vices revocet, quemadmodum omnia, quae usquam erant, cluserit et se ipsam finem sui fecerit. Scimus sidera impetu suo vadere, praeter terram nihil stare, cetera continua velocitate decur- rere. Scimus quemadmodum solem luna praeter eat, quare tardior velociorem post se relinquat, quomodo lumen accipiat aut perdat, quae causa inducat noctem, quae reducat diem. lUuc eundum est, ubi ista

10 propius aspicias. " Nee hac spe," inquit sapiens ille, ** fortius exeo, quod patere mihi ad deos meos iter iudico. Merui quidem admitti et iam inter illos fui animumque illo meum misi et ad me illi suum miserant. Sed tolli me de medio puta et post mortem nihil ex homine restare ; aeque magnum animum habeo, etiam si nusquam transiturus excedo/*

11 " Non tam multis vixit annis quam potuit." Et

paucorum versuum liber est et quidem laudandus

atque utilis ; annales Tanusii ^ scis quam ponderosi

^ principiis Lipsius ; principalis BA. ^ an(n)ale est anvsii BA ; corr. cdd.

^ i.e.^ Nature herself is eternal.

* See, however, Seneca, N.Q. vii. 2. 3 sciamus utrum niundus terra stante circumeat an mimdo stante terra vertatur. For such doubts and discoveries c/, Arnold, Ilmian Stoicism^ pp. 178 f.

^ See Index of Proper Names.

EPISTLE XCIII.

pattern of a good man, showing the quality and the greatness of a good man. Had another year been added, it would merely have been like the past.

And yet how long are we to keep living } We have had the joy of learning the truth about the universe. We know from what beginnings Nature arises ; how she orders the course of the heavens ; by what successive changes she summons back the year ; how she has brought to an end all things that ever have been, and has established herself as the only end of her own being. ^ We know that the stars move by their own motion, and that nothing except the earth stands still, while all the other bodies run on with uninterrupted swiftness.^ We know how the moon outstrips the sun ; why it is that the slower leaves the swifter behind ; in what manner she receives her light, or loses it again ; what brings on the night, and what brings back the day. To that place you must go where you are to have a closer view of all these things. ** And yet," says the wise man, " I do not depart more valiantly be- cause of this hope — because I judge the path lies clear before me to my own gods. I have indeed earned admission to their presence, and in fact have already been in their company ; I have sent my soul to them as they had previously sent theirs to me. But suppose that I am utterly annihilated, and that after death nothing mortal remains ; I have no less courage, even if, when I depart, my course leads — nowhere."

** But," you say, " he has not lived as many years as he might have lived." There are books which contain very few lines, admirable and useful in spite of their size ; and there are also the Annals of Tanusius,^ — ^you know how bulky the book is, and

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sint et quid vocentur. Hoc est vita quorumdam 12 longa, et quod Tanoisii sequitur annales. Numquid feliciorem iudicas eum, qui summo die muneris, quam eum, qui medio occiditur ? Numquid aliquem tarn stulte cupidum esse vitae putas, ut rugulari in spoliario quam in harena malit ? Non maiore spatio alter alterum praeoedimus. Mors per omnes it ; qui oecidit, cons^quitur oecisum. Minimum est, de quo sollicitissime agitur. Quid autem ad rem pertinet, quam diu vites, quod evitare non possis ? Vale.

xeiv.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Eam partem philosophiae, quae dat propria cuique personae praecepta nee m universum conponit hominem, sed marito suadet quomodo se gerat adversus uxorem, patri quomodo educet liberos, domin© quomodo servos regat, quidam solam rece- perunt, ceteras quasi extra utilitatem nostram va- gantes reliquerunt, tamquam quis posset de parte suadere nisi qui summam prius totius vitae eomplexus est.

2 Sed Ariston Stoieus contrario banc partem levem existimat et quae non descendat in pectus usque

* For technical terms in Epp, xciv. and xcv. see Appendix A.

" See Cicero, De off, i. 3. 7 if. for a full discussion of principles and duties. As one would expect, the Romans were more interested in practical precepts than were the Greeks.

« Frag. 358 von Arnim.

EPISTLES XCIIL, XCIV,

what men say of it. This is the case with the long life of certain persons, — a state which resembles the Annals of Tanusius ! Do you regard as more fortunate the fighter who is slain on the last day of the games than one who goes to his death in the middle of the festivities ? Do you believe that any- one is so foolishly covetous of life that he would rather have his throat cut in the dressing-room than in the amphitheatre ? It is by no longer an interval than this that we precede one another. Death visits each and all ; the slayer soon follows the slain. It is an insignificant trifle, after all, that people discuss with so much concern. And anyhow, what does it matter for how long a time you avoid that which you cannot escape } Farewell.

XCIV. ON THE VALUE OF ADVICE «

That department of philosophy which supplies precepts ^ appropriate to the individual case, instead of framing them for mankind at large — which, for instance, advises how a husband should conduct himself towards his wife, or how a father should bring up his children, or how a master should rule his slaves — this department of philosophy, I say, is accepted by some as the only significant part, while the other departments are rejected on the ground that they stray beyond the sphere of practical needs — as if any man could give advice concerning a portion of life without having first gained a know- ledge of the sum of life as a whole !

But Aristo the Stoic, on the contrary, believes ^ the above-mentioned department to be of slight import : he holds that it does not sink into the mind,

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anilia ^ habentem praecepta, plurimum ait proficere ipsa decreta philosophiae constitutionemque summi boni. Quam qui bene intellexit ac didicit, quid in

3 quaque re faciendum sit sibi ipse praecipit.^ Quem- admodum qui iaculari discit, destinatum locum captat et manum format ad derigenda quae mittet, cum banc vim ex disciplina et exercitatione percepit, quocumque vult ilia utitur, didicit enim non hoc aut illud ferire, sed quodcumque voluerit : sic qui se ad totam vitam instruxit, non desiderat particulatim admoneri, doctus in totum, non enim quomodo cum uxore aut cum filio viveret, sed quomodo bene viveret. In hoc est et quomodo cum uxore ac liberis vivat.

4 Cleanthes utilem quidem iudicat et banc partem, sed inbecillam nisi ab universo fluit, nisi decreta ipsa philosophiae et capita cognovit. In duas ergo quae- stiones locus iste dividitur : utrum utilis an inutilis sit, et an solus virum bonum possit efficere, id est utrum supervacuus sit an omnes faciat supervacuos.

5 Qui banc partem videri volunt supervacuam, hoc aiunt : *' Si quid oculis oppositum moratur aciem, removendum est. Illo quidem obiecto operam perdit ^

* anilia Bucchcler ; anilia B ; anillam or atillam A,

2 praeripit later MSS. ; praecepit BA.

' perdit Buecheler and others ; perdidit BA,

EPISTLE XCIV.

having in it nothing but old wives* precepts, and that the greatest benefit is derived from the actual dogmas of philosophy and from the definition of the Supreme Good. When a man has gained a complete understanding of this definition and has thoroughly learned it, he can frame for himself a precept directing what is to be done in a given case. Just as the student of javelin-throwing keeps aiming at a fixed target and thus trains the hand to give direction to the missile, and when, by instruction and practice, he has gained the desired ability, he can then employ it against any target he wishes (having learned to strike not any random object, but precisely the object at which he has aimed), — so he who has equipped himself for the whole of life does not need to be advised concerning each separate item, because he is now trained to meet his problem as a whole ; for he knows not merely how he should live with his wife or his son, but how he should live aright. In this knowledge there is also included the proper way of living with wife and children.

Cleanthes holds that this department of wisdom is indeed useful, but that it is a feeble thing unless it is derived from general principles — that is, unless it is based upon a knowledge of the actual dogmas of philosophy and its main headings. This subject is therefore twofold, leading to two separate lines of inquiry : first. Is it useful or useless ? and, second, Can it of itself produce a good man ? — in other words. Is it superfluous, or does it render all other departments superfluous ?

Those who urge the view that this department is superfluous argue as follows : "If an object that is held in front of the eyes interferes with the vision, it must be removed. For just as long as it is in the

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qui praecipit : sic ambulabis, illo manum porriges. Eodem modo ubi aliqua res occaecat animum et ad officiorum dispiciendum ordinem inpedit, nihil agit qui praecipit : sic vives cum patre, sic cum uxore. Nihil enim proficient praecepta, quamdiu menti error ofFusus est ; si ille discutitur, apparebit, quid cuique debeatur ofRcio. Alioqui doces illum,^ quid sano

6 faciendum sit, non efficis sanum. Pauperi ut agat divitem monstras ; hoc quomodo manente pauper- tate fieri potest ? Ostendis esurienti quid tamquam satur faciat ; fixam potius medullis famem detrahe.

" Idem tibi de omnibus vitiis dico : ipsa removenda sunt, non praecipiendum quod fieri illis manentibus non potest. Nisi opiniones falsas, quibus laboramus, expuleris, nee avarus, quomodo pecunia utendum sit, exaudiet, nee timidus, quomodo periculosa contem-

7 nat. Efficias oportet, ut sciat pecuniam nee bonum

nee malum esse ; ostendas illi miserrimos divites.

Efficias, ut quicquid publice expavimus, sciat non

esse tam timendum quam fama circumfert, nee

dolere ^ nee mori ; saepe in morte, quam pati lex est,

magnum esse solacium, quod ad neminem redit ; in

^ ilium cod. Rhedig.2 ; illo BA. * von Arnim removed quemqxiam after dolere,

" In other words, that it is one of the *' external " things, media^ indifferentla,

EPISTLE XCIV.

way, it is a waste of time to offer such precepts as these : * Walk thus and so ; extend your hand in that direction/ Similarly, when something blinds a man's soul and hinders it from seeing a line of duty clearly, there is no use in advising him : * Live thus and so with your father, thus and so with your wife/ For precepts will be of no avail while the mind is clouded with error ; only when the cloud is dispersed will it be clear what one's duty is in each case. Otherwise, you will merely be showing the sick man what he ought to do if he were well, instead of making him well. Suppose you are trying to reveal to the poor man the art of ' acting rich ' ; how can the thing be accomplished as long as his poverty is unaltered ? You are trying to make clear to a starveling in what manner he is to act the part of one with a well-filled stomach ; the first requisite, however, is to relieve him of the hunger that grips his vitals.

** The same thing, I assure you, holds good of all faults ; the faults themselves must be removed, and precepts should not be given which cannot possibly be carried out while the faults remain. Unless you drive out the false opinions under which we suffer, the miser will never receive instruction as to the proper use of his money, nor the coward regarding the way to scorn danger. You must make the miser know that money is neither a good nor an evil ; ^ show him men of wealth who are miserable to the last degree. You must make the coward know that the things which generally frighten us out of our wits are less to be feared than rumour advertises them to be, whether the object of fear be suffering or death ; that when death comes — fixed by law for us all to suffer — it is often a great solace to reflect that it can never come again ; that in the midst of suffering

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dolore pro remedio futuram obstinationem animi, qui levins sibi facit, quicquid contumaciter passus est. Optimam doloris esse naturam, quod non potest nee qui extenditur magnus esse nee qui est magnus extendi ; omnia fortiter excipienda, quae nobis mundi necessitas imperat.

8 " His decretis cum ilium in conspectum suae con- flicionis adduxeris et cognoverit beatam esse vitam non quae secundum voluptatem ^ est, sed secundum naturam, cum virtutem unicum bonum hominis adamaverit, turpitudinem solum malum fugerit, re- liqua omnia, divitias, honores, bonam valitudinem, vires, imperia, scierit esse mediam partem nee bonis adnumerandam nee malis, monitorem non deside- rabit ^ ad singula, qui dicat : sic incede, sic cena. Hoc viro hoc feminae, hoc marito hoc caelibi con-

9 venit. Ista enim qui diligentissime monent, ipsi facere non possunt. Haec paedagogus puero, haec avia nepoti praecipit, et irascendum non esse magister iracundissimus disputat. Si ludum litterarium in- traveris, scies ista, quae ingenti supercilio philosophi iactant, in puerili esse praescripto.

10 " Utrum deinde manifesta an dubia praecipies ? Non desiderant manifesta monitorem, praecipienti dubia non creditur ; supervacuum est ergo praecipere. Id

^ voluptatem later MSS. ; voluntatem BA. * desiderabit later MSS. ; desideravit BA..

^ Compare, among similar passages, Ep. xxiv. 14 levis €s^ si ferre possum^ brevu es, si ferre non possum,

EPISTLE XCIV.

resoluteness of soul will be as good as a cure, for the soul renders lighter any burden that it endures with stubborn defiance. Remember that pain has this most excellent quality : if prolonged it cannot be severe, and if severe it cannot be prolonged ; ^ and that we should bravely accept whatever commands the inevitable laws of the universe lay upon us.

** When by means of such doctrines you have brought the erring man to a sense of his own condition, when he has learned that the happy life is not that which conforms to pleasure, but that which conforms to Nature, when he has fallen deeply in love with virtue as man's sole good and has avoided baseness as man's sole evil, and when he knows that all other things — riches, office, health, strength, dominion — fall in between and are not to be reckoned either among goods or among evils, then he will not need a monitor for every separate action, to say to him : * Walk thus and so ; eat thus and so. This is the conduct proper for a man and that for a woman ; this for a married man and that for a bachelor.' Indeed, the persons who take the greatest pains to proffer such advice are themselves unable to put it into practice. It is thus that the pedagogue advises the boy, and the grandmother her grandson ; it is the hottest-tempered school- master who contends that one should never lose one's temper. Go into any elementary school, and you will learn that just such pronouncements, emanating from high-browed philosophers, are to be found in the lesson-book for boys !

** Shall you then offer precepts that are clear, or precepts that are doubtful ? Those which are clear need no counsellor, and doubtful precepts gain no credence; so the giving of precepts is superfluous.

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adeo sic disce. Si id mones,quod obscurum est et ambi- guum, probationibus adiuvanduni erit. Si probaturus es, ilia per quae probas plus valent satisque per se sunt.

11 Sic amico utere, sic cive, sic socio. Quare ? Quia iustum est. Omnia ista inihi de iustitia locus tradit. Illic invenio aequitatem per se expetendam, nee metu nos ad illam cogi nee mercede conduci, non esse iustum, cui quidquam in hac virtute placet praeter ipsam. Hoc cum persuasi mihi et perbibi,^ quid ista praecepta proficiunt, quae eruditum docent ? Prae- cepta dare scienti supervacuum est, nescienti parum. Audire enim debet non tantum, quid sibi prae-

12 cipiatur, sed etiam quare. Utrum, inquam, veras opiniones habenti de bonis malisque sunt necessaria an non habenti ? Qui non habet, nihil a te adiu- vabitur ; aures eius contraria monitionibus tuis fama possedit. Qui habet exactum indicium de fugiendis petendisque, scit, quid ^ sibi faciendum sit, etiam te tacente. Tota ergo pars ista philosophiae sum- moveri potest.

13 " Duo sunt, propter quae delinquimus : aut inest animo pravis opinionibus malitia contracta aut, etiam

si non est falsis occupatus, ad falsa proclivis est et

^ perbibi later MSS. ; perhibi BA. 2 scit quid later IMSS. ; scit BA. 18

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Indeed you should study the problem in this way : if you are eounselling someone on a matter which is of doubtful clearness and doubtful meaning, you must supplement your precepts by proofs ; and if you must resort to proofs, your means of proof are more effec- tive and more satisfactory in themselves. * It is thus that you must treat your friend, thus your fellow- citizen, thus your associate/ And why ? * Because it is just/ Yet I can find all that material included under the head of Justice. I find there that fair play is desirable in itself, that we are not forced into it by fear nor hired to that end for pay, and that no man is just who is attracted by anything in this virtue other than the virtue itself. After convincing myself of this view and thoroughly absorbing it, what good can I obtain from such precepts, which only teach one who is already trained ? To one who knows, it is superfluous to give precepts ; to one who does not know, it is insufficient. For he must be told, not only what he is being instructed to do, but also why. I repeat, are such precepts useful to him who has correct ideas about good and evil, or to one who has them not ? The latter will receive no benefit from you ; for some idea that clashes with your counsel has already monopolized his attention. He who has made a careful decision as to what should be sought and what should be avoided knows what he ought to do, without a single word from you. Therefore, that whole department of philosophy may be abolished.

** There are two reasons why we go astray : either there is in the soul an evil quality which has been brought about by wrong opinions, or, even if not possessed by false ideas, the soul is prone to false- hood and rapidly corrupted by some outward appear-

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cito specie quo non oportet trahente corrumpitur. Itaque debemus aut percurare mentem aegram et vitiis liberare, aut vacantem ^ quidem, sed ad peiora pronain praeoccupare. Utrumque decreta philo- sophiae faciunt ; ergo tale praecipiendi genus nil

14 agit. Praeterea si praecepta singulis damus, incon- prehensibile opus est. Alia enim dare debemus faeneranti, alia colenti agrum, alia negotianti, alia regum amicitias sequenti, alia pares, alia inferiores

15 amaturo. In matrimonio praecipies, quomodo vivat cum uxore aliquis, quam virginem duxit, quomodo cum ea, quae alicuius ante matrimonium experta est, quemadmodum cum locuplete, quemadmodum cum indotata. An non putas aliquid esse discriminis inter sterilem et fecundam, inter provectiorem et puellam, inter matrem et novercam ? Omnes species conplecti non possumus, atqui singulae propria exigunt ; leges autem philosophiae breves sunt et omnia alligant.

16 Adice nunc, quod sapientiae praecepta finita debent esse et certa : si qua finiri non possunt, extra sa- pientiam sunt ; sapientia rerum terminos novit.

" Ergo ista praeceptiva pars summovenda est, quia quod paucis promittit, praestare omnibus non potest ;

17 sapientia autem omnes tenet. Inter insaniam pub-

^ vacantem later MSS. ; vagantem BA,

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ance which attracts it in the wrong direction. For this reason it is our duty either to treat carefully the diseased mind and free it from faults, or to take possession of the mind when it is still un- occupied and yet inclined to what is evil. Both these results can be attained by the main doctrines of philo- sophy; therefore the giving of such precepts is of no use. Besides, if we give forth precepts to each individual, the task is stupendous. For one class of advice should be given to the financier, another to the farmer, another to the business man, another to one who cultivates the good graces of royalty, another to him who will seek the friendship of his equals, another to him who will court those of lower rank. In the case of marriage, you will advise one person how he should conduct himself with a wife who before her marriage was a maiden, and another how he should behave with a woman who had previously been wedded to another ; how the husband of a rich woman should act, or another man with a dowerless spouse. Or do you not think that there is some difference between a barren woman and one who bears children, between one advanced in years and a mere girl, between a mother and a step-mother ? We cannot include all the types, and yet each type requires separate treatment ; but the laws of philo- sophy are concise and are binding in all cases. Moreover, the precepts of wisdom should be definite and certain : when things cannot be defined, they are outside the sphere of wisdom ; for wisdom knows the proper limits of things.

** We should therefore do away with this depart- ment of precepts, because it cannot afford to all what it promises only to a few ; wisdom, however, embraces all. Between the insanity of people in general and

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licam et hanc, quae medicis traditur, nihil interest nisi quod haec morbo laborat, ilia opinionibus falsis. Altera causas furoris traxit ex valitudine, altera animi mala valitudo est. Si quis furioso praecepta det, quomodo loqui debeat, quomodo procedere, quomodo in publico se gerere, quomodo in privato, erit ipso, quem monebit, insanior. Ei bills ^ nigra curanda est et ipsa furoris causa removenda. Idem in hoc alio animi furore faciendum est. Ipse discuti debet ; alioqui abibunt in vanum monentium verba.**

18 Haec ab Aristone dicuntur ; cui respondebimus ad singula. Primum adversus illud, quod ait, si quid obstat oculo et inpedit visum, debere removeri. Fateor huic non esse opus praeceptis ad videndum, sed remedio, quo purgetur acies et officientem sibi moram effugiat. Natura enim videmus, cui usum sui reddit qui removet^ obstantia. Quid autem cuique

19 debeatur officio, natura non docet. Deinde cuius curata suffusio est, is non protinus cum visum recepit, aliis quoque potest reddere ; malitia liberatus et liberat. Non opus est exhortatione, ne consilio quidem, ut colorum proprietates oculus intellegat, a nigro album etiam nullo monente distinguet. Multis

* ei bills Kronenberg ; sibills BA ; bilis vulg. 2 removet ed. Rom. ; removit BA.

** For the same figure, in the same connexion, see Ep, Ixviii. 8 in pectore ipso colled io et vomica est,

^ By means of hellebore, Lat. veratrum, the favourite cathartic of the ancients.

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the insanity which is subject to medical treatment; there is no dilFerence, except that the latter is suffering from disease and the former from false opinions." In the one case, the symptoms of madness may be traced to ill-health ; the other is the ill-health of the mind. If one should offer precepts to a mad- man— how he ought to speak, how he ought to walk, how he ought to conduct himself in public and in private, he would be more of a lunatic than the person whom he was advising. What is really necessary is to treat the black bile ^ and remove the essential cause of the madness. And this is what should also be done in the other case — that of the mind diseased. The madness itself must be shaken off; otherwise, your words of advice will vanish into thin air/*

This is what Aristo says ; and I shall answer his arguments one by one. First, in opposition to what he says about one's obligation to remove that which blocks the eye and hinders the vision. I admit that such a person does not need precepts in order to see, but that he needs treatment for tlie curing of his eyesight and the getting rid of the hindrance that handicaps him. For it is Nature that gives us our eyesight ; and he who removes obstacles restores to Nature her proper function. But Nature does not teach us our duty in every case. Again, if a man's cataract is cured, he cannot, immediately after his recovery, give back their eyesight to other men also ; but when we are freed from evil we can free others also. There is no need of encouragement, or even of counsel, for the eye to be able to dis- tinguish different colours ; black and white can be differentiated without prompting from another.

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contra praeceptis eget animus, ut videat, quid agen- dum sit in vita ; quamquam oculis quoque aegros

20 medicus non tantum curat sed etiam monet. " Non est/* inquit, " quod protinus inbecillam aciem com- mittas inprobo lumini ; a tenebris primum ad um- brosa procede, deinde plus aude et paulatim claram lucem pati adsuesce. Non est quod post cibum studeas, non est quod plenis oculis ac tumentibus imperes ; adflatum et vim frigoris in os occurrentis evita '' ; alia eiusmodi, quae non minus quam medica- menta proficiunt. Adicit remediis medicina con- silium.

21 ** Error,*' inquit, ** est causa peccandi. Hunc nobis praecepta non detrahunt nee expugnant opiniones de bonis ac malis falsas." Concedo per se efficacia praecepta non esse ad evertendam pravam animi persuasionem ; sed non ideo nihil ne ^ aliis quidem adiecta proficiunt. Primum memoriam renovant ; deinde quae in universo confusius videbantur, in partes divisa diligentius considerantur. Aut isto ^ modo licet et consolationes dicas supervacuas et exhortationes ; atqui non sunt supervacuae, ergo ne monitiones quidem.

22 ** Stultum est,*' inquit, ** praecipere aegro, quid facere tamquam sanus debeat, cum restituenda sanitas sit, sine qua inrita sunt praecepta.** Quid,

^ nihil ne added by Buecheler. ^ aut isto Buecheler ; aut in isto BA.

« This is in harmony with the idea of Socrates; sin is a lack of knowledge regarding what is true and what is false. ^ i.e,^ Aristo and others.

EPISTLE XCIV.

The mind, on the other hand, needs many precepts in order to see what it should do in Ufe ; although in e} e-treatment also the physician not only accom- plishes the cure, but gives advice into the bargain. He says : ** There is no reason why you should at once expose your weak vision to a dangerous glare ; begin with darkness, and then go into half-lights, and finally be more bold, accustoming yourself grad- ually to the bright light of day. There is no reason why you should study immediately after eating; there is no reason why you should impose hard tasks upon your eyes when they are swollen and inflamed ; avoid winds and strong blasts of cold air that blow into your face,'* — and other suggestions of the same sort, which are just as valuable as drugs themselves. The physician^s art supplements remedies by advice.

** But,'* comes the reply, ** error is the source of sin ; *» precepts do not remove error, nor do they rout our false opinions on the subject of Good and Evil.'' I admit that precepts alone are not effective in overthrowing the mind's mistaken beliefs ; but they do not on that account fail to be of service when they accompany other measures also. In the first place, they refresh the memory ; in the second place, when sorted into their proper classes, the matters which showed themselves in a jumbled mass when considered as a whole, can be considered in this way with greater care. According to our opponents* * theory, you might even say that consolation and exhortation were superfluous. Yet they are not superfluous ; neither, therefore, is counsel.

** But it is folly," they retort, ** to prescribe what a sick man ought to do, just as if he were well, when you should really restore his health ; for without health precepts are not >s oj th a jot." But have not

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quod habent aegri quaedam sanique communia, de quibus admonendi sunt ? Tamquam ne avide cibos adpetant, ut lassitudinem vitent. Habent quaedam

23 praecepta communia pauper et dives. ** Sana,*' ^ inquit, ** avaritiam, et nihil habebis quod admoneas aut pauperem aut divitem, si cupiditas utriusque eonsedit.2 " Quid, quod aliud est non concupiscere pecuniam, aliud uti pecunia scire ? Cuius avari modum ignorant, etiam non avari usum. ** Tolle,** inquit, '* errores ; supervacua praecepta sunt/' Falsum est. Puta enim avaritiam relaxatam, puta adstrictam esse luxuriam, temeritati frenos iniectos, ignaviae subditum calcar ; etiam remotis vitiis quid et quemadmodum debeamus facere, discendum est.

24 ** Nihil," inquit, *' efficient monitiones admotae gravibus vitiis.'* Ne medicina quidem morbos in- sanabiles vincit, tamen adhibetur aliis in remedium, aliis in levamentum. Ne ipsa quidem universae philosophiae vis, licet totas in hoc vires suas advoeet, duram iam et veterem animis extrahet pestem. Sed

25 non ideo nihil sanat, quia non omnia. *' Quid prodest," inquit, *' aperta monstrare ? " Plurimum ; interdum enim scimus nee adtendimus. Non docet admonitio,

^ Sana later MSS. ; saniat BA. ■ consedit Schweighaeuser ; considet BA.

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sick men and sound men something in common, concerning which they need continual advice ? For example, not to grasp greedily after food, and to avoid getting over- tired. Poor and rich have certain precepts which fit them both. ** Cure their greed, then,'* people say, ** and you will not need to lecture either the poor or the rich, provided that in the case of each of them the craving has subsided/* But is it not one thing to be free from lust for money, and another thing to know how to use this money ? Misers do not know the proper limits in money matters, but even those who are not misers fail to comprehend its use. Then comes the reply : ** Do away with error, and your precepts become un- necessary.** That is wrong ; for suppose that avarice is slackened, that luxury is confined, that rashness is reined in, and that laziness is pricked by the spur ; even after vices are removed, we must continue to learn what we ought to do, and how we ought to do it.

** Nothing,** it is said, ** will be accomplished by applying advice to the more serious faults.** No ; and not even medicine can master incurable diseases ; it is nevertheless used in some cases as a remedy, in others as a relief. Not even the power of universal philosophy, though it summon all its strength for the purpose, will remove from the soul what is now a stubborn and chronic disease. But Wisdom, merely because she cannot cure everything, is not incapable of making cures. People say : ** What good does it do to point out the obvious ? *' A great deal of good ; for we sometimes know facts without paying attention to them. Advice is not teaching ; it merely engages the attention and rouses us, and

VOL. Ill B 27

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sed advertit, sed excitat, sed memoriam continet nee patitur elabi. Pleraque ante oculos posita transimus. Admonere genus adhortandi est. Saepe animus etiam aperta dissimulat ; ingerenda est itaque illi notitia rerum notissimarum. Ilia hoc loco in Va- tinium Calvi repetenda sententia est : ** factum esse

26 ambitum scitis, et hoc vos scire omnes sciunt.** Scis amicitias sancte colendas esse, sed non facis. Scis inprobum esse, qui ab uxore pudicitiam exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor uxorum ; scis ut illi nil cum adultero, sic ^ tibi nil esse debere cum paelice, et non facis. Itaque subinde ad memoriam reducendus es ; non enim reposita ilia esse oportet, sed in promptu. Quaecumque salutaria sunt, saepe agitari debent, saepe versari, ut non tantum nota sint nobis, sed etiam parata. Adice nunc, quod aperta quoque apertiora fieri solent.

27 *' Si dubia sunt,'* inquit, ** quae praecipis, proba- tiones adicere debebis ; ergo illae, non praecepta proficient.'' Quid, quod etiam sine probationibus ipsa monentis auctoritas prodest ? Sic quomodo iurisconsultorum valent responsa, etiam si ratio non redditur. Praeterea ipsa, quae praecipiuntur, per se multum habent ponderis, utique si aut carmini intexta sunt aut prosa oratione in sententiam

1 sic later MSS. : sit BA.

" monitio includes consolatio, dissuasio^ ohiurgatio, laudatio, and hortatio, Cf. § 39 of this letter.

* Quoted also by Quintilian, vi. 1. 13. Between the years 58 and 54 b.c. Calvus, a friend of the poet Catullus, in three famous speeches prosecuted Vatinius, one of the creatures of Caesar who had illegally obtained office.

EPISTLE XCIV.

concentrates the memory, and keeps it from losing grip. We miss much that is set before our very eyes. Advice is, in fact, a sort of exhortation.^ The mind often tries not to notice even that which hes before our eyes ; we must therefore force upon it the knowledge of things that are perfectly well known. One might repeat here the saying of Calvus about Vatinius : ^ ** You all know that bribery has been going on, and everyone knows that you know it.** You know that friendship should be scrupulously honoured, and yet you do not hold it in honour. You know that a man does wrong in requiring chastity of his wife while he himself is intriguing with the wives of other men ; you know that, as your wife should have no dealings with a lover, neither should you yourself with a mistress ; and yet you do not act accordingly. Hence, you must be continually brought to re- member these facts ; for they should not be in storage, but ready for use. And whatever is wholesome should be often discussed and often brought before the mind, so that it may be not only familiar to us, but also ready to hand. And remember, too, that in this way what is clear often becomes clearer.

** But if,** comes the answer, " your precepts are not obvious, you will be bound to add proofs ; hence the proofs, and not the precepts, will be helpful.** But cannot the influence of the monitor avail even without proofs ? It is like the opinions of a legal expert, which hold good even though the reasons for them are not delivered. Moreover, the precepts which are given are of great weight in themselves, whether they be woven into the fabric of song, or condensed into prose proverbs, like the famous Wisdom of

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coartata, sicut ilia Catoniana : ** em as non quod opus est, sed quod necesse est ; quod non opus est, asse carum est," qualia sunt ilia aut reddita oraculo

28 aut similia : ** tempori parce," " te nosce/' Num- quid rationem exiges, cum tibi aliquis hos dixerit versus ?

Iniuriarum remedium est oblivio.

Audentes fortuna iuvat, piger ipse sibi opstat.

Advocatum ista non quaerunt ; adfectus ipsos tan- gunt et natura vim suam exercente proficiunt.

29 Omnium honestarum rerum semina animi gerunt, quae admonitione excitantur, non aliter quam scin- tilla flatu levi adiuta ignem suum explicat. Erigitur virtus, cum tacta est et inpulsa. Praeterea quaedam sunt quidem in animo, sed parum prompta, quae incipiunt in expedito esse, cum dicta sunt. Quaedam diversis locis iacent sparsa, quae contrahere inexer- citata mens non potest. Itaque in unum conferenda sunt et iungenda, ut plus valeant animumque magis

30 adlevent. Aut si praecepta niliil adiuvant, omnis institutio tollenda est, ipsa natura contenti esse debemus.

Hoc qui dicunt, non vident alium esse ingenii mobilis et erecti, alium tardi et hebetis, utique alium alio ingeniosiorem. Ingenii vis praeceptis alitur et crescit novasque persuasiones adicit innatis

31 et depravata corrigit. ** Si quis," inquit, ** non habet

* Catonis Reliq, p. 79 lordan.

* From Publilius vSyrus — Frag. 250 Ribbeck.

* A verse made up from Vergil, A en. x. 284, and an unknown author, <* ue,^ who Would abolish precepts. 30

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Cato ^ : " Buy not what you need, but what you must have. That which you do not need, is dear even at a farthing/* Or those oracular or oracular-hke rephes, such as ** Be thrifty with time ! " ** Know thyself! " Shall you need to be told the meaning when someone repeats to you lines like these :

Forgetting trouble is the way to cure it.^

Fortune favours the brave ; but the coward is foiled by his faint heart. ^'

Such maxims need no special pleader ; they go straight to our emotions, and help us simply because Nature is exercising her proper function. The soul carries within itself the seed of everything that is honourable, and this seed is stirred to growth by advice, as a spark that is fanned by a gentle breeze develops its natural fire. Virtue is aroused by a touch, a shock. Moreover, there are certain things which, though in the mind, yet are not ready to hand but begin to function easily as soon as they are put into words. Certain things lie scattered about in various places, and it is impossible for the unpractised mind to arrange them in order. There- fore, we should bring them into unity, and join them, so that they may be more pov/erful and more of an uplift to the soul. Or, if precepts do not avail at all, then every method of instruction should be abolished, and we should be content with Nature alone.

Those who maintain this view ^ do not understand that one man is lively and alert of wit, another sluggish and dull, while certainly some men have more intelligence than others. The strength of the wit is nourished and kept growing by precepts ; it adds new points of view to those which are in- born and corrects depraved ideas. ** But suppose,'*

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recta decreta, quid ilium admonitiones iuvabunt vitiosis obligatum ? " Hoc scilicet, ut illis liberetur ; non enim extincta in illo indoles naturalis est, sed obscurata et oppressa. Sic quoque temptat resurgere et contra prava nititur, nancta vero praesidium et adiuta praeceptis evalescit, si tamen illam diutina pestis non infecit nee enecuit ; banc enim ne dis- ciplina quidem philosophiae toto inpetu suo conisa restituet. Quid enim interest inter decreta philo- sophiae et praecepta, nisi quod ilia generalia prae- cepta sunt, haec specialia ? Utraque res praecipit, sed altera in totum, particulatim altera.

32 "Si quis," inquit, ** recta habet et honesta decreta, hie ex supervacuo monetur." Minime ; nam hie quoque doctus quidem est facere quae debet, sed haec non satis perspicit. Non enim tantum adfecti- bus inpedimur, quo minus probanda faciamus, sed inperitia inveniendi quid quaeque res exigat. Habe- mus interdum compositum animum, sed residem et inexercitatum ad inveniendam ^ officiorum viam,

33 quam admonitio demonstrat. ** Expelle," inquit, ** falsas opiniones de bonis et malis, in locum autem earum veras repone, et nihil habebit admonitio, quod agat." Ordinatur sine dubio ista ratione animus,

^ ad inveniendam later MSS. ; adveniendam BA. 32

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people retort, '* that a man is not the possessor of sound dogmas, how can advice help him when he is chained down by vicious dogmas ? " In this, as- suredly, that he is freed therefrom ; for his natural disposition has not been crushed, but over-shadowed and kept down. Even so it goes on endeavouring to rise again, struggling against the influences that make for evil ; but when it wins support and receives the aid of precepts, it grows stronger, provided only that the chronic trouble has not corrupted or anni- hilated the natural man. For in such a case, not even the training that comes from philosophy, striv- ing with all its might, will make restoration. What difference, indeed, is there between the dogmas of philosophy and precepts, unless it be this — that the former are general and the latter special ? Both deal with advice — the one through the universal, the other through the particular.

Some say : " If one is familiar with upright and honourable dogmas, it will be superfluous to advise him." By no means ; for this person has indeed learned to do things which he ought to do ; but he does not see with sufficient clearness what these things are. For we are hindered from accomplishing praiseworthy deeds not only by our emotions, but also by want of practice in discovering the demands of a particular situation. Our minds are often under good control, and yet at the same time are inactive and untrained in finding the path of duty, — and advice makes this clear. Again, it is written : ** Cast out all false opinions concerning Good and Evil, but replace them with true opinions ; then advice will have no function to perform/* Order in the soul can doubt- less be established in this way ; but these are not the

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sed non ista tantum. Nam quamvis argumentis coUectum sit, quae bona malaque sint, nihilominus habent praecepta partes suas. Et prudentia et iustitia offieiis constat, officia praeceptis disponuntur.

34 Praeterea ^ ipsum de malis bonisque iudieium con- firmatur officiorum exsecutione, ad quam praecepta perducunt. Utraque enim inter se consentiunt ; nee ilia possunt praecedere, ut non haec sequantur. Et haec ordinem sequuntur suum ; unde apparet ilia praecedere.

35 ** Infinita,** inquit, " praecepta sunt." Falsum est. Nam de maximis ac necessariis rebus non sunt infinita. Tenues autem difFerentias habent, quas exigunt tempora, loca, personae, sed his quoque

36 dantur praecepta generalia. ** Nemo,'' inquit, ** prae- ceptis curat insaniam ; ergo ne malitiam quidem." Dissimile est. Nam si insaniam sustuleris, sanitas redit, at^ si falsas opiniones exclusimus, non statim sequitur dispectus rerum agendarum. Ut sequatur, tamen admonitio conroborabit rectam de bonis malisque sententiam. lUud quoque falsum est, nihil apud insanos proficere praecepta. Nam quemad- modum sola non prosunt, sic curationem adiuvant. Et denuntiatio et castigatio insanos coercuit. De illis nunc insanis loquor, quibus mens mota est, non erepta.

37 ** Leges,'* inquit, ** ut faciamus, quod oportet, non efficiunt, et quid aliud sunt quam minis mixta prae- cepta ? " Primum omnium ob hoc illae non per- suadent, quia minantur, at haec non cogunt, sed

^ praeterea later MSS. ; praeter BA. ^ reditu at Buecheler ; redita est BA.

" A further answer to the objection in § 17 above, where all madness is held curable by physical treatment,

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only ways. For although we may infer by proofs just what Good and Evil are, nevertheless precepts have their proper role. Prudence and justice consist of certain duties ; and duties are set in order by precepts. Moreover, judgment as to Good and Evil is itself strengthened by following up our duties, and precepts conduct us to this end. For both are in accord with each other ; nor can precepts take the lead unless the duties follow. They observe their natural order ; hence precepts clearly come first.

** Precepts," it is said, ** are numberless." Wrong again ! For they are not numberless so far as concerns important and essential things. Of course there are slight distinctions, due to the time, or the place, or the person ; but even in these cases, precepts are given which have a general application. ** No one, however," it is said, ** cures madness by precepts, and therefore not wickedness either." There is a distinction ; for if you rid a man of insanity, he becomes sane again, but if we have removed false opinions, insight into practical conduct does not at once follow. Even though it follows, counsel will none the less confirm one's right opinion concerning Good and Evil. And it is also wrong to believe that precepts are of no use to madmen. For though, by themselves, they are of no avail, yet they are a help towards the cure.^ Both scolding and chastening rein in a lunatic. Note that I here refer to lunatics whose wits are disturbed but not hopelessly gone.

" Still," it is objected, ** laws do not always make us do what we ought to do ; and what else are laws than precepts mingled with threats ? " Now first of all, the laws do not persuade just because they threaten ; precepts, however, instead of coercing, VOL. Ill B 2 S5

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exorant. Deinde leges a scelere deterrent, prae- cepta in offieium adhortantur. His adice quod^ leges quoque proficiunt ad bonos mores, utique si

38 non tantum imperant, sed decent. In hac re dis- sentio a Posidonio, qui ** inprobo,'* inquit, ** quod^ Platonis legibus adiecta prineipia sunt. Legem enim brevem esse oportet, quo faeilius ab imperitis te- neatur. Velut emissa divinitus vox sit ; iubeat, non disputet. Nihil videtur mihi frigidius, nihil ineptius quam lex cum prologo. Mone,^ die, quid me velis fecisse ; non disco, sed pareo." Proficiunt vero * ; itaque malis moribus uti videbis civitates usas malis legibus. ** At non apud omnis proficiunt."

39 Ne philosophia quidem ; nee ideo inutilis et for- mandis animis inefficax est. Quid autem ? Philo- sophia non vitae lex est ? Sed putemus non proficere leges ; non ideo sequitur, ut ne monitiones quidem proficiant. Aut sic et consolationes nega proficere dissuasionesque et adhortationes et obiurgationes et laudationes. Omnia ista monitionum genera sunt. Per ista ad perfectum animi statum pervenitur.

40 Nulla res magis animis honesta induit dubiosque et in pravum inclinabiles revocat ad rectum quam bonorum virorum conversatio. Paulatim enim de- scendit in pectora, et vim praeceptorum obtinet frequenter aspici, frequenter audiri.

^ qtiod later MSS. ; quo BA.

^ qui inprobo inquit quod Rossbach ; qui pro {eo) quod

^ cum prologo, wone Erasmus ; cum prolegomene BA.

* proficiunt vero Schweighaeuser ; proficiuntur BA.

" See, for example, the Fifth Book, which opens with the preliminary remarks of the Athenian Stranger (pp. 726-34 St.).

* A frequent thought in Seneca, c/. Ep, xxv. 6, lii. 8, etc. S6

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correct men by pleading. Again, laws frighten one out of communicating crime, while precepts urge a man on to his duty. Besides, the laws also are of assistance towards good conduct, at any rate if they instruct as well as command. On this point I dis- agree with Posidonius, who says : ** I do not think that Plato's Laws should have the preambles ^ added to them. For a law should be brief, in order that the uninitiated may grasp it all the more easily. It should be a voice, as it were, sent down from heaven ; it should command, not discuss. Nothing seems to me more dull or more foolish than a law with a preamble. Warn me, tell me what you wish me to do ; I am not learning but obeying.'* But laws framed in this way are helpful ; hence you will notice that a state with defective laws will have defective morals. " But,'' it is said, ** they are not of avail in every case." Well, neither is philosophy ; and yet philosophy is not on that account ineffect- ual and useless in the training of the soul. Further- more, is not philosophy the Law of Life ? Grant, if we will, that the laws do not avail ; it does not necessarily follow that advice also should not avail. On this ground, you ought to say that consolation does not avail, and warning, and ex- hortation, and scolding, and praising ; since they are all varieties of advice. It is by such methods that we arrive at a perfect condition of mind. Nothing is more successful in bringing honourable influences to bear upon the mind, or in straightening out the wavering spirit that is prone to evil, than association with good men.^ For the frequent seeing, the frequent hearing of them little by little sinks into the heart and acquires the force of precepts.

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Occursus mehercules ipse sapientium iuvat, et est aliquid. quod ex magno viro vel tacente ^ profieias.

41 Nee tibi facile dixerim quemadmodum prosit, sicut illud intellego ^ profuisse. ** Minuta quaedam," ut ait Phaedon, '* animalia cum mordent non sentiuntur ; adeo tenuis illis et fallens in periculum vis est. Tumor indicat morsum et in ipso tumore nullum vulnus apparet. Idem tibi in conversatione virorum sapientium eveniet : non deprehendes, quemad- modum aut quando tibi prosit, profuisse deprendes/*

42 Quorsus, inquis, hoc pertinet ? Aeque praecepta bona, si saepe tecum sint, profutura quam bona exempla. Pythagoras ait alium animum fieri intran- tibus templum deorumque simulacra ex vicino cernentibus et alicuius oraculi opperientibus vocem.

43 Quis autem negabit ^ feriri quibusdam praeceptis efficaciter etiam inperitissimos ? Velut his brevis- simis vocibus, sed multum habentibus ponderis :

Nil nimis.

Avarus animus niillo satiatur lucro.

Ab alio exspectes, alteri quod feceris.

Haec cum ictu quodam audimus, nee uUi licet dubitare aut interrogare ** quare ? ** ; adeo etiam

44 sine ratione ipsa Veritas ducit. Si reverentia frenat animos ac vitia compescit, cur non et admonitio idem possit ? Si inponit pudorem castigatio, cur admo- nitio non faciat, etiam si nudis praeceptis utitur ? Ilia vero efficacior est et altius penetrat, quae

^ tacente later MSS. ; iacente BA. 2 intellego Schweighaeiiser ; intellegam MSwS. • negabit Buecheler and Windhaus ; negavit BA.

" Presumably Phaedo the friend of Plato and pupil of Socrates, author of dialogues resembling those of Plato.

* Com. incert., Frag. 81 Ribbeck, and Pub. Syrus, Frag. 2 Ribbeck.

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We are indeed uplifted merely by meeting wise men ; and one can be helped by a great man even when he is silent. I could not easily tell you how it helps us, though I am certain of the fact that I have received help in that way. Phaedo * says : ** Certain tiny animals do not leave any pain when they sting us ; so subtle is their power, so deceptive for purposes of harm. The bite is disclosed by a swelling, and even in the swelling there is no visible wound." That will also be your experience when dealing with wise men : you will not discover how or when the benefit comes to you, but you will discover that you have received it . * * What is the point of this remark ? ' * you ask. It is, that good precepts, often welcomed within you, will benefit you just as much as good examples. Pythagoras declares that our souls experience a change when we enter a temple and behold the images of the gods face to face, and await the utterances of an oracle. Moreover, who can deny that even the most inexperienced are effectively struck by the force of certain precepts ? For example, by such brief but weighty saws as : ** Nothing in excess,'* ** The greedy mind is satisfied by no gains," ** You must expect to be treated by others as you yourself have treated them." ^ We receive a sort of shock when we hear such sayings ; no one ever thinks of doubting them or of asking : ** Why ? " So strongly, indeed, does mere truth, unaccompanied by reason, attract us. If reverence reins in the soul and checks vice, why cannot counsel do the same ? Also, if rebuke gives one a sense of shame, why has not counsel the same power, even though it does use bare precepts ? The counsel which assists suggestion by reason — which adds the motive

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adiuvat ratione quod praecipit, quae adicit, quare quidque faciendum sit et quis facientem oboedien- temque praeceptis fructus exspectet. Si imperio proficitur, et admonitione ; atqui ^ proficitur imperio ; ergo et admonitione.

45 In duas partes virtus dividitur, in contemplationem veri et actionem. Contemplationem institutio tradit, actionem admonitio. Virtutem et exercet et ostendit recta actio. Acturo autem si prodest qui suadet, et qui monet proderit. Ergo si recta actio virtuti necessaria est, rectas autem actiones admonitio

46 demonstrat, et admonitio necessaria est. Duae res plurimum roboris animo dant, fides veri et fiducia ; utramque ^ admonitio facit. Nam et creditur illi et, cum creditum est, magnos animus spiritus concipit ac fiducia impletur. Ergo admonitio non est super- vacua.

M. Agrippa, vir ingentis animi, qui solus ex iis, quos civilia bella claros potentesque fecerunt, felix in publicum fuit, dicere solebat multum se huic debere sententiae : " Nam concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur.*' Hac se

47 aibat et fratrem et amicum optimum factum. Si eiusmodi sententiae familiariter in animum receptae formant eum, cur non haec pars philosophiae, quae talibus sententiis constat, idem possit ? Pars virtutis disciplina constat, pars exercitatione ; et discas oportet et quod didicisti agendo confirmes. Quod si est, non tantum scita sapientiae prosunt, sed etiam

^ atqui Erasmus ; atque B ; aeque A. 2 utramque Pincianus (from an old MS.) ; utraque BA.

* i.e., belief. * From Sallust, Jugurtha, x. G,

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for doing a given thing and the reward which awaits one who carries out and obeys such precepts — is more effective and settles deeper in the heart. If commands are helpful, so is advice. But one is helped by commands ; therefore one is helped also by advice.

Virtue is divided into two parts — into contempla- tion of truth, and conduct. Training teaches contemplation, and admonition teaches conduct. And right conduct both practises and reveals virtue. But if, when a man is about to act, he is helped by advice, he is also helped by admonition. Therefore, if right conduct is necessary to virtue, and if, more- over, admonition makes clear right conduct, then admonition also is an indispensable thing. There are two strong supports to the soul — trust ® in the truth and confidence ; both are the result of admonition. For men believe it, and when belief is established, the soul receives great inspiration and is filled with confidence. Therefore, admonition is not superfluous.

Marcus Agrippa, a great-souled man, the only per- son among those whom the civil wars raised to fame and power whose prosperity helped the state, used to say that he was greatly indebted to the proverb ** Harmony makes small things grow ; lack of harmony makes great things decay." ^ He held that he him- self became the best of brothers and the best of friends by virtue of this saying. And if proverbs of such a kind, when welcomed intimately into the soul, can mould this very soul, why cannot the department of philosophy which consists of such proverbs possess equal influence ? Virtue depends partly upon training and partly upon practice ; you must learn first, and then strengthen your learning by action. If this be true, not only do the doctrines

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praecepta, quae adfectus nostros velut edicto coercent et ablegant.

48 ** Philosophia,** inquit, ** dividitur in haec, scientiam et habitum animi. Nam qui didicit et facienda ac vitanda pereepit, nondum sapiens est, nisi in ea, quae didicit, animus eius transfiguratus est. Tertia ista pars praecipiendi ex utroque est, et ex decretis et ex habitu. Itaque supervacua est ad implendam

49 virtutem, cui duo ilia sufficiunt/* Isto ergo modo et consolatio supervacua est, nam haec quoque ex utroque est, et adhortatio et suasio et ipsa argumen- tatio. Nam et haec ab habitu animi compositi validique proficiscitur. Sed quamvis ista ex optimo habitu animi veniant, optimus animi habitus ex his

50 est ; et facit ilia et ex illis ipse fit. Deinde istud, quod dicis, iam perfecti viri est ac summam consecuti feUcitatis humanae. Ad haec autem tarde per- venitur ; interim etiam inperfecto sed proficienti demonstranda est in rebus agendis via. Hanc for- sitan etiam sine admonitione dabit sibi ipsa sapientia, quae iam eo perduxit animum, ut moveri nequeat nisi in rectum. Inbecillioribus quidem ingeniis necessarium est aliquem praeire : hoc vitabis, hoc

51 facies. Praeterea si expectat tempus, quo per se sciat quid optimum factu sit, interim errabit et

** C/. Ep, xciv. 12 exactum iudicium de fugiendis petendisque,

* The last stage of knowledge — complete assent — accord- ing to the Stoic view, which went beyond the mere sensation- theory of Epicurus.

EPISTLE XCIV.

of wisdom help us, but the precepts also, which check and banish our emotions by a sort of official decree. It is said : ** Philosophy is divided into knowledge and state of mind. For one who has learned and understood what he should do and avoid, ^ is not a wise man until his mind is metamorphosed into the shape of that which he has learned. This third department — that of precept — is compounded from both the others, from dogmas of philosophy and state of mind. Hence it is superfluous as far as the perfecting of virtue is concerned ; the other two parts are enough for the purpose." On that basis, therefore, even consolation would be superfluous, since this also is a combination of the other two, as likewise are exhortation, persuasion, and even proof ^ itself. For proof also originates from a well- ordered and firm mental attitude. But, although these things result from a sound state of mind, yet the sound state of mind also results from them ; it is both creative of them and resultant from them. Furthermore, that which you mention is the mark of an already perfect man, of one who has attained the height of human happiness. But the approach to these qualities is slow, and in the meantime, in practical matters, the path should be pointed out for the benefit of one who is still short oiP perfection, but is making progress. Wisdom by her own agency may perhaps show herself this path without the help of admonition ; for she has brought the soul to a stage where it can be impelled only in the right direction. Weaker characters, however, need someone to precede them, to say : ** Avoid this," or ** Do that." Moreover, if one awaits the time when one can know of oneself what the best line of action is, one will sometimes go astray and by going astray will be

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errando inpedietur, quo minus ad illud perveniat, quo possit se esse contentus. Regi ergo debet, dum ineipit posse se regere. Pueri ad praescriptum diseunt. Digiti illorum tenentur et aliena manu per litterarum simulacra ducuntur, deinde imitari iubentur proposita ^ et ad ilia reformare chiro- graphum. Sic animus noster dum eruditur ad prae-

52 scriptum, iuvatur.^ Haec sunt, per quae probatur hanc philosophiae partem supervacuam non esse.

Quaeritur deinde, an ad faciendum sapientem sola sufficiat. Huic quaestioni suum diem dabimus ; in- terim omissis argumentis nonne apparet opus esse nobis aliquo advocato, qui contra populi praecepta

53 praecipiat ? Nulla ad aures nostras vox inpune perfertur ; nocent qui optant, nocent qui execrantur. Nam et horum inprecatio falsos nobis metus inserit et illorum amor male docet bene optando. Mittit enim nos ad longinqua bona et incerta et errantia,

54 cum possimus felicitatem domo promere. Non licet, inquam, ire recta via. Trahunt in pravum parentes, trahunt servi. Nemo errat uni sibi, sed dementiam spargit in proximos accipitque invicem. Et ideo in singulis vitia populorum sunt, quia ilia populus dedit. Dum facit quisque peiorem, f actus est ; didicit de- teriora, deinde ^ docuit, efFectaque est ingens ilia

^ proposita later MSS. ; praeposita BA.

* iuvahir later MSS. ; iuvat A ; vivat B,

2 deinde later MSS. ; dein BA.

" In this whole discussion Seneca is a much sounder Stoic than Aristo and the opposition. The next letter {Ep. xcv.) develops still further the preceptive function of philosophy — through wpoKOTrrj (progress) to fierapoXi] (con- version).

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hindered from arriving at the point where it is possible to be content with oneself. The soul should accordingly be guided at the very moment when it is becoming able to guide itself.^ Boys study according to direction. Their fingers are held and guided by others so that they may follow the outlines of the letters ; next, they are ordered to imitate a copy and base thereon a style of penman- ship. Similarly, the mind is helped if it is taught according to direction. Such facts as these prove that this department of philosophy is not superfluous. The question next arises whether this part alone is sufficient to make men wise. The problem shall be treated at the proper time ; but at present, omitting all arguments, is it not clear that we need someone whom we may call upon as our preceptor in opposition to the precepts of men in general ? There is no word which reaches our ears without doing us harm ; we are injured both by good wishes and by curses. The angry prayers of our enemies instil false fears in us ; and the affection of our friends spoils us through their kindly wishes. For this affection sets us a-groping after goods that are far away, unsure, and wavering, when we really might open the store of happiness at home. We are not allowed, I maintain, to travel a straight road. Our parents and our slaves draw us into wrong. Nobody confines his mistakes to himself ; people sprinkle folly among their neighbours, and receive it from them in turn. For this reason, in an individual, you find the vices of nations, because the nation has given them to the individual. Each man, in corrupting others, corrupts himself ; he imbibes, and then imparts, badness ; — the result is a vast mass of wickedness, because the

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nequitia congesto in unum quod cuique pessimum scitur.

55 Sit ergo aliquis custos et aurem subinde pervellat abigatque rumores et reelamet populis laudantibus. Erras enim, si existimas nobiscum vitia nasci ; super- venerunt, ingesta sunt. Itaque monitionibus crebris

56 opiniones, quae nos circumsonant, repellantur. Nulli nos vitio natura conciliat ; ilia ^ integros ac liberos genuit. Nihil quo avaritiam nostram inritaret, posuit in aperto. Pedibus aurum argentumque subiecit calcandumque ac premendum dedit quidquid est propter quod calcamur ac premimur. Ilia vultus nostros erexit ad caelum et quidquid magnificum mirumque fecerat, videri a suspicientibus voluit. Ortus occasusque et properantis mundi volubilem cursum, interdiu terrena aperientem, nocte caelestia, tardos siderum incessus si conpares toti, citatissimos autem si cogites, quanta spatia numquam intermissa velocitate circumeant, defectus solis ac lunae invicem obstantium, alia deinceps digna miratu, sive per ordinem subeunt sive subitis causis mota prosiliunt, ut nocturnos ^ ignium tractus et sine uUo ictu sonitu- que fulgores caeli patescentis columnasque ac trabes et varia simulacra flammarum. Haec supra nos itura

57 disposuit ; aurum quidem et argentum et propter ista numquam pacem agens ferrum, quasi male nobis

1 ilia later MSS. ; nulla BA. * nocturnos Buecheler ; nocturni BA.

^ This theme is carefully elaborated in Ep, vii., '* On Crowds " : " There is no person who does not make some vice attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us un- consciously therewith ** (§ 2).

^ These are fully discussed in Seneca's Naturales Quacstiones, a work almost contemporary with the Letters.

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worst in every separate person is concentrated in one mass.^

We should, therefore, have a guardian, as it were, to pluck us continually by the ear and dispel rumours and protest against popular enthusiasms. For you are mistaken if you suppose that our faults are inborn in us ; they have come from without, have been heaped upon us. Hence, by receiving frequent admonitions, we can reject the opinions which din about our ears. Nature does not ally us with any vice ; she produced us in health and freedom. She put before our eyes no object which might stir in us the itch of greed. She placed gold and silver beneath our feet, and bade those feet stamp down and crush everything that causes us to be stamped down and crushed. Nature elevated our gaze towards the sky and willed that we should look upward to behold her glorious and wonderful works. She gave us the rising and the setting sun, the whirhng course of the on-rushing world which discloses the things of earth by day and the heavenly bodies by night, the movements of the stars, which are slow if you compare them with the universe, but most rapid if you reflect on the size of the orbits which they describe with unslackened speed ; she showed us the successive eclipses of sun and moon, and other phenomena, wonderful because they occur regularly or because, through sudden causes, they leap into view — such as nightly trails of fire, or flashes in the open heavens unaccompanied by stroke or sound of thunder, or columns and beams and the various pheno- mena of flames.^ She ordained that all these bodies should proceed above our heads ; but gold and silver, with the iron which, because of the gold and silver, never brings peace, she has hidden away, as if they

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committerentur, abscondit. Nos in lucem, propter quae pugnaremus, extulimus ; nos et causas peri- culorum nostrorum et instrumenta disiecto terrarum pondere eruimus ; nos fortunae mala nostra tradidi- mus nee erubescimus summa apud nos haberi, quae

58 fuerant ima terrarum. Vis scire, quam falsus oculos tuos deceperit fulgor ? Nihil est istis, quamdiu mersa et involuta caeno suo iacent, foedius, nihil obscurius, quidni ? Quae per longissimorum cuniculorum tene- bras extrahuntur. Nihil est illis, dum fiunt et a faece sua separantur, informius. Denique ipsos opifices intuere, per quorum manus sterile terrae genus et infernum perpurgatur ; videbis quanta

59 fuligine oblinantur. Atqui ista magis inquinant animos quam corpora, et in possessore eorum quam in artifice plus sordium est.

Necessarium itaque admoneri est,^ habere aliquem advocatum bonae mentis et in tanto ^ fremitu tumultuque falsorum unam denique audire vocem. Quae erit ilia vox ? Ea scilicet, quae tibi tantis clamoribus ambitionis exsurdato salubria insusurret

60 verba, quae dicat : non est quod invideas istis, quos magnos felicesque populus vocat, non est quod tibi compositae mentis habitum et sanitatem plausus excutiat, non est quod tibi tranquillitatis tuae fasti- dium fjiciat ille sub illis fascibus purpura cultus, non

^ est Buecheler ; et BA. 2 et in tanto Schweighaeuser ; etantanto BA.

^ Both literally and figuratively, — the sheen of the metal and the glitter of the false idea.

^ i.e.^ the bundle of rods and axes, carried by the attend- ants of a Roman magistrate.

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were dangerous things to trust to our keeping. It is we ourselves that have dragged them into the Hght of day to the end that we might fight over them ; it is we ourselves who, tearing away the superincumbent earth, have dug out the causes and tools of our own destruc- tion ; it is we ourselves who have attributed our own misdeeds to Fortune, and do not blush to regard as the loftiest objects those which once lay in the depths of earth. Do you wish to know how false is the gleam ^ that has deceived your eyes ? There is really nothing fouler or more involved in darkness than these things of earth, sunk and covered for so long a time in the mud where they belong. Of course they are foul ; they have been hauled out through a long and murky mine-shaft. There is nothing uglier than these metals during the process of refinement and separation from the ore. Furthermore, watch the very work- men who must handle and sift the barren grade of dirt, the sort which comes from the bottom ; see how soot-besmeared they are ! And yet the stuff they handle soils the soul more than the body, and there is more foulness in the owner than in the workman. It is therefore indispensable that we be admonished, that we have some advocate with upright mind, and, amid all the uproar and jangle of falsehood, hear one voice only. But what voice shall this be ? Surely a voice which, amid all the tumult of self-seeking, shall whisper wholesome words into the deafened ear, saying : ** You need not be envious of those whom the people call great and fortunate ; applause need not disturb your composed attitude and your sanity of mind ; you need not become disgusted with your calm spirit because you see a great man, clothed in purple, protected by the well-known symbols of authority ; ^ you need not judge the

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est quod feliciorem eum indices cui suminovetur, quam te quern ^ lictor semita deicit. Si vis exercere tibi utile, nuUi autem grave imperium, summove

61 vitia. Multi inveniuntur qui ignem infer ant urbibus, qui inexpugnabilia saeeulis et per aliquot aetates tuta prosternant, qui aequum arcibus aggerem attollant et muros in miram altitudinem eductos arietibus ac machinis quassent. Multi sunt qui ante se agant agmina et tergis hostium ^ graves instent et ad mare magnum perfusi caede gentium veniant ; sed hi quoque, ut vincerent hostem, cupiditate victi sunt. Nemo illis venientibus restitit, sed nee ipsi ambitioni crudelitatique restiterant ; tunc, cum agere alios visi

62 sunt, agebantur. Agebat infelicem Alexandrum furor aliena vastandi et ad ignota mittebat. An tu putas sanum, qui a Graeciae primum cladibus, in qua eruditus est, incipit ? Qui quod cuique optimum est, eripit, Lacedaemona servire iubet, Athenas tacere ? Non contentus tot civitatium strage, quas aut vicerat Philippus aut emerat, alias alio loco proicit et toto orbe arma circumfert, nee subsistit usquam lassa crudelitas immanium ferarum modo, quae plus quam

63 exigit fames mordent. lam in unum regnum multa

^ qvem later MSS. : om. BA. * later INISS. omit et (BA) after hostium.

° A name usually applied to the eastern end of the Mediterranean.

* Especially Thebes in 335 b.c, which he sacked. Athens and Sparta were treated with more consideration.

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magistrate for whom the road is cleared to be any happier than yourself, whom his officer pushes from the road. If you would wield a command that is profitable to yourself, and injurious to nobody, clear your own faults out of the way. There are many who set fire to cities, who storm garrisons that have remained impregnable for generations and safe for numerous ages, who raise mounds as high as the walls they are besieging, who with battering-rams and engines shatter towers that have been reared to a wondrous height. There are many who can send their columns ahead and press de- structively upon the rear of the foe, who can reach the Great Sea " dripping with the blood of nations ; but even these men, before they could conquer their foe, were conquered by their own greed. No one withstood their attack ; but they themselves could not withstand desire for power and the impulse to cruelty ; at the time when they seemed to be hounding others, they were themselves being hounded. Alexander was hounded into misfortune and dispatched to unknown countries by a mad desire to lay waste other men's territory. Do you believe that the man was in his senses who could begin by devastating Greece, the land where he received his education ? One who snatched away the dearest guerdon of each nation, bidding Spartans be slaves, and Athenians hold their tongues ? Not content with the ruin of all the states which Pliilip had either conquered or bribed into bondage,^ he overthrew various commonwealths in various places and carried his weapons all over the world ; his cruelty was tired, but it never ceased — like a wild beast that tears to pieces more than its hunger demands. Already he has joined many kingdoms into one

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regna coniecit ; iam Graeci Persaeque eundem timent; iam etiam a Dareo liberae nationes iugum accipiunt : it tamen ultra oceanum solemque, in- dignatur ab Herculis Liberique vestigiis victoriam flectere, ipsi naturae vim parat. Non ille ire vult, sed non potest stare, non aliter quam in praeceps deiecta pondera, quibus eundi finis est iacuisse.

64 Ne Gnaeo quidem Pompeio externa bella ae domestica virtus aut ratio suadebat, sed insanus amor magnitudinis falsae. Modo in Hispaniam at Sertoriana arma, modo ad colligandos ^ piratas ac

65 maria pacanda vadebat. Hae praetexebantur causae ad continuandam potentiam. Quid ilium in Africam, quid in septentrionem, quid in Mithridaten et Armeniam et omnis Asiae angulos traxit ? Infinita scilicet cupido crescendi, cum sibi uni parum magnus videretur. Quid C. Caesarem in sua fata pariter ac publica inmisit ? Gloria et ambitio et nullus supra

66 ceteros eminendi modus. Unum ante se ferre non potuit, cum res publica supra se duos ferret. Quid, tu C. Marium semel consulem — unum enim consulatum accepit, ceteros rapuit — cum Teutonos Cimbrosque concideret, cum lugurtham per Afri- cae deserta sequeretur, tot pericula putas adpetisse virtutis instinctu ? Marius exercitus, Marium ambitio ducebat.

^ colligandos Madvig ; colligendos BA.

" ^.^., the Ilyrcanians, and other tribes attacked daring and after 8.S0 b.c.

* Heracles in his various forms hails all the way from Tyre to the Atlantic Ocean ; Dionysus from India through Lydia, Thrace, and the Eastern Mediterranean to Greece.

« 76 B.C. ^ 67 B.C.

* Beginning with the passage of the Manilian Law of eQ B.C.

f 107 B.C. (also 104, 103, 102, 101, 100, and 86).

EPISTLE XCIV.

kingdom ; already Greeks and Persians fear the same lord ; already nations Darius had left free submit to the yoke : « yet he passes beyond the Ocean and the Sun, deeming it shame that he should shift his course of victory from the paths which Hercules and Bacchus had trod ; ^ he threatens violence to Nature herself. He does not wish to go ; but he cannot stay ; he is like a weight that falls head- long, its course ending only when it lies motionless.

It was not virtue or reason which persuaded Gnaeus Pompeius to take part in foreign and civil warfare ; it was his mad craving for unreal glory. Now he attacked Spain and the faction of Sertorius ; ^ now he fared forth to enchain the pirates and subdue the seas.^ These were merely excuses and pretexts for extending his power. What drew him into Africa, into the North, against Mithridates, into Armenia and all the corners of Asia ? ^ Assuredly it was his boundless desire to grow bigger ; for only in his own eyes was he not great enough. And what impelled Gains Caesar to the combined ruin of himself and of the state ? Renown, self-seeking, and the setting no limit to pre-eminence over all other men. He could not allow a single person to outrank him, although the state allowed two men to stand at its head. Do you think that Gains Marius, who was once consul^ (he received this office on one occasion, and stole it on all the others) courted all his perils by the inspiration of virtue when he was slaughtering the Teutons and the Cimbri, and pursuing Jugurtha through the wilds of Africa ? ^ Marius commanded armies, ambition Marius.

• 102 and 101 b.c, at Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae ; the Jugurthine war lasted from 109 to 106 b.c.

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67 Isti cum omnia concuterent, concutiebantur tur- binum more, qui rapta convolvunt, sed ipsi ante volvuntur et ob hoc maiore impetu incurrunt, quia nullum illis sui regimen est ideoque cum multis fuerunt malo, pestiferam illam vim, qua plerisque nocuerunt, ipsi quoque sentiunt. Non est quod credas quemquam fieri aliena infelicitate felicem.

68 Omnia ista exempla, quae oculis atque auribus nostris ingeruntur, retexenda sunt et plenum malis sermoni- bus pectus exhauriendum. Inducenda in occupatum locum virtus, quae mendacia et contra verum pla- centia exstirpet, quae nos a populo, cui nimis credi- mus, separet ac sinceris opinionibus reddat. Hoc est enim sapientia, in naturam converti et eo restitui,

69 unde publicus error expulerit. Magna pars sanitatis est hortatores insaniae reliquisse et ex isto coitu invicem noxio procul abisse.

Hoc ut esse verum scias, aspice, quanto aliter unusquisque populo vivat, aliter sibi. Non est per se magistra innocentiae solitudo nee frugalitatem decent rura, sed ubi testis ac spectator abscessit, vitia subsidunt, quorum monstrari et conspici fructus

70 est. Quis cam, quam nulli ostenderet, induit pur-

puram ? Quis posuit secretam in auro dapem ? Quis

sub alicuius arboris rusticae proiectus umbra luxu-

<* i,€.f as Pompeius, Caesar, Marius. 54

EPISTLE XCIV.

When such men as these ^ were disturbing the world, they were themselves disturbed — ^like cyclones that whirl together what they have seized, but which are first whirled themselves and can for this reason rush on with all the greater force, having no control over themselves ; hence, after causing such destruction to others, they feel in their own body the ruinous force which has enabled them to cause havoc to many. You need never believe that a man can become happy through the unhappiness of another. We must unravel all such cases ^ as are forced before our eyes and crammed into our ears ; we must clear out our hearts, for they are full of evil talk. Virtue must be conducted into the place these have seized, — a kind of virtue which may root out falsehood and doctrines which contravene the truth, or may sunder us from the throng, in which we put too great trust, and may restore us to the possession of sound opinions. For this is wisdom — a return to Nature and a restoration to the condition from which man's errors have driven us. It is a great part of health to have forsaken the coun- sellors of madness and to have fled far from a companionship that is mutually baneful.

That you may know the truth of my remark, see how different is each individual's life before the pubhc from that of his inner self. A quiet life does not of itself give lessons in upright conduct; the countryside does not of itself teach plain living ; no, but when witnesses and onlookers are removed, faults which ripen in publicity and display sink into the background. Who puts on the purple robe for the sake of flaunting it in no man's eyes ? Who uses gold plate when he dines alone ? Who, as he flings himself down beneath the shadow of some rustic tree,

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riae suae pompam solus explicuit ? Nemo oculis suis lautus est, ne paucorum quidem aut familiarium, sed apparatum vitiorum suorum pro modo turbae

71 spectantis expandit. Ita est : inritamentum est omnium, in quae insanimus, admirator at conseius. Ne concupiscamus efRcies, si ne ostendamus efFeceris. Ambitio et luxuria et inpotentia scaenam desiderant ; sanabis ista, si absconderis.

72 Itaque si in medio urbium fremitu conlocati sumus, stet ad latus monitor et contra laudatores ingentium patrimoniorum laudet parvo divitem et usu opes metientem. Contra illos, qui gratiam ac potentiam attoUunt, otium ipse suspieiat traditum litteris et

73 animum ab externis ad sua reversum. Ostendat ex constitutione vulgi beatos in illo invidioso fastigio suo trementes et adtonitos longeque aliam de se opi- nionem habentes quam ab aliis habetur. Nam quae aliis excelsa videntur, ipsis praerupta sunt. Itaque exanimantur et trepidant, quotiens despexerunt in illud magnitudinis suae praeceps. Cogitant enim

74 varios casus et in sublimi maxime lubricos. Tunc adpetita formidant et quae illos graves aliis reddit, gravior ipsis felicitas incubat. Tunc laudant otium lene et sui iuris, odio est fulgor et fuga a rebus adhuc stantibus quaeritur. Tunc demum videas philosophantis metu ^ et aegrae fortunae sana con-

* metu Muretus ; metus BA. 56

EPISTLE XCIV.

displays in solitude the splendour of his luxury ? No one makes himself elegant only for his own beholding, or even for the admiration of a few friends or relatives. Rather does he spread out his well-appointed vices in proportion to the size of the admiring crowd. It is so : claqueurs and witnesses are irritants of all our mad foibles. You can make us cease to crave, if you only make us cease to display. Ambition, luxury, and waywardness need a stage to act upon ; you will cure all those ills if you seek retirement.

Therefore, if our dwelling is situated amid the din of a city, there should be an adviser standing near us. When men praise great incomes, he should praise the person who can be rich with a slender estate and measures his wealth by the use he makes of it. In the face of those who glorify influence and power, he should of his own vohtion recommend a leisure devoted to study, and a soul which has left the external and found itself. He should point out persons, happy in the popular estimation, who totter on their envied heights of power, who are dismayed and hold a far different opinion of them- selves from what others hold of them. That which others think elevated, is to them a sheer precipice. Hence they are frightened and in a flutter whenever they look down the abrupt steep of their greatness. For they reflect that there are various ways of falling and that the topmost point is the most slippery. Then they fear that for which they strove, and the good fortune which made them weighty in the eyes of others weighs more heavily upon themselves. Then they praise easy leisure and independence ; they hate the glamour and try to escape while their fortunes are still unimpaired. Then at last you may see them studying philosophy amid their fear, and

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silia. Nam quasi ista inter se contraria sint, bona fortuna et mens bona, ita melius in malis sapimus ; secunda rectum auferunt. Vale.

xcv.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Petis a me, ut id, quod in diem suum dixeram debere difFerri, repraesentem et scribam tibi, an haec pars philosophiae, quam Graeci paraeneticen vocant, nos praeceptivam dicimus, satis sit ad consum- mandam ^ sapientiam. Scio te in bonam partem accepturum si negavero. Eo magis promitto et ver- bum publicum perire non patior : ** postea noli

2 rogare, quod inpetrare nolueris." Interdum enim enixe petimus id, quod recusaremus, si quis ofFerret. Haec sive levitas est sive vernilitas, punienda est annuendi ^ facilitate. Multa videri volumus velle, sed nolumus. Recitator historiam ingentem attulit minutissime scriptam, artissime plicatam, et magna parte perlecta " desinam,'' inquit, ** si vultis.^ " Adclamatur ** recita, recita " ab iis, qui ilium om-

* consummandam later MSS. ; consum{m)endam BA.

^ annuendi Windhaus and Buecheler ; mutendi BA.

^ si vultis later MSS. ; si multis B ; simultis A.

^ Literally, to pay money on the spot or perform a task without delay.

^ i,e,j the department of " advice by precepts," discussed in the preceding letter from another angle. The Greek term is nearest to the Latin sub-division hortatio,

• i,e.^ the pertness of a home-bred slave {verna),

EPISTLES XCIV., XCV.

hunting sound advice when their fortunes go awry. For these two things are, as it were, at opposite poles — good fortune and good sense ; that is why we are wiser when in the midst of adversity. It is prosperity that takes away righteousness. Farewell.

XCV. ON THE USEFULNESS OF BASIC PRINCIPLES

You keep asking me to explain without postpone- ment " a topic which I once remarked should be put off until the proper time, and to inform you by letter whether this department of philosophy which the Greeks call paraenetic,^ and we Romans call the ** preceptorial,'* is enough to give us perfect wisdom. Now I know that you will take it in good part if I refuse to do so. But I accept your request all the more willingly, and refuse to let the common saying lose its point :

Don't ask for what you'll wish you hadn't got.

For sometimes we seek with effort that which we should decline if offered voluntarily. Call that fickle- ness or call it pettishness,^ — we must punish the habit by ready compliance. There are many things that we would have men think that we wish, but that we really do not wish. A lecturer sometimes brings upon the platform a huge work of research, written in the tiniest hand and very closely folded ; after reading off a large portion, he says : " I shall stop, if you wish ; " and a shout arises : ** Read on, read on ! *' from the lips of those who are anxious for the speaker to hold

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mutescere illic cupiunt. Saepe aliud volumus, aliud optamus et verum ne dis quidem dicimus, sed di aut

3 non exaudiunt aut miserentur. Ego me omissa misericordia vindicabo et tibi ingentem epistulam inpingam, quam tu si invitus leges, dicito : " ego mihi hoc contraxi '* teque inter illos numera, quos uxor magno ducta ambitu torquet, inter illos, quos divitiae per summum adquisitae sudorem male habent, inter illos, quos honores nulla non arte atque opera petiti discruciant, et ceteros malorum suorum compotes.

4 Sed ut omisso principio rem ipsam adgrediar, ** beata," inquiunt, ** vita constat ex actionibus rectis; ad actiones rectas praecepta perducunt ; ergo ad beatam vitam praecepta sufficiunt.** Non semper ad actiones rectas praecepta perducunt, sed cum obsequens ingenium est ; aliquando frustra admoven-

5 tur, si animum opiniones obsident pravae. Deinde etiam si recte faciunt, nesciunt facere se recte. Non potest enim quisquam nisi ab initio formatus et tota ratione compositus omnes exequi numeros, ut sciat, quando oporteat et in quantum et cum quo et quemadmodum et quare. Non potest toto animo ho- nesta ^ conari, ne constanter quidem aut libenter, sed respiciet, sed haesitabit.

6 ** Si honesta,'' inquit, ** actio ex praeceptis venit, ad beatam vitam praecepta abunde sunt ; atqui est ^

^ animo honesta Hense ; animo ad honesta later MSS. ; animoteonesta BA.

* atqui est Pincianus ; atque BA.

EPISTLE XCV.

his peace then and there. We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods, while the gods either do not hearken, or else take pity on us. But I shall without pity avenge myself and shall load a huge letter upon your shoulders ; for your part, if you read it with reluctance, you may say : ** I brought this burden upon myself," and may class yourself among those men whose too ambitious wives drive them frantic, or those whom riches harass, earned by extreme sweat of the brow, or those who are tortured with the titles which they have sought by every sort of device and toil, and all others who are responsible for their own misfortunes.

But I must stop this preamble and approach the problem under consideration. Men say : ** The happy life consists in upright conduct ; precepts guide one to upright conduct ; therefore precepts are sufficient for attaining the happy life." But they do not always guide us to upright conduct ; this occurs only when the will is receptive ; and some- times they are applied in vain, when wrong opinions obsess the soul. Furthermore, a man may act rightly without knowing that he is acting rightly. For nobody, except he be trained from the start and equipped with complete reason, can develop to perfect proportions, understanding when he should do certain things, and to what extent, and in whose company, and how, and why. Without such training a man cannot strive with all his heart after that which is honourable, or even with steadiness or glad- ness, but will ever be looking back and wavering.

It is also said : ** If honourable conduct results from precepts, then precepts are amply sufficient for the happy life ; but the first of these statements is

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illud, ergo et hoc." His respondebimus actiones honestas et praeceptis fieri, non tantum praeeeptis.

7 ** Si aliae,*' inquit, " artes contentae sunt praeceptis, contenta erit et sapientia, nam et haec ars vitae est. Atqui gubernatorem facit ille, qui praecipit : sic move gubernaculum, sic vela summitte, sic secundo vento utere, sic adverso resiste, sic dubium com- munemque tibi vindica. Alios quoque artifices prae- cepta conformant ^ ; ergo in hoc idem poterunt

8 artifice vivendi." Omnes istae artes circa instru- menta vitae occupatae sunt, non circa totam vitam, Itaque multa illas inhibent extrinsecus et inpediunt, spes, cupiditas, timor. At haec, quae artem vitae professa est, nulla re, quo minus se exerceat, vetari potest ; discutit enim inpedimenta et traicit ^ ob- stantia. Vis scire, quam dissimilis sit aliarum artium condicio et huius ? In illis excusatius est voluntate peccare quam casu, in hac maxima culpa est sponte

9 delinquere. Quod dico, tale est. Grammaticus non erubescet soloecismo, si sciens fecit, erubescet, si nesciens ; medicus si deficere aegrum non intellegit, quantum ad artem, magis peccat quam si se intel- legere dissimulat. At in hac arte vivendi turpior volentium culpa est.

Adice nunc, quod artes quoque pleraeque, immo ex omnibus liberalissimae habent decreta sua, non

*• conformant Hermes and Gertz ; confirmant BA. ^ traicit Bartsch ; tractat BA.

<* The argument here is similar to Ep, Ixxxviii. 20 hae . . . artes ad instrumenta vitae plurimum conferunt^ tamen ad virtutem non pertinent.

^ i,e., philosophy.

EPISTLE XCV,

true ; therefore the second is true also." We shall reply to these words that honourable conduct is, to be sure, brought about by precepts, but not by precepts alone. ** Then,*' comes the reply, ** if the other arts are content with precepts, wisdom will also be content therewith ; for wisdom itself is an art of living. And yet the pilot is made by precepts which tell him thus and so to turn the tiller, set his sails, make use of a fair wind, tack, make the best of shifting and variable breezes, — all in the proper manner. Other craftsmen also are drilled by precepts ; hence precepts will be able to accomplish the same result in the case of our craftsman in the art of living.'* Now all these arts are concerned with the tools of life, but not with life as a whole. ^ Hence there is much to clog these arts from without and to complicate them — such as hope, greed, fear. But that art ^ which professes to teach the art of life cannot be forbidden by any circumstance from exercising its functions ; for it shakes oiF complica- tions and pierces through obstacles. Would you like to know how unlike its status is to the other arts ? In the case of the latter, it is more pardonable to err voluntarily rather than by accident ; but in the case of wisdom the worst fault is to commit sin wilfully. I mean something like this : A scholar will blush for shame, not if he makes a grammatical blunder inten- tionally, but if he makes it unintentionally ; if a physician does not recognize that his patient is failing, he is a much poorer practitioner than if he recognizes the fact and conceals his knowledge. But in this art of living a voluntary mistake is the more shameful.

Furthermore, many arts, aye and the most liberal of them all, have their special doctrines, and not mere

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tantum praecepta, sicut medicina. Itaque alia est Hippocratis secta, alia Asclepiadis, alia Themisonis.

10 Praeterea nulla ars contemplativa sine decretis suis est, quae Graeci vocant dogmata, nobis vel deer eta licet appellare vel seita vel placita, quae et in geo- metria et in astronomia invenies. Philosophia autem et contemplativa est et activa ; spectat simul agitque. Err as enim, si tibi illam put as tantum terrestres operas ^ promittere ; altius spirat. Totum, inquit, mundum scrutor nee me intra contubernium mortale contineo suadere vobis ac dissuadere contenta. Magna me vocant supraque vos posita t

11 Nam tibi de summa caeli ratione deumque Disserere incipiam et rerum primordia pandam ; Unde omnis natura creet res, auctet alatque, Quoqiie eadem rursus ^ natura perempta resolvat,

ut ait Lucretius. Sequitur ergo ut, cum contem-

12 plativa sit, habeat decreta sua. Quid ? Quod faci- enda quoque nemo rite obibit nisi is, cui ratio erit tradita, qua in quaque re omnes officiorum numeros exequi possit, quos non servabit, qui in rem prae- sentem^ praecepta acceperit, non in omnem.* In- becilla sunt per se et, ut ita dicam, sine radice, quae partibus dantur. Decreta sunt, quae muniant, quae securitatem nostram tranquillitatemque tueantur, quae totam vitam totamque rerum naturam simul

^ operas later MSS. ; opera BA,

2 quove eadem rursum Lucr.

5 in rem praesentem Hermes ; in rem BA.

* omnem later MSS. ; omne BA.

^ Hippocrates belonged to the ** Clinical " School ; Asclepi.'ides and his pupil Themison to the " Methodical.'' See Index of Proper Names.

* " Axioms " and " postulates.*'

• i. 54 ff.

EPISTLE XCV.

precepts of advice — the medical profession, for example. There are the different schools of Hippo- crates, of Asclepiades, of Themison.® And besides, no art that concerns itself with theories can exist without its own doctrines ; the Greeks call them dogmas^ while we Romans may use the term ** doctrines,*' or ** tenets," or ** adopted principles,** ^ — such as you will find in geometry or astronomy. But philosophy is both theoretic and practical ; it contemplates and at the same time acts. You are .kideed mistaken if you think that philosophy offers you nothing but worldly assistance ; her aspira- tions are loftier than that. She cries : ** I investigate the whole universe, nor am I content, keeping myself within a mortal dwelling, to give you favourable or unfavourable advice. Great matters invite and such as are set far above you. In the words of Lucretius : *

To thee shall I reveal the ways of heaven

And of the gods, spreading before thine eyes

The atoms, — whence all things are brought to birth.

Increased, and fostered by creative power.

And eke their end when Nature casts them oif.

Philosophy, therefore, being theoretic, must have her doctrines. And why ? Because no man can duly perform right actions except one who has been entrusted with reason, which will enable him, in all cases, to fulfil all the categories of duty. These categories he cannot observe unless he receives pre- cepts for every occasion, and not for the present alone. Precepts by themselves are weak and, so to speak, rootless if they be assigned to the parts and not to the whole. It is the doctrines which will strengthen and support us in peace and calm, which will include simultaneously the whole of life and the

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contineant. Hoc interest inter deereta philosophiae et praecepta, quod inter elementa et membra ; haec ex illis dependent, ilia et horum causae sunt et omnium.

13 ** Antiqua," inquit, ** sapientia nihil aliud quam facienda ac vitanda praecepit, et tunc longe meliores erant viri. Postquam docti prodierunt, boni desunt. Simplex enim ilia et aperta virtus in obscuram et soUertem scientiam versa est docemurque disputare,

14 non vivere/' Fuit sine dubio, ut dicitis, vetus ilia sapientia cum maxime nascens rudis non minus quam ceterae artes, quarum in processu subtilitas crevit. Sed ne opus quidem adhuc erat remediis diligentibus. Nondum in tantum nequitia surrexerat nee tam late se sparserat. Poterant vitiis simplicibus obstare remedia simplicia ; nunc necesse est tanto operosiora esse munimenta, quanto vehementiora sunt, quibus

15 petimur. Medicina quondam paucarum fuit scientia herbarum, quibus sisteretur fluens sanguis, vulnera coirent ; paulatim deinde in banc pervenit tam multi- plicem varietatem. Nee est mirum tunc illam minus negotii habuisse firmis adhuc solidisque corporibus et facili cibo nee per artem voluptatemque corrupto, qui postquam coepit non ad tollendam, sed ad inritandam famem quaeri et inventae sunt mille conditurae, quibus aviditas excitaretur, quae desiderantibus ali-

16 menta erant, onera sunt plenis. Inde pallor et nervorum vino madentium tremor et miserabilior ex cruditatibus quam ex fame macies. Inde incerti

^ Whether elementa and membra mean " letters and clauses " or ** matter and forms of matter " is difficult to say.

* Le.^ before the advent of any theoretical philosophy.

EPISTLE XGV.

universe in its completeness. There is the same difference between philosophical doctrines and pre- cepts as there is between elements and members * ; the latter depend upon the former, while the former are the source both of the latter and of all things.

People say : *' The old-style wisdom advised only what one should do and avoid ; ^ and yet the men of former days were better men by far. When savants have appeared, sages have become rare. For that frank, simple virtue has changed into hidden and crafty knowledge ; we are taught how to debate, not how to live.*' Of course, as you say, the old- fashioned wisdom, especially in its beginnings, was crude ; but so were the other arts, in which dexterity developed with progress. Nor indeed in those days was there yet any need for carefully-planned cures. Wickedness had not yet reached such a high point, or scattered itself so broadcast. Plain vices could be treated by plain cures ; now, however, we need defences erected with all the greater care, because of the stronger powers by which we are attacked. Medicine once consisted of the knowledge of a few simples, to stop the flow of blood, or to heal wounds ; then by degrees it reached its present stage of com- plicated variety. No wonder that in early days medi- cine had less to do ! Men's bodies were still sound and strong ; their food was light and not spoiled by art and luxury, whereas when they began to seek dishes not for the sake of removing, but of rousing, the appetite, and devised countless sauces to whet their gluttony, — then what before was nourishment to a hungry man became a burden to the full stomach. Thence come paleness, and a trembling of wine- sodden muscles, and a repulsive thinness, due rather to indigestion than to hunger. Thence weak tottering

VOL. Ill c 2 67

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labantium ^ pedes et semper qualis in ipsa ebrietate titubatio. Inde in totam cutem umor admissus dis- tentusque venter, dum male adsueseit plus capere quam poterat. Inde suffusio luridae bills et decolor vultus tabesque in se putrescentium et retorridi digiti articulis obrigescentibus nervorumque sine sensu iaeentium torpor aut palpitatio ^ sine intermissione

17 vibrantium. Quid capitis vertigines dicam ? Quid oculorum auriumque tormenta et cerebri exaestuan- tis verminationes et omnia, per quae exoneramur, internis ulceribus adfecta ? Innumerabilia praeterea febrium genera, aliarum impetu saevientium, aliarum tenui peste repentium, aliarum cum horrore et multa

18 membrorum quassatione venientium ? Quid alios referam innumerabiles morbos, supplicia luxuriae ?

Immunes erant ab istis malis, qui nondum se deliciis solverant, qui sibi imperabant, sibi mini- strabant. Corpora opere ac vero labore durabant aut cursu defatigati aut venatu aut tellure ^ versanda.* Excipiebat illos cibus, qui nisi esurientibus placere non posset. Itaque nihil opus erat tam magna medicorum supellectile nee tot ferramentis atque pyxidibus. Simplex erat ex causa simplici valitudo ;

19 multos morbos multa fericula fecerunt. Vide, quan- tum rerum per unam gulam transiturarum permisceat luxuria, terrarum marisque vastatrix. Necesse est itaque inter se tam diversa dissideant et hausta male ^

^ labantium later MwSS. ; labentium BA. 2 Muretus removed corporum after palpitatio : Buecheler suggested praecordiorum, and Windhaus cordum. ^^ tellure later MSS. ; toll ere BA.

* versanda Windhaus ; versantia BA.

* Gertz added another male to the text.

" verminatio^ defined by Festus as cum corpus quodam minuto motu quasi a vermibus scindatur,

EPISTLE XCV.

steps, and a reeling gait just like that of drunkenness. Thence dropsy, spreading under the entire skin, and the belly growing to a paunch through an ill habit of taking more than it can hold. Thence yellow jaundice, discoloured countenances, and bodies that rot inwardly, and fingers that grow knotty when the joints stiffen, and muscles that are numbed and without power of feeling, and palpitation of the heart with its ceaseless pounding. Why need I mention dizziness ? Or speak of pain in the eye and in the ear, itching and aching^ in the fevered brain, and internal ulcers throughout the digestive system ? Besides these, there are countless kinds of fever, some acute in their malignity, others creeping upon us with subtle damage, and still others which approach us with chills and severe ague. Why should I mention the other innumerable diseases, the tor- tures that result from high living ?

Men used to be free from such ills, because they had not yet slackened their strength by indulgence, because they had control over themselves, and suppUed their own needs. ^ They toughened their bodies by work and real toil, tiring themselves out by running or hunting or tilUng the earth. They were refreshed by food in which only a hungry man could take pleasure. Hence, there was no need for all our mighty medical paraphernalia, for so many instruments and pill-boxes. For plain reasons they enjoyed plain health ; it took elaborate courses to pro- duce elaborate diseases. Mark the number of things — all to pass down a single throat — that luxury mixes together, after ravaging land and sea. So many different dishes must surely disagree ; they are

* For this sort of Golden Age reminiscence see Ep, xc. 5 ff. (vol. ii. p. 397) and note.

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male digerantur aliis alio nitentibus. Nee mirum, quod inconstans variusque ex discordi cibo morbus est et ilia ex contrariis naturae partibus in eundem compulsa redundant. Inde tarn multo^ aegrotamus

20 genere quam vivimus. Maximus ille medicorum et huius scientiae conditor feminis nee capillos defluere dixit nee pedes laborare ; atqui et capillis desti- tuuntur et pedibus aegrae sunt. Non mutata femi- narum natura, sed victa est ; nam cum virorum licentiam aequaverint, corporum quoque virilium

21 incommoda aequarunt. Non minus pervigilant, non minus potant, et oleo et mero viros provocant ; aeque invitis ingesta visceribus per os reddunt et vinum omne vomitu remetiuntur ; aeque nivem rodunt, solaeium stomachi aestuantis. Libidine vero ne mari- bus quidem cedunt, pati natae, di illas deaeque male perdant ! Adeo perversum commentae genus in- pudicitiae viros ineunt. Quid ergo mirandum est maximum medicorum ac naturae peritissimum in mendacio prendi, cum tot feminae podagricae calvaeque sint ? Beneficium sexus sui vitiis perdi- derunt et, quia feminam exuerant, damnatae sunt morbis virilibus.

22 Antiqui medici nesciebant dare cibum saepius et

^ multo Haupt ; nulla BA.

* Hippocrates. 70

EPISTLE XCV.

bolted with difficulty and are digested with diffi- culty, each jostling against the other. And no wonder, that diseases which result from ill-assorted food are variable and manifold ; there must be an overflow when so many unnatural combinations are jumbled together. Hence there are as many ways of being ill as there are of Uving. The illustrious founder of the guild and profession of medicine ** remarked that women never lost their hair or suffered from pain in the feet ; and yet nowadays they run short of hair and are afflicted with gout. This does not mean that woman's physique has changed, but that it has been conquered ; in rival- ling male indulgences, they have also rivalled the ills to which men are heirs. They keep just as late hours, and drink just as much liquor ; they challenge men in wrestling and carousing ; they are no less given to vomiting from distended stomachs and to thus discharging all their wine again ; nor are they behind the men in gnawing ice, as a relief to their fevered digestions. And they even match the men in their passions, although they were created to feel love passively (may the gods and goddesses confound them !). They devise the most impossible varieties of unchastity, and in the company of men they play the part of men. What wonder, then, that we can trip up the statement of the greatest and most skilled physician, when so many women are gouty and bald ! Because of their vices, women have ceased to deserve the privileges of their sex ; they have put off their womanly nature and are therefore condemned to suffer the diseases of men.

Physicians of old time knew nothing about pre- scribing frequent nourishment and propping the

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vino fulcire venas cadentes, nesciebant sanguinem mittere et diutinam aegrotationem balneo sudoribus- que laxare, nesciebant crurum vinculo brachiorum- que latentem vim et in medio sedentem ad extrema revocare. Non erat necesse circumspicere multa auxiliorum genera, cum essent periculorum

23 paucissima. Nunc vero quam longe processerunt mala valitudinis ! Has usuras voluptatium pendimus ultra modum fasque concupitarum. Innumerabiles esse morbos non miraberis : cocos numera. Cessat omne studium et liberalia professi sine ulla frequentia desertis angulis praesident. In rhetorum ac philoso- phorum scholis solitudo est ; at quam celebres culinae sunt, quanta circa nepotum focos iuventus

24 premitur ! Transeo puerorum infelicium greges, quos post transacta convivia aliae cubiculi contumeliae exspectant. Transeo agmina exoletorum per nationes coloresque discripta, ut eadem omnibus levitas sit, eadem primae mensura lanuginis, eadem species capillorum, ne quis, cui rectior est coma, crispulis misceatur. Transeo pistorum turbam, transeo minis- tratorum, per quos signo dato ad infer endam cenam discurritur. Di boni, quantum hominum unus venter exercet ! Quid ? Tu illos boletos, voluptarium vene- num, nihil occulti operis iudicas facere, etiam si

25 praesentanei non fuerunt ? Quid ? Tu illam aesti- vam nivem non putas callum iocineribus obducere ?

" Mushrooms, as in the case of the Emperor Claudius, were a frequent aid to secret murder.

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feeble pulse with wine ; they did not understand the practice of blood-letting and of easing chronic com- plaints with sweat-baths ; they did not understand how, by bandaging ankles and arms, to recall to the outward parts the hidden strength which had taken refuge in the centre. They were not compelled to seek many varieties of relief, because the varieties of suffering were very few in number. Nowadays, however, to what a stage have the evils of ill-health advanced ! This is the interest which we pay on pleasures which we have coveted beyond what is reasonable and right. You need not wonder that diseases are beyond counting : count the cooks ! All intellectual interests are in abeyance ; those who follow culture lecture to empty rooms, in out-of-the- way places. The halls of the professor and the philosopher are deserted ; but what a crowd there is in the cafes ! How many young fellows besiege the kitchens of their gluttonous friends ! I shall not mention the troops of luckless boys who must put up with other shameful treatment after the banquet is over. I shall not mention the troops of catamites, rated according to nation and colour, who must all have the same smooth skin, and the same amount of youthful down on their cheeks, and the same way of dressing their hair, so that no boy with straight locks may get among the curly-heads. Nor shall I mention the medley of bakers, and the numbers of waiters who at a given signal scurry to carry in the courses. Ye gods ! How many men are kept busy to humour a single belly ! What ? Do you imagine that those mushrooms, the epicure's poison, work no evil results in secret,* even though they have had no immediate effect ? What ? Do you suppose that your summer snow does not harden

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Quid ? Ilia ostrea, inertissimam carnem caeno sagina- tam, nihil existimas limosae gravitatis inferre ? Quid? lUud sociorum garum, pretiosam malorum piscium saniem, non credis urere salsa tabe praecordia ? Quid ? Ilia purulenta et quae tantum non ex ipso igne in os transferuntur, iudicas sine noxa in ipsis visceribus extingui ? Quam foedi itaque pestilentes- que ructus sunt, quantum fastidium sui exhalan- tibus crapulam veterem ! Scias putrescere sumpta, non eoncoqui.

26 Memini fuisse quondam in sermone nobilem patinam, in quam quicquid apud lautos solet diem ducere, properans in damnum suum popina con- gesserat ; veneriae spondylique et ostrea eatenus circumcisa, qua eduntur, intervenientibus distingue- bantur echinis. Totam dissecti structique ^ sine uUis

27 ossibus muUi constraverant. Piget esse iam singula ; coguntur in unum sapores. In cena fit, quod fieri debebat^ in ventre. Expecto iam, ut manducata ponantur. Quantulo autem hoc minus est, testas excerpere atque ossa et dentium opera cocum fungi ?

" Gravest luxuriari per singula ; omnia semel et in eundem saporem versa ponantur. Quare ego ad unam rem manum porrigam ? Plura veniant simul,

* dissecti structique Buecheler ; destructique BA. 2 dehehat Gertz ; debet saturo BA.

* The finest variety of garum was made from Spanish mackerel-roe.

EPISTLE XGV.

the tissue of the Uver ? What ? Do you suppose that those oysters, a sluggish food fattened on sHme, do not weigh one down with mud-begotten heaviness ? What ? Do you not think that the so-called ** Sauce from the Provinces/* ^ the costly extract of poisonous fish, burns up the stomach with its salted putrefaction ? What ? Do you judge that the corrupted dishes which a man swallows almost burning from the kitchen fire, are quenched in the digestive system without doing harm ? How repulsive, then, and how unhealthy are their belchings, and how disgusted men are with themselves when they breathe forth the fumes of yesterday's debauch ! You may be sure that their food is not being digested, but is rotting.

I remember once hearing gossip about a notorious dish into which everything over which epicures love to dally had been heaped together by a cookshop that was fast rushing into bankruptcy ; there were two kinds of mussels, and oysters trimmed round at the line where they are edible, set off at intervals by sea-urchins ; the whole was flanked by mullets cut up and served without the bones. In these days we are ashamed of separate foods ; people mix many flavours into one. The dinner table does work which the stomach ought to do. I look forward next to food being served masticated ! And how little we are from it already when we pick out shells and bones and the cook performs the office of the teeth !

They say : " It is too much trouble to take our luxuries one by one ; let us have everything served at the same time and blended into the same flavour. Why should I help myself to a single dish ? Let us have many coming to the table at once ; the dainties of

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multorum ferculorum ornamenta coeant et cohaere-

28 ant. Sciant protinus hi, qui iactationem ex istis peti et gloriam aiebant, non ostendi ista, sed eonscientiae dari. Pariter sint, quae disponi solent, uno iure perfusa. Nihil intersit : ostrea, echini, spondyli, mulh perturbati concoctique ponantur.*' Non esset

29 confusior vomentium cibus. Quomodo ista perplexa sunt, sic ex istis non singulares morbi nascuntur, sed inexplicabiles, diversi, multiformes, adversus quos et medicina armare se coepit multis generibus, multis observationibus .

Idem tibi de philosophia dico. Fuit aliquando sim- phcior inter minora peccantes et levi quoque cura remediabiles ; adversus tantam morum eversionem omnia conanda sunt. Et utinam sic denique lues

30 ista vindicetur ! Non privatim solum, sed publice furimus. Homicidia compescimus et singulas caedes ; quid bella et occisarum gentium gloriosum scelus ? Non avaritia, non crudelitas modum novit. Et ista quamdiu furtim et a singulis fiunt, minus noxia minusque monstruosa sunt ; ex senatus consultis plebisque scitis saeva exercentur et publice iubentur

31 vetata privatim. Quae clam commissa capite luerent, tum quia paludati fecere, laudamus. Non pudet ^ homines, mitissimum genus, gaudere sanguine alterno

* pudet later MSS. ; putet BA.

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various courses should be combined and confounded. Those who used to declare that this was done for display and notoriety should understand that it is not done for show, but that it is an oblation to our sense of duty ! Let us have at one time, drenched in the same sauce, the dishes that are usually served separ- ately. Let there be no difference : let oysters, sea-urchins, shell -fish, and mullets be mixed to- gether and cooked in the same dish." No vomited food could be jumbled up more helter-skelter. And as the food itself is complicated, so the resulting diseases are complex, unaccountable, manifold, variegated ; medicine has begun to campaign against them in many ways and by many rules of treatment. Now I declare to you that the same statement applies to philosophy. It was once more simple be- cause men's sins were on a smaller scale, and could be cured with but slight trouble ; in the face, however, of all this moral topsy-turvy men must leave no remedy untried. And would that this pest might so at last be overcome ! We are mad, not only individu- ally, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders ; but what of war and the much- vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples ? There are no limits to our greed, none to our cruelty. And as long as such crimes are committed by stealth and by individuals, they are less harmful and less portentous ; but cruelties are practised in accordance with acts of senate and popular assembly, and the public is bidden to do that which is forbidden to the individual. Deeds that would be punished by loss of life when committed in secret, are praised by us because uniformed generals have carried them out. Man, naturally the gentlest class of being, is not ashamed to revel in the blood of others, to wage

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et bella gerere gerendaque liberis tradere, cum inter

32 se etiam mutis ac feris pax sit. Adversus tarn poten- tem explicitumque late furorem operosior philo- sophia facta est et tantum sibi virium sumpsit, quantum iis, adversus quae parabatur, accesserat.

Expeditum erat obiurgare indulgentes mero et petentes delicatiorem cibum; non erat animus ad frugalitatem magna vi reducendus, a qua pauUum discesserat :

33 Nunc manibus rapidis opus est, nunc arte magistra. Voluptas ex omni quaeritur. Nullum intra se manet vitium ; in avaritiam luxuria praeceps est. Hones ti oblivio invasit. Nihil turpest, cuius placet pretium. Homo, sacra res homini, iam per lusum ac iocum occiditur et quem erudiri ad inferenda accipiendaque vulnera nefas erat, is iam nudus inermisque pro- ducitur satisque spectaculi ex homine mors est.

84 In hac ergo morum perversitate desideratur solito vehementius aliquid, quod mala inveterata discutiat ; decretis agendum est, ut revellatur penitus falsorum recepta persuasio. His si adiunxerimus praecepta, consolationes, adhortationes, poterunt valere ; per

35 se inefficaces sunt. Si volumus habere obligatos et malis, quibus iam tenentur, avellere, discant, quid malum, quid bonum sit. Sciant omnia praeter virtu-

* Vergil, Aen. viii. 442.

EPISTLE XCV.

war, and to entrust the waging of war to his sons, when even dumb beasts and wild beasts keep the peace with one another. Against this overmastering and widespread madness philosophy has become a matter of greater effort, and has taken on strength in proportion to the strength which is gained by the opposition forces.

It used to be easy to scold men who were slaves to drink and who sought out more luxurious food ; it did not require a mighty effort to bring the spirit back to the simplicity from which it had departed only slightly. But now

One needs the rapid hand, the master-craft.*

Men seek pleasure from every source. No vice remains within its limits ; luxury is precipitated into greed. We are overwhelmed with forgetfulness of that which is honourable. Nothing that has an attractive value, is base. Man, an object of reverence in the eyes of man, is now slaughtered for jest and sport; and those whom it used to be unholy to train for the purpose of inflicting and enduring wounds, are thrust forth exposed and defenceless ; and it is a satisfying spectacle to see a man made a corpse.

Amid this upset condition of morals, something stronger than usual is needed, — something which will shake off these chronic ills ; in order to root out a deep-seated belief in wrong ideas, conduct must be regulated by doctrines. It is only when we add pre- cepts, consolation, and encouragement to these, that they can prevail ; by themselves they are ineffective. If we would hold men firmly bound and tear them away from the ills which clutch them fast, they must learn what is evil and what is good. They must know

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tern mutare nomen, modo mala fieri, modo bona. Quemadmodum primum militiae vinculum est religio et signorum amor et deserendi nefas, tunc deinde facile cetera exiguntur mandanturque iusiurandum adactis, ita in iis, quos velis ad beatam vitam per- ducere : prima fundamenta iacienda sunt et insinu- anda virtus. Huius quadam superstitione teneantur ; banc ament ; cum hac vivere velint, sine hac nolint.

36 " Quid ergo ? Non quidam sine institutione subtili evaserunt probi magnosque profectus adsecuti sunt, dum nudis tantum praeceptis obsecuntur ? '* Fateor, sed felix illis ingenium fuit et salutaria in transitu rapuit. Nam ut di inmortales nullam didicere virtu- tem cum omni editi et pars naturae eorum est bonos esse, ita quidam ex hominibus egregiam sortiti indolem in ea, quae tradi solent, perveniunt sine longo magisterio et honesta complexi sunt, cum primum audiere ; unde ista tam rapacia virtutis ingenia vel ex se fertilia. Illis autem^ hebetibus et optusis aut mala consuetudine obsessis diu robigo

37 animorum effricanda est. Ceterum, ut illos in bonum pronos citius educit ad summa, et hos inbeeilliores adiuvabit malisque opinionibus extrahet, qui illis philosophiae placita tradiderit ; quae quam sint

^ illis auteni cod. Harl. ; et illis aut BA.

** Cf. Ep. xxxvii. 2 wW, vinciri, ferroqiie necarl and note. * t.^., not reinforced by general dogmas.

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that everything except virtue changes its name and becomes now good and now bad. Just as the soldier's primary bond of union is his oath of allegiance and his love for the flag, and a horror of desertion, and just as, after this stage, other duties can easily be demanded of him, and trusts given to him when once the oath * has been administered ; so it is with those whom you would bring to the happy life : the first foundations must be laid, and virtue worked into these men. Let them be held by a sort of super- stitious worship of virtue ; let them love her ; let them desire to live with her, and refuse to live without her.

** But what, then," people say, ** have not certain persons won their way to excellence without com- plicated training ? Have they •. not made great progress by obeying bare precepts alone ^ ? '* Very true ; but their temperaments were propitious, and they snatched salvation as it were by the way. For just as the immortal gods did not learn virtue — having been born with virtue complete, and contain- ing in their nature the essence of goodness — even so certain men are fitted with unusual qualities and reach without a long apprenticeship that which is ordinarily a matter of teaching, welcoming honourable things as soon as they hear them. Hence come the choice minds which seize quickly upon virtue, or else produce it from within themselves. But your dull, sluggish fellow, who is hampered by his evil habits, must have this soul-rust incessantly rubbed off. Now, as the former sort, who are inclined towards the good, can be raised to the heights more quickly : so the weaker spirits will be assisted and freed from their evil opinions if we entrust to them the accepted prin- ciples of philosophy ; and you may understand how

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necessaria, sic licet ^ videas. Quaedam insident nobis, quae nos ad alia pigros, ad alia temerarios faciunt. Nee haec audacia reprimi potest nee ilia inertia suscitari, nisi causae eorum eximuntur, falsa admiratio et falsa formido. Haec nos quamdiu possi- dent, dicas licet : ** Hoc patri praestare debes, hoc liberis, hoc amicis, hoc hospitibus ; " temptantem avaritia retinebit. Sciet pro patria pugnandum esse, dissuadebit timer ; sciet pro amicis desudandum esse ad extremum usque sudorem,^ sed deliciae veta- bunt ; sciet in uxore gravissimum esse genus iniuriae paelicem, sed ilium libido in contraria inpinget.^

38 Nihil ergo proderit dare praecepta, nisi prius amoveris obstatura praeceptis, non magis quam proderit arma in conspectu posuisse propiusque ad- movisse, nisi usurae manus expediuntur. Ut ad praecepta, quae damus, possit animus ire, solvendus

39 est. Putemus aliquem facere, quod oportet ; non faciet adsidue, non faciet aequaliter : nesciet enim, quare faciat. Aliqua vel casu vel exercitatione exi- bunt recta, sed non erit in manu regula, ad quam exigantur, cui credat recta esse, quae fecit. Non promittet se talem in perpetuum, qui bonus casu *

40 est. Deinde praestabunt tibi fortasse praecepta ut

* sic licet Haase ; scilicet BA.

* We retain usque sudor em, the reading of A, in spite of the objections of Gruter and others.

^ imping et Erasmus ; inpinglt BA.

* casu later MSS. ; casus BA.

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essential these principles are in the following way. Certain things sink into us, rendering us sluggish in some ways, and hasty in others. These two qualities, the one of recklessness and the other of sloth, cannot be respectively checked or roused unless we remove their causes, which are mistaken admiration and mistaken fear. As long as we are obsessed by such feelings, you may say to us : ** You owe this duty to your father, this to your children, this to your friends, this to your guests ** ; but greed will always hold us back, no matter how we try. A man may know that he should fight for his country, but fear will dissuade him. A man may know that he should sweat forth his last drop of energy on behalf of his friends, but luxury will forbid. A man may know that keeping a mistress is the worst kind of insult to his wife, but lust will drive him in the opposite direction. It will therefore be of no avail to give precepts unless you first remove the conditions that are likely to stand in the way of precepts ; it will do no more good than to place weapons by your side and bring yourself near the foe without having your hands free to use those weapons. The soul, in order to deal with the precepts which we offer, must first be set free. Suppose that a man is acting as he should ; he cannot keep it up continuously or consistently, since he will not know the reason for so acting. Some of his conduct will result rightly because of luck or practice ; but there will be in his hand no rule by which he may regulate his acts, and which he may trust to tell him whether that which he has done is right. One who is good through mere chance will not give promise of retaining such a character for ever. Furthermore, precepts will perhaps help you to do what should be done ; but

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quod oportet facial, non praestabunt ut quemadmo- dum oportet ; si hoc non praestant, ad virtutem non perducunt. Faciet quod oportet monitus, concedo ; sed id parum est, quoniam quidem non in facto laus

41 est, sed in eo, quemadmodum fiat. Quid est cena sumptuosa flagitiosius et equestrem censum con- sumente ? Quid tarn dignum censoria nota, si quis, ut isti ganeones loquuntur, sibi hoc et genio suo praestet ? Et deciens ^ tamen sestertio aditiales cenae frugahssimis viris constiterunt. Eadem res, si gulae datur, turpis est ; si honori, reprensionem effugit. Non enim luxuria, sed inpensa sollemnis est,

42 Mullum ingentis formae — quare autem non pondus adicio et aUquorum gulam inrito ? quattuor pondo et selibram fuisse aiebant — Tiberius Caesar missum sibi cum in macellum deferri et veniri iussisset : ** amici," inquit, " omnia me fallunt, nisi istum mulhim aut Apicius emerit aut P. Octavius.*' Ultra spem ilh coniectura processit : liciti sunt, \icit Octavius et ingentem consecutus est inter suos gloriam, cum quinque sestertiis emisset piscem, quem Caesar vendiderat, ne Apicius quidem emerat. Numerare tantum Octavio fuit turpe, non illi,^ qui emerat, ut Tiberio mitteret, quamquam ilium quo- que reprenderim ; admiratus est rem, qua putavit Caesarem dignum.

^ deciens Hermes ; docens BA. ^ non illi Pincianus ; nam ille BA.

** The nota was the mark of disgrace which the censor registered when he struck a man's name off the list of senators or knights.

* The genius was properly a man's alter ego or " better self " : every man had his genius. For the colloquial use compare the " indulge genio " of the Ptoman poets.

* See Index of Proper Names. 84

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they will not help you to do it in the proper way ; and if they do not help you to this end, they do not conduct you to virtue. I grant you that, if warned, a man will do what he should ; but that is not enough, since the credit lies, not in the actual deed, but in the way it is done. What is more shameful than a costly meal which eats away the income even of a knight ? Or what so worthy of the censor's con- demnation ^ as to be always indulging oneself and one's ** inner man," ^ if I may speak as the gluttons do ? And yet often has an inaugural dinner cost the most careful man a cool million ! The very sum that is called disgraceful if spent on the appetite, is beyond reproach if spent for official purposes ! For it is not luxury but an expenditure sanctioned by custom.

A mullet of monstrous size was presented to the Emperor Tiberius. They say it weighed four and one half pounds (and why should I not tickle the palates of certain epicures by mentioning its weight ?). Tiberius ordered it to be sent to the fish-market and put up for sale, remarking : *' I shall be taken entirely by surprise, my friends, if either Apicius ^ or P. Octavius ^ does not buy that mullet." The guess came true beyond his expecta- tion : the two men bid, and Octavius won, thereby acquiring a great reputation among his intimates because he had bought for five thousand sesterces a fish which the Emperor had sold, and which even Apicius did not succeed in buying. To pay such a price was disgraceful for Octavius, but not for the individual who purchased the fish in order to present it to Tiberius, — though I should be inclined to blame the latter as well ; but at any rate he admired a gift of which he thought Caesar worthy.

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43 Amico aliquis aegro adsidet : probamus. At hoc hereditatis causa facit : vultur est, cadaver expectat. Eadem aut turpia sunt aut honesta ; refert, quare aut quemadmodum fiant. Omnia autem honesta fient, si honesto nos addixerimus idque unum in rebus humanis bonum iudicaverimus quaeque ex eo sunt ;

44 cetera in diem bona sunt. Ergo infigi debet persuasio ad totam pertinens vitam : hoc est, quod decretum voco. QuaUs haec persuasio fuerit, talia erunt, quae agentur, quae cogitabuntur. Qualia autem haec fuerint, taUs vita erit. In particulas suasisse totum

45 ordinanti parum est. M. Brutus in eo Hbro, quem Trepl KciOiJKovTos inscripsit, dat multa praecepta et parentibus et hberis et fratribus ; haec nemo faciet quemadmodum debet, nisi habuerit quo referat.^ Proponamus oportet finem summi boni, ad quem nitamur, ad quem omne factum nostrum dictum- que respiciat ; veluti navigantibus ad aUquod sidus

46 derigendus est cursus. Vita sine proposito vaga est : quod si utique proponendum est, incipiunt necessaria esse decreta. Illud, ut puto, concedes, nihil esse tur- pius dubio et incerto ac timide ^ pedem referente. Hoc in omnibus rebus accidet nobis, nisi ^ eximuntur, quae reprendunt^ animos et detinent et pericUtari conarique ^ totos vet ant.

47 Quomodo sint di colendi, solet praecipi. Accendere ahquem lucernas sabbatis prohibeamus, quoniam

^ referat Muretus ; perferat BA.

2 ac timide Bartsch ; actimido BA.

^ nisi later MSS. ; om. BA.

* reprendunt later MSS. ; reppendunt BA.

* pericUtari conarique Hense ; et preconarique BA.

* A frequent vice under the Empire, nicknamed captatio,

* ITept KaOt'iKouTos, — a subject handled by Panaetius, and by Cicero (De Ojfficiis),

EPISTLE XCV.

When people sit by the bedsides of their sick friends, we honour their motives. But when people do this for the purpose of attaining a legacy,^ they are like vultures waiting for carrion. The same act may be either shameful or honourable : the purpose and the manner make all the difference. Now each of our acts will be honourable if we declare allegiance to honour and judge honour and its results to be the only good that can fall to man's lot ; for other things are only temporarily good. I think, then, that there should be deeply implanted a firm belief which will apply to life as a whole : this is what I call a ** doctrine.*' And as this belief is, so will be our acts and our thoughts. As our acts and our thoughts are, so will our lives be. It is not enough, when a man is arranging his existence as a whole, to give him advice about details. Marcus Brutus, in the book which he has entitled Concerning T>uty^ gives many precepts to parents, children, and brothers; but no one will do his duty as he ought, unless he has some principle to which he may refer his conduct. We must set before our eyes the goal of the Supreme Good, towards which we may strive, and to which all our acts and words may have reference — ^just as sailors must guide their course according to a certain star. Life without ideals is erratic : as soon as an ideal is to be set up, doctrines begin to be necessary. I am sure you will admit that there is nothing more shameful than uncertain and wavering conduct, than the habit of timorous retreat. This will be our experience in all cases unless we remove that which checks the spirit and clogs it, and keeps it from making an attempt and trying with all its might.

Precepts are commonly given as to how the gods should be worshipped. But let us forbid lamps to

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nee lumine di egent et ne homines quidem delec- tantur fuligine. Vet emus salutationibus matutinis fungi et foribus adsidere templorum ; humana am- bitio istis officiis capitur, deum colit qui novit. Vete- mus lintea et strigiles lovi ferre et speculum tenere lunoni ; non quaerit ministros deus. Quidni ? Ipse humano generi ministrat, ubique et omnibus praesto est. Audiat licet, quem modum servare in sacrificiis debeat, quam procul resilire a molestis superstitioni- bus, numquam satis profectum erit, nisi qualem debet deum mente conceperit, omnia habentem, omnia tribuentem, beneficum ^ gratis. Quae causa est dis

49 bene faciendi ? Natura. Errat, si quis illos putat nocere nolle ; non possunt. Nee accipere iniuriam queunt nee facere ; laedere etenim laedique coniunc- tum est. Summa ilia ac pulcherrima omnium natura quos periculo exemit, ne periculosos quidem fecit.

50 Primus est deorum cultus deos credere ; deinde reddere illis maiestatem suam, reddere bonitatem, sine qua nulla maiestas est. Scire illos esse, qui praesident mundo, qui uni versa vi sua temperant, qui humani generis tutelam gerunt interdum in- curiosi ^ singulorum. Hi nee dant malum nee habent ; ceterum castigant quosdam et coercent et inrogant

^ beneficum cod. Velz., also Windhaus and Madvig ; heneficiuni BA.

2 incur iosi Madvig ; curiosi BA.

^ t.^., the significant features of athletics and adornment for men and women respectively.

EPISTLE XCV.

be lighted on the Sabbath, since the gods do not need light, neither do men take pleasure in soot. Let us forbid men to offer morning salutation and to throng the doors of temples ; mortal ambitions are attracted by such ceremonies, but God is worshipped by those who truly know Him Let us forbid bringing towels and flesh-scrapers to Jupiter, and proffering mirrors to Juno ; ^ for God seeks no servants. Of course not ; he himself does service to mankind, everywhere and to all he is at hand to help. Although a man hear what limit he should observe in sacrifice, and how far he should recoil from burdensome superstitions, he will never make sufficient progress until he has conceived a right idea of God, — ^regarding Him as one who possesses all things, and allots all things, and bestows them without price. And what reason have the gods for doing deeds of kindness ? It is their nature. One who thinks that they are unwilling to do harm, is wrong ; they cannot do harm. They cannot receive or inflict injury ; for doing harm is in the same category as suffering harm. The universal nature, all-glorious and all-beautiful, has rendered incapable of inflicting ill those whom it has removed from the danger of ill.

The first way to worship the gods is to believe in the gods ; the next to acknowledge their majesty, to acknowledge their goodness without which there is no majesty. Also, to know that they are supreme commanders in the universe, controlling all things by their power and acting as guardians of the human race, even though they are sometimes unmindful of the individual. They neither give nor have evil ; but they do chasten and restrain certain persons, and impose penalties, and sometimes punish by bestowing

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poenas et aliquando specie boni puniunt. Vis deos propitiare ? Bonus esto. Satis illos coluit, quisquis imitatus est.

51 Ecce altera quaestio, quomodo hominibus sit utendum. Quid agimus ? Quae damus prae- cepta ? Ut pareamus sanguini humano ? Quantulum est ei non nocere, cui debeas prodesse ! Magna scilicet laus est, si homo mansuetus homini est. Praecipiemus, ut naufrago manum porrigat, erranti viam monstret, cum esuriente panem suum dividat ? Quando omnia, quae praestanda ac vitanda sunt, dicam, cum possim breviter hanc illi formulam humani

52 officii tradere : omne hoc, quod vides, quo divina atque humana conclusa sunt, unum est ; membra sumus corporis magni. Natura nos cognatos edidit, cum ex isdem et in eadem gigneret. Haec nobis amorem indidit mutuum et sociabiles fecit. Ilia aequum iustumque composuit ; ex illius constitu- tione miserius est nocere quam laedi. Ex illius im-

53 perio paratae sint iuvandis manus. lUe versus et in pectore et in ore sit :

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

Habeamus in commune ; nati sumus. Societas nostra lapidum fornicationi simillima est, quae casura, nisi in vicem obstarent, hoc ipso sustinetur.

54 Post deos hominesque dispiciamus, quomodo rebus

• Terence, Heautontimorumenos, 77«

EPISTLE XGV.

that which seems good outwardly. Would you win over the gods ? Then be a good man. Whoever imitates them, is worshipping them sufficiently.

Then comes the second problem, — how to deal with men. What is our purpose ? What precepts do we offer ? Should we bid them refrain from bloodshed ? What a little thing it is not to harm one whom you ought to help ! It is indeed worthy of great praise, when man treats man with kindness ! Shall we advise stretching forth the hand to the shipwrecked sailor, or pointing out the way to the wanderer, or sharing a crust with the starving ? Yes, if I can only tell you first everything which ought to be afforded or withheld ; meantime, I can lay down for mankind a rule, in short compass, for our duties in human relationships : all that you behold, that which comprises both god and man, is one — we are the parts of one great body. Nature produced us related to one another, since she created us from the same source and to the same end. She engendered in us mutual affection, and made us prone to friend- ships. She established fairness and justice ; accord- ing to her ruling, it is more wretched to commit than to suffer injury. Through her orders, let our hands be ready for all that needs to be helped. Let this verse be in your heart and on your lips :

I am a man ; and nothing in man's lot Do I deem foreign to me.**

Let us possess things in common ; for birth is ours in common. Our relations with one another are like a stone arch, which would collapse if the stones did not mutually support each other, and which is upheld in this very way.

Next, after considering gods and men, let us see VOL. Ill D 91

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situtendum. In supervacuum praecepta iactavimus, nisi illiid praecesserit, qualem de quacumque re habere debeamus opinionem, de paupertate de divitiis, de gloria de ignominia, de patria de exilio. Aestimemus singula fama remota et quaeramus, quid sint, non quid vocentur.

55 Ad virtutes transeamus. Praeeipiet aliquis, ut prudentiam magni aestimemus, ut fortitudinem com- plectamur, iustitiam, si fieri potest, propius etiam quam ceteras nobis adplicemus. Sed nil aget, si ignoramus, quid sit virtus, una sit an plures, separatae aut innexae, an qui unam habet et ceteras habeat,

56 quo inter se differ ant. Non est necesse fabro de | fabrica quaerere, quod eius initium, quis usus sit, non magis quam pantomimo de arte saltandi ; omnes istae artes si se seiunt,^ nihil deest ; non enim ad totam pertinent vitam. ^ irtus et aliorum scientia est et sui ; discendum de ipsa est, ut ipsa discatur.

57 Actio recta non erit, nisi recta fuerit voluntas, ab hac enim est actio. Rursus voluntas non erit recta, nisi habitus animi rectus fuerit, ab hoc enim est voluntas. Habitus porro animi non erit in optimo, nisi totius vitae leges perceperit et quid de quoque iudicandum sit, exegerit, nisi res ad verum redegerit. Non con- tingit tranquillitas nisi inmutabile certumque iudi-

* istae artcs si se sciunt liaiipt ; ista certa esse sciunt BA.

EPISTLE XGV.

how we should make use of things. It is useless for us to have mouthed out precepts, unless we begin by- reflecting what opinion we ought to hold concerning everything — concerning poverty, riches, renown, dis- grace, citizenship, exile. Let us banish rumour and set a value upon each thing, asking what it is and not what it is called.

Now let us turn to a consideration of the virtues. Some persons will advise us to rate prudence very high, to cherish bravery, and to cleave more closely, if possible, to justice than to all other qualities. But this will do us no good if we do not know what virtue is, whether it is simple or compound, whether it is one or more than one, whether its parts are separate or interwoven with one another ; whether he who has one virtue possesses the other virtues also ; and just what are the distinctions between them. The carpenter does not need to inquire about his art in the light of its origin or of its function, any more than a pantomime need inquire about the art of dancing ; if these arts understand themselves, nothing is lacking, for they do not refer to hfe as a whole. But virtue means the know- ledge of other things besides herself : if we would learn virtue we must learn all about virtue. Conduct will not be right unless the will to act is right ; for this is the source of conduct. Nor, again, can the will be right without a right attitude of mind ; for this is the source of the will. Furthermore, such an attitude of mind will not be found even in the best of men unless he has learned the laws of life as a whole and has worked out a proper judgment about everything, and unless he has reduced facts to a standard of truth. Peace of mind is enjoyed only by those who have attained a fixed and unchanging

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cium adeptis ; ceteri decidunt subinde et reponuntur et inter missa adpetitaque alternis fluctuantur.

58 Causa his ^ quae iaetationis est ? Quod nihil Uquet incertissimo regimine utentibus, fama. Si vis eadem semper velle, vera oportet velis. Ad verum sine decretis non pervenitur ; continent vitam. Bona et mala, honesta et turpia, iusta et iniusta, pia et impia, virtutes ususque virtutum, rerum commodarum possessio, existimatio ac dignitas,^ valitudo, vires, forma, sagacitas ^ sensuum ; haee omnia aestima- torem desiderant. Scire liceat, quanti quidque in

69 censum deferendum sit. Falleris enim et pluris quaedam quam sunt putas, adeoque falleris, ut, quae maximi inter nos habentur, divitiae, gratia, potentia, sestertio nummo aestimanda sint.

Hoc nescies, nisi constitutionem ipsam, qua ista inter se aestimantur, inspexeris. Quemadmodum folia per se virere non possunt, ramum desiderant, cui inhaereant, ex quo trahant sucum ; sic ista praecepta, si sola sunt, marcent ; infigi volunt sectae.

60 Praeterea non intellegunt hi, qui decreta tollunt, eo ipso confirmari ilia, quo tolluntur. Quid enim dicunt ? Praeceptis vitam satis explicari, supervacua esse decreta sapientiae, id est dogmata. Atqui hoc

^ causa his Gertz ; causarisque BA.

* dignitas later MSS. ; dignitatis BA.

' sagacitas later MSS. ; sagittal or sanitas BA.

• C/. Ep. xciv. 12 and note. 94

EPISTLE XGV.

standard of judgment ; the rest of mankind continually ebb and flow in their decisions, floating in a condition where they alternately reject things and seek them And what is the reason for this tossing to and fro ? It is because nothing is clear to them, because they make use of a most unsure criterion — rumour. If you would always desire the same things,^ you must desire the truth. But one cannot attain the truth without doctrines ; for doctrines embrace the whole of life. Things good and evil, honourable and dis- graceful, just and unjust, dutiful and undutiful, the virtues and their practice, the possession of comforts, worth and respect, health, strength, beauty, keenness of the senses — all these qualities call for one who is able to appraise them. One should be allowed to know at what value every object is to be rated on the list ; for sometimes you are deceived and believe that certain things are worth more than their real value ; in fact, so badly are you deceived that you will find you should value at a mere penny- worth those things which we men regard as worth most of all — for example, riches, influence, and power.

You will never understand this unless you have in- vestigated the actual standard by which such condi- tions are relatively rated. As leaves cannot flourish by their own efforts, but need a branch to which they may cling and from which they may draw sap, so your precepts, when taken alone, wither away ; they must be grafted upon a school of philosophy. Moreover, those who do away with doctrines do not under- stand that these doctrines are proved by the very arguments through which they seem to disprove them. For what are these men saying ? They are saying that precepts are sufficient to develop life, and that the doctrines of wisdom (in other words, dogmas) are

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ipsum, quod dicunt, decretum est tarn me hercules ^ quam si nunc ego dicerem recedendum a praeceptis velut supervacuis, utendum esse decretis, in haec sola studium conferendum ; hoc ipso, quo negarem

61 curanda esse praecepta, praeciperem. Quaedam ad- monitionem in philosophia desiderant, quaedam probationem et quidem multam,^ quia involuta sunt vixque summa diligentia ac summa subtilitate ape- riuntur. Si probationes necessariae sunt, et decreta, quae veritatem argumentis colligunt. Quaedam aperta sunt, quaedam obscura : aperta, quae sensu conprehenduntur, quae memoria ; obscura, quae extra haec sunt.

Ratio autem non impletur manifestis ; maior eius pars pulchriorque in occultis est. Occulta pro- bationem exigunt, probatio non sine decretis est ;

62 necessaria ergo decreta sunt. Quae res communem sensum facit, eadem perfectum, certa rerum ^ per- suasio ; sine qua si omnia in animo natant, necessaria sunt decreta, quae dant animis inflexibile iudicium.

63 Denique cum monemus aliquem, ut amicum eodem habeat loco, quo se, ut ex inimico cogitet fieri posse amicum, in illo amorem incitet, in hoc odium moderetur, adicimus : ** iustum est et honestum.** lustum autem honestumque decretorum nostrorum continet ratio ; ergo haec necessaria est, sine qua

64 nee ilia sunt. Sed utrumque iungamus. Namque

^ tarn me hercules cod. Velz. ; tarn hercules BA.

2 multam Madvig ; multa BA.

^ certa rerum Schweii^haeuser ; certarum and certum BA.

" i.e.^ progressing from a (pauraaia in general to a (pavracria KaTaXrfTTTiKr}.

^ Seneca characteristically ignores the unpleasant half of the proverb : (piKelv w$ fXLa-rjawv Kai incelv ws (pLXrjawu.

EPISTLE XGV.

superfluous. And yet this very utterance of theirs is a doctrine, — ^just as if I should now remark that one must dispense with precepts on the ground that they are superfluous, that one must make use of doctrines, and that our studies should be directed solely towards this end ; thus, by my very statement that precepts should not be taken seriously, I should be uttering a precept. There are certain matters in philosophy which need admonition ; there are others which need proof, and a great deal of proof, too, because they are complicated and can scarcely be made clear with the greatest care and the greatest dialectic skill. If proofs are necessary, so are doc- trines ; for doctrines deduce the truth by reasoning. Some matters are clear, and others are vague : those which the senses and the memory can embrace are clear ; those which are outside their scope are vague. But reason is not satisfied by obvious facts ; its higher and nobler function is to deal with hidden things. Hidden things need proof; proof cannot come without doctrines ; therefore, doctrines are necessary. That which leads to a general agreement, and likewise to a perfect one,^ is an assured belief in certain facts ; but if, lacking this assurance, all things are adrift in our minds, then doctrines are indispensable ; for they give to our minds the means of unswerving decision. Furthermore, when we advise a man to regard his friends as highly as himself, to reflect that an enemy may become a friend,^ to stimulate love in the friend, and to check hatred in the enemy, we add : * * This is j ust and honourable . ' * Now the j ust and honourable element in our doctrines is embraced by reason ; hence reason is necessary ; for without it the doctrines cannot exist, either. But let us unite the two. For indeed branches are useless

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et sine radice inutiles rami sunt et ipsae radices iis, quae genu ere, adiuvantur. Quantum utilitatis manus habeant, nescire nulli licet, aperte iuvant ; cor illud, quo manus vivunt, ex quo impetum sumunt, quo moventur, latet. Idem dicere de praeceptis possum : aperta sunt, decreta vero sapientiae in abdito. Sicut sanctiora sacrorum tantum initiati sciunt, ita in philosophia arcana ilia admissis receptisque in sacra ostenduntur ; at praecepta et alia eiusmodi profanis quoque nota sunt.

66 Posidonius non tantum praeceptionem, nihil enim nos hoc verbo uti prohibet, sed etiam suasionem et consolationem et exhortationem necessariam iudicat. His adicit causarum inquisitionem, aetiologian quam quare nos dicere non audeamus, cum grammatici, custodes Latini sermonis, suo iure ita appellent, non video. Ait utilem futuram et descriptionem cuiusque virtutis ; hanc Posidonius ethologian vocat, quidam characterismon appellant, signa cuiusque virtutis ac vitii et notas reddentem, quibus inter se similia

66 discriminentur. Haec res eandem vim ^ habet quam praecipere. Nam qui praecipit, dicit : ** ilia facies, si voles temperans esse.*' Qui describit, ait : ** tem- perans est, qui ilia facit, qui illis abstinet.*' Quaeris, quid intersit ? Alter praecepta virtutis dat, alter exemplar. Descriptiones has et, ut publicanorum

* eande'in vim cod, Velz. : earn demiim BA.

** e.p., in the mysteries of Eleusis, etc.

^ For these terms see Spengel, Rhet, Graec, passim, Quintilian i. 9. 3 says ethologia personis continetur ; and Cicero, Be Orat. iii. 205, in a list of figures with which the orator should be familiar, includes characterismos, or descriptio.

EPISTLE XGV.

without their roots, and the roots themselves are strengthened by the growths which they have pro- duced. Everyone can understand how useful the hands are ; they obviously help us. But the heart, the source of the hands' growth and power and motion, is hidden. And I can say the same thing about precepts : they are manifest, while the doc- trines of wisdom are concealed. And as only the initiated^ know the more hallowed portion of the rites, so in philosophy the hidden truths are revealed only to those who are members and have been admitted to the sacred rites. But precepts and other such matters are familiar even to the uninitiated.

Posidonius holds that not only precept-giving (there is nothing to prevent my using this word), but even persuasion, consolation, and encouragement, are necessary. To these he adds the investigation of causes (but I fail to see why I should not dare to call it aetiology^ since the scholars who mount guard over the Latin language thus use the term as having the right to do so). He remarks that it will also be useful to illustrate each particular virtue ; this science Posidonius calls ethology, while others call it characterization fi It gives the signs and marks which belong to each virtue and vice, so that by them dis- tinction may be drawn between hke things. Its function is the same as that of precept. For he who utters precepts says : "If you would have self- control, act thus and so ! " He who illustrates, says : ** The man who acts thus and so, and refrains from certain other things, possesses self-control.*' If you ask what the difference here is, I say that the one gives the precepts of virtue, the other its embodi- ment. These illustrations, or, to use a commercial

VOL. Ill D 2 99

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utar verbo, iconismos ^ ex usu esse eonfiteor ; pro-

67 ponamus laudanda, invenietur imitator. Putas utile dari tibi argumenta, per quae intellegas nobilem equum, ne fallaris empturus, ne operam perdas in ignavo ? Quanto hoe utilius est, excellentis animi notas nosse, quas ex alio in se transferre permittitur,

68 Continue pecoris generosi puUus in arvis Altius ingreditur et mollia crura reponit ; Primus et ire viam et fluvios temptare minantis Audet et ignoto sese committere ponti,

Nee vanos horret strepitus. Illi ardua cervix Argutumque caput, brevis alvus obesaque terga, Luxuriatque toris animosum pectus. . . . . . . Turn, si qua sonum procul arma dederunt, Stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus Conlectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.

69 Dum aliud agit, Vergilius noster descripsit virum fortem ; ego certe non aliam imaginem magno viro dederim. Si mihi M. Cato exprimendus sit,^ inter fragores bellorum civilium inpavidus et primus in- cessens admotos^ iam exercitus Alpibus civilique se bello ferens obvium, non alium illi adsignaverim

70 vultum, non alium habitum. Altius certe nemo ingredi potuit quam qui simul contra Caesarem

^ iconismos cod. Velz. ; iconismo BA,

2 sit added by Hermes.

^ admotos Pine. ; admotus BA.

" For the same figure, similarly applied, see Ep, Ixxx. 9 and note.

* Vergil, Georg, iii. 75 flF.

100

EPISTLE XGV.

term, these samples, have, I confess, a certain utihty ; just put them up for exhibition well recommended, and you will find men to copy them. Would you, for instance, deem it a useful thing to have evidence given you by which you may recognize a thorough- bred horse, and not be cheated in your purchase or waste your time over a low-bred animal ? ^ But how much more useful it is to know the marks of a surpassingly fine soul — marks which one may appropriate from another for oneself !

Straightway the foal of the high-bred drove, nursed up in the

pastures, Marches with spirited step, and treads with a delicate motion ; First on the dangerous pathway and into the threatening

river. Trusting himself to the unknown bridge, without fear at its

creakings, Neck thrown high in the air, and clear-cut head, and a belly Spare, back rounded, and breast abounding in courage and

muscle. He, when the clashing of weapons is heard to resound in the

distance. Leaps from his place, and pricks up his ears, and all in a

tremble Pours forth the pent-up fire that lay close-shut in his nostrils.^

VergiVs description, though referring to something else, might perfectly well be the portrayal of a brave man; at any rate, I myself should select no other simile for a hero. If I had to describe Cato, who was unterrified amid the din of civil war, who was first to attack the armies that were already making for the Alps, who plunged face-forward into the civil conflict, this is exactly the sort of expression and attitude which I should give him. Surely none could ** march with more spirited step " than one who rose against Caesar and Pompey at the same

101

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Pompeiumque se sustulit et aliis Caesareanas opes, aliis Pompeianas foventibus ^ utrumque provocavit ostenditque aliquas esse et rei publicae partes. Nam parum est in Catone dicere : ** nee vanos horret strepitus.*' Quidni ? Cum veros ^ vieinosque non horreat, cum contra decem legiones et Gallica auxilia et mixta barbarica arma civilibus vocem liberam mittat et rem publicam hortetur, ne pro libertate decidat, sed omnia ^ experiatur, honestius in servi-

71 tutem casura quam itura. Quantum in illo vigoris ac spiritus, quantum in publica trepidatione fiducia est ! Scit se unum esse, de cuius statu non agatur ; non enim quaeri, an liber Cato, sed an inter liberos sit ; inde periculorum gladiorumque ^ contemptus. Libet admirantem invictam constantiam viri inter publicas ruinas non labantis dicere : ** luxuriatque toris animosum pectus/*

72 Proderit non tantum quales esse soleant boni viri dicere formamque eorum et lineamenta deducere, sed quales fuerint narrare et exponere, Catonis illud ultimum ac fortissimum vulnus, per quod libertas emisit ^ animam, Laeli sapientiam et cum suo Scipione concordiam, alterius Catonis domi forisque egregia facta, Tuberonis ligneos lectos, cum in pub- licum sternerent, haedinasque pro stragulis pelles et

^ foventibus later MSS. ; tihi foventibus BA ; sibi foventibus edd.

^ veros later MSS. ; viros BA.

^ omnia cod. Harl. ; omitted by BA.

* gladiorumque later MSS. ; gladiatorumque BA.

' emisit Stephanus ; amisit BA.

" For example, Cato had from the first opposed any assumption of illegal power, — objecting to the consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 5S b.c, and to the conduct of Caesar throughout. His disapproval of both simultaneously is hinted in Plutarch's Cato the Younger^ liv. 4.

102

EPISTLE XGV.

time and, when some were supporting Caesar's party and others that of Pompey, issued a challenge to both leaders,** thus showing that the republic also had some backers. For it is not enough to say of Gato ** without fear at its creakings." Of course he is not afraid ! He does not quail before real and imminent noises ; in the face of ten legions, Gallic auxiliaries, and a motley host of citizens and foreigners, he utters words fraught with freedom, encouraging the Republic not to fail in the struggle for freedom, but to try all hazards ; he declares that it is more honourable to fall into servitude than to fall in Hne with it. What force and energy are his ! What confidence he displays amid the general panic ! He knows that he is the only one whose standing is not in question, and that men do not ask whether Cato is free, but whether he is still among the free. Hence his contempt for danger and the sword. What a pleasure it is to say, in admiration of the unflinching steadiness of a hero who did not totter when the whole state was in ruins :

A breast abounding in courage and muscle !

It will be helpful not only to state what is the usual quality of good men, and to outline their figures and features, but also to relate and set forth what men there have been of this kind. We might picture that last and bravest wound of Cato's, through which Freedom breathed her last ; or the wise Laelius and his harmonious life with his friend Scipio ; or the noble deeds of the Elder Cato at home and abroad ; or the wooden couches of Tubero, spread at a public feast, goatskins instead of tapestry, and vessels of earthernware set out for

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ante ipsius lovis cellam adposita conviviis vasa fictilia Quid aliud paupertatem in Capitolio consecrare ? Ut nullum aliud factum eius habeam, quo ilium Catonibus inseram, hoc parum credimus ? Censura 73 fuit ilia, non cena. O quam ignorant homines cupidi gloriae, quid ilia sit aut quemadmodum petenda ! Illo die populus Romanus multorum supellectilem spectavit, unius miratus est. Omnium illorum aurum argentumque fractum est et milliens ^ conflatum, at omnibus saecuUs Tuberonis fictilia durabunt. Vale.

XCVI.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Tamen tu indignaris aliquid aut quereris et non intellegis nihil esse in istis mali nisi hoc unum, quod indignaris et quereris ? Si me interrogas, nihil puto viro miserum nisi aliquid esse in rerum natura, quod putet miserum. Non feram me, quo die aliquid ferre non potero.

Male valeo ; pars fati est. Familia decubuit, faenus ofFendit, domus crepuit, damna, vulnera, labor es, metus incucurrerunt ; solet fieri. Hoc parum

2 est ; debuit fieri. Decernuntur ista, non accidunt. Si quid credis mihi, intimos adfectus meos tibi cum maxime detego ; in omnibus, quae adversa videntur et dura, sic formatus sum : non pareo deo, sed

* et milliens later MSB. ; et in milliens BA.

<* The Latin term can hardly be reproduced, though ** he did not regale but regulate '' comes near it. Tubero's act was that of a true censor morum.

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the banquet before the very shrine of Jupiter! What else was this except consecrating poverty on the Capitol ? Though I know no other deed of his for which to rank him with the Catos, is this one not enough ? It was a censorship, not a banquet.^ How lamentably do those who covet glory fail to under- stand what glory is, or in what way it should be sought ! On that day the Roman populace viewed the furniture of many men ; it marvelled only at that of one ! The gold and silver of all the others has been broken up and melted down times without number ; but Tuberous earthenware will endure throughout eternity. Farewell.

XGVI. ON FACING HARDSHIPS

Spite of all do you still chafe and complain, not understanding that, in all the evils to which you refer, there is really only one — the fact that you do chafe and complain ? If you ask me, I think that for a man there is no misery unless there be some- thing in the universe which he thinks miserable. I shall not endure myself on that day when I find anything unendurable.

I am ill ; but that is a part of my lot. My slaves have fallen sick, my income has gone off, my house is rickety, I have been assailed by losses, accidents, toil, and fear ; this is a common thing. Nay, that was an understatement ; it was an inevitable thing. Such affairs come by order, and not by accident. If you will believe me, it is my inmost emotions that I am just now disclosing to you : when everything seems to go hard and uphill, I have trained myself not merely to obey God, but to agree with His

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adsentior. Ex animo ilium, non quia necesse est, gequor. Nihil umquam mihi incidet, quod tristis excipiam, quod malo vultu. Nullum tributum invitus confer am. Omnia autem, ad quae gemimus, quae expaveseimus, tributa vitae sunt ; horum, mi Lucili, nee speraveris immunitatem nee petieris. S Vesicae ^ te dolor inquietavit, epistulae venerunt ^ parum dulces, detrimenta continua, propius ^ acce- dam, de capite timuisti. Quid, tu nesciebas haec te optare, cum optares senectutem ? Omnia ista in longa vita sunt, quomodo in longa via et pulvis et

4 lutum et pluvia. ** Sed volebam vivere, car ere tamen incommodis omnibus." Tam efFeminata vox virum dedecet. Videris, quemadmodum hoc votum meum excipias ; ego illud magno animo, non tantum bono facio : neque di neque deae faciant, ut te fortuna

5 in deliciis habeat. Ipse te interroga, si quis potes- tatem tibi deus faciat, utrum velis vivere in macello an in castris.

Atqui vivere, Lucili, militare est. Itaque hi, qui iactantur et per operosa atque ardua sursum ac deorsum eunt et expeditiones periculosissimas obeunt, fortes viri sunt primoresque castrorum ; isti, quos putida * quies aliis laborantibus molliter habet, turturillae sunt, tuti contumeliae causa. Vale.

^ vesicae later MSS. ; vesica BA.

2 venerunt von Ian ; vero erunt BA.

^ propius later MSS. ; propitius BA.

* putida later MSS. ; putica BA.

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EPISTLE XCVI.

decisions. I follow Him because my soul wills it, and not because I must.^ Nothing will ever happen to me that I shall receive with ill humour or with a wry face. I shall pay up all my taxes willingly. Now all the things which cause us to groan or recoil, are part of the tax of life — things, my dear Lucilius, which you should never hope and never seek to escape.

It was disease of the bladder that made you appre- hensive ; downcast letters came from you ; you were continually getting worse ; I will touch the truth more closely, and say that you feared for your life. But come, did you not know, when you prayed for long life, that this was what you were praying for ? A long life includes all these troubles, just as a long journey includes dust and mud and rain. ** But,'* you cry, ** I wished to live, and at the same time to be immune from all ills.*' Such a womanish cry does no credit to a man. Consider in what attitude you shall receive this prayer of mine (I offer it not only in a good, but in a noble spirit) : ** May gods and goddesses alike forbid that Fortune keep you in luxury ! " Ask yourself voluntarily which you would choose if some god gave you the choice — Ufe in a caf^ or life in a camp.

And yet life, Lucilius, is really a battle. For this reason those who are tossed about at sea, who proceed uphill and downhill over toilsome crags and heights, who go on campaigns that bring the greatest danger, are heroes and front-rank fighters ; but persons who live in rotten luxury and ease while others toil, are mere turtle-doves — safe only because men despise them. Farewell.

** C/. the words ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt of Ep. cvii. 11,

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XCVII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Erras, mi Lucili, si existimas nostri saeculi esse vitium luxuriam et neglegentiam boni moris et alia, quae obiecit suis quisque temporibus ; hominum sunt ista, non temporum. Nulla aetas vacavit a culpa. Et si aestimare licentiam cuiusque saeculi incipias, pudet dicer e, numquam apertius quam coram Catone

2 peccatum est. Credat aliquis pecuniam esse ver- satam in eo iudicio, in quo reus erat P.^ Clodius ob id adulterium, quod cum Caesaris uxore in operto ^ commiserat violatis religionibus eius sacrificii, quod pro populo fieri dicitur sic summotis extra consaep- tum omnibus viris, ut picturae quoque masculorum animalium contegantur ? Atqui dati iudicibus num- mi sunt et, quod hac etiamnunc pactione turpius est, stupra insuper matronarum et adulescentulorum

3 nobilium stilari loco exacta sunt. Minus crimine quam absolutione peccatum est : adulterii reus adul- teria di visit nee ante fuit de salute securus, quam similes sui indices suos reddidit. Haec in eo iudicio facta sunt, in quo, si nihil aliud, Cato testimonium dixerat.

Ipsa ponam verba Ciceronis, quia res fidem excedit?

1 P. ed. Mentel. ; ^. BA. * operto later MSS. ; aperto BA.

" For the best account of this scandal see Plutarch, Caesar, ix. f.

* From stilla, " a drop.*' The phrase is equivalent to our proverbial " last straw."

* Epp. ad Atticum, i. 16.

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EPISTLE XGVII.

XCVII. ON THE DEGENERACY OF THE AGE

You are mistaken, my dear Lucilius, if you think that luxury, neglect of good manners, and other vices of which each man accuses the age in which he lives, are especially characteristic of our own epoch ; no, they are the vices of mankind and not of the times. No era in history has ever been free from blame. Moreover, if you once begin to take account of the irregularities belonging to any particular era, you will find — to man's shame be it spoken — that sin never stalked abroad more openly than in Cato*s very presence. Would anyone believe that money changed hands in the trial when Glodius was defendant on the charge of secret adultery with Caesar's wife, when he violated ® the ritual of that sacrifice which is said to be offered on behalf of the people when all males are so rigorously removed outside the precinct, that even pictures of all male creatures are covered up ? And yet, money was given to the jury, and, baser even than such a bargain, sexual crimes were demanded of married women and noble youths as a sort of ad- ditional contribution.^ The charge involved less sin than the acquittal ; for the defendant on a charge of adultery parcelled out the adulteries, and was not sure of his own safety until he had made the jury criminals like himself. All this was done at the trial in which Cato gave evidence, although that was his sole part therein.

I shall quote Cicero's actual words ,^ because the facts are so bad as to pass beUef : ** He made

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4 ** Accersivit ad se, promisit, intercessit, dedit. lam vero — o di boni,^ rem perditam ! — etiam noctes cer- tarum mulierum atque adulescentulorum nobilium introductiones nonnullis iudicibus pro mercedis cu-

5 mulo fuerunt." Non vacat de pretio queri, plus in accessionibus fuit. ** Vis severi illius uxorem ? Dabo illam. Vis divitis huius ? Tibi praestabo concubi- tum. Adulterium nisi feceris, damna. Ilia formonsa, quam desideras, veniet. Illius tibi noctem promitto nee differo ; intra comperendinationem fides promissi mei stabit.2 " Plus est distribuere adult eria quam facere ; hoc vero matribus familiae denuntiare est.

6 Hi iudices Clodiani a senatu petierant praesidium, quod non erat nisi damnaturis necessarium, et in- petraverant. Itaque eleganter illis Catulus absolute reo, ** quid vos/' inquit, *' praesidium a nobis pete- batis ? An ne nummi vobis eriperentur ? " Inter hos tamen iocos inpune tulit ante iudicium adulter, in iudicio leno, qui damnationem peius efFugit quam meruit.

7 Quicquam fuisse corruptius illis ^ moribus credis, quibus libido non sacris inhiberi, non iudiciis poterat, quibus in ea ipsa quaestione, quae extra ordinem senatusconsulto exercebatur, plus quam quaerebatur, admissum est ? Quaerebatur, an post adulterium aliquis posset tutus esse ; apparuit sine adulterio

•• di boni Cicero, Ad Att. i. 16. 5; di omitted by BA, 2 mei stabit ed. Yen. ; me extabit BA. » illis later MSS. ; illius BA.

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EPISTLE XCVII.

assignations, promises, pleas, and gifts. And more than this (merciful Heavens, what an abandoned state of affairs !) upon several of the jury, to round out their reward, he even bestowed the enjoyment of certain women and meetings with noble youths." It is superfluous to be shocked at the bribe ; the additions to the bribe were worse. ** Will you have the wife of that prig, A. ? Very good. Or of B., the millionaire ? I will guarantee that you shall he with her. If you fail to commit adultery, condemn Clodius. That beauty whom you desire shall visit you. I assure you a night in that woman's company without delay ; my promise shall be carried out faithfully within the legal time of postponement." It means more to parcel out such crimes than to commit them ; it means blackmailing dignified matrons. These jurymen in the Clodius trial had asked the Senate for a guard — a favour which would have been necessary only for a jury about to convict the accused ; and their request had been granted. Hence the witty remark of Catulus after the defend- ant had been acquitted : ** Why did you ask us for the guard ? Were you afraid of having your money stolen from you ? " And yet, amid jests like these, he got off unpunished who before the trial was an adulterer, during the trial a pander, and who escaped conviction more vilely than he deserved it.

Do you believe that anything could be more disgraceful than such moral standards — when lust could not keep its hands either from rehgious worship or from the courts of law, when, in the very inquiry which was held in special session by order of the Senate, more crime was committed than investi- gated ? The question at issue was whether one could be safe after committing adultery ; it was

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8 tutum esse non posse. Hoc inter Pompeium et Caesarem, inter Ciceronem Catonemque commissum est, Catonem inquam ilium, quo sedente populus negatur permisisse sibi postulare Florales iocos nudandarum meretricum, si credis spectasse tunc severius homines quam iudicasse. Et fient et facta sunt ista, et licentia urbium aliquando disciplina metuque, numquam sponte considet.

9 Non est itaque quod credas nos ^ plurimum libidini permisisse, legibus minimum. Longe enim frugalior haec inventus est quam ilia, cum reus adulterium apud indices negaret, indices apud reum ^ confiterentur, cum stuprum committeretur rei iudicandae causa, cum Clodius isdem vitiis gratiosus, quibus nocens, conciliaturas exerceret in ipsa causae dictione. Credat hoc quisquam ? Qui damnabatur uni adul-

10 terio, absolutus est multis. Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones feret. Ad deteriora faciles sumus, quia nee dux potest nee comes deesse, et res ipsa etiam sine duce, sine comite procedit. Non pronum est ^ tantum ad vitia, sed praeceps, et quod plerosque inemendabiles facit, omnium aliarum artium peccata artificibus pudori sunt offenduntque deerrantem,

11 vitae peccata delectant. Non gaudet navigio guber-

^ nos Haase ; non BA.

* reum Pincianus ; eum BA.

* non pronum est Lipsius ; non prae nuntius BA.

<* A plebeian festival, held April 28, in honour of Flora, an Italian divinity connected with Ceres and Venus. For the story of Cato (SB B.C.) see Valer. Max. ii. 10. 8.

112

EPISTLE XGVIL

shown that one could not be safe without committing adultery ! All this bargaining took place in the presence of Pompey and Caesar, of Cicero and Cato, — yes, that very Cato whose presence, it is said, caused the people to refrain from demanding the usual quips and cranks of naked actresses at the Floralia,^ — if you can believe that men were stricter in their conduct at a festival than in a court-room ! Such things will be done in the future, as they have been done in the past ; and the licentiousness of cities will sometimes abate through discipline and fear, never of itself.

Therefore, you need not believe that it is we who have yielded most to lust and least to law. For the young men of to-day hve far more simple lives than those of an epoch when a defendant would plead not guilty to an adultery charge before his judges, and his judges admit it before the defendant, when debauchery was practised to secure a verdict, and when Clodius, befriended by the very vices of which he was guilty, played the procurer during the actual hearing of the case. Could one believe this ? He to whom one adultery brought condemnation was acquitted because of many. All ages will produce men like Clodius, but not all ages men like Cato. We degenerate easily, because we lack neither guides nor associates in our wickedness, and the wickedness goes on of itself, even without guides or associates. The road to vice is not only downhill, but steep ; and many men are rendered incorrigible by the fact that, while in all other crafts errors bring shame to good craftsmen and cause vexation to those who go astray, the errors of life are a positive source of pleasure. The pilot is not glad when his ship is thrown on her beam-ends ; the

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nator everso, non gaudet aegro medicus elato, non gaudet orator, si patroni culpa reus cedidit ; at contra omnibus crimen suum voluptati est. Laetatur ille adulterio, in quod inritatus est ipsa difRcultate. Laetatur ille circumscriptione furtoque, nee ante illi culpa quam culpae fortuna displicuit. Id prava consuetudine evenit.

12 Alioquin ut scias subesse animis etiam in pessima abductis boni sensum nee ignorari turpe, sed neglegi ; omnes peccata dissimulant et, quamvis feliciter cesse- rint, fructu illorum utuntur, ipsa subducunt. At bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici ; ipsas

13 nequitia tenebras timet. Eleganter itaque ab Epi- cure dictum puto : ** potest nocenti contingere, ut lateat, latendi fides non potest/' aut si hoc modo melius hunc explicari posse iudicas sensum : ** ideo non prodest latere peccantibus, quia latendi etiam si felicitatem habent, fiduciam non habent.*' Ita est : tuta scelera esse possunt, secura esse non possunt.

14 Hoc ego repugnare sectae nostrae, si sic expedia- tur, non iudico. Quare ? Quia prima ilia et maxima peccantium est poena peccasse, nee ullum scelus, licet illud fortuna exornet muneribus suis, licet tueatur ac vindicet, inpunitum est, quoniam sceleris

" Epic, Frag. 532 Usener. 114

EPISTLE XGVII.

physician is not glad when he buries his patient ; the orator is not glad when the defendant loses a case through the fault of his advocate ; but on the other hand every man enjoys his own crimes. A. delights in an intrigue — for it was the very difficulty which attracted him thereto. B. delights in forgery and theft, and is only displeased with his sin when his sin has failed to hit the mark. And all this is the result of perverted habits.

Conversely, however, in order that you may know that there is an idea of good conduct present sub- consciously in souls which have been led even into the most depraved ways, and that men are not ignorant of what evil is but indifferent — I say that all men hide their sins, and, even though the issue be successful, enjoy the results while concealing the sins themselves. A good conscience, however, wishes to come forth and be seen of men ; wickedness fears the very shadows. Hence I hold Epicurus 's saying <* to be most apt : ** That the guilty may haply remain hidden is possible, that he should be sure of remaining hidden is not possible," or, if you think that the meaning can be made more clear in this way : *' The reason that it is no advantage to wrong-doers to remain hidden is that even though they have the good fortune they have not the assurance of remaining so.** This is what I mean : crimes can be well guarded ; free from anxiety they cannot be.

This view, I maintain, is not at variance with the principles of our school, if it be so explained. And why ? Because the first and worst penalty for sin is to have committed sin ; and crime, though Fortune deck it out with her favours, though she protect and take it in her charge, can never go unpunished ;

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in scelere supplicium est. Sed nihilominus et hae illam secundae poenae premunt ac secuntur, timere semper et expavescere et securitati diffidere.

Quare ego hoc supplicio nequitiam liberem ? Quare

15 non semper illam in suspenso relinquam ? Illic dissentiamus cum Epicuro, ubi dicit nihil iustum esse natura et crimina vitanda esse, quia vitari metus non posse ; hie consentiamus mala facinora conscientia flagellari et plurimum illi tormentorum esse eo, quod perpetua illam sollicitudo urget ac verberat, quod sponsoribus securitatis suae non potest credere. Hoc enim ipsum argumentum est, Epicure,^ natura nos a scelere abhorrere, quod nulli non etiam inter tuta timor est. Multos fortuna liberat poena,

16 metu neminem. Quare nisi quia infixa nobis eius rei aversatio est, quam natura damnavit ? Ideo numquam fides latendi fit etiam latentibus, quia coarguit illos conscientia et ipsos sibi ostendit. Pro- prium autem est nocentium trepidare. Male de nobis actum erat, quod multa scelera legem et vindicem efFugiunt et scripta supplicia, nisi ilia naturalia et gravia de praesentibus solverent et in locum patientiae timor cederet. Vale.

* est Epicure cod. Velz. ; Epicuri est B ; Epicure A.

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since the punishment of crime hes in the crime itself. But none the less do these second penalties press close upon the heels of the first — constant fear, constant terror, and distrust in one's own security.

Why, then, should I set wickedness free from such a punishment ? Why should I not always leave it trembling in the balance ? Let us disagree with Epicurus on the one point, when he declares that there is no natural justice, and that crime should be avoided because one cannot escape the fear which results therefrom ; let us agree with him on the other — that bad deeds are lashed by the whip of conscience, and that conscience is tortured to the greatest degree because unending anxiety drives and whips it on, and it cannot rely upon the guarantors of its own peace of mind. For this, Epicurus, is the very proof that we are by nature reluctant to commit crime, because even in circumstances of safety there is no one who does not feel fear. Good luck frees many men from punishment, but no man from fear. And why should this be if it were not that we have ingrained in us a loathing for that which Nature has condemned ? Hence even men who hide their sins can never count upon remaining hidden ; for their conscience convicts them and reveals them to them- selves. But it is the property of guilt to be in fear. It had gone ill with us, owing to the many crimes which escape the vengeance of the law and the prescribed punishments, were it not that those grievous offences against nature must pay the pen- alty in ready money, and that in place of suffering the punishment comes fear. Farewell.

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XCVIII. Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Numquam credideris felicem quemquam ex felici- tate suspensum. Fragilibus innititur, qui adventieio laetus est ; exibit gaudium, quod intravit. At illud ex se ortum fidele firmumque est et crescit et ad extremum usque prosequitur ; cetera, quorum ad- miratio est vulgo, in diem bona sunt. '* Quid ergo ? Non Usui ac voluptati esse possunt ? " Quis negat ? Sed ita, si ilia ex nobis pendent, non ex illis nos.

2 Omnia, quae fortuna intuetur, ita fructifera ac iucunda fiunt, si qui habet ilia, se quoque habet nee in rerum suarum potestate est. Errant enim, Lucili, qui aut boni aliquid nobis aut malum indicant tribuere fortunam ; materiam dat bonorum ac ma- lorum et initia rerum apud nos in malum bonumve exiturarum. Valentior enim omni fortuna animus est et in utramque partem ipse res suas ducit beatae- que ac miserae vitae sibi causa est.

S Malus omnia in malum vertit, etiam quae cum specie optimi venerant ; rectus atque integer corrigit prava fortunae et dura atque aspera ferendi scientia mollit, idemque et secunda grate excipit modesteque

" Compare the ^x^ ^iW' ovk ^x^/j-aL of Aristippus, and the (equally Epicurean) mihi res, non me rebus subiungere of Horace, Epp. i. 1. 19.

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EPISTLE XGVIII.

XCVIII. ON THE FICKLENESS OF FORTUNE

You need never believe that anyone who depends upon happiness is happy ! It is a fragile support — this delight in adventitious things ; the joy which entered from without will some day depart. But that joy which springs wholly from oneself is leal and sound ; it increases and attends us to the last ; while all other things which provoke the admiration of the crowd are but temporary Goods. You may reply : ** What do you mean ? Cannot such things serve both for utility and for delight ? ** Of course. But only if they depend on us, and not we on them. All things that Fortune looks upon become produc- tive and pleasant, only if he who possesses them is in possession also of himself, and is not in the power of that which belongs to him.^ For men make a mis- take, my dear Lucilius, if they hold that anything good, or evil either, is bestowed upon us by Fortune ; it is simply the raw material of Goods and Ills that she gives to us — the sources of things which, in our keep- ing, will develop into good or ill. For the soul is more powerful than any sort of Fortune ; by its own agency it guides its affairs in either direction, and of its own power it can produce a happy life, or a wretched one.

A bad man makes everything bad — even things which had come with the appearance of what is best ; but the upright and honest man corrects the wrongs of Fortune, and softens hardship and bitterness because he knows how to endure them ; he likewise accepts prosperity with appreciation and moderation, and stands up against trouble with steadiness and

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et adversa constanter ac fortiter. Qui licet prudens sit, licet exacto faciat cuncta iudicio, licet nihil supra vires suas temptet, non continget illi bonum illud integrum et extra minas positum, nisi certus adversus

4 incerta est. Sive alios observare volueris — liberius enim inter aliena iudicium est, sive te ipsum favore seposito — et senties hoc et confiteberis, nihil ex his optabilibus et caris utile esse, nisi te contra levitatem casus rerumque casum sequentium instruxeris, nisi illud frequenter et sine querella inter singula damna

5 dixeris : ** dis aliter visum est.** Immo mehercules ut carmen fortius ac iustius petam, quo animum tuum magis fulcias, hoc dicito, quotiens aliquid aliter quam cogitabas evenerit : ** di melius.'*

Sic composito nihil accidet. Sic autem conponetur, si, quid humanarum rerum varietas possit, cogitaverit, antequam senserit, si et liberos et coniugem et patrimonium sic habuerit tamquam non utique semper habiturus et tamquam non futurus ob hoc miserior, si habere desierit. Calamitosus est animus

6 futuri anxius et ante miserias miser, qui sollicitus est, ut ea, quibus delectatur, ad extremum usque per- maneant. Nullo enim tempore conquiescet et ex- pectatione venturi praesentia, quibus frui poterat,

" Vergil, Aen. ii. 428. 120

EPISTLE XGVIII.

courage. Though a man be prudent, though he conduct all his interests with well-balanced judg- ment, though he attempt nothing beyond his strength, he will not attain the Good which is unalloyed and beyond the reach of threats, unless he is sure in dealing with that which is unsure. For whether you prefer to observe other men (and it is easier to make up one's mind when judging the affairs of others), or whether you observe yourself, with all prejudice laid aside, you will perceive and acknowledge that there is no utility in all these desirable and beloved things, unless you equip yourself in opposition to the fickleness of chance and its consequences, and unless you repeat to yourself often and uncomplain- ingly, at every mishap, the words : ** Heaven decreed it otherwise ! '' * Nay rather, to adopt a phrase which is braver and nearer the truth — one on which you may more safely prop your spirit — say to yourself, whenever things turn out contrary to your expectation : ** Heaven decreed better \''

If you are thus poised, nothing will affect you ; and a man will be thus poised if he reflects on the possible ups and downs in human affairs before he feels their force, and if he comes to regard children, or wife, or property, with the idea that he will not necessarily possess them always and that he will not be any more wretched just because he ceases to possess them. It is tragic for the soul to be appre- hensive of the future and wretched in anticipation of wretchedness, consumed with an anxious desire that the objects which give pleasure may remain in its possession to the very end. For such a soul will never be at rest ; in waiting for the future it will lose the present blessings which it might enjoy. And

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amittet. In aequo est autem amissae rei miseratio * et timor amittendae.

7 Nee ideo praecipio tibi neglegentiam. Tu vero metuenda deelina. Quidquid consilio prospici potest, prospice. Quodcumque laesurum est, multo ante quam accidat, speculare et averte. In hoc ipsum tibi plurimum conferet fiducia et ad tolerandum omne obfirmata mens. Potest fortunam cavere, qui potest ferre. Certe in tranquillo non tumultuatur. Nihil est nee miserius nee stultius quam praetimere. Quae ista dementia est malum suum antecedere ?

8 Denique ut breviter includam quod sentio, et istos satagios ac sibi molestos deseribam tibi, tam intem- perantes in ipsis miseriis quam sunt ante illas. Plus dolet quam necesse est, qui ante dolet quam necesse est ; eadem enim infirmitate dolorem non aestimat, qua non exspectat ; eadem intemperantia fingit sibi perpetuam felieitatem suam, fingit crescere debere quaecumque contigerunt, non tantum durare ; et obhtus huius petauri, quo humana iactantur, sibi uni fortuitorum constantiam spondet.

9 Egregie itaque videtur mihi Metrodorus dixisse in ea epistula, qua sororem amisso optimae indolis fiUo adloquitur : ** mortale est omne mortalium bonum." De his loquitur bonis, ad quae coneurritur. Nam illud verum bonum non moritur, certum est sempiter- numque, sapientia et virtus ; hoc unum contingit

1 miseratio added by Buecheler.

" i.e., a sort of platform for mountebanks or acrobats, — figuratively applied to life's Vanity Fair. * Frag. 35 Korte.

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there is no difference between grief for something lost and the fear of losing it.

But I do not for this reason advise you to be in- different. Rather do you turn aside from you what- ever may cause fear. Be sure to foresee whatever can be foreseen by planning. Observe and avoid, long before it happens, anything that is likely to do you harm. To effect this your best assistance will be a spirit of confidence and a mind strongly resolved to endure all things. He who can bear Fortune, can also beware of Fortune. At any rate, there is no dashing of billows when the sea is calm. And there is nothing more wretched or foolish than premature fear. What madness it is to anticipate one's troubles ! In fine, to express my thoughts in brief compass and portray to you those busybodies and self-tormentors — they are as uncontrolled in the midst of their troubles as they are before them. He suffers more than is necessary, who suffers before it is necessary ; such men do not weigh the amount of their suffering, by reason of the same failing which prevents them from being ready for it ; and with the same lack of restraint they fondly imagine that their luck will last for ever, and fondly imagine that their gains are bound to increase as well as merely continue. They forget this spring-board ^ on which mortal things are tossed, and they guarantee for themselves exclusively a steady continuance of the gifts of chance.

For this very reason I regard as excellent the saying ^ of Metrodorus, in a letter of consolation to his sister on the loss of her son, a lad of great promise : ** All the Good of mortals is mortal." He is referring to those Goods towards which men rush in shoals. For the real Good does not perish ; it is certain and lasting, and it consists of wisdom and virtue ; it is

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10 inmortale mortalibus. Ceterum tarn inprobi sunt tamque obliti, quo eant, quo illos singuli dies turbent, ut mirentur aliquid ipsos amittere amissuri uno die omnia. Quicquid est, dominus inscriberis, apud te est, tuum non est ; nihil firmum infirmo, nihil fragili aeternum et invictum est. Tarn necesse est perire quam perdere, et hoc ipsum, si intellegimus, solacium est. Aequo animo perde, pereundum ^ est.

11 Quid ergo adversus has amissiones auxili inveni- mus ? Hoe, ut memoria teneamus amissa nee cum ipsis fructum excidere patiamur, quem ex illis per- cepimus. Habere eripitur, habuisse numquam. Per- ingratus est, qui cum amisit, pro accepto nihil debet. Rem nobis eripit casus, usum ^ fructumque apud nos relinquit, quem nos iniquitate desiderii perdidimus.

12 Die tibi : " Ex istis, quae terribilia videntur, nihil est invictum. Singula vicere iam multi : ignem Mucius, crucem Regulus, venenum Socrates, exilium Rutilius, mortem ferro adactam Cato; et nosvincamus aliquid.**

13 Rursus ista, quae ut ^ speciosa et felicia trahunt

vulgum, a multis et saepe contempta sunt. Fabricius

divitias imperator reiecit, censor notavit. Tubero

1 perde^ pereundum Madvi^ ; perdere pereundum BA.

2 usum later MSS. ; usus BA.

' ista quae ut later MSS. ; ita quae vis BA.

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the only immortal thing that falls to mortal lot. But men are so wayward, and so forgetful of their goal and of the point toward which every day jostles them, that they are surprised at losing anything, although some day they are bound to lose every- thing. Anything of which you are entitled the owner is in your possession but is not your own; for there is no strength in that which is weak, nor anything lasting and invincible in that which is frail. We must lose our Uves as surely as we lose our property, and this, if we understand the truth, is itself a consolation. Lose it with equanimity; for you must lose your Hfe also.

What resource do we find, then, in the face of these losses ? Simply this — to keep in memory the things we have lost, and not to suffer the enjoyment which we have derived from them to pass away along with them. To have may be taken from us, to have had, never. A man is thankless in the highest degree if, after losing something, he feels no obliga- tion for having received it. Chance robs us of the thing, but leaves us its use and its enjoyment — and we have lost this if we are so unfair as to regret. Just say to yourself : "Of all these experiences that seem so frightful, none is insuperable. Separate trials have been overcome by many : fire by Mucins, crucifixion by Regulus, poison by Socrates, exile by RutiUus, and a sword-inflicted death by Cato ; therefore, let us also overcome something." Again, those objects which attract the crowd under the appearance of beauty and happiness, have been scorned by many men and on many occasions. Fabricius when he was general refused riches ,* and when he was censor branded them with disapproval.

• t.«., when he declined the bribe of Pyrrhus, 280 b.c.

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paupertatem et se dignam et Capitolio iudicavit, cum fictilibus in publica cena usiis ostendit debere iis hominem esse contentum, quibus di etiamnunc uterentur. Honores reppulit pater Sextius, qui ita natus, ut rem publicam deberet capessere, latum clavum divo lulio dante non recepit. Intellegebat enim quod dari posset, et eripi posse.

Nos quoque aliquid et ipsi faciamus animose ; simus

14 inter exempla. Quare defeeimus ? Quare de- speramus ? Quicquid fieri potuit, potest, nos modo purgemus animum sequamurque naturam, a qua aberranti cupiendum timendumque est et fortuitis serviendum. Licet reverti in viam, licet in integrum restitui ; restituamur, ut possimus dolor es, quocum- que modo corpus invaserint, perferre et fortunae dicer e : " cum viro tibi negotium est ; quaere, quem vincas.*'

15 His sermonibus ^ et his similibus lenitur ilia vis ulceris, quam opto mehercules mitigari et aut sanari aut stare et cum ipso senescere. Sed securus de illo sum ; de nostro damno agitur, quibus senex egregius eripitur. Nam ipse vitae plenus est, cui adici nihil desiderat sua causa, sed eorum, quibus utilis est.

16 Liberaliter facit, quod vivit. Alius iam hos ^ cruciatus

^ The testimony of an ancient grammarian, and the change of subject in the text, may, as Hense states, indicate that a considerable passage is lost and that another letter begins here. Cf the senex egregius of § 15.

2 hos later MSS. ; }iis BA.

<» Cf, Ep. xcv. 72 f. omnibus saeculis Tuberonis fictilia durabunt.

* Cf. Ep. lix. 7 and note b (vol. L),

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Tubero deemed poverty worthy both of himself and of the deity on the Capitol when, by the use of earthenware dishes at a public festival, he showed that man should be satisfied with that which the gods could still use.^ The elder Sextius rejected the honours of office ; * he was born with an obliga- tion to take part in public affairs, and yet would not accept the broad stripe even when the deified Julius offered it to him. For he understood that what can be given can also be taken away.

Let us also, therefore, carry out some courageous act of our own accord ; let us be included among the ideal types of history. Why have we been slack ? Why do we lose heart ? That which could be done, can be done, if only we purify our souls and follow Nature ; for when one strays away from Nature one is compelled to crave, and fear, and be a slave to the things of chance. We may return to the true path ; we may be restored to our proper state ; let us therefore be so, in order that we may be able to endure pain, in whatever form it attacks our bodies, and say to Fortune : ** You have to deal with a man ; seek someone whom you can conquer ! '*

By these words, and words of a like kind, the malignity of the ulcer is quieted down ; and I hope indeed that it can be reduced, and either cured or brought to a stop, and grow old along with the patient himself. I am, however, comfortable in my mind regarding him ; what we are now discussing is our own loss — the taking-off of a most excellent old man. For he himself has lived a full life, and any- thing additional may be craved by him, not for his own sake, but for the sake of those who need his services. In continuing to live, he deals generously. Some other person might have put an end to these

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finisset ^ ; hie tarn turpe putat mortem fugere quam ad mortem eonfugere. ** Quid ergo? Non, sisuade- bit res, exibit ? " Quidni exeat, si nemo iam uti eo poterit ? Si nihil aUud quam dolori operam dabit ?

17 Hoc est, mi LuciU, philosophiam in opere discere et ad verum exerceri : videre, quid homo prudens animi habeat contra mortem, contra dolorem, cum ilia accedat, hie premat. Quid faciendum sit, a faciente discendum est. Adhuc argumentis actum est, an posset aliqui dolori resistere, an mors magnos

18 quoque animos admota summittere. Quid opus est verbis ? In rem praesentem eamus : nee mors ilium contra dolorem facit fortiorem nee dolor contra mortem. Contra utrumque sibi fidit nee spe mortis patienter dolet nee taedio doloris libenter moritur ; hunc fert, illam expectat. Vale.

XCIX.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

Epistulam, quam scripsi MaruUo, cum filium par- vulum amisisset et dicer etur molliter ferre, misi tibi, in qua non sum solitum morem secutus nee putavi leniter ilium debere tractari, cum obiurgatione esset quam solacio dignior. Adflicto enim et magnum vulnus male ferenti paulisper cedendum est ; exsatiet ^ finisset later MSS. ; finis est BA.

^ Possibly Junius Marullus, consul designatus in a.d. 62 (Tac. Ann, xiv. 48).

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sufferings ; but our friend considers it no less base to flee from death than to flee towards death. ** But," comes the answer, ** if circumstances warrant, shall he not take his departure ? *' Of course, if he can no longer be of service to anyone, if all his business will be to deal with pain. This, my dear Lucilius, is what we mean by studying philosophy while apply- ing it, by practising it on truth — to note what courage a prudent man possesses against death, or against pain, when the one approaches and the other weighs heavily. What ought to be done must be learned from one who does it. Up to now we have dealt with arguments — whether any man can resist pain, or whether the approach of death can cast down even great souls. Why discuss it further ? Here is an immediate fact for us to tackle — death does not make our friend braver to face pain, nor pain to face death. Rather does he trust himself in the face of both ; he does not suffer with resignation because he hopes for death, nor does he die gladly because he is tired of suffering. Pain he endures, death he awaits. Farewell.

XCIX. ON CONSOLATION TO THE BEREAVED

I enclose a copy of the letter which I wrote to MaruUus ^ at the time when he had lost his little son and was reported to be rather womanish in his grief — a letter in which I have not observed the usual form of condolence : for I did not believe that he should be handled gently, since in my opinion he deserved criticism rather than consolation. When a man is stricken and is finding it most difficult to endure a grievous wound, one must humour him for a while ;

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se aut certe primum impetum effundat ; hi, qui sibi lugere sumpserunt, protinus castigentur et discant quasdam etiam lacrimarum ineptias esse.

2 ** Solacia expectas ? Convicia accipe. Mollitertu fers mortem filii ; quid faceres, si amicum perdidisses ? Decessit filius incertae spei, parvulus ; pusillum tem-

3 poris periit. Causas doloris conquirimus et de for- tuna etiam inique queri volumus, quasi non sit iustas querendi causas praebitura. At mehercules satis mihi iam videbaris animi habere etiam adversus solida mala, nedum ad istas umbras malorum, quibus ingemescunt homines moris causa. Quod damnorum omnium maximum est, si amicum perdidisses, danda opera erat, ut magis gauderes, quod habueras, quam maereres, quod amiseras.

4 " Sed plerique non computant, quanta perceperint, quantum gavisi sint. Hoc habet inter reliqua mah dolor iste : non supervacuus tantum, sed ingratus est. Ergo quod habuisti talem amicum, periit opera? Tot annis, tanta coniunctione vitae, tam familiari studiorum societate nil actum est ? Cum amico efFers amicitiam ? Et quid doles amisisse, si habuisse non prodest ? Mihi crede, magna pars ex iis, quos amavimus, licet ipsos casus abstulerit,apud nos manet. Nostrum est, quod praeteriit, tempus nee quicquam

5 est loco tutiore quam quod fuit. Ingrati adversus

* As Lipsius pointed out, the remainder of Seneca's letter consists of the quoted epistle to Marullus.

* The Roman view differs from the modern view, just as this Ivetter is rather more severe than Ep, Ixiii. (on the death of Lucilius's friend Fiaccus).

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let him satisfy his grief or at any rate work off the first shock ; but those who have assumed an in- dulgence in grief should be rebuked forthwith, and should learn that there are certain follies even in tears.

<» ** Is it solace that you look for ? Let me give you a scolding instead ! You are like a woman in the way you take your son's death ; what would you do if you had lost an intimate friend ? A son, a little child of unknown promise, is dead ; a fragment of time has been lost. We hunt out excuses for grief ; we would even utter unfair complaints about Fortune, as if Fortune would never give us just reason for complaining ! But I had really thought that you possessed spirit enough to deal with concrete troubles, to say nothing of the shadowy troubles over which men make moan through force of habit. Had you lost a friend (which is the greatest blow of all),^ you would have had to endeavour rather to rejoice because you had possessed him than to mourn because you had lost him.

** But many men fail to count up how manifold their gains have been, how great their rejoicings. Grief like yours has this among other evils : it is not only useless, but thankless. Has it then all been for nothing that you have had such a friend ? During so many years, amid such close associations, after such intimate communion of personal interests, has nothing been accomplished ? Do you bury friend- ship along with a friend ? And why lament having lost him, if it be of no avail to have possessed him ? Believe me, a great part of those we have loved, though chance has removed their persons, still abides with us. The past is ours, and there is nothing more secure for us than that which has been. We are

VOL. Ill E 2 131

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percepta spe futuri sumus, quasi non quod futurum est, si modo successerit nobis, cito in praeterita transiturum sit. Anguste fructus rerum determinat, qui tantum praesentibus laetus est ; et futura et praeterita deleetant, haec exspeetatione, ilia me- moria, sed alterum pendet et non fieri potest, alterum non potest non fuisse.

" Quis ergo furor est certissimo excidere ? Ad- quiescamus iis, quae iam hausimus, si modo non per- forato animo hauriebamus et transmittente quicquid

6 acceperat. Innumerabilia sunt exempla eorum, qui liberos iuvenes sine laerimis extulerint, qui in sena- tum aut in aliquod publicum officium a rogo redierint et statim aliud egerint. Nee inmerito ; nam primum supervacuum est dolere, si nihil dolendo proficias. Deinde iniquum est queri de eo, quod uni accidit, omnibus restat. Deinde desiderii stulta conquestio est, ubi minimum interest inter amissum et desideran- tem. Eo itaque aequiore animo esse debemus, quod quos amisimus, sequimur.

7 " Respiee celeritatem rapidissimi temporis, cogita brevitatem huius spatii, per quod eitatissimi currimus, observa hunc comitatum generis humani eodem tendentis minimis intervallis distinetum, etiam ubi maxima videntur ; quem putas perisse, praemissus est. Quid autem dementius quam, cum idem tibi

° Almost identical language with the closing words of Ep. kill. : quem putamus perisse, praemissus est,

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EPISTLE XGIX.

ungrateful for past gains, because we hope for the future, as if the future — if so be that any future is ours — will not be quickly blended with the past. People set a narrow limit to their enjoyments if they take pleasure only in the present ; both the future and the past serve for our delight — the one with anticipation, and the other with memories — but the one is contingent and may not come to pass, while the other must have been.

** What madness it is, therefore, to lose our grip on that which is the surest thing of all ? Let us rest content with the pleasures we have quaffed in past days, if only, while we quaffed them, the soul was not pierced like a sieve, only to lose again whatever it had received. There are countless cases of men who have without tears buried sons in the prime of manhood — men who have returned from the funeral pyre to the Senate chamber, or to any other official duties, and have straightway busied themselves with something else. And rightly ; for in the first place it is idle to grieve if you get no help from grief. In the second place, it is unfair to complain about what has happened to one man but is in store for all. Again, it is foolish to lament one's loss, when there is such a slight interval between the lost and the loser. Hence we should be more resigned in spirit, because we follow closely those whom we have lost.

** Note the rapidity of Time — that swiftest of things ; consider the shortness of the course along which we hasten at top speed ; mark this throng of humanity, all straining toward the same point with briefest intervals between them — even when they seem longest ; he whom you count as passed away has simply posted on ahead .^ And what is more irrational than to bewail your predecessor, when

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iter emetiendum sit, flere eum, qui antecessit ? Flet aliquis factum, quod non ignoravit futurum ? Aut

8 si mortem in homine non cogitavit, sibi inposuit. Flet aliquis factum, quod aiebat non posse non fieri ? Quisquis aliquem queritur mortuum esse, queritur ^ hominem fuisse. Omnis eadem condicio devinxit : cui

9 nasci contigit, mori restat. Intervallis distinguimur, exitu aequamur. Hoc quod inter primum diem et ultimum iacet, varium incertumque est : si molestias aestimes, etiam puero longum, si velocitatem, etiam seni angustum. Nihil non lubricum et fallax et omni tempestate mobilius.^ lactantur cuncta et in contrarium transeunt iubente fortuna, et in tanta volutatione rerum humanarum nihil cuiquam nisi mors certum est. Tamen de eo queruntur omnes, in quo uno nemo decipitur. * Sed puer decessit/ Nondum dico melius agi cum eo, qui cito ^ vita defungitur ; ad eum transeamus, qui consenuit.

10 Quantulo vincit infantem ! Propone temporis pro- fundi vastitatem et universum complect ere, deinde hoc, quod aetatem vocamus humanam, conpara im- menso ; videbis, quam exiguum sit, quod optamus, quod extendimus. Ex hoc quantum lacrimae, quan-

11 tum sollicitudines occupant ! Quantum mors, ante- quam veniat, optata, quantum valitudo, quantum timor ! Quantum tenent aut rudes aut inutiles

^ mortuum esse queritur later MSS. ; om. by B and A^.

* mohilius later MSS. ; mobilibus BA.

^ cito added by Gertz.

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you yourself must travel on the same journey ? Does a man bewail an event which he knew would take place ? Or, if he did not think of death as man's lot, he has but cheated himself. Does a man bewail an event which he has been admitting to be unavoidable ? Whoever complains about the death of anyone, is complaining that he was a man. Everyone is bound by the same terms : he who is privileged to be born, is destined to die. Periods of time separate us, but death levels us. The period which lies between our first day and our last is shift- ing and uncertain : if you reckon it by its troubles, it is long even to a lad, if by its speed, it is scanty even to a greybeard. Everything is slippery, treacherous, and more shifting than any weather. All things are tossed about and shift into their opposites at the bidding of Fortune ; amid such a turmoil of mortal affairs nothing but death is surely in store for anyone. And yet all men complain about the one thing wherein none of them is deceived. * But he died in boyhood.* I am not yet prepared to say that he who quickly comes to the end of his Ufe has the better of the bargain ; let us turn to consider the case of him who has grown to old age. How very little is he superior to the child ! * Place before your mind's eye the vast spread of time's abyss, and consider the universe ; and then contrast our so-called human life with infinity : you will then see how scant is that for which we pray, and which we seek to lengthen. How much of this time is taken up with weeping, how much with worry ! How much with prayers for death before death arrives, how much with our health, how much with our fears ! How much is occupied by our years of inexperience « For a similar argument see Ep, xii. 6 f.

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anni ! Dimidium ex hoc edormitur. Adice labores, luctus, pericula, et intelleges etiam in longissima

12 vita minimum esse, quod vivitur. Sed quis tibi con- cedet non melius se habere eum, cui cito reverti licet, cui ante lassitudinem peractum est iter ? Vita nee bonum nee malum est ; boni ac mali locus est. Ita nihil ille perdidit m*si aleam in damnum certiorem. Potuit evadere modestus et prudens, potuit sub cura tua in meliora formari, sed, quod iustius timetur,

13 potuit fieri pluribus similis. Aspice illos iuvenes, quos ex nobilissimis domibus in harenam luxuria proiecit ; aspice illos, qui suam alienamque libidinem exercent mutuo inpudici, quorum nullus sine ebrie- tate, nullus sine aliquo insigni flagitio dies exit ; plus timeri quam sperari potuisse manifestum erit.

"Non debes itaque causas doloris accersere nee

14 levia incommoda indignando cumulare. Non hortor, ut nitaris et surgas ; non tam male de te iudico, ut tibi adversus hoc totam put em virtutem advocandam. Non est dolor iste, sed morsus ; tu ilium dolor em facis.

"Sine dubio multum philosophia profecit,si puerum nutrici adhuc quam patri notiorem animo forti

15 desideras. Quid ? Nunc ego duritiam suadeo et in

* i.^., who have had to turn gladiators. 136

EPISTLE XGIX.

or of useless endeavour ! And half of all this time is wasted in sleeping. Add, besides, our toils, our griefs, our dangers — and you will comprehend that even in the longest life real living is the least portion thereof. Nevertheless, who will make such an admission as : * A man is not better off who is allowed to return home quickly, whose journey is accomplished before he is wearied out * ? Life is neither a Good nor an Evil ; it is simply the place where good and evil exist. Hence this little boy has lost nothing except a hazard where loss was more assured than gain. He might have turned out temperate and prudent ; he might, with your fostering care, have been moulded to a better standard ; but (and this fear is more reasonable) he might have become just Uke the many. Note the youths of the noblest lineage whose extravagance has flung them into the arena ^ ; note those men who cater to the passions of themselves and others in mutual lust, whose days never pass without drunken- ness or some signal act of shame ; it will thus be clear to you that there was more to fear than to hope for.

** For this reason you ought not to invite excuses for grief or aggravate slight burdens by getting indignant. I am not exhorting you to make an effort and rise to great heights ; for my opinion of you is not so low as to make me think that it is necessary for you to summon every bit of your virtue to face this trouble. Yours is not pain ; it is a mere sting — and it is you yourself who are turning it into pain.

** Of a surety philosophy has done you much service if you can bear courageously the loss of a boy who was as yet better known to his nurse than to his father ! And what, then ? Now, at this time, am I

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funere ipso rigere vultum volo et animum ne contrahi quidem patior ? Minime. Inhumanitas est ista, non virtus, funera suorum isdem oculis, quibus ipsos, videre nee commoveri ad primam familiarium divul- sionem. Puta autem me vetare ; quaedam sunt sui iuris. Excidunt etiam retinentibus lacrimae et

16 animum profusae levant. Quid ergo est ? Per- mittamus illis cadere, non imperemus ; fluat, quan- tum adfeetus eiecerit, non quantum poscet imitatio. Nihil vero maerori adiciamus nee ilium ad alienum augeamus exemplum. Plus ostentatio doloris exigit quam dolor : quotus quisque sibi tristis est ! Clarius, cum audiuntur, gemunt et taciti quietique dum secretum est, cum aliquos videre, in fletus novos excitantur. Tunc capiti suo manus ingerunt, quod potuerant facere nullo prohibente liberius, tunc mortem comprecantur sibi, tunc lectulo devolvuntur ;

17 sine spectatore cessat dolor. Sequitur nos ut in aliis rebus, ita in hac quoque hoc vitium, ad plurium exempla componi nee quid oporteat, sed quid soleat, aspicere. A natura discedimus, populo nos damus nullius rei bono auctori et in hac re sicut in aliis ^ omnibus inconstantissimo. Videt aliquem fortem in

* aliis Hermes ; his MSS. 138

EPISTLE XGIX.

advising you to be hard-hearted, desiring you to keep your countenance unmoved at the very funeral ceremony, and not allowing your soul even to feel the pinch of pain ? By no means. That would mean lack of feeling rather than virtue — to behold the burial ceremonies of those near and dear to you with the same expression as you beheld their living forms, and to show no emotion over the first bereavement in your family. But suppose that I forbade you to show emotion ; there are certain feelings which claim their own rights. Tears fall, no matter how we try to check them, and by being shed they ease the soul. What, then, shall we do ? Let us allow them to fall, but let us not command them do so ; let us weep according as emotion floods our eyes, but not as much as mere imitation shall demand. Let us, indeed, add nothing to natural grief, nor augment it by following the example of others. The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself : how few men are sad in their own company ! They lament the louder for being heard ; persons who are reserved and silent when alone are stirred to new paroxysms of tears when they behold others near them ! At such times they lay violent hands upon their own persons, — though they might have done this more easily if no one were present to check them ; at such times they pray for death ; at such times they toss themselves from their couches. But their grief slackens with the departure of onlookers. In this matter, as in others also, we are obsessed by this fault — conforming to the pattern of the many, and regarding convention rather than duty. We abandon nature and surrender to the mob — who are never good advisers in anything, and in this respect as in all others are most inconsistent. People see a man

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luctu suo : impium vocat et efferatum ; videt aliquem conlabentem et corpori adfusum : efFeminatum ait

18 et enervem. Omnia itaque ad rationem revocanda sunt. Stultius vero nihil est quam famam captare tristitiae et lacrimas adprobare, quas iudico sapienti viro alias permissas cadere, alias vi sua latas.

" Dicam quid intersit. Cum primus nos nuntius acerbi funeris pereulit, cum tenemus corpus e com- plexu nostro in ignem transiturum, lacrimas naturalis necessitas exprimit et spiritus ictu doloris inpulsus quemadmodum totum corpus quatit, ita oculos, quibus

19 adiacentem umorem perpremit et expellit. Hae lacrimae per elisionem cadunt nolentibus nobis ; aliae sunt, quibus exitum damus, cum memoria eorum, quos amisimus, retractatur. Et inest quiddam dulce tris- titiae, cum occurrunt sermones eorum iucundi, con- versatio hilaris, officiosa pietas ; tunc oculi velut in gaudio relaxantur. His indulgemus, illis vincimur.

20 " Non est itaque, quod lacrimas propter circulum adstantem^ adsidentemque aut contineas aut ex- primas ; nee cessant nee fluunt umquam tam turpiter quam finguntur ; eant sua sponte. Ire autem pos- sunt placidis atque compositis. Saepe salva sapientis auctoritate fluxerunt tanto temperamento, ut illis nee humanitas nee dignitas deesset. Licet, inquam,

^ circulum adstantem Rossbach ; circum stantem A. 140

EPISTLE XGIX.

who bears his grief bravely : they call him undutiful and savage-hearted ; they see a man who collapses [ and clings to his dead : they call him womanish and weak. Everything, therefore, should be referred to reason. But nothing is more foolish than to court a reputation for sadness and to sanction tears ; for I hold that with a wise man some tears fall by consent, others by their own force.

** I shall explain the difference as follows : When the first news of some bitter loss has shocked us, when we embrace the form that will soon pass from our arms to the funeral flames — then tears are wrung from us by the necessity of Nature, and the life-force, smitten by the stroke of grief, shakes both the whole body, and the eyes also, from which it presses out and causes to flow the moisture that lies within. Tears like these fall by a forcing-out process, against our v/ill ; but different are the tears which we allow to escape when we muse in memory upon those whom we have lost. And there is in them a certain sweet sadness when we remember the sound of a pleasant voice, a genial conversation, and the busy duties of yore ; at such a time the eyes are loosened, as it were, with joy. This sort of weeping we indulge ; the former sort overcomes us.

** There is, then, no reason why, just because a group of persons is standing in your presence or sitting at your side, you should either check or pour forth your tears ; whether restrained or outpoured, they are never so disgraceful as when feigned. Let them flow naturally. But it is possible for tears to flow from the eyes of those who are quiet and at peace. They often flow without impairing the influence of the wise man — with such restraint that they show no want either of feeling or of self-respect.

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21 naturae obsequi gravitate servata. Vidi ego in funere suorum verendos, in quorum ore amor emine- bat remota omni lugentium scaena, nihil erat nisi quod veris dabatur adfectibus. Est aliquis et dolendi decor ; hie sapienti servandus est et quemadmodum in ceteris rebus, ita etiam in lacrimis ahquid sat est ; inprudentium ^ ut gaudia sic dolores exundavere.

22 "Aequo animo excipe necessaria. Quid incredibile, quid novum evenit ? Quam multis cum maxime funus locatur, quam multis vitalia emuntur, quam multi post luctum tuum lugent ! Quotiens cogita- veris puerum fuisse, cogita et hominem, cui nihil certi promittitur, quem fortuna non utique perducit ad

23 senectutem ; unde visum est, dimittit. Ceterum frequenter de illo loquere et memoriam eius, quantum potes, celebra. Quae ad te saepius revertetur, si erit sine acerbitate ^ ventura ; nemo enim libenter tristi conversatur, nedum tristi tiae. Si quos sermones eius, si quos quamvis parvoli iocos cum voluptate ^ audi- eras, saepius repete ; potuisse ilium implere spes tuas, quas paterna mente conceperas, audacter ad-

24 firma. Oblivisci quidem suorum ac memoriam cum

^ imprudentium later MvSS. ; ut prudentium BA.

2 sine acerbitate later MSS. ; inea cervitate BA.

^ voluptate later MSS. ; voluntate BA.

" i.e. 9 a shroud for the funeral couch, lectus vitalis. 142

EPISTLE XGIX.

We may, I assure you, obey Nature and yet maintain our dignity. I have seen men worthy of reverence, during the burial of those near and dear, with countenances upon which love was written clear even after the whole apparatus of mourning was removed, and who showed no other conduct than that which was allowed to genuine emotion. There is a come- liness even in grief. This should be cultivated by the wise man ; even in tears, just as in other matters also, there is a certain sufficiency ; it is with the unwise that sorrows, like joys, gush over.

*' Accept in an unruffled spirit that which is

inevitable. What can happen that is beyond belief?

Or what that is new ? How many men at this very

moment are making arrangements for funerals !

How many are purchasing grave-clothes ^ ! How

many are mourning, when you yourself have finished

mourning ! As often as you reflect that your boy

has ceased to be, reflect also upon man, who has

no sure promise of anything, whom Fortune does

not inevitably escort to the confines of old age, but

lets him go at whatever point she sees fit. You

may, however, speak often concerning the departed,

and cherish his memory to the extent of your power.

This memory will return to you all the more often

if you welcome its coming without bitterness ; for

no man enjoys converse with one who is sorrowful,

much less with sorrow itself. And whatever words,

whatever jests of his, no matter how much of a child

he was, may have given you pleasure to hear —

these I would have you recall again and again ;

assure yourself confidently that he might have

fulfilled the hopes which you, his father, had

entertained. Indeed, to forget the beloved dead,

to bury their memory along with their bodies, to

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corporibus efFerre et efFusissime flere, meminisse^ parcissime, — inhumani animi est. Sic aves, sic ferae suos diligunt, quarum concitatus ^ est amor et paene rabidus, sed cum ^ amissis totus extinguitur. Hoc prudentem virum non decet ; meminisse perseveret,

25 lugere desinat. lUud nullo modo probo, quod * ait Metrodorus : esse aliquam cognatam tristitiae volup- tatem, hanc esse captandam in eiusmodi tempore. Ipsa Metrodori verba subscripsi. MrjTpoSiopov iin- crroAtov irpo^ rrjv dSeAc^T^v.^ ecrrtv yap tls rjSovrj Xviryj

26 crvyyevrj^iy r)v xp) Orjpeveiv Kara rovrov rov Kaipov, De quibus non dubito quid sis sensurus. Quid enim est turpius quam captare in ipso luctu voluptatem, immo per luctum, et inter lacrimas quoque quod iuvet, quaerere ? Hi sunt, qui nobis obiciunt nimium rigorem et infamant praecepta nostra duritiae,^ quod dicamus dolorem aut admittendum in animum non esse aut cito expellendum. Utrum*^ tandem est aut incredibilius aut inhumanius non sentire amisso amico dolorem an voluptatem in ipso dolore aucupari ?

27 Nos quod praecipimus, honestum est ; cum aliquid lacrimarum adfectus efFuderit et, ut ita dicam, despumaverit, non esse tradendum animum dolori. Quid, tu dicis miscendam ipsi dolori voluptatem ?

^ meminisse later MSS. ; memisse BA.

* quarum concitatus later MSS. ; quorum contria con- citatus actus BA.

^ cum later MSS. ; eum BA.

* quod later MSS. ; quid BA.

* Rossbach holds that these five words belong in the margin.

® duritiae Madvig ; duritia BA. ' utrvm later MSS. ; virum BA.

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EPISTLE XCIX.

bewail them bounteously and afterwards think of them but scantily — this is the mark of a soul below that of man. For that is the way in which birds and beasts love their young ; their affection is quickly roused and almost reaches madness, but it cools away entirely when its object dies. This quality does not befit a man of sense ; he should continue to remember, but should cease to mourn. And in no wise do I approve of the remark of Metrodorus — that there is a certain pleasure akin to sadness, and that one should give chase thereto at such times as these. I am quoting the actual words of Metrodorus.^ I have no doubt what your feelings will be in these matters ; for what is baser than to * chase after * pleasure in the very midst of mourning — nay rather by means of mourning — and even amid one*s tears to hunt out that which will give pleasure ? These ^ are the men who accuse us ^ of too great strictness, slandering our precepts because of supposed harshness — because (say they) we declare that grief should either not be given place in the soul at all, or else should be driven out forth- with. But which is the more incredible or inhuman — to feel no grief at the loss of one's friend, or to go a-hawking after pleasure in the midst of grief? That which we Stoics advise, is honourable ; when emotion has prompted a moderate flow of tears, and has, so to speak, ceased to effervesce, the soul should not be surrendered to grief. But what do you mean, Metrodorus, by saying that with our very grief there should be a blending of pleasure ? That is

" This passage, which Buecheler corrected in several places, is omitted in the English, because Seneca has already translated it literally. M. was addressing his sister.

^ i,e.y men like Metrodorus. • i.^., the Stoics.

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Sic consolamur crustulo pueros, sic infantium fletum infuso lacte conpescimus.

** Ne illo quidem tempore, quo filius ardet aut amicus expirat, cessare pateris voluptatem, sed ipsum vis titillare maerorem ? Utrum honestius dolor ab animo summovetur an voluptas ad dolorem quoque admittitur ? ' Admittitur * dico ? Captatur et qui-

28 dem ex ipso. * Est aliqua * inquit * voluptas cognata tristitiae/ Istuc nobis licet dicere, vobis quidem non licet. Unum bonum nostis voluptatem, unum malum dolorem ; quae potest inter bonum et malum esse cognatio ? Sed puta esse ; nunc potissimum eruitur ? Et ipsum dolorem scrutamur, an quid ^

29 habeat iucundum circa se et voluptarium ? Quaedam remedia aliis partibus corporis salutaria velut foeda et indecora adhiberi aliis nequeunt, et quod aliubi prodesset sine damno verecundiae, id fit inhonestum loco vulneris. Non te pudet luctum voluptate sa- nare ? Severius ista plaga curanda est. lUud potius admone, nullum mali sensum ad eum, qui periit,

30 pervenire ; nam si pervenit, non periit. Nulla, inquam, res eum laedit, qui nullus est ; vivit, si laeditur. Utrum putas illi male esse, quod nullus est, an quod est adhuc aliquis ? Atqui nee ex eo

* an quid Buecheler ; aliquid BA ; an aliquid later MSS.

" i.e,^ the Epicureans.

^ i.e., grief should not be replaced by pleasure; otherwise i

grief will cease to exist. |

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EPISTLE XGIX.

the sweetmeat method of pacifying children ; that is the way we still the cries of infants, by pouring milk down their throats !

** Even at the moment when your son's body is on the pyre, or your friend breathing his last, will you not suffer your pleasure to cease, rather than tickle your very grief with pleasure ? Which is the more honourable — to remove grief from your soul, or to admit pleasure even into the company of grief ? Did I say * admit ' ? Nay, I mean * chase after,' and from the hands, too, of grief itself. Metrodorus says : * There is a certain pleasure which is related to sadness/ We Stoics may say that, but you may not. The only Good which you ^ recognize, is pleasure, and the only Evil, pain ; and what relationship can there be between a Good and an Evil ? But suppose that such a relationship does exist ; now, of all times, is it to be rooted out ? * Shall we examine grief also, and see with what elements of delight and pleasure it is surrounded ? Certain remedies, which are beneficial for some parts of the body, cannot be applied to other parts because these are, in a way, revolting and unfit ; and that which in certain cases would work to a good purpose without any loss to one's self-respect, may become unseemly because of the situation of the wound. Are you not, similarly, ashamed to cure sorrow by pleasure ? No, this sore spot must be treated in a more drastic way. This is what you should prefer- ably advise : that no sensation of evil can reach one who is dead ; for if it can reach him, he is not dead. And I say that nothing can hurt him who is as naught ; for if a man can be hurt, he is alive. Do you think him to be badly off because he is no more, or because he still exists as somebody ? And

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

potest ei tormentum esse, quod non est ; quis enim nullius sensus est ? Nee ex eo, quod est ; efFugit enim maximum mortis incommodum, non esse.

31 '* lUud quoque dicamus ei, qui deflet ae desiderat in aetate prima raptum : omnes, quantum ad brevita- tem aevi, si universo conpares, et iuvenes et senes, in aequo sumus. Minus enim ad nos ex aetate omni venit quam quod minimum esse quis dixerit, quoniam quidem minimum aliqua pars est. Hoc quod vivimus, proximum nihilost ; et tamen, o dementiam nostram, late disponitur.

82 " Haec tibi scripsi, non tamquam expectaturus esses remedium tam serum, liquet enim mihi te locutum tecum quicquid lecturus es, sed ut castigarem exi- guam illam moram, qua a te recessisti, et in reliquom adhortarer, contra fortunam tolleres animos et omnia eius tela, non tamquam possent venire, sed tamquam utique essent ventura, prospiceres." Vale.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Fabiani Papiri libros, qui inscribuntur Civilium, legisse te cupidissime scribis, et non respondisse expectationi tuae, deinde oblitus de philosopho agi conpositionem eius accusas.

148

EPISTLES XGIX., 0.

yet no torment can come to him from the fact that he is no more — for what feeling can belong to one who does not exist? — nor from the fact that he exists ; for he has escaped the greatest disadvantage that death has in it — namely, non-existence.

** Let us say this also to him who mourns and misses the untimely dead : that all of us, whether young or old, live, in comparison with eternity, on the same level as regards our shortness of life. For out of all time there comes to us less than what any one could call least, since ' least ' is at any rate some part ; but this life of ours is next to nothing, and yet (fools that we are !), we marshal it in broad array !

" These words I have written to you, not with the idea that you should expect a cure from me at such a late date — for it is clear to me that you have told yourself everything that you will read in my letter — but with the idea that I should rebuke you even for the slight delay during which you lapsed from your true self, and should encourage you for the future, to rouse your spirit against Fortune and to be on the watch for all her missiles, not as if they might possibly come, but as if they were bound to come.*' Farewell.

C. ON THE WRITINGS OF FABIANUS

You write me that you have read with the greatest eagerness the work by Fabianus Papirius entitled The Duties of a Citizen, and that it did not come up to your expectations ; then, forgetting that you are dealing with a philosopher, you proceed to criticize his style.

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THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

Puta esse quod dicis et efFundi verba, non figi ; primum habet ista res suam gratiam et est decor proprius orationis leniter lapsae. Multum enim interesse existimo, utrum exciderit an fluxerit. Adice ^ nunc, quod in hoc quoque, quod dicturus

2 sum, ingens ^ differentia est : Fabianus mihi non efFundere videtur orationem, sed fundere ; adeo larga est et sine perturbatione, non sine cursu tamen veniens. lUud plane fatetur et praefert, non esse ^ tractatam nee diu tortam. Sed ita, ut vis, esse credamus ; mores ille, non verba conposuit et animis

3 scripsit ista, non auribus. Praeterea ipso dicente non vacasset tibi partes intueri, adeo te summa rapuisset ; et fere quae inpetu placent, minus praestant ad manum relata.

Sed illud quoque multum est primo aspectu oculos occupasse, etiam si contemplatio diligens inventura

4 est quod arguat. Si me interrogas, maior ille est, qui indicium abstulit quam qui meruit ; et scio hunc tutiorem esse, scio audacius sibi de futuro promittere. Oratio sollicita philosophum non decet ; ubi tandem erit fortis et constans, ubi periculum sui faciet, qui

5 timet verbis ? Fabianus non erat neglegens in oratione, sed securus. Itaque nihil invenies sordi-

^ adice added by Hense.

* ingens later MSS. ; indigens BA.

^ esse Muretus ; esset BA.

" i.e,^ his style is like a river rather than a torrent. 150

EPISTLE 0.

Suppose, now, that your statement is true — that he pours forth rather than places his words ; let me, however, tell you at the start that this trait of which you speak has a peculiar charm, and that it is a grace appropriate to a smoothly-gliding style. For, I maintain, it matters a great deal whether it tumbles forth, or flows along. Moreover, there is a deal of difference in this regard also — as I shall make clear to you : Fabianus seems to me to have not so much an ** efflux'' as a **flow'' of words : ^ so copious is it, without confusion, and yet not without speed. This is indeed what his style declares and announces — that he has not spent a long time in working his matter over and twisting it into shape. But even supposing the facts are as you would have them ; the man was building up character rather than words, and was writing those words for the mind rather than for the ear. Besides, had he been speaking them in his own person, you would not have had time to consider the details — the whole work would have so swept you along. For as a rule that which pleases by its swiftness is of less value when taken in hand for reading.

Nevertheless, this very quality, too, of attracting at first sight is a great advantage, no matter whether careful investigation may discover something to criticize. If you ask me, I should say that he who has forced approval is greater than he who has earned it ; and yet I know that the latter is safer, I know that he can give more confident guarantees for the future. A meticulous manner of writing does not suit the philosopher ; if he is timid as to words, when will he ever be brave and steadfast, when will he ever really show his worth ? Fabianus *s style was not careless, it was assured. That is why

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

dum : electa verba sunt, non captata nee huius saeculi more contra naturam suam posita et inversa, splendida tamen, quamvis sumantur e^ medio. Sensus honestos et magnificos habes, non coactos in sententiam, sed latius dictos. Videbimus, quid parum recisum sit, quid parum structum, quid non ^ huius recentis politurae ; cum circumspexeris omnia,

6 nuUas videbis angustias inanis. Desit sane varietas marmorum et concisura aquarum cubiculis interfluen- tium et pauperis cella et quicquid aliud luxuria non contenta decore simplici miscet ; quod dici solet, domus recta est.

Adice nunc, quod de compositione non constat. Quidam illam volunt esse ex horrido comptam, quidam usque eo aspera gaudent, ut etiam quae mollius casus explicuit, ex industria dissipent et clausulas abrumpant, ne ad expectatum respon-

7 deant. Lege Ciceronem : compositio eius una est, pedem curvat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exiliens et ubi minime exspectes, relictura. Denique omnia apud Cicero- nem desinunt, aput Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt.

1 e later MSS. ; a BA. ^ non later MSS. ; om. BA.

** Concisura : from concido, to *' cut into sections," " dis- tribute " (of water-pipes).

* 0/. Ep. xviii. 7, and Martial iii. 48 :

Pauperis extruxit cellam, sed vendidit Olus prdedia ; nunc cellam pauperis Olus habet.

Rich men sometimes fitted up in their palaces an imitation ** poor man's cabin " by way of contrast to their other rooms or as a gesture towards simple living; Seneca uses the phrase figuratively for certain devices in composition.

• Quintilian x. 1. 113 says: multa in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia

152

EPISTLE 0.

you will find nothing shoddy in his work : his words are well chosen and yet not hunted for ; they are not unnaturally inserted and inverted, according to the present-day fashion ; but they possess distinction, even though they are taken from ordinary speech. There you have honourable and splendid ideas, not fettered into aphorisms, but spoken with greater freedom. We shall of course notice passages that are not sufficiently pruned, not constructed with sufficient care, and lacking the polish which is in vogue nowadays ; but after regarding the whole, you will see that there are no futile subtleties of argument. There may, doubtless, be no variety of marbles, no water-supply ® which flows from one apartment to another, no ** pauper -rooms," ^ or any other device that luxury adds when ill content with simple charms ; but, in the vulgar phrase, it is ** a good house to live in.**

Furthermore, opinions vary with regard to the style. Some wish it to be polished down from all roughness ; and some take so great a pleasure in the abrupt manner that they would intentionally break up any passage which may by chance spread itself out more smoothly, scattering the closing words in such a way that the sentences may result unexpect- edly. Read Cicero : his style has unity ; it moves with a modulated pace, and is gentle without being degenerate. The style of Asinius PoUio, on the other hand, is ** bumpy,*' jerky, leaving off when you least expect it.^ And finally, Cicero always stops gradually ; while Pollio breaks off, except in the very few cases where he cleaves to a definite rhythm and a single pattern.

videatur ; et consilii et animi satis ; a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest, ut videri possit saeculo prior.

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8 Humilia praeterea tibi videri dicis omnia et parum erecta ; quo vitio car ere eum iudico. Non sunt enim humilia ilia sed placida et ad animi tenorem ^ quietum compositumque formata, nee depressa sed plana. Deest illis oratorius vigor stimulique, quos quaeris, et subiti ictus sententiarum. Sed totum corpus videris quam sit comptum ; honestum est. Non habet oratio eius, sed dabit,^ dignitatem.

9 Adfer, quern Fabiano possis praeponere. Die Ciceronem, cuius libri ad philosophiam pertinentes paene totidem sunt, quot Fabiani ; cedam, sed non statim pusillum est, si quid maximo minus est. Die Asinium Pollionem ; cedam, et respondeamus : in re tanta eminere est post duos esse. Nomina adhuc T. Livium, scripsit enim et dialogos, quos non magis philosophiae adnumerare possis quam historiae, et ex professo philosophiam continentis libros ; huic quoque dabo locum. Vide tamen, quam multos antecedat, qui a tribus vincitur et trjbus eloquentis- simis.

10 Sed non praestat omnia : non est fortis oratio eius, quamvis elata sit ; non est violenta nee torrens, quamvis efFusa sit ; non est perspicua, sed pura. ** Desideres/' inquis, ** contra vitia aliquid aspere dici, contra pericula animose, contra fortunam superbe,

^ enim humilia ilia sed placida et ad animi tenorem later MSS. and Harl. ; enim tenorem BA. 2 dahit Lipsius : debet BA.

* The wording here resembles strikingly that of the Elder Seneca, Controv. ii. pr. 2 deerat illi (sc. Fabiano) oratorium robur et ille pugnatorius mucro.

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EPISTLE 0.

In addition to this, you say that every- thing in Fabianus seems to you commonplace and lacking in elevation ; but I myself hold that he is free from such a fault. For that style of his is not commonplace, but simply calm and adjusted to his peaceful and well - ordered mind — not on a low level but on an even plane. There is lacking the verve and spur of the orator (for which you are looking), and a sudden shock of epigrams.^ But look, please, at the whole work, how well-ordered it is : there is a distinction in it. His style does not possess, but will suggest, dignity.

Mention someone whom you may rank ahead of Fabianus. Cicero, let us say, whose books on philosophy are almost as numerous as those of Fabianus. I will concede this point ; but it is no slight thing to be less than the greatest. Or Asinius Pollio, let us say. I will yield again, and content myself by replying : ** It is a distinction to be third in so great a field.** You may also include Livy ; for Livy wrote both dialogues (which should be ranked as history no less than as philosophy), and works which professedly deal with philosophy. I shall yield in the case of Livy also. But consider how many writers Fabianus outranks, if he is sur- passed by three only — and those three the greatest masters of eloquence !

But, it may be said, he does not offer everything : though his style is elevated, it is not strong ; though it flows forth copiously, it lacks force and sweep ; it is not translucent, but it is lucid. *'One would fail,** you urge, ** to find therein any rugged denunciation of vice, any courageous w^ords in the face of danger, any proud defiance of Fortune, any scornful threats

VOL. Ill F 155

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contra ambitionem contumeliose. Volo luxuriam obiurgari, libidinem traduci, inpotentiam frangi. Sit aliquid oratorie acre, tragice grande, cornice exile.*' Vis ilium adsidere pusillae rei, verbis ; ille rerum se magnitudini addixit/ eloquentiam velut umbram non hoc agens trahit.

11 Non erunt sine dubio singula circumspecta nee in se collecta nee omne verbum excitabit ac punget,^ fateor. Exibunt multa nee ferient et interdum otiosa praeterlabetur oratio, sed multum erit in omni- bus lucis, sed ingens sine taedio spatium. Denique illud praestabit, ut liqueat tibi ilium sensisse quae scripsit. Intel] eges hoc actum, ut tu scires quid illi placeret, non ut ille placeret tibi. Ad profectum omnia tendunt, ad bonam mentem, non quaeritur plausus.

12 Talia esse script a eius non dubito, etiam si magis reminiscor quam teneo haeretque mihi color eorum non ex recenti conversatione familiariter, sed sum- matim, ut solet ex vetere notitia. Cum audirem certe ilium, talia mihi videbantur, non solida, sed plena, quae adulescentem indolis bonae attollerent et ad imitationem sui evocarent sine desperatione vincendi, quae mihi adhortatio videtur efficacissima. Deterret enim qui imitandi cupiditatem fecit, spem abstulit.

^ addixit later MSS. ; adduxit BA. ■ ac punget later MSS. ; ag pugnet BA.

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EPISTLE C.

against self-seeking. I wish to see luxury rebuked, lust condemned, waywardness crushed out. Let him show us the keenness of oratory, the loftiness of tragedy, the subtlety of comedy.*' You wish him to rely on that pettiest of things, phraseology ; but he has sworn allegiance to the greatness of his subject and draws eloquence after him as a sort of shadow, but not of set purpose.

Our author will doubtless not investigate every detail, nor subject it to analysis, nor inspect and emphasize each separate word. This I admit. Many phrases will fall short, or will fail to strike home, and at times the style will slip along indolently ; but there will be plenty of light throughout the work ; there will be long stretches which will not weary the reader. And, finally, he will offer this quality — of making it clear to you that he meant what he wrote. You will understand that his aim was to have you know what pleased him, rather than that he should please you. All his work makes for pro- gress and for sanity, without any search for applause.

I do not doubt that his writings are of the kind I have described, although I am harking back to him rather than retaining a sure memory of him, and although the general tone of his writings remains in my mind, not from a careful and recent perusal, but in outline, as is natural after an acquaintance of long ago. But certainly, whenever I heard him lecture, such did his work seem to me — not solid but full, the kind which w^ould inspire young men of promise and rouse their ambition to become like him, without making them hopeless of surpassing him ; — and this method of encouragement seems to me the most helpful of all. For it is disheartening to inspire in a man the desire, and to take away from

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Ceterum verbis abundabat, sine commendation e partium singularum in universum magnificus. Vale.

CI.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Omnis dies, omnis hora quam nihil simus ostendit ^ et aliquo argumento recenti admonet fragilitatis oblitos ; turn aeterna meditatos respicere cogit ad mortem.

Quid sibi istud principium velit quaeris ? Sene- cionem Cornelium, equitem Romanum splendidum et offieiosum, noveras : ex tenui principio se ipse promo verat et iam illi declivis erat cursus ad cetera.

2 Facilius enim crescit dignitas quam incipit. Pecunia quoque circa paupertatem plurimum morae ^ habet, dum ex ilia erepat haeret. Iam ^ Senecio divitiis imminebat, ad quas ilium duae res ducebant efficacis- simae, et quaerendi et custodiendi scientia, quarum

3 vel altera locupletem facere potuisset. Hie homo summae frugalitatis, non minus patrimonii quam corporis diligens, cum me ex consuetudine mane vidisset, cum per totum diem amico graviter ad- fecto et sine spe iacenti usque in noctem adsedisset, cum hilaris cenasset, genere valitudinis praecipiti arreptus, angina, vix conpressum artatis faucibus spirit um traxit in lucem. Intra paucissimas ergo

^ simus ostendit later MSS. ; sumostendit BA.

2 morae Pincianus ; amor em BA.

' haeret ; iam Buecheler ; hoe (or hoc) etiam BA,

158

EPISTLES 0., CL

him the hope, of emulation. At any rate, his language was fluent, and though one might not approve every detail, the general effect was noble. Farewell.

CI. ON THE FUTILITY OF PLANNING AHEAD

Every day and every hour reveal to us what a nothing we are, and remind us with some fresh evidence that we have forgotten our weakness ; then, as we plan for eternity, they compel us to look over our shoulders at Death.

Do you ask me what this preamble means ? It refers to Cornelius Senecio, a distinguished and capable Roman knight, whom you knew : from humble beginnings he had advanced himself to for- tune, and the rest of the path already lay downhill before him. For it is easier to grow in dignity than to make a start ; and money is very slow to come where there is poverty ; until it can creep out of that, it goes halting. Senecio was already bordering upon Avealth, helped in that direction by two very powerful assets — knowing how to make money and how to keep it also ; either one of these gifts might have made him a rich man. Here was a person who lived most simply, careful of health and wealth alike. He had, as usual, called upon me early in the morning, and had then spent the whole day, even up to night- fall, at the bedside of a friend who was seriously and hopelessly ill. After a comfortable dinner, he was suddenly seized with an acute attack of quinsy, and, with the breath clogged tightly in his swollen throat, barely lived until daybreak. So within a very few hours after the time when he had been performing

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horas, quam omnibus erat sani ac valentis ofRciis

4 functus, decessit. Ille, qui et mari et terra pecuniam agitabat, qui ad publica quoque nullum relinquens inexpertum genus quaestus accesserat, in ipso actu bene cedentium rerum, in ipso procurrentis pecuniae impetu raptus est.

Insere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine ^ vites. Quam stultum est aetatem disponere ne crastini quidem dominum ! O quanta dementia est spes longas inchoantium : emam aedificabo, credam exi- gam, honores geram, tum deinde lassam et plenam

5 senectutem in otium refer am. Omnia, mihi crede, etiam felicibus dubia sunt. Nihil sibi quisquam de futuro debet promittere. Id quoque, quod tenetur, per manus exit et ipsam, quam premimus, horam casus incidit. Volvitur tempus rata quidem lege, sed per obscurum ; quid autem ad me, an naturae certum sit quod mihi incertum est ?

6 Navigationes longas et pererratis litoribus alienis seros in patriam reditus proponimus, militiam et castrensium labor um tarda manipretia, procurationes ofBciorumque per officia processus, cum interim ad latus mors est, quae quoniam numquam cogitatur nisi aliena, subinde nobis ingeruntur mortalitatis exempla non diutius quam dum miramur haesura.

7 Quid autem stultius quam mirari id ullo die factum,

^ pone in ordine BA.

« Vergil, Eel, i. 74.

* Perhaps a bint to Lucilius, who was at this time procurator in Sicily,

1 60

EPISTLE CI.

all the duties of a sound and healthy man, he passed away. He who was venturing investments by land and sea, who had also entered public life and left no type of business untried, during the very realization of financial success and during the very onrush of the money that flowed into his coffers, was snatched from the world !

Graft now thy pears, Meliboeus, and set out thy vines in their order ! *

But how foolish it is to set out one's life, when one is not even owner of the morrow ! O what madness it is to plot out far-reaching hopes ! To say : ** I will buy and build, loan and call in money, win titles of honour, and then, old and full of years, I will sur- render myself to a life of ease." Believe me when I say that everything is doubtful, even for those who are prosperous. No one has any right to draw for himself upon the future. The very thing that we grasp slips through our hands, and chance cuts into the actual hour which we are crowding so full. Time does indeed roll along by fixed law, but as in dark- ness ; and what is it to me whether Nature's course is sure, when my own is unsure ?

We plan distant voyages and long-postponed home-comings after roaming over foreign shores, we plan for military service and the slow rewards of hard campaigns, we canvass for governorships ^ and the promotions of one office after another — and all the while death stands at our side ; but since we never think of it except as it affects our neighbour, instances of mortality press upon us day by day, to remain in our minds only as long as they stir our wonder.

Yet what is more foolish than to wonder that some- thing which may happen every day has happened

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quod omni potest fieri ? Stat quidem terminus nobis, ubi ilium inexorabilis fatorum necessitas fixit, sed nemo scit nostrum, quam prope versetur ter- minum.^ Sic itaque formemus animum, tamquam ad extrema ventum sit. Nihil diiferamus. Cotidie

8 cum vita paria faciamus. Maximum vitae vitium est, quod inperfecta semper est, quod aliquid ^ ex ilia difFertur. Qui cotidie vitae suae summam manum inposuit, non indiget tempore. Ex hac autem in- digentia timor nascitur et cupiditas futuri exedens animum. Nihil est miserius dubitatione venientium quorsus evadant ; quantum sit illud quod restat aut quale, soUicita^ mens inexplicabili formidine agitatur.

9 Quo modo effugiemus hanc volutationem ? Uno, si vita nostra non prominebit, si in se coUigitur. Ille enim ex futuro suspenditur, cui inritum est praesens. Ubi vero, quidquid mihi debui, redditum est, ubi stabilita mens scit nihil interesse inter diem et saeculum, quicquid deinceps dierum rerumque venturum est, ex alto prospicit et cum multo risu seriem temporum cogitat. Quid enim varietas mobilitasque casuum perturbabit, si certus sis ad- versus incerta ?

10 Ideo propera, Lucili mi, vivere et singulos dies singulas vitas puta. Qui hoc modo se aptavit,* cui vita sua cotidie fuit tota, securus est ; in spem ^ viventibus proximum quodque tempus elabitur subit-

1 terminum Buecheler ; terminus BA.

2 in aliquid BA. The best solution, in spite of several emendations, is to drop in.

3 sollicita Buecheler ; collecta BA. * aptavit Stephanus ; aptabit BA, ^ spem later MSS. ; spe BA.

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on any one day ? There is indeed a limit fixed for us, just where the remorseless law of Fate has fixed it ; but none of us knows how near he is to this limit. Therefore, let us so order our minds as if we had come to the very end. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's account every day. The greatest flaw in life is that it is always imperfect, and that a certain part of it is postponed. One who daily puts the finishing touches to his life is never in want of time. And yet, from this want arise fear and a craving for the future which eats away the mind. There is nothing more wretched than worry over the outcome of future events ; as to the amount or the nature of that which remains, our troubled minds are set a-flutter with unaccountable fear.

How, then, shall we avoid this vacillation ? In one way only, — if there be no reaching forward in our life, if it is withdrawn into itself. For he only is anxious about the future, to whom the present is unprofitable. But when I have paid my soul its due, when a soundly-balanced mind knows that a day differs not a whit from eternity — whatever days or problems the future may bring — then the soul looks forth from lofty heights and laughs heartily to itself when it thinks upon the ceaseless succession of the ages. For what disturbance can result from the changes and the instability of Chance, if you are sure in the face of that which is unsure ?

Therefore, my dear Lucilius, begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. He who has thus prepared himself, he whose daily life has been a rounded whole, is easy in his mind ; but those who live for hope alone find that the immediate future always slips from their grasp and that greed

VOL. Ill

F 2 163

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que aviditas et miserrimus ac miserrima omnia effi- ciens metus mortis. Inde illud Maecenatis tur- pissimum votum, quo et debilitatem non recusat et deformitatem et novissime acutam crucem, dum- modo inter haee mala spiritus prorogetur :

11 Dcbilem facito manu, debilem pede coxo, Tuber adstrue gibber um, lubricos quate dentes ; Vita dum superest, benest ; banc ^ mihi, vel acuta Si sedeam cruce, sustine.

12 Quod miserrimum erat, si incidisset, optatur et tamquam vita petitur supplici mora. Contemptis- simum putarem, si vivere vellet usque ad crucem : '* Tu vero '' inquit, " me debilites licet, dum spiritus in corpore fracto et inutili maneat. Depraves licet, dum monstroso et distorto ^ temporis aliquid accedat. Suffigas licet et acutam sessuro crucem subdas." Est tanti vulnus suum premere et patibulo pendere di- strictum, dum difFerat id, quod est in malis optimum, supplicii finem ? Est tanti habere animam, ut agam ?

13 Quid huic optes nisi deos faciles ? Quid sibi vult ista carminis efFeminati turpitudo ? Quid timoris demen-

^ hanc later MSS. ; hac BA. 2 distorto Erasmus ; detorto Haase ; deserto BA.

" Frag. 1, p. 35 Lunderstedt.

* Horace, his intimate friend, wrote Od, ii. 17 to cheer the despondent Maecenas ; and Pliny {N.H, vii. 54) mentions his fevers and his insomnia — perpetua febris. . . . Eidem triennio supremo nullo horae momento contigit somnus,

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steals along in its place, and the fear of death, a curse which lays a curse upon everything else. Thence came that most debased of prayers, in which Maecenas ^ does not refuse to suffer weakness, deformity, and as a climax the pain of crucifixion — provided only that he may prolong the breath of life amid these sufferings : ^

Fashion me with a palsied hand, Weak of foot, and a cripple ; Build upon me a crook-backed hump ; Shake my teeth till they rattle ; All is well, if my life remains. Save, oh, save it, I pray you. Though I sit on the piercing cross !

There he is, praying for that which, if it had be- fallen him, would be the most pitiable thing in the world ! And seeking a postponement of suffering, as if he were asking for life ! I should deem him most despicable had he wished to live up to the very time of crucifixion : ** Nay,*' he cries, ** you may weaken my body if you will only leave the breath of life in my battered and ineffective carcase T* ** Maim me if you will, but allow me, misshapen and deformed as I may be, just a little more time in the world ! You may nail me up and set my seat upon the piercing cross ! ** Is it worth while to weigh down upon one's own wound, and hang impaled upon a gibbet, that one may but postpone something which is the balm of troubles, the end of punishment ? Is it worth all this to possess the breath of life only to give it up ? What would you ask for Maecenas but the indulgence of Heaven ? What does he mean by such womanish and indecent verse ? What does he mean by making terms with panic fear ? What does

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tissimi pactio ? Quid tarn foeda vitae mendicatio ? Huic ^ putes umquam recitasse Vergilium :

Usque adeone mori miserum est ?

Optat ultima malorum, et quae pati gravissimum est extendi ac sustineri eupit ; qua mercede ? Scilicet vitae longioris. Quod autem vivere est diu mori ?

14 Invenitur aliquis, qui velit inter supplicia tabescere et perire membratim et totiens per stilicidia emittere animam quam semel exhalare ? Invenitur, qui velit adactus ad illud infelix lignum, iam debilis, iam pravus et in foedum scapularum ac pectoris ^ tuber elisus, cui multae moriendi causae etiam citra crucem fuerant, trahere animam tot tormenta tracturam ?

Nega nunc magnum beneficium esse naturae, quod necesse est mori. Multi peiora adhuc pacisci parati

15 sunt : etiam amicum prodere, ut diutius vivant, et liberos ad stuprum manu sua tradere, ut contingat lucem videre tot consciam scelerum. Excutienda vitae cupido ^ est discendumque nihil interesse, quando patiaris, quod quandoque patiendum est. Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu ; saepe autem in hoc est ^ bene, ne diu. Vale.

^ huic Muretus ; cui BA.

* ac pectoris later MSS. ; acceptoris BA.

* cupido later MSS. ; cui pido BA.

* est Gruter ; esse BA.

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EPISTLE GI.

he mean by begging so vilely for life ? He cannot ever have heard Vergil read the words :

Tell me, is Death so wretched as that ? ^

He asks for the climax of suffering, and — what is still harder to bear — prolongation and extension of suffering ; and what does he gain thereby ? Merely the boon of a longer existence. But what sort of life is a lingering death ? Can anyone be found who would prefer wasting away in pain, dying limb by limb, or letting out his life drop by drop, rather than expiring once for all ? Can any man be found willing to be fastened to the accursed tree,* long sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly tumours on chest and shoulders, and draw the breath of life amid long-drawn-out agony ? I think he would have many excuses for dying even before mounting the cross !

Deny, now, if you can, that Nature is very generous in making death inevitable. Many men have been prepared to enter upon still more shameful bargains : to betray friends in order to live longer themselves, or voluntarily to debase their children and so enjoy the light of day which is witness of all their sins, We must get rid of this craving for life, and learn that it makes no difference when your suffering comes, because at some time you are bound to suffer. The point is, not how long you live, but how nobly you live. And often this living nobly means that you cannot live long. Farewell.

" Aeneid xii. 646. ^ Infelix lignum (or arbor) is the cross.

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CII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Quomodo molestus est iucundum somnium videnti qui excitat, aufert enim voluptatem, etiam si falsam, efFectum tamen verae habentem ; sic epistula tua mihi fecit iniuriam. Revocavit enim me cogitationi aptae traditum et iturum, si licuisset, ulterius.

2 luvabat de aeternitate animarum quaerere, immo mehercules credere. Praebebam^ enim me facilem opinionibus magnorum virorum rem gratissimam promittentium magis quam probantium. Dabam me spei tantae. lam eram fastidio mihi, iam reliquias aetatis infractae contemnebam in immensum illud tempus et in possessionem omnis aevi trans- iturus ; cum subito experrectus ^ sum epistula tua accepta et tam bellum somnium perdidi. Quod repetam, si te dimisero, et redimam.

3 Negat me epistula prima totam quaestionem ex- plicuisse, in qua probare conabar id quod nostris placet, claritatem, quae post mortem contingit, bonum esse. Id enim me non solvisse, quod op- ponitur nobis : ** Nullum/' inquiunt, ** bonum ex distantibus. Hoc autem ex distantibus constat.**

4 Quod interrogas, mi Lucili, eiusdem quaestionis est

^ praeheham Buecheler ; credebam BA. ^ experrectus later MSS. ; experfectiis BA.

" Seneca, worn out by his poUtical experiences, was at this time not less than sixty-seven years of age.

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EPISTLE CII,

GIL ON THE INTIMATIONS OF OUR IMMORTALITY

Just as a man is annoying when he rouses a dreamer of pleasant dreams (for he is spoihng a pleasure which may be unreal but nevertheless has the appearance of reality), even so your letter has done me an inj ury . For it brought me back abruptly, absorbed as I was in agreeable meditation and ready to proceed still further if it had been permitted me. I was taking pleasure in investigating the immortality of souls, nay, in beUeving that doctrine. For I was lending a ready ear to the opinions of the great authors, who not only approve but promise this most pleasing condition. I was giving myself over to such a noble hope ; for I was already weary of myself, beginning already to despise the fragments of my shattered existence,^ and feeling that I was destined to pass over into that infinity of time and the heritage of eternity, when I was suddenly awakened by the receipt of your letter, and lost my lovely dream. But, if I can once dispose of you, I shall reseek and rescue it.

There was a remark, at the beginning of your letter, that I had not explained the whole problem — wherein I was endeavouring to prove one of the beliefs of our school, that the renown which falls to one's lot after death is a good ; for I had not solved the problem with which we are usually confronted : ** No good can consist of things that are distinct and separate ; yet renown consists of such things." What you are asking about, my dear Lucilius, belongs to another topic of the same subject, and that

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loci alterius, et ideo non hoc ^ tantum, sed alia quoque eodem ^ pertinentia distuleram. Quaedam enim, ut scis, moralibus ^ rationalia inmixta sunt. Itaque illam partem rectam et ad mores pertinentem trac- tavi : numquid stultum sit ac supervacuum ultra extremum diem cur as transmittere, an cadant bona nostra nobiscum nihilque sit eius, qui nullus est, an ex eo, quod, cum erit, sensuri non sumus, ante- quam sit, aliquis fructus percipi ^ aut peti possit.

5 Haec omnia mores spectant ; itaque suo loco posita sunt. At quae a dialecticis contra banc opinionem dicuntur, segreganda fuerunt et ideo seposita sunt. Nunc, quia omnia exigis, omnia quae dicunt per-

6 sequar, deinde singulis occurram. Nisi aliquid prae- dixero, intellegi non poterunt quae refellentur. Quid est, quod praedicere ^ velim ? Quaedam con- tinua corpora esse, ut hominem ; quaedam esse composita, ut navem, domum, omnia denique, quorum diversae partes iunctura in unum coactae sunt ; quaedam ex distantibus, quorum adhuc membra separata sunt, tamquam exercitus, populus. senatus. Illi enim, per quos ista corpora efficiuntur, iure aut officio cohaerent, natura diducti et singuli sunt. Quid est, quod etiamnunc praedicere velim ?

7 Nullum bonum putamus esse, quod ex distantibus constat. Uno ^ enim spiritu unum bonum contineri

1 hoc added in later MSS.

2 eodem later MSS. ; om. BA.

^ moralihus later MSS. ; moralia BA.

* percipi later MSS. ; percipit BA.

* praedicere later MSS. : praecidere BA.

^ lino later MSS. ; unde BA.

« Seneca is perhaps popularizing the Stoic combinations^ — Trapddeais (juxtaposition), /xI^ls (mixture) or Kpdats (fusion), and ffvyxvo-Ls (chemical mixture). C/. E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism, p. 169.

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is why I had postponed the arguments, not only on this one topic, but on other topics which also covered the same ground. For, as you know, certain logical questions are mingled with ethical ones. Accord- ingly, I handled the essential part of my subject which has to do with conduct — as to whether it is fooUsh and useless to be concerned with what lies beyond our last day, or whether our goods die with us and there is nothing left of him who is no more, or whether any profit can be attained or attempted beforehand out of that which, when it comes, we shall not be capable of feeling.

All these things have a view to conduct, and there- fore they have been inserted under the proper topic. But the remarks of dialecticians in opposition to this idea had to be sifted out, and were accordingly laid aside. Now that you demand an answer to them all, I shall examine all their statements, and then refute them singly. Unless, however, I make a preliminary remark, it will be impossible to under- stand my rebuttals. And what is that preliminary remark ? Simply this : there are certain continuous bodies, such as a man ; there are certain composite bodies, — as ships, houses, and everything which is the result of joining separate parts into one sum total : there are certain others made up of things that are distinct,^ each member remaining separate — like an army, a populace, or a senate. For the persons who go to make up such bodies are united by virtue of law or function ; but by their nature they are distinct and individual. Well , what further prefatory remarks do I still wish to make ? Simply this : we believe that nothing is a good, if it be composed of things that are distinct. For a single good should be checked and controlled by a single soul ; and the

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ac regi debet, unum esse unius boni principale. Hoc si quando desideraveris, per se probatur ; interim ponendum fuit, quia in nos ^ nostra tela mittuntur.

8 ** Dieitis/' inquit, ** nullum bonum ex distantibus esse ? Claritas autem ista bonorum virorum secunda opinio est. Nam quomodo fama non est unius sermo nee infamia unius mala existimatio, sic nee claritas uni bono placuisse. Consentire in hoc plures insignes et spectabiles viri debent, ut claritas sit. Haec autem ex iudiciis plurium ^ efRcitur, id est distantium ;

9 ergo non est bonum. Claritas/' inquit, ** laus est a bonis bono reddita ; laus oratio, vox est aliquid signi- ficans ; vox est autem, licet virorum sit bonorum, non ^ bonum. Nee enim quicquid vir bonus facit, bonum est. Nam et plaudit et sibilat, sed nee plausum quisquam nee sibilum, licet omnia eius admiretur et laudet, bonum dicit, non magis quam sternu- mentum aut tussim. Ergo claritas bonum non est.

10 Ad summam dicite nobis, utrum laudantis an laudati bonum sit : si laudati * bonum esse dicitis, tam ridiculam rem facitis, quam si adfirmetis meum esse, quod alius bene valeat. Sed laudare dignos honesta actio est ; ita laudantis bonum est, cuius actio est,

^ nos added by Schweighaeuser.

^ plurium later MSS. ; plurimum BA.

^ bonorum non inserted by Erasmus.

* laudati Madvig ; laudantis BA.

^ i.e., the arguments of the Stoics.

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EPISTLE CIL

essential quality of each single good should be single. This can be proved of itself whenever you desire ; in the meanwhile, however, it had to be laid aside, because our own weapons ^ are being hurled at us.

Opponents speak thus : ** You say, do you, that no good can be made up of things that are distinct ? Yet this renown, of which you speak, is simply the favourable opinion of good men. For just as reputation does not consist of one person's remarks, and as ill repute does not consist of one person's disapproval, so renown does not mean that we have merely pleased one good person. In order to constitute renown, the agreement of many distinguished and praiseworthy men is necessary. But this results from the decision of a number — in other words, of persons who are distinct. There- fore, it is not a good. You say, again, that renown is the praise rendered to a good man by good men. Praise means speech : now speech is utterance with a particular meaning ; and utterance, even from the lips of good men, is not a good in itself. For any act of a good man is not necessarily a good ; he shouts his applause and hisses his disapproval, but one does not call the shouting or the hissing good — although his entire conduct may be admired and praised — any more than one would applaud a sneeze or a cough. Therefore, renown is not a good. Finally, tell us whether the good belongs to him who praises, or to him who is praised : if you say that the good belongs to him who is praised, you are on as foolish a quest as if you were to maintain that my neighbour's good health is my own. But to praise worthy men is an honourable action ; thus the good is exclusively that of the man who does the praising, of the man who performs the action, and not of us, who are

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non nostrum, qui laudamur. Atqui hoc quaere* batur/'

11 Respondebo nunc singulis cursim. Primum, an sit aliquod ex distantibus bonum, etiamnunc quaeritur et pars utraque sententias habet. Deinde claritas desiderat multa sufFragia ? Potest et unius boni viri iudicio esse contenta ; unus nos ^ bonus bonos iudicat.

12 ** Quid ergo ? " inquit, ** et fama erit unius hominis existimatio et infamia unius malignus sermo ? Gloriam quoque," inquit, ** latius fusam intellego, consensum enim multorum exigit." Diversa horum condicio est et illius. Quare ? Quia, si de me bene vir bonus sentit, eodem loco sum, quo si omnes boni idem sentirent ; omnes enim, si me cognoverint, idem sentient. Par illis idemque indicium est, aeque vero inficiscitur. Dissidere non possunt ; ita pro eo est, ac si omnes idem sentiant, quia aliud

13 sentire non possunt. ** Ad gloriam aut famam non est satis unius opinio.'* Illic idem potest una sen- tentia, quod omnium, quia omnium, si perrogetur, una erit ; hie diversa dissimilium indicia sunt. Difficiles adfectus, dubia omnia invenies, levia, suspecta. Putas tu posse unam omnium esse sen- tentiam ? Non est unius una sententia. lUi placet verum, veritatis una vis, una facies est ; apud hos

^ unus nos Hense ; nos BA.

** t.^., of the unus vir bonus, as contrasted with the many

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EPISTLE Gil.

being praised. And yet this was the question under discussion."

I shall now answer the separate objections hurriedly. The first question still is, whether any good can consist of things that are distinct — and there are votes cast on both sides. Again, does renown need many votes ? Renown can be satisfied with the decision of one good man : it is one good man who decides that we are good. Then the retort is : ** What ! Would you define reputation as the esteem of one individual, and ill-repute as the rancorous chatter of one man ? Glory, too, we take to be more widespread, for it demands the agreement of many men.'* But the position of the ** many " is different from that of ** the one.*' And why ? Because, if the good man thinks well of me, it practically amounts to my being thought well of by all good men ; for they will all think the same, if they know me. Their judgment is alike and identical; the effect of truth on it is equal. They cannot dis- agree, which means that they would all hold the same view, being unable to hold different views. ** One man's opinion,'* you say, ** is not enough to create glory or reputation." In the former case,^ one judgment is a universal judgment, because all, if they were asked, would hold one opinion ; in the other case, however, men of dissimilar character give divergent judgments. You will find perplexing emotions — everything doubtful, inconstant, untrust- worthy. And can you suppose that all men are able to hold one opinion ? Even an individual does not hold to a single opinion. With the good man it is truth that causes belief, and truth has but one function and one likeness ; while among the second class of which I spoke, the ideas with which they

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falsa sunt, quibus adsentiuntur. Numquam autem

14 falsis constantia est : variantur et dissident. ** Sed laus/' inquit, ** nihil aliud quam vox est, vox autem bonum non est." Cum dicunt^ claritatem esse laudem bonorum a bonis redditam,^ non ad vocem referunt, sed ad sententiam. Licet enim vir bonus taceat, sed aliquem iudieet dignum laude esse,

15 laudatus est. Praeterea aliud est laus, aliud laudatio, haee et vocem exigit. Itaque nemo dicit laudem funebrem, sed laudationem, cuius officium oratione constat. Cum dicimus aliquem laude dignum, non verba illi benigna hominum, sed indicia promittimus. Ergo laus etiam taciti est bene sentientis ac bonum virum apud se laudantis.

16 Deinde, ut dixi, ad animum refertur laus, non ad verba, quae conceptam laudem egerunt et in noti- tiam^ plurium emittunt. Laudat qui laudandum esse iudicat. Cum tragicus ille apud nos ait magnifi- cum esse ** laudari a laudato viro,*' laude digno ait. Et cum aeque antiquus poeta ait ** laus alit artis," * non laudationem dicit, quae corrumpit artes. Nihil enim aeque et eloquentiam et omne aliud studium auribus deditum vitiavit quam popularis adsensio.

17 Fama vocem utique desiderat, claritas potest etiam ^ citra vocem contingere contenta iudicio. Plena

^ dicunt Lipsius ; dicant BA.

^ redditam later MSS. ; reddi iam BA.

^ in notiiiayn later MSS. ; innocentiam BA.

* alit artes Erasmus ; alitteris BA.

^ etiam Buecheler ; enhn BA.

*» i.e.^ the Stoics.

^ Naevius, quoted by Cicero, Tusc, Disp. iv. 31 (of Hector) :

laetus sum laudari me abs te, pater, laudato viro.

* A commonplace sentiment, found, e.g», in Cicero, Tusc, Disp. i. 2, 4>,

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agree are unsound. Moreover, those who are false are never steadfast : they are irregular and discord- ant. ** But praise/* says the objector, "is nothing but an utterance, and an utterance is not a good." When they ^ say that renown is praise bestowed on the good by the good, what they refer to is not an utterance but a judgment. For a good man may remain silent ; but if he decides that a certain person is worthy of praise, that person is the object of praise. Besides, praise is one thing, and the giving of praise another ; the latter demands utterance also. Hence no one speaks of ** a funeral praise," but says ** praise - giving " — for its function depends upon speech. And when we say that a man is worthy of praise, we assure human kindness to him, not in words, but in judgment. So the good opinion, even of one who in silence feels inward approval of a good man, is praise.

Again, as I have said, praise is a matter of the mind rather than of the speech ; for speech brings out the praise that the mind has conceived, and publishes it forth to the attention of the many. To judge a man worthy of praise, is to praise him. And when our tragic poet ^ sings to us that it is wonderful " to be praised by a well-praised hero," he means, " by one who is worthy of praise." Again, when an equally venerable bard says : ^ ** Praise nurtureth the arts," he does not mean the giving of praise, for that spoils the arts. Nothing has corrupted ora.tory and all other studies that depend on hearing so much as popular approval.^ Reputation necessarily demands words, but renown can be content with men's judgments, and suffice without the spoken

^ C/. Ep, xl. 4 haec popularis (oratio) nihil habet veri*

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est non tantum inter tacentis, sed etiam inter re- clamantis. Quid intersit inter claritatem et gloriam dicam : gloria multorum iudiciis constat, claritas

18 bonorum. ** Cuius/* inquit, ** bonum est claritas, id est laus bono a bonis reddita ? Utrum laudati an laudantis ? '* Utriusque. Meum, qui laudor ; quia natura me^ ajuantem omnium genuit, et bene fecisse gaudeo, et gratos me invenisse virtutum interpretes laetor ; hoc plurium ^ bonum est, quod grati sunt, sed et meum. Ita enim animo conpositus sum, ut^ aliorum bonum meum iudicem, utique

19 eorum, quibus ipse* sum boni causa. Est istud laudantium bonum, virtu te enim geritur ; omnis autem virtutis actio bonum est. Hoc contingere illis non potuisset, nisi ego talis essem. Itaque utriusque bonum est merito laudari, tam mehercules quam bene iudicasse iudicantis bonum est et eius, secundum quem iudicatum est. Numquid dubitas, quin iustitia et habentis bonum sit et autem sit eius, cui debitum solvit ? Merentem laudare iustitia est ; ergo utriusque bonum est.

20 Cavillatoribus istis abunde responderimus.^ Sed non debet hoc nobis esse propositum arguta disserere et philosophiam in has angustias ex sua maiestate detrahere ; quanto satius est ire aperta ^ via et recta quam sibi ipsum flexus disponere, quos cum magna

^ natura me later MSS. ; naturam mea BA.

* plurium later MSS. ; plurimum BA.

8 ut later MSS. ; et BA.

* ipse or istius later MSS. ; iste BA.

' responderimus Pincianus ; respondebimus BA

* aperta later MSS. ; aperte BA},

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EPISTLE on.

word. It is satisfied not only amid silent approval, but even in the face of open protest. There is, in my opinion, this difference between renown and glory — the latter depends upon the judgments of the many ; but renown on the judgments of good men. The retort comes : ** But whose good is this renown, this praise rendered to a good man by good men ? Is it of the one praised, or of the one who praises ? *' Of both, I say. It is my own good, in that I am praised, because I am naturally born to love all men, and I rejoice in having done good deeds and congratulate myself on having found men who express their ideas of my virtues with gratitude ; that they are grateful, is a good to the many, but it is a good to me also. For my spirit is so ordered that I can regard the good of other men as my own — in any case those of whose good I am myself the cause. This good is also the good of those who render the praise, for it is applied by means of virtue ; and every act of virtue is a good. My friends could not have found this blessing if I had not been a man of the right stamp. It is therefore a good belonging to both sides, — this being praised when one deserves it — just as truly as a good decision is the good of him who makes the decision and also of him in whose favour the decision was given. Do you doubt that justice is a blessing to its possessor, as well as to the man to whom the j ust due was paid ? To praise the deserving is justice ; therefore, the good belongs to both sides. This wdll be a sufficient answer to such dealers in subtleties. But it should not be our purpose to dis- cuss things cleverly and to drag Philosophy down from her majesty to such petty quibbles. How much better it is to follow the open and direct road, rather than to map out for yourself a circuitous route

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molestia debeas relegere ? Neque enim quicquam aliud istae disputationes sunt quam inter se perite

21 captantium lusus. Die potius, quam naturale sit in inmensum mentem suam extendere. Magna et generosa res est humanus animus : nullos sibi poni nisi communes et cum deo terminos patitur. Primum humilem non accipit patriam, Ephesum aut Alexan- driam aut si quod est etiamnunc frequentius accolis ^ laetiusve tectis ^ solum ; patria est illi quodcumque suprema et universa circuitu suo cingit, hoc omne convexum, intra quod iacent maria cum terris, intra quod aer humanis divina secernens etiam ^ coniungit, in quo ^ disposita tot lumina ^ in actus suos excubant.

22 Deinde artam aetatem sibi dari non sinit : ** omnes," inquit, " anni ^ mei sunt. Nullum saeculum magnis ingeniis clusum est, nullum non cogitationi pervium tempus. Cum venerit dies ille, qui mixtum hoc divini humanique secernat, corpus" hie, ubi inveni, relinquam, ipse me dis® reddam. Nee nunc sine

23 illis sum, sed gravi terrenoque detineor." Per has mortalis aevi moras illi meliori vitae longiorique proluditur. Quemadmodum decem ^ mensibus tenet nos maternus uterus et praeparat non sibi, sed ^^ illi loco, in quem videmur emitti iam idonei spiritum trahere et in aperto durare ; sic per hoc spatium, quod ab infantia patet in senectutem, in alium maturescimus partum. Alia origo nos expectat,

* accolis Pincianus ; oculis BA ; incolis or occulis later MSS.

^ laetiusve tectis Windhaus ; laetius vecfis BA.

3 etiam Pincianus ; iam BA.

* quo Schweighaeuser ; quod BA.

^ lumina Haase ; numina BA. * anni Pine. ; ante BA.

' corpus Pine. ; tempus BA.

8 diis later MSS. : diei BA.

* decem later MSS. ; invicem BA.

10 sed later MSS. ; et BA.

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EPISTLE OIL

which you must retrace with infinite trouble ! For such argumentation is nothing else than the sport of men who are skilfully juggling with each other. Tell me rather how closely in accord with nature it is to let one's mind reach out into the boundless universe ! The human soul is a great and noble thing; it permits of no limits except those which can be shared even by the gods. First of all, it does not consent to a lowly birthplace, like Ephesus or Alexandria, or any land that is even more thickly populated than these, and more richly spread with dwellings. The soul's homeland is the whole space that encircles the height and breadth of the firma- ment, the whole rounded dome within which lie land and sea, within which the upper air that sunders the human from the divine also unites them, and where all the sentinel stars are taking their turn on duty. Again, the soul will not put up with a narrow span of existence. ** All the years,'* says the soul, ** are mine ; no epoch is closed to great minds ; all Time is open for the progress of thought. When the day comes to separate the heavenly from its earthly blend, I shall leave the body here where I found it, and shall of my own volition betake myself to the gods. I am not apart from them now, but am merely detained in a heavy and earthly prison." These delays of mortal existence are a prelude to the longer and better life. As the mother's womb holds us for ten months, making us ready, not for the womb itself, but for the existence into which we seem to be sent forth when at last we are fitted to draw breath and live in the open ; just so, throughout the years extending between infancy and old age, we are making ourselves ready for another birth. A different beginning, a different condition, await us.

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alius rerum status. Nondum caelum nisi ex inter-

24 vallo pati possumus ; proinde intrepidus horam illam decretoriam prospice : non est animo suprema, sed corpori. Quidquid circa te iacet rerum, tamquam hospitalis loci sarcinas specta : transeundum est.

25 Excutit redeuntem natura sicut intrantem. Non licet plus efFerre quam intuleris, immo etiam ex eo, quod ad vitam adtulisti, pars magna ponenda est : detrahetur tibi haec circumiecta, novissimum vela- mentum tui, cutis ; detrahetur caro et sufFusus sanguis discurrensque per totum ; detrahentur ossa nervique, firmamenta fluidorum ac labentium.

26 Dies iste, quem tamquam extremum reformidas, aeterni natalis est. Depone onus ; quid cunctaris, tamquam non prius quoque relicto, in quo latebas, corpore exieris ? Haeres, reluctaris ; tum quoque magno nisu matris expulsus es. Gemis, ploras ; et hoc ipsum flere nascentis est, sed tunc debebat ignosci : rudis et imperitus omnium veneras. Ex maternorum viscerum calido mollique fomento emissum adflavit aura liberior, deinde ofFendit durae manus tactus, tenerque adhuc et nullius rei gnarus obstipuisti inter ignota.

27 Nunc tibi non est novum separari ab eo, cuius ante pars fueris ; aequo animo membra iam supervacua dimitte et istuc corpus inhabitatum diu pone.

° A metaphor from the arena : decretoria were real " decisive weapons with which death was faced, as opposed to lusoriay " sham " weapons. C/, Sen. Ep. cxvii. 26,

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EPISTLE Gil.

We cannot yet, except at rare intervals, endure the light of heaven ; therefore, look forward without fearing to that appointed hour,^ — the last hour of the body but not of the soul. Survey everything that lies about you, as if it were luggage in a guest- chamber : you must travel on. Nature strips you as bare at your departure as at your entrance. You may take away no more than you brought in ; what is more, you must throw away the major portion of that which you brought with you into life : you will be stripped of the very skin which covers you — that which has been your last protection ; you will be stripped of the flesh, and lose the blood which is suffused and circulated through your body ; you will be stripped of bones and sinews, the frame- work of these transitory and feeble parts.

That day, which you fear as being the end of all things, is the birthday of your eternity. Lay aside your burden — why delay ? — just as if you had not previously left the body which was your hiding- place ! You cling to your burden, you struggle ; at your birth also great effort was necessary on your mother's part to set you free. You weep and wail ; and yet this very weeping happens at birth also ; but then it was to be excused : for you came into the world wholly ignorant and inexperienced. When you left the warm and cherishing protection of your mother's womb, a freer air breathed into your face ; then you winced at the touch of a rough hand, and you looked in amaze at unfamiliar objects, still delicate and ignorant of all things.

But now it is no new thing for you to be sundered from that of which you have previously been a part ; let go your already useless limbs with resignation and dispense with that body in which you have dwelt for

183

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Scindetur, obruetur, abolebitur. Quid contristaris ? Ita solet fieri : pereunt semper ^ velamenta naseen- tium. Quid ista sic diligis quasi tua ? Istis opertus es. Veniet, qui te revellat dies et ex contubernio

28 foedi atque olidi ventris educat. Huic nunc quoque tUj quantum potes, subdue te voluptatique,^ nisi quae necessariis seriisque ^ cohaerebit ; alienus iam hinc altius aliquid sublimiusque meditare. Aliquando naturae tibi arcana retegentur, discutietur ista caligo et lux undique clara percutiet,

Imaginare tecum, quantus ille sit fulgor tot si- deribus inter se lumen miscentibus ; nulla serenum umbra turbabit. Aequaliter splendebit omne caeli latus ; dies et nox aeris infimi vices sunt. Tunc in tenebris vixisse te dices, cum totam lucem et totus aspexeris, quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias obscure intueris. Et tamen admiraris illam iam procul ; quid tibi videbitur divina lux, cum illam suo loco videris ?

29 Haec cogitatio nihil sordidum animo subsidere sinit, nihil humile, nihil crudele. Deos rerum omnium esse testes ait. Illis nos adprobari, illis in futurum parari iubet et aeternitatem proponere. Quam qui mente concepit, nullos horret exercitus, non terretur tuba, nuUis ad timorem minis agitur.

^ semper Pincianus ; saepe BA.

2 subdue te voluptatique Bartsch and Hense ; suhvoluptari- quae BA.

^ necessariis seriisque Hense ; necessariisque BA.

^ The departure from life is compared to the release from the womb. There is also possibly a double meaning implied in the word venter,

184

EPISTLE GIL

so long. It will be torn asunder, buried out of sight, and wasted away. Why be downcast ? This is what ordinarily happens : when we are born, the afterbirth always perishes. Why love such a thing as if it were your own possession ? It was merely your covering. The day will come which will tear you forth and lead you away from the company of the foul and noisome womb. Withdraw from it now too * as much as you can, and withdraw from pleasure, except such as may be bound up with essential and important things ; estrange yourself from it even now, and ponder on something nobler and loftier. Some day the secrets of nature shall be disclosed to you, the haze will be shaken from your eyes, and the bright light will stream in upon you from all sides.

Picture to yourself how great is the glow when all the stars mingle their fires ; no shadows will disturb the clear sky. The whole expanse of heaven will shine evenly ; for day and night are interchanged only in the lowest atmosphere. Then you will say that you have lived in darkness, after you have seen, in your perfect state, the perfect light — that light which now you behold darkly with vision that is cramped to the last degree. And yet, far off as it is, you already look upon it in wonder ; what do you think the heavenly hght will be when you have seen it in its proper sphere ?

Such thoughts permit nothing mean to settle in the soul, nothing low, nothing cruel. They maintain that the gods are witnesses of everything. They order us to meet the gods' approval, to prepare ourselves to join them at some future time, and to plan for immortality. He that has grasped this idea shrinks from no attacking army, is not terrified by the trumpet-blast, and is intimidated by no threats;

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30 Quidni non timeat qui mori sperat ? Is quoque,^ qui animum tamdiu iudicat manere, quamdiu retine- tur corporis vinculo, solutum statim spargit, ut etiam post mortem utilis esse possit. Quamvis enim ipse ereptus sit oculis, tamen

Multa viri virtus animo multusque recursat Gentis honos.

Cogita, quantum nobis exempla bona prosint ; scies magnorum virorum non minus praesentiam esse utilem quam memoriam. Vale.

cm.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Quid ista circumspicis, quae tibi possunt fortasse evenire, sed possunt et non evenire ? Incendium dico, ruinam, alia, quae ^ nobis incidunt, non in- sidiantur ; ilia potius vide, ilia devita, quae ^ nos observant, quae captant. Rariores sunt* casus, etiam si graves, naufragium facere, vehiculo everti ; ab homine homini cotidianum periculum. Adversus hoc te expedi, hoc intentis oculis intuere. Nullum est malum frequentius, nullum pertinacius, nullum

2 blandius. Ac ^ tempestas minatur antequam surgat, crepant aedificia antequam corruant, praenuntiat

^ qui mori sperat ? is quoque Buecheler ; qui mori speriat. 8e quoque BA.

2 incendium . . . alia quae Pincianus ; incidentium . . . aliqua BA.

^ ilia de vita quae later MSS. ; ilia videvita ilia quae BA.

* rariores sunt Gruter ; pari essunt BA.

• ac Buecheler ; ah BA.

186

EPISTLES GIL, CIIL

How should it not be that a man feels no fear, if he looks forward to death ? He also who believes that the soul abides only as long as it is fettered in the body, scatters it abroad forthwith when dissolved, so that it may be useful even after death. For though he is taken from men's sight, still

Often our thoughts run back to the hero, and often the glory Won by his race recurs to the mind. ^»

Consider how much we are helped by good example ; you will thus understand that the presence of a noble man is of no less service than his memory. Farewell.

CIIL ON THE DANGERS OF ASSOCIATION WITH OUR FELLOW-MEN ^

Why are you looking about for troubles which may perhaps come your way, but which may indeed not come your way at all ? I mean fires, falling buildings, and other accidents of the sort that are mere events rather than plots against us. Rather beware and shun those troubles which dog our steps and reach out their hands against us. Accidents, though they may be serious, are few — such as being shipwrecked or thrown from one's carriage ; but it is from his fellow-man that a man's everyday danger comes. Equip yourself against that ; watch that with an attentive eye. There is no evil more frequent, no evil more persistent, no evil more insinuating. Even the storm, before it gathers, gives a warning ; houses crack before they crash ; and smoke is the forerunner

<* Vergil, A en» iv. 3 f. * Compare this with the Seventh letter (vol. i.). VOL. Ill G 187

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

fumus incendium ; subita est ex homine pernieies et eo diligentius tegitur, quo propius accedit.

Err as, si istorum tibi qui occurrunt vultibus credis ; hominum effigies liabent, animos ferarum, nisi quod illarum perniciosus ^ est primus incursus : quos trans- iere, non quaerunt. Numquam enim illas ad nocen- dum nisi necessitas incitat ; aut ^ fame aut timore coguntur ad pugnam ; homini perdere hominem libet.

3 Tu tamen ita cogita, quod ex homine periculum sit, ut cogites, quod sit hominis officium. Alterum intuere, ne laedaris, alterum ne laedas. Commodis omnium laeteris, movearis incommodis et memineris,

4 quae praestare debeas, quae cavere. Sic vivendo quid consequaris ? Non te ne noeeant, sed ne fallant. Quantum potes aut em, in philosophiam recede : ilia te sinu ^ suo proteget, in huius sacrario eris aut tutus aut tutior. Non arietant inter se nisi

5 in eadem ambulantes via.* Ipsam autem philo- sophiam non debebis iactare ; multis fuit periculi causa insolenter tractata et contumaciter. Tibi vitia detrahat, non aliis exprobret. Non abhorreat a publicis moribus nee hoc agat, ut quicquid non facit, damnare videatur. Licet sapere sine pompa, sine invidia. Vale.

^ perniciosus von Ian ; perniciosius BA. * incitat : aut Buecheler ; inicit^ hae aut BA, * te sinu Erasmus ; te nisu BA. * via Madvig ; quia BA.

188

EPISTLE cm.

of fire. But damage from man is instantaneous, and the nearer it comes the more carefully it is concealed.

You are wrong to trust the countenances of those you meet. They have the aspect of men, but the souls of brutes ; the difference is that only beasts damage you at the first encounter ; those whom they have passed by they do not pursue. For nothing ever goads them to do harm except when need compels them : it is hunger or fear that forces them into a fight. But man delights to ruin man.

You must, however, reflect thus what danger you run at the hands of man, in order that you may deduce what is the duty of man. Try, in your dealings with others, to harm not, in order that you be not harmed. You should rejoice with all in their joys and sympathize with them in their troubles, remembering what you should offer and what you should withhold. And what may you attain by living such a life ? Not necessarily freedom from harm at their hands, but at least freedom from deceit. In so far, however, as you are able, take refuge with philosophy : she will cherish you in her bosom, and in her sanctuary you shall be safe, or, at any rate, safer than before. People collide only when they are travelling the same path. But this very philosophy must never be vaunted by you ; for philosophy when employed with insolence and arrog- ance has been perilous to many. Let her strip off your faults, rather than assist you to decry the faults of others. Let her not hold aloof from the customs of mankind, nor make it her business to condemn whatever she herself does not do. A man may be wise without parade and without arousing enmity. Farewell.

189

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA CIV.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 In Nomentanum meum fugi, quid putas ? Urbem ? Immo febrem et quidem subrepentem. lam manum mihi iniecerat. Medicus initia esse dicebat motis venis et ineertis et naturalem turbantibus modum. Protinus itaque parari vehieulum iussi ; Paulina mea retinente exire perseveravi ; illud mihi ore erat domini mei Gallionis, qui cum in Achaia febrem habere coepisset, protinus navem ascendit clamitans

2 non corporis esse, sed loci morbum. Hoc ego Pauhnae meae dixi, quae mihi vaUtudinem meam commendat. Nam cum sciam^ spiritum iUius in meo verti, incipio, ut ilU consulam, mihi consulere. Et cum me fortiorem senectus ad multa reddiderit, hoc beneficium aetatis amitto. Venit enim mihi in mentem, in hoc sene et adulescentem esse, cui parcitur. Itaque quoniam ego ab ilia non impetro, ut me fortius amet, a me ^ impetrat ilia, ut me

3 diligentius amem. Indulgendum est enim honestis adfectibus ; et interdum, etiam si premunt causae, spiritus in honorem suorum vel cum tormento re- vocandus et in ipso ore retinendus est, cum bono viro vivendum sit non quamdiu iuvat sed quamdiu

^ sciam later MSS. ; scias BA.

^ a me was inserted by Gertz at this point ; Muretus placed it after ilia,

*» Pompeia Paulina, the second wife of Seneca ; c/. Tac. Ann, XV. 60. Though much younger than her husband, she was a model of devotion, and remained loyal to him through all the Neronian persecution.

^ Elder brother of Seneca, whose name before his adop- tion by Lucius lunius Gallio was Annaeus Novatus. He was governor of Achaia from a.d. July 1, 51 to July 1, 52,

190

EPISTLE CIV

CIV. ON GARE OF HEALTH AND PEACE OF MIND

I have run off to my villa at Nomentum, for what purpose, do you suppose ? To escape the city ? No ; to shake off a fever which was surely working its way into my system. It had already got a grip upon me. My physician kept insisting that when the circulation was upset and irregular, disturbing the natural poise, the disease was under way. I therefore ordered my carriage to be made ready at once, and insisted on departing, in spite of my wife Paulina's ® efforts to stop me ; for I remembered my master Gallio's ^ words, when he began to develop a fever in Achaia and took ship at once, insisting that the disease was not of the body but of the place. That is what I remarked to my dear Paulina, who always urges me to take care of my health. I know that her very life-breath comes and goes with my own, and I am beginning, in my solicitude for her, to be solicitous for myself. And although old age has made me braver to bear many things, I am gradually losing this boon that old age bestows. For it comes into my mind that in this old man there is a youth also, and youth needs tenderness. There- fore, since I cannot prevail upon her to love me any more heroically, she prevails upon me to cherish myself more carefully. For one must indulge genuine emotions ; sometimes, even in spite of weighty reasons, the breath of life must be called back and kept at our very lips even at the price of great suffering, for the sake of those whom we hold dear ; because the good man should not live as long

See Acts xviii. 11 ff., and Duff, Three Dialogues of Seneca, p. xliii.

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THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

oportet. Ille, qui non uxorem, non amicum tanti putat, ut diutius in vita commoretur, qui perse- verabit mori, delicatus est.

Hoc quoque imperet sibi animus, ubi utilitas suorum exigit, nee tantum, si vult mori, sed si eoepit,

4 intermittat et suis se^ commodet. Ingentis animi est aliena causa ad vitam reverti, quod magni viri saepe fecerunt. Sed hoc quoque summae huma- nitatis existimo, senectutem suam, cuius maximus fructus est securior sui tutela et vitae usus animosior, attentius custodire,^ si scias alicui ^ tuorum esse dulce,

5 utile, optabile. Habet praeterea in se non mediocre ista res gaudium et mercedem ; quid enim iucundius quam uxori tam carum esse, ut* propter hoc tibi carior fias ? Potest itaque Paulina mea non tantum suum mihi timorem inputare, sed etiam meum.

6 Quaeris ergo, quomodo mihi consilium profectionis cesserit ? Ut primum gravitatem urbis excessi et ilium odorem culinarum fumantium, quae motae quicquid pestiferi vaporis obferunt,^ cum pulvere efFundunt, protinus mutatam valitudinem sensi. Quantum deinde adiectum putas viribus, postquam vineas attigi ? In pascuum emissus cibum meum invasi. Repetivi ergo iam me ; non permansit marcor ille corporis dubii et male cogitantis. Incipio toto animo studere.

^ suis se later MSS. ; suis BA.

^ attentius custodire (curare) later MSS. ; attentius BA.

^ alicui later MSS. ; aliquid BA.

* ut later MSS. ; om. BA.

* ohferunt F. Gloeckner ; ohruent BA.

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EPISTLE CIV.

as it pleases him, but as long as he ought. He who does not value his wife, or his friend, highly enough to linger longer in life — he who obstinately persists in dying — is a voluptuary.

The soul should also enforce this command upon itself whenever the needs of one's relatives require ; it should pause and humour those near and dear, not only when it desires, but even when it has begun, to die. It gives proof of a great heart to return to hfe for the sake of others ; and noble men have often done this. But this procedure also, I believe, indicates the highest type of kindness : that although the greatest advantage of old age is the opportunity to be more negligent regarding self-preservation and to use life more adventurously, one should watch over one's old age with still greater care if one knows that such action is pleasing, useful, or desirable in the eyes of a person whom one holds dear. This is also a source of no mean joy and profit ; for what is sweeter than to be so valued by one's wife that one becomes more valuable to oneself for this reason ? Hence my dear Paulina is able to make me respons- ible, not only for her fears, but also for my own.

So you are curious to know the outcome of this pre- scription of travel ? As soon as I escaped from the oppressive atmosphere of the city, and from that awful odour of reeking kitchens which, when in use, pour forth a ruinous mess of steam and soot, I perceived at once that my health was mending. And how much stronger do you think I felt when I reached my vineyards ! Being, so to speak, let out to pasture, I regularly walked into my meals ! So I am my old self again, feeling now no wavering languor in my system, and no sluggishness in my brain. I am beginning to work with all my energy.

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

7 Non multum ad hoc locus confert, nisi se sibi praestat animus, qui secretum in occupationibus mediis, si volet, habebit ; at ille, qui regiones eligit et otium captat, ubique, quo distringatur, inveniet. Nam Socraten querenti cuidam, quod nihil sibi pere- grinationes profuissent, respondisse ferunt : ** non inmerito hoc tibi evenit ; tecum enim peregrina-

8 baris/* O quam bene cum quibusdam ageretur, si a se aberrarent ! Nunc premunt ^ se ipsi,^ sollicitant, corrumpunt, territant. Quid prodest mare traicere et urbes mutare ? Si vis ista, quibus urgueris, effugere, non aliubi sis oportet, sed alius. Puta venisse te Athenas, puta Rhodon ; elige arbitrio tuo civitatem : quid ad rem pertinet, quos ilia mores habeat ? Tuos adferes.

9 Divitias iudicabis bonum : torquebit te paupertas, quod est miserrimum, falsa. Quam vis enim multum possideas, tamen, quia aliquis plus habet, tanto ^ tibi videris defici, quanto vinceris. Honores iudi- cabis ^ bonum : male te habebit ille consul factus, ille etiam refectus, invidebis,^ quotiens aliquem in fastis saepius legeris. Tantus erit ambitionis furor, ut nemo tibi post te videatur, si aliquis ante te

10 fuerit. Maximum malum iudicabis mortem, cum in ^ ilia nihil sit mali, nisi quod ante ipsam est, timeri.

^ premunt Bartsch ; primum BA.

2 ipsi Hense ; ipsos BA.

^ tanto later MSS. ; quanto BA,

* iudicabis Cod. Velz. ; iudicatus BA.

*• invidehis later MSS. ; videberis BA.

* cum in later MSS. ; cum BA.

** C/. Ep. X. 1 " Mecum loquor,"*^ " Cave, rogo, et dilig enter adtende ; cum homine malo loqueris,^^

194

EPISTLE CIV.

But the mere place avails little for this purpose, unless the mind is fully master of itself, and can, at its pleasure, find seclusion even in the midst of business ; the man, however, who is always selecting resorts and hunting for leisure, will find something to distract his mind in every place. Socrates is reported to have replied, when a certain person com- plained of having received no benefit from his travels : ** It serves you right ! You travelled in your own company ! '* ^ O what a blessing it would be for some men to wander away from themselves ! As it is, they cause themselves vexation, worry, demoralization, and fear ! What profit is there in crossing the sea and in going from one city to another ? If you would escape your troubles, you need not another place but another personality. Perhaps you have reached Athens, or perhaps Rhodes ; choose any state you fancy, how does it matter what its character may be ? You will be bringing to it your own.

Suppose that you hold wealth to be a good : poverty will then distress you, and, — which is most pitiable, — it will be an imaginary poverty. For you may be rich, and nevertheless, because your neigh- bour is richer, you suppose yourself to be poor exactly by the same amount in which you fall short of your neighbour. You may deem official position a good ; you will be vexed at another's appointment or re-appointment to the consulship ; you will be jealous whenever you see a name several times in the state records. Your ambition will be so frenzied that you will regard yourself last in the race if there is anyone in front of you. Or you may rate death as the worst of evils, although there is really no evil therein except that which precedes death's coming —

VOL. Ill G 2 195

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Exterrebunt te non tantum pericula, sed suspiciones ; vanis semper agitaberis. Quid enim proderit

evasisse tot urbes Argolicas mediosque fugam tenuisse per hostis ?

Ipsa pax timores sumministrabit. Ne tutis quidem habebitur fides consternata semel mente ; quae ubi consuetudinem pavoris inprovidi fecit, etiam ad tute- 1am salutis suae inhabilis est.^ Non enim vitat, sed fugit. Magis autem periculis patemus aversi.

11 Gravissimum iudieabis malum, aliquem ex his, quos amabis, amittere, cum interim hoc tam ineptum erit quam flere, quod arboribus amoenis et domum tuam ornantibus decidant folia. Quicquid te delec- tat, aeque vide ut flores virides ; dum virent, utere ; ^ aUum alio die casus excutiet. Sed quemadmodum frondium iactura facilis est, quia renascuntur, sic istorum, quos amas quosque oblectamenta vitae putas esse, damnum, quia reparantur, etiam si non renas-

12 cuntur. ** Sed non erunt idem/' Ne tu quidem idem eris. Omnis dies, omnis hora te mutat ; sed in aliis rapina facilius apparet, hie latet, quia non ex aperto fiet. Alii auferuntur, at ipsi nobis furto subducimur. Horum nihil cogitabis nee remedia vulneribus op- pones, sed ipse tibi seres sollicitudinum causas alia

1 est later MSS. ; es BA. * ut , , , utere Haase ; ut videres dum \ ^{^^j.^^ f uter BA.

« Vergil, Aen. ill. 282 f. 196

EPISTLE CIV.

fear. You will be frightened out of your wits, not only by real, but by fancied dangers, and will be tossed for ever on the sea of illusion. What benefit will it be to

Have threaded all the towns of Argolis,

A fugitive through midmost press of foes ? "

For peace itself will furnish further apprehension. Even in the midst of safety you will have no con- fidence if your mind has once been given a shock ; once it has acquired the habit of blind panic, it is incapable of providing even for its own safety. For it does not avoid danger, but runs away. Yet we are more exposed to danger when we turn our backs.

You may judge it the most grievous of ills to lose any of those you love ; while all the same this would be no less foolish than weeping because the trees which charm your eye and adorn your home lose their foliage. Regard everything that pleases you as if it were a flourishing plant ; make the most of it while it is in leaf, for different plants at different seasons must fall and die. But just as the loss of leaves is a light thing, because they are born afresh, so it is with the loss of those whom you love and regard as the delight of your life ; for they can be replaced even though they cannot be born afresh. " New friends, however, will not be the same." No, nor will you yourself remain the same ; you change with every day and every hour. But in other men you more readily see what time plunders ; in your own case the change is hidden, because it will not take place visibly. Others are snatched from sight ; we ourselves are being stealthily filched away from our- selves. You will not think about any of these prob- lems, nor will you apply remedies to these wounds. You will of your own volition be sowing a crop of

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sperando, alia desperando. Si sapis,^ alterum alter! misce ^ : nee speraveris sine desperatione nee de- speraveris ^ sine spe.

13 Quid per se peregrinatio prodesse cuiquam potuit ? Non voluptates ilia temperavit, non cupiditates re- frenavit, non iras repressit, non indomitos amoris impetus fregit, nulla denique animo mala eduxit. Non indicium dedit, non discussit errorem, sed ut puerum ignota mirantem ad breve tempus

14 rerum aliqua novitate detinuit. Ceterum incon- stantia mentis, quae maxime aegra est, lacessit, mobiliorem levioremque reddit ipsa iaetatio. Itaque, quae petierant cupidissime loca, cupidius deserunt et avium modo transvolant citiusque quam venerant,

15 abeunt. Peregrinatio notitiam dabit gentium, novas tibi montium formas ostendet, invisitata spatia cam- porum et inriguas perennibus aquis valles, alicuius fluminis sub observatione naturam, sive ut Nilus aestivo incremento tumet, sive ut Tigris eripitur ex oculis et acto per occulta cursu integrae magnitudini redditur, sive ut Maeander, poetarum omnium exer- citatio et ludus, implicatur crebris anfractibus et saepe in vicinum alveo suo admotus, antequam sibi influat, flectitur ; ceterum neque meliorem faciet neque saniorem.

16 Inter studia versandum est et inter auctores sapientiae, ut quaesita discamus, nondum inventa

^ sapis later MSS. ; satis BA. 2 misce later MSS. ; misces BA.

^ sine desperatione nee desperaveris later MSS. ; sine sperafione nee speraveris BA.

^* See Index of Proper Names.

* Although Seneca was deeply interested in such matters, as is proved by Ep. Ixxix., the Naturales Quaestiones, and an early work on the geography of Egypt.

198

EPISTLE CIV.

trouble by alternate hoping and despairing. If you are wise, mingle these two elements : do not hope without despair, or despair without hope.

What benefit has travel of itself ever been able to give anyone ? No restraint upon pleasure, no brid- ling of desire, no checking of bad temper, no crushing of the wild assaults of passion, no opportunity to rid the soul of evil. Travelling cannot give us judgment, or shake off our errors ; it merely holds our attention for a moment by a certain novelty, as children pause to wonder at something unfamiliar. Besides, it irri- tates us, through the wavering of a mind which is suffering from an acute attack of sickness ; the very motion makes it more fitful and nervous. Hence the spots we had sought most eagerly we quit still more eagerly, like birds that flit and are off as soon as they have alighted. What travel will give is familiarity with other nations : it will reveal to you mountains of strange shape, or unfamiliar tracts of plain, or valleys that are watered by ever- flowing springs, or the characteristics of some river that comes to our attention. We observe how the Nile rises and swells in summer, or how the Tigris disappears, runs underground through hidden spaces, and then appears with unabated sweep ; or how the Maeander,*^ that oft-rehearsed theme and plaything of the poets, turns in frequent bendings, and often in winding comes close to its own channel before resuming its course. But this sort of information will not make better or sounder men of us.^

We ought rather to spend our time in study, and to cultivate those who are masters of wisdom, learning something which has been investigated, but not

199

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

quaeramus ; sic eximendus animus ex miserrima servitute in libertatem adseritur. Quamdiu quidem nescieris, quid fugiendum quid petendum, quid necessarium quid supervacuum, quid iustum quid iniustum ^ sit, non erit hoc peregrinari, sed errare.

17 Nullam ^ tibi op em feret iste discursus, peregrinaris enim cum adfectibus tuis et mala te tua sequuntur. Utinam quidem sequerentur. Longius abessent ; nunc fers ilia, non ducis. Itaque ubique te premunt et paribus incommodis urunt.^ Medicina aegro, non

18 regio, quaerenda est. Fregit aliquis crus aut extorsit articulum : non vehiculum navemque conscendit, sed advocat medicum, ut fracta pars iungatur, ut luxata in locum reponatur. Quid ergo ? Animum tot locis fractum et extortum credis locorum mutatione posse sanari ? Mains est istud malum, quam ut gestatione

19 curetur. Peregrinatio non facit medicum, non ora- tor em, nulla ars loco discitur.

Quid ergo ? Sapientia, ars * omnium maxima, in itinere colligitur ? Nullum est, mihi crede, iter, quod te ^ extra cupiditates, extra iras, extra metus sistat ; aut si quod esset, agmine facto gens illuc humana pergeret. Tamdiu ista urguebunt mala macerabuntque per terras ac maria vagum, quamdiu

20 malorum gestaveris causas. Fugam tibi non prodesse

^ iniustum Cornelissen ; honestum BA.

2 nullam later MSS. ; nullum BA.

^ urunt later MSS. ; erunt BA.

* sapientia^ ars Hense ; sapientia^ res BA.

^ te Erasmus ; se BA.

200

EPISTLE CIV.

settled ; by this means the mind can be reheved of a most wretched serfdom, and won over to freedom. Indeed, as long as you are ignorant of what you should avoid or seek, or of what is necessary or super- fluous, or of what is right or wrong, you will not be travelUng, but merely wandering. There will be no benefit to you in this hurrying to and fro ; for you are travelling with your emotions and are followed by your afflictions. Would that they were indeed following you ! In that case, they would be farther away ; as it is, you are carrying and not leading them. Hence they press about you on all sides, continually chafing and annoying you. It is medicine, not scenery, for which the sick man must go a-searching. Suppose that someone has broken a leg or dislocated a joint : he does not take carriage or ship for other regions, but he calls in the physician to set the fractured hmb, or to move it back to its proper place in the socket. What then ? When the spirit is broken or wrenched in so many places, do you think that change of place can heal it ? The com- plaint is too deep-seated to be cured by a journey. Travel does not make a physician or an orator ; no art is acquired by merely living in a certain place.

Where lies the truth, then ? Can wisdom, the greatest of all the arts, be picked up on a journey ? I assure you, travel as far as you like, you can never estabhsh yourself beyond the reach of desire, beyond the reach of bad temper, or beyond the reach of fear ; had it been so, the human race would long ago have banded together and made a pilgrimage to the spot. Such ills, as long as you carry with you their causes, will load you down and worry you to skin and bone in your wanderings over land and sea. Do you wonder that it is of no use to run away

201

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miraris ? Tecum sunt, quae fugis. Te igitur emenda, onera tibi detrahe et demenda ^ desideria intra salutarem ^ modum contine. Omnem ex animo erade nequitiam. Si vis peregrinationes habere iucundas, eomitem tuum sana. Haerebit tibi avaritia, quamdiu avaro sordidoque convixeris ; haerebit tumor ,^ quamdiu superbo conversaberis. Numquam saevitiam in tortoris eontubernio pones. Incendent

21 Ubidines tuas adulterorum sodaUcia. Si velis vitiis exui, longe a vitiorum exemplis reeedendum est. Avarus, corruptor, saevus, fraudulentus, multum nocituri, si prope a te fuissent, intra te sunt.

Ad meUores transi : cum Catonibus vive, cum LaeUo, cum Tuberone. Quod si convivere etiam Graecis iuvat, cum Socrate, cum Zenone versare ; alter te docebit mori, si necesse erit, alter, antequam

22 necesse erit. Vive cum Chrysippo, cum Posidonio : hi tibi tradent humanorum divinorumque notitiai-i, hi iubebunt in opere esse nee tantum scite loqui et in oblectationem audientium verba iactare, sed ani- mum indurare et adversus minas erigere. Unus est enim huius vitae fluctuantis et turbidae portus e Ventura contemnere, stare fidenter ac paratum ^ tela fortunae adverso pectore excipere, non latitantem nee

23 tergiversantem. Magnanimos nos natura produxit et ut quibusdam animalibus ferum dedit, quibusdam

^ demenda Hense ; emenda BA.

^ salutarem Haase ; salutem BA.

* haerebit tumor later MSS. ; habehit timor BA.

* ac paratum Gemoll ; ad partum BA.

" These men are patterns or interpreters of the virtues. The first-named three represent courage, justice, and self- restraint respectively. Socrates is the ideal wise man, Zeno, Chrysippus, and Posidonius are in turn the founder, the classifier, and the modernizer of Stoicism.

202

EPISTLE CIV.

from them ? That from which you are running, is within you. Accordingly, reform your own self, get the burden off your own shoulders, and keep within safe limits the cravings which ought to be removed. Wipe out from your soul all trace of sin. If you would enjoy your travels, make healthy the com- panion of your travels. As long as this companion is avaricious and mean, greed will stick to you ; and while you consort with an overbearing man, your puffed-up ways will also stick close. Live with a hangman, and you will never be rid of your cruelty. If an adulterer be your club-mate, he will kindle the baser passions. K you would be stripped of your faults, leave far behind you the patterns of the faults. The miser, the swindler, the bully, the cheat, who will do you much harm merely by being near you, are within you.

Change therefore to better associations : live with the Catos, with Laelius, with Tubero. Or, if you enjoy living with Greeks also, spend your time with Socrates and with Zeno : the former will show you how to die if it be necessary ; the latter how to die before it is necessary. Live with Chrysippus, with Posidonius : ^ they will make you acquainted with things earthly and things heavenly ; they will bid you work hard over something more than neat turns of language and phrases mouthed forth for the entertainment of listeners ; they will bid you be stout of heart and rise superior to threats. The only harbour safe from the seething storms of this life is scorn of the future, a firm stand, a readiness to receive Fortune's missiles full in the breast, neither skulking nor turning the back. Nature has brought us forth brave of spirit, and, as she has implanted in certain animals a spirit of ferocity, in others craft,

203

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subdolum, quibusdam pavidum, ita nobis gloriosum et excelsum spiritum, quaerentem ubi honestissime, non ubi tutissime vivat, simillimum mundo, quern quantum mortalium passibus ^ licet, sequitur aemula- turque. Prof ert se, laudari et aspici credit. Dominus^

24 omnium est, supra omnia est ; itaque nulli se rei summittat, nihil illi videatur grave, nihil quod virum incurvet.

Terribiles visu formae letumque labosque ;

minime quidem, si quis rectis oculis intueri ilia possit et tenebras perrumpere. Multa per noctem habita terrori dies vertit ad risum. ** Terribiles visu formae letumque labosque '* : egregie Vergilius noster non ^ re dixit terribiles esse, sed visu, id est

25 videri, non esse.^ Quid, inquam, in istis est tam formidabile quam fama vulgavit ? Quid est, obsecro te, Lucili, cur timeat labor em vir, mortem homo ? Totiens mihi occurrunt isti, qui non putant fieri posse quicquid facere non possunt, et aiunt nos loqui maiora

26 quam quae humana natura sustineat. At quanto ego de ilUs mehus existimo ! Ipsi quoque haec possunt facere, sed nolunt. Denique quem umquam ista destituere temptantem ? Cui non faciliora ap- paruere in actu ? Non quia difficilia sunt, non audemus, sed quia non audemus, difficilia sunt.

27 Si tamen exemplum desideratis, accipite Socraten,

^ passibus later MSS. ; passus BA.

2 dominus later MSS. ; om. BA.

^ non later MSS. ; m BA.

* esse later MSS. ; posse BA.

« Aeneid, vi. 277. 204

EPISTLE GIV,

in others terror, so she has gifted us with an aspiring and lofty spirit, which prompts us to seek a life of the greatest honour, and not of the greatest security, that most resembles the soul of the universe, which it follows and imitates as far as our mortal steps permit. This spirit thrusts itself forward, confident of commendation and esteem. It is superior to all, monarch of all it surveys ; hence it should be sub- servient to nothing, finding no task too heavy, and nothing strong enough to weigh down the shoulders of a man.

Shapes dread to look upon, of toil or death ^

are not in the least dreadful, if one is able to look upon them with unflinching gaze, and is able to pierce the shadows. Many a sight that is held a terror in the night-time, is turned to ridicule by day. ** Shapes dread to look upon, of toil or death *' : our Vergil has excellently said that these shapes are dread, not in reality, but only ** to look upon " — in other words, they seem terrible, but are not. And in these visions what is there, I say, as fear-inspiring as rumour has proclaimed? Why, pray, my dear Lucilius, should a man fear toil, or a mortal death ? Countless cases occur to my mind of men who think that what they themselves are unable to do is im- possible, who maintain that we utter words which are too big for man's nature to carry out. But how much more highly do I think of these men ! They can do these things, but decline to do them. To whom that ever tried have these tasks proved false ? To what man did they not seem easier in the doing ? Our lack of confidence is not the result of difficulty ; the difficulty comes from our lack of confidence. If, however, you desire a pattern, take Socrates,

205

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

perpessicium senem, per omnia aspera iactatum, in- victum tamen et paupertate, quam graviorem illi domestica onera faciebant, et laboribus, quos mili- tares quoque pertulit. Quibus ille domi exercitus est,^ sive uxorem eius reminiscimur ^ moribus feram, lingua petulantem, sive liberos indociles et matri quam patri similiores. Si vere reputes,^ aut in bello fuit aut in tyrannide aut in libertate bellis ac t3^rannis

28 saeviore. Viginti et septem annis pugnatum est ; post finita arma triginta tyrannis noxae dedita est ci vitas, ex quibus plerique inimici erant. Novissima damnatio est sub gravissimis nominibus * impleta : obiecta est et religionum violatio et iuventutis corrupt ela, quam inmittere in deos, in patres, in rem publicam dictus est. Post haec career et venenum. Haec usque eo animum Socratis non mover ant, ut ne vultum quid em moverent. O illam ^ mirabilem laudem et singula- rem ! Usque ad extremum nee hilariorem quisquam nee tristiorem Socraten vidit. Aequalis fuit in tanta inaequalitate fortunae.

29 Vis alterum exemplum ? Accipe hunc M. Catonem recentiorem, cum quo et infestius fortuna egit et pertinaeius. Cui cum omnibus locis obstitisset, novis-

1 est later MSS. ; om. BA.

^ reminiscimur added by Hense.

^ reputes added by Hense.

* nominibus Lipsius ; hominihus BA.

^ moverent, o illam Buecheler ; mover int, Illam BA.

<* At first a sculptor, then an independent seeker after truth, whose wants were reduced to a minimum. Husband of the shrewish Xanthippe and father of the dull and worth- less Lamprocles. Brave soldier at Potidaea, Delium, and Amphipolis.

206

EPISTLE CIV.

a long-suffering old man, who was sea-tossed amid every hardship and yet was uneonquered both by poverty (which his troubles at home made more burdensome) and by toil, including the drudgery of military service. He was much tried at home, whether we think of his wife, a woman of rough manners and shrewish tongue, or of the children whose intractability showed them to be more like their mother than their father.^ And if you consider the facts, he lived either in time of war, or under tyrants, or under a democracy, which is more cruel than wars and tyrants. The war lasted for twenty- seven years ; ^ then the state became the victim of the Thirty Tyrants, of whom many were his personal enemies. At the last came that climax of condemna- tion under the gravest of charges : they accused him of disturbing the state religion and corrupting the youth, ^ for they declared that he had influenced the youth to defy the gods, to defy the council, and to defy the state in general. Next came the prison, and the cup of poison.^ But all these measures changed the soul of Socrates so little that they did not even change his features. What v/onderful and rare distinction ! He maintained this attitude up to the very end, and no man ever saw Socrates too much elated or too much depressed. Amid all the disturbance of Fortune, he was undisturbed.

Do you desire another case ? Take that of the younger Marcus Cato, with whom Fortune dealt in a more hostile and more persistent fashion. But he withstood her, on all occasions, and in his last

* 431-404 B.C. (the Peloponnesian War). ^ See Plato's Apology, 23 d. They had previously aimed at him a law forbidding the teaching of dialectic. ^ 399 B.C.

207

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sime et in morte, ostendit tamen virum fortem posse invita fortuna vivere, invita mori. Tota illi aetas aut in armis est exacta civilibus aut in toga^ con- cipiente iam civile bellum. Et hunc licet dicas non minus quam Socraten in servis se libertati addixisse,^ nisi forte Cn. Pompeium et Caesarem et Crassum

30 putas libertatis socios fuisse. Nemo mutatum Cato- nem totiens mutata re publica vidit : eundem se in omni statu praestitit, in praetura, in repulsa, in accusatione, in provincia, in contione, in exercitu, in morte. Denique in ilia rei publicae trepidatione, cum illinc Caesar esset decem legionibus pugnacis- simis subnixus, totis exterarum gentium praesidiis, hinc Cn. Pompeius, satis unus adversus omnia, cum alii ad Caesarem inclinarent, alii ad Pompeium,

31 solus Cato fecit aliquas et rei publicae partes. Si animo complecti volueris illius imaginem temporis, videbis illinc plebem et omne erectum ad res novas vulgum, hinc optumates et equestrem ordinem, quicquid erat in civitate sancti et electi, duos in medio relictos, rem publicam et Catonem.

Miraberis, inquam, cum animadverteris

Atriden ^ Priamumque et saevom ambobus Achillen.

32 Utrumque enim improbat, utrumque exarmat. Hanc fert de utroque sententiam : ait se, si Caesar vicerit,

^ in toga Kronenberg ; intacta BA.

^ in servis se libertati addixisse^ suggested by Hense ; inseruisse dixisse BA.

3 Atriden MSS. ; Atridas Vergil.

<» Triumvirs in 60 b.c. and rivals in acquiring unconstitu- tional power. ^ 54 B.C.

208

EPISTLE GIV.

moments, at the point of death, showed that a brave man can Uve in spite of Fortune, can die in spite of her. His whole hfe was passed either in civil warfare, or under a political regime which was soon to breed civil war. And you may say that he, just as much as Socrates, declared allegiance to liberty in the midst of slavery — unless perchance you think that Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus ^ were the allies of Uberty ! No one ever saw Cato change, no matter how often the state changed : he kept himself the same in all circumstances — in the praetor- ship,^ in defeat, under accusation,*' in his province, on the platform, in the army, in death. Further- more, when the republic was in a crisis of terror, when Caesar was on one side with ten embattled legions at his call, aided by so many foreign nations, and when Pompey was on the other, satisfied to stand alone against all comers, and when the citizens were leaning towards either Caesar or Pompey, Cato alone established a definite party for the Republic. If you would obtain a mental picture of that period, you may imagine on one side the people and the whole proletariat eager for revolution — on the other the senators and knights, the chosen and honoured men of the commonwealth ; and there were left between them but these two — the Republic and Cato.

I tell you, you will marvel when you see

Atreus' son, and Priam, and Achilles, wroth at both.*

Like Achilles, he scorns and disarms each faction. And this is the vote which he casts concerning them

* Perhaps a reference to his mission in Cyprus (58-56 B.C.), and his subsequent arraignment by Clodius. ^ Vergil, Aen. i. 458.

209

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

moriturum, si Pompeius, exulaturum. Quid habe- bat, quod timeret, qui ipse ^ sibi et victo et victori constituerat, quae constituta esse ab hostibus ira- tissimis poterant ? Periit itaque ex decreto suo.

33 Vides posse homines laborem pati : per medias Africae solitudines pedes duxit exercitum. Vides posse tolerari sitim : in collibus arentibus sine ullis inpedimentis victi exereitus reliquias trahens inopiam umoris loricatus tulit et, quotiens aquae fuerat occasio, novissimus bibit. Vides honorem et notam posse contemni : eodem quo repulsus est die in comitio pila lusit. Vides posse non timeri potentiam superiorum : et Pompeium et Caesarem, quorum nemo alterum ofFendere audebat nisi ut alterum demereretur, simul provocavit. Vides tam mortem posse contemni quam exilium : et exilium sibi indixit et mortem et interim bellum.

34 Possumus itaque adversus ista tantum habere animi, Ubeat modo subducere iugo eoUum. In primis autem respuendae voluptates ; enervant et efFe- minant et multum petunt, multum autem a fortuna petendum est. Deinde spernendae ^ opes : auctora- menta sunt servitutum. Aurum et argentum et quicquid ahud felices domos onerat, relinquatur ; non potest gratis const are libertas. Hanc si magno aestimas, omnia parvo aestimanda sunt. Vale.

^ ipse Hense ; id BA. ^ spernendae later MSS. ; sperandae BA.

« At Utica, in 46 b.c. 210

EPISTLE CIV.

both : ** If Caesar wins, I slay myself ; if Pompey, I go into exile/' What was there for a man to fear who, whether in defeat or in victory, had assigned to himself a doom which might have been assigned to him by his enemies in their utmost rage ? So he died by his own decision.

You see that man can endure toil : Cato, on foot, led an army through African deserts. You see that thirst can be endured : he marched over sun-baked hills, dragging the remains of a beaten army and with no train of supplies, undergoing lack of water and wearing a heavy suit of armour ; always the last to drink of the few springs which they chanced to find. You see that honour, and dishonour too, can be despised : for they report that on the very day when Cato was defeated at the elections, he played a game of ball. You see also that man can be free from fear of those above him in rank : for Cato attacked Caesar and Pompey simultaneously, at a time when none dared fall foul of the one without endeavouring to oblige the other. You see that death can be scorned as well as exile ; Cato inflicted exile upon himself and finally death," and war all the while.

And so, if only we are willing to withdraw our necks from the yoke, we can keep as stout a heart against such terrors as these. But first and foremost, we must reject pleasures ; they render us weak and womanish ; they make great demands upon us, and, moreover, cause us to make great demands upon Fortune. Second, we must spurn wealth : wealth is the diploma of slavery. Abandon gold and silver, and whatever else is a burden upon our richly- furnished homes ; liberty cannot be gained for nothing. If you set a high value on liberty, you must set a low value on everything else. Farewell.

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

CV.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Quae observanda tibi sint, ut tutior vivas, dicam. Tu tamen sic audias censeo ista praecepta, quomodo si tibi praeciperem, qua ratione bonam valitudinem in Ardeatino tuereris.

Considera, quae sint, quae hominem in perniciem hominis instigent : invenies spem, invidiam, odium,

2 metum, contemptum. Ex omnibus istis adeo levis- simum est contemptus, ut multi in illo remedii causa delituerint. Quem quis contemnit, violat ^ sine dubio, sed transit ; nemo homini contempto per- tinaciter, nemo diligenter nocet. Etiam in acie

3 iacens praeteritur, cum stante pugnatur. Spem in- proborum vitabis, si nihil habueris, quod cupiditatem alienam et inprobam inritet, si nihil insigne possederis. Concupiscuntur enim etiam parva, si notabiUa sunt, si rara.2

Invidiam effugies, si te non ingesseris oculis, si bona tua non iactaveris, si scieris in sinu gaudere.

4 Odium aut est ^ ex ofFensa : hoc vitabis neminem lacessendo ; aut gratuitum : a quo te sensus com- munis tuebitur. Fuit hoc multis periculosum ; qui- dam odium habuerunt nee inimicum. Illud, ne timearis, praestabit tibi et fortunae mediocritas et

^ violat Buecheler ; vincit BA.

^ This is Madvig's conjecture ; etiam pars innotarum sunt, sic raro BA.

* aut est Haase ; autem BA.

212

EPISTLE GV.

GV. ON FACING THE WORLD WITH CONFIDENCE

I shall now tell you certain things to which you should pay attention in order to Uve more safely. Do you however, — such is my judgment, — hearken to my precepts just as if I were counsel iing you to keep safe your health in your country-place at Ardea.

Reflect on the things which goad man into de- stroying man : you will find that they are hope, envy, hatred, fear, and contempt. Now, of all these, contempt is the least harmful, so much so that many have skulked behind it as a sort of cure. When a man despises you, he works you injury, to be sure, but he passes on ; and no one persistently or of set purpose does hurt to a person whom he despises. Even in battle, prostrate soldiers are neglected : men fight with those who stand their ground. And you can avoid the envious hopes of the wicked so long as you have nothing which can stir the evil desires of others, and so long as you possess nothing remarkable. For people crave even little things, if these catch the attention or are of rare occurrence.

You will escape envy if you do not force yourself upon the public view, if you do not boast your possessions, if you understand how to enjoy things privately. Hatred comes either from running foul of others : and this can be avoided by never pro- voking anyone ; or else it is uncalled for : and common-sense ^ will keep you safe from it. Yet it has been dangerous to many ; some people have been hated without having had an enemy. As to not being feared, a moderate fortune and an easy

* i,e.i tact.

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ingenii lenitas ; eum esse te homines sciant, quem offendere sine periculo possint ; reeonciliatio tua et facilis sit et certa. Timeri autem tarn domi molestum est quam foris, tani a servis quam a liberis. Nulli non ad nocenduni satis virium est. Adice nunc, quod qui timetur, timet ; nemo potuit terribilis esse secure.

5 Contemptus superest, cuius modum in sua potes- tate habet, qui ilium sibi adiunxit, qui contemnitur quia voluit, non quia debuit. Huius incommodum et artes bonae discutiunt et amicitiae eorum, qui apud aliquem potentem potentes sunt, quibus adplicari expediet, non inplicari, ne pluris remedium quam

6 periculum constet. Nihil tamen aeque proderit quam quiescere et minimum cum aliis loqui, plurimum secum. Est quaedam dulcedo sermonis, quae inrepit et eblanditur ^ et non aliter quam ebrietas aut amor secreta producit. Nemo quod audierit, tacebit. Nemo quantum audierit, loquetur. Qui rem non tacuerit, non tacebit auctorem. Habet unusquisque aliquem, cui tantum credat, quantum ipsi creditum est. Ut garrulitatem suam custodiat et contentus sit unius auribus, populum faciet, si ^ quod modo secretum erat, rumor est.

7 Securitatis magna portio est nihil inique facere. Confusam vitam et perturbatam inpotentes agunt ;

^ inrepit et eblanditur Pincianus ; inrepltete hlanditur BA. ^ si Buecheler ; sic BA.

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disposition will guarantee you that ; men should know that you are the sort of person who can be offended without danger ; and your reconciliation should be easy and sure. Moreover, it is as trouble- some to be feared at home as abroad ; it is as bad to be feared by a slave as by a gentleman. For every one has strength enough to do you some harm. Besides, he who is feared, fears also ; no one has been able to arouse terror and live in peace of mind.

Contempt remains to be discussed. He who has made this quality an adjunct of his own personality, who is despised because he wishes to be despised and not because he must be despised, has the measure of contempt under his control. Any inconveniences in this respect can be dispelled by honourable occupa- tions and by friendships with men who have influence with an influential person ; with these men it will profit you to engage but not to entangle yourself, lest the cure may cost you more than the risk. Nothing, however, will help you so much as keeping still — talking very little with others, and as much as may be with yourself. For there is a sort of charm about conversation, something very subtle and coaxing, which, like intoxication or love, draws secrets from us. No man will keep to himself what he hears. No one will tell another only as much as he has heard. And he who tells tales will tell names, too. Everyone has someone to whom he entrusts exactly what has been entrusted to him. Though he checks his own garrulity, and is content with one hearer, he will bring about him a nation, if that which was a secret shortly before becomes common talk.

The most important contribution to peace of mind is never to do wrong. Those who lack self-control lead disturbed and tumultuous lives ; their crimes

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tantum metuunt, quantum nocent, nee uUo tempore vacant. Trepidant enim, cum fecerunt, haerent ; conscientia aliud agere non patitur ac subinde respon- dere ad se cogit. Dat poenas quisquis expectat; 8 quisquis autem meruit, expectat. Tutum aliqua res in mala conscientia praestat, nulla securum ; putat enim se, etiam si non deprenditur, posse deprendi. Et inter somnos movetur et, quotiens alicuius scelus loquitur, de suo cogitat ; non satis illi obliteratum videtur, non satis tectum. Nocens habuit aliquando latendi fortunam, numquam fiduciam. Vale.

CVI.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Tardius rescribo ad epistulas tuas, non quia districtus occupationibus sum. Hanc excusationem cave audi as ; vaco et omnes vacant, qui volunt. Neminem res secuntur. Ipsi illas amplexantur et argumentum esse felicitatis occupationem putant. Quid ergo fuit, quare non protinus rescriberem ? Id,^ de quo quaerebas, veniebat in contextum operis

2 mei. Scis enim me moralem philosophiam velle conplecti et omnes ad cam pertinentis quaestiones explicare. Itaque dubitavi utrum difTerrem te, donee

1 id Madvig ; ei BA^

" Presumably (c/. Ep. eviii. § 1) into this collection of Epistles.

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EPISTLES GV., CVI.

are balanced by their fears, and they are never at ease. For they tremble after the deed, and they are embarrassed ; their consciences do not allow them to busy themselves with other matters, and continually compel them to give an answer. Who- ever expects punishment, receives it, but whoever deserves it, expects it. Where there is an evil conscience something may bring safety, but nothing can bring ease ; for a man imagines that, even if he is not under arrest, he may soon be arrested. His sleep is troubled ; when he speaks of another man's crime, he reflects upon his own, which seems to him not sufficiently blotted out, not sufficiently hidden from view. A wrongdoer sometimes has the luck to escape notice but never the assurance thereof. Farewell.

GVI. ON THE CORPOREALITY OF VIRTUE

My tardiness in answering your letter was not due to press of business. Do not listen to that sort of excuse ; I am at liberty, and so is anyone else who wishes to be at hberty. No man is at the mercy of affairs. He gets entangled in them of his own accord, and then flatters himself that being busy is a proof of happiness. Very well ; you no doubt want to know why I did not answer the letter sooner ? The matter about which you consulted me was being gathered into the fabric of my volume.* For you know that I am planning to cover the whole of moral philosophy and to settle all the problems which concern it. Therefore I hesitated whether to make you wait until the proper time came for

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suus isti rei veniret locus, an^ ius tibi extra ordinem dicerem ; humanius visum est tarn longe venientem

3 non detinere. Itaque et hoc ex ilia serie rerum cohaerentium excerpam et, si qua erunt eiusmodi, non quaerenti tibi ultro mittam.

Quae sint haec interrogas ? Quae scire magis iuvat quam prodest, sicut hoc, de quo quaeris :

4 bonum an corpus sit ? Bonum facit : prodest enim.^ Quod facit, corpus est. Bonum agitat animum et quodammodo format et continet, quae propria ^ sunt corporis. Quae corporis bona sunt, corpora sunt ;

5 ergo et quae animi sunt. Nam et hoc corpus est. Bonum hominis necesse est corpus sit, cum ipse sit corporalis. Mentior, nisi et quae alunt ilium et quae vaUtudinem eius vel custodiunt vel restituunt, corpora sunt ; ergo et bonum eius corpus est. Non puto te dubitaturum, an adfectus corpora sint — ut aliud quoque, de quo non quaeris, infulciam — tam- quam ira,amor, tristitia,nisi^ dubitas, an vultum nobis mutent, an frontem adstringant, an faciem diffundant, an ruborem evocent, an fugent sanguinem. Quid ergo ? Tam manifestas notas corporis credis inprimi ^

6 nisi a corpore ? Si adfectus corpora sunt, et morbi animorum, ut ^ avaritia, crudelitas, indurata vitia et in statum inemendabilem adducta ; ergo et malitia

^ an after differrem te BA ; after locus Eisele. ^ facit : prodest enim Schweighaeuser ; prodest, facile enim BA.

^ ergo propria MSS. ; propria Schweighaeuser.

* nisi Gertz ; si BA.

* inprimi later MSS. : incrimine BA.

® ut Windhaus and Gertz, with cod. Velz. ; et BA.

* As Lucilius, in his letter, has come from far away.

^ This subject is discussed more fully in Ep, cxiii. For

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this subject, or to pronounce judgment out of the logical order ; but it seemed more kindly not to keep waiting one who comes from such a distance.^ So I propose both to pick this out of the proper sequence of correlated matter, and also to send you, witnout waiting to be asked, whatever has to do with ques- tions of the same sort.

Do you ask what these are ? Questions regarding which knowledge pleases rather than profits ; for instance, your question whether the good is cor- poreal.^ Now the good is active : for it is beneficial ; and what is active is corporeal. The good stimulates the mind and, in a way, moulds and embraces that which is essential to the body. The goods of the body are bodily ; so therefore must be the goods of the soul. For the soul, too, is corporeal. Ergo, man's good must be corporeal, since man himself is corporeal. I am sadly astray if the elements which support man and preserve or restore his health, are not bodily ; therefore, his good is a body. You will have no doubt, I am sure, that emotions are bodily things (if I may be allowed to wedge in another subject not under immediate discussion), like wrath, love, sternness ; unless you doubt whether they change our features, knot our foreheads, relax the countenance, spread blushes, or drive away the blood ? What, then ? Do you think that such evident marks of the body are stamped upon us by li anything else than body ? And if emotions are corporeal, so are the diseases of the spirit — such as greed, cruelty, and all the faults which harden in our souls, to such an extent that they get into an incurable state. Therefore evil is also, and all

^ a clear account of the whole question of '* body " see Arnold,

HL Roman Stoicism, pp. 157 If.

B VOL. Ill H 219

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et species eius omnes, malignitas, invidia, superbia ;

7 ergo et bona, primum quia eontraria istis sunt, deinde quia eadem tibi indicia praestabunt. An non vides, quantum oculis det vigorem fortitudo ? Quantam intentionem prudentia ? Quantam modestiam et quietem reverentia ? Quantam serenitatem laetitia ? Quantum rigorem severitas ? Quantam remissionem lenitas ? Corpora ergo sunt, quae colorem habitum- que corporum mutant, quae in illis regnum suum exercent.

Omnes autem, quas rettuli, virtutes bona ^ sunt, et quicquid ex illis est. Numquid est dubium, an id,

8 quo quid tangi potest, corpus sit ?

Tangere enim et tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res,

ut ait Lucretius. Omnia autem ista, quae dixi, non mutarent corpus, nisi t anger ent ; ergo corpora sunt.

9 Etiam nunc cui tanta vis est, ut inpellat et cogat et retineat et inhibeat,^ corpus est. Quid ergo ? Non timor retinet ? Non audacia inpellit ? Non forti- tudo inmittit et impetum dat ? Non moderatio refrenat ac revocat ? Non gaudium extollit ? Non

10 tristitia adducit ? Denique quidquid facimus, aut malitiae aut virtutis gerimus imperio. Quod imperat corpori, corpus est,^ quod vim corpori adfert, corpus. Bonum corporis corporalest,^ bonum hominis et cor- poris bonum est ; itaque corporale ^ est.

11 Quoniam, ut voluisti, morem gessi tibi, nunc ipse dicam mihi, quod dicturum esse te video : latrunculis

^ bona later MSS. ; bonae BA. ^ inhibeat Gertz ; iubeat BA. « est later MSS. ; sit BA.

* corporalest Windhaus ; corporalis BA ; corporalis res est later MSS.

• corporale later MSS. ; corporalis BA. 220

EPISTLE CVI.

its branches — spite, hatred, pride ; and so also are goods, first because they are opposite poles of the bad, and second because they will manifest to you the same symptoms. Do you not see how a spirit of bravery makes the eye flash ? How pru- dence tends towards concentration ? How reverence produces moderation and tranquillity ? How joy produces calm ? How sternness begets stiffness ? How gentleness produces relaxation ? These qualities are therefore bodily ; for they change the tones and the shapes of substances, exercising their own power in their own kingdoms.

Now all the virtues which I have mentioned are goods, and so are their results. Have you any doubt that whatever can touch is corporeal ?

Nothing but body can touch or be touched,

as Lucretius^ says. Moreover, such changes as I have mentioned could not affect the body without touching it. Therefore, they are bodily. Further- more, any object that has power to move, force, restrain, or control, is corporeal. Come now ! Does not fear hold us back ? Does not boldness drive us ahead ? Bravery spur us on, and give us momentum ? Restraint rein us in and call us back ? Joy raise our spirits ? Sadness cast us down ? In short, any act on our part is performed at the bidding of wicked- ness or virtue. Only a body can control or force- fully affect another body. The good of the body is corporeal ; a man's good is related to his bodily good ; therefore, it is bodily.

Now that I have humoured your wishes, I shall anticipate your remark, when you say : " What a

« I)e llerum Nat. i. 304.

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ludimus. In supervacuis subtilitas teritur ; non faciunt bonos ista, sed doctos. Apertior res est 12 sapere, immo simpliciter satius ^ est ad mentem bonam uti litteris, sed nos ut cetera in super- vacuum difFundimus, ita philosophiam ipsam. Quem- admodum omnium rerum, sic litterarum quoque intemperantia laboramus ; non vitae sed scholae discimus. Vale.

CVII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Ubi ilia prudentia tua ? Ubi in dispiciendis rebus subtilitas ? Ubi magnitudo ? lam pusilla te res angit 2 ? Servi occupationes tuas occasionem fugae putaverunt. Si amici deciperent — liabeant enim sane nomen, quod illis noster error ^ inposuit, et vocentur, quo turpius non sint — omnibus rebus tuis desset aliquid ; nunc * desunt illi, qui et operam tuam conterebant et te aliis molestum esse credebant.

2 Nihil horum insolitum, nihil inexpectatum est. OfFendi rebus istis tam ridiculum est quam queri, quod spargaris in publico aut inquineris in luto. Eadem vitae condicio est, quae balnei, turbae, itineris : quaedam in te mittentur,^ quaedam incident.

^ satius Biiecheler ; faucis BA.

^ te res angit later MSB. ; tang it BA ; pusilla tangunt Erasmus.

^ error Madvig ; e priori or epicurus BA. * desset aliquid ; nunc inserted by Hense. ** in te mittentur Lipsius ; intermittentur BA.

" The Romans had a ludus latrunculorum, with features resembling both draughts and chess. The pieces (calculi) were perhaps of different values : the latrunculus may have been a sort of " rover," c/. Martial, Epig, vii. 72.

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EPISTLES GVI., GVII.

game of pawns ! *' * We dull our fine edge by such superfluous pursuits ; these things make men clever, but not good. Wisdom is a plainer thing than that ; nay, it is clearly better to use literature for the improvement of the mind, instead of wasting philo- sophy itself as we waste other efforts on superfluous things. Just as we suffer from excess in all things, so we suffer from excess in literature ; thus we learn our lessons, not for life, but for the lecture-room. Farewell.

GVII. ON OBEDIENCE TO THE UNIVERSAL

WILL

Where is that common-sense of yours ? Where that deftness in examining things ? That greatness of soul ? Have you come to be tormented by a trifle ? Your slaves regarded your absorption in business as an opportunity for them to run away. Well, if your friends deceived you (for by all means let them have the name which we mistakenly bestowed upon them, and so call them, that they may incur more shame by not being such friends) — if your friends, I repeat, deceived you, all your affairs would lack some- thing ; as it is, you merely lack men who damaged your own endeavours and considered you burdensome to your neighbours. None of these things is unusual or unexpected. It is as nonsensical to be put out by such events as to complain of being spattered in the street or at getting befouled in the mud. The programme of life is the same as that of a bathing establishment, a crowd, or a journey : sometimes things will be thrown at you, and sometimes they

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Non est delicata res vivere. Longam viam ingrcssus es ; et labaris oportet et arietes et cadas et lasseris et exclames : ** O mors ! '* id est mentiaris. Alio loco comitem relinques, alio efferes, alio timebis ; per eiusmodi offensas emetiendum est confragosum hoc iter.

3 Mori vult ? Praeparetur animus contra omnia ;

sciat se venisse, ubi tonat fulmen. Sciat se venisse,

ubi

Luctus et ultrices posiiere ciibilia curae Pallentesque habitant morbi tristisque senectus.

In hoc contubernio vita degenda est. Effugere ista

non potes, contemnere potes. Contemnes autem, si

4 saepe cogitaveris et futura praesumpseris. Nemo non fortius ad id, cui se diu conposuerat, accessit et duris quoque, si praemeditata erant, obstitit. At contra inparatus etiam levissima expavit. Id agen- dum est, ne quid nobis inopinatum sit. Et quia omnia novitate graviora sunt, hoc cogitatio adsidua praestabit, ut nulli sis malo tiro.

5 ** Servi me reliquerunt." Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium pro- diderunt, alium calcaverunt, alium veneno, alium criminatione petierunt ; quicquid dixeris, multis accidit. Deinceps quae multa et varia sunt, in nos

<» Vergil, Aen, vi. 274 f. 224

EPISTLE CVII.

will strike you by accident. Life is not a dainty business. You have started on a long journey ; you are bound to slip, collide, fall, become weary, and cry out : ** O for Death ! ** — or in other words, tell lies. At one stage you will leave a comrade behind you, at another you will bury someone, at another you will be apprehensive. It is amid stumblings of this sort that you must travel out this rugged journey.

Does one wish to die ? Let the mind be prepared to meet everything ; let it know that it has reached the heights round which the thunder plays. Let it know that it has arrived where —

Grief and avenging Care have set their couch. And pallid sickness dwells, and drear Old Age.*

With such messmates must you spend your days. Avoid them you cannot, but despise them you can. And you will despise them, if you often take thought and anticipate the future. Everyone approaches courageously a danger which he has prepared himself to meet long before, and withstands even hardships if he has previously practised how to meet them. But, contrariwise, the unprepared are panic-stricken even at the most trifling things. We must see to it that nothing shall come upon us unforeseen. And since things are all the more serious when they are unfamiliar, continual reflection will give you the power, no matter what the evil may be, not to play the unschooled boy.

** My slaves have run away from me ! *' Yes, other men have been robbed, blackmailed, slain, be- trayed, stamped under foot, attacked by poison or by slander ; no matter what trouble you mention, it has happened to many. Again, there are manifold

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tela deriguntur.^ Quaedam in nos fixa sunt, quae- dam vibrant et cum maxime veniunt, quaedam

6 in alios perventura nos stringunt. Nihil miremur eorum, ad quae nati sumus, quae ideo nulli querenda, quia paria sunt omnibus. Ita dico, paria sunt ; nam etiam quod effugit aliquis, pati potuit. Aequum autem ius est non quo omnes usi sunt, sed quod omnibus latum est. Imperetur aequitas animo et sine querella mortalitatis tributa pendamus.

7 Hiems frigora addueit : algendum est. Aestas calores refert : aestuandum est. Intemperies caeli valitudinem temptat : aegrotandum est. Et fera nobis aliquo loco occurret et homo perniciosior feris omnibus. Aliud aqua, aliud ignis eripiet. Hanc rerum condicionem mutare non possumus ; illud possumus, magnum sumere animum et viro bono dignum, quo fortiter fortuita patiamur et naturae

8 consentiamus. Natura autem hoc, quod vides, reg- num mutationibus temperat ; nubilo serena suc- cedunt ; turbantur maria, cum quieverunt ; flant in vicem venti ; noctem dies sequitur ; pars caeli con- surgit, pars mergitur. Contrariis rerum aeternitas constat.

9 Ad hanc legem animus noster aptandus est ; hanc sequatur, huic pareat. Et quaecumque fiunt, de- buisse fieri putet nee velit obiurgare naturam. Optimum est pati, quod emendare non possis, et

^ varia sunt, in nos tela deriguntur Hense ; B and A omit tela and read diriguntur,

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EPISTLE GVII.

kinds of missiles which are hurled at us. Some are planted in us, some are being brandished and at this very moment are on the way, some which were destined for other men graze us instead. We should not manifest surprise at any sort of condition into which we are born, and which should be lamented by no one, simply because it is equally ordained for all. Yes, I say, equally ordained ; for a man might have experienced even that which he has escaped. And an equal law consists, not of that which all have experienced, but of that which is laid down for all. Be sure to prescribe for your mind this sense of equity ; we should pay without complaint the tax of our mortality.

Winter brings on cold weather ; and we must shiver. Summer returns, with its heat ; and we must sweat. Unseasonable weather upsets the health ; and we must fall ill. In certain places we may meet with wild beasts, or with men who are more destructive than any beasts. Floods, or fires, will cause us loss. And we cannot change this order of things ; but what we can do is to acquire stout hearts, worthy of good men, thereby courageously enduring chance and placing ourselves in harmony with Nature. And Nature moderates this world- kingdom which you see, by her changing seasons : clear weather follows cloudy ; after a calm, comes the storm ; the winds blow by turns ; day succeeds night ; some of the heavenly bodies rise, and some set. Eternity consists of opposites.

It is to this law that our souls must adjust them- selves, this they should follow, this they should obey. Whatever happens, assume that it was bound to happen, and do not be willing to rail at Nature. That which you cannot reform, it is best to endure,

VOL. Ill H 2 227

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deum, quo aiictore cuncta proveniunt, sine murmura- tione comitari ; malus miles est qui imperatorem

10 gemens sequitur. Quare inpigri atque alacres ex- cipiamus imperia nee deseramus ^ hunc operis pul- cherrimi cursum, cui quidquid patiemur, intextum est.

Et sic adloquamur lovem, cuius gubernaculo ^ moles ista derigitur, quemadmodum Cleanthes noster versibus disertissimis adloquitur, quos mihi in nostrum sermonem mutare permittitur Ciceronis, disertissimi viri, exemplo. Si placuerint, boni consules ; si displieuerint, scies me in hoc secutum Ciceronis exemplum :

11 Due, o parens celsique dominator poll, Quocumque placiiit ; nulla parendi mora est. Adsum inpiger. Fac nolle, comitabor gemens Malusque patiar, facere quod licuit bono. Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt.

12 Sic vivamus, sic loquamur ; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum. Hie est magnus animus, qui se ei tradidit ; at contra ille pusillus et degener, qui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deos quam se. Vale.

CVIII. Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Id, de quo quaeris, ex his est, quae scire tantum

^ deseramus later MSS. ; desimus BA. 2 gubernaculo later MSS. ; tahernaculo BA.

« Cleanthes, Frag. 527 von Arnim. In Epictetus (Ench. 53) these verses are assigned to Cleanthes (omitting the last line) ; while St. Augustine {Civ. Deu v. 8) quotes them as Seneca's : Annaei Senecae sunt^ nisi fallor, hi versus, Wilamowitz and others follow the latter view.

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EPISTLES CVII., CVIII.

and to attend uncomplainingly upon the God under whose guidance everything progresses ; for it is a bad soldier who grumbles when following his com- mander. For this reason we should welcome our orders with energy and vigour, nor should we cease to follow the natural course of this most beautiful universe, into which all our future sufferings are woven.

Let us address Jupiter, the pilot of this world- mass, as did our great Cleanthes in those most eloquent lines — lines which I shall allow myself to render in Latin, after the example of the eloquent Cicero. If you like them, make the most of them ; if they displease you, you will understand that I have simply been following the practice of Cicero :

Lead me, O Master of the lofty heavens.

My Father, whithersoever thou shalt wish.

I shall not falter, but obey with speed.

And though I would not, I shall go, and suiFer,

In sin and sorrow what I might have done

In noble virtue. Aye, the willing soul

Fate leads, but the unwilling drags along."

Let us live thus, and speak thus ; let Fate find us ready and alert. Here is your great soul — the man who has given himself over to Fate ; on the other hand, that man is a weakling and a degenerate who struggles and maligns the order of the universe and would rather reform the gods than reform him- self. Farewell.

CVIII. ON THE APPROACHES TO PHILOSOPHY

The topic about which you ask me is one of those where our only concern with knowledge is to have the

229

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eo, ut scias, pertinet. Sed nihilominus, quia pertinet, properas nee vis exspeetare libros, quos eum maxime ordino eontinentes totam moralem philosophiae par- tem. Statim expediam, illud tamen prius scribam, quemadmodum tibi ista cupiditas discendi, qua fla-

2 grare te video, digerenda sit, ne ipsa se inpediat. Nee passim carpenda sunt nee avide invadenda universa ; per partes pervenietur ad totum. Aptari onus viribus debet nee plus occupari quam cui sufficere possimus. Non quantum vis, sed quantum capis, hauriendum est. Bonum tantum habe animum ; capies quantum voles. Quo plus recipit animus, hoc se magis laxat.

3 Haec nobis praecipere Attalum memini, cum scholam eius opsideremus et primi veniremus et novissimi exiremus, ambulantem quoque ilium ad aliquas disputationes evocaremus, non tantum para- tum discentibus, sed obvium. ** Idem," inquit, " et docenti et discenti debet esse propositum : ut ille

4 prodesse velit, hie proficere." Qui ad philosophum venit, cotidie aliquid secum boni ferat : aut sanior domum redeat aut sanabilior. Redibit autem ; ea philosophiae vis est, ut non studentes, sed etiam conversantes iuvet. Qui in solem venit, licet non in

" C/. Ep, cvi. 2 scis enim me moralem philosophiam velle conplecti^ etc.

^ Seneca's first and most convincing teacher of Stoicism, to whom this letter is a tribute. The ablest of contemporary- philosophers, he was banished during the reign of Tiberius. See Indexes to Vols. I. and II.

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knowledge. Nevertheless, because it does so far concern us, you are in a hurry ; you are not willing to wait for the books which I am at this moment arranging for you, and which embrace the whole department of moral philosophy.^ I shall send you the books at once ; but I shall, before doing that, write and tell you how this eagerness to learn, with which I see you are aflame, should be regulated, so that it may not get in its own way. Things are not to be gathered at random ; nor should they be greedily attacked in the mass ; one will arrive at a knowledge of the whole by studying the parts. The burden should be suited to your strength, nor should you tackle more than you can adequately handle. Absorb not all that you wish, but all that you can hold. Only be of a sound mind, and then you will be able to hold all that you wish. For the more the mind receives, the more does it expand.

This was the advice, I remember, which Attains ^ gave me in the days when I practically laid siege to his class-room, the first to arrive and the last to leave. Even as he paced up and down, I would challenge him to various discussions ; for he not only kept himself accessible to his pupils, but met them half-way. His words were : ** The same purpose should possess both master and scholar — an ambition in the one case to promote, and in the other to progress.*' He who studies with a philosopher should take away with him some one good thing every day : he should daily return home a sounder man, or in the way to become sounder And he will thus return ; for it is one of the functions of philosophy to help not only those who study her, but those also who associate with her. He that walks in the sun, though he walk not for that purpose, must needs

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hoc venerit, colorabitur ; qui in unguentaria taberna resederunt et paullo diutius commorati sunt, odorem secum loci ferunt. Et qui ad philosophum fuerunt, traxerint aliquid necesse est, quod prodesset etiam neglegentibus. Attende, quid dicam : neglegenti- bus, non repugnantibus.

5 ** Quid ergo ? Non novimus quosdam, qui multis apud philosophum annis persederint et ne colorem quidem duxerint ? " Quidni noverim ? Pertinacis- simos quidem et adsiduos, quos ego non discipulos

6 philosophorum, sed inquiUnos voco. Quidam veniunt ut audiant, non ut discant, sicut in theatrum volup- tatis causa ad delectandas aures oratione vel voce vel fabulis ducimur. Magnam hanc auditorum partem videbis, cui philosophi schola deversorium otii sit Non id agunt, ut ahqua illo vitia deponant, ut ahquam legem vitae accipiant, qua mores suos exigant, sed ut oblectamento aurium perfruantur. AUqui tamen et cum pugillaribus veniunt, non ut res excipiant, sed ut verba, quae tam sine profectu alieno dicant quam sine suo audiunt. Quidam ad magnificas voces ex- citantur et transeunt in adfectum dicentium alacres

7 vultu et animo, nee aliter concitantur quam solent Phrygii tibicinis sono semiviri et ex imperio furentes.^ Rapit illos instigatque rerum pulchritudo, non ver-

^ furentes Erasmus ; fugientes BA^.

« Literally " tenants," " lodgers," of a temporary sort.

^ Cf, the dangers of such lusoria (Ep. xlviii. 8) and a rebus studium transferendum est ad verba {Ep, xl. 14).

* «.^., mendicant Galli, worshippers of Cybele, the Magna Mater.

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become sunburned. He who frequents the per- fumer's shop and hngers even for a short time, will carry with him the scent of the place. And he who follows a philosopher is bound to derive some benefit therefrom, which will help him even though he be remiss. Mark what I say : ** remiss,'' not ** re- calcitrant."

** What then ? " you say, " do we not know certain men who have sat for many years at the feet of a philosopher and yet have not acquired the slightest tinge of wisdom ? " Of course I know such men. There are indeed persevering gentlemen who stick at it ; I do not call them pupils of the wise, but merely ** squatters." ^ Certain of them come to hear and not to learn, just as we are attracted to the theatre to satisfy the pleasures of the ear, whether by a speech, or by a song, or by a play. This class, as you will see, constitutes a large part of the listeners, — who regard the philosopher's lecture-room merely as a sort of lounging-place for their leisure. They do not set about to lay aside any faults there, or to receive a rule of life, by which they may test their characters ; they merely wish to enjoy to the full the delights of the ear. And yet some arrive even with notebooks, not to take down the matter, but only the words,^ that they may presently repeat them to others with as little profit to these as they themselves received when they heard them. A certain number are stirred by high-sounding phrases, and adapt themselves to the emotions of the speaker with lively change of face and mind — ^just like the emasculated Phrygian priests ^ who are wont to be roused by the sound of the flute and go mad to order. But the true hearer is ravished and stirred by the beauty of the subject matter, not by

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borum inanium sonitus. Si quid acriter contra mortem dictum est, si quid contra fortunam con- tumaciter, iuvat protinus quae audias, facere. Ad- ficiuntur illis et sunt quales iubentur, si ilia animo forma permaneat, si non impetum insignem protinus populus, honesti dissuasor, excipiat ; pauci illam, quam conceperant mentem, domum perferre po-

8 tuerunt. Facile est auditor em concitare ad cupidinem recti ; omnibus enim natura fundamenta dedit semenque virtutum. Omnes ad omnia ista nati sumus ; cum inritator accessit, tunc ilia anima bona veluti soluta excitatur. Non vides, quemadmodum theatra consonent, quotiens aliqua dicta sunt, quae publice adgnoscimus et consensu vera esse testamur ?

9 Desunt inopiae multa, avaritiae omnia.

In nullum avarus bonus est, in se pessimus.

Ad hos versus ille sordidissimus plaudit et vitiis suis fieri convicium gaudet ; quanto magis hoc iudicas evenire, cum a philosopho ista dicuntur, cum salutari- bus praeceptis versus inseruntur, efficacius eadem ilia

10 demissuri in animum imperitorum ? '* Nam,*' ut dicebat Cleanthes, ** quemadmodum spiritus noster clariorem sonum reddit, cum ilium tuba per longi canalis angustias tractum patentiore novissime exitu efFudit, sic sensus nostros clariores carminis arta necessitas efficit/' Eadem neglegentius audiuntur

* Syri Sententiae^ Frag. 236 Ribbeck. * Ib„ Frag. 234 R. « Frag. 487 von Arnim.

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the jingle of empty words. When a bold word has been uttered in defiance of death, or a saucy fling in defiance of Fortune, we take delight in acting straightway upon that which we have heard. Men are impressed by such words, and become what they are bidden to be, should but the impres- sion abide in the mind, and should the populace, who discourage honourable things, not immediately lie in wait to rob them of this noble impulse ; only a few can carry home the mental attitude with which they were inspired. It is easy to rouse a listener so that he will crave righteousness ; for Nature has laid the foundations and planted the seeds of virtue in us all. And we are all born to these general privileges ; hence, when the stimulus is added, the good spirit is stirred as if it were freed from bonds. Have you not noticed how the theatre re- echoes whenever any words are spoken whose truth we appreciate generally and confirm unanimously ?

The poor lack much ; the greedy man lacks all.* A greedy man does good to none ; he does Most evil to himself.*

At such verses as these, your meanest miser claps applause and rejoices to hear his own sins reviled. How much more do you think this holds true, when such things are uttered by a philosopher, when he introduces verses among his wholesome precepts, that he may thus make those verses sink more effectively into the mind of the neophyte ! Cleanthes used to say :^ ** As our breath produces a louder sound when it passes through the long and narrow opening of the trumpet and escapes by a hole which widens at the end, even so the fettering rules of poetry clarify our meaning." The very same words are more carelessly received and make less impression

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minusque percutiunt, quamdiu soluta oratione dicun- tur ; ubi accessere numeri et egregium sensum ad- strinxere certi pedes, eadem ilia sententia velut

11 lacerto excussiore ^ torquetur. De contemptu pe- cuniae multa dicuntur et longissimis orationibus hoc praecipitur, ut homines in animo, non in patrimonio putent esse divitias, eum esse locupletem, qui paupertati suae aptatus est et parvo se divitem fecit ; magis tamen feriuntur animi, cum carmina eiusmodi dicta sunt :

Is minimo eget mortalis, qui minimum cupit. Quod vult habet, qui velle quod satis est potest.

12 Cum haec atque eiusmodi audimus, ad confessionem veritatis adducimur.

lUi enim, quibus nihil satis est, admirantur, ad- clamant, odium pecuniae indicunt. Hunc illorum adfectum cum ^ videris, urge, hoc preme, hoc onera ^ relictis ambiguitatibus et syllogismis et cavillationibus et ceteris acuminis inriti ludicris. Die in avaritiam, die in luxuriam ; cum profecisse te videris et animos audientium adfeceris, insta vehementius ; veri simile non est, quantum proficiat talis oratio remedio intenta et tota in bonum audientium versa. Facillime enim tenera conciUantur ingenia ad honesti rectique

^ excussiore Gertz ; excussare BA.

2 cum later MSS. ; om. BA. 3 onera, later MSS. ; honora BA.

« Pall. Incert. Fab. 65 and 66 Ribbeck. 236

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upon us, when they are spoken in prose ; but when metre is added and when regular prosody has com- pressed a noble idea, then the selfsame thought comes, as it were, hurtling with a fuller fling. We talk much about despising money, and we give advice on this subject in the lengthiest of speeches, that mankind may believe true riches to exist in the mind and not in one's bank account, and that the man who adapts himself to his slender means and makes himself wealthy on a little sum, is the truly rich man ; but our minds are struck more effectively when a verse like this is repeated :

or,

He needs but little who desires but little.

He hath his wish, whose wish includeth naught Save that which is enough. **

When we hear such words as these, we are led towards a confession of the truth.

Even men in whose opinion nothing is enough, wonder and applaud when they hear such words, and swear eternal hatred against money. When you see them thus disposed, strike home, keep at them, and charge them with this duty, dropping all double meanings, syllogisms, hair-splitting, and the other side-shows of ineffective smartness. Preach against greed, preach against high living ; and when you notice that you have made progress and im- pressed the minds of your hearers, lay on still harder. You cannot imagine how much progress can be brought about by an address of that nature, when you are bent on curing your hearers and are abso- lutely devoted to their best interests. For when the mind is young, it may most easily be won over to desire what is honourable and upright ; truth, if she

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amorem et adhuc docibilibus leviterque corruptis illicit manum Veritas, si advocatum idoneum nancta est.

13 Ego certe cum Attalum audirem in vitia, in errores, in mala vitae perorantem, saepe miseritus sum generis humani et ilium sublimem altioremque humano fastigio credidi. Ipse regem se esse dicebat, sed plus quam regnare mihi videbatur, cui liceret censuram

14 agere regnantium. Cum vero commendare pauper- tatem coeperat et ostendere, quam quidquid usum excederet, pondus esset supervacuum et grave ferenti, saepe exire e schola pauperi libuit. Cum coeperat voluptates nostras traducere, laudare castum corpus, sobriam mensam, pur am mentem non tantum ab inlicitis voluptatibus, sed etiam supervacuis, libebat

15 circumscribere gulam ac ventrem. Inde mihi quae- dam permansere, Lucili. Magno enim in omnia inceptu veneram. Deinde ad civitatis vitam reductus ex bene coeptis pauca servavi. Inde ostreis boletis- que in omnem vitam renuntiatum est ; nee enim cibi, sed oblectamenta sunt ad edendum saturos cogentia, quod gratissimum est edacibus et se ultra quam capiunt farcientibus, facile descensura, facile

16 reditura. Inde in omnem vitam unguentoabstinemus, quoniam optimus odor in corpore est nullus. Inde vino car ens stomachus. Inde in omnem vitam bal- neum fugimus, decoquere corpus atque exinanire

° A characteristic Stoic paradox.

* An almost proverbial saying ; cf. the rede olet ubi nil olet of Plautus {Most, 273), Cicero, and Martial.

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can obtain a suitable pleader, will lay strong hands upon those who can still be taught, those who have been but superficially spoiled.

At any rate, when I used to hear Attains denounc- ing sin, error, and the evils of life, I often felt sorry for mankind and regarded Attains as a noble and majestic being, — above our mortal heights. He called himself a king,^ but I thought him more than a king, because he was entitled to pass judgment on kings. And in truth, when he began to uphold poverty, and to show what a useless and dangerous burden was everything that passed the measure of our need, I often desired to leave his lecture-room a poor man. Whenever he castigated our pleasure- seeking lives, and extolled personal purity, modera- tion in diet, and a mind free from unnecessary, not to speak of unlawful, pleasures, the desire came upon me to limit my food and drink. And that is why some of these habits have stayed with me, Lucilius. For I had planned my whole life with great resolves. And later, when I returned to the duties of a citizen, I did indeed keep a few of these good resolutions. That is why I have forsaken oysters and mushrooms for ever : since they are not really food, but are relishes to bully the sated stomach into further eating, as is the fancy of gourmands and those who stuff themselves beyond their powers of digestion : down with it quickly, and up with it quickly ! That is why I have also throughout my life avoided per- fumes ; because the best scent for the person is no scent at all.^ That is why my stomach is unac- quainted with wine. That is why throughout my life I have shunned the bath, and have believed that to emaciate the body and sweat it into thinness is

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sudoribus inutile simul delicatumque credidimus. Cetera proiecta redierunt, ita tamen, ut quorum abstinentiam interrupi, modum servem et quidem abstinentiae proximiorem, nescio an difficiliorem, quoniam quaedam absciduntur facilius animo quam temperantur,

17 Quoniam coepi tibi exponere, quanto maiore im- petu ad philosophiam iuvenis aecesserim quam senex pergam, non pudebit fateri, quem mihi amorem Pythagoras iniecerit. Sotion dicebat, quare ille animalibus abstinuisset, quare postea Sextius. Dis- similis utrique causa erat, sed utrique magnifica.

18 Hie homini satis alimentorum citra sanguinem esse credebat et crudelitatis consuetudinem fieri, ubi in voluptatem esset adducta laceratio. Adiciebat con- trahendam materiam esse luxuriae ; colligebat bonae valitudini contraria esse alimenta varia et nostris

19 aliena corporibus. At Pythagoras omnium inter omnia cognationem esse dicebat et animorum com- mercium in ahas atque ahas formas transeuntium. Nulla, si illi credas, anima interit, ne cessat quidem nisi tempore exiguo, dum in aliud corpus trans- funditur. Videbimus, per quas temporum vices et quando pererratis pluribus domiciliis in hominem revertatur ; interim sceleris hominibus ac parricidii metum fecit, cum possent in parentis animam inscii incurrere et ferro morsuve violare, si in quo cognatus

^ Pythagorean philosopher of the Augustan age, and one of Seneca's early teachers.

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at once unprofitable and effeminate. Other resolu- tions have been broken, but after all in such a way that, in cases where I ceased to practice abstinence, I have observed a limit which is indeed next door to abstinence ; perhaps it is even a little more difficult, because it is easier for the will to cut off certain things utterly than to use them with restraint.

Inasmuch as I have begun to explain to you how much greater was my impulse to approach philosophy in my youth than to continue it in my old age, I shall not be ashamed to tell you what ardent zeal Pythagoras inspired in me. Sotion <* used to tell me why Pythagoras abstained from animal food, and why, in later times, Sextius did also. In each case, the reason was different, but it was in each case a noble reason. Sextius believed that man had enough sustenance without resorting to blood, and that a habit of cruelty is formed whenever butchery is practised for pleasure. Moreover, he thought we should curtail the sources of our luxury ; he argued that a varied diet was contrary to the laws of health, and was unsuited to our constitutions. Pythagoras, on the other hand, held that all beings were inter- related, and that there was a system of exchange between souls which transmigrated from one bodily shape into another. If one may believe him, no soul perishes or ceases from its functions at all, except for a tiny interval — when it is being poured from one body into another. We may question at what time and after what seasons of change the soul returns to man, when it has wandered through many a dwelling- place ; but meantime, he made men fearful of guilt and parricide, since they might be, without knowing it, attacking the soul of a parent and injuring it with knife or with teeth — if, as is possible, the related

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20 aliqui spiritus hospitaretur. Haec cum exposuisset Sotion et inplesset argumentis suis, ** Non credis,** inquit, ** animas in alia corpora atque alia discribi et migrationem esse quod dicimus mortem ? Non credis in his pecudibusferisve aut aquamersis ilium quondam hominis animum morari ? Non credis nihil perire in hoc mundo, sed mutare regionem ? Nee tantum caelestia per certos circuitus verti, sed animalia quo- que per vices ire et animos per orbem agi ? Magni

21 ista crediderunt viri. Itaque indicium quidem tuum sustine, ceterum omnia tibi in integro serva. Si vera sunt ista, abstinuisse animalibus innocentia est ; si falsa, frugalitas est. Quod istic credulitatis ^ tuae damnum est ? Alimenta tibi leonum et vulturum eripio."

22 His ego instinctus abstinere animalibus coepi, et anno peracto non tantum facilis erat mihi consuetudo, sed dulcis. Agitatiorem mihi animum esse crede- bam, nee tibi hodie adfirmaverim, an fuerit. Quaeris, quomodo desierim ? In primum Tiberii Caesaris principatum iuventae tempus inciderat. Alienigena tum sacra movebantur, sed inter argumenta super- stitionis ponebatur quorundam animalium absti- nentia. Patre itaque meo rogante, qui non calum- niam timebat, sed philosophiam oderat, ad pristinam

^ credulitatis cod. Rhedig. ; crudelitatis BA.

" A.D. 19. C/, Tacitus, Ann. ii. 85 actum de sacris Aegyptiis ludaicisque pellendis,

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spirit be dwelling temporarily in this bit of flesh ! When Sotion had set forth this doctrine, supplement- ing it with his own proofs, he would say : ** You do not believe that souls are assigned, first to one body and then to another, and that our so-called death is merely a change of abode ? You do not believe that in cattle, or in wild beasts, or in creatures of the deep, the soul of him who was once a man may linger ? You do not believe that nothing on this earth is annihilated, but only changes its haunts ? And that animals also have cycles of progress and, so to speak, an orbit for their souls, no less than the heavenly bodies, which revolve in fixed circuits ? Great men have put faith in this idea ; therefore, while holding to your own view, keep the whole question in abeyance in your mind. If the theory is true, it is a mark of purity to refrain from eating flesh ; if it be false, it is economy. And what harm does it do to you to give such credence ? I am merely depriving you of food which sustains Uons and vultures."

I was imbued with this teaching, and began to abstain from animal food ; at the end of a year the habit was as pleasant as it was easy. I was beginning to feel that my mind was more active ; though I would not to-day positively state whether it really was or not. Do you ask how I came to abandon the practice ? It was this way : The days of my youth coincided with the early part of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Some foreign rites were at that time « being inaugurated, and abstinence from cer- tain kinds of animal food was set down as a proof of interest in the strange cult. So at the request of my father, who did not fear prosecution, but who detested philosophy, I returned to my previous habits ; and

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consuetudinem redii. Nee difficulter mihi, ut in- ciperem melius cenare, persuasit.

23 Laudare solebat Attalus culeitam, quae resisteret corpori ; tali utor etiam senex, in qua vestigium apparere non possit. Haec rettuli ut probarem tibi, quam vehementes haberent tiruneuli impetus primes ad optima quaeque, si quis ^ exhortaretur illos, si quis incenderet.2 Sed aliquid praecipientium vitio peccatur, qui nos decent disputare, non vivere, aliquid discentium, qui propositum adferunt ad praeceptores suos non animum excolendi, sed ingenium. Itaque quae philosophia fuit, facta philologia est.

24 Multum autem ad rem pertinet, quo proposito ad quamquam rem accedas. Qui grammaticus futurus Vergilium scrutatur, non hoc animo legit illud egregium :

fiigit inreparabile tempus :

vigilandum est ; nisi properamus, relinquemur ; agit nos agiturque velox dies ; inscii rapimur ; omnia in futurum disponimus et inter praecipitia lenti sumus ; sed ut observet. quotiens Vergilius de celeritate ^ temporum dicit, hoc uti verbo ilium ** fugit/*

Optima quaeque dies rniseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit ; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.

25 Ille, qui ad philosophiam spectat, haec eadem quo

debet, adducit : numquam Vergilius, inquit, dies dicit

^ quis later MSS. ; quisque BA. 2 incenderet Hense ; inpenderet BA^. ^ celeritate later MSS. ; claritate BA.

<* In this passage Seneca diifers (as also in Ep, Ixxxviii. § 3) from the earlier Ptoman idea of grammaticus as poetarum interpres : he is thinking of one who deals with verbal expressions and the meaning of words. Cf, Sandys, Hist, Class. SchoL i. 8 ff.

* Georg. iii. 284. « Georg. iii. Q^ ff.

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it was no very hard matter to induce me to dine more comfortably.

Attains used to recommend a pillow which did not give in to the body ; and now, old as I am, I use one so hard that it leaves no trace after pressure. I have mentioned all this in order to show you how zealous neophytes are with regard to their first im- pulses towards the highest ideals, provided that some one does his part in exhorting them and in kindling their ardour. There are indeed mistakes made, through the fault of our advisers, who teach us how to debate and not how to live ; there are also mis- takes made by the pupils, who come to their teachers to develop, not their souls, but their wits. Thus the study of wisdom has become the study of words.

Now it makes a great deal of difference what you have in mind when you approach a given subject. If a man is to be a scholar,^ and is examining the works of Vergil, he does not interpret the noble passage :

Time flies away, and cannot be restored *

in the following sense : ** We must wake up ; unless we hasten, we shall be left behind. Time rolls swiftly ahead, and rolls us with it. We are hurried along ignorant of our destiny ; we arrange all our plans for the future, and on the edge of a precipice are at our ease.'* Instead of this, he brings to our attention how often Vergil, in speaking of the rapidity of time, uses the word " flies " (fugit).

The choicest days of hapless human hfe Fly first ; disease and bitter eld succeed, And toil, till harsh death rudely snatches all.*

He who considers these lines in the spirit of a philosopher comments on the words in their proper sense : ** Vergil never says, * Time goes,' but ' Time

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ire, sed fugere, quod currendi genus concitatissimum est, et optimos quosque primes rapi ^ ; quid ergo cessamus nos ipsi concitare, ut veloeitatem rapidissi- mae rei possimus aequare ? Meliora praetervolant,

26 deteriora suecedunt. Quemadmodum ex amphora primum, quod est sincerissimum, effluit, gravissimum quodque turbidumque subsidit, sic in aetate nostra quod est optimum, in primo est. Id exhauriri aliis ^ potius patimur, ut nobis faecem reservemus ? In- haereat istud animo et tamquam missum oraeulo placeat :

Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit.

27 Quare optima ? Quia quod restat, incertum est. Quare optima ? Quia iuvenes possumus discere, possumus facilem animum et adhuc tractabilem ad meliora convertere ; quia hoc tempus idoneum est laboribus, idoneum agitandis per studia ingeniis et ^ exercendis per opera corporibus ; quod superest, segnius et languidius est et propius a fine.

Itaque toto hoc agamus animo et omissis, ad quae devertimur, in rem unam labor emus, ne hanc tem- poris pernicissimi celeritatem, quam retinere non possumus, rehcti demum intellegamus. Primus quis- que tamquam optimus dies placeat et redigatur in

28 nostrum. Quod fugit, occupandum est. Haec non cogitat ille, qui grammatici^ oculis carmen istud

^ rapi later MwSS. : rapit BA.

2 aliis Haase ; in aliis BA.

3 ^Hater MSS. ; est et BA.

* grammatici edd. ; grammati BA.

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flies/ because the latter is the quickest kind of movement, and in every case our best days are the first to be snatched away ; why, then, do we hesitate to bestir ourselves so that we may be able to keep pace with this swiftest of all swift things ? " The good flies past and the bad takes its place. Just as the purest wine flows from the top of the jar and the thickest dregs settle at the bottom ; so in our human life, that which is best comes first. Shall we allow other men to quaff the best, and keep the dregs for ourselves ? Let this phrase cleave to your soul ; you should be satisfied thereby as if it were uttered by an oracle :

Each choicest day of hapless human life Flies first.

Why ** choicest day *' ? Because what's to come is unsure. Why ** choicest day *' ? Because in our youth we are able to learn ; we can bend to nobler purposes minds that are ready and still pliable ; because this is the time for work, the time for keeping our minds busied in study and in exercising our bodies with useful effort ; for that which remains is more sluggish and lacking in spirit — nearer the end.

Let us therefore strive with all courage, omitting attractions by the way ; let us struggle with a single purpose, lest, when we are left behind, we compre- hend too late the speed of quick-flying time, whose course we cannot stay. Let every day, as soon as it comes, be welcome as being the choicest, and let it be made our own possession. We must catch that which flees. Now he who scans with a scholar's eye

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legit, ideo optimum quemque primum esse diem, quia subeunt morbi, quia senectus premit et adhue aduleseentiam cogitantibus supra caput est ; sed ait Vergilium semper una ponere morbos et senectutem, non mehercules immerito. Senectus enim insanabilis

29 morbus est. Praeterea, inquit, hoc senectuti co- gnomen inposuit, tristem illam vocat :

subeunt morbi tristisque senectus.

Alio loco dicit :

Pallentesque habitant morbi tristisque senectus.

Non est quod mireris ex eadem materia suis quemque studiis apta colligere ; in eodem prato bos

30 herbam quaerit, canis leporem, ciconia lacertam. Cum Ciceronis librum de Re Publica prendit^ hinc philologus aliquis,hinc grammaticus,hinc philosophiae deditus, alius alio cur am suam mittit. Philosophus admiratur contra iustitiam dici tam multa potuisse. Cum ad banc eandem lectionem philologus accessit, hoc subnotat : Duos Romanos reges esse, quorum alter patrem non habet, alter matrem. Nam de Servi matre dubitatur ; Anci pater nullus, Numae

31 nepotis,^ dicitur. Praeterea notat eum, quem nos dictatorem dicimus et in historiis ita nominari legimus, apud antiquos magistrum populi vocatum. Hodieque id extat in auguralibus libris, et testi- monium est, quod qui ab illo nominatur, magister equitum est. Aeque notat Romulum perisse sohs de-

^ de re p, prendit Erasmus ; deprendit BA. * Numae nepotis Buecheler ; Numae (nume) nepotes BA.

<» Aen, vi. 275.

" Cicero, De re publica^ ii. 18 Numae Pompili nepos ex filia rex a populo est Ancus Marcius constitutus . . . si- quidem istius regis matrem habemust ignoramus patrem.

248

EPISTLE CVIII.

the lines I have just quoted, does not reflect that our first days are the best because disease is approaching and old age weighs upon us and hangs over our heads while we are still thinking about our youth. He thinks rather of Vergil's usual colloca- tion of disease and eld ; and indeed rightly. For old age is a disease which we cannot cure. '* Besides," he says to himself, ** think of the epithet that accompanies eld ; Vergil calls it bitter,** —

Disease and bitter eld succeed.

And elsewhere Vergil says :

There dwelleth pale disease and bitter eld."

There is no reason why you should marvel that each man can collect from the same source suitable matter for his own studies ; for in the same meadow the cow grazes, the dog hunts the hare, and the stork the lizard. When Cicero's book On the State is opened by a philologist, a scholar, or a follower of philosophy, each man pursues his investigation in his own way. The philosopher wonders that so much could have been said therein against justice. The philologist takes up the same book and comments on the text as follows : There were two Roman kings — one without a father and one without a mother. For we cannot settle who was Servius's mother, and Ancus, the grandson of Numa, has no father on record.^ The philologist also notes that the officer whom we call dictator, and about whom we read in our histories under that title, was named in old times the magister populi ; such is the name existing to-day in the augural records, proved by the fact that he whom the dictator chose as second in command was called magister equitum. He will remark, too, that Romulus

249

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

fectione ; provocationem ad populum etiam a^ regibus fuisse ; id ita in pontificalibus libris esse et alii quiqui ^

32 putant et Fenestella. Eosdem libros cum gram- maticus explicuit, primum verba expressa,^ reapse* dici a Cicerone, id est re ipsa, in commentarium refert, nee minus sepse,^ id est se ipse. Deinde transit ad ea, quae consuetude saeculi mutavit, tamquam ait Cicero : ** quoniam sumus ab ipsa calce eius interpellatione revocati/* Hanc quam nunc in circo cretam vocamus, calcem antiqui dicebant. Deinde Ennianos ® coUigit versus et in primis illos de

33 Africano scriptos :

cui nemo civis neque hostis Quibit ' pro factis reddere opis pretium.

Ex eo se ait intellegere, opem^ aput antiquos non tantum auxilium significasse, sed operam. Ait enim Ennius ^ neminem potuisse Scipioni ^^ neque civem neque hostem reddere operae pretium. Felicem

34 deinde se putat, quod invenerit, unde visum sit

Vergilio dicere :

quern super ingens porta tonat caeli.

Ennium ^^ hoc ait Homero subripuisse,^^ Ennio Vergi-

^ etiam a later MSS. ; etiam BA.

^ id . . , quiqui Windhaus ; id ita inveniri in p. I, et aliqui B {aliqui A).

^ expressa later MSS. ; expresse BA.

* reapse Schweighaeuser ; ab se BA.

* sepse Muretus ; sese BA.

® Ennianos Pincianus ; inanes BA. ' quibit Pincianus ; quivult BA.

* opem add. Korsch.

* ait enim Ennius Vahlen and Haase ; ait operaenim ineius BA.

^° Scipioni Pincianus ; Scipionem BA.

^^ Ennium Pincianus ; Ennius BA.

^2 subripuisse cod. Rom. ; se subripuisse BA.

250

EPISTLE CVIII.

met his end during an eclipse ; that there was an appeal to the people even from the kings (this is so stated in the pontiffs' register and is the opinion of others, including Fenestella^). When the scholar unrolls this same volume, he puts down in his note- book the forms of words, noting that reapse, equiv- alent to re ipsa, is used by Cicero, and sepse ^ just as frequently, which means se ipse. Then he turns his attention to changes in current usage. Cicero, for example, says : '* Inasmuch as we are summoned back from the very calx by his interruption/* Now the Une in the circus which we call the creiaf was called the calx by men of old time. Again, he puts together some verses by Ennius, especially those which referred to Africanus :

A man to whom nor friend nor foe could p^ive Due meed for all his efforts and his deeds.^

From this passage the scholar declares that he infers the word opem to have meant formerly not merely assistance, but efforts. For Ennius must mean that neither friend nor foe could pay Scipio a reward worthy of his efforts. Next, he congratulates himself on finding the source of VergiVs words :

Over whose head the mighty gate of Heaven Thunders,*

remarking that Ennius stole the idea from Homer,

^ FL in the Augustan Age. Provocatio is defined by Greenidge (Rom. Pub, Life, p. 64) as ** a challenge by an accused to a magistrate to appear before another tribunal."

* A suffix, probably related to the intensive -pte,

" Literally, the chalk-marked, or lime-marked, goal-line.

^ Vahlen's Ennius, p. 215,

« Georg, iii. 260 f.

VOL. Ill I 251

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

lium. Esse enim apud Ciceronem in his ipsis de Re Publica hoe epigramma Enni

Si fas endo plagas caelestum ascendere cuiquam est, Mi soli caeli maxima porta patet.

35 Sed ne et ipse, dum aUud ago, in philologum aut grammaticum delabar, illud admoneo, auditionem philosophorum leetionemque ad propositum beatae vitae trahendam, non ut verba prisca aut ficta captemus et translationes inprobas figurasque di- cendi, sed ut profutura praecepta et magnifieas voces et animosas, quae mox in rem transferantur. Sic ista ediscamus, ut quae fuerint verba, sint opera.

36 NuUos autem peius mereri de omnibus mortalibus iudico quam qui philosophiam velut aliquod artificium venale didicerunt, qui ahter vivunt quam vivendum esse praecipiunt. Exempla enim se ipsos inutihs discipUnae circumferunt nulU non vitio, quod in-

37 sequuntur, obnoxii. Non magis mihi potest quisquam talis prodesse praeceptor quam gubernator in tem- pestate nauseabundus. Tenendum rapiente fluctu gubernaculum, luctandum cum ipso mari, eripienda sunt vento vela ; quid me potest adiuvare rector navigii attonitus et vomitans ? Quanto maiore putas vitam tempestate iactari quam uUam ratem ? Non est loquendum, sed gubernandum.

38 Omnia quae dicunt, quae turba audiente iactant, aliena sunt ; dixit ilia Platon, dixit Zenon, dixit Chrysippus et Posidonius et ingens agmen nostrorum^ tot ac talium. Quomodo probare possint sua esse,

^ nostrorum Buecheler ; non BA.

« Vahlen's Ennius, p. 216. 252

EPISTLE GVIIL

and Vergil from Ennius. For there is a couplet by

Ennius, preserved in this same book of Cicero ^s. On

the State ; «

If it be right for a mortal to scale the regions of Heaven, Then the huge gate of the sky opens in glory to me.

But that I, too, while engaged upon another task, may not slip into the department of the philologist or the scholar, my advice is this — that all study of philosophy and all reading should be applied to the idea of living the happy life, that we should not hunt out archaic or far-fetched words and eccentric metaphors and figures of speech, but that we should seek precepts which will help us, utterances of courage and spirit which may at once be turned into facts. We should so learn them that words may become deeds. And I hold that no man has treated mankind worse than he who has studied philosophy as if it were some marketable trade, who lives in a different manner from that which he advises. For those who are liable to every fault which they castigate advertise themselves as patterns of useless training. A teacher like that can help me no more than a sea-sick pilot can be efficient in a storm. He must hold the tiller when the waves are tossing him ; he must wrestle, as it were, with the sea ; he must furl his sails when the storm rages ; what good is a frightened and vomiting steersman to me ? And how much greater, think you, is the storm of life than that which tosses any ship ! One must steer, not talk.

All the words that these men utter and juggle before a listening crowd, belong to others. They have been spoken by Plato, spoken by Zeno, spoken by Chrysippus or by Posidonius, and by a whole host of Stoics as numerous as excellent. I shall show you

253

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

39 monstrabo : faciant, quae dixerint. Quoniam quae volueram ad te perferre, iam dixi, nunc desiderio tuo satis faciam et in ^ alteram epistulam integrum, quod exegeras, transferam, ne ad rem spinosam et auribus erectis curiosisque audiendam lassus accedas. Vale.

CIX. Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 An sapiens sapienti prosit scire desideras. Di- cimus plenum omni bono esse sapientem et summa adeptum ; quomodo prodesse aliqui possit summum habenti bonum, quaeritur.

Prosunt inter se boni ; exercent enim virtutes et sapientiam in suo statu continent. Desiderat uterque

2 aliquem, cum quo conferat, cum quo quaerat. Peri- tos luctandi usus exercet ; musicum, qui paria didicit, movet. Opus est et sapienti agitatione ^ virtutum : ita quemadniodum ipse se movet, sic

3 movetur ab alio sapiente. Quid sapiens sapienti proderit ? Impetum illi dabit, occasiones actionum honestarum commonstrabit. Praeter haec aliquas cogitationes suas exprimet : docebit, quae invenerit. Semper enim etiam a sapiente restabit, quod inveniat et quo animus eius excurrat.

1 in later MSS. ; inter BA.

* sapienti agitatione later MSS. ; sapientia cogitations BA.

254

EPISTLES GVIIL, CIX.

how men can prove their words to be their own : it is by doing what they have been talking about. Since therefore I have given you the message I wished to pass on to you, I shall now satisfy your craving and shall reserve for a new letter a complete answer to your summons ; so that you may not approach in a condition of weariness a subj ect which is thorny and which should be followed with an attentive and painstaking ear. Farewell.

CIX. ON THE FELLOWSHIP OF WISE MEN

You expressed a wish to know whether a wise man can help a wise man. For we say that the wise man is completely endowed with every good, and has attained perfection ; accordingly, the question arises how it is possible for anyone to help a person who possesses the Supreme Good.

Good men are mutually helpful ; for each gives practice to the other's virtues and thus maintains wisdom at its proper level. Each needs someone with whom he may make comparisons and investigations. Skilled wrestlers are kept up to the mark by practice ; a musician is stirred to action by one of equal pro- ficiency. The wise man also needs to have his virtues kept in action ; and as he prompts himself to do things, so is he prompted by another wise man. How can a wise man help another wise man ? He can quicken his impulses, and point out to him opportunities for honourable action. Besides, he can develop some of his own ideas ; he can impart what he has discovered. For even in the case of the wise man something will always remain to discover, something towards which his mind may make new ventures.

255

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

4 Malus malo nocet facitque peiorem, iram eius ^ incitando, tristitiae adsentiendo, voluptates laudando, et tunc maxime laborant mali, ubi plurimum vitia miscuere, et in unum conlata nequitia est. Ergo ex contrario bonus bono proderit. '* Quomodo ? " in-

5 quis. Gaudium illi adferet, fiduciam confirmabit, ex conspectu mutuae tranquillitatis crescet utriusque laetitia. Praeterea quarumdam illi rerum scientiam tradet ; non enim omnia sapiens seit. Etiam si seiret, breviores vias rerum aliqui excogitare posset et has indicare, per quas facilius totum opus circum-

6 fertur. Proderit sapienti sapiens, non scilicet tantum suis viribus, sed ipsius, quem adiuvat. Potest quidem ille etiam relictus sibi explicare partes suas ; nihilo- minus adiuvat etiam currentem hortator.

** Non prodest sapienti sapiens, sed sibi ipse. Hoc scias : detrahe illi vim propriam, et ille nihil

7 aget/' lUo ^ modo dicas licet non esse in melle dulcedinem : nam ipse ille, qui esse debeat, ita aptatus lingua palatoque est ad eiusmodi gustum, ut ilia talis sapor capiat, aut^ ofFendetur. Sunt enim quidam, quibus morbi vitio mel amarum videatur. Oportet utrumque valere,^ ut et ille prodesse possit

8 et hie profuturo idonea materia sit. ** Si ^ in sum- mum/' inquit, **perducto® calorem calefieri super-

^ eius later MSS. ; metus BA.

2 illo Windhaus ; uno BA.

^ aut add. Klammer.

* valere Haase ; colore or calere MSS.

^ si add. Gertz.

* perducto Pincianus ; perductum BA.

° i.^., in possession of a perfect, an encyclopaedic, wisdom. 256

EPISTLE OIX.

Evil men harm evil men ; each debases the other by rousing his wrath, by approving his churlishness, and praising his pleasures ; bad men are at their worst stage when their faults are most thoroughly intermingled, and their wickedness has been, so to speak, pooled in partnership. Conversely, therefore, a good man will help another good man. ** How ? " you ask. Because he will bring joy to the other, he will strengthen his faith, and from the contemplation of their mutual tranquillity the delight of both will be increased. Moreover, they will communicate to each other a knowledge of certain facts ; for the wise man is not all-knowing.^ And even if he were all- knowing, someone might be able to devise and point out short cuts, by which the whole matter is more readily disseminated. The wise will help the wise, not, mark you, because of his own strength merely, but because of the strength of the man whom he assists. The latter, it is true, can by himself develop his own parts ; nevertheless, even one who is running well is helped by one who cheers him on.

** But the wise man does not really help the wise ; he helps himself. Let me tell you this : strip the one of his special powers, and the other will accom- plish nothing.*' You might as well, on that basis, say that sweetness is not in the honey : for it is the person himself who is to eat it, that is so equipped^ as to tongue and palate, for tasting this kind of food that the special flavour appeals to him, and anything else displeases. For there are certain men so affected by disease that they regard honey as bitter. Both men should be in good health, that the one may be helpful and the other a proper subject for help. Again they say : ** When the highest degree of heat has been attained, it is superfluous to apply more

257

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

vacuum est, et in summum perducto bonum super- vacuum est si ^ qui prosit. Numquid instructus omnibus rebus agricola ab alio instrui quaerit ? Numquid armatus miles, quantum in aciem exituro satis est tuti,^ amplius arma desiderat ? Ergo nee sapiens ; satis enim vitae instructus, satis armatus 9 est/* Ad haec respondeo : et qui in summo est calore, opus est calore adiecto,^ ut summum teneat. ** Sed ipse se,'* inquit, '' calor continet/' Primum multum interest inter ista, quae comparas ; calor enim unus est, prodesse varium est. Deinde calor non adiuvatur adiectione caloris, ut caleat ; sapiens non potest in habitu mentis suae stare, nisi amicos aliquos similes sui admisit, cum quibus virtutes suas

10 communicet. Adice nunc, quod omnibus inter se virtutibus amicitia est. Itaque prodest, qui virtutes alicuius paris sui^ amat amandasque invicem prae- stat. Similia delectant, utique ubi honesta sunt et

11 probare ac probari sciunt. Etiamnunc sapientis animum perite movere nemo alius potest quam sapiens, sicut hominem movere rationaliter non potest nisi homo. Quomodo ergo ad rationem movendam ratione opus est, sic ut moveatur ratio perfecta, opus est ratione perfecta.

12 Prodesse dicuntur et qui media nobis largiuntur, pecuniam, gratiam, incolumitatem, alia in usus vitae

^ si add. Buecheler.

* tuti Buecheler ; 2iti BA.

^ in , , , adiecto Madvig ; in summa motus est calore adkcto BA

* paris sui Buecheler ; partes sui BA ; pares suis later MSS.

** In other words, Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Self- Restraint, together with the other qualities of simphcity, kindness, etc., being ** avatars '* of Virtue herself, are inter- related.

258

EPISTLE CIX.

heat; and when the Supreme Good has been attainedj it is superfluous to have a helper. Does a com- pletely stocked farmer ask for further supplies from his neighbours ? Does a soldier who is sufficiently armed for going well-equipped into action need any more weapons ? Very well, neither does the wise man ; for he is sufficiently equipped and sufficiently armed for life/' My answer to this is, that when one is heated to the highest degree, one must liave continued heat to maintain the highest temperature. And if it be objected that heat is self-maintaining, I say that there are great distinctions among the things that you are comparing ; for heat is a single thing, but helpfulness is of many kinds. Again, heat is not helped by the addition of further heat, in order to be hot ; but the wise man cannot maintain his mental standard without inter- course with friends of his own kind — with whom he may share his goodness. Moreover, there is a sort of mutual friendship among all the virtues.* Thus, he who loves the virtues of certain among his peers, and in turn exhibits his own to be loved, is helpful. Like things give pleasure, especially when they are honourable and when men know that there is mutual approval. And besides, none but a wise man can prompt another wise man's soul in an intelligent way, just as man can be prompted in a rational way by man only. As, therefore, reason is necessary for the prompting of reason, so, in order to prompt perfect reason, there is need of perfect reason.

Some say that we are helped even by those ^ who bestow on us the so-called ** indifferent '* benefits, such as money, influence, security, and all the other

* e.g., certain of the Peripatetic school. VOL. Ill I 2 259

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

cara aut necessaria. In his dicetur etiam stultus prodesse sapienti. Prodesse autem est animum secundum naturam mover e virtute sua ut eius, qui movebitur. Hoc non sine ipsius quoque, qui proderit, bono fiet. Necesse enim alienam virtutem exercendo

13 exerceat et suam, Sed ut removeas ista. quae aut summa bona sunt aut summorum efficientia, nihilo- minus prodesse inter se sapientes possunt. Invenire enim sapientem sapienti per se res expetenda^ est, quia natura bonum omne carum est bono et sic quisque conciliatur bono quemadmodum sibi.

14 Necesse est ex hac quaestione argumenti causa in alteram transeam. Quaeritur enim, an deliberaturus sit sapiens, an in consilium aliquem advocaturus. Quod facere illi necessarium est, cum ad haec civilia et domestica venitur et, ut ita dicam, mortalia. In his sic illi opus est aUeno consilio quomodo medico, quomodo gubernatori, quomodo advocato et litis ordinatori. Proderit ergo sapiens aliquando sapienti, suadebit enim. Sed in illis quoque magnis ac divinis, ut diximus, communiter honesta tract ando et animos

15 cogitationesque miscendo utilis erit. Praeterea

secundum naturam est et amicos complecti et

amicorum auctu ^ ut suo proprioque laetari. Nam

nisi hoc fecerimus, ne virtus quidem nobis per-

manebit, quae exercendo sensu valet. Virtus autem

^ expetenda later MSS. ; excedenda BA^. 2 auctu Haase ; actu BA.

260

EPISTLE GIX.

valued or essential aids to living. If we argue in this way, the veriest fool will be said to help a wise man. Helping, however, really means prompting the soul in accordance with Nature, both by the prompter's excellence and by the excellence of him who is thus prompted. And this cannot take place without advantage to the helper also. For in training the excellence of another, a man must necessarily train his own. But, to omit from discussion supreme goods or the things which produce them, wise men can none the less be mutually helpful. For the mere discovery of a sage by a sage is in itself a desirable event ; since everything good is naturally dear to the good man, and for this reason one feels congenial with a good man as one feels congenial with oneself. It is necessary for me to pass from this topic to another, in order to prove my point. For the question is asked, whether the wise man will weigh his opinions, or whether he will apply to others for advice. Now he is compelled to do this when he approaches state and home duties — everything, so to speak, that is mortal. He needs outside advice on such matters, as does the physician, the pilot, the attorney, or the pleader of cases. Hence, the wise will some- times help the wise ; for they will persuade each other. But in these matters of great import also, — aye, of divine import, as I have termed them, — the wise man can also be useful by discussing honourable things in common, and by contributing his thoughts and ideas. Moreover, it is in accordance with Nature to show affection for our friends, and to rejoice in their advancement as if it were absolutely our own. For if we have not done this, even virtue, which grows strong only through exercising our perceptions, will not abide with us. Now virtue advises us to

261

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

suadet praesentia bene conlocare, in futurum eon- sulere, deliberare et intendere animum ; facilius intendet explicabitque qui aliquem sibi adsumpserit. Quaeret itaque aut perfeetum virum aut pro- ficientem vicinumque perfecto. Proderit autem ille perfectus, si consilium communi prudentia iuverit.

16 Aiunt homines plus in alieno negotio videre. Vitio ^ hoc illis evenit, quos amor sui excaecat quibusque dispectum utilitatis timor in periculis excutit; incipiet sapere securior et extra metum positus. Sed nihilo- minus quaedam sunt, quae etiam sapientes in alio quam in se diligentius vident. Praeterea illud dul- cissimum et honestissimum '* idem velle atque idem nolle '' sapiens sapienti praestabit ; egregium opus pari iugo ducet.

17 Persolvi id^ quod exegeras, quamquam in ordine rerum erat, quas moralis philosophiae voluminibus complectimur. Cogita, quod soleo frequenter tibi dicere, in istis nos nihil aliud quam acumen exercere. Totiens enim illo revertor : quid ista me res iuvat ? Fortiorem fac iam, iustiorem, temperantiorem. Nondum exerceri vacat ; adhuc medico mihi opus

18 est. Quid me poscis scientiam inutilem ? Magna promisisti ; exige, vide. Dicebas intrepidum fore,

^ vitio later MSS. ; initio B7\. ^ persolvi id Windhaus ; persolvit BA.

^ Sallust, Cat. xx. 4 idem velle atque idem nolle^ ea demum firma amicitia est. Cf, the Greek " taco fuyo),'* " yoked equally together." ^ Cf. Ep. cviii. 1 and note.

262

EPISTLE CIX.

arrange the present well, to take thought regarding the future, to deliberate and apply our minds ; and one who takes a friend into council with him, can more easily apply his mind and think out his problem.

Therefore he will seek either the perfect wise man or one who has progressed to a point bordering on perfection. The perfect wise man, moreover, will help us if he aids our counsels with ordinary good sense. They say that men see farther in the affairs of others than in their own. A defect of character causes this in those who are blinded by self- love, and whose fear in the hour of peril takes away their clear view of that which is useful ; it is when a man is more at ease and freed from fear that he will begin to be wise. Nevertheless, there are certain matters where even wise men see the facts more clearly in the case of others than in their own. Moreover, the wise man will, in company with his fellow sage, confirm the truth of that most sweet and honourable proverb — '* always desiring and always refusing the same things " : it will be a noble result when they draw the load ** with equal yoke.*' ^

I have thus answered your demand, although it came under the head of subjects which I include in my volumes On Moral Fhilosophyfi Reflect, as I am often wont to tell you, that there is nothing in such topics for us except mental gymnastics. For I return again and again to the thought : ** What good does this do me ? Make me more brave now, more just, more restrained ! I have not yet the opportunity to make use of my training ; for I still need the physician. Why do you ask of me a useless knowledge ? You have promised great things ; test me, watch me ! You assured me that I should be

263

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

etiam si circa me gladii micarent, etiam si mucro tangeret iugulum ; dicebas securum fore, etiam si circa me flagrarent incendia, etiam si subitus turbo toto navem meam mari raperet. Hanc mihi praesta curam, ut^ voluptatem, ut gloriam contemnam. Postea docebis inplicta solvere, ambigua distinguere, obscura perspicere ; nunc doce quod necesse est. Vale.

ex.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Ex Nomentano meo te saluto et iubeo habere mentem bonam, hoc est propitios deos omnis, quos habet placatos et faventes, quisquis sibi se propitiavit. Sepone in praesentia, quae quibusdam placent, uni- cuique nostrum paedagogum dari deum, non quidem ordinarium, sed hunc inferioris notae ex eorum numero, quos Ovidius ait ** de plebe deos." Ita tamen hoc seponas volo, ut memineris maiores nostros, qui crediderunt, Stoicos fuisse ; singuhs enim et

2 Genium et lunonem dederunt. Postea videbimus, an tantum dis vacet, ut privatorum negotia pro- curent ; interim illud scito, sive adsignati sumus, sive neglecti et fortunae dati, nulli te posse inprecari

^ praesta curam ut Hense ; praestaturum BA.

« C/. Ep. civ. 1.

* Metam. i. 595, — a Roman interpretation, along the lines of the Di Indigetes,

^ Every man had his Genius, and every woman her Juno. In the case of the Stoics, God dwelt in every soul.

264

EPISTLES CIX., GX.

unterrified though swords were flashing round me, though the point of the blade were grazing my throat ; you assured me that I should be at ease though fires were blazing round me, or though a sudden whirlwind should snatch up my ship and carry it over all the sea. Now make good for me such a course of treatment that I may despise pleasure and glory. Thereafter you shall teach me to work out complicated problems, to settle doubtful points, to see through that which is not clear ; teach me now what it is necessary for me to know ! ** Farewell.

ex. ON TRUE AND FALSE RICHES

From my villa at Nomentum,* I send you greeting and bid you keep a sound spirit within you — in other words, gain the blessing of all the gods, for he is assured of their grace and favour who has become a blessing to himself. Lay aside for the present the belief of certain persons — that a god is assigned to each one of us as a sort of attendant — not a god of regular rank, but one of a lower grade — one of those whom Ovid calls ** plebeian gods.*' ^ Yet, while laying aside this belief, I would have you remember that our ancestors, who followed such a creed, have become Stoics ; for they have assigned a Genius or a Juno to every individual .^' Later on we shall investigate whether the gods have enough time on their hands to care for the concerns of private individuals ; in the meantime, you must know that whether we are allotted to special guar- dians, or whether we are neglected and consigned to Fortune, you can curse a man with no heavier

265

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

quicquam gravius, quam si inprecatus fueris, ut se habeat iratum.

Sed non est quare cuiquam, quern poena putaveris dignum, optes, ut infestos deos habeat ; habet, inquam, etiam si videtur eorum favore produci.

3 Adhibe diligentiam tuam et intuere, quid sint res nostrae, non quid vocentur ; et scies plura mala contingere nobis quam aceidere. Quotiens enim felicitatis et ^ causa et initium fuit, quod calamitas vocabatur ? Quotiens magna gratulatione excepta res gradum sibi struxit in praeceps et aliquem iam eminentem adlevavit etiamnunc, tamquam adhuc ibi

4 staret, unde tuto cadunt ? Sed ipsum illud cadere non habet in se mah quidquam, si exitum spectes, ultra quem natura neminem deiecit. Prope est rerum omnium terminus, prope est, inquam, et illud, unde felix eicitur, et illud, unde infelix emittitur ; nos utraque extendimus et longa spe ac metu facimus.

Sed si sapis, omnia humana condicione metire ; simul et quod gaudes et quod times, contrahe. Est autem tanti nihil diu gaudere, ne quid diu timeas.

5 Sed quare istuc malum adstringo ? Non est quod quicquam timendum putes. Vana sunt ista, quae nos movent, quae attonitos habent. Nemo nostrum quid veri esset, excussit, sed metum alter alteri tradidit ; nemo ausus est ad id, quo perturbabatur,

^ et Schweighaeuser ; est BA. ^ i.e,^ death, in Stoic language.

266

EPISTLE ex.

curse than to pray that he may be at enmity with himself.

There is no reason, however, why you should ask the gods to be hostile to anyone whom you regard as deserving of punishment ; they are hostile to such a person, I maintain, even though he seems to be advanced by their favour. Apply careful investiga- tion, considering how our affairs actually stand, and not what men say of them ; you will then understand that evils are more likely to help us than to harm us. For how often has so-called affliction been the source and the beginning of happiness ! How often have privileges which we welcomed with deep thanksgiving built steps for themselves to the top of a precipice, still uphfting men w^ho were already distinguished — ^just as if they had previously stood in a position whence they could fall in safety ! But this very fall has in it nothing evil, if you consider the end," after which nature lays no man lower. The universal limit is near ; yes, there is near us the point where the prosperous man is upset, and the point where the unfortunate is set free. It is we ourselves that extend both these limits, lengthen- ing them by our hopes and by our fears.

If, however, you are wise, measure all things according to the state of man ; restrict at the same time both your joys and your fears. Moreover, it is worth while not to rejoice at anything for long, so that you may not fear anything for long. But why do I confine the scope of this evil ? There is no reason why you should suppose that anything is to be feared. All these things which stir us and keep us a-flutter, are empty things. None of us has sifted out the truth ; we have passed fear on to one another ; none has dared to approach the object which

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THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

accedere et naturam ac bonum timoris sui nosse. Itaque res falsa et inanis habet adhuc fidem, quia

6 non coarguitur. Tanti put emus oculos intendere ; iam apparebit, quam brevia, quam incerta, quam tuta timeantur. Talis est animorum nostrorum confusio, qualis Lucretio visa est :

Nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis In tenebris metuunt, ita nos in luce timemus.

Quid ergo ? Non omni puero stultiores sumus qui

7 in luce timemus ? Sed falsum est, Luereti, non timemus in luce ; omnia nobis fecimus tenebras. Nihil videmus, nee quid noeeat nee quid expediat ; tota vita incursitamus nee ob hoc resistimus aut circumspectius pedem ponimus. Vides autem, quam sit furiosa res in tenebris impetus. At mehercules id agimus, ut longius revocandi simus, et cum ignoremus, quo feramur, velociter tamen illo, quo intendimus, perseveramus.

8 Sed lucescere, si velimus, potest. Uno autem modo potest, si quis hanc humanorum divinorumque notitiam scientia acceperit, si ilia se non perfuderit, sed infecerit, si eadem, quamvis sciat, retractaverit et ad se saepe rettulerit, si quaesierit, quae sint bona, quae mala, quibus hoc falso sit nomen adscriptum, si quaesierit de honestis et turpibus, de providentia.

9 Nee ^ intra haec humani ingenii sagacitas sistitur ;

1 nee later MSS. ; et BA.

" De Rerum Nat. ii. 55 f. ^ i.e,^ to the starting-point.

268

EPISTLE GX.

caused his dread, and to understand the nature of his fear — aye, the good behind it. That is why false- hood and vanity still gain credit — because they are not refuted. Let us account it worth while to look closely at the matter ; then it will be clear how fleeting, how unsure, and how harmless are the things which we fear. The disturbance in our spirits is similar to that which Lucretius detected :

Like boys who cower frightened in the dark, So grown-ups in the light of day feel fear.*

What, then ? Are we not more foolish than any child, we who ** in the light of day feel fear '* ? But you were wrong, Lucretius ; we are not afraid in the daylight ; we have turned everything into a state of darkness. We see neither what injures nor what profits us ; all our lives through we blunder along, neither stopping nor treading more carefully on this account. But you see what madness it is to rush ahead in the dark. Indeed, we are bent on getting ourselves called back ^ from a greater distance ; and though we do not know our goal, yet we hasten with wild speed in the direction whither we are straining.

The light, however, may begin to shine, provided we are willing. But such a result can come about only in one way — if we acquire by knowledge this familiarity with things divine and human, if we not only flood our- selves but steep ourselves therein, if a man reviews the same principles even though he understands them and applies them again and again to him- self, if he has investigated what is good, what is evil, and what has falsely been so entitled ; and, finally, if he has investigated honour and baseness, and Pro- vidence. The range of the human intelligence is not

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

prospicere et ultra mundum libet, quo feratur, unde surrexerit, in quern exitum tanta rerum velocitas properet. Ab hac divina contemplatione abductum animum in sordida et humilia pertraximus, ut avari- tiae serviret, ut relicto mundo terminisque eius et dominis cuncta versantibus terram rimaretur et quaereret, quid ex ilia mali efFoderet, non contentus oblatis.

10 Quidquid nobis bono futurum erat, deus et parens noster in proximo posuit ; non expectavit inquisi- tionem nostram et ultro dedit. Nocitura altissime pressit. Nihil nisi de nobis queri possumus ; ea, quibus periremus, nolente rerum natura et abscon- dente protulimus. Addiximus animum voluptati, cui indulgere initium omnium malorum est, tradidimus ambitioni et famae, ceteris aeque vanis et inanibus.

11 Quid ergo nunc te hortor ut facias ? Nihil novi — nee enim novis malis reroedia quaeruntur — sed hoc primum, ut tecum ipse dispicias. quid sit necessarium, quid supervacuum. Necessaria tibi ubique cccurrent ; supervacua et semper et ^ toto animo quaerenda sunt.

12 Non est autem quod te nimis laudes, si contempseris aureos lectos et gemmeam supellectilem. Quae est enim virtus supervacua contemnere ? Tunc te ad-

1 et later MSS. ; om. BA^. 270

EPISTLE ex.

confined within these limits ; it may also explore out- side the universe — its destination and its source, and the ruin towards which all nature hastens so rapidly. We have withdrawn the soul from this divine contem- plation and dragged it into mean and lowly tasks, so that it might be a slave to greed, so that it might forsake the universe and its confines, and, under the command of masters who try all possible schemes, pry beneath the earth and seek what evil it can dig up therefrom — discontented with that which was freely offered to it.

Now God, who is the Father of us all, has placed ready to our hands those things which he intended for our own good ; he did not wait for any search on our part, and he gave them to us voluntarily. But that which would be injurious, he buried deep in the earth. We can complain of nothing but our- selves ; for we have brought to light the materials for our destruction, against the will of Nature, who hid them from us. We have bound over our souls to pleasure, whose service is the source of all evil ; we have surrendered ourselves to self-seeking and reputation, and to other aims which are equally idle and useless.

What, then, do I now encourage you to do ? Nothing new — we are not trying to find cures for new evils — but this first of all : namely, to see clearly for yourself what is necessary and what is super- fluous. What is necessary will meet you every- where ; what is superfluous has always to be hunted out — and with great endeavour. But there is no reason why you should flatter yourself over-much if you despise gilded couches and jewelled furniture. For what virtue lies in despising useless things ? 1 he time to admire your own conduct is when you

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THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

mirare, cum contempseris necessaria. Non magnam rem facis, quod vivere sine regio ^ apparatu potes, quod non desideras milliarios apros nee linguas phoenicopterorum et alia portenta luxuriae iam tota animalia fastidientis et certa membra ex singulis eligentis ; tunc te admirabor, si contempseris etiam sordidum panem, si tibi persuaseris herbam, ubi necesse est, non pecori tantum, sed homini nasci, si scieris cacumina arborum explementum esse ventris, in quem sic pretiosa congerimus tamquam recepta servantem. Sine fastidio inplendus est. Quid enim ad rem pertinet, quid accipiat perditurus quicquid

13 acceperit ? Delectant te disposita, quae terra mari- que capiuntur, alia eo gratiora, si recentia perferuntur ad mensam, alia, si diu pasta et coacta pinguescere fluunt ac vix saginam continent suam. Delectat te nidor ^ horum arte quaesitus. At mehercules ista soUicite scrutata varieque condita cum subierint ven- trem, una atque eadem foeditas occupabit. Vis ciborum voluptatem contemn ere ? Exitum specta.

14 Attalum memini cum magna admiratione omnium haec dicere :

** Diu,** inquit, '* mihi inposuere divitiae. Stupe- bam, ubi aliquid ex illis alio atque alio loco fulserat. Existimabam similia esse quae laterent, his, quae ostenderentur. Sed in quodam apparatu vidi totas opes urbis caelatas et auro et argento et iis, quae

^ regio later MSS. ; recto BA. ^ nidor codd. Pine. ; nitor BA.

" i,e,y acorns, etc. 272

EPISTLE ex.

have come to despise the necessities. You are doing no great thing if you can hve without royal pomp, if you feel no craving for boars which weigh a thousand pounds, or for flamingo tongues, or for the other absurdities of a luxury that already wearies of game cooked whole, and chooses different bits from separate animals ; I shall admire you only when you have learned to scorn even the common sort of bread, when you have made yourself believe that grass grows for the needs of men as well as of cattle, when you have found out that food from the tree- top " can fill the belly — into which we cram things of value as if it could keep what it has received. We should satisfy our stomachs without being over- nice. How does it matter what the stomach receives, since it must lose whatever it has received ? You enjoy the carefully arranged dainties which are caught on land and sea ; some are more pleasing if they are brought fresh to the table, others, if after long feeding and forced fattening they almost melt and can hardly retain their own grease. You like the subtly devised flavour of these dishes. But I assure you that such carefully chosen and variously seasoned dishes, once they have entered the belly, will be overtaken alike by one and the same corrup- tion. Would you despise the pleasures of eating ? Then consider its result ! I remember some words of Attalus, which elicited general applause :

** Riches long deceived me. I used to be dazed when I caught some gleam of them here and there. I used to think that their hidden influence matched their visible show. But once, at a certain elaborate entertainment, I saw embossed work in silver and gold equalling the wealth of a whole city, and colours and tapestry devised to match objects which sur-

273

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

pretium auri argentique vicerunt, exquisites colores et vestes ultra non tantum nostrum, sed ultra finem hostium advectas ; hinc puerorum perspicuos cultu atque forma greges, hinc feminarum, et alia, quae res suas recognoscens summi imperii fortuna pro-

15 tulerat. Quid hoc est, inquam, aliud nisi ^ inritare cupiditates hominum per se incitatas ? Quid sibi vult ista pecuniae pompa ? Ad discendam avaritiam convenimus ? At mehercules minus cupiditatis istinc efFero quam adtuleram. Contempsi divitias, non quia

16 supervacuae, sed quia pusillae sunt. Vidistine, quam intra paucas horas ille ordo quamvis lentus dis- positusque transient ? Hoc totam vitam nostram occupavit, quod totum diem occupare non potuit ?

" Accessit illud quoque : tam supervacuae mihi visae

17 sunt habentibus quam fuerunt spectantibus. Hoc itaque ipse mihi dico, quotiens tale aliquid praestrin- xerit oculos meos, quotiens occurrit domus splendida, cohors culta servorum, lectica formonsis inposita calonibus : Quid miraris ? Quid stupes ? Pompa est. Ostenduntur istae res, non possidentur, et dum

18 placent, transeunt. Ad veras potius te converte divitias. Disce parvo esse contentus et illam vocem magnus atque animosus exclama : * habemus aquam, habemus polentam, lovi ipsi controversiam de felici- tate 2 faciamus.* Faciamus, oro te, etiam si ista defuerint. Turpe est beatam vitam in auro et

^ aliud nisi later MSS. ; aliud BA. ■ felicitate later MSS. ; facilitate BA.

274

EPISTLE ex.

passed the value of gold or of silver — brought not only from beyond our own borders, but from beyond the borders of our enemies ; on one side were slave- boys notable for their training and beauty, on the other were throngs of slave-women, and all the other resources that a prosperous and mighty empire could offer after reviewing its possessions. What else is this, I said to myself, than a stirring-up of man*s cravings, which are in themselves provocative of lust ? What is the meaning of all this display of money ? Did we gather merely to learn what greed was ? For my own part I left the place with less craving than I had when I entered. I came to despise riches, not because of their uselessness, but because of their pettiness. Have you noticed how, inside a few hours, that programme, however slow- moving and carefully arranged, was over and done ? Has a business filled up this whole life of ours, which could not fill up a whole day ?

** I had another thought also : the riches seemed to me to be as useless to the possessors as they were to the onlookers. Accordingly, I say to myself, whenever a show of that sort dazzles my eyes, when- ever I see a splendid palace with a w ell-groomed corps of attendants and beautiful bearers carrying a litter : Why wonder ? Why gape in astonishment ? It is all show ; such things are displayed, not possessed ; while they please they pass away. Turn thyself rather to the true riches. Learn to be content with little, and cry out with courage and with greatness of soul : * We have water, we have porridge ; let us compete in happiness with Jupiter himself.' And why not, I pray thee, make this challenge even without porridge and w^ater ? For it is base to make the happy life depend upon silver and gold, and

275

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

argento reponere, aeque turpe in aqua et polenta.

19 ' Quid ergo faeiam, si ista non fuerint ? ' QuaeriS; quod sit remedium inopiae ? Famem fames finit ; alioquin quid interest, magna sint an exigua, quae servire te cogant ? Quid refert, quantulum sit, quod

20 tibi possit negare fortuna ? Haec ipsa aqua et polenta in alienum arbitrium cadit. Liber est autem non in quem parum licet fortunae, sed in quern nihil. Ita ^ est : nihil desideres oportet, si vis lovem provocare nihil desiderantem.**

Haec nobis Attalus dixit ^ ; quae si voles fre- quenter cogitare, id ages, ut sis felix, non ut videaris, et ut tibi videaris, non aliis. Vale.

CXL

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Quid vocentur Latine sophismata, quaesisti a me. Multi temptaverunt illis nomen inponere, nullum haesit. Videlicet, quia res ipsa non recipiebatur a nobis nee in usu erat, nomini quoque repugnatum est. Aptissimum tamen videtur mihi, quo Cicero

2 usus est : cavillationes vocat. Quibus quisquis se tradidit, quaestiunculas quidem vafras nectit, ceterum ad vitam nihil proficit, neque fortior fit neque temperantior neque elatior.

^ ita later MSS. ; ista BA.

2 After dixit later MSS. have natura omnibus dixit ; om. BA.

276

EPISTLES GX., GXI.

just as base to make it depend upon water and porridge. * But/ some will say, * what could I do without such things ? ' Do you ask what is the cure for want ? It is to make hunger satisfy hunger ; for, all else being equal, what difference is there in the smallness or the largeness of the things that force you to be a slave ? What matter how little it is that Fortune can refuse to you ? Your very porridge and water can fall under another's jurisdic- tion ; and besides, freedom comes, not to him over whom Fortune has slight power, but to him over whom she has no power at all. This is what I mean : you must crave nothing, if you would vie with Jupiter ; for Jupiter craves nothing."

This is what Attalus told us. If you are willing to think often of these things, you will strive not to seem happy, but to be happy, and, in addition, to seem happy to yourself rather than to others. Farewell.

GXI. ON THE VANITY OF MENTAL GYMNASTICS

You have asked me to give you a Latin word for the Greek sopkismata. Many have tried to define the term, but no name has stuck. This is natural, inasmuch as the thing itself has not been admitted to general use by us ; the name, too, has met with opposition. But the word which Gicero used seems to me most suitable : he calls them cavillationes. If a man has surrendered himself to them, he weaves many a tricky subtlety, but makes no progress toward real living ; he does not thereby become braver, or more restrained, or loftier of spirit.

277

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

At ille, qui philosophiam in remedium suum exercuit, ingens fit animo, plenus fiduciae, inex-

3 superabilis et maior adeunti. Quod in magnis evenit montibus, quorum proceritas minus apparet longe intuentibus ; cum accesseris, tunc manifestum fit, quo in arduo summa sint ; talis est, mi Lucili, verus et rebus, non artificiis philosophus. In edito stat admirabilis, celsus, magnitudinis verae. Non exsurgit in plantas nee summis ambulat digitis eorum more, qui mendacio staturam adiuvant longioresque quam sunt, videri volunt ; contentus est magnitudine sua.

4 Quidni contentus sit eo usque crevisse, quo manus fortuna non porrigit ? Ergo et supra humana est et par sibi in omni statu rerum, sive secundo cursu vita procedit, sive fluctuatur et it ^ per adversa ac difficilia ; banc constantiam cavillationes istae, de quibus paulo ante loquebar, praestare non possunt. Ludit istis animus, non proficit, et philosophiam a fastigio suo deducit in planum.

5 Nee te prohibuerim aliquando ista agere, sed tunc, cum voles nihil agere. Hoc tamen habent in se pessimum : dulcedinem quandam sui faciunt et animum specie subtilitatis inductum tenent ac morantur, cum tanta rerum moles vocet, cum vix tota vita sufficiat, ut hoc unum discas, vitam con- temnere. ** Quid ? Regere,'* inquis. Secundum opus

^ it added by Rossbach. 278

EPISTLE CXr.

He, however, who has practised philosophy to effect his own cure, becomes high-souled, full of confidence, invincible, and greater as you draw near him. This phenomenon is seen in the case of high mountains, which appear less lofty when beheld from afar, but which prove clearly how high the peaks are when you come near them ; such, my dear Lucilius, is our true philosopher, true by his acts and not by his tricks. He stands in a high place, worthy of admiration, lofty, and really great. He does not stretch himself or walk on tiptoe like those who seek to improve their height by deceit, wishing to seem taller than they really are ; he is content with his own greaty ness. And why should he not be content with having grown to such a height that Fortune cannot reach her hands to it ? He is therefore above earthly things, equal to himself under all conditions, — whether the current of life runs free, or whether he is tossed and travels on troubled and desperate seas ; but this steadfastness cannot be gained through such hair-splittings as I have just mentioned. The mind plays with them, but profits not a whit ; the mind in such cases is simply dragging philosophy down from her heights to the level ground.

I would not forbid you to practise such exercises occasionally ; but let it be at a time when you wish to do nothing. The worst feature, however, that these indulgences present is that they acquire a sort of self-made charm, occupying and holding the soul by a show of subtlety ; although such weighty matters claim our attention, and a whole life seems scarcely sufficient to learn the single principle of despising life. ** What ? Did you not mean * con- trol * instead of * despise * " f No ; ** controlling "

279

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

est ; nam nemo illam bene rexit nisi qui contemp- serat. Vale.

CXII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Cupio mehereules amieum tuum formari, ut desi- deras, et institui ; sed valde durus capitur, immo, quod est molestius, valde mollis capitur et con- suetudine mala ac diutina fractus.

Volo tibi ex nostro artificio exemplum referre.

2 Non quaelibet insitionem vitis patitur ; si vetus et exesa est, si infirma gracilisque, aut non recipiet surculum aut non alet nee adplicabit sibi nee in qualitatem eius naturamque transibit. Itaque so- lemus supra terram praecidere, ut si non respondit, temptari possit secunda fortuna, et iterum repetita infra terram inseratur.

3 Hie, de quo scribis et mandas, non habet vires ; indulsit vitiis. Simul et emarcuit et induruit. Non potest recipere rationem, non potest nutrire. ** At cupit ipse/' Noli credere. Non dico ilium mentiri tibi ; putat se cupere. Stomachum illi fecit luxuria ;

4 cito cum ilia redibit in gratiam. ** Sed dicit se ofFendi vita sua/' Non negaverim. Quis enim non ofFenditur ? Homines vitia sua et amant simul et oderunt. Tunc itaque de illo feremus sententiam,

* Seneca was an extensive and prosperous vine-grower. Compare Ep. civ. 6 f. for his description of his hobby at the country-place near Momentum. There are many figures which deal with the vine scattered through the Letters.

280

EPISTLES GXI., CXII.

is the second task ; for no one has controlled his life aright unless he has first learned to despise it. Farewell.

CXII. ON REFORMING HARDENED SINNERS

I am indeed anxious that your friend be moulded and trained, according to your desire. But he has been taken in a very hardened state, or rather (and this is a more difficult problem), in a very soft state, broken down by bad and inveterate habits.

I should like to give you an illustration from my own handicraft.^ It is not every vine that admits the grafting process ; if it be old and decayed, or if it be weak and slender, the vine either will not receive the cutting, or will not nourish it and make it a part of itself, nor will it accommodate itself to the qualities and nature of the grafted part. Hence we usually cut off the vine above ground, so that if we do not get results at first, we may try a second venture, and on a second trial graft it below the ground.

Now this person, concerning whom you have sent me your message in writing, has no strength ; for he has pampered his vices. He has at one and the same time become flabby and hardened. He cannot receive reason, nor can he nourish it. ** But,** you say, ** he desires reason of his own free will." Don't believe him. Of course I do not mean that he is lying to you ; for he really thinks that he desires it. Luxury has merely upset his stomach ; he will soon become reconciled to it again. " But he says that he is put out with his former way of living." Very Ukely. Who is not ? Men love and hate their vices at the same time. It will be the proper season to pass judgment on him when he has given us a

281

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

cum fidem nobis fecerit invisam iam sibi esse luxu- riam ; nunc illis male convenit. Vale.

CXIII. Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Desideras tibi scribi a me, quid sentiam de hac quaestione iactata ^ apud nostros : an iustitia, fortitude, prudentia ceteraeque virtutes animalia sint. Hac subtilitate efFecimus, Lucili carissime, ut exercere ingenium inter inrita videremur et dis- putationibus nihil profuturis otium terere. Faciam quod desideras, et quid nostris videatur, exponam. Sed me in alia esse sententia profiteor : puto quaedam esse, quae deceant phaecasiatum palliatumque. Quae sint ergo quae antiquos moverint, vel quae sint quae antiqui moverint, dicam.

2 Animum constat animal esse, cum ipse efficiat, ut simus animalia, cum ab illo animalia nomen hoc traxerint. Virtus autem nihil aliud est quam animus quodammodo se habens ; ergo animal est. Deinde virtus agit aliquid ; agi autem nihil sine impetu potest. Si impetum habet, qui nulli est nisi animali, animal est. ** Si animal est,'' inquit, ** virtus, habet ipsa virtutem.** Quidni habeat se ipsam ? Quo-

3 modo sapiens omnia per virtutem gerit, sic virtus per

^ iactata Hense ; iacta BA.

<» The fulfilment of the promise made in Ep, cvi. 3 (see note ad loc).

^ The allusion, s sarcastic. The phaecasium was a white shoe worn by Greek priests and Athenian gymnasiarchs, — sometimes aped by Romans.

^ i,e,, animal from animus^ anima (" breath of hfe ").

282

EPISTLES GXIL, CXIII.

guarantee that he really hates luxury ; as it is now, luxury and he are merely not on speaking terms. Farewell.

GXIII. ON THE VITALITY OF THE SOUL AND ITS ATTRIBUTES

You wish me to write to you my opinion concerning this question, which has been mooted by our school — whether justice, courage, foresight, and the other virtues, are living things.^ By such niceties as this, my beloved Lucilius, we have made people think that we sharpen our wits on useless objects, and waste our leisure time in discussions that will be un- profitable. I shall, however, do as you ask, and shall set forth the subject as viewed by our school. For myself, I confess to another belief : I hold that there are certain things which befit a wearer of white shoes and a Greek mantle.^ But what the beliefs are that have stirred the ancients, or those which the ancients have stirred up for discussion, I shall explain to you.

The soul, men are agreed, is a living thing, because of itself it can make us living things, and because ** living things *' ^ have derived their name there- from. But virtue is nothing else than a soul in a certain condition ; therefore it is a living thing. Again, virtue is active, and no action can take place without impulse. And if a thing has impulse, it must be a living thing ; for none except a living thing possesses impulse. A reply to this is : ** If virtue is a living thing, then virtue itself possesses virtue.'* Of course it possesses its own self ! Just as the wise man does everything by reason of virtue, so virtue accomplishes everything by reason

VOL. Ill K 283

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

se. *' Ergo/* inquit, " et omnes artes animalia sunt et omnia, quae cogitamus quaeque mente con- plectimur. Sequitur, ut multa millia animalium habitant in his angustiis pectoris, et singuli multa simus animaha aut multa habeamus animalia."

Quaeris, quid adversus istud respondeatur ? Una- quaeque ex istis res animal erit ; multa animalia non erunt. Quare ? Dicam, si mihi accommodaveris

4 subtilitatem et intentionem tuam. Singula animaUa singulas habere debent substantias ; ista omnia unum animum habent ; itaque singula esse possunt, multa esse non possunt. Ego et animal sum et homo, non tamen duos esse nos dices. Quare ? Quia separati debent esse. Ita dico : alter ab altero debet esse diductus, ut duo sint. Quicquid in uno multiplex est, sub unam naturam cadit ; itaque unum est.

5 Et animus meus animal est et ego animal sum, duo tamen non sumus. Quare ? Quia animus mei pars est. Tunc aliquid per se numerabitur, cum per se stabit. Ubi vero alterius membrum erit, non poterit videri aliud. Quare ? Dicam : quia quod aliud est, suum oportet esse et proprium et totum et intra se

6 absolutum. Ego in alia esse me sententia professus sum. Non enim tantum virtutes animalia erunt, si hoc recipitur, sed opposita quoque illis vitia et

" i,e,f from those who hold that the man, the soul, and the functions of the soul, can be classed as separate entities ; or even from those who believe that it is worth while to discuss the matter at all. See § 1 of this Letter.

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of itself. ** In that case," say they, ** all the arts also are living things, and all our thoughts and all that the mind comprehends. It therefore follows that many thousands of living things dwell in man's tiny heart, and that each individual among us consists of, or at least contains, many living beings."

Are you gravelled for an answer to this remark ? Each of these will be a living thing ; but they will not be many separate living things. And why ? I shall explain, if you will apply your subtlety and your concentration to my words. Each living thing must have a separate substance ; but since all the things mentioned above have a single soul, con- sequently they can be separate living things but without plurality. I myself am a living thing, and a man ; but you cannot say that there are two of me for that reason. And why ? Because, if that were so, they would have to be two separate existences. This is what I mean : one would have to be sundered from the other so as to produce two. But when- ever you have that which is manifold in one whole, it falls into the category of a single nature, and is therefore single.

My soul is a living thing, and so am I ; but we are not two separate persons. And why ? Because the soul is part of myself. It will only be reckoned as a definite thing in itself, when it shall exist by itself. But as long as it shall be part of another, it cannot be regarded as different. And why ? I will tell you : it is because that which is different, must be personal and pecuhar to itself, a whole, and com- plete within itself. I myself have gone on record as being of a different opinion ; « for if one adopts this belief, not only the virtues will be hving things, but so will their contrary vices, and the emotions, like

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adfectus, tamquam ira, timor, luctus, suspicio. Ultra res ista procedet ; omnes sententiae, omnes cogita- tiones animalia erunt. Quod nullo modo recipiendum est. Non enim quicquid ab homine fit, homo est.

7 ** lustitia quid est ? ** inquit. Animus quodammodo se habens. ** Itaque si animus animal est, et iustitia.** Minime.i Haec enim habitus animi est et quaedam vis ; idem animus in varias figuras convertitur et non totiens animal aliud ^ est, quotiens aliud faeit. Nee

8 illud, quod fit ab animo, animal est. Si ^ iustitia animal est, si^ fortitudo, si ceterae^ virtutes, utrum desinunt esse animalia, subinde autem ^ rursus in- cipiunt, an semper sunt ?

Desinere virtutes non possunt. Ergo multa ani- malia, immo innumerabilia, in hoe animo versantur.

9 " Non sunt," inquit, ** multa, quia ex uno religata sunt et partes unius ac membra sunt.** Talem ergo faciem animi nobis proponimus, qualis est hydrae multa habentis capita, quorum unumquodque per se pugnat, per se nocet. Atqui nullum ex illis capitibus animal est, sed animalis caput, ceterum ipsa unum animal est. Nemo in Chimaera leonem animal esse dixit aut draconem ; hae partes erant eius ; partes autem non sunt animalia. Quid est, quo colligas

10 iustitiam animal esse ? ** Agit,'* inquit, '* aliquid et prodest. Quod autem agit et prodest, impetum

* iustitia minime later MSS. ; iustitiam in me BA.

2 aliud later MSS. ; alius BA.

® si before iustitia and fortitudo added by Muretus.

* si ceterae Muretus ; sic ceterae (cetetre) BA.

^ autem edd. ; aut or ut MSS.

" Homer, II. vi. 181 irpdade \4u)p, 6vL6ev bk dpoLKwy^ fi^aarj 286

EPISTLE GXIII.

wrath, fear, grief, and suspicion. Nay, the argu- ment will carry us still further — all opinions and all thoughts will be living things. This is by no means admissible ; since anything that man does is not necessarily the man himself. *' What is Justice ? " people say. Justice is a soul that maintains itself in a certain attitude. ** Then if the soul is a living being, so is Justice." By no means. For Justice is really a state, a kind of power, of the soul ; and this same soul is transformed into various likenesses and does not become a different kind of living thing as often as it acts differently. Nor is the result of soul- action a living thing. If Justice, Bravery, and the other virtues have actual life, do they cease to be living things and then begin life over again, or are they always living things ?

But the virtues cannot cease to be. Therefore, there are many, nay countless, living things, sojourn- ing in this one soul. ** No,*' is the answer, *' not many, because they are all attached to the one, being parts and members of a single whole." We are then portraying for ourselves an image of the soul like that of a many-headed hydra — each separate head fighting and destroying independently. And yet there is no separate living thing to each head ; it is the head of a living thing, and the hydra itself is one single living thing. No one ever believed that the Chimaera contained a living lion or a living serpent ; ^ these were merely parts of the whole Chimaera ; and parts are not living things. Then how can you infer that Justice is a living thing ? ** Justice," people reply, ** is active and helpful ; that which acts and is helpful, possesses impulse ;

5e X^JiCiLpa. This is a frequent illustration of the ** whole and the parts " among ancient philosophers.

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habet ; quod autem impetum habet,^ animal est." Verum est, si suum impetum habet ; suum autem non

11 habet,^ sed animi. Omne animal, donee moriatur, id est, quod coepit ; homo, donee moriatur, homo est, equus equus, canis canis.^ Transire in aliud non potest. lustitia, id est animus quodammodo se habens, animal est. Credamus ; deinde animal est fortitudo, id est animus quodammodo se habens. Quis animus ? Ille , qui modo iustitia erat ? Tenetur in priore animali, in aliud animal transire ei non licet ; in eo illi, in quo

12 primum esse coepit, perseverandum est. Praeterea unus animus duorum esse animalium non potest, multo minus plurium. Si iustitia, fortitudo, tempe- rantia ceteraeque virtutes animalia sunt, quo modo unum animum habebunt ? Singulos habeant oportet,

13 aut non sunt animalia. Non potest unum corpus plurium animalium esse. Hoc et ipsi fatentur. lustitiae quod est corpus ? ** Animus.** Quid ? For- titudinis quod est corpus ? ** Idem animus.** At qui unum corpus esse duorum animalium non potest.

14 ** Sed idem animus,** inquit, ** iustitiae habitum induit^ et fortitudinis et temperantiae.** Hoc fieri posset, si quo tempore iustitia esset, fortitudo non esset, quo tempore fortitudo esset, temperantia non esset ; nunc vero omnes virtutes simul sunt. Ita quomodo singulae erunt animalia, cum unus animus sit, qui plus quam unum animal non potest facere ?

^ quod . . . habet added by later MSS. ; om. BA.

^ siium . . . habet later MSS. ; om. BA.

^ equus equus ^ canis canis edd. ; equus canis BA.

* induit later MSS. ; inbuit BA.

" i»e.^ the form in which it is contained.

^ The soul is " body," " world-stuflP " (not " matter " in the modern sense). It is therefore, according to the Stoics, a living entity, a imit ; and Virtue is a dtddea-Ls ^vxv^y — a " permanent disposition of the soul.'*

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EPISTLE GXIII.

and that which possesses impulse is a living thing." True, if the impulse is its own ; (but in the case of justice it is not its own ;) the impulse comes from the soul. Every living thing exists as it began, until death ; a man, until he dies, is a man, a horse is a horse, a dog a dog. They cannot change into any- thing else. Now let us grant that Justice — which is defined as " a soul in a certain attitude,'' is a living thing. Let us suppose this to be so. Then Bravery also is alive, being ** a soul in a certain attitude.'* But which soul ? That which was but now defined as Justice ? The soul is kept within the first-named being, and cannot cross over into another ; it must last out its existence in the medium where it had its origin. Besides, there cannot be one soul to two living things, much less to many living things. And if Justice, Bravery, Restraint, and all the other virtues, are living things, how will they have one soul ? They must possess separate souls, or else they are not living things. Several living things cannot have one body ; this is admitted by our very opponents. Now what is the ** body " ^ of justice ? " The soul," they admit. And of bravery ? " The soul also." And yet there cannot be one body of two living things. ** The same soul, however," they answer, " assumes the guise of Justice, or Bravery, or Restraint." This would be possible if Bravery were absent when Justice was present, and if Re- straint were absent when Bravery was present ; as the case stands now, all the virtues exist at the same time. Hence, how can the separate virtues be living things, if you grant that there is one single soul,^ which cannot create more than one single living thing ?

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THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

15 Denique nullum animal pars est alterius animalis. lustitia autem pars est animi ; non est ergo animal. Videor mihi in re confessa perdere operam ; magis enim indignandum de isto quam disputandum est. Nullum animal alteri par est. Circumspice omnium corpora : nuUi non et color proprius est et figura sua

16 et magnitudo. Inter cetera, propter quae mirabile divini artificis ingenium est, hoc quoque existimo, et quod in tanta copia rerum numquam in idem incidit ; etiam quae similia videntur, cum contuleris, diversa sunt. Tot fecit genera foliorum : nullum non sua proprietate signatum. Tot animalia : nullius mag- nitudo cum altero convenit, utique aliquid interest. Exegit a se, ut quae alia erant, et dissimilia essent et inparia ; virtutes omnes, ut dicitis, pares sunt. Ergo non sunt animalia.

17 Nullum non animal per se agit. Virtus autem per se nihil agit, sed cum homine. Omnia animalia aut rationalia sunt, ut homines, ut di, aut inrationalia, ut ferae, ut pecora.^ Virtutes utique rationales sunt ; atqui nee homines sunt nee di ; ergo non sunt

18 animalia. Omne rationale animal nihil agit, nisi primum specie alicuius rei inritatum est, deinde impetum cepit, deinde adsensio confirmavit hunc impetum. Quid sit adsensio, dicam. Oportet me ambulare : tunc demum ambulo, cum hoc mihi dixi et adprobavi hanc opinionem meam. Oportet me sedere : tunc demum sedeo. Haec adsensio in

^ aut . . . pecora later MSS. ; om. BA.

" The usual progression was atadTjcns (sensus), (papraaia {species, ** external impression "), (TvyKarddeffis (adsensus)^ and KaTd\r}\pLs {comprehensio). See Ep. xcv. 62 note,

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EPISTLE GXIII.

Again, no living thing is part of another living thing. But Justice is a part of the soul ; therefore Justice is not a living thing. It looks as if I were wasting time over something that is an acknowledged fact ; for one ought to decry such a topic rather than debate it. And no two living things are equal. Consider the bodies of all beings : every one has its particular colour, shape, and size. And among the other reasons for marvelling at the genius of the Divine Creator is, I believe, this, — that amid all this abundance there is no repetition ; even seemingly similar things are, on comparison, unlike. God has created all the great number of leaves that we behold : each, however, is stamped with its special pattern. All the many animals : none resembles another in size — always some difference ! The Creator has set himself the task of making unlike and unequal things that are different ; but all the virtues, as your argument states, are equal. Therefore, they are not living things.

Every Uving thing acts of itself ; but virtue does nothing of itself ; it must act in conjunction with man. All living things either are gifted with reason, like men and gods, or else are irrational, like beasts and cattle. Virtues, in any case, are rational ; and yet they are neither men nor gods ; therefore they are not living things. Every living thing possessed of reason is inactive if it is not first stirred by some external impression ; then the impulse comes, and finally assent confirms the impulse.^ Now what assent is, I shall explain. Suppose that I ought to take a walk : I do walk, but only after uttering the command to myself and approving this opinion of mine. Or suppose that I ought to seat myself ; I do seat myself, but only after the same process. VOL. Ill K 2 291

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

19 virtute non est. Puta enim prudentiam esse ; quo- modo adsentietur ** oportet me ambulare " ? Hoe natura non recipit. Prudentia enim ei, cuius est, prospicit, non sibi. Nam nee ambulare potest nee sedere. Ergo adsensionem non habet, rationale animal non est. Virtus si animal est, rationale est.

20 Rationale autem non est ; ergo nee animal. Si virtus animal est, virtus autem bonum, non est omne bonum animal ? Est. Hoc nostri fatentur.

Patrem servare bonum est, et sententiam prudent er in senatu dicere bonum est, et iuste decernere bonum est ; ergo et ^ patrem servare animal est et prudenter sententiam dicere animal est. Eo usque res exegit, ut risum tenere non possis : prudenter tacere bonum est, frugaliter cenare bonum est ^ ; ita et tacere et

21 cenare animal est. Ego mehercules titillare non desinam et ludos mihi ex istis subtilibus ineptiis facere. lustitia et fortitudo, si animalia sunt, certe terrestria sunt. Omne animal terrestre alget, esurit, sitit ; ergo iustitia alget, fortitudo esurit, dementia sitit.

22 Quid porro ? Non interrogabo illos, quam figuram habeant ista animalia ? Hominis an equi an ferae ? Si rotundam illis qualem deo dederint, quaeram, an et avaritia et luxuria et dementia aeque rotundae sint. Sunt enim et ipsae animalia. Si has quoque

1 et later MSS. ; ut BA.

2 frugaliter {bene) cenare bonum est Hense and later MSS.; om. BA.

°' This problem is discussed from another angle in Ep, Iviii. 16. * i.^., the virtues.

292

EPISTLE CXIII.

This assent is not a part of virtue. For let us suppose that it is Prudence ; how will Prudence assent to the opinion : ** I must take a walk " ? Nature does not allow this. For Prudence looks after the interests of its possessor, and not of its own self. Prudence cannot walk or be seated. Accordingly, it does not possess the power of assent, and it is not a living thing possessed of reason. But if virtue is a living thing, it is rational. But it is not rational ; therefore it is not a living thing. If virtue is a living thing, and virtue is a Good — is not, then, every Good a living thing ? It is. Our school professes it.

Now to save a father *s life is a Good ; it is also a Good to pronounce one's opinion judiciously in the senate, and it is a Good to hand down just opinions ; therefore the act of saving a father's life is a living thing, also the act of pronouncing judicious opinions. We have carried this absurd argument so far that you cannot keep from laughing outright : wise silence is a Good, and so is a frugal dinner ; therefore silence and dining are Uving things." Indeed I shall never cease to tickle my mind and to make sport for myself by means of this nice nonsense. Justice and Bravery, if they are living things, are certainly of the earth. Now every earthly living thing gets cold or hungry or thirsty ; therefore. Justice goes a-cold, Bravery is hungry, and Kindness craves a drink !

And what next ? Should I not ask our honourable opponents what shape these living beings ^ have ? Is it that of man, or horse, or wild beast ? If they are given a round shape, Uke that of a god, I shall ask whether greed and luxury and madness are equally round. For these, too, are *' living things.*' If I find that they give a rounded shape to these also, I

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conrotundaverint, etiamnunc interrogabo, an prudens ambulatio animal sit. Necesse est confiteantur, deinde dicant ambulationem animal esse et quidem rotundum.

23 Ne putes autem primum me ^ ex nostris non ex praescripto loqui, sed meae sententiae esse : inter Cleanthen et diseipulum eius Chrysippum non con- venit, quid sit ambulatio. Cleanthes ait spiritum esse a principali usque in pedes permissum, Chrys- ippus ipsum principale. Quid ^ est ergo, cur non ipsius Chrysippi exemplo sibi quisque se vindicet et ista tot animalia, quot mundus ipse non potest

24 capere, derideat ? ** Non sunt,'* inquit, ** virtutes multa animalia, et tamen animalia sunt. Nam quem- admodum aliquis et poeta est et orator, et tamen unus, sic virtutes istae animalia sunt, sed multa non sunt. Idem est animus et animus ^ et iustus et prudens et fortis, ad singulas virtutes quodammodo

25 se habens.*' Sublata controversia ^ convenit nobis. Nam et ego interim fateor animum animal esse, postea visurus, quam de ista re sententiam feram aetiones eius animalia esse nego. Alioqui et omnia verba erunt animalia et omnes versus ; nam si prudens sermo bonum est, bonum autem omne animal est, sermo animal est.^ Prudens versus bonum est, bonum autem omne animal est ; versus ergo animal est. Ita ** arma virumque cano,'* animal est, quod non possunt rotundum dicere, cum sex pedes

* me added by Hermes. ^ quid later MSS. ; quod BA.

^ et animus MSS. ; del. vulg.

* sublata controversia Brakman ; sublata MSS.

^ sermo animal est viilg. ; om. MSS.

" Cleanthes, Frag. 5^6 von Arnim ; Chrysippus, Frag. 836 von Arnim. The former would seem to be more in accord with general Stoic views.

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EPISTLE GXIII.

shall go so far as to ask whether a modest gait is a living thing ; they must admit it, according to their argument, and proceed to say that a gait is a living thing, and a rounded living thing, at that !

Now do not imagine that I am the first one of our school who does not speak from rules but has his own opinion : Cleanthes and his pupil Chrysippus could not agree in defining the act of walking. Cleanthes held that it was spirit transmitted to the feet from the primal essence, while Chrysippus main- tained that it was the primal essence in itself.^ Why, then, following the example of Chrysippus himself, should not every man claim his own free- dom, and laugh down all these " living things,*' — so numerous that the universe itself cannot contain them ? One might say : ** The virtues are not many living things, and yet they are living things. For just as an individual may be both poet and orator in one, even so these virtues are living things, but they are not many. The soul is the same ; it can be at the same time just and prudent and brave, maintaining itself in a certain attitude to- wards each virtue.*' The dispute is settled, and we are therefore agreed. For I shall admit, meanwhile, that the soul is a living thing with the proviso that later on I may cast my final vote ; but I deny that the acts of the soul are living beings. Otherwise, all words and all verses would be alive ; for if prudent speech is a Good, and every Good a living thing, then speech is a living thing. A prudent line of poetry is a Good ; everything alive is a Good ; therefore, the line of poetry is a living thing. And so ** Arms and the man I sing,'' is a living thing ; but they cannot call it rounded, because it has six

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26 habeat. ** Textorium/' inquis, ** totum mehercules istud, quod cum maxime agitur/' Dissilio risu, cum mihi propono soloecismum animal esse et bar- barismum et synlogismum et aptas illis facies tam- quam pictor adsigno. Haec disputamus attractis superciliis, fronte rugosa ? Non possum hoc loco dicere illud Caelianum : " O tristes ineptias ! *' Ridiculae sunt. Quin itaque potius aliquid utile nobis ac salutare tractamus et quaerimus, quomodo ad virtutes pervenire possimus, quae nos ad illas via adducat.

27 Doce me non an fortitudo animal sit, sed nullum animal felix esse sine fortitudine, nisi contra fortuita convaluit et omnis casus, ^ antequam exciperet, meditando praedomuit. Quid est fortitudo ? Muni- mentum humanae imbecillitatis inexpugnabile, quod qui circumdedit sibi, securus in hac vitae obsidione

28 perdurat ; utitur enim suis viribus, suis telis. Hoc loco tibi Posidonii nostri referre sententiam volo : ** Non est quod umquam fortunae armis putes esse te tutum ; tuis pugna. Contra ipsam fortuna non armat ; itaque contra hostes instructi, contra ipsam inermes sunt/'

29 Alexander Persas quidem et Hyrcanos et Indos et quicquid gentium usque in oceanum extendit oriens, vastabat fugabatque, sed ipse modo occiso amico, modo amisso iacebat in tenebris, alias scelus, alias

^ casus later MSS. ; causas BA.

" Caecilianum (the reading of later MSS.) would refer to Statius Caecilius, the comic writer of the second century b.c. Caelianuin (B and A) would indicate M. Caelius Rufus, the orator and contemporary of Cicero and Catullus.

^ 334-330 B.C.

* See Ep, xciv. 63 f., and notes.

** e.g,^ tlie execution of Parmenio in Media and the murder of Cleitus in Samarkand.

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feet ! ** This whole proposition," you say, " which we are at this moment discussing, is a puzzhng fabric." I spUt with laughter whenever I reflect that solecisms and barbarisms and syllogisms are living things, and, like an artist, I give to each a fitting likeness. Is this what we discuss with con- tracted brow and wrinkled forehead ? I cannot say now, after Caelius,^ ** What melancholy trifling ! " It is more than this ; it is absurd. Why do we not rather discuss something which is useful and wholesome to ourselves, seeking how we may attain the virtues, and finding the path which will take us in that direction ?

Teach me, not whether Bravery be a living thing, but prove that no living thing is happy without bravery, that is, unless it has grown strong to oppose hazards and has overcome all the strokes of chance by rehearsing and anticipating their attack. And what is Bravery ? It is the impregnable fortress for our mortal weakness ; when a man has surrounded himself therewith, he can hold out free from anxiety during lifers siege ; for he is using his own strength and his own weapons. At this point I would quote you a saying of our philosopher Posidonius : ** There are never any occasions when you need think yourself safe because you wield the weapons of Fortune ; fight with your own ! Fortune does not furnish arms against herself; hence men equipped against their foes are unarmed against Fortune herself."

Alexander, to be sure, harried and put to flight the Persians,'^ the Hyrcanians, the Indians, and all the other races that the Orient spreads even to the Ocean ; ^ but he himself, as he slew one friend or lost another, would lie in the darkness lamenting sometimes his crime, and sometimes his loss ; ^

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desiderium suum maerens, victor tot regum atque populorum irae tristitiaeque succumbens. Id enim egerat, ut omnia potius haberet in potestate quam

30 adfectus. O quam magnis homines tenentur erro- ribus, qui ius dominandi trans maria cupiunt per- mittere felicissimosque se iudicant, si multas ^ milite ^ provincias optinent et novas veteribus adiungunt, ignari, quod sit illud ingens par que dis regnum.

31 Imperare sibi maximum imperium est. Doceat me, quam sacra res sit iustitia alienum bonum spectans, nihil ex se petens nisi usum sui. Nihil sit illi cum ambitione famaque ; sibi placeat.

Hoc ante omnia sibi quisque persuadeat : me iustum esse gratis oportet. Parum est ; adhuc illud persuadeat sibi : me in hanc pulcherrimam virtutem ultro etiam inpendere iuvet. Tota cogitatio a pri- vatis commodis quam longissime aversa sit. Non est quod spectes, quod sit iustae rei praemium ; maius in iusto^ est. Illud adhuc tibi adfige, quod paulo

32 ante dicebam : nihil ad rem pertinere, quam multi aequitatem tuam noverint. Qui virtutem suam publicari vult, non virtuti laborat, sed gloriae. Non vis esse iustus ^ sine gloria ? At mehercules saepe iustus esse debebis cum infamia. Et tunc, si sapis, mala opinio bene parta delectet. Vale.

^ si multas later MSS. ; simulatas BA.

* milite Buecheler ; pro milite BA.

^ in iusto Schweighaeuser and Madvig ; iniustae BA ; in iustitia later MSS.

* iustus later MSS. ; intus BA.

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he, the conqueror of so many kings and nations, was laid low by anger and grief ! For he had made it his aim to win control over everything except his emotions. Oh with what great mistakes are men obsessed, who desire to push their limits of empire beyond the seas, who judge themselves most pros- perous when they occupy many provinces with their soldiery and join new territory to the old ! Little do they know of that kingdom which is on an equality with the heavens in greatness ! Self-Command is the greatest command of all. Let her teach me what a hallowed thing is the Justice which ever regards another's good and seeks nothing for itself except its own employment. It should have nothing to do with ambition and reputation ; it should satisfy itself.

Let each man convince himself of this before all else — ** I must be just without reward." And that is not enough ; let him convince himself also of this : " May I take pleasure in devoting myself of my own free will to uphold this noblest of virtues.** Let all his thoughts be turned as far as possible from personal interests. You need not look about for the reward of a just deed ; a just deed in itself offers a still greater return. Fasten deep in your mind that which I remarked a short space above : that it makes no difference how many persons are acquainted with your uprightness. Those who wish their virtue to be advertised are not striving for virtue but for renown. Are you not willing to be just without being renowned ? Nay, indeed you must often be just and be at the same time disgraced. And then, if you are wise, let ill repute, well won, be a delight. Farewell.

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CXIV.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Quare quibusdam temporibus provenerit corrupt! generis oratio quaeris, et quomodo in quaedam vitia inclinatio ingeniorum facta sit, ut aliquando inflata explicatio vigeret, aliquando infracta et in morem cantici ducta ? Quare alias sensus audaces et fidem egressi placuerint, alias abruptae sententiae et suspi- ciosae, in quibus plus intellegendum esset quam audiendum ? Quare aliqua aetas fuerit, quae trans- lationis iure uteretur inverecunde ? Hoc quod audire vulgo soles, quod apud Graecos in proverbium cessit :

2 talis hominibus fuit oratio qualis vita. Quemad- modum autem uniuscuiusque actio dicenti similis est, sic genus dicendi aliquando imitatur publicos mores, si ^ disciplina civitatis laboravit et se in delicias dedit. Argumentum est luxuriae publicae orationis

3 lascivia, si modo non in uno aut in altero fuit, sed adprobata est et recepta. Non potest alius esse ingenio, alius animo color. Si ille sanus est, si com- positus, gravis, temperans, ingenium quoque siccum ac sobrium est ; illo vitiato hoc quoque adflatur. Non vides, si animus elanguit, trahi membra et pigre moveri pedes ? Si ille effeminatus est, in

^ si later MSS. ; sic BA.

** olos 6 piosy TOLovTos Kai 6 \6yos. The saying is referred to Socrates by Cicero {Tusc, v. 47).

* ?*.^., that inborn quality which is compounded of char- acter and intelHgence.

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EPISTLE CXIV.

CXIV. ON STYLE AS A MIRROR OF CHARACTER

You have been asking me why, during certain periods, a degenerate style of speech comes to the fore, and how it is that men's wits have gone down- hill into certain vices — in such a way that exposition at one time has taken on a kind of puffed-up strength, and at another has become mincing and modulated like the music of a concert piece. You wonder why sometimes bold ideas — bolder than one could believe — have been held in favour, and why at other times one meets with phrases that are disconnected and full of innuendo, into which one must read more meaning than was intended to meet the ear. Or why there have been epochs which maintained the right to a shameless use of metaphor. For answer, here is a phrase which you are wont to notice in the popular speech — one which the Greeks have made into a proverb : ** Man's speech is just like his life/* ^ Exactly as each individual man's actions seem to speak, so people's style of speaking often reproduces the general character of the time, if the morale of the public has relaxed and has given itself over to effeminacy. Wantonness in speech is proof of public luxury, if it is popular and fashionable, and not confined to one or two individual instances. A man's ability ^ cannot possibly be of one sort and his soul of another. If his soul be wholesome, well-ordered, serious, and restrained, his ability also is sound and sober. Conversely, when the one degenerates, the other is also contaminated. Do you not see that if a man's soul has become sluggish, his limbs drag and his feet move indolently ? If it is womanish, that

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ipso incessu adparere mollitiam ? Si ille acer est et ferox, concitari gradum ? Si furit aut, quod furori simile est, iraseitur, turbatum esse corporis motum nee ire, sed ferri ?

Quanto hoc magis accidere ingenio putas, quod totum animo permixtum est ; ab illo fingitur, illi

4 paret, inde legem petit. Quomodo Maecenas vixerit notius est, quam ut narrari nunc debeat, quomodo ambulaverit, quam delicatus fuerit, quam cupierit videri, quam vitia sua latere noluerit. Quid ergo ? Non oratio eius aeque soluta est quam ipse discinctus ? Non tam insignita illius verba sunt quam cultus, quam comitatus, quam domus, quam uxor ? Magni vir ingenii fuerat, si illud egisset via rectiore, si non vitasset intellegi, si non etiam in oratione difflueret. Videbis itaque eloquentiam ebrii hominis involutam et errantem et licentiae plenam.^

5 Quid turpius ** amne silvisque ripa comantibus ? '* Vide ut ** alveum lintribus arent versoque vado ^ remittant hortos." Quid ? Si quis ** feminae cinno crispat et labris columbatur incipitque suspirans, ut cervice lass a fanantur nemoris tyranni." ** Inreme- diabilis factio rimantur epulis lagonaque temptant

^ After plenam BA give Maecenas de cultu suo ; an interpolation (Gruter). See Summers in C.Q, ii. 170 if., and O. Hense, p. 548 (ed. of 1914), for a discussion of the quoted passages.

2 vado later MSS. ; vada BA.

• Cf, Suetonius, Aug. 86, where the Emperor Maecenatem suum, cuius " myrobrechis,^^ ut ait, " cincinnos '* (" unguent- dripping curls " (Rolfe)) usque quaque persequitur et imi- tando per iocum irridet. Augustus here refers especially to the style of Maecenas as a writer.

* Terentia. For her charms see Horace, Od, ii. 12 ; for

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one can detect the effeminacy by his very gait ? That a keen and confident soul quickens the step ? That madness in the soul, or anger (which resembles madness), hastens our bodily movements from walk- ing to rushing ?

And how much more do you think that this affects one's ability, which is entirely interwoven with the soul, — being moulded thereby, obeying its com- mands, and deriving therefrom its laws ! How Maecenas lived is too well-known for present com- ment. We know how he walked, how effeminate he was, and how he desired to display himself; also, how unwilling he was that his vices should escape notice. What, then ? Does not the looseness of his speech match his ungirt attire ? * Are his habits, his attendants, his house, his v/ife,^ any less clearly marked than his words ? He would have been a man of great powers, had he set himself to his task by a straight path, had he not shrunk from making himself understood, had he not been so loose in his style of speech also. You will therefore see that his eloquence was that of an intoxicated man — twisting, turning, unlimited in its slackness.

What is more unbecoming than the words : * ** A stream and a bank covered with long-tressed woods *' ? And see how ** men plough the channel with boats and, turning up the shallows, leave gardens behind them.'' Or, '* He curls his lady-locks, and bills and coos, and starts a-sighing, like a forest lord who offers prayers with down-bent neck." Or, " An unregenerate crew, they search out people at feasts, and assail households with the wine-cup, and, by hope,

her faults see De prov. iii. 10, where Seneca calls her " petulant."

« Maecenas, Frag. 1 1 Lunderstedt.

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domos et spe mortem exigunt." ** Genium festo vix suo testem. Tenuisve cerei fila et erepacem molam. Focum mater aut uxor investiunt/'

6 Non statim, cum haec legeris, hoc tibi occurret, hunc esse, qui solutis tunicis in urbe semper in- cesserit ? Nam etiam cum absentis Caesaris partibus fungeretur, signum a discincto petebatur. Hunc esse, qui in ^ tribunali, in rostris, in omni publico coetu sic apparuerit, ut pallio velaretur caput exclusis utrimque auribus, non aliter quam in mimo fugitivi divitis Solent ? Hunc esse, cui tunc maxime civilibus bellis strepentibus et sollicita urbe et armata comitatus hie fuerit in publico spadones duo, magis tamen viri quam ipse ? Hunc esse, qui uxorem milliens duxit, cum unam habuerit ? Haec verba tam improbe

7 structa, tam neglegenter abiecta, tam contra con- suetudinem omnium posita ostendunt mores quoque non minus novos et pravos et singulares fuisse. Maxima laus illi tribuitur mansuetudinis, pepercit gladio, sanguine abstinuit nee ulla alia re, quid posset, quam licentia ostendit ; hanc ipsam laudem suam corrupit istis orationis portentosissimae deliciis.

8 Apparet enim mollem fuisse, non mitem. Hoc istae ambages compositionis, hoc verba transversa, hoc sensus miri,^ magni quidem saepe, sed enervati dum

1 in later MSS.; om. BA. ^ miri Buecheler ; mihi BA.

° Instead of properly girt up — a mark of slackness

* For a similar mark of slovenliness, in Pompey's f reed- man Demetrius, see Plutarch, Pompey, xl. 4.

* i.e., often repulsed by his wife Terentia, and then re- stored to grace.

^ e.g., in the Treaty of Brundisium (37 b.c), and often during the Triumvirate.

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exact death." Or, ** A Genius could hardly bear witness to his own festival " ; or " threads of tiny tapers and crackling meal " ; " mothers or wives clothing the hearth."

Can you not at once imagine, on reading through these words, that this was the man who always paraded through the city with a flowing * tunic ? For even if he was discharging the absent emperor's duties, he was always in undress when they asked him for the countersign. Or that this was the man who, as judge on the bench, or as an orator, or at any public function, appeared with his cloak wrapped about his head, leaving only the ears exposed,^ like the millionaire's runaway slaves in the farce ? Or that this was the man who, at the very time when the state was embroiled in civil strife, when the city was in difficulties and under martial law, was attended in public by two eunuchs — both of them more men than himself ? Or that this was the man who had but one wife, and yet was married countless times ? ^ These words of his, put together so faultily, thrown oif so carelessly, and arranged in such marked con- trast to the usual practice, declare that the character of their writer was equally unusual, unsound, and eccentric. To be sure, we bestow upon him the highest praise for his humanity ; he was sparing with the sword and refrained from bloodshed ; ^ and he made a show of his power only in the course of his loose living ; but he spoiled, by such preposterous finickiness of style, this genuine praise, which was his due. For it is evident that he was not really gentle, but effeminate, as is proved by his misleading word- order, his inverted expressions, and the surprising thoughts which frequently contain something great,

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exeunt, cuivis manifestum facient. Motum illi felici- tate nimia caput.

Quod vitium hominis esse interdum, interdum 9 temporis solet. Ubi luxuriam late felicitas fudit, cult us ^ primum corporum esse diligentior incipit. Deinde supellectili laboratur. Deinde in ipsas domos inpenditur cura, ut in laxitatem ruris excurrant, ut parietes advectis trans maria marmoribus fulgeant, ut tecta varientur auro, ut lacunaribus pavimentorum respondeat nitor. Deinde ad cenas lautitia trans- fertur, et illic commendatio ex novitate et soliti ordinis commutatione captatur, ut ea, quae includere Solent cenam, prima ponantur, ut quae advenientibus dabantur, exeuntibus dentur.

10 Cum adsuevit animus fastidire, quae ex more sunt, et illi pro sordidis solita sunt, etiam in oratione, quod novum est, quaerit et modo antiqua verba atque exsoleta revocat ac profert, modo fingit et ignota ac deflectit, modo, id quod nuper increbruit, pro cultu

11 habetur audax translatio ac frequens. Sunt qui sensus praecidant et hoc gratiam sperent, si sententia pependerit et audienti suspicionem sui fecerit. Sunt qui illos^ detineant et porrigant. Sunt qui non usque ad vitium accedant, necesse est enim hoc

* cultus Muretus ; luxus BA, « illos later MSS, ; illo BA.

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but in finding expression have become nerveless. One would say that his head was turned by too great success.

This fault is due sometimes to the man, and some- times to his epoch. When prosperity has spread luxury far and wide, men begin by paying closer attention to their personal appearance. Then they go crazy over furniture. Next, they devote atten- tion to their houses — how to take up more space with them, as if they were country-houses, how to make the walls glitter with marble that has been imported over seas, how to adorn a roof with gold, so that it may match the brightness of the inlaid floors. After that, they transfer their exquisite taste to the dinner-table, attempting to court approval by novelty and by departures from the customary order of dishes, so that the courses which we are accustomed to serve at the end of the meal may be served first, and so that the departing guests may partake of the kind of food which in former days was set before them on their arrival.

When the mind has acquired the habit of scorning the usual things of life, and regarding as mean that which was once customary, it begins to hunt for novelties in speech also ; now it summons and dis- plays obsolete and old-fashioned words ; now it coins even unknown words or misshapes them ; and now a bold and frequent metaphorical usage is made a special feature of style, according to the fashion which has just become prevalent. Some cut the thoughts short, hoping to make a good impression by leaving the meaning in doubt and causing the hearer to suspect his own lack of wit. Some dwell upon them and lengthen them out. Others, too, approach just short of a fault — for a man must

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facere aliquid grande temptanti, sed qui ipsum vitium ament. Itaque ubicumque videris orationem corruptam placere, ibi mores quoque a recto descivisse non erit dubium.

Quomodo conviviorum luxuria, quomodo vestium aegrae civitatis indicia sunt, sic orationis licentia, si modo frequens est, ostendit animos quoque, a quibus

12 verba exeunt, procidisse. Mirari quidem non debes corrupta excipi non tantum a ^ corona sordidiore, sed ab hac quoque turba cultiore, togis enim inter se isti, non iudiciis distant. Hoc magis mirari potes, quod non tantum vitiosa, sed vitia laudentur. Nam illud semper factum est : nullum sine venia placuit ingenium. Da mihi quemcumque vis, magni no- minis virum ^ ; dicam, quid illi aetas sua ignoverit, quid in illo sciens dissimulaverit. Multos tibi dabo, quibus vitia non nocuerint, quosdam, quibus pro- fuerint. Dabo, inquam, maximae famae et inter admiranda propositos, quos si quis corrigit, delet ; sic enim vitia virtutibus inmissa sunt, ut illas secum

13 tractura sint. Adice nunc, quod oratio cert am regu- 1am non habet ; consuetudo illam civitatis, quae numquam in eodem diu stetit, versat. Multi ex alieno saeculo petunt verba, duodecim tabulas loquun- tur. Gracchus illis et Crassus et Curio nimis culti et recentes sunt, ad Appium usque et Coruncanium redeunt. Qui dam contra, dum nihil nisi tritum et

1 a later MSS. ; om. BA. 2 virnm later MSS. ; utrum BA.

^ i.e.^ the " ring " of onlookers, the " pit."

* Fifth century b.c.

* i.e., from the second and first centuries b.c, back to the third century.

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really do this if he hopes to attain an imposing effect — but actually love the fault for its own sake. In short, whenever you notice that a degenerate style pleases the critics, you may be sure that character also has deviated from the right standard. Just as luxurious banquets and elaborate dress are indications of disease in the state, similarly a lax style, if it be popular, shows that the mind (which is the source of the word) has lost its balance. Indeed you ought not to wonder that corrupt speech is welcomed not merely by the more squalid mob ® but also by our more cultured throng ; for it is only in their dress and not in their judgments that they differ. You may rather wonder that not only the effects of vices, but even vices themselves, meet with approval. For it has ever been thus : no man's ability has ever been approved without something being pardoned Show me any man, however famous ; I can tell you what it was that his age forgave in him, and what it was that his age purposely overlooked. I can show you many men whose vices have caused them no harm, and not a few who have been even helped by these vices. Yes, I will show you persons of the highest reputation, set up as models for our admiration ; and yet if you seek to correct their errors, you destroy them ; for vices are so inter- twined with virtues that they drag the virtues along with them. Moreover, style has no fixed laws ; it is changed by the usage of the people, never the same for any length of time. Many orators hark back to earlier epochs for their vocabulary, speaking in the language of the Twelve Tables.^ Gracchus, Crassus, and Curio, in their eyes, are too refined and too modern ; so back to Appius and Coruncanius ! ^ Conversely, certain men, in their endeavour to main-

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14 usitatum volunt, in sordes incidunt. Utrumque diverse genere corruptum est, tarn mehercules quam nolle nisi splendidis uti ac sonantibus et poeticis, necessaria atque in usu posita vitare. Tarn hunc dicam peccare quam ilium : alter se plus iusto colit, alter plus iusto neglegit ; ille et crura, hie ne alas quidem vellit.

15 Ad compositionem transeamus. Quot genera tibi in bac dabo, quibus peccetur ? Quidam praefractam et asperam probant ; disturbant de industria, si quid placidius effluxit. Nolunt sine salebra esse iuncturam ; virilem putant et fortem, quae aurem inaequalitate percutiat. Quorundam non est compositio, rnodula-

16 tio est ; adeo blanditur et molliter labitur. Quid de ilia loquar, in qua verba differuntur et diu expeetata vix ad clausulas redeunt ? Quid ilia in exitu lenta, qualis Ciceronis est, devexa et molliter detinens nee aliter quam solet, ad morem suum pedemque respondens ? Non tantum in genere sententiarum vitium est, si aut pusillae sunt et pueriles aut improbae et plus ausae quam pudore salvo licet, si floridae sunt et nimis dulces, si in vanum exeunt et sine efFectu nihil amplius quam sonant.

17 Haec vitia unus aliquis inducit, sub quo tunc eloquentia est, ceteri imitantur et alter alteri tradunt.

^ The latter a reasonable mark of good breeding, the former an ostentatious bit of effeminacy. Summers cites Ovid, A. A, I. 506 " don't rub your legs smooth with the tight-scraping pumice-stone."

^ As Cicero (see Ep. xl. 1 1) was an example of the rhythmi- cal in style, so Pollio is the representative of the " bumpy " (salehrosa) manner {Ep, c. 7).

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tain nothing but well-worn and common usages, fall into a humdrum style. These two classes, each in its own way, are degenerate ; and it is no less degenerate to use no words except those which are conspicuous, high-sounding, and poetical, avoiding what is familiar and in ordinary usage. One is, I believe, as faulty as the other : the one class are unreasonably elaborate, the other are unreasonably negligent ; the former depilate the leg, the latter not even the armpit.^

Let us now turn to the arrangement of words. In this department, what countless varieties of fault I can show you ! Some are all for abruptness and unevenness of style, purposely disarranging anything which seems to have a smooth flow of language. They would have jolts in all their transitions ; they regard as strong and manly whatever makes an un- even impression on the ear. With some others it is not so much an " arrangement " of words as it is a setting to music ; so wheedling and soft is their gliding style. And what shall I say of that arrangement in which words are put off and, after being long waited for, just manage to come in at the end of a period ? Or again of that softly-concluding style, Cicero- fashion,^ with a gradual and gently poised descent, always the same and always with the customary arrangement of the rhythm ! Nor is the fault only in the style of the sentences, if they are either petty and childish, or debasing, with more daring than modesty should allow, or if they are flowery and cloying, or if they end in emptiness, accomplishing mere sound and nothing more.

Some individual makes these vices fashionable — some person who controls the eloquence of the day ; the rest follow his lead and communicate the habit

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Sic Sallustio vigente anputatae sententiae et verba ante exspectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere pro eultu. L. Arruntius, vir rarae frugalitatis, qui historias belli Punici scripsit, fuit Sallustianus et in illud genus nitens. Est apud Sallustium : ** exer- citum argento fecit/' id est, pecunia paravit. Hoc Arruntius amare coepit ; posuit illud omnibus pa- ginis. Dicit quodam loco : ** fugam nostris fecere." Alio loco : ** Hiero, rex Syracusanorum, bellum fecit." Et alio loco : ** quae audita Panhormitanos dedere

18 Romanis fecere/* Gustum tibi dare volui ; totus his contexitur liber. Quae apud Sallustium rara fuerunt, apud hunc crebra sunt et paene continua, nee sine causa ; ille enim in haec incidebat, at hie ilia quae- rebat. Vides autem, quid sequatur, ubi alicui vitium

19 pro exemplo est. Dixit Sallustius : ** aquis hieman- tibus.'* Arruntius in primo libro belli Punici ait : ** repente hiemavit tempestas." Et alio loco cum dicere vellet frigidum annum fuisse, ait : ** totus hiemavit annus.'' Et alio loco : ** inde sexaginta onerarias leves praeter militem et necessarios nau- tarum hiemante aquilone misit." Non desinit om- nibus locis hoc verbum infulcire. Quodam loco dicit Sallustius : " inter arma civilia aequi bonique famas petit." Arruntius non temper avit, quo minus primo

« Flor. 40 B.C.

^ For these Sallust fragments see the edition of Kritz, Nos. 33, Jug, 37. 4, and 42 ; for Arruntius see H. Peter, Frag, Hist, Rom, ii. pp. 41 f.

« Literally, " created," " made."

<* ** Brought to pass flight for our men " ; " Hiero, king of the SyracusanSv brought about war ** ; ** The news brought the men of Panormus " (now Palermo, Sicily) ** to the point of surrendering to the Romans."

• " Amid the wintry waters *' ; ** The storm suddenly grew wintry"; "The whole year was like winter"; "Then he

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to each other. Thus when Sallust ^ was in his glory, phrases were lopped off, words came to a close un- expectedly, and obscure conciseness was equivalent to elegance. L. Arruntius, a man of rare simplicity, author of a historical work on the Punic War, was a member and a strong supporter of the Sallust school. There is a phrase in Sallust : exercitum argento fecit, ^ meaning thereby that he recruited ^ an army by means of money. Arruntius began to like this idea ; he therefore inserted the \exhfacio all through his book. Hence, in one passage, fugam nostris fecere^ ; in another, Hiero, rex Syracusanorum, bellum fecit ^\ and, in another, quae audita Panhormitanos dedere Romanis fecere.^ I merely desired to give you a taste ; his whole book is interwoven with such stuff as this. What Sallust reserved for occasional use, Arruntius makes into a frequent and almost continual habit — and there was a reason : for Sallust used the words as they occurred to his mind, while the other writer went afield in search of them. So you see the results of copying another man's vices. Again, Sallust said : aquis hiemantibus ,^ Arruntius, in his first book on the Punic War, uses the words : repente hiemavit tempestas.^ And elsewhere, wishing to describe an exceptionally cold year, he says : iotus hiemavit annus.^ And in another passage : inde sexaginta oner arias leves praeter miliiem et necessaries nautarum hiemante aquilone misit ^ ; and he continues to bolster many passages with this metaphor. In a certain place, Sallust gives the words : inter arma civilia aequi boniqiie famas ^ petit ; and Arruntius cannot restrain himself from men- dispatched sixty transports of light draught besides the soldiers and the necessary sailors amid a wintry storm."

^ The peculiarity here is the use of the plural instead of the singular form. " Amid civil war he seeks reminders of iustice and virtue.'*

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statim libro poneret ingentes esse ** famas ** de Regulo.

20 Haec ergo et eiusmodi vitia, quae alicui inpressit imitatio, non sunt indicia luxuriae nee animi corrupti ; propria enim esse debent et ex ipso nata, ex quibus tu aestimes alicuius adfectus. Iracundi hominis iracunda oratio est, commoti nimis incitata, delicati

21 tenera et fluxa. Quod vides istos sequi, qui aut vellunt barbam aut intervellunt, qui labra pressius tondent et adradunt servata et summissa cetera parte, qui lacernas coloris improbi sumunt, qui perlucentem togam, qui nolunt facere quicquam, quod hominum oculis transire liceat ; inritant illos et in se advertunt ; volunt vel reprehendi, dum conspici. Talis est oratio Maecenatis omniumque aliorum, qui non casu errant

22 sed scientes volentesque. Hoc a magno animi malo oritur. Quomodo in vino non ante lingua titubat quam mens cessit oneri et inclinata vel prodita est, ita ista orationis ^ quid aliud quam ebrietas nulli molesta est, nisi animus labat ? Ideo ille curetur ; ab illo sensus, ab illo verba exeunt, ab illo nobis est habitus, vultus, incessus. Illo sano ac valente oratio quoque robusta, fortis, virilis est ; si ille procubuit, et cetera ruinam sequuntur.

^ orationis Buecheler ; oratio nisi BA ; oratio later MSS. 314

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tioning at once, in the first book, that there were extensive ** reminders *' concerning Regulus.

These and similar faults, which imitation stamps upon one's style, are not necessarily indications of loose standards or of debased mind ; for they are bound to be personal and peculiar to the writer, enabling one to judge thereby of a particular author's temperament ; just as an angry man will talk in an angry way, an excitable man in a flurried way, and an effeminate man in a style that is soft and un- resisting. You note this tendency in those who pluck out, or thin out, their beards, or who closely shear and shave the upper lip while preserving the rest of the hair and allowing it to grow, or in those who wear cloaks of outlandish colours, who wear transparent togas, and who never deign to do any- thing which will escape general notice ; they en- deavour to excite and attract men's attention, and they put up even with censure, provided that they can advertise themselves. That is the style of Maecenas and all the others who stray from the path, not by hazard, but consciously and voluntarily. This is the result of great evil in the soul. As in the case of drink, the tongue does not trip until the mind is overcome beneath its load and gives way or betrays itself; so that intoxication of style — for what else than this can I call it ? — never gives trouble to anyone unless the soul begins to totter. Therefore, I say, take care of the soul ; for from the soul issue our thoughts, from the soul our words, from the soul our dispositions, our expres- sions, and our very gait. When the soul is sound and strong, the style too is vigorous, energetic, manly ; but if the soul lose its balance, down comes all the rest in ruins.

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23 Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est ; Amisso rupere fidem.

Rex noster est animus. Hoc incolumi cetera manent in officio, parent, optemperant ; cum ille paulum vaccillavit, simul dubitant. Cum vero cessit volup- tati, artes quoque eius actusque marcent et omnis ex

24 languido fluidoque conatus est. Quoniam hac simili- tudine usus sum, perseverabo : animus noster modo rex est, modo tyrannus. Rex, cum honesta intuetur, salutem commissi sibi corporis curat, et illi nihil imperat turpe, nihil sordidum. Ubi vero inpotens, cupidus, dehcatus est, transit in nomen detestabile ac dirum et fit tyrannus ; tunc ilium excipiunt adfectus inpotentes et instant, qui initio quidem gaudent, ut solet populus largitione nocitura frustra plenus, et

25 quae non potest haurire, contrectat. Cum vero magis ac magis vires morbus ex edit et in medullas nervosque descendere deliciae, conspectu eorum, quibus se nimia aviditate inutilem reddidit, laetus, pro suis voluptatibus habet alienarum spectaculum, sumministrator libidinum testisque, quarum usum sibi ingerendo abstulit. Nee illi tam gratum est abun- dare iucundis quam acerbum, quod non omnem ilium apparatum per gulam ventremque transmittit, quod non cum omni exoletorum feminarumque turba con- volutatur, maeretque, quod magna pars suae felici- tatis exclusa corporis angustiis cessat.

• Vergil, Georg. iv. 212 f. 316

EPISTLE GXIV.

If but the king be safe, your swarm will live Harmonious ; if he die, the bees revolt. **

The soul is our king. If it be safe, the other functions remain on duty and serve with obedience ; but the slightest lack of equilibrium in the soul causes them to waver along with it. And when the soul has yielded to pleasure, its functions and actions grow weak, and any undertaking comes from a nerveless and unsteady source. To persist in my use of this simile — our soul is at one time a king, at another a tyrant. The king, in that he respects things honourable, watches over the welfare of the body which is entrusted to his charge, and gives that body no base, no ignoble commands. But an uncon- trolled, passionate, and effeminate soul changes king- ship into that most dread and detestable quality — tyranny ; then it becomes a prey to the uncontrolled emotions, which dog its steps, elated at first, to be sure, like a populace idly sated with a largess which will ultimately be its undoing, and spoiling what it cannot consume. But when the disease has gradually eaten away the strength, and luxurious habits have penetrated the marrow and the sinews, such a soul exults at the sight of limbs which, through its over- indulgence, it has made useless ; instead of its own pleasures, it views those of others ; it becomes the go-between and witness of the passions which, as the result of self-gratification, it can no longer feel. Abundance of delights is not so pleasing a thing to that soul as it is bitter, because it cannot send all the dainties of yore down through the over- worked throat and stomach, because it can no longer whirl in the maze of eunuchs and mistresses, and it is melancholy because a great part of its happiness is shut off, through the limitations of the body.

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26 Numquid enim, mi Lucili, in hoc furor est, quod nemo nostrum mortalem se cogitat, quod nemo inbecillum ? In illo, quod nemo nostrum unum esse se cogitat ! Aspice culinas nostras et concursantis inter tot ignes cocos ; unum videri putas ventrem, cui tanto tumultu comparatur cibus ? Aspice vete- raria nostra et plena multorum saeculorum vindemiis horrea ; unum putas videri ventrem, cui tot consulum regionumque vina cluduntur ? Aspice, quot locis terra vertatur, quot millia colonorum arent, fodiant ; unum videri putas ventrem, cui et in Sicilia et in

27 Africa seritur ? Sard erimus et modica concupis- cemus, si unusquisque se numeret, metiatur simul corpus, sciat, quam nee multum capere nee diu possit. Nihil tamen aeque tibi profuerit ad temperantiam omnium rerum quam frequens cogitatio brevis aevi et huius incerti ; quidquid facies, respice ad mortem. Vale.

cxv.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Nimis anxium esse te circa verba et compositionem, mi Lucili, nolo ; habeo maiora, quae cures. Quaere, quid scribas, non quemadmodum ; et hoc ipsum, non ut scribas, sed ut sentias, ut ilia, quae senseris, magis adplices tibi et velut signes. Cuiuscumque 318

EPISTLES GXIV., GXV.

Now is it not madness, Lucilius, for none of us to reflect that he is mortal ? Or frail ? Or again that he is but one individual ? Look at our kitchens, and the cooks, who bustle about over so many fires ; is it, think you, for a single belly that all this bustle and preparation of food takes place ? Look at the old brands of wine and store-houses filled with the vintages of many ages ; is it, think you, a single belly that is to receive the stored wine, sealed with the names of so many consuls, and gathered from so many vineyards ? Look, and mark in how many regions men plough the earth, and how many thousands of farmers are tilling and digging ; is it, think you, for a single belly that crops are planted in Sicily and Africa ? We should be sensible, and our wants more reasonable, if each of us were to take stock of himself, and to measure his bodily needs also, and understand how little he can consume, and for how short a time ! But nothing will give you so much help toward moderation as the frequent thought that life is short and uncertain here below ; whatever you are doing, have regard to death. Farewell.

GXV. ON THE SUPERFIGIAL BLESSINGS

I wish, my dear Lucilius, that you would not be too particular with regard to words and their arrange- ment ; I have greater matters than these to commend to your care. You should seek what to write, rather than how to write it — and even that not for the purpose of writing but of feeling it, that you may thus make what you have felt more your own and, as it were, set a seal on it. Whenever

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2 orationem videris sollicitam et politam, scito animum quoque non minus esse pusillis occupatum. Magnus ille remissius loquitur et securius ; quaeeumque dicit, plus habent fidueiae quam curae.

Nosti eomptulos ^ iuvenes, barba et coma nitidos, de capsula totos ; nihil ab illis speraveris forte, nihil solidum. Oratio cultus animi est : si circumtonsa est et 2 fucata et manu facta, ostendit ilium quoque non esse sincerum et habere aliquid fracti. Non est

3 ornamentum virile concinnitas. Si nobis animum boni viri liceret inspicere, o quam pulchram faciem, quam sanctam, quam ex magnifico placidoque ful- gentem videremus, hinc iustitia, illinc fortitudine, hinc temperantia prudentiaque lucentibus ! Praeter has frugalitas et continentia et tolerantia et liberalitas comitasque et — quis credat ? — in homine rarum humanitas bonum, splendorem illi suum adfunderent. Tunc providentia cum elegantia et ex istis mag- nanimitas eminentissima quantum, di boni, decoris illi, quantum ponderis gravitatisque adderent ! Quanta esset cum gratia auctoritas ! Nemo illam

4 amabilem, qui non simul venerabilem diceret. Si quis viderit hanc faciem altiorem fulgentioremque quam cerni inter humana consuevit, nonne velut numinis occursu obstupefactus resistat et, ut ** fas sit vidisse,'* tacitus precetur ? Turn evocante ipsa vultus benignitate productus adoret ac supplicet, et diu

^ eomptulos Buecheler ; comphitos BA. * est et later MSS. ; esset B ; esse A^.

<» Elsewhere (Epp. Ixxvi. 2 and Ixxxvii. 9) called trossuli^ " fops.''

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EPISTLE GXV.

you notice a style that is too careful and too polished, you may be sure that the mind also is no less absorbed in petty things. The really great man speaks in- formally and easily ; whatever he says, he speaks with assurance rather than with pains.

You are familiar with the young dandies/ natty as to their beards and locks, fresh from the bandbox ; you can never expect from them any strength or any soundness. Style is the garb of thought : if it be trimmed, or dyed, or treated, it shows that there are defects and a certain amount of flaws in the mind. Elaborate elegance is not a manly garb. If we had the privilege of looking into a good man's soul, oh what a fair, holy, magnificent, gracious, and shining face should we behold — ^radiant on the one side with justice and temperance, on another with bravery and wisdom ! And, besides these, thriftiness, moderation, endurance, refinement, affability, and — though hard to believe — love of one's fellow-men, that Good which is so rare in man, all these would be shedding their own glory over that soul. There, too, forethought combined with elegance and, result- ing from these, a most excellent greatness of soul (the noblest of all these virtues) — indeed what charm, O ye heavens, what authority and dignity would they contribute ! What a wonderful combination of sweet- ness and power ! No one could call such a face lovable without also calling it worshipful. If one might behold such a face, more exalted and more radiant than the mortal eye is wont to behold, would not one pause as if struck dumb by a visitation from above, and utter a silent prayer, saying : *' May it be lawful to have looked upon it ! *' ? And then, led on by the encouraging kindliness of his expression, should we not bow down and worship ? Should we

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contemplatus multum extantem superque mensuram solitorum inter nos aspici elatam, oculis mite quiddam, sed nihilominus vivido igne flagrantibus, tunc deinde illam Vergili nostri vocem verens atque attonitus emittat ?

5 O quam te memorem, virgo ? Namque haut tibi vultus Mortalis nee vox hominem sonat.

• ••••••

Sis felix, nostrumque leves quaecumque laborem.

Aderit levabitque, si colere earn voluerimus. Colitur autem non taurorum opimis corporibus contrucidatis nee auro argentoque suspense nee in thensauros stipe infusa, sed pia et recta voluntate.

6 Nemo, inquam, non amore eius arderet, si nobis illam videre contingeret ; nunc enim multa obstrigil- lant et aciem nostram aut splendore nimio repercu- tiunt aut obscuro ^ retinent. Sed si, quemadmodum visus oculorum quibusdam medicamentis acui solet et repurgari, sic nos aciem animi liberare inpedi- mentis voluerimus, poterimus perspicere virtutem etiam obrutam corpore, etiam paupertate opposita, etiam humilitate et infamia obiacentibus. Cernemus,

7 inquam, pulchritudinem illam quam vis sordido ob- tectam. Rursus aeque malitiam et aerumnosi animi veternum perspiciemus, quam vis multus circa divi- tiarum radiantium splendor inpediat et intuentem

^ obscuro Muretus ; obscure BA.

• Aen, i. 327 fF. 322

EPISTLE CXV.

not, after much contemplation of a far superior countenance, surpassing those which we are wont to look upon, mild-eyed and yet flashing with life-giving fire — should we not then, I say, in reverence and awe, give utterance to those famous lines of our poet Vergil :

O maiden, words are weak ! Thy face is more Than mortal, and thy voice rings sweeter far

Than mortal man's ;

Blest be thou ; and, whoe'er thou art, relieve Our heavy burdens. **

And such a vision will indeed be a present help and relief to us, if we are willing to worship it. But this worship does not consist in slaughtering fattened bulls, or in hanging up offerings of gold or silver, or in pouring coins into a temple treasury ; rather does it consist in a will that is reverent and upright.

There is none of us, I declare to you, who would not burn with love for this vision of virtue, if only he had the privilege of beholding it ; for now there are many things that cut off our vision, piercing it with too strong a light, or clogging it with too much darkness. If, however, as certain drugs are wont to be used for sharpening and clearing the eyesight, we are likewise willing to free our mind's eye from hindrances, we shall then be able to perceive virtue, though it be buried in the body — even though poverty stand in the way, and even though lowliness and disgrace block the path. We shall then, I say, behold that true beauty, no matter if it be smothered by unloveliness. Conversely, we shall get a view of evil and the deadening influences of a sorrow-laden soul — in spite of the hindrance that results from the widespread gleam of riches that flash round about, and in spite of the false light — of official position

VOL. m L 2 323

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hinc honorum, illinc magnarum potestatium falsa lux verberet.

8 Tunc intellegere nobis licebit, quam contemnenda miremur, simillimi pueris, quibus omne ludicrum in pretio est ; parentibus quippe nee minus fratribus praeferunt parvo aere empta monilia.^ Quid ergo inter nos et illos interest, ut Ariston ait, nisi quod nos circa tabulas et statu as ins animus carius inepti ? Illos reperti in litore calculi leves et aliquid habentes varietatis delect ant, nos ingentium maculae colum- narum, sive ex Aegyptiis harenis sive ^ ex Africae solitudinibus advectae porticum aliquam vel capacem

9 populi cenationem ferunt. Miramur parietes tenui marmore inductos, cum sciamus, quale sit quod absconditur. Oculis nostris inponimus, et cum auro tecta perfudimus, quid aliud quam mendacio gau- demus ? Scimus enim sub illo auro foeda ligna lati- tare.

Nee tantum parietibus aut lacunaribus ornamentum tenue praetenditur ; omnium istorum, quos incedere altos vides, bratteata felicitas est. Inspice, et scies, sub ista tenui membrana dignitatis quantum mali 10 iaceat. Haec ipsa res, quae tot magistratus, tot indices detinet, quae et magistratus et indices facit, pecunia, ex quo in honore esse coepit, verus rerum honor cecidit, mercatoresque et venales in vicem

^ monilia Erasmus ; mobilia B ; mobiba A. 2 harenis sive later MSS. ; harent, sive BA.

« Frag. 372 von Arnim. 824

EPISTLE CXV.

on the one side or great power on the other — which beats pitilessly upon the beholder.

Then it will be in our power to understand how contemptible are the things we admire — like chil- dren who regard every toy as a thing of value, who cherish necklaces bought at the price of a mere penny as more dear than their parents or than their brothers. And what, then, as Aristo says,^ is the difference between ourselves and these children, except that we elders go crazy over paintings and sculpture, and that our folly costs us dearer ? Chil- dren are pleased by the smooth and variegated pebbles which they pick up on the beach, while we take delight in tall columns of veined marble brought either from Egyptian sands or from African deserts to hold up a colonnade or a dining-hall large enough to contain a city crowd ; we admire walls veneered with a thin layer of marble, although we know the while what defects the marble conceals. We cheat our own eyesight, and when we have overlaid our ceilings with gold, what else is it but a lie in which we take such delight ? For we know that beneath all this gilding there lurks some ugly wood.

Nor is such superficial decoration spread merely over walls and ceilings ; nay, all the famous men whom you see strutting about with head in air, have nothing but a gold-leaf prosperity. Look beneath, and you will know how much evil lies under that thin coating of titles. Note that very commodity which holds the attention of so many magistrates and so many judges, and which creates both magis- trates and judges — that money, I say, which ever since it began to be regarded with respect, has caused the ruin of the true honour of things ; we become alternately merchants and merchandise, and

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facti quaerimus non quale sit quidque, sed quanti ; ad mercedem pii sumus, ad mercedem impii, et honesta, quamdiu aliqua illis spes inest, sequimur, in contrarium transituri, si plus scelera promittent.

11 Admirationem nobis parentes auri argentique fece- runt, et teneris infusa cupiditas altius sedit crevitque nobiscum. Deinde totus populus in alia discors in hoc convenit ; hoc suspiciunt, hoc suis optant, hoc dis velut rerum humanarum maximum, cum grati videri volunt, consecrant. Denique eo mores redacti sunt, ut paupertas maledicto probroque sit, con- tempta divitibus, invisa pauperibus.

12 Accedunt deinde carmina poetarum, quae adfec- tibus nostris facem subdant, quibus divitiae velut unicum vitae decus ornamentumque laudantur. Nihil illis melius nee dare videntur di immortales posse nee habere.

13 Regia Solis erat sublimibus alta columnis Clara micante auro.

Eiusdem currum aspice :

Aureus axis erat, temo aureus, aurea summae Curvatura rotae, radiorum argenteus ordo.

Denique quod optimum videri volunt saeculum,

14 aureum appellant. Nee apud Graecos tragicos desunt, qui lucro innocentiam, salutem, opinionem bonam mutent.

« Ovid, Metam, ii. 1 f. * Id. ib. ii. 107 flP.

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EPISTLE GXV.

we ask, not what a thing truly is, but what it costs ; we fulfil duties if it pays, or neglect them if it pays, and we follow an honourable course as long as it encourages our expectations, ready to veer across to the opposite course if crooked conduct shall promise more. Our parents have instilled into us a respect for gold and silver ; in our early years the craving has been implanted, settling deep within us and grow- ing with our growth. Then too the whole nation, though at odds on every other subject, agrees upon this ; this is what they regard, this is what they ask for their children, this is what they dedicate to the gods when they wish to show their gratitude — as if it were the greatest of all man's possessions ! And finally, public opinion has come to such a pass that poverty is a hissing and a reproach, despised by the rich and loathed by the poor.

Verses of poets also are added to the account — verses which lend fuel to our passions, verses in which wealth is praised as if it were the only credit and glory of mortal man. People seem to think that the immortal gods cannot give any better gift than wealth — or even possess anything better :

The Sun-god's palace, set with pillars tall. And flashing bright with gold.**

Or they describe the chariot of the Sun* ;

Gold was the axle, golden eke the pole,

And gold the tires that bound the circling wheels.

And silver all the spokes within the wheels.

And finally, when they would praise an epoch as the best, they call it the ** Golden Age.'' Even among the Greek tragic poets there are some who regard pelf as better than purity, soundness, or good report :

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

Sine me vocari pessimum, ut ^ dives vocer.

An dives, omnes quaerimus, nemo, an bonus.

Non quare et unde, quid habeas, tantum rogant.

Ubique tanti quisque, quantum habuit, fuit.

Quid habere nobis turpe sit quaeris ? Nihil.

Aut dives opto vivere aut pauper mori.

Bene moritur, quisquis moritur dum lucrum facit.

Pecunia, ingens generis humani bonum,

Cui non voluptas matris aut blandae potest

Par esse prolis, non sacer meritis parens ;

Tarn dulce si quid Veneris in vultu micat,

Merito ilia amores caelitum atque hominum movet.

15 Cum hi novissimi versus in tragoedia Euripidis pronuntiati essent, totus populus ad eiciendum et actorem et carmen consurrexit uno impetu, donee Euripides in medium ipse prosilivit petens, ut ex- pectarent ^ viderentque, quem admirator auri exitum faceret. Dabat in ilia fabula poenas Bellerophontes,

16 quas in sua quisque dat. Nulla enim avaritia sine poena est, quamvis satis sit ipsa poenarum. O quan- tum laerimarum, quantum laborum exigit ! Quam misera desiderat esse, quam misera e partis est ! Adice cotidianas sollicitudines, quae pro modo haben- di quemque discruciant. Maiore tormento pecunia possidetur quam quaeritur. Quantum damnis in-

^ ut Hense ; simul ut MSS. 2 exspectarent Muretus ; spectarent BA.

« Cf. Nauck, Trag. Gr, fragg, adesp. 181. 1 and 461. * Cf, id,, Eurip, JDanae, Frag, 324, and Hense's note (ed. of 1914, p. 559).

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EPISTLE CXV.

Call me a scoundrel, only call me rich !

All ask how great my riches are, but none Whether my soul is good.

None asks the means or source of your estate, But merely how it totals.

All men are worth as much as what they own

What is most shameful for us to possess ? Nothing !

If riches bless me, I should love to live ; Yet I would rather die, if poor.

A man dies nobly in pursuit of wealth.**

Money, that blessing to the race of man. Cannot be matched by mother's love, or lisp Of children, or the honour due one's sire. And if the sweetness of the lover's glance Be half so charming. Love will rightly stir The hearts of gods and men to adoration.*

When these last-quoted lines were spoken at a per- formance of one of the tragedies of Euripides, the whole audience rose with one accord to hiss the actor and the play off the stage. But Euripides jumped to his feet, claimed a hearing, and asked them to wait for the conclusion and see the destiny that was in store for this man who gaped after gold. Bellerophon, in that particular drama, was to pay the penalty which is exacted of all men in the drama of life. For one must pay the penalty for all greedy acts ; although the greed is enough of a penalty in itself. What tears and toil does money wring from us ! Greed is wretched in that which it craves and wretched in that which it wins ! Think besides of the daily worry which afflicts every possessor in proportion to the measure of his gain ! The possession of riches means even greater agony of spirit than the acquisi- tion of riches. And how we sorrow over our losses —

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gemescunt, quae et magna incidunt et videntur maiora ! Denique ut illis fortuna nihil detrahat, quidquid non adquiritur, damnum est.

17 ** At felicem ilium homines et divitem vocant et consequi optant, quantum ille possidet." Fateor. Quid ergo ? Tu ullos esse condicionis peioris exis- timas quam qui habent et miseriam et invidiam ? Utinam qui divitias optaturi essent, cum divitibus deliberarent I Utinam honor es petituri cum am- bitiosis et summum adeptis dignitatis statum ! Pro- fecto vota mutassent, cum interim illi nova susci- piunt,^ cum priora damnaverint. Nemo enim est, cui felicitas sua, etiam si cursu venit, satis faciat. Queruntur et de consiliis et de processibus suis maluntque semper quae reliquerunt.

18 Itaque hoc tibi philosophia praestabit, quo equidem nihil mains existimo :* numquam te paenitebit tui. Ad hanc tam solidam felicitatem, quam tempestas nulla concutiat, non perducent te apte verba contexta et oratio fluens leniter. Eant, ut volent, dum animo compositio sua constet, dum sit magnus et opinionum securus et ob ipsa, quae aliis displicent, sibi placens, qui profectum suum vita aestimet et tantum scire se iudicet, quantum non cupit quantum non timet. Vale.

^ suscipiunt codd., Gruter; suspiciunt BA.

<* A play on the compositio of rhetoric. 330

EPISTLE GXV.

losses which fall heavily upon us, and yet seem still more heavy ! And finally, though Fortune may leave our property intact, whatever we cannot gain in addition, is sheer loss !

" But," you will say to me, ** people call yonder man happy and rich ; they pray that some day they may equal him in possessions/' Very true. What, then ? Do you think that there is any more pitiable lot in life than to possess misery and hatred also ? Would that those who are bound to crave wealth could compare notes with the rich man ! Would that those who are bound to seek political office could confer with ambitious men who have reached the most sought-after honours ! They would then surely alter their prayers, seeing that these grandees are always gaping after new gain, condemning what is already behind them. For there is no one in the world who is contented with his prosperity, even if it comes to him on the run. Men complain about their plans and the outcome of their plans ; they always prefer what they have failed to win.

So philosophy can settle this problem for you, and afford you, to my mind, the greatest boon that exists — absence of regret for your own conduct. This is a sure happiness ; no storm can ruffle it ; but you cannot be steered safely through by any subtly woven words, or any gently flowing language. Let words proceed as they please, provided only your soul keeps its own sure order ,^ provided your soul is great and holds unruffled to its ideals, pleased with itself on account of the very things which displease others, a soul that makes life the test of its progress, and believes that its knowledge is in exact pro- portion to its freedom from desire and its freedom from fear. Farewell.

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CXVI.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Utrum satius sit modicos habere adfectus an nuUos, saepe quaesitum est. Nostri illos expellunt, Peri- patetic! temperant. Ego non video, quomodo salu- bris esse aut utilis possit ulla mediocritas morbi. Noli timere ; nihil eorum, quae tibi non vis negari, eripio. Facilem me indulgentemque praebebo rebus, ad quas tendis et quas aut necessarias vitae aut utiles aut iucundas putas ; detraham vitium. Nam cum tibi cupere interdixero, velle permittam, ut eadem ilia intrepidus facias, ut certiore consilio, ut voluptates ipsas magis sentias ; quidni ad te magis perventurae sint, si illis imperabis, quam si servies ?

2 ** Sed naturale est,** inquis, ** ut desiderio amici torquear ; da ius ^ lacrimis tam iuste cadentibus. Naturale est opinionibus hominum tangi et adversis contristari ; quare mihi non permittas hunc tam honestum malae opinionis metum ? *'

Nullum est vitium sine patrocinio ; nulli non initium verecundum est et exorabile, sed ab hoc latius funditur. Non obtinebis, ut desinat, si incipere

3 permiseris. Inbecillus est primo omnis adfectus. Deinde ipse se concitat et vires, dum procedit, parat ; excluditur facilius quam expellitur. Quis negat

^ da ius Lipsius ; datus BA.

^ For a discussion of dirddeLa see Epp, ix. 2 fF. and Ixxxv. 3 ff.

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EPISTLE GXVI.

CXVI. ON SELF-CONTROL

The question has often been raised whether it is better to have moderate emotions, or none at all.* Philosophers of our school reject the emotions ; the Peripatetics keep them in check. I, however, do not understand how any half-way disease can be either wholesome or helpful. Do not fear ; I am not robbing you of any privileges which you are unwilling to lose ! I shall be kindly and indulgent towards the objects for which you strive — those which you hold to be necessary to our existence, or useful, or pleasant ; I shall simply strip away the vice. For after I have issued my prohibition against the desires, I shall still allow you to wish that you may do the same things fearlessly and with greater accuracy of judgment, and to feel even the pleasures more than before ; and how can these pleasures help coming more readily to your call, if you are their lord rather than their slave !

** But,*' you object, ** it is natural for me to suffer when I am bereaved of a friend ; grant some privi- leges to tears which have the right to flow ! It is also natural to be affected by men's opinions and to be cast down when they are unfavourable ; so why should you not allow me such an honourable aversion to bad opinion ? "

There is no vice which lacks some plea ; there is no vice that at the start is not modest and easily entreated ; but afterwards the trouble spreads more widely. If you allow it to begin, you cannot make sure of its ceasing. Every emotion at the start is weak. Afterwards, it rouses itself and gains strength by progress ; it is more easy to forestall it than to forgo it. Who does not admit that all the emotions

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omnis adfectus a quodam quasi natural! fluere principio ? Curam nobis nostri natura mandavit, sed huic ubi nimium indulseris, vitium est. Voluptatem natura necessariis rebus admiscuit, non ut illam pete- remus, sed ut ea, sine quibus non possumus vivere, grata ^ nobis illius facer et aceessio ; suo veniat iure, luxuria est.

Ergo intrantibus resistamus, quia facilius, ut dixi, non recipiuntur quam exeunt. ** Aliquatenus/' in-

4 quis, ** dolere, aliquatenus timer e permitte " ; sed illud ** aliquatenus '' longe producitur nee ubi vis, aceipit finem. Sapienti non sollicite custodire se tutum est, et lacrimas suas et voluptates ubi volet sistet ; nobis quia non est regredi facile, optimum

5 est omnino non progredi. Eleganter mihi videtur

Panaetius respondisse adulescentulo cuidam quae-

renti, an sapiens amaturus esset. ** De sapiente,"

inquit, " videbimus ; mihi et tibi, qui adhuc a

sapiente longe absumus, non est committendum, ut

incidamus in rem commotam, inpotentem, alteri

emancupatam, vilem sibi. Sive enim non respuit,^

hunaanitate eius inritamur, sive contempsit, superbia

accendimur. Aeque facilitas amoris quam difficultas

nocet ; facilitate capimur, cum difficultate cer-

tamus. Itaque conscii nobis inbecillitatis nostrae

quiescamus. Nee vino infirmum animum com-

^ grata Windhaiis and cod. Velz. ; gratia or gratiora MSS. * respuit Buecheler ; respicit BA.

" Frag. 56 Fowler.

* Literally, " out of our possession " (from mancipium, ** ownership ").

334

EPISTLE CXVI.

flow as it were from a certain natural source ? We are endowed by Nature with an interest in our own well-being ; but this very interest, when over- indulged, becomes a vice. Nature has intermingled pleasure with necessary things — not in order that we should seek pleasure, but in order that the addition of pleasure may make the indispensable means of existence attractive to our eyes. Should it claim rights of its own, it is luxury.

Let us therefore resist these faults when they are demanding entrance, because, as I have said, it is easier to deny them admittance than to make them depart. And if you cry : ** One should be allowed a certain amount of grieving, and a certain amount of fear,'* I reply that the ** certain amount " can be too long-drawn-out, and that it will refuse to stop short when you so desire. The wise man can safely control himself without becoming over-anxious ; he can halt his tears and his pleasures at will ; but in our case, because it is not easy to retrace our steps, it is best not to push ahead at all. I think that Panaetius ^ gave a very neat answer to a certain youth who asked him whether the wise man should become a lover : ** As to the wise man, we shall see later ; but you and I, who are as yet far removed from wisdom, should not trust ourselves to fall into a state that is disordered, uncontrolled, enslaved to another,^ contemptible to itself. If our love be not spurned, we are excited by its kindness ; if it be scorned, we are kindled by our pride. An easily- won love hurts us as much as one which is difficult to win ; we are captured by that which is compliant, and we struggle with that which is hard. There- fore, knowing our weakness, let us remain quiet. Let us not expose this unstable spirit to the tempta-

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mittamus nee formae nee adulation! nee uUis rebus blande trahentibus/'

6 Quod Panaetius de amore quaerenti respondit, hoe ego de omnibus adfeetibus dieo. Quantum possu- mus, nos a lubrieo reeedamus ; in sieeo quoque

7 parum fortiter stamus. Oceurres hoe loeo mihi ilia publiea eontra Stoieos voee : ** Nimis magna promit- titis, nimis dura praeeipitis. Nos homuneiones sumus, omnia nobis negare non possumus. Dolebi- mus, sed parum ; eoneupiseemus, sed temperate ; irascemur, sed placabimur/' Scis, quare non possu-

8 mus ista ? Quia nos posse non credimus. Immo mehercules aliud est in re : vitia nostra quia amamus, defendimus et malumus exeusare ilia quam excutere. Satis natura homini dedit roboris, si illo utamur, si vires nostras colligamus ac totas pro nobis, eerte non contra nos eoncitemus. Nolle in causa est, non posse praetenditur. Vale,

CXVII.

Seneca Lvcilto svo salvtem

1 Multum mihi negotii concinnabis et, dum nescis, in magnam me litem ac molestiam inpinges, qui mihi tales quaestiunculas ponis, in quibus ego nee dissen- 336

EPISTLES CXVL, CXVII.

tions of drink, or beauty, or flattery, or anything that coaxes and allures/'

Now that which Panaetius replied to the question about love may be applied, I believe, to all the emotions. In so far as we are able, let us step back from slippery places ; even on dry ground it is hard enough to take a sturdy stand. At this point, I know, you will confront me with that common com- plaint against the Stoics : ** Your promises are too great, and your counsels too hard. We are mere manikins, unable to deny ourselves everything. We shall sorrow, but not to any great extent ; we shall feel desires, but in moderation ; we shall give way to anger, but we shall be appeased.'* And do you know why we have not the power to attain this Stoic ideal ? It is because we refuse to believe in our power. Nay, of a surety, there is something else which plays a part : it is because we are in love with our vices ; we uphold them and prefer to make excuses for them rather than shake them off. We mortals have been endowed with sufficient strength by nature, if only we use this strength, if only we con- centrate our powers and rouse them all to help us or at least not to hinder us. The reason is unwilling- ness, the excuse, inability. Farewell.

GXVII. ON REAL ETHICS AS SUPERIOR TO SYLLOGISTIC SUBTLETIES

You will be fabricating much trouble for me, and you will be unconsciously embroiling me in a great discussion, and in considerable bother, if you put such petty questions as these ; for in settling them I cannot disagree with my fellow-Stoics without

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tire a nostris salva gratia nee consentire salva con- scientia possum. Quaeris, an verum sit, quod Stoicis placet, sapientiam bonum esse, sapere bonum non esse. Primum exponam, quid Stoicis videatur ; deinde tunc dicer e sententiam audebo.

2 Placet nostris, quod bonum est, corpus esse, quia quod bonum est, facit : quidquid facit, corpus est. Quod bonum est, prodest. Faciat autem aliquid oportet, ut prosit ; si facit, corpus est. Sapientiam bonum esse dicunt ; sequitur, ut necesse sit illam

3 corporalem quoque dicere. At sapere non putant eiusdem condicionis esse. Incorporale est et accidens alteri, id est sapientiae ; itaque nee facit quidquam nee prodest.

" Quid ergo ? " inquit, ** non dicimus, bonum est sapere ? '* Dicimus referentes ad id, ex quo pendet,

4 id est ad ipsam sapientiam. Adversus hos quid ab aliis respondeatur, audi, antequam ego incipio se- cedere et in alia parte consider e. ** Isto modo," in- quiunt, " nee beate vivere bonum est. Velint nolint, respondendum est beat am vitam bonum esse, beate

5 vivere bonum non esse." Etiamnunc nostris illud quoque opponitur : *' Vultis sapere. Ergo expetenda res est sapere. Si expetenda res est, bona est." Coguntur nostri verba torquere et unam syllabam expetendo interponcre, quam sermo noster inseri non

" For this sort of discussion see Ep, cxiii. 1 ff. 338

EPISTLE CXVII.

impairing my standing among them, nor can I sub- scribe to such ideas without impairing my conscience. Your query is, whether the Stoic belief is true i that wisdom is a Good, but that bei?ig wise is not a Good." I shall first set forth the Stoic view, and then I shall be bold enough to deliver my own opinion.

We of the Stoic school believe that the Good is corporeal, because the Good is active, and whatever Is active is corporeal. That which is good, is helpful. But, in order to be helpful, it must be active ; so, if it is active, it is corporeal. They (the Stoics) declare that wisdom is a Good ; it therefore follows that one must also call wisdom corporeal. But they do not think that being wise can be rated on the same basis. For it is incorporeal and accessory to something- else, in other words, wisdom ; hence it is in no respect active or helpful.

** What, then ? '* is the reply ; ** Why do we not say that being wise is a Good ? '* We do say so ; but only by referring it to that on which it depends — in other words, wisdom itself. Let me tell you what answers other philosophers make to these objectors, before I myself begin to form my own creed and to take my place entirely on another side. ** Judged in that light,'' they say, ** not even living happily is a Good. Willy nilly, such persons ought to reply that the happy life is a Good, but that living happily is not a Good.'' And this objection is also raised against our school : ** You wish to be wise. Therefore, being wise is a thing to be desired. And if it be a thing to be desired, it is a Good." So our philo- sophers are forced to twist their words and insert another syllable into the word ** desired," — a syllable which our language does not normally allow to be

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

sinit. Ego illam, si pateris, adiungam. ** Expeten- dum est/' inquiunt, '* quod bonum est : expetibile, quod nobis eontingit, cum bonum consecuti sumus. Non petitur tamquam bonum, sed petito bono acce- dit/'

6 Ego non idem sentio et nostros iudico in hoc de- scender e, quia iam primo vinculo tenentur et mutare illis formulam non licet. Multum dare solemus praesumptioni omnium hominum, et apud nos veri- tatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri. Tam- quam deos esse inter alia hoc colligimus, quod omnibus insita de dis opinio est nee ulla gens usquam est adeo extra leges moresque proiecta, ut non aliquos deos credat. Cum de animarura aeternitate disserimus, non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus hominum aut timentium inferos aut colen- tium. Utor hac publica persuasione : neminem in- venies, qui non putet et sapientiam bonum et sap ere .^

7 Non faciam, quod victi solent, ut provocem ad populum ; nostris incipiamus armis confligere.

Quod accidit alicui, utrum extra id, cui accidit, est

an in eo, cui accidit ? Si in eo est, cui accidit, tam

corpus est quam illud, cui accidit. Nihil enim acci-

dere sine tactu potest ; quod tangit, corpus est. Si

extra est, posteaquam acciderat, recessit. Quod

recessit, motum habet. Quod motum habet, corpus

^ et sapientiam bonum et sapere ed. Mentel. ; et s, et b. s. B ; et s, b, s, A ; et s, b, et s. bonum later MSS.

" This adjective expetibilis is found in Tacitus, Ann, xvi. 21, and in Boethius, Cons, ii. 6.

* i,e,, the Stoics as mentioned above (with whom Seneca often disagrees on minor details).

340

EPISTLE GXVII.

inserted. But, with your permission, I shall add it. ** That which is good," they say, ** is a thing to be desired ; the desirable ® thing is that which falls to our lot after we have attained the Good. For the desirable is not sought as a Good ; it is an accessory to the Good after the Good has been attained/*

I myself do not hold the same view, and I judge that our philosophers ^ have come down to this argument because they are already bound by the first link in the chain and for that reason may not alter their definition. People are wont to concede much to the things which all men take for granted ; in our eyes the fact that all men agree upon something is a proof of its truth. For instance, we infer that the gods exist, for this reason, among others — that there is implanted in everyone an idea concerning deity, and there is no people so far beyond the reach of laws and customs that it does not believe at least in gods of some sort. And when we discuss the immortality of the soul, we are influenced in no small degree by the general opinion of mankind, who either fear or worship the spirits of the lower world. I make the most of this general belief : you can find no one who does not hold that wisdom is a Good, and being wise also. I shall not appeal to the populace, like a conquered gladiator ; let us come to close quarters, using our own weapons.

When something affects a given object, is it outside the object which it affects, or is it inside the object it affects ? If it is inside the object it affects, it is as corporeal as the object which it affects. For nothing can affect another object without touching it, and that which touches is corporeal. If it is outside, it withdraws after having affected the object. And withdrawal means motion. And that which possesses

341

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

est. Speras me dicturum non esse aliud cursum, j

8 aliud currere, nee aliud calorem, aliud calere, nee aliud lucem, aliud lucere ; concede ista alia esse, sed non sortis alterius. Si valetudo indifferens est, et valere indifferens est ^ ; si forma indifferens est, et formonsum esse. Si iustitia bonum est, et iustum esse. Si turpitudo malum est, et turpem esse malum est, tam mehercules quam, si lippitudo malum est, lippire quoque malum est. Hoc ut scias, neutrum esse sine altero potest. Qui sapit, sapiens est ; qui sapiens est, sapit. Adeo non potest dubitari, an quale illud sit, tale hoc sit, ut quibusdam utrumque unum videatur atque idem.

9 Sed illud libenter quaesierim : cum omnia aut mala sint aut bona aut indifferentia, sapere in quo numero sit ? Bonum negant esse, malum utique non est ; sequitur ut medium sit. Id aut em medium atque indifferens vocamus, quod tam malo contingere quam bono possit, tamquam pecunia, forma, nobilitas. Hoc, ut sapiat, contingere nisi bono non potest ; ergo indifferens non est. Atqui ne malum quidem est, quod contingere malo non potest ; ergo bonum est. Quod nisi bonus non habet, bonum est. Sapere non

10 nisi bonus habet ; ergo bonum est. ** Accidens est,*' inquit, ** sapientiae." Hoc ergo, quod vocas sapere,

^ et valere indifferens est add. Erasmus ; bene valere indifferens est later MSS.

" i.e., the external things ; see Ep. xciii. 7 and note,— defined more specifically in § 9 below.

842

EPISTLE CXVII.

motion, is corporeal. You expect me, I suppose, to deny that ** race '' differs from ** running," that ** heat " differs from '* being hot,'* that ** light ** differs from *' giving light/' I grant that these pairs vary, but hold that they are not in separate classes. If good health is an indifferent ^ quality, then so is being in good health ; if beauty is an indifferent quality, then so is being beautiful. If justice is a Good, then so is being just. And if baseness is an evil, then it is an evil to be base — just as much as, if sore eyes are an evil, the state of having sore eyes is also an evil. Neither quality, you may be sure, can exist without the other. He who is wise is a man of wisdom ; he who is a man of wisdom is wise. So true it is that we cannot doubt the quality of the one to equal the quahty of the other, that they are both regarded by certain persons as one and the same.

Here is a question, however, which I should be glad to put : granted that all things are either good or bad or indifferent — in what class does being wise belong ? People deny that it is a Good ; and, as it obviously is not an evil, it must consequently be one of the ** media.'* But we mean by the " medium,'* or the ** indifferent " quality that which can fall to the lot of the bad no less than to the good — such things as money, beauty, or high social position. But the quality of being wise can fall to the lot of the good man alone ; therefore being wise is not an indifferent quality. Nor is it an evil, either ; because it cannot fall to the lot of the bad man ; therefore, it is a Good. That which the good man alone can possess, is a Good ; now being wise is the possession of the good man only ; therefore it is a Good. The objector replies : ** It is only an accessory of wisdom." Very well, then, I say, this quality which you call

343

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

utriim facit sapientiam an patitur ? Utroque modo corpus est. Nam et quod fit et quod facit, corpus est ; si corpus est, bonum est. Unum enim illi de- erat, quominus bonum esset, quod incorporale erat.

11 Peripateticis placet nihil interesse inter sapientiam et sapere, cum in utrolibet eorum et alterum sit. Numquid enim quemquam existimas sapere nisi qui sapientiam habet ? Numquid quemquam, qui sapit,

12 non putas habere sapientiam ? Dialectici veteres ista distinguunt ; ab illis divisio usque ad Stoicos venit. Qualis sit haec, dicam. Aliud est ager, aliud agrum habere, quidni ? Cum habere agrum ad habentem, non ad agrum pertineat. Sic aliud est sapientia, aUud sapere. Puto concedes duo esse haec, id, quod habetur, et eum, qui habet ; habetur sapientia, habet qui sapit. Sapientia est mens perfecta vel ad sum- mum optimumque perducta. Ars enim vitae est. Sapere quid est ? Non possum dicere " mens per- fecta," sed id quod contingit perfectam mentem habenti ; ita alterum est mens bona, alterum quasi habere mentem bonam.

13 '' Sunt," inquit, " naturae corporum, tamquam hie

homo est, hie equus. Has deinde sequuntur motus

animorum enuntiativi corporum. Hi habent pro- 844

EPISTLE CXVIL

being wise — does it actively produce wisdom, or is it a passive concomitant of wisdom ? It is corporeal in either case. For that which is acted upon and that which acts, are alike corporeal ; and, if corporeal, each is a Good. The only quality which could pre- vent it from being a Good, would be incorporeality.

The Peripatetics believe that there is no distinction between wisdom and being wise, since either of these implies the other also. Now do you suppose that any man can be wise except one who possesses wis- dom ? Or that anyone who is wise does not possess wisdom ? The old masters of dialectic, however, distinguish between these two conceptions ; and from them the classification has come right down to the Stoics. What sort of a classification this is, I shall explain : A field is one thing, and the possession of the field another thing ; of course, because " possessing the field *' refers to the possessor rather than to the field itself. Similarly, wisdom is one thing and being wise another. You will grant, I suppose, that these two are separate ideas — the possessed and the possessor : wisdom being that which one possesses, and he who is wise its possessor. Now wisdom is Mind perfected and developed to the highest and best degree. For it is the art of life. And what is being wise ? I cannot call it ** Mind Perfected,*' but rather that which falls to the lot of him who possesses a ** mind perfected " ; thus a good mind is one thing, and the so-called possession of a good mind another.

** There are," it is said, ** certain natural classes of bodies ; we say : * This is a man,* * this is a horse.' Then there attend on the bodily natures certain move- ments of the mind which declare something about the body. And these have a certain essential quality

S4^5

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

prium quiddam et a corporibus seductum, tamquam video Catonem ambulantem. Hoc sensus ostendit, animus credidit. Corpus est, quod video, cui et oculos intendi et animum. Dico deinde : Cato am- bulat. Non corpus,*' inquit, ** est, quod nunc loquor, sed enuntiativum quiddam de corpore, quod alii effatum vocant, alii enuntiatum, alii dictum. Sic cum dicimus sapientiam, corporale quiddam intellegimus ; cum dicimus ** sapit," de corpore loquimur. Pluri- mum autem interest, utrum ilium dicas an de illo/*

14 Putemus in praesentia ista duo esse, — nondum enim, quid mihi videatur, pronuntio, — quid prohibet, quominus aliud quidem sit,^ sed nihilominus bonum ? Dicebam ^ paulo ante aliud esse agrum, aliud habere agrum. Quidni ? In alia enim natura est qui liabet, in alia quod habetur. Ilia terra est, hie homo est. At in hoc, de quo agitur, eiusdem naturae sunt

15 utraque, et qui habet sapientiam, et ipsa. Praeterea illic aliud est, quod habetur, alius, qui habet ; hie in eodem est et quod habetur et qui habet. Ager iure possidetur, sapientia natura. lUe abalienari potest et alteri tradi, haec non discedit a domino. Non est itaque quod compares inter se dissimilia.

Coeperam dicere posse ista duo esse et tamen utraque bona, tamquam sapientia et sapiens duo

^ sit om. BA. ■ dicebam Hermes ; dicelas BA,

346

EPISTLE GXVII.

which is sundered from Dody ; for example : * I see Cato walking/ The senses indicate this, and tlie mind believes it. What I see, is body, and upon this I concentrate my eyes and my mind. Again, I say : * Cato walks.* What I say,*' they continue, *' is not body ; it is a certain declarative fact concern- ing body — called variously an * utterance,' a * declara- tion,' a * statement.' Thus, when we say * wisdom,' we mean something pertaining to body ; when we say * he is wise,' we are speaking concerning body. And it makes considerable difference whether you mention the person directly, or speak concerning the person."

Supposing for the present that these are two separate conceptions (for I am not yet prepared to give my own opinion) ; what prevents the existence of still a third — which is none the less a Good ? I remarked a little while ago that a ** field " was one thing, and the ** possession of a field " another ; of course, for possessor and possessed are of different natures ; the latter is the land, and the former is the man who owns the land. But with regard to the point now under discussion, both are of the same nature — the possessor of wisdom, and wisdom itself. Besides, in the one case that which is possessed is one thing, and he who possesses it is another ; but in this case the possessed and the possessor come under the same category. The field is owned by virtue of law, wisdom by virtue of nature. The field can change hands and go into the ownership of another ; but wisdom never departs from its ow^ner. Accordingly, there is no reason why you should try to compare things that are so unlike one another.

I had started to say that these can be two separate conceptions, and yet that both can be Goods — for instance, wisdom and the wise man being

VOL. Ill M 347

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

sunt et utrumque bonum esse concedis. Quomodo nihil obstat, quominus et sapientia bonum sit et habens sapientiam, sic nihil obstat, quominus et sapientia bonum sit et habere sapientiam, id est

16 sap ere. Ego in hoc volo sapiens esse, ut sapiam. Quid ergo ? Non est id bonum, sine quo nee illud bonum est ? Vos certe dicitis sapientiam, si sine usu detur, accipiendam non esse. Quid est usus sapien- tiae ? Sapere ; hoc est in ilia pretiosissimum, quo detracto supervacua fit. Si torment a mala sunt, torqueri malum est, adeo quidem, ut ilia non sint mala, si quod sequitur detraxeris. Sapientia habitus perfectae mentis est, sapere usus perfectae mentis. Quomodo potest usus eius bonum non esse, quae

17 sine usu bonum non ^ est ? Interrogo te, an sapientia expetenda sit ; fateris. Interrogo, an usus sa- pientiae expetendus sit ; fateris ; negas enim te illam recepturum, si uti ea prohibearis. Quod ex- petendum est, bonum est. Sapere sapientiae usus est, quomodo eloquentiae eloqui, quomodo oculorum videre. Ergo sapere sapientiae usus est, usus autem sapientiae expetendus est ; sapere ergo expetendum est. Si expetendum est, bonum est.

18 Olim ipse me damno, qui illos imitor, dum accuso,

^ non later MSS. ; om. BA. S48

EPISTLE CXVII.

two separate things and yet granted by you to be equally good. And just as there is no objection to regarding both wisdom and the possessor of wisdom as Goods, so there is no objection to regarding as a good both wisdom and the possession of wisdom, — in other words, being wise. For I only wish to be a wise man in order to be wise. And what then ? Is not that thing a Good without the possession of which a certain other thing cannot be a Good ? You surely admit that wisdom, if given without the right to be used, is not to be welcomed ! And wherein consists the use of wisdom ? In being wise ; that is its most valuable attribute ; if you withdraw this, wisdom becomes superfluous. If processes of torture are evil, then being tortured is an evil — with this reservation, indeed, that if you take away the consequences, the former are not evil. Wisdom is a condition of " mind perfected,'* and being wise is the employment of this '* mind perfected." How can the employment of that thing not be a Good, which without employment is not a Good ? If I ask you whether wisdom is to be desired, you admit that it is. If I ask you whether the employ- ment of wisdom is to be desired, you also admit the fact ; for you say that you will not receive wisdom if you are not allowed to employ it. Now that which is to be desired is a Good. Being wise is the employment of wisdom, just as it is of eloquence to make a speech, or of the eyes to see things. Therefore, bei?ig wise is the employment of wisdom, and the employment of wisdom is to be desired. Therefore being 7vise is a thing to be desired ; and if it is a thing to be desired, it is a Good.

Lo, these many years I have been condemning myself for imitating these men at the very time

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

et verba apertae rei impendo. Cui enim dubium potest esse, quin si aestus malum est, et aestuare malum sit ? Si algor malum est, malum sit algere ? Si vita bonum est, et vivere bonum sit ? Omnia ista circa sapientiam, non in ipsa sunt. At nobis in ipsa

19 commorandum est. Etiam si quid evagari libet, amplos habet ilia spatiososque ^ secessus : de deorum natura quaeramus, de siderum alimento, de his tam variis stellarum discursibus, an ad illarum motus nostra moveantur, an ^ corporibus omnium animisque illinc impetus veniat, an et haec, quae fortuita dicuntur, certa lege constricta sint nihilque in hoc mundo repentinum aut expers ordinis volutetur. Ista lam a formatione morum recesserunt, sed levant animum et ad ipsarum, quas tractat, rerum magni- tudinem attollunt ; haec vero, de quibus paulo ante dicebam, minuunt et deprimunt nee, ut putatis,

20 exacuunt, sed extenuant. Obsecro vos, tam neces- sarian! curam maioribus melioribusque debitam in re nescio an falsa, certe inutili terimus ? Quid mihi profuturum est scire, an aliud sit sapientia, aliud sapere ? Quid mihi profuturum est scire illud bonum esse, hoc non esse ^ ? Temere me geram, subibo ^ huius voti aleam : tibi sapientia, mihi sapere con- tingat ; pares erimus.

* spa'iososque later MSS. ; speciososque BA.

2 an later MSS. ; in BA.

^ hoc non esse add. Murctus.

* subibo Erasmus ; subito BA.

*» Presumably an allusion to the syllogistic enthusiasts rather than to Lucilius and his like. 350

EPISTLE GXVII.

when I am arraigning them, and of wasting words on a subject that is perfectly clear. For who can doubt that, if heat is an evil, it is also an evil to be hot ? Or that, if cold is an evil, it is an evil to be cold ? Or that, if life is a Good, so is being alive ? All such matters are on the outskirts of wisdom, not in wisdom itself. But our abiding-place should be in wisdom itself. Even though one takes a fancy to roam, wisdom has large and spacious retreats : we may investigate the nature of the gods, the fuel which feeds the constellations, or all the varied courses of the stars ; we may speculate whether our affairs move in harmony with those of the stars, whether the impulse to motion comes from thence into the minds and bodies of all, and whether even these events which we call fortuitous are fettered by strict laws and nothing in this uni- verse is unforeseen or unregulated in its revolutions. Such topics have nowadays been withdrawn from instruction in morals, but they uplift the mind and raise it to the dimensions of the subject which it discusses ; the matters, however, of which I was speaking a while ago, wear away and v/ear down the mind, not (as you and yours " maintain) whetting, but weakening it. And I ask you, are we to fritter away that necessary study which we owe to greater and better themes, in discussing a matter which may perhaps be wrong and is certainly of no avail ? How will it profit me to know whether wisdom is one thing, and being wise another ? How will it profit me to know that the one is, and the other is not, a Good ? Suppose I take a chance, and gamble on this prayer : " Wisdom for you, and being wise for me ! '* We shall come out even.

351

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

21 Potius id age, ut mihi viam monstres, qua ad ista perveniam. Die, quid vitare debeam, quid adpetere, quibus animum labantem studiis firmem, quemad- modum quae me ex transverse feriunt aguntque, procul a me repellam, quomodo par esse tot malis possim, quomodo istas calamitates removeam, quae ad me inruperunt, quomodo illas, ad quas ego inrupi. Doce, quomodo feram aerumnam sine gemitu meo, felicitatem sine alieno, quomodo ultimum ac neces- sarium non expectem, sed ipsemet,^ cum visum erit,

22 profugiam. Nihil mihi videtur turpius quam optare mortem. Nam si vis vivere, quid opt as mori ? Sive non vis, quid deos rogas, quod tibi nascenti dederunt ? Nam ut quandoque moriaris, etiam invito positum est, ut cum voles, in tua manu est. Alterum tibi necesse est, alterum licet.

23 Turpissimum his diebus principium diserti me- hercules viri legi : ** Ita,*' ^ inquit, " quamprimum moriar." Homo demens, optas rem tuam. ** Ita quamprimum moriar.'* Fortasse inter has voces senex f actus es. Alioqui quid in mora est ? Nemo te tenet ; evade, qua visum est. Elige quamlibet rerum naturae partem, quam tibi praebere exitum iubeas. Haec nempe sunt elementa,^ quibus hie mundus administratur, aqua, terra, spiritus. Omnia

24 ista tam causae vivendi sunt quam viae mortis. ** Ita

^ ipsemet Pincianus ; ipsemecum BA. ^ ita Pincianus ; itaque MSS. ^ elementa later MSS. ; et elementa BA.

" Le.y wisdom or being wise» 352

EPISTLE GXVII.

Try rather to show me the way by which I may attain those ends.^ Tell me what to avoid, what to seek, by what studies to strengthenmy tottering mind, how I may rebuff the weaves that strike me abeam and drive me from my course, by what means I may be able to cope with all my evils, and by what means I can be rid of the calamities that have plunged in upon me and those into which I myself have plunged. Teach me how to bear the burden of sorrow without a groan on my part, and how to bear prosperity without making others groan ; also, how to avoid waiting for the ultimate and inevita,ble end, and to beat a retreat of my own free will, when it seems proper to me to do so. I think nothing is baser than to pray for death. For if you wish to live, why do you pray for death ? And if you do not wish to live, why do you ask the gods for that which they gave you at birth ? For even as, against your will, it has been settled that you must die some day, so the time when you shall wish to die is in your own hands. The one fact is to you a necessity, the other a privilege.

I read lately a most disgraceful doctrine, uttered (more shame to him !) by a learned gentleman : ** So may I die as soon as possible ! " Fool, thou art praying for something that is already thine own ! ** So may I die as soon as possible ! *' Perhaps thou didst grow old while uttering these very words ! At any rate, what is there to hinder ? No one detains thee ; escape by whatsoever way thou wilt ! Select any portion of Nature, and bid it provide thee with a means of departure ! These, namely, are the elements, by which the world's work is carried on — water, earth, air. All these are no more the causes of life than they are the ways of death. ** So may

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quamprimum moriar " : ** quamprimum ** istud quid esse vis ? Quern illi diem ponis ? Citius fieri quam optas, potest. Inbecillae mentis ista sunt verba et hac detestatione misericordiam captantis ; non vult mori qui opt at. Deos vitam et salutem roga ; si mori placuit, hie mortis est fructus, optare desinere.

25 Haec, mi Lucili, tractemus, his formemus animum. Hoc est sapientia, hoc est sapere, non disputatiunculis inanibus subtiUtatem vanissimam agitare. Tot quae- stiones fortuna tibi posuit, nondum illas solvisti ; iam cavillaris ? Quam stultum est, cum signum pugnae acceperis, ventilare. Remove ista lusoria arma ; de- er etoriis opus est. Die, qua ratione nulla animum tristitia, nulla formido perturbet, qua ratione hoc secretarum cupiditatium pondus efFundam. Agatur

26 aliquid. ** Sapientia bonum est, sapere non est bonum ** ; sic fit, ut^ negemur sapere, ut hoc totum studium deride atur tamquam operatum supervacuis. Quid, si scires etiam illud quaeri, an bonum sit futura sapientia ^ ? Quid enim dubi est, oro te, an nee messem futuram iam sentiant horrea nee futuram adulescentiam pueritia viribus aut ullo robore in- tellegat ? Aegro interim nil ventura sanitas prodest,

^ ut add. Schweigbaeuser. * sit futura sapientia Pine. ; sit puta sapientia BA

354

EPISTLE CXVII.

I die as soon as possible ! '* And what is thy Avish with regard to this ** as soon as possible " ? What day dost thou set for the event ? It may be sooner than thy prayer requests. Words like this come from a weak mind, from one that courts pity by such cursing ; he who prays for death does not wish to die. Ask the gods for Hfe and health ; if thou art resolved to die, death's reward is to have done with prayers.

It is with such problems as these, my dear Lucilius, that we should deal, by such problems that we should mould our minds. This is wisdom, this is what being wise means — not to bandy empty subtle- ties in idle and petty discussions. Fortune has set before you so many problems — which you have not yet solved — and are you still splitting hairs ? How foolish it is to practise strokes after you have heard the signal for the fight ! Away with all these dummy-weapons ; you need armour for a fight to the finish. Tell me by what means sadness and fear may be kept from disturbing my soul, by what means I may shift off this burden of hidden cravings. Do something ! ** Wisdom is a Good, but being wise is not a Good; ** such talk results for us in the judg- ment that we are not wise, and in making a laughing- stock of this whole field of study — on the ground that it wastes its effort on useless things. Suppose you knew that this question was also debated : whether future wisdom is a Good ? For, I beseech you, how could one doubt whether barns do not feel the weight of the harvest that is to come, and that boyhood does not have premonitions of approach- ing young manhood by any brawn and power ? The sick person, in the intervening period, is not helped by the health that is to come, any more

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non magis quam currentem luctantemque post multos

27 secuturum menses otium reficit. Quis nescit hoc ipso non esse bonum id, quod futurum est, quia futurum est ? Nam quod bonum est, utique prodest. Nisi praesentia prodesse non possunt ; si non prodest, bonum non est ; si prodest, iam est. Futurus sum sapiens ; hoc bonum erit, cum fuero, interim non est. Prius ahquid esse debet, deinde quale esse.

28 Quomodo, oro te, quod adhuc nihil est, iam bonum est ? Quomodo autem tibi magis vis probari non esse aliquid, quam si dixero : futurum est ? Nondum enim venisse apparet quod venit. Ver secuturum est : scio nunc hiemem esse. Aestas secutura est : scio aestatem non esse. Maximum argumentum

29 habeo nondum praesentis futurum esse. Sapiam, spero, sed interim non sapio. Si illud bonum ha- berem, iam hoc carerem malo. Futurum est, ut sapiam ; ex hoc licet nondum sapere me intellegas. Non possum simul et in illo bono et in hoc malo esse ; duo ista non coeunt nee apud eundem sunt una malum et bonum.

30 Transcurramus soUertissimas nugas et ad ilia, quae nobis aliquam opem sunt latura, properemus. Nemo, qui obstetricem parturienti filiae sollicitus accersit, edictum et ludorum ordinem perlegit. Nemo, qui ad incendium domus suae currit, tabulam latrun-

C/. Ep, xlviii. 10 and notes. * Cf, Ep, evi. 11 and note.

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EPISTLE GXVII.

than a runner or a wrestler is refreshed by the period of repose that will follow many months later. Who does not know that what is yet to be is not a Good, for the very reason that it is yet to be ? For that which is good is necessarily helpful. And unless things are in the present, they cannot be helpful ; and if a thing is not helpful, it is not a Good ; if helpful, it is already. I shall be a wise man some day ; and this Good will be mine when I shall be a wise man, but in the meantime it is non-existent. A thing must exist first, then may be of a certain kind. How, I ask you, can that which is still nothing be already a Good ? And in what better way do you wish it to be proved to you that a certain thing is not, than to say : ** It is yet to be " ? For it is clear that something which is on the way has not yet arrived. " Spring will follow " : I know that winter is here now. " Summer will follow : " I know that it is not summer. The best proof to my mind that a thing is not yet present is that it is yet to be. I hope some day to be wise, but meanwhile I am not wise. For if I possessed that Good, I should now be free from this Evil. Some day I shall be wise ; from this very fact you may understand that I am not yet wise. I cannot at the same time live in that state of Good and in this state of Evil ; the two ideas do not harmonize, nor do Evil and Good exist together in the same person.

Let us rush past all this clever nonsense, and hurry on to that which will bring us real assistance. No man who is anxiously running after a midwife for his daughter in her birth-pangs will stop to read the praetor's edict ^ or the order of events at the games. No one who is speeding to save his burning house will scan a checker-board ^ to speculate how

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culariam prospicit, ut sciat, quomodo alligatus

31 exeat calculus. At mehercule omnia tibi undique nuntiantur, et incendium domus et periculum liberorum et obsidio patriae et bonorum direptio ; adice isto naufragia motusque terrarum et quicquid aliud timeri potest ; inter ista districtus rebus nihil aliud quam animum oblectantibus vacas ? Quid inter sapientiam et sapere intersit, inquiris ? Nodos nectis ac solvis tanta mole impendente capiti tuo ?

32 Non tam benignum ac liberale tempus natura nobis dedit, ut aliquid ex illo vacet perdere. Et vide, quam multa etiam diligentissimis pereant : aliud valetudo sua cuique abstulit, aliud suorum ; aliud necessaria negotia, aliud publica occupaverunt ; vitam nobiseum dividit somnus.

Ex^ hoc tempore tam angusto et rapido et nos auferente quid iuvat maiorem partem mittere in

33 vanum ? Adice nunc, quod adsuescit animus de- lectare se potius quam sanare et philosophiam oblectamentum facere, cum remedium sit. Inter sapientiam et sapere quid intersit nescio ; scio mea non interesse, sciam ista an nesciam. Die mihi : cum quid inter sapientiam et sapere intersit didicero, sapiam ^ ?

Cur ergo potius inter vocabula me sapientiae

detines quam inter opera ? Fac me fortiorem, fac

securiorem, fac fortunae parem, fac superiorem.

Possum autem superior esse, si derexero eo ^ omne,

quod disco. Vale.

^ ex Pine. ; et BA. * sapia^n later MSS. ; sapientiam BA. ^ eo added by Haase.

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EPISTLE CXVII.

the imprisoned piece can be freed. But good heavens ! — in your case all sorts of news are an- nounced on all sides — your house afire, your children in danger, your country in a state of siege, your property plundered. Add to this shipwreck, earth- quakes, and all other objects of dread ; harassed amid these troubles, are you taking time for matters which serve merely for mental entertainment ? Do you ask what difference there is between wisdom and being wise ? Do you tie and untie knots while such a ruin is hanging over your head ? Nature has not given us such a generous and free-handed space of time that we can have the leisure to waste any of it. Mark also how much is lost even when men are very careful : people are robbed of one thing by ill-health and of another thing by illness in the family ; at one time private, at another public, business absorbs the atten- tion ; and all the while sleep shares our lives w^ith us.

Out of this time, so short and swift, that carries us away in its flight, of what avail is it to spend the greater part on useless things ? Besides, our minds are accustomed to entertain rather than to cure themselves, to make an aesthetic pleasure out of philosophy, when philosophy should really be a remedy. What the distinction is between wisdom and being ?vise I do not know ; but I do know that it makes no difference to me whether I know such matters or am ignorant of them. Tell me : when I have found out the difference between wisdom and being wise, shall I be wise ?

Why then do you occupy me with the words rather than with the works of wisdom ? Make me braver, make me calmer, make me the equal of Fortune, make me her superior. And I can be her superior, if I apply to this end everything that I learn. Farewell.

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CXVIII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Exigis a me frequentiores epistulas. Rationes conferamus ; solvendononeris. Convenerat quidem, ut tua priora essent, tu scriberes, ego rescriberem. Sed non ero difficilis ; bene credi tibi seio. Itaque in anticessum dabo nee faciam, quod Cicero, vir disertissimus, facer e Atticum iubet, ut etiam " si rem nullam habebit, quod in buccam venerit scribat."

2 Numquam potest deesse, quod scribam, ut omnia ilia, quae Ciceronis implent epistulas, transeam : quis candidatus laboret ; quis alienis, quis suis viribus pugnet ; quis consulatum fiducia Caesaris, quis Pompei, quis arcae petat ; quam durus sit faenerator Caecilius, a quo minoris centesimis propinqui num- mum movere non possint.

Sua satius est mala quam aliena tractare, se excutere et videre, quam mult arum rerum candidatus

3 sit, et non suffragari. Hoc est, mi Lucili, egregium, hoc securum ac liberum, nihil petere et tota fortunae comitia transire. Quam putas esse iucundum tribu- bus vocatis, cum candidati in templis suis pendeant et alius nummos pronuntiet, alius per sequestrem agat, alius eorum manus osculis conterat, quibus designatus contingendam manum negaturus est,

" i,e.i solvendo aeri alieno^ " in a position to pay one's debts."

^ Ad Att. i. 12. 4.

^ Ad Att. i. 12. 1 : " Even his relatives can't screw a penny out of Caecilius at less than 12 per cent " (Winstedt).

360

EPISTLE GXVIII.

CXVIII. ON THE VANITY OF PLAGE- SEEKING

You have been demanding more frequent letters from me. But if we compare the accounts, you will not be on the credit side.^ We had indeed made the agreement that your part came first, that you should write the first letters, and that I should answer. However, I shall not be disagreeable ; I know that it is safe to trust you, so I shall pay in advance, and yet not do as the eloquent Cicero bids Atticus do : * " Even if you have nothing to say, write whatever en- ters your head." For there will always be something for me to write about, even omitting all the kinds of news with which Cicero fills his correspondence : what candidate is in difficulties, who is striving on borrowed resources and who on his own ; who is a candidate for the consulship relying on Caesar, or on Pompey, or on his own strong-box ; what a merciless usurer is Caecilius,^ out of whom his friends cannot screw a penny for less than one per cent each month.

But it is preferable to deal with one's own ills, rather than with another's — to sift oneself and see for how many vain things one is a candidate, and cast a vote for none of them. This, my dear Lucilius, is a noble thing, this brings peace and freedom — to canvass for nothing, and to pass by all the elections of Fortune. How can you call it enjoyable, when the tribes are called together and the candidates are making offerings in their favourite temples — some of them promising money gifts and others doing business by means of an agent, or wearing down their hands with the kisses of those to whom they will refuse the least finger-touch after being elected

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omnes attoniti vocem praeconis exspectent, stare otiosum et spectare illas nundinas nee ementem

4 quicquam nee vendentem ? Quanto hie maiore gau- dio fruitur, qui non praetoria aut consularia comitia securus intuetur, sed magna ilia, in quibus alii honores anniversaries petunt, alii perpetuas potes- tates, alii bellorum eventus prosperos triumphosque, alii divitias, alii matrimonia ac liberos, alii salutem suam suorumque ! Quanti animi res est solum nihil petere, nulli supplicare, et dicere : ** Nihil mihi tecum, fortuna. Non facio mei tibi copiam. Scio apud te Catones repelli, Vatinios fieri. Nihil rogo." Hoc est privatam facer e fortunam.

5 Licet ergo haec in vicem scribere et hanc semper integram egerere materiam circumspicientibus tot milia hominum inquieta, qui ut aliquid pestiferi consequantur, per mala nituntur in malum petuntque

6 mox fugienda aut etiam fastidienda. Cui enim adsecuto satis fuit, quod optanti nimium videbatur ? Non est, ut existimant homines, avida felicitas, sed pusilla ; itaque neminem satiat. Tu ista credis ex- celsa, quia longe ab illis iaces ; ei vero, qui ad ilia pervenit, humilia sunt. Mentior, nisi adhuc quaerit escendere ; istud, quod tu summum putas, gradus

7 est. Omnes autcm male habet ignorantia veri ;

** For the character of Vatinius see Ep. xciv. 25 note; for a similar comparison of V. with Cato see Ep, cxx. 19.

36*2

EPISTLE CXVIIL

— when all are excitedly awaiting the announcement of the herald, do you call it enjoyable, I say, to stand idle and look on at this Vanity Fair without either buying or selling ? How much greater joy does one feel who looks without concern, not merely upon the election of a praetor or of a consul, but upon that great struggle in which some are seeking yearly honours, and others permanent power, and others the triumph and the prosperous outcome of war, and others riches, or marriage and offspring, or the welfare of themselves and their relatives ! What a great-souled action it is to be the only person who is canvassing for nothing, offering prayers to no man, and saying : ** Fortune, I have nothing to do with you. I am not at your service. I know that men like Cato are spurned by you, and men like Vatinius made by you.* I ask no favours.'* This is the way to reduce Fortune to the ranks.

These, then, are the things about which we may write in turn, and this is the ever fresh material which we may dig out as we scan the restless multi- tudes of men, who, in order to attain something ruinous, struggle on through evil to evil, and seek that which they must presently shun or even find surfeiting. For who was ever satisfied, after attain- ment, with that which loomed up large as he prayed for it ? Happiness is not, as men think, a greedy thing ; it is a lowly thing ; for that reason it never gluts a man's desire. You deem lofty the objects you seek, because you are on a low level and hence far away from them ; but they are mean in the sight of him who has reached them. And I am very much mistaken if he does not desire to climb still higher ; that which you regard as the top is merely a rung on the ladder. Now all men suffer

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tamquam ad bona feruntur decepti rumoribus, deinde mala esse aut inania aut minora ^ quam speraverint, adepti ac multa passi vident. Maiorque pars mi- ratur ex intervallo fallentia, et vulgo bona pro magnis sunt.

8 Hoc ne nobis quoque eveniat, quaeramus, quid sit bonum. Varia eius interpretatio fuit, alius illud aliter expressit. Quidam it a finiunt : ** bonum est quod invitat animos. quod ad se vocat/' Huic statim opponitur : quid, si invitat quidem, sed in perniciem ? Scis, quam multa mala blanda sint. Verum et veri simile inter se differunt ; ita quod bonum est, vero iungitur ; non est enim bonum nisi verum est. At quod invitat ad se et adlieefacit,^ veri simile est ;

9 subripit, sollicitat, adtrahit. Quidam ita finierunt : ** bonum est, quod petitionem sui movet, vel quod impetum animi tendentis ad se movet.** Et huic idem opponitur ; multa enim impetum animi movent, quae petantur petentium malo. Melius illi, qui ita finierunt : ** bonum est, quod ad se impetum animi secundum naturam movet et ita demum petendum est, cum coepit esse expetendum.*' lam et honestum est ; hoc enim est perfecte petendum.

10 Locus ipse me admonet, ut quid intersit inter bonum honestumque dicam. Aliquid inter se mix-

^ minora later MSS. ; miro BA. ^ adlicefacit Gronovius ; adllcer B ; adicer A.

** Discussed in Ep. Ixxi. 4 f., Ixxiv. 30, Ixxvi. 16 ff., and especially Ixxxvii. 25 : nam idem est honestum et bonum. The Academic school tended to draw more of a distinction than the Stoic, as in Ep, Ixxxv. 17 f.

364

EPISTLE GXVIII.

from ignorance of the truth ; deceived by common report, they make for these ends as if they were good, and then, after having won their wish, and suffered much, they find them evil, or empty, or less important than they had expected. Most men admire that which deceives them at a distance, and by the crowd good things are supposed to be big things.

Now, lest this happen also in our own case, let us ask what is the Good. It has been explained in various ways ; different men have described it in different ways. Some define it in this way ; ** That which attracts and calls the spirit to itself is a Good.*' But the objection at once comes up — what if it does attract, but straight to ruin ? You know how seductive many evils are. That which is true differs from that which looks Uke the truth ; hence the Good is connected with the true, for it is not good unless it is also true. But that which attracts and allures, is only like the truth ; it steals your attention, demands your interest, and draws you to itself. Therefore, some have given this definition : ** That is good which inspires desire for itself, or rouses towards itself the impulse of a struggling soul." There is the same objection to this idea ; for many things rouse the souVs impulses, and yet the search for them is harmful to the seeker. The following definition is better : ** That is good which rouses the soul's impulse towards itself in accordance with nature, and is worth seeking only when it begins to be thoroughly worth seeking." It is by this time an honourable thing ; for that is a thing completely worth seeking.

The present topic suggests that I state the difference between the Good and the honourable.^ Now they have a certain quaUty which blends with

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turn habent et inseparabile : nee potest bonum esse, nisi cui aliquid honesti inest, et honestum utique bonum est. Quid ergo inter duo interest ? Hones- tum ^ est perfectum bonum, quo beata vita completur,

11 cuius contactu alia quoque bona fiunt. Quod dico, talest : sunt quaedam neque bona neque mala, tamquam militia, legatio, iurisdietio. Haec cum honeste administrata sunt, bona esse incipiunt et ex dubio in bonum transeunt. Bonum societate honesti fit, honestum per se bonum est. Bonum ex honesto fluit, honestum ex se est. Quod bonum est, malum esse potuit ; quod honestum est, nisi bonum esse non potuit.

12 Hanc quidam finitionem reddiderunt : " bonum est, quod secundum naturam est.'' Attende, quid dicam : quod bonum, est secundum naturam ; non protinus quod secundum naturam est, etiam bonum est. Multa naturae quidem consentiunt, sed tam pusilla sunt, ut non conveniat illis boni nomen. Levia enim sunt, contemnenda. Nullum est minimum contemnendum bonum ; nam quamdiu exiguum est, bonum non est ; cum bonum esse coepit, non est exiguum. Unde adcognoscitur bonum ? Si perfecte secundum naturam est.

13 ** Fateris," inquis, ** quod bonum est, secundum naturam esse ; haec eius proprietas est. Fateris et alia secundum naturam quidem esse, sed bona non esse. Quomodo ergo illud bonum est, cum haec non

^ utique b. e. q. e, L d. i, honestum added by later MSS. ; om. BA.

EPISTLE CXVIII.

both and is inseparable from either : nothing can be good unless it contains an element of the honom*able, and the honourable is necessarily good. What, then, is the difference between these two qualities ? The honourable is the perfect Good, and the happy- life is fulfilled thereby ; through its influence other things also are rendered good. I mean something like this : there are certain things which are neither good nor bad — as military or diplomatic service, or the pronouncing of legal decisions. When such pur- suits have been honourably conducted, they begin to be good, and they change over from the ** indifferent " class into the Good. The Good results from partner- ship with the honourable, but the honourable is good in itself. The Good springs from the honourable, but the latter from itself. What is good might have been bad ; what is honourable could never have been anything but good.

Some have defined as follows : ** That is good which is according to nature.'' Now attend to my own statement : that which is good is according to nature, but that which is according to nature does not also become immediately good ; for many things harmonize with nature, but are so petty that it is not suitable to call them good. For they are un- important and deserve to be despised. But there is no such thing as a very small and despicable good, for, as long as it is scanty, it is not good, and when it begins to be good, it ceases to be scanty. How, then, can the Good be recognized ? Only if it is completely according to nature.

People say : " You admit that that which is good is according to nature ; for this is its peculiar quality. You admit, too, that there are other things according to nature, which, however, are not good. How then

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sint ? Quomodo ad aliam proprietatem pervenit, cum utrique praecipuum illud commune sit, secundum

14 naturam esse ? '' Ipsa scilicet magnitudine. Nee hoc novum est, quaedam crescendo mutari. Infans fuit ; f actus est pubes, alia eius proprietas fit. lUe enim inrationalis est, hie rationaUs. Quaedam incre- mento non tantum in mains exeunt, sed in aUud.

15 ** Non fit," inquit, ** aliud quod mains fit. Utrum lagonam an dolium impleas vino, nihil refert ; in utroque proprietas vini est. Et exiguum mellis pon- dus et magnum ^ sapore non differt.*' Diversa ponis exempla ; in istis enim eadem qualitas ^ est ; quam-

16 vis augeantur, manet. Quaedam amplificata in suo genere et in sua proprietate perdurant.

Quaedam post multa incrementa ultima demum vertit adiectio et novam illis aliamque quam in qua fuerunt, condicionem inprimit. Unus lapis facit fornicem, ille, qui latera inclinata cuneavit ^ et inter- ventu suo vinxit. Summa adiectio quare plurimum facit vel exigua ? Quia non auget, sed implet.

17 Quaedam processu priorem exuunt formam et in novam transeunt. Ubi aliquid animus diu protulit et magnitudinem eius sequendo lassatus est, infinitum coepit vocari. Quod longe aliud factum est quam

^ et magnum later MSS. ; ex magno BA.

^ qualitas later MSS. ; aequalitas BA.

^ cuneavit later MSS. ; cenavit BA.

" This argument (that complete virtue is a sort of trans- forming climax of life) is not to be confused with the theory of accessio (a term used also in Roman law), or " addition " ; for virtue does not permit of accessio, or the addition of any external advantage. See Ep, Ixvi. 9 quid accedere perfecto potest ?

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EPISTLE CXVIII. >

can the former be good, and the latter not ? How can there be an alteration in the peculiar quality of a thing, when each has, in common with the other, the special attribute of being in accord with nature ? '* Surely because of its magnitude. It is no new idea that certain objects change as they grow. A person, once a child, becomes a youth ; his peculiar quality is transformed ; for the child could not reason, but the youth possesses reason. Certain things not only grow in size as they develop, but grow into some- thing else. Some reply : ** But that which becomes greater does not necessarily become diiFerent. It matters not at all whether you pour wine into a flask or into a vat ; the wine keeps its peculiar quality in both vessels. Small and large quantities of honey are not distinct in taste.'' But these are different cases which you mention ; for wine and honey have a uniform quality ; no matter how much the quantity is enlarged, the quality is the same. For some things endure according to their kind and their peculiar qualities, even when they are enlarged.

There are others, however, which, after many in- crements, are altered by the last addition ; there is stamped upon them a new character, different from that of yore. One stone makes an archway — the stone which wedges the leaning sides and holds the arch together by its position in the middle. And why does the last addition, although very slight, make a great deal of difference ? Because it does not increase ; it fills up. Some things, through development, put off their former shape and are altered into a new figure.^ When the mind has for a long time developed some idea, and in the attempt to grasp its magnitude has become weary, that thing begins to be called '' infinite/' And

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fuit, cum magnum videretur, sed finitum. Eodem modo aliquid difficulter secari cogitavimus ; novissime crescente hac difficultate insecabile inventum est. Sic ab eo, quod vix et aegre movebatur, processimus ad inmobile. Eadem ratione aliquid secundum na- turam fuit ; hoc in aliam proprietatem magnitudo sua transtulit et bonum fecit. Vale,

CXIX.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Quotiens aliquid inveni, non expecto, donee dicas ** in commune/' Ipse mihi dico. Quid sit, quod invenerim quaeris ; sinum laxa, merum lucrum est. Docebo, quomodo fieri dives celerrime possis. Quam valde cupis audire ! nee inmerito ; ad maximas te divitias conpendiaria ducam. Opus erit tamen tibi creditore ; ut negotiari possis, aes alienum facias oportet, sed nolo per intercessorem mutueris, nolo

2 proxenetae nomen tuum iactent. Paratum tibi creditorem dabo Catonianum ilium, a te mutuum sumes. Quantulumcumque est, satis erit, si, quid- quid deerit,^ id a nobis petierimus. Nihil enim, mi Lucili, interest, utrum non desideres an habeas. Summa rei in utroque eadem est : non torqueberis.

1 deerit later MSS. ; dederit BA.

<* Seneca here reverts to the money-metaphors of Epp, i.-xxxiii. — lucellvm^ rnunusculum^ diurna mercedula, etc. ^ Frag. p. 79 Jordan.

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then this has become something far different from what it was when it seemed great but finite. In the same way we have thought of something as difficult to divide ; at the very end, as the task grows more and more hard, the thing is found to be "indivisible." Similarly, from that which could scarcely or with difficulty be moved we have advanced on and on — until we reach the " immov- able." By the same reasoning a certain thing was according to nature ; its greatness has altered it into some other peculiar quality and has rendered it a Good. Farewell.

GXIX. ON NATURE AS OUR BEST PROVIDER

Whenever I have made a discovery, I do not wait for you to cry ** Shares ! " I say it to myself in your behalf. If you wish to know what it is that I have found, open your pocket ; it is clear profit." What I shall teach you is the ability to become rich as speedily as possible. How keen you are to hear the news ! And rightly ; I shall lead you by a short cut to the greatest riches. It will be necessary, however, for you to find a loan ; in order to be able to do business, you must contract a debt, although I do not wish you to arrange the loan through a middle-man, nor do I wish the brokers to be dis- cussing your rating. I shall furnish you with a ready creditor, Cato's famous one, who says : ^ ** Borrow from yourself ! " No matter how small it is, it will be enough if we can only make up the deficit from our own resources. For, my dear Lucilius, it does not matter whether you crave nothing, or whether you possess something. The important principle in either case is the same — freedom from worry.

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Nee illud praecipio, ut aliquid naturae neges — contumax est, non potest vinci, suum poscit — sed ut quicquid naturam excedit, scias precarium esse,

3 non necessarium. Esurio ; edendum est. Utrum hie panis sit plebeius an siligineus, ad naturam nihil pertinet ; ilia ventrem non delectari vult, sed impleri. Sitio ; utrum haec aqua sit, quam ex lacu proximo excepero, an ea, quam multa nive clusero, ut rigore refrigeretur alieno, ad naturam nihil pertinet. Ilia hoc unum iubet, sitim extingui ; utrum sit aureum poculum an crustallinum an murreum an Tiburtinus calix an manus concava,

4 nihil refert. Finem omnium rerum specta, et super- vacua dimittes. Fames me appellat ; ad proxima quaeque porrigatur manus ; ipsa mihi commen-

5 davit quodcumque comprendero. Nihil contemnit esuriens.

Quid sit ergo, quod me delectaverit quaeris ? Videtur mihi egregie dictum : sapiens divitiarum naturalium est quaesitor acerrimus. " Inani me,'* ^ inquis, ** lance muneras. Quid est istud ? Ego iam paraveram fiscos. Circumspiciebam, in quod me mare negotiaturus inmitterem, quod publicum agitarem, quas arcesserem merces. Decipere est istud, docere paupertatem, cum divitias promiseris." Ita tu pauperem iudicas, cui nihil deest ? ** Suo," inquis, '* et patientiae suae beneficio, non fortunae." Ideo ergo ilium non iudicas divitem, quia divitiae

^ inani me later INISS. : inanima BA.

** i.e.^ " something for one's spare time " ; cf. Ep. liii. 8 note, non est quod precario philosopheris,

* i,e., of common earthenware.

* i.e., had got my coifers ready for the promised wealth.

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EPISTLE GXIX.

But I do not counsel you to deny anything to nature — for nature is insistent and cannot be over- come ; she demands her due — but you should know that anything in excess of nature's wants is a mere ** extra *' ^ and is not necessary. If I am hungry, I must eat. Nature does not care whether the bread is the coarse kind or the finest wheat ; she does not desire the stomach to be entertained, but to be filled. And if I am thirsty, Nature does not care whether I drink water from the nearest reservoir, or whether I freeze it artificially by sinking it in large quantities of snow. Nature orders only that the thirst be quenched ; and it does not matter whether it be a golden, or crystal, or murrine goblet, or a cup from Tibur,^ or the hollow hand. Look to the end, in all matters, and then you will cast away superfluous things. Hunger calls me ; let me stretch forth my hand to that which is nearest ; my very hunger has made attractive in my eyes whatever I can grasp. A starving man despises nothing.

Do you ask, then, what it is that has pleased me ? It is this noble saying which I have discovered : ** The wise man is the keenest seeker for the riches of nature." ** What," you ask, *' will you present me with an empty plate ? What do you mean ? I had already arranged my coffers ; ^ I was already looking about to see some stretch of water on which I might embark for purposes of trade, some state revenues that I might handle, and some merchandise that I might acquire. That is deceit — showing me poverty after promising me riches." But, friend, do you regard a man as poor to whom nothing is wanting ? *' It is, however," you reply, ** thanks to himself and his endurance, and not thanks to his fortune." Do you, then, hold that such a man is not rich, just

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eius desinere non possunt ? Utrum mavis habere

6 multum an satis ? Qui multum habet, plus cupit ; quod est argumentum nondum ilium satis habere ; qui satis habet, consecutus est, quod numquam diviti contigit, finem. An has ideo non putas esse divitias, quia propter illas nemo proscriptus est ? Quia propter illas nuili venenum filius, nulli uxor inpegit ? Quia in bello tutae sunt ? Quia in pace otiosae ? Quia nee habere illas periculosum est nee operosum disponere ?

7 *' At parum habet qui tantum non alget, non esurit, non sitit/' Plus luppiter non habet. Num- quam parum est quod satis est, et numquam multum est quod satis non est. Post Dareum et Indos pauper est Alexander. Mentior ? Quaerit, quod suum faciat, serutatur maria ignota, in oceanum classes novas mittit et ipsa, ut ita dicam, mundi claustra perrumpit. Quod naturae satis est, homini

8 non est. Inventus est qui concupisceret aliquid post omnia ; tanta est caecitas mentium et tanta initiorum suorum unicuique, cum processit, oblivio, Ille modo ignobilis anguli non sine controversia dominus tacto fine terrarum per suum rediturus

9 orbem tristis est. Neminem pecunia divitem fecit, immo contra nulli non maiorem sui cupidinem incussit. Quaeris, quae sit huius rei causa ? Plus incipit habere posse, qui plus habet.

<* Alexander the Great.

374

EPISTLE GXIX.

because his wealth can never fail? Would you rather have much, or enough ? He who has much desires more — a proof that he has not yet acquired enough ; but he who has enough has attained that which never fell to the rich man's lot — a stopping- point. Do you think that this condition to which I refer is not riches, just because no man has ever been proscribed as a result of possessing them ? Or because sons and wives have never thrust poison down one's throat for that reason ? Or because in war-time these riches are unmolested ? Or because they bring leisure in time of peace ? Or because it is not dangerous to possess them, or troublesome to invest them ?

** But one possesses too little, if one is merely free from cold and hunger and thirst." Jupiter himself however, is no better off. Enough is never too little, and not-enough is never too much. Alexander was poor even after his conquest of Darius and the Indies. Am I wrong ? He seeks something which he can really make his own, exploring unknown seas, sending new fleets over the Ocean, and, so to speak, breaking down the very bars of the universe. But that which is enough for nature, is not enough for man. There have been found persons who crave something more after obtaining everything ; so blind are their wits and so readily does each man forget his start after he has got under way. He who * was but lately the disputed lord of an unknown corner of the world, is dejected when, after reaching the limits of the globe, he must march back through a world which he has made his own. Money never made a man rich ; on the contrary, it always smites men with a greater craving for itself. Do you ask the reason for this ? He who possesses more begins to be able to possess still more.

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Ad summam, quern voles mihi ex his, quorum nomina cum Crasso Licinoque ^ numerantur, in medium licet protrahas. Adferat censum, et quic- quid habet et quicquid sperat, simul computet ; iste, si mihi credis, pauper est, si tibi, potest esse.

10 At hie, qui se ad id,^ quod exigit natura, composuit, non tantum extra sensum est paupertatis, sed extra metum. Sed ut scias, quam difficile sit res suas ad naturalem modum coartare, hie ipse, quem circa dicimus, quem tu vocas pauperem, habet aliquid et

11 supervacui. At excaecant populum et in se con- vertunt opes, si numerati multum ex aliqua domo efFertur, si multum auri tecto quoque eius inlinitur, si familia aut corporibus electa aut spectabilis cultu est. Omnium istorum felicitas in publicum spec- tat ; ille, quem nos et populo et fortunae sub-

12 duximus,^ beatus introsum est. Nam quod ad illos pertinet, apud quos falso divitiarum nomen invasit occupata paupertas, sic divitias habent, quomodo habere dicimur febrem, cum ilia nos habeat. E contrario dicer e solemus : febris ilium tenet. Eodem modo dicendum est : divitiae ilium tenent. Nihil ergo monuisse te malim quam hoc, quod nemo monetur satis, ut omnia naturalibus desideriis metiaris, quibus aut gratis satis fiat aut parvo ;

13 tantum miscere vitia desideriis noli. Quaeris, quaU

^ Crasso Licinoque Muretus ; croeso (crasso) licinloque MSS.

2 ad id later MSS. ; ad BA.

^ suhduximus later MSS. ; subdiximus BA.

** 4.«., a " poverty " which is never satisfied. 376

EPISTLE CXIX.

To sum up, you may hale forth for our inspection any of the milUonaires whose names are told off when one speaks of Crassus and Licinus. Let him bring along his rating and his present property and his future expectations, and let him add them all together : such a man, according to my belief, is poor ; according to yours, he may be poor some day. He, however, who has arranged his affairs according to nature's demands, is free from the fear, as well as from the sensation, of poverty. And in order that you may know how hard it is to narrow one's in- terests down to the limits of nature — even this very person of whom we speak, and whom you call poor, possesses something actually superfluous. Wealth, however, blinds and attracts the mob, when they see a large bulk of ready money brought out of a man's house, or even his walls crusted with abundance of gold, or a retinue that is chosen for beauty of physique, or for attractiveness of attire. The pros- perity of all these men looks to public opinion ; but the ideal man, whom we have snatched from the control of the people and of Fortune, is happy inwardly. For as far as those persons are concerned, in whose minds bustling ^ poverty has wrongly stolen the title of riches — these individuals have riches just as we say that we *' have a fever," when really the fever has us. Conversely, we are accustomed to say : ** A fever grips him." And in the same way we should say : " Riches grip him." There is therefore no advice — and of such advice no one can have too much — which I would rather give you than this : that you should measure all things by the demands of Nature ; for these demands can be satisfied either without cost or else very cheaply. Only, do not mix any vices with these demands. Why need you ask

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mensa, quali argento, quam paribus ministeriis et

levibus adferatur cibus ? Nihil praeter cibiim natura

desiderat.

Num tibi, cum fauces urit sitis, aurea quaeris Pocula ? Num esuriens fastidis omnia praeter Pavonem rhombumque ?

14 Ambitiosa non est fames, contenta desinere est ; quo desinat, non nimis curat. Infelicis luxuriae ista tormenta sunt ; quaerit, quemadmodum post satu- ritatem quoque esuriat, quemadmodum non impleat ventrem, sed farciat, quemadmodum sitim prima potione sedatam revocet. Egregie itaque Horatius negat ad sitim pertinere, quo poculo aqua aut quam eleganti manu ministretur. Nam si pertinere ad te iudicas, quam crinitus puer et quam perlucidum tibi poculum porrigat, non sitis.

15 Inter reliqua hoc nobis praestitit natura prae- cipuum, quod necessitati fastidium excussit. Reci- piunt supervacua dilectum : hoc parum decens, illud parum laudatum, oculos hoc meos laedit. Id actum est ab illo mundi conditore, qui nobis vivendi iura discripsit, ut salvi essemus, non ut dehcati. Ad salutem omnia parata sunt et in promptu, dehciis omnia misere ac solhcite conparantur.

16 Utamur ergo hoc naturae beneficio inter magna

« Horace, Sat. i. 2. lUfF. 878

EPISTLE GXIX

how your food should be served, on what sort of table, with what sort of silver, with what well- matched and smooth-faced young servants ? Nature demands nothing except mere food.

Dost seek, when thirst inflames thy throat, a cup of gold ? Dost scorn all else but peacock's flesh or turbot When the hunger comes upon thee ? ^

Hunger is not ambitious ; it is quite satisfied to come to an end ; nor does it care very much what food brings it to an end. Those things are but the instruments of a luxury which is not " happiness *' ; a luxury which seeks how it may prolong hunger even after repletion, how to stuff the stomach, not to fill it, and how to rouse a thirst that has been satisfied with the first drink. Horace's words are therefore most excellent when he says that it makes no differ- ence to one's thirst in what costly goblet, or with what elaborate state, the water is served. For if you believe it to be of importance how curly-haired your slave is, or how transparent is the cup which he offers you, you are not thirsty.

Among other things. Nature has bestowed upon us this special boon : she relieves sheer necessity of squeamishness. The superfluous things admit of choice ; we say : *' That is not suitable " ; " this is not well recommended ** ; " that hurts my eyesight.'* The Builder of the universe, who laid down for us the laws of life, provided that we should exist in well- being, but not in luxury. Everything conducive to our well-being is prepared and ready to our hands ; but what luxury requires can never be got together except with wretchedness and anxiety.

Let us therefore use this boon of Nature by reckoning it among the things of high importance ;

VOL. Ill N 379

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numerando et cogitemus nullo nomine melius illam meruisse de nobis, quam quia quicquid ex necessitate desideratur, sine fastidio sumitur. Vale.

cxx.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Epistula tua per plures quaestiunculas vagata est, sed in una constitit et hanc expediri desiderat, quo- modo ad nos boni honestique notitia pervenerit. Haec duo apud alios diversa sunt, apud nos tantum

2 divisa. Quid sit hoc dicam. Bonum putant esse aliqui id,^ quod utile est ; itaque hoc et ^ divitiis et equo et vino et calceo nomen inponunt ; tanta fit apud illos boni viUtas et adeo in sordida usque descendit. Honestum putant, cui ratio recti officii constat, tamquam pie curatam patris senectutem, adiutam amici paupertatem, fortem expeditionem,

3 prudentem moderatamque sententiam.^ Nos ^ ista duo quidem facimus, sed ex uno. Nihil est bonum, nisi quod honestum est. Quod honestum, est utique bonum. Supervacuum iudico adicere, quid inter ista discriminis sit, cum saepe dixerim. Hoc unum dicam, nihil bonum nobis ^ videri, quo quis et male uti potest. Vides autem divitiis, nobilitate, viribus quam multi male utantur.

Nunc ergo ad id revertor, de quo desideras dici,

* aliqui id Buecheler and Windhaus ; aliquit BA«

2 et later MSS. ; et de BA.

* sententiam later MSS. ; sentiam BA.

* nos cod. Vat. ; om. BA.

* nihil honum nobis cod. Ottobon. ; nihil nobis BA.

*• i,e.y the Peripatetic and Academic schools. * C/. Ep, cxviii. 10 and note.

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EPISTLES CXIX., GXX.

let us reflect that Nature's best title to our gratitude is that whatever we want because of sheer necessity we accept without squeamishness. Farewell.

GXX. MORE ABOUT VIRTUE

Your letter roamed over several little problems, but finally dwelt upon this alone, asking for explana- tion : ** How do we acquire a knowledge of that which is good and that which is honourable ? " In the opinion of other schools,^ these two quahties are distinct ; among our followers, however, they are merely divided. This is what I mean : Some believe the Good to be that which is useful ; they accordingly bestow this title upon riches, horses, wine, and shoes ; so cheaply do they view the Good, and to such base uses do they let it descend. They regard as honour- able that which agrees with the principle of right conduct — such as taking dutiful care of an old father, relieving a friend's poverty, showing bravery on a campaign, and uttering prudent and well-balanced opinions. We, however, do make the Good and the honourable two things, but we make them out of one : only the honourable can be good ; also, the honourable is necessarily good. I hold it superfluous to add the distinction between these two qualities, inasmuch as I have mentioned it so many times. ^ But I shall say this one thing — that we regard nothing as good which can be put to wrong use by any person. And you see for yourself to what wrong uses many men put their riches, their high position, or their physical powers.

To return to the matter on which you desire

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quomodo ad nos prima boni honestique notitia per-

4 venerit. Hoc nos natura docere non potuit ; semina nobis scientiae dedit, scientiam non dedit. Quidam aiunt nos in notitiam incidisse, quod est incredibile, virtutis alicui speciem casu occucurrisse. Nobis vide- tur observatio collegisse et rerum saepe factarum inter se conlatio, per analogian nostri intelleetum et honestum et bonum indicant. Hoc verbum cum Latini grammatici civitate donaverint, ego damnan- dum non puto, puto ^ in civitatem suam redigendum. Utar ergo illo non tantum tamquam recepto, sed tamquam usitato.

5 Quae sit haec analogia, dicam. Noveramus cor- poris sanitatem ; ex hac cogitavimus esse aliquam et animi. Noveramus vires corporis ; ex his coUegimus esse et animi robur. Aliqua benigna facta, aliqua humana, aliqua fortia nos obstupefecerant ; haec coepimus tamquam perfecta mirari. Suberant illis multa vitia, quae species conspicui aUcuius facti fulgorque celabat ; haec dissimulavimus. Natura iubet augere laudanda, nemo non gloriam ultra verum tulit ; ex his ergo speciem ingentis boni traximus.

6 Fabricius Pyrrhi regis aurum reppulit maiusque regno iudicavit regias opes posse contemnere. Idem

^ puto add. Buecheler.

^ Consult Sandys, Hist, Class. Schol. i. pp. 148 and 175 f. Alexandrian " analogists '* opposed Pergamene " anom- alists *' with reference to the rules affecting the forms of words. Out of the controversy arose the scientific study of grammar.

382

EPISTLE CXX.

information : ** How we first acquire the knowledge of that which is good and that which is honourable." Nature could not teach us this directly ; she has given us the seeds of knowledge, but not knowledge itself. Some say that we merely happened upon this knowledge ; but it is unbelievable that a vision of virtue could have presented itself to anyone by mere chance. We believe that it is inference due to observation, a comparison of events that have occurred frequently ; our school of philosophy hold that the honourable and the good have been com- prehended by analogy. Since the word ** analogy " * has been admitted to citizen rank by Latin scholars, I do not think that it ought to be condemned, but I do think it should be brought into the citizenship which it can justly claim. I shall, therefore, make use of the word, not merely as admitted, but as established.

Now what this " analogy " is, I shall explain. We understood what bodily health was : and from this basis we deduced the existence of a certain mental health also. We knew, too, bodily strength, and from this basis we inferred the existence of mental sturdiness. Kindly deeds, humane deeds, brave deeds, had at times amazed us ; so we began to admire them as if they were perfect. Underneath, however, there were many faults, hidden by the appearance and the brilliancy of certain conspicuous acts ; to these we shut our eyes. Nature bids us amplify praiseworthy things : everyone exalts re- nown beyond the truth. And thus from such deeds we deduced the conception of some great good. Fabricius rejected King Pyrrhus's gold, deeming it greater than a king's crown to be able to scorn ^ king's money. Fabricius also, when the royal

383

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medico Pyrrhi promittente venenum se regi daturuiii monuit Pyrrhum, caveret insidias. Eiusdem animi fuit auro non vinci, veneno non vincere. Admirati sumus ingentem virum, quern non regis, non contra regem promissa flexissent, boni exempli tenacem, quod difficillimum est, in bello innocentem, qui ali- quod esse crederet etiam in hostes nefas, qui in summa paupertate, quam sibi decus fecerat, non aliter refugit divitias quam venenum. ** Vive," in- quit, ** beneficio meo, Pyrrhe, et gaude quod adhuc dolebas, Fabricium non posse corrumpi/'

7 Horatius Codes solus implevit pontis angustias adimique a tergo sibi reditum, dummodo iter hosti auferretur, iussit et tam diu prementibus restitit, donee revulsa ingenti ruina tigna sonuerunt. Post- quam respexit et extra periculum esse patriam periculo suo sensit, ** veniat, si quis vult,'* inquit, ** sic euntem sequi," iecitque ^ se in praeceps et non minus sollicitus in illo rapido alveo fluminis ut armatus quam ut salvus exiret, retento armorum victricium decore tam tutus rediit, quam si ponte venisset.

8 Haec et eiusmodi facta imaginem nobis ostendere virtutis. Adiciam, quod mirum fortasse videatur : mala interdum speciem hones ti optulere et optimum ex contrario enituit.^ Sunt enim, ut scis, virtutibus

^ iecitque later MSS. ; legit que BA^. 2 enituit Buecheler, with cod. Ottobon. ; emicuit cod. Velz. ; nituit BA.

" The two stories refer to the years 280 and 279 b.c, during the campaigns of Pyrrhus in Italy.

^ See Livy, ii. 10.

* Livy (loc, cit,) reports him as saying : " Tiberine pater, te sancte precor, haec arma et hunc militem propitio flumine accipias ! " Macaulay in his ballad translates Livy's quota- tion almost literally,

384

EPISTLE CXX.

physician promised to give his master poison, warned Pyrrhus to beware of a plot. The selfsame man had the resolution to refuse either to be won over by gold or to win by poison. So we admired the hero, who could not be moved by the promises of the king or against the king, who held fast to a noble ideal, and who — is anything more difficult ? — was in war sinless ; for he believed that wrongs could be committed even against an enemy, and in that extreme poverty which he had made his glory, shrank from receiving riches as he shrank from using poison. " Live,** he cried, ** O Pyrrhus, thanks to me, and rejoice^ instead of grieving as you have done till now, that Fabricius cannot be bribed ! *' ^

Horatius Codes ^ blocked the narrow bridge alone, and ordered his retreat to be cut off, that the enemy's path might be destroyed ; then he long withstood his assailants until the crash of the beams, as they collapsed with a huge fall, rang in his ears. When he looked back and saw that his country, through his own danger, was free from danger, ** Whoever,'* he cried, ** wishes to pursue me this way, let him come l**^ He plunged headlong, taking as great care to come out armed from the midst of the dashing river-channel as he did to come out unhurt ; he returned, preserving the glory of his conquering weapons, as safely as if he had come back over the bridge.

These deeds and others of the same sort have revealed to us a picture of virtue. I will add some- thing which may perhaps astonish you : evil things have sometimes offered the appearance of what is honourable, and that which is best has been mani- fested through its opposite. For there are, as you know, vices which are next-door to virtues ; and

385

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vitia confinia, et perditis quoque ac turpibus recti similitudo est ; sic mentitur prodigus liberalem, cum plurimum intersit, utrum quis dare sciat an servare nesciat. Multi, inquam, sunt, Lucili, qui non donant, sed proiciunt ; non voco ego liberalem pecuniae suae iratum. Imitatur neglegentia facilitatem, temeritas

9 fortitudinem. Haec nos similitudo coegit attendere et distinguere specie quidem vicina, re autem pluri- mum inter se dissidentia, ac^ dum observamus eos, quos insignes egregium opus fecerat, adnotare, quis rem aliquam generoso animo fecisset et magno impetu, sed semel. Hunc vidimus in bello fort em, in foro timidum, animose paupertatem ferentem, humiliter infamiam ; factum laudavimus, contemp-

10 simus virum. Alium vidimus adversus amicos be- nignum, adversus inimicos temperatum, et publica et privata sancte ac religiose administrantem, non deesse ei in iis quae toleranda erant, patientiam, in iis quae agenda, prudentiam. Vidimus, ubi tribuen- dum esset, plena manu dantem, ubi laborandum, pertinacem et obnixum ^ et lassitudinem corporis animo sublevantem. Praeterea idem erat semper et in omni actu par sibi, iam non consilio bonus, sed more eo perductus, ut non tantum recte facere posset.

^ ac add. Gertz. * obnixum codd. Laur. and Ottobon. ; obnoxium BA,

386

EPISTLE GXX.

even that which is lost and debased can resemble that which is upright. So the spendthrift falsely imitates the liberal man — although it matters a great deal whether a man knows how to give, or does not know how to save, his money. I assure you, my dear Lucilius, there are many who do not give, but simply throw away ; and I do not call a man liberal who is out of temper with his money. Carelessness looks like ease, and rashness like bravery. This resemblance has forced us to watch carefully and to distinguish between things which are by outward appearance closely connected, but which actually are very much at odds with one another ; and in watching those who have become distinguished as a result of some noble effort, we have been forced to observe what persons have done some deed with noble spirit and lofty impulse, but have done it only once. We have marked one man who is brave in war and cowardly in civil affairs, enduring poverty courageously and disgrace shame- facedly ; we have praised the deed but we have despised the man. Again, we have marked another man who is kind to his friends and restrained towards his enemies, who carries on his political and his personal business with scrupulous devotion, not lacking in longsuffering where there is anything that must be endured, and not lacking in prudence when action is to be taken. We have marked him giving with lavish hand when it was his duty to make a payment, and, when he had to toil, striving resolutely and lightening his bodily weariness by his resolution. Besides, he has always been the same, consistent in all his actions, not only sound in his judgment but trained by habit to such an extent that he not only can act rightly, but cannot help VOL. Ill N 2 387

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

sed nisi recte facere non posset. Intelleximus in illo perfectam esse virtutem.

11 Hanc in partes divisimus ; oportebat cupiditates refrenari, metus comprimi, faeienda provideri, red- denda distribui ; conprehendimus temperantiam, fortitudinem, prudentiam, iustitiam et suum cuique dedimus offieium. Ex quo ergo virtutem intellexi- mus ? Ostendit illam nobis ordo eius et decor et con- stantia et omnium inter se actionum eoneordia et magnitudo super omnia efferens sese. Hinc in- telleeta est ilia beata vita secundo defluens cursu,

12 arbitrii sui tot a. Quomodo ergo hoc ipsum nobis apparuit ? Dicam. Numquam vir ille perfectus adeptusque virtutem fortunae maledixit, numquam accidentia tristis excepit, civem esse se universi et militem credens labores velut imperatos subiit. Quicquid inciderat, non tamquam malum aspernatus est et in se casu ^ delatum, sed quasi delegatum sibi. Hoc qualecumque est, inquit, meum est ; asperum est, durum est, in hoc ipso navemus operam.

13 Necessario itaque magnus apparuit qui numquam malis ingemuit, numquam de fato suo questus est ; fecit multis intellectum sui et non aliter quam in tenebris lumen efFulsit advertitque in se omnium animos, cum esset placidus et lenis, humanis divinis-

14 que rebus pariter aequus. Habebat perfectum ani- mum et ad summam sui adductum, supra quam

^ casu ed. Ven. ; casum B ; cassum A. 388

EPISTLE GXX.

acting rightly. We have formed the conception that in such a man perfect virtue exists.

We have separated this perfect virtue into its several parts. The desires had to be reined in, fear to be suppressed, proper actions to be arranged, debts to be paid ; we therefore included self- restraint, bravery, prudence, and justice — assigning to each quaUty its special function. How then have we formed the conception of virtue ? Virtue has been manifested to us by this man*s order, propriety, steadfastness, absolute harmony of action, and a greatness of soul that rises superior to everything. Thence has been derived our conception of the happy life, which flows along with steady course, completely under its own control. How then did we discover this fact ? I ynll tell you : that perfect man, who has attained virtue, never cursed his luck, and never received the results of chance with de- jection ; he beheved that he was citizen and soldier of the universe, accepting his tasks as if they were his orders. Whatever happened, he did not spurn i: as if it were evil and borne in upon him by hazard ; he accepted it as if it were assigned to be his duty. ** Whatever this may be,'* he says, ** it is my lot ; it is rough and it is hard, but I must work diligently at the task."

Necessarily, therefore, the man has shown himself great who has never grieved in evil days and never bewailed his destiny ; he has given a clear concep- tion of himself to many men ; he has shone forth like a light in the darkness and has turned towards himself the thoughts of all men, because he was gentle and calm and equally compliant with the orders of man and of God. He possessed perfection of soul, developed to its highest capabilities, inferior

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nihil est nisi mens dei, ex quo pars et in hoc pectus mortale defluxit. Quod numquani magis divinum est, quam ubi mortalitatem suam cogitat et scit in hoc natum honiinem, ut vita defungeretur, nee domum esse hoc corpus, sed hospitium, et quidem breve hospitium, quod rehnquendum est, ubi te

15 gravem esse hospiti videas. Maximum, inquam, mi LuciH, argumentum est animi ab altiore sede venien- tis, si haec, in quibus versatur, humiHa iudicat et angusta, si exire non metuit. Scit enim, quo ex- iturus sit, qui unde venerit meminit. Non videmus quam multa nos incommoda^ exagitent, quam male

16 nobis conveniat hoc corpus ? Nunc de capite, nunc de ventre, nunc de pectore ac faucibus querimur. Alias nervi nos, alias pedes vexant, nunc deiectio, nunc destillatio, aliquando superest sanguis, aliquando deest ; hinc atque illinc temptamur et expelUmur ; hoc evenire solet in alieno habitantibus.

17 At nos corpus tam putre sortiti nihilominus aeterna proponimus et in quantum potest aetas humana protendi, tantum spe occupamus, nulla contenti pecunia, nulla potentia. Quid hac re fieri impu- dentius, quid stultius potest ? Nihil satis est mori- turis, immo morientibus ; cotidie enim propius ab ultimo stamus, et illo, unde nobis cadendum est,

18 hora nos omnis inpellit. Vide in quanta caecitate mens nostra sit ! Hoc quod futurum dico, cum

^ incommoda later MSS. ; commoda BA.

<» A chronic disease of Seneca himself. See the auto- biographic fragment in Ep, Ixxviii. 1 f.

390

EPISTLE GXX.

only to the mind of God — from whom a part flows down even into this heart of a mortal. But this heart is never more divine than when it reflects upon its mortality, and understands that man was born for the purpose of fulfilling his life, and that the body is not a permanent dwelling, but a sort of inn (with a brief sojourn at that) which is to be left behind when one perceives that one is a burden to the host. The greatest proof, as I maintain, my dear Lucilius, that the soul proceeds from loftier heights, is if it judges its present situation lowly and narrow, and is not afraid to depart. For he who remembers whence he has come knows whither he is to depart. Do we not see how many dis- comforts drive us wild, and how ill-assorted is our fellowship with the flesh ? We complain at one time of our headaches, at another of our bad digestions, at another of our hearts and our throats. Sometimes the nerves trouble us, sometimes the feet ; now it is diarrhoea, and again it is catarrh ^ ; we are at one time full-blooded, at another anaemic ; now this thing troubles us, now that, and bids us move away : it is just what happens to those who dwell in the house of another.

But we, to whom such corruptible bodies have been allotted, nevertheless set eternity before our eyes, and in our hopes grasp at the utmost space of time to which the life of man can be extended, satisfied with no income and with no influence. What can be more shameless or foolish than this ? Nothing is enough for us, though we must die some day, or rather, are already dying ; for we stand daily nearer the brink, and every hour of time thrusts us on towards the precipice over which we must fall. See how blind our minds are ! What I speak of as

39^

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

maxime fit, et pars eius magna iam facta est, nam quod viximus. Erramus autem qui ultimum time- mus diem, cum tantumdem in mortem singuli conferant. Non ille gradus lassitudinem facit, in quo deficimus, sed ille profitetur. Ad mortem dies extremus pervenit, accedit^ omnis. Carpit nos ilia, non corripit.

Ideo magnus animus conscius sibi melioris naturae dat quidem operam, ut in hac statione qua positus est, honeste se atque Industrie gerat, ceterum nihil horum, quae circa sunt, suum iudicat, sed ut com-

19 modatis utitur, peregrinus et properans. Cum aliquem huius videremus constantiae, quidni subiret nos species non usitatae indolis ? Utique si banc, ut dixi, magnitudinem veram esse ostendebat aequalitas.2 Vero tenor permanet, falsa non durant. Quidam alternis Vatinii, alternis Catones sunt; et modo parum illis severus est Curius, parum pauper Fabricius, parum frugi et contentus vilibus Tubero ; modo Licinum divitiis,^ Apicium cenis, Maecena-

20 tem deliciis provocant. Maximum indicium est malae mentis fluctuatio et inter* simulationem virtutum amoremque vitiorum ^ adsidua iactatio. Aliquis ®

habebat saepe ducentos, Saepe decern servos ; modo reges atque tetrarchas, Omnia magna loquens, modo sit mihi mensa tripes et

^ accedit later MSS. ; accidit BA.

2 aequalitas Gronovius ; qualitas BA.

^ Licinum divitiis cod. Guelf. ; linum dividitis BA.

* et inter cod. Harl. ; cancer BA.

^ amoremque vitiorum Pine, and cod. Harl. ; amorumque utiliorum BA.

® aliquis Buecheler ; is BA ; s. (scilicet) Hense.

* Seneca is here developing the thought sketched in Ep, xii. 6 unus autem dies gradus vitae est,

892

EPISTLE OXX.

in the future is happening at this minute, and a large portion of it has already happened ; for it consists of our past lives. But we are mistaken in fearing the last day, seeing that each day, as it passes, counts just as much to the credit of death .« The faihng step does not produce, it merely announces, weariness. The last hour reaches, but every hour approaches, death. Death wears us away, but does not whirl us away.

For this reason the noble soul, knowing its better nature, while taking care to conduct itself honour- ably and seriously at the post of duty where it is placed, counts none of these extraneous objects as its own, but uses them as if they were a loan, like a foreign visitor hastening on his way. When we see a person of such steadfastness, how can we help being conscious of the image of a nature so unusual ? Particularly if, as I remarked, it was shown to be true greatness by its consistency. It is indeed consistency that abides ; false things do not last. Some men are like Vatinius or like Cato by turns ; ^ at times they do not think even Curius stern enough, or Fabricius poor enough, or Tubero sufficiently frugal and contented with simple things ; while at other times they vie with Licinus in wealth, with Apicius in banqueting, or with Maecenas in daintiness. The greatest proof of an evil mind is unsteadiness, and continued wavering between pretence of virtue and love of vice.

He*d have sometimes two hundred slaves at hand And sometimes ten. He*d speak of kings and grand Moguls and naught but greatness. Then he'd say : " Give me a three-legged table and a tray

* For the same contrast c/. Ep, cxviii. 4 (and note). For the following names see Index of Proper Names.

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Concha salis puri, toga quae defendere frigus Quamvis crassa queat " ; decies centena dedisses Huic parco, paucis contento ; quinque diebus Nil erat.

21 Homines ^ isti tales sunt, qualem hunc deseribit Horatius Flaccus, numquam eundem, ne similem quidem sibi ; adeo in diversum aberrat. Multos dixi ? Prope est, ut omnes sint. Nemo non cotidie et consilium mutat et votum. Modo uxor em vult habere, modo amicam, modo regnare vult, modo id agit, ne quis sit officiosior servus, modo dilatat se usque ad invidiam, modo subsidit et contrahitur infra humilitatem vere iacentium, nunc pecuniam

22 spargit, nunc rapit. Sic maxime coarguitur animus inprudens ; alius prodit atque alius et, quo turpius nihil iudico, impar sibi est. Magnam rem puta unum hominem agere. Praeter sapientem autem nemo unum agit, ceteri multiformes sumus. Modo frugi tibi videbimur et graves, modo prodigi et vani. Mutamus subinde personam et contrariam ei sumi- mus, quam exuimus. Hoc ergo a te exige, ut, qualem institueris praestare te, talem usque ad exitum serves. Effice ut possis laudari, si minus, ut adgnosci. De aliquo, quern here vidisti, merito dici potest : ** hie qui est ? " Tanta mutatio est. Vale.

^ homines Buecheler ; omnes BA.

« Horace, Sat, i. 3. 11-17. 394

EPISTLE OXX.

Of good clean salt, and just a coarse-wove gown To keep the cold out." If you paid him down (So sparing and content !) a million cool, In five short days he'd be a penceless fool.*

The men I speak of are of this stamp ; they are like the man whom Horatius Flaccus describes — a man never the same, never even like himself; to such an extent does he wander off into opposites. Did I say many are so ? It is the ease with almost all. Everyone changes his plans and prayers day by day. Now he would have a wife, and now a mistress ; now he would be king, and again he strives to conduct himself so that no slave is more cringing ; now he puiFs himself up until he becomes unpopular ; again, he shrinks and contracts into greater humility than those who are really un- assuming ; at one time he scatters money, at another he steals it. That is how a foolish mind is most clearly demonstrated : it shows first in this shape and then in that, and is never like itself — which is, in my opinion, the most shameful of qualities. Be- lieve me, it is a great role — to play the role of one man. But nobody can be one person except the wise man ; the rest of us often shift our masks. At times you will think us thrifty and serious, at other times wasteful and idle. We continually change our char- acters and play a part contrary to that which we have discarded. You should therefore force yourself to maintain to the very end of life's drama the char- acter which you assumed at the beginning. See to it that men be able to praise you ; if not, let them at least identify you. Indeed, with regard to the man whom you saw but yesterday, the question may properly be asked : ** Who is he ? *' So great a change has there been ! Farewell.

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CXXI.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Litigabis, ego video, cum tibi hodiernam quae* j stiunculam, in qua satis diu haesimus, exposuero. Iterum enim exclamabis : ** hoc quid ad mores ? " Sed exclama, dum tibi primum alios opponam, cum i quibus litiges, Posidonium et Archidem^um ; hi iu- | dicium accipient. Deinde dicam : non quicquid

2 morale est, mores bonos facit. Aliud ad hominem alendum pertinet, aliud ad exercendum, aliud ad vestiendum, aliud ad docendum, aliud ad delectan- dum. Omnia tamen ad hominem pertinent, etiam | si non omnia meliorem eum faciunt. Mores ^ alia | aliter attingunt : quaedam illos corrigunt et ordi- | nant, quaedam naturam eorum et originem scru- !;

3 tantur. Cum quaero,^ quare hominem natura pro- | duxerit, quare praetulerit animaUbus ceteris, longe me iudicas mores reliquisse ? Falsum est. Quomodo enim scies, qui habendi sint, nisi quid homini sit opti- mum, inveneris, nisi naturam eius inspexeris ? Tunc demum intelleges, quid faciendum tibi, quid vitandum sit, cum didiceris, quid naturae tuae debeas.

4 ** Ego,'* inquis, ** volo discere, quomodo minus cupiam, minus timeam. Superstitionem mihi ex- cute. Doce leve esse vanumque hoc, quod felicitas dicitur, unam illi syllabam facillime accedere." De-

^ mores later MSS. ; timores BA.

^ quaero add. Schweighaeuser ; quaeritur later MSS. ; om. BA.

• ^.^., in addition to myself and confirming my statement.

* Frag. 17 von Arnim.

• i,e*i felicitas becomes ly felicitas,

396

EPISTLE GXXI.

GXXI. ON INSTINCT IN ANIMALS

You will bring suit against me, I feel sure, when I set forth for you to-day's little problem, with which we have already fumbled long enough. You will cry out again : ** What has this to do with character ? " Cry out if you like, but let me first of all match you with other opponents,^ against whom you may bring suit — such as Posidonius and Archidemus ; ^ these men will stand trial. I shall then go on to say that whatever deals with character does not necessarily produce good character. Man needs one thing for his food, another for his exercise, another for his clothing, another for his instruction, and another for his pleasure. Everything, however, has reference to man's needs, although everything does not make him better. Character is affected by different things in different ways : some things serve to correct and regulate character, and others investi- gate its nature and origin. And when I seek the reason w^hy Nature brought forth man, and why she set him above other animals, do you suppose that I have left character-study in the rear ? No ; that is wrong. For how are you to know what character is desirable, unless you have discovered what is best suited to man ? Or unless you have studied his nature ? You can find out what you should do and what you should avoid, only when you have learned what you owe to your own nature.

'* I desire,'* you say, ** to learn how I may crave less, and fear less. Rid me of my unreasoning beliefs. Prove to me that so-called felicity is fickle and empty, and that the word easily admits of a syllable's increase." ^ I shall fulfil your want, encouraging

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siderio tuo satis faciam, et virtutes exhortabor et vitia converberabo. Licet aliquis nimium in- moderatumque in hac parte me iudicet, non desistam persequi nequitiam et adfectus efferatissimos in- hibere et voluptates ituras in dolorem compescere et votis opstrepere. Quidni ? Cum maxima malo- rum optaverimus, et ex gratulatione natum sit quidquid adloquimur.

5 Interim permitte mihi ea, quae paulo remotiora videntur, excutere. Quaerebamus, an esset omni- bus animalibus constitutionis suae sensus ? Esse autem ex eo maxime apparet, quod membra apte et expedite movent non aliter quam in hoc erudita. Nulli non partium suarum agilitas est. Artifex instrumenta sua tract at ex facili, rector navis scite ^ gubernaculum flectit, pictor colores, quos ad red- dendam similitudinem multos variosque ante se posuit, celerrime denotat et inter ceram opusque facili vultu ac manu commeat ; sic animal in omnem

6 usum sui mobilest. Mirari solemus saltandi ^ peritos, quod in omnem significationem rerum et adfectuum parata illorum est manus, et verborum velocitatem gestus adsequitur. Quod illis ars praestat, his natura. Nemo aegre molitur artus suos, nemo in usu sui haesitat. Hoc ^ edita protinus faciunt. Cum hac scientia prodeunt ; instituta nascuntur.

7 ** Ideo," inquit, ** partes suas animalia apte movent,

^ scite Windhaus ; scit BA.

2 saltandi Gronovius ; satiant BA ; satiant saltandi cod. Karl.

3 haesitat, hoc Madvig ; haesit, ad hoc BA.

^ i,e., their physical make-up, the elements of their physical being.

398

EPISTLE CXXI.

your virtues and lashing your vices. People may decide that I am too zealous and reckless in this particular ; but I shall never cease to hound wicked- ness, to check the most unbridled emotions, to soften the force of pleasures which will result in pain, and to cry down men's prayers. Of course I shall do this ; for it is the greatest evils that we have prayed for, and from that which has made us give thanks comes all that demands consolation.

Meanwhile, allow me to discuss thoroughly some points which may seem now to be rather remote from the present inquiry. We were once debating whether all animals had any feelings about their "constitution."^ That this is the case is proved particularly by their making motions of such fitness and nimbleness that they seem to be trained for the purpose. Every being is clever in its own line. The skilled workman handles his tools with an ease born of experience ; the pilot knows how to steer his ship skilfully ; the artist can quickly lay on the colours which he has prepared in great variety for the pur- pose of rendering the likeness, and passes with ready eye and hand from palette to canvas. In the same way an animal is agile in all that pertains to the use of its body. We are apt to wonder at skilled dancers because their gestures are perfectly adapted to the meaning of the piece and its accompanying emotions, and their movements match the speed of the dialogue. But that which art gives to the craftsman, is given to the animal by nature. No animal handles its limbs with difficulty, no animal is at a loss how to use its body. This function they exercise immediately at birth. They come into the world with this know- ledge ; they are born full- trained.

But people reply : ** The reason why animals are

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

quia si aliter moverint, dolor em sensura sunt. Ita, ut vos dicitis, coguntur, metusque ilia in rectum, non voluntas mo vet." Quod est falsum. Tarda enim sunt, quae necessitate inpelluntur, agilitas sponte motis est. Adeo autem non adigit ilia ad hoc doloris timor, ut in naturalem motum etiam

8 dolore prohibente nitantur. Sic infans, qui stare meditatur et ferre se adsuescit, simul temptare vires suas coepit, cadit et cum fletu totiens resurgit, donee se per dolorem ad id, quod natura poscit, exercuit. Animalia quaedam tergi durioris inversa tam diu se torquent ac pedes exerunt et obliquant, donee ad locum reponantur. Nullum tormentum sentit supina testudo,^ inquieta est tamen desiderio naturalis status nee ante desinit^ quatere se, quam in pedes constitit.

9 Ergo omnibus constitutionis suae sensus est et inde membrorum tam expedita tractatio, nee ullum maius indicium habemus cum hac ilia ^ ad vivendum venire notitia, quam quod nullum animal ad usum

10 sui rude est. ** Constitutio," inquit, ** est, ut vos

dicitis, principale animi quodam modo se habens

erga corpus. Hoc tam perplexum et subtile et

vobis quoque vix enarrabile quomodo infans intel-

legit ? Omnia animalia dialectica nasci oportet, ut

^ supina testudo later MSS. ; supinate studio BA.

^ After desinit Haase removed niti,

^ ilia later MSS. ; illam BA.

<» i,e.^ the " soul of the world," of which each hving soul is a part. The Stoics believed that it was situated in the heart. Zeno called it rjye/noj^LKdu, " ruling power *' ; while the Romans used the term principale or principatus. The principle described above is bpixr] (impulse) or rbvo^ (tension).

400

EPISTLE CXXI.

so dexterous in the use of their hmbs is that if they move them unnaturally, they will feel pain. They are compelled to do thus, according to your school, and it is fear rather than will-power which moves them in the right direction/* This idea is wrong. Bodies driven by a compelling force move slowly ; but those which move of their own accord possess alertness. The proof that it is not fear of pain which prompts them thus, is, that even when pain checks them they struggle to carry out their natural motions. Thus the child who is trying to stand and is becoming used to carry his own weight, on begin- ning to test his strength, falls and rises again and again with tears until through painful effort he has trained himself to the demands of nature. And certain animals with hard shells, when turned on their backs, twist and grope with their feet and make motions side-ways until they are restored to their proper position. The tortoise on his back feels no suffering ; but he is restless because he misses his natural condition, and does not cease to shake himself about until he stands once more upon his feet.

So all these animals have a consciousness of their physical constitution, and for that reason can manage their limbs as readily as they do ; nor have we any better proof that they come into being equipped with this knowledge than the fact that no animal is unskilled in the use of its body. But some object as follows : ** According to your account, one's con- stitution consists of a ruling power ^ in the soul which has a certain relation towards the body. But how can a child comprehend this intricate and subtle principle, which I can scarcely explain even to you ? All living creatures should be born logicians, so as to

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istam finitionem magnae parti hominum togatorum obscuram intellegant/' Verum erat quod opponis,

11 si ego ab animalibus constitutionis finitionem in- tellegi dicerem, non ipsam constitutionem. Facilius natura intellegitur quam enarratur ; itaque infans ille quid sit eonstitutio non novit, constitutionem suam novit. Et quid sit animal, nescit, animal esse

12 se sentit. Praeterea ipsam constitutionem suam crasse intellegit et summatim et obscure. Nos quoque animum habere nos scimus ; quid sit ani- mus, ubi sit, qualis sit aut unde, nescimus. Qualis ad nos^ animi nostri sensus, quamvis naturam eius ignoremus ac sedem, talis ad omnia animalia con- stitutionis suae sensus est. Necesse est enim id sentiant, per quod alia quoque sentiunt, necesse est eius sensum habeant, cui parent, a quo reguntur.

13 Nemo non ex nobis intellegit esse aliquid, quod impetus suos moveat ; quid sit illud ignorat. Et conatum sibi esse scit ; quis sit aut unde sit, nescit. Sic infantibus quoque animalibusque principalis partis suae sensus est non satis dilucidus nee ex- pressus.

14 ** Dicitis," inquit, ** omne animal primum con- stitutioni suae conciliari, hominis autem constitu- tionem rationalem esse et ideo conciliari hominem sibi non tamquam animali, sed tamquam rationali } Ea enim parte sibi carus est homo, qua homo est. Quomodo ergo infans conciliari constitutioni ratio-

^ After nos Haase del. pervenerit» 402

EPISTLE GXXI.

understand a definition which is obscure to the majority of Roman citizens ! " Your objection would be true if I spoke of living creatures as understanding " a definition of constitution," and not " their actual constitution." Nature is easier to understand than to explain ; hence, the child of whom we were speak- ing does not understand what " constitution " is, but understands its own constitution. He does not know what " a living creature 'Ms, but he feels that he is an animal. Moreover, that very constitution of his own he only understands confusedly, cursorily, and darkly. We also know that we possess souls, but we do not know the essence, the place, the quality, or the source, of the soul. Such as is the conscious- ness of our souls which we possess, ignorant as we are of their nature and position, even so all animals possess a consciousness of their own constitutions. For they must necessarily feel this, because it is the same agency by which they feel other things also ; they must necessarily have a feeling of the principle which they obey and by which they are controlled. Every- one of us understands that there is something which stirs his impulses, but he does not know what it is. He knows that he has a sense of striving, although he does not know what it is or its source. Thus even children and animals have a consciousness of their primary element, but it is not very clearly outlined or portrayed.

** You maintain, do you,'' says the objector, ** that every living thing is at the start adapted to its constitution, but that man's constitution is a reason- ing one, and hence man is adapted to himself not merely as a living, but as a reasoning, being ? For man is dear to himself in respect of that wherein he is a man. How, then, can a child, being not yet

403

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nali potest, cum rationalis nondum sit ? " Unicui-

15 que aetati sua constitutio est, alia infanti, alia puero, alia seni ; omnes ei constitutioni conciliantur in qua sunt. Infans sine dentibus est : huie consti- tutioni suae conciliatur. Enati sunt dentes ; huic constitutioni conciliatur. Nam et ilia herba, quae in segetem frugemque ventura est, aliam con- stitutionem habet tenera et vix eminens sulco, aliam, cum convaluit et molli quidem culmo, sed quo ferat onus suum, constitit, aliam cum flavescit et ad aream spectat et spica eius induruit ; in quamcumque con- stitutionem venit, cam tuetur, in earn componitur.

16 Alia est aetas infantis, pueri, adulescentis, senis ; ego tamen idem sum, qui et infans fui et puer et adulescens. Sic, quamvis alia atque alia cuique con- stitutio sit, conciliatio constitutionis suae eadem est. Non enim puerum mihi aut iuvenem aut senem, sed me natura commendat. Ergo infans ei constitu- tioni suae conciliatur, quae tunc infanti est, non quae futura iuveni est. Neque enim, si aliquid illi maius in quod transeat, restat, non hoc quoque in

17 quo nascitur, secundum naturam est. Primum sibi ipsum conciliatur animal, debet enim aliquid esse, ad quod alia referantur. Voluptatem peto, cui ? Mihi. Ergo mei curam ago. Dolor em refugio, pro quo? Pro me. Ergo mei curam ago. Si omnia 404

EPISTLE CXXI.

gifted with reason, adapt himself to a reasoning con- stitution ? '* But each age has its own constitution, different in the case of the child, the boy, and the old man ; they are all adapted to the constitu- tion wherein they find themselves. The child is toothless, and he is fitted to this condition. Then his teeth grow, and he is fitted to that condition also. Vegetation also, which will develop into grain and fruits, has a special constitution when young and scarcely peeping over the tops of the furrows, another when it is strengthened and stands upon a stalk which is soft but strong enough to bear its weight, and still another when the colour changes to yellow, prophesies threshing- time, and hardens in the ear — ' no matter what may be the constitution into which the plant comes, it keeps it, and conforms thereto. The periods of infancy, boyhood, youth, and old age, are different ; but I, who have been infant, boy, and youth, am still the same. Thus, although each has at different times a different constitution, the adaptation of each to its constitution is the same. For nature does not consign boyhood or youth, or old age, to me ; it consigns me to them. Therefore, the child is adapted to that constitution which is his at the present moment of childhood, not to that which will be his in youth. For even if there is in store for him any higher phase into which he must be changed, the state in which he is born is also according to nature. First of all, the living being is adapted to itself, for there must be a pattern to which all other things may be referred. I seek pleasure ; for whom ? For myself. I am therefore looking out for myself. I shrink from pain ; on behalf of whom ? Myself. Therefore, I am looking out for myself. Since I gauge all my actions with reference

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propter curam mei facio, ante omnia est mei cur a. Haec animalibus inest cunctis nee inseritur, sed in- nascitur.

18 Producit fetus suos natura, non abicit. Et quia tutela certissima ex proximo est, sibi quisque com- missus est. Itaque, ut in prioribus epistulis dixi, tenera quoque animalia et materno utero vel ovo^ modo efFusa, quid sit infestum, ipsa ^ protinus norunt et mortifera devitant. Umbram quoque trans- volantium reformidant obnoxia avibus rapto viventi- bus.

Nullum animal ad vitam prodit sine metu mortis.

19 "Quemadmodum/'inquit," editum animal intellectum habere aut salutaris aut mortiferae rei potest ? '* Primum quaeritur, an intellegat, non quemad- modum intellegat. Esse autem illis intellectum ex eo apparet, quod nihil amplius, si intellexerint, facient. Quid est, quare pavonem, quare anserem gallina non fugiat, at tanto minor em et ne notum quidem sibi accipitrem ? Quare pulli faelem timeant, canem non timeant ? Apparet illis inesse nocituri scientiam non experimento collectam ; nam ante-

20 quam possint experisci, cavent.^ Deinde ne hoc casu existimes fieri, nee metuunt alia quam debent nee umquam obliviscuntur huius tutelae et dili-

1 ovo Bartsch ; quo BA. * ipsa Hense ; ipsi or ipsis MSS. ^ experisci cavent Buecheler ; experisciavent, experiri cavent, or experis cavent MSS.

^* Seneca is both sound and modern in his account of animal " intelligence.'' It is instinct, due to sensory-motor reactions, and depending largely upon type heredity.

*06

EPISTLE GXXI.

to my own welfare, I am looking out for myself before all else. This quality exists in all living beings — not engrafted but inborn.

Nature brings up her own offspring and does not cast them away ; and because the most assured security is that which is nearest, every man has been entrusted to his own self. Therefore, as I have remarked in the course of my previous correspond- ence, even young animals, on issuing from the mother's womb or from the egg, know at once of their own accord what is harmful for them, and avoid death-dealing things .<* They even shrink when they notice the shadow of birds of prey which flit overhead.

No animal, when it enters upon life, is free from the fear of death. People may ask : ** How can an animal at birth have an understanding of things wholesome or destructive ? '* The first question, however, is whether it can have such understanding, and not how it can understand. And it is clear that they have such understanding from the fact that, even if you add understanding, they will act no more adequately than they did in the first place. Why should the hen show no fear of the peacock or the goose, and yet run from the hawk, which is a so much smaller animal not even familiar to the hen ? Why should young chickens fear a cat and not a dog ? These fowls clearly have a presentiment of harm — one not based on actual experiments ; for they avoid a thing before they can possibly have experience of it. Furthermore, in order that you may not suppose this to be the result of chance, they do not shrink from certain other things which you would expect them to fear, nor do they ever forget vigilance and care in this regard ;

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gentiae ; aequalis est illis a pernicioso fuga. Praeter- ea non fiunt timidiora vivendo.

Ex quo quidem apparet non usu ilia in hoc per- venire, sed naturali amore salutis suae. Et tardum est et varium, quod usus docet ; quicquid natura

21 tradit, et aequale omnibus est et statim. Si tamen exigis, dicam quomodo omne animal perniciosa in- tellegere conatur ? Sentit se carne constare ; ita- que sentit, quid sit, quo secari caro, quo uri, quo opteri possit, quae sint animalia armata ad nocen- dum ; horum speeiem traliit inimieam et hostilem. Inter se ista coniuncta sunt ; simul enim conciliatur saluti suae quidque et iuvantia^ petit, laesura for- midat. Naturales ad utilia impetus, naturales a contrariis aspernationes sunt ; sine ulla cogitatione, quae hoc dictet, sine consilio fit, quidquid natura praecepit.

22 Non vides, quanta sit subtilitas apibus ad fin- genda domicilia, quanta dividua laboris obeundi undique ^ concordia ? Non vides, quam nulli mor- talium imitabilis ilia aranei textura, quanti operis sit fila disponere, alia in rectum inmissa firmamenti loco, alia in orbem currentia ex denso rara, qua minora animalia, in quorum perniciem^ ilia ten-

23 duntur, velut retibus implicata teneantur ? Nascitur

^ iuvantia Haase ; iuvant ilia Bp ; vivant ilia A, * obeundi undique Buecheler ; obeundi(que) MSS. ^ perniciem later MSS. ; praetium Bp ; prium A.

408

EPISTLE CXXI.

they all possess equally the faculty of avoiding what is destructive. Besides, their fear does not grow as their lives lengthen.

Hence indeed it is evident that these animals have not reached such a condition through experience ; it is because of an inborn desire for self-preservation. The teachings of experience are slow and irregular ; but whatever Nature communicates belongs equally to everyone, and comes immediately. If, however, you require an explanation, shall I tell you how it is that every living thing tries to understand that which is harmful ? It feels that it is constructed of flesh ; and so it perceives to what an extent flesh may be cut or burned or crushed, and what animals are equipped with the power of doing this damage ; it is of animals of this sort that it derives an un- favourable and hostile idea. These tendencies are closely connected ; for each animal at the same time consults its own safety, seeking that which helps it, and shrinks from that which will harm it. Impulses towards useful objects, and revulsion from the oppo- site, are according to nature ; without any reflection to prompt the idea, and without any advice, whatever Nature has prescribed, is done.

Do you not see how skillful bees are in building their cells ? How completely harmonious in sharing and enduring toil ? Do you not see how the spider weaves a web so subtle that man's hand cannot imitate it ; and what a task it is to arrange the threads, some directed straight towards the centre, for the sake of making the web solid, and others running in circles and lessening in thickness — for the purpose of tangling and catching in a sort of net the smaller insects for whose ruin the spider spreads the web ? This art is born, not taught ;

409

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ars ista, non discitur. Itaque nullum est animal altero doctius. Videbis araneorum pares telas, par in favis angulorum omnium foramen. Incertum est et inaequabile, quidquid ars tradit ; ex aequo ^ venit, quod natura distribuit. Haec nihil magis quam tutelam sui et eius peritiam tradidit, ideoque 24: etiam simul incipiunt et discere et vivere. Nee est mirum cum eo nasci ilia, sine quo frustra naseerentur. Primum hoc instrumentum in ilia natura contuht ad permanendum,^ conciliationem et caritatem sui. Non poterant salva esse, nisi vellent. Nec^ hoc per se profuturum erat, sed sine hoc nulla res pro- fuisset. In^ nuUo deprendes vilitatem sui, ne neglegentiam quidem. Tacitis quoque et brutis, quamquam in cetera torpeant, ad vivendum sol- lertia est. Videbis, quae aliis inutilia sunt, sibi ipsa non deesse. Vale.

CXXII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Detrimentum iam dies sensit. Resiluit aliquan- tum, ita tamen ut liber ale adhuc spatium sit, si quis cum ipso, ut ita dicam, die surgat. Officiosior meliorque, si quis ilium exspectat et lucem primam excipit ^ ; turpis, qui alto sole semisomnus iacet, cuius vigilia medio die incipit ; et adhuc multis hoc

^ ex aequo Pine. ; ex equo Harl. ; et quo BA^p.

^ After permanendum Bartsch del. in.

* After nee Hense del. non, * Before in Bartsch del. sed.

' excipit Gruter ; exuit BAp.

" A theme developed by Cicero {De fin. iii. 16) : placet . . . simul atque natum sit animal . . . , ipsum sibi con- ciliari et commendari ad se conservandum.

410

EPISTLES GXXL, OXXII.

and for this reason no animal is more skilled than any other. You will notice that all spider-webs are equally fine, and that the openings in all honeycomb cells are identical in shape. Whatever art communi- cates is uncertain and uneven ; but Nature's assign- ments are always uniform. Nature has communi- cated nothing except the duty of taking care of themselves and the skill to do so ; that is why living and learning begin at the same time. No wonder that living things are born with a gift whose absence would make birth useless. This is the first equipment that Nature granted them for the maintenance of their existence — the quality of adaptability and self-love. They could not survive except by desiring to do so. Nor would this desire alone have made them prosper, but without it nothing could have prospered. In no animal can you observe any low esteem, or even any carelessness, of self. Dumb beasts, sluggish in other respects, are clever at living. So you will see that creatures which are useless to others are alert for their own preservation.^ Farewell.

CXXII. ON DARKNESS AS A VEIL FOR WICKEDNESS

The day has already begun to lessen. It has shrunk considerably, but yet will still allow a goodly space of time if one rises, so to speak, with the day itself. We are more industrious, and we are better men if we anticipate the day and welcome the dawn ; but we are base churls if we lie dozing when the sun is high in the heavens, or if we wake up only when noon arrives ; and even then to many it seems not yet

VOL. Ill o 41 J

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

2 antelucanum est. Sunt qui officia lucis noctisque perverterint nee ante diducant oculos hesterna graves crapula quam adpetere nox coepit. Qualis illorum condicio dicitur, quos natura, ut ait Vergilius, sedibus nostris subditos e contrario posuit,

Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis, Illis sera rubens accendit liimina Vesper ;

talis horum contraria omnibus non regio, sed vita est. Sunt quidam in eadem urbe antipodes, qui, ut M. Cato ait, nee orientem umquam solem viderunt

3 nee occidentem. Hos tu existimas scire quemad- modum vivendum sit, qui nesciunt quando ? Et hi mortem timent, in quam se vivi condiderunt ? Tam infausti quam nocturnae aves sunt. Licet in vino unguentoque tenebras suas exigant, licet epulis et quidem in multa fericula^ discoetis totum per- versae vigiliae tempus educant, non convivantur, sed iusta sibi faciunt. Mortuis certe interdiu parentatur.

At mehercules nullus agenti dies longus est. Extendamus vitam ; huius et officium et argumen- tum actus est. Circumscribatur nox, et aliquid ex

4 ilia in diem transferatur. Aves, quae conviviis conparantur, ut inmotae facile pinguescant, in obscuro continentur ; ita sine uUa exercitatione iacentibus tumor ^ pigrum corpus invadit, et superba umbra iners sagina subcrescit. At istorum cor-

^ fericula Turnebus ; pericula BAp. ^ tumor later MSS. ; timor BAp.

« Vergil, Georg, i. 250 f.

^ Cato, Frag. p. 110 Jordan.

* i.e., owls, of ill omen.

^ In connexion with the Parentalia, Feb. 13-21, and at other anniversary observations, the ceremonies were held in the daytime.

412

EPISTLE CXXII.

dawn. Some have reversed the functions of hght and darkness ; they open eyes sodden with yesterday's debauch only at the approach of night. It is just Uke the condition of those peoples whom, according to Vergil, Nature has hidden away and placed in an abode directly opposite to our own :

When in our face the Dawn with panting steeds Breathes down, for them the ruddy evening kindles Her late-lit fires.^

It is not the country of these men, so much as it is their life, that is ** directly opposite " to our own. There may be Antipodes dwelling in this same city of ours who, in Cato's words, ^ ** have never seen the sun rise or set." Do you think that these men know how to live, if they do not know when to live ? Do these men fear death, if they have buried themselves alive ? They are as weird as the birds of night .^ Although they pass their hours of darkness amid wine and perfumes, although they spend the whole extent of their unnatural waking hours in eating dinners — and those too cooked separately to make up many courses— they are not really banqueting ; they are conducting their own funeral services. And the dead at least have their banquets by daylight.^

But indeed to one who is active no day is long. So let us lengthen our lives ; for the duty and the proof of life consist in action. Cut short the night ; use some of it for the day's business. Birds that are being prepared for the banquet, that they may be easily fattened through lack of exercise, are kept in darkness ; and similarly, if men vegetate without physical activity, their idle bodies are overwhelmed with flesh, and in their self-satisfied retirement the fat of indolence grows upon them. Moreover, the bodies of those vv^ho have sworn allegiance to the hours of

413

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

pora, qui se tenebris dicaverunt, foeda visuntur. Quippe suspectior illis quam niorbo pallentibus color est, languid! et evanidi albent, et in vivis caro morti- cina est. Hoe tamen minimum in illis malorum dixerim. Quanto plus tenebrarum in animo est ! Ille in se stupet, ille caligat, invidet caecis. Quis umquam oculos tenebrarum causa habuit ?

5 Interrogas, quomodo haec animo pravitas fiat aversandi diem et totam vitam in noctem trans- ferendi ? Omnia vitia contra naturam pugnant, omnia debitum ordinem deserunt. Hoc est luxu- riae propositum, gaudere perversis nee tantum discedere a recto, sed quam longissime abire, deinde

6 etiam e contrario stare, Non videntur tibi contra naturam vivere qui ieiuni ^ bibunt, qui vinum re- cipiunt inanibus venis et ad cibum ebrii trans eunt ? Atqui frequens hoc adulescentium vitium est, qui vires excolunt, ut in ipso paene balinei limine inter nudos bibant, immo potent et sudorem, quem move- runt potionibus crebris ac ferventibus, subinde de- stringant. Post prandium aut cenam bibere vul-| gare est ; hoc patres familiae rustici faciunt et verae voluptatis ignari. Merum illud delectat, quod non innatat cibo, quod libere penetrat ad nervos ; illa| ebrietas iuvat, quae in vacuum venit.

7 Non videntur tibi contra naturam vivere qui' commutant cum feminis vestem ? Non vivunti

^ qui ieiuni Fine, and cod. Harl. ; ieiuni BAp.

<* A vice which Seneca especially abhors ; c/. Ep, xv. 3 multum potionis altius ieiunio iturae,

" By wearing silk gowns of transparent material.

414

EPISTLE CXXII.

darkness have a loathsome appearance. Their com- plexions are more alarming than those of anaemic invalids ; they are lackadaisical and flabby with dropsy ; though still alive, they are already carrion. But this, to my thinking, would be among the least of their evils. How much more darkness there is in their souls ! Such a man is internally dazed ; his vision is darkened; he envies the blind. And what man ever had eyes for the purpose of seeing in the dark ?

You ask me how this depravity comes upon the soul — this habit of reversing the daylight and giving over one's whole existence to the night ? All vices rebel against Nature ; they all abandon the ap- pointed order. It is the motto of luxury to enjoy what is unusual, and not only to depart from that which is right, but to leave it as far behind as possible, and finally even take a stand in opposition thereto. Do you not believe that men live contrary to Nature who drink fasting,^ who take wine into empty veins, and pass to their food in a state of intoxication ? And yet this is one of youth's popular vices — to perfect their strength in order to drink on the very threshold of the bath, amid the unclad bathers ; nay even to soak in wine and then immediately to rub off the sweat which they have promoted by many a hot glass of liquor ! To them, a glass after lunch or one after dinner is bourgeois ; it is what the country squires do, who are not connoisseurs in pleasure. This unmixed wine delights them just because there is no food to float in it, because it readily makes its way into their muscles ; this boozing pleases them just because the stomach is empty.

Do you not believe that men live contrary to Nature who exchange the fashion of their attire with women ? ^ Do not men live contrary to Nature who

415

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

contra naturam qui spectant, ut pueritia splendeat tempore alieno ? Quid fieri crudelius vel miserius potest ? Numquam vir erit, ut diu virum pati possit ? Et cum ilium contumieliae sexus eripuisse

8 debuerat, non ne aetas quidem eripiet ? Non vivunt contra naturam qui hieme concupiscunt rosam fomentoque aquarum calentium et calorum apta mutatione bruma lilium,^ florem vernum, exprimunt^? Non vivunt contra naturam^ qui pomaria in summis turribus serunt ? Quorum silvae in tectis domuum ac fastigiis nutant,^ inde ortis radicibus quo inprobe cacumina egissent ? Non vivunt contra naturam qui fundamenta thermarum in mari iaciunt et delicate natare ipsi sibi non ^ videntur, nisi calentia stagna fluctu ac tempestate feriantur ?

9 Cum instituerunt omnia contra naturae consue- tudinem velle, novissime in totum ab ilia desuescunt. ** Lucet : somni tempus est. Quies est : nunc exerceamur, nunc gestemur, nunc prandeamus. lam lux propius accedit ; tempus est cenae. Non oportet id facere, quod populus. Res sordida est trita ac vulgari via vivere. Dies publicus relin- quatur : proprium ^ nobis ac peculiare mane fiat.

10 Isti vero mihi defunctorum loco sunt. Quantulum enim a funere absunt et quidem acerbo, qui ad faces et cereos vivunt ? Hanc vitam agere eodem tem-

^ bruma lilium Pine. ; hrumalium BAp.

^ exprirmmt later MSS. ; primaint BA ; primunt p.

^ contra naturam later MSS. ; conafuram BAp.

* nutant later MSS. ; mutant B/Vp.

^ non add. later MSS.

* proprium later MSS. ; proprius or propius BAp.

<* Not literally translated. For the same thought see Ep, xlvii. 7, etc.

4l6

EPISTLE CXXII.

endeavour to look fresh and boyish at an age un- suitable for such an attempt ? What could be more cruel or more wretched ? Cannot time and man's estate ever carry such a person beyond an artificial boyhood?^ Do not men live contrary to Nature who crave roses in winter, or seek to raise a spring flower like the lily by means of hot-water heaters and artificial changes of temperature ? Do not men live contrary to Nature who grow fruit-trees on the top of a wall ? Or raise waving forests upon the roofs and battlements of their houses — the roots starting at a point to which it would be outlandish for the tree-tops to reach ? Do not men live con- trary to Nature who lay the foundations of bath- rooms in the sea and do not imagine that they can enjoy their swim unless the heated pool is lashed as with the waves of a storm ?

When men have begun to desire all things in opposition to the ways of Nature, they end by entirely abandoning the ways of Nature. They cry : "It is daytime : let us go to sleep ! It is the time when men rest : now for exercise, now for our drive, now for our lunch ! Lo, the dawn approaches : it is dinner-time ! We should not do as mankind do. It is low and mean to live in the usual and conventional way. Let us abandon the ordinary sort of day. Let us have a morning that is a special feature of ours, peculiar to ourselves ! *' Such men are, in my opinion, as good as dead. Are they not all but present at a funeral — and before their time too — when they live amid torches and tapers ? ^ I re- member that this sort of life was very fashionable at

* The symbols of a Roman funeral. For the same prac- tice, purposely performed, see Ep. xii. 8 (and the note of W. C. Summers).

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THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

pore multos meminimus, inter quos et Acilium Butam, praetorium, cui post patrimonium ingens consumptum Tiberius paupertatem eonfitenti ** sero/'

11 inquit, '' experrectus es/* Reeitabat Montanus lulius carmen, tolerabilis poeta et amicitia Tiberi notus et frigore. Ortus et occasus libentissime in- serebat. Itaque cum indignaretur quidam ilium toto die recitasse et negaret accedendum ad recita- tiones eius, Natta Pinarius ait : " Numquam possum liberalius agere : paratus sum ilium audire ab ortu

12 ad occasum/' Cum hos versus recitasset :

Incipit ardentes Phoebus producere flammas, Spargere se ^ rubicunda dies, iam tristis hirundo Argutis reditura cibos inmittere ^ nidis Incipit et molli partitos ore ministrat,

Varus eques Romanus, M. Vinicii comes, cenarum bonarum adsectator, quas improbitate linguae mere- batur, exclamavit : ** incipit Buta dormire/* Deinde

13 cum subinde recitasset :

lam sua pastores stabulis armenta locarunt, lam dare sopitis nox pigra silentia terris Incipit,

idem Varus inquit : ** Quid dicis ? Iam nox est ? Ibo et Butam salutabo/* Nihil erat notius hac eius vita in contrarium circumacta ; quam, ut dixi, multi

1 se later MSS. ; om. BA. * inmittere later MSS. ; mitt ere BAp.

« Called by Tacitus, Ann, iv. 34, a Seiani cliens,

* Baehrens, Frag. Poet, Rom, p. 355.

• i.e., Procne, in the well-known nightingale myth.

** Son of the P. Vinicius ridiculed in Ep. xl. 9. He was husband of Julia, youngest daughter of Germanicus, and was poisoned by Messalina.

418

EPISTLE CXXII.

one time : among such men as Aeilius Buta, a person of praetorian rank, who ran through a tremendous estate and on confessing his bankruptcy to Tiberius, received the answer : ** You have waked up too late ! '* Juhus Montanus was once reading a poem aloud ; he was a middling good poet, noted for his friendship with Tiberius, as well as his fall from favour. He always used to fill his poems with a generous sprinkling of sunrises and sunsets. Hence, when a certain person was complaining that Montanus had read all day long, and declared that no man should attend any of his readings, Natta Pinarius^ remarked : ** I couldn't make a fairer bargain than this : I am ready to listen to him from sunrise to sunset ! " Montanus was reading, and had reached the words : ^

'Gins the bright morning to spread forth his flames clear- burning ; the red dawn

Scatters its light ; and the sad-eyed swallow * returns to her nestlings,

Bringing the chatterers' food, and with sweet bill sharing and serving.

Then Varus, a Roman knight, the hanger-on of Marcus Vinicius,^ and a sponger at elegant dinners which he earned by his degenerate wit, shouted : ** Bed-time for Buta ! " And later, when Montanus declaimed :

Lo, now the shepherds have folded their flocks, and the

slow-moving darkness 'Gins to spread silence o'er lands that are drowsily lulled

into slumber,

this same Varus remarked : ** What ? Night already ? ril go and pay my morning call on Buta ! " You see, nothing was more notorious than Buta's upside- down manner of life. But this life, as I said, was VOL. Ill o 2 4« 19

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

14 eodem tempore egerunt. Causa autem est ita Vivendi qiiibusdam, non quia aliquid existiment noctem ipsam habere iucundius, sed quia nihil iuvat sohtum,^ et gravis malae conscientiae lux est, et omnia concupiscenti aut contemnenti, prout magno aut parvo empta sunt, fastidio est lumen gratuitum. Praeterea luxuriosi vitam suam esse in sermonibus, dum vivunt, volunt ; nam si tacetur, perdere se putant operam. Itaque male habent, quotiens faeiunt ^ quod excidat fama.

Multi bona comedunt, multi amicas habent. Ut inter istos nomen invenias, opus est non tantum luxuriosam rem, sed notabilem facer e ; in tam oc- cupata civitate fabulas vulgaris nequitia non invenit.

15 Pedonem Albinovanum narrantem audieramus, erat autem fabulator elegantissimus, habitasse se supra domum S» Papini. Is erat ex hae turba lucifugarum. ** Audio,'' inquit, ** circa horam tertiam noctis flagel- lorum sonum. Quaero, quid faciat ; dicitur rationes accipere. Audio circa horam sextam noctis clamo- rem concitatum ; quaero, quid sit ; dicitur vocem exercere. Quaero circa horam octavam noctis, quid

16 sibi ille sonus rotarum velit ; gestari dicitur. Circa lucem discurritur, pueri vocantur, cellarii, coqui tunmltuantur. Quaero, quid sit ; dicitur mulsum et halicam poposcisse, a balneo exisse. Excedebat/*

^ solitum later MSS. ; obi Hum BAp.

^ male habent quociens faeiunt later MSS. and cod. Harl. ; aliquotiens faeiunt BAp.

<* t.^., is punishing his slaves for errors in the day's work. 420

EPISTLE CXXII.

fashionable at one time. And the reason why some men live thus is not because they think that night in itself offers any greater attractions, but because that which is normal gives them no particular pleasure ; light being a bitter enemy of the evil conscience, and, when one craves or scorns all things in proportion as they have cost one much or little, illumination for which one does not pay is an object of contempt. Moreover, the luxurious person wishes to be an object of gossip his whole life ; if people are silent about him, he thinks that he is wasting his time. Hence he is uncomfortable whenever any of his actions escape notoriety.

Many men eat up their property, and many men keep mistresses. If you would win a reputation among such persons, you must make your programme not only one of luxury but one of notoriety ; for in such a busy community wickedness does not dis- cover the ordinary sort of scandal. I heard Pedo Albino vanus, that most attractive story-teller, speak- ing of his residence above the town-house of Sextus Papinius. Papinius belonged to the tribe of those v/ho shun the light. ** About nine o'clock at night I hear the sound of whips. I ask what is going on, and they tell me that Papinius is going over his accounts.^ About twelve there is a strenuous shout- ing ; I ask what the matter is, and they say he is exercising his voice. About two a.m. I ask the significance of the sound of wheels ; they tell me that he is off for a drive. And at dawn there is a tremendous flurry — calling of slaves and butlers, and pandemonium among the cooks. I ask the meaning of this also, and they tell me that he has called for his cordial and his appetizer, after leaving the bath. His dinner,'' said Pedo, ** never went

421

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

inquit, " huius diem cena minime, valde enim fruga- liter vivebat ; nihil consumebat nisi noctem. Itaque credendo dicentibus ilium quibusdam avarum et sordidum vos/' inquit, *' ilium et lychnobium dicetis."

17 Non debes admirari, si tantas invenis vitiorum proprietates ; varia sunt, innumerabiles habent facies, comprendi eorum genera non possunt. Sim- plex recti eura est, multiplex pravi, et quantumvis novas declinationes capit. Idem moribus evenit ; naturam sequentium faeiles sunt, soluti sunt, exiguas difFerentias habent ; his distorti plurimum et omni-

18 bus et inter se dissident. Causa tamen praecipua mihi videtur huius morbi vitae communis fastidium. Quomodo cultu se a ceteris distinguunt, quomodo elegantia cenarum, munditiis vehiculorum, sic se ^ volunt separare etiam temporum dispositione.^ Nolunt solita peccare,^ quibus peccandi praemium infamia est. Hanc petunt omnes isti, qui, ut ita dicam, retro ^ vivunt.

19 Ideo, Lucili, tenenda nobis via est, quam natura praescripsit, nee ab ilia declinandum ; illam se- quentibus omnia facilia, expedita sunt, contra illam nitentibus non alia vita est quam contra aquam remigantibus. Vale.

^ se add. Hense.

* dispositione Muretus ; dispositiones MSS.

^ peccare Erasmus ; spectare MSS.

* retro Pincianus ; recto MSS.

* i.^., balancing the custom of the ordinary Roman, whose dinner never continued beyond nightfall.

* " * A liver by candle-light,' with a play on the word Xt'x^os, * luxurious ' " (Summers).

422

EPISTLE CXXII.

beyond the day," for he Hved very sparingly; he was lavish with nothing but the night. Accord- ingly, if you believe those who call him tight-fisted and mean, you will call him also a * slave of the lamp/"^

You should not be surprised at finding so many special manifestations of the vices ; for vices vary, and there are countless phases of them, nor can all their various kinds be classified. The method of maintaining righteousness is simple ; the method of maintaining wickedness is complicated, and has in- finite opportunity to swerve. And the same holds true of character ; if you follow nature, character is easy to manage, free, and with very slight shades of difference ; but the sort of person I have mentioned possesses badly warped character, out of harmony with all things, including himself. The chief cause, however, of this disease seems to me to be a squeamish revolt from the normal existence. Just as such persons mark themselves off from others in their dress, or in the elaborate arrangement of their dinners, or in the elegance of their carriages ; even so they desire to make themselves peculiar by their way of dividing up the hours of their day. They are unwilling to be wicked in the conventional way, because notoriety is the reward of their sort of wickedness. Notoriety is what all such men seek — men w^ho are, so to speak, living backwards.

For this reason, Lucilius, let us keep to the way which Nature has mapped out for us, and let us not swerve therefrom. If we follow Nature, all is easy and unobstructed ; but if we combat Nature, our life differs not a whit from that of men who row against the current. Farewell.

423

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CXXIII.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Itinere confectus incommodo magis quam longo in Albanum meum multa nocte perveni ; nihil habeo parati nisi me. Itaque in lectulo lassitudinem pono, hanc coci ac pistoris moram boni consulo. Mecum enim de hoc ipso loquor, quam nihil sit grave, quod leviter excipias,^ indignandum nihil

2 nisi 2 ipse indignando adstruas. Non habet panem meus ^ pistor ; sed habet vilicus, sed habet atriensis, sed habet colonus. " Malum panem '* inquis. Ex- specta : bonus fiet. Etiam ilium tibi tenerum et siligineum fames reddet. Ideo non est ante eden- dum quam ilia imperat ; exspectabo ergo nee ante edam quam aut bonum panem habere coepero aut

3 fastidire desiero. Necessarium est parvo adsue- scere : multae difficultates locorum, multae tem- porum etiam locupletibus et instructis ad volupta- tem^ prohibentes^ occurrent. Quidquid vult ha- bere nemo potest, illud potest, nolle quod non habet, rebus oblatis hilaris uti. Magna pars libertatis est bene moratus venter et contumeliae patiens.

4 Aestimari non potest, quantam voluptatem capiam ex eo, quod lassitudo mea sibi ipsa adsuescit ; non unctores, non balineum, non uUum aliud remedium

^ After excipias, quod del. by Buecheler.

2 nisi later MSS. ; om. BA.

^ meus later MSS. ; meum BA.

^ ad voluptatem P. Thomas ; advobus optantem BA.

* prohibentes Pine. ; prohibent et BA.

424

EPISTLE CXXIII.

CXXIII. ON THE CONFLICT BETWEEN PLEASURE AND VIRTUE

Wearied with the discomfort rather than with the length of my journey, I have reached my Alban villa late at night, and I find nothing in readiness except myself. So I am getting rid of fatigue at my writing-table : I derive some good from this tardiness on the part of my cook and my baker. For I am communing with myself on this very topic — that nothing is heavy if one accepts it with a light heart, and that nothing need provoke one's anger if one does not add to one's pile of troubles by getting angry. My baker is out of bread ; but the overseer, or the house-steward, or one of my tenants can supply me therewith. ** Bad bread ! " you say. But just wait for it ; it will become good. Hunger will make even such bread delicate and of the finest flavour. For that reason I must not eat until hunger bids me ; so I shall wait and shall not eat until I can either get good bread or else cease to be squeamish about it. It is necessary that one grow accustomed to slender fare : because there are many problems of time and place which will cross the path even of the rich man and one equipped for pleasure, and bring him up with a round turn. To have whatsoever he wishes is in no man's power ; it is in his power not to wish for what he has not, but cheerfully to employ what comes to him. A great step towards in- dependence is a good-humoured stomach, one that is willing to endure rough treatment.

You cannot imagine how much pleasure I derive from the fact that my weariness is becoming recon- ciled to itself ; I am asking for no slaves to rub me

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quam temporis quaero. Nam quod labor contraxit, quies tollit. Haec qualiscumque cena aditiali ^

5 iucundior erit. Aliquod enim experimentum animi sumpsi subito ; hoc enim est simplicius et verius. Nam ubi se praeparavit et indixit sibi patientiam, non aeque apparet, quantum habeat verae firmitatis ; ilia sunt certissima argumenta, quae ex tempore dedit, si non tantum aequus molestias,^ sed placidus aspexit ; si non excanduit, non litigavit ; si quod jl dari deberet ipse sibi non desiderando supplevit et cogitavit aliquid consuetudini suae, sibi nihil deesse.

6 Multa quam supervacua essent, non intelleximus, nisi deesse coeperunt ; utebamur enim illis, non quia debebamus, sed quia habebamus. Quam multa autem paramus, quia alii paraverunt, quia apud plerosque sunt ! Inter causas malorum nostrorum est, quod vivimus ad exempla, nee ratione conponi- mur sed consuetudine abducimur.

Quod, si pauci facerent, nollemus imitari, cum plures facere coeperunt, quasi honestius sit, quia frequentius, sequimur. Et recti ^ apud nos locum

7 tenet error, ubi publicus f actus est. Omnes iam sic peregrinantur, ut illos Numidarum praecurrat equi- tatus, ut agmen cursorum antecedat ; turpe est nuUos esse, qui occurrentis via deiciant, aut * qui

^ aditiali Erasmus ; adiali BA. ■ molestias Windhaus ; moZ^^^a later MSS. ; modestiaBA, 3 recti later MSS. ; retu BA. * deiciant aut later MSS. : deiciantur ut BA.

" t.^., a dinner given by an official when he entered upon {adeo) his office. 426

EPISTLE CXXIII.

down, no bath, and no other restorative except time For that which toil has accumulated, rest can lighten. This repast, whatever it may be, will give me more pleasure than an inaugural banquet.^ For I have made trial of my spirit on a sudden — a simpler and a truer test. Indeed, when a man has made prepara- tions and given himself a formal summons to be patient, it is not equally clear just how much real strength of mind he possesses ; the surest proofs are those which one exhibits off-hand, viewing one's own troubles not only fairly but calmly, not flying into fits of temper or wordy wr anglings, supplying one's own needs by not craving something which was really due, and reflecting that our habits may be unsatisfied, but never our own real selves. How many things are superfluous we fail to realize until they begin to be wanting ; we merely used them not because we needed them but because we had them. And how much do we acquire simply because our neighbours have acquired such things, or because most men possess them ! Many of our troubles may be explained from the fact that we live according to a pattern, and, instead of arranging our lives accord- ing to reason, are led astray by convention.

There are things which, if done by the few, we should refuse to imitate ; yet when the majority have begun to do them, we follow along — ^just as if anything were more honourable because it is more frequent ! Furthermore, wrong views, when they have become prevalent, reach, in our eyes, the standard of righteousness . Everyone now travels with Numidian outriders preceding him, with a troop of slave-runners to clear the way ; we deem it dis- graceful to have no attendants who will elbow crowds from the road, or will prove, by a great cloud of dust,

427

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

honestum hominein venire magno pulvere ostendant. , Omnes iam mulos habent, qui crustallina et murrina I et caelata magnorum artifieum manu portent ; turpe est videri eas te habere sarcinas totas, quae e tuto^ concuti possint. Omnium paedagogia ob- lita facie vehuntur, ne sol, ne frigus teneram eutem laedat ; turpe est neminem esse in comitatu tuo ^ puerorum, cuius sana facies medicamentum de- sideret.

8 Horum omnium sermo vitandus est : hi sunt, qui vitia tradunt et aUo aliunde transerunt.^ Pessimum genus horum hominum videbatur, qui verba gesta- rent ; sunt quidam, qui vitia gestant. Horum sermo multum nocet ; nam etiam si non statim profecit, semina in animo relinquit sequiturque nos etiam cum ab illis discessimus, resurrecturum postea

9 malum. Quemadmodum qui audierunt symphoniam, ferunt secum in auribus modulationem illam ac dulcedinem cantuum, quae cogitationes impedit nee ad seria patitur intendi, sic adulatorum et prava laudantium sermo diutius haeret quam auditur. Nee facile est animo dulcem sonum excutere prosequitur et durat et ex intervallo recurrit. Ideo cludendae sunt aures malis vocibus et quidem primis ; quom initum ^ fecerunt admissaeque insunt

10 plus audent. Inde ad haec pervenitur verba :

^ tuto later MSS. ; toto BA ; e toto Buecheler.

2 comitatu tuo Buecheler ; comitatu{o) BA.

' transerunt Hense ; transeunt BA.

^ quom initum Buecheler ; quam initium A (nam) B.

" For the symphonia see Frp. 11. 4 and note. Compare also the comjnissiones, orchestral exhibitions, composed of many voices, flutes, and brass instruments, Ep, Ixxxiv. 10.

. 428

EPISTLE CXXIII.

that a high dignitary is approaching ! Everyone now possesses mules that are laden with crystal and myrrhine cups carved by skilled artists of great renown ; it is disgraceful for all your baggage to be made up of that which can be rattled along without danger. Everyone has pages who ride along with ointment-covered faces, so that the heat or the cold will not harm their tender complexions ; it is disgrace- ful that none of your attendant slave-boys should show a healthy cheek, not covered with cosmetics.

You should avoid conversation with all such per- sons : they are the sort that communicate and en- graft their bad habits from one to another. We used to think that the very worst variety of these men were those who vaunted their words ; but there are certain men who vaunt their wickedness. Their talk is very harmful ; for even though it is not at once convincing, yet they leave the seeds of trouble in the soul, and the evil which is sure to spring into new strength follows us about even when we have parted from them. Just as those who have attended a concert ^ carry about in their heads the melodies and the charm of the songs they have heard — a proceeding which interferes with their thinking and does not allow them to concentrate upon serious subjects, — even so the speech of flatterers and en- thusiasts over that which is depraved sticks in our minds long after w^e have heard them talk. It is not easy to rid the memory of a catching tune ; it stays with us, lasts on, and comes back from time to time. Accordingly, you should close your ears against evil talk, and right at the outset, too ; for when such talk has gained an entrance and the words are admitted and are in our minds, they become more shameless. And then we begin to

429

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

** Virtus et philosophia et iustitia verborum inanium crepitus est. Una felicitas est bene vitae facere. Esse, bibere, frui patrimonio, hoc est vivere, hoc est se mortalem esse meminisse. Fluunt dies et inreparabilis vita decurrit ; dubitamus sapere ? Quid iuvat aetati ^ non semper voluptates recepturae interim, dum potest, dum poscit, ingerere fruga- litatem ? Eo mortem praecurre et quidquid ilia ablatura est, iam sine tibi interire.^ Non amicam habes, non puerum, qui amicae moveat invidiam ; cottidie sobrius prodis ; sic cenas tamquam epheme- ridem patri adprobaturus : non est istud vivere,

11 sed alienae vitae interesse. Quanta dementia est heredis sui res procurare et sibi negare omnia, ut tibi ex amico inimicum magna faciat hereditas. Plus enim gaudebit tua morte,^ quo plus acceperit. Istos tristes et superciliosos alienae vitae censores, suae hostes, publicos paedagogos assis ne feceris nee dubitaveris bonam vitam quam opinionem bonam malle/'

12 Hae voces non aliter fugiendae sunt quam illae, quas Ulixes nisi alligatus praetervehi noluit. Idem possunt ; abducunt a patria, a parentibus, ab amicis, a virtutibus et in turpem vitam misera nisi

^ sapere ? Quid iuvat aetati Buecheler and Hense : quod iuvat sapere et aetati BA.

^ sine tibi interire Hense ; sibi inter ere BA, ^ tua morte later MSS. ; tuamor B^A.

430

EPISTLE CXXIII.

speak as follows : ** Virtue, Philosophy, Justice — • this is a jargon of empty words. The only way to be happy is to do yourself well. To eat, drink, and spend your money is the only real life, the only way to remind yourself that you are mortal. Our days flow on, and life — which we cannot restore — hastens away from us. Why hesitate to come to our senses ? This life of ours will not always admit pleasures ; meantime, while it can do so, while it clamours for them, what profit lies in imposing thereupon frugality ? Therefore get ahead of death, and let anything that death will filch from you be squandered now upon yourself. You have no mistress, no favourite slave to make your mistress envious ; you are sober when you make your daily appearance in public ; you dine as if you had to show your account- book to * Papa ' ; but that is not living, it is merely going shares in someone else's existence. And what madness it is to be looking out for the interests of your heir, and to deny yourself everything, with the result that you turn friends into enemies by the vast amount of the fortune you intend to leave ! For the more the heir is to get from you, the more he will rejoice in your taking-off 1 All those sour fellows who criticize other men's lives in a spirit of priggish- ness and are real enemies to their own lives, playing schoolmaster to the world — you should not consider them as worth a farthing, nor should you hesitate to prefer good living to a good reputation."

These are voices which you ought to shun just as Ulysses did ; he would not sail past them until he was lashed to the mast. They are no less potent ; they lure men from country, parents, friends, and virtuous ways ; and by a hope that, if not base, is ill-starred, they wreck them upon a life of baseness.

431

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

turpi spe illidunt.^ Quanto satius est rectum sequi | limitem et eo se perducere, ut ea demum sint tibi

13 iucunda, quae honesta. Quod adsequi poterimus, si scierimus ^ duo esse genera rerum, quae nos aut invitent aut fugent. Invitant ut divitiae, volup- tates, forma, ambitio, cetera blanda et adridentia ; fugat labor, mors, dolor, ignominia, victus adstrictior. Debemus itaque exerceri, ne haec timeamus, ne ilia cupiamus. In contrarium pugnemus et ab invi- tantibus recedamus, adversus petentia concitemur.

14 Non vides, quam diversus sit descendentium habi- tus et ascendentium ? Qui per pronum eunt, re- supinant corpora, qui in arduum, incumbunt. Nam si descendas, pondus suum in priorem partem dare, si ascendas, retro abducere cum vitio, Lucili, con- sentire est. In voluptates descenditur, in aspera et dura subeundum est ; hie inpellamus corpora, illic refrenemus.

15 Hoc nunc me existimas dicer e, eos tantum per- niciosos esse auribus nostris, qui voluptatem laudant. qui doloris ^ metus, per se formidabiles res, in- cutiunt ? Illos quoque nocere nobis existimo, qui nos sub specie Stoicae sectae hortantur ad vitia. Hoc enim iactant : solum sapientem et doctum esse amatorem. ** Solus sapit ^ ad hanc artem ; aeque

^ in turpem vitam misera nisi turpis illidunt Cod. Harl., turpi spe Capps ; inter spem vitam misera nisi turpis inludunt BA^.

2 scierimus later MSS. ; fecerimus BA,

^ doloris Pine. ; dolor es BA.

* sapit Buecheler ; apte BA.

^ i,e,, to live by Stoicism rather than by Epicureanism. * Meaning, in line with the Stoic paradoxes, that only the sage knows how to be rightly in love.

432

EPISTLE CXXIIi.

How much better to follow a straight course and attain a goal where the words *' pleasant " and ** honourable " have the same meaning ! ^ This end will be possible for us if we understand that there are two classes of objects which either attract us or repel us. We are attracted by such things as riches, pleasures, beauty, ambition, and other such coaxing and pleasing objects ; we are repelled by toil, death, pain, disgrace, or lives of greater frugality. We ought therefore to train ourselves so that we may avoid a fear of the one or a desire for the other. Let us fight in the opposite fashion : let us retreat from the objects that allure, and rouse ourselves to meet the objects that attack.

Do you not see how diiferent is the method of descending a mountain from that employed in climb- ing upwards ? Men coming down a slope bend backwards ; men ascending a steep place lean for- ward. For, my dear Lucilius, to allow yourself to put your body's weight ahead when coming down, or, when climbing up, to throw it backward is to comply with vice. The pleasures take one down hill, but one must work upwards toward that which is rough and hard to climb ; in the one case let us throw our bodies forward, in the others let us put the check-rein on them.

Do you believe me to be stating now that only those men bring ruin to our ears, who praise pleasure, who inspire us with fear of pain — that element which is in itself provocative of fear ? I beheve that we are also injured by those who masquerade under the disguise of the Stoic school and at the same time urge us on into vice. They boast that only the wise man and the learned is a lover.* ** He alone has wisdom in this art ; the wise man too is

433

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

conbibendi et convivendi sapiens est peritissimus. Quaeramus, ad quam usque aetatem iuvenes amandi

16 sint/* Haec Graecae eonsuetudini data sint,^ nos ad ilia potius aures derigamus : '' Nemo est easu bonus. Discenda virtus est. Voluptas humilis res et pusilla est et in nullo habenda pretio, communis cum mutis animalibus, ad quam minima et con- temptissima ad volant. Gloria vanum et volucre ^ quiddam est auraque mobilius. Paupertas nulli malum est nisi repugnanti. Mors malum non est ; quid quaeris ? Sola ius aecum generis humani. Superstitio error insanientis ^ est ; amandos timet ; quos colit, violat. Quid enim interest, utrum deos neges an infames ? "

17 Haec discenda, immo ediscenda sunt ; non debet * excusationes vitio philosophia ^ suggerere. Nullam habet spem salutis aeger,^ quem ad intemperantiam medicus hortatur. Vale.

CXXIV.

Seneca Lvcilio svo salvtem

1 Possum multa tibi veterum praecepta referre,

Ni refugis tenuisque piget cognoscere curas.

Non refugis autem nee ulla te subtilitas abigit.

^ haec . . . sint later MSS. ; om. BA.

2 volucre Schweighaeuser ; volve B^A ; volatile B^ ; volubile later MSS.

3 insanientis Schweighaeuser; insanandus BA; insanus later MSS.

* debet and philosophia Muretus ; dehes and philosophiae BA.

* aeger later MSS. ; aeque BA,

434

EPISTLES CXXIII., CXXIV.

best skilled in drinking and feasting. Our study ought to be this alone : up to what age the bloom of love can endure ! " All this may be regarded as a concession to the ways of Greece ; we ourselves should preferably turn our attention to words like these : " No man is good by chance. Virtue is something which must be learned. Pleasure is low, petty, to be deemed worthless, shared even by dumb animals — the tiniest and meanest of whom fly to- wards pleasure. Glory is an empty and fleeting thing, lighter than air. Poverty is an evil to no man unless he kick against the goads. Death is not an evil ; why need you ask ? Death alone is the equal privilege of mankind. Superstition is the mis- guided idea of a lunatic ; it fears those whom it ought to love ; it is an outrage upon those whom it worships. For what difference is there between denying the gods and dishonouring them ? **

You should learn such principles as these, nay rather you should learn them by heart ; philosophy ought not to try to explain away vice. For a sick man, when his physician bids him live recklessly, is doomed beyond recall. Farewell.

GXXIV. ON THE TRUE GOOD AS ATTAINED BY REASON

Full many an ancient precept could I give. Didst thou not shrink, and feel it shame to learn Such lowly duties.**

But you do not shrink, nor are you deterred by any subtleties of study. For your cultivated mind

« Yergil, Georg. i. 176 f.

435

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

Non est elegantiae tuae tarn magna sectari secure.^ lUud probo, quod omnia ad aliquem profectum redigis et tunc tantum ofFenderis, ubi summa sub- tilitate nihil agitur. Quod ne nunc quidem fieri laborabo. Quaeritur, utrum sensu conprendatur an intellectu bonum ? Huic adiunctum est in mutis animalibus et infantibus non esse.

2 Quicumque voluptatem in summo ponunt, sensi- bile iudicant bonum, nos contra intellegibile, qui illud animo damus. Si de bono sensus iudicarent, nullam voluptatem reiceremus, nulla enim non in- vitat, nulla non ^ delect at ; et e contrario nullum dolorem volentes subiremus, nullus enim non ofFendit

3 sensum. Praeterea non essent digni reprehensione, quibus nimium voluptas placet quibusque summus est doloris timor. Atqui inprobamus gulae ac libidini addictos et contemnimus illos, qui nihil viriliter ausuri sunt doloris metu. Quid autem peccant, si sensibus, id est iudicibus boni ac mali, parent ? His enim tradidistis adpetitionis et fugae arbitrium.

4 Sed videlicet ratio isti rei praeposita est ; ilia ^ quemadmodum de beata vita,* quemadmodum de virtute, de honesto, sic et de bono maloque con-

^ secure. Buecheler ; sicuti or sicut MSS. 2 nulla non later MSS. ; nulla BA. ^ ilia Haase ; illi BA. * de beata vita Madvig ; deheat deb{v) ita BA.

436

EPISTLE CXXIV.

is not wont to investigate such important subjects in a free-and-easy manner. I approve your method in that you make everything count towards a certain degree of progress, and in that you are disgruntled only when nothing can be accomplished by the greatest degree of subtlety. And I shall take pains to show that this is the case now also. Our question is, whether the Good is grasped by the senses or by the understanding ; and the corollary thereto is that it does not exist in dumb animals or little children.

Those who rate pleasure as the supreme ideal hold that the Good is a matter of the senses ; but we Stoics maintain that it is a matter of the under- standing, and we assign it to the mind. If the senses were to pass judgment on what is good, we should never reject any pleasure ; for there is no pleasure that does not attract, no pleasure that does not please. Conversely, we should undergo no pain voluntarily ; for there is no pain that does not clash with the senses. Besides, those who are too fond of pleasure and those who fear pain to the greatest degree would in that case not deserve reproof. But we condemn men who are slaves to their appe- tites and their lusts, and we scorn men who, through fear of pain, will dare no manly deed. But what wrong could such men be committing if they looked merely to the senses as arbiters of good and evil ? For it is to the senses that you and yours have en- trusted the test of things to be sought and things to be avoided !

Reason, however, is surely the governing element in such a matter as this ; as reason has made the decision concerning the happy life, and concerning virtue and honour also, so she has made the decision

437

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stituit. Nam apud istos vilissimae parti datur de meliore sententia, ut de bono pronuntiet sensus, obtunsa res et hebes et in homine quam in aliis

5 animalibus tardior. Quid si quis vellet non oculis, sed tactu minuta discernere ? Subtilior ad hoc acies nulla quam oculorum et intentior daret bonum malumque dinoscere. Vides in quanta ignorantia veritatis versetur et quam humi sublimia ac divina proieeerit, apud quem de summo, bono malo, iudicat

6 tactus. ** Quemadmodum/' inquit, ** omnis seientia atque ars aliquid debet habere manifestum sensu- que conprehensum, ex quo oriatur et crescat, sic beata vita fundamentum et initium a manifestis ducit et eo, quod sub sensum cadat. Nempe vos a manifestis beatam vitam initium sui capere dicitis/*

7 Dicimus beata esse, quae secundum naturam sint. Quid autem secundum naturam sit, palam et pro- tinus apparet, sicut quid sit integrum. Quod secundum naturam est, quod contigit protinus nato, non dico bonum, sed initium boni. Tu summum bonum, voluptatem, infantiae donas, ut inde in- cipiat nascens, quo consummatus homo pervenit.

8 Cacumen radicis loco ponis. Si quis diceret ilium in materno utero latentem, sexus quoque incerti,^

^ incerti Erasmus ; incepti BA.

<* i.e., the Epicureans. ^ i.e., the advocate of the " touch " theory.

438

EPISTLE CXXIV.

with regard to good and evil. For with them ^ the vilest partis allowed to give sentence about the better, so that the senses — dense as they are, and dull, and even more sluggish in man than in the other animals, < — pass judgment on the Good. Just suppose that one should desire to distinguish tiny objects by the touch rather than by the eyesight ! There is no special faculty more subtle and acute than the eye, that would enable us to distinguish between good and evil. You see, therefore, in what ignorance of truth a man spends his days and how abjectly he has over- thrown lofty and divine ideals, if he thinks that the sense of touch can pass judgment upon the nature of the Supreme Good and the Supreme Evil ! He * says : ** Just as every science and every art should possess an element that is palpable and capable of being grasped by the senses (their source of origin and growth), even so the happy life derives its foundation and its beginnings from things that are palpable, and from that which falls within the scope of the senses. Surely you admit that the happy Hfe takes its beginnings from things palpable to the senses." But we define as ** happy " those things that are in accord with Nature. And that which is in accord with Nature is obvious and can be seen at once — just as easily as that which is complete. That which is according to Nature, that which is given us as a gift immediately at our birth, is, I maintain, not a Good, but the beginning of a Good. You, however, assign the Supreme Good, pleasure, to mere babies, so that the child at its birth begins at the point whither the perfected man arrives. You are placing the tree-top where the root ought to be. If anyone should say that the child, hidden in its mother's womb, of unknown sex too, delicate,

439

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

tenerum et inperfectum et informem iam in aliquo bono esse, aperte videretur errare. Atqui quan- tulum interest inter eum, qui cum ^ maxime vitam accipit, et ilium, qui maternorum viscerum latens onus est ? Uterque, quantum ad intellectum boni ac mali, aeque maturus est, et non magis infans adhuc boni capax est quam arbor aut mutum aliquod animal.

Quare autem bonum in arbore animalique muto non est ? Quia nee ratio. Ob hoc in infante quoque non est, nam et huic deest ; tunc ad bonum per- 9 veniet, cum ad rationem pervenerit. Est aliquod inrationale ^ animal, est aliquod nondum rationale, est rationale sed inperfectum ; in nullo horum bonum, ratio illud secum adfert. Quid ergo inter ista, quae rettuli, distat ? In eo, quod inrationale est, numquam erit bonum. In eo, quod nondum rationale est, tunc esse bonum non potest. Esse in eo, quod rationale est ^ sed inperfectum, iam 10 potest bonum, sed non est. Ita dico, Lucili : bonum non in quolibet corpore, non in qualibet aetate invenitur et tantum abest ab infantia, quantum a primo ultimum, quantum ab initio perfectum. Ergo nee in tenero, modo coalescente corpusculo est. Quidni non sit ? Non magis quam in semine.

^ qui cum Erasmus ; quicumq, BA.

2 irrationale later MSS. ; in ratione BA. BA write est aliquod in ratione animal twice.

" esse in eo quod rationale est Buecheler and Schweig- haeuser ; sed in eo g. est rationale later MSS. ; om. BA.

** According to the Stoics (and other schools also), the " innate notions," or groundwork of knowledge, begin to be subject to reason after the attainment of a child's seventh year.

* i.^., they are limited to " practical judgment." 440

EPISTLE CXXIV.

unformed, and shapeless — if one should say that this child is already in a state of goodness, he would clearly seem to be astray in his ideas. And yet how little difference is there between one who has just lately received the gift of life, and one who is still a hidden burden in the bowels of the mother ! They are equally developed, as far as their understanding of good or evil is concerned ; and a child is as yet no more capable of comprehending the Good than is a tree or any dumb beast.

But why is the Good non-existent in a tree or in a dumb beast ? Because there is no reason there, either. For the same cause, then, the Good is non- existent in a child, for the child also has no reason ; the child will reach the Good only when he reaches reason.^ There are animals without reason, there are animals not yet endowed with reason, and there are animals who possess reason, but only incom- pletely ^ ; in none of these does the Good exist, for it is reason that brings the Good in its company. What, then, is the distinction between the classes which I have mentioned ? In that which does not possess reason, the Good will never exist. In that which is not yet endowed with reason, the Good cannot be existent at the time. And in that which possesses reason but only incompletely, the Good is capable of existing, but does not yet exist. This is what I mean, Lucilius : the Good cannot be dis- covered in any random person, or at any random age ; and it is as far removed from infancy as last is from first, or as that which is complete from that which has just sprung into being. Therefore, it cannot exist in the delicate body, when the little frame has only just begun to knit together. Of course not — no more than in the seed. Granting

441

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

11 Hoc si dicas, aliquod arboris ac sati bonum novimus ; hoc non est in prima fronde, quae emissa cum maxime solum rumpit. Est aliquod bonum tritici ; hoc nondum est in herba lactente nee cum folliculo se exerit spica mollis, sed cum frumentum aestas et debita maturitas coxit. Quemadmodum omnis natura bonum suum nisi consummata non profert, ita hominis bonum non est in homine, nisi cum illi ^

12 ratio perfecta est. Quod autem hoc bonum ? Dicam : liber animus, erectus, alia subiciens sibi, se nuUi. Hoc bonum adeo non recipit infantia, ut pueritia non speret, adulescentia inprobe speret ; bene agitur cum senectute, si ad illud longo studio intentoque pervenit. Si hoc est ^ bonum, et in- tellegibile est.

13 " Dixisti,*' inquit, '* aliquod bonum esse arboris, aliquod herbae ; potest ergo aliquod esse et infantis." Verum bonum nee in arboribus nee in mutis anima- libus ; hoc, quod in ilUs bonum est, precario bonum dicitur. ** Quod est ? ** inquis. Hoc, quod secun- dum cuiusque naturam est. Bonum quidem cadere in mutum animal nullo modo potest ; felicioris meliorisque naturae est. Nisi ubi rationi locus est,

14 bonum non est. Quattuor hae naturae sunt, arboris, animalis, hominis, dei ; haec duo, quae rationalia

1 illi later MSS. ; ilia BA. 2 est Rossbach ; et BA.

* Just as Academic and Peripatetic philosophers some- times denned as " goods " what the Stoics called " advan- tages." 442

EPISTLE CXXIV.

the truth of this, we understand that there is a certain kind of Good of a tree or in a plant ; but this is not true of its first growth, when the plant has just begun to spring forth out of the ground. There is a certain Good of wheat: it is not yet existent, however, in the swelling stalk, nor when the soft ear is pushing itself out of the husk, but only when summer days and its appointed maturity have ripened the wheat. Just as Nature in general does not produce her Good until she is brought to perfection, even so man's Good does not exist in man until both reason and man are perfected. And what is this Good ? I shall tell you : it is a free mind, an upright mind, subjecting other things to itself and itself to nothing. So far is infancy from admitting this Good that boyhood has no hope of it, and even young manhood cherishes the hope without justification ; even our old age is very fortunate if it has reached this Good after long and concentrated study. If this, then, is the Good, the good is a matter of the understanding.

*' But,** comes the retort, ** you admitted that there is a certain Good of trees and of grass ; then surely there can be a certain Good of a child also." But the true Good is not found in trees or in dumb animals ; the Good which exists in them is called ** good " only by courtesy.^ ** Then what is it ? " you say. Simply that which is in accord with the nature of each. The real Good cannot find a place in dumb animals — not by any means ; its nature is more blest and is of a higher class. And where there is no place for reason, the Good does not exist. There are four natures which we should mention here : of the tree, animal, man, and God. The last two, having reasoning power, are of the

VOL. Ill P 443

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

sunt, eandem naturam habent, illo ^ diversa sunt, quod alterum inmortale, alterum mortale est. Ex his ergo unius bonum natura perficit, dei scilicet, alterius cura, hominis. Cetera tantum ^ in sua natura perfecta sunt, non vere perfecta, a quibus abest ratio.

Hoc enim demum perfectum est, quod secundum universam naturam perfectum, universa autem natura rationalis est. Cetera possunt in suo genere

15 esse perfecta. In quo non potest beata vita esse, nee id potest, quo beata vita efficitur, beata autem vita bonis efficitur. In muto animali non est beata vita nee id, quo beata vita ^ efficitur, in muto animali

16 bonum non est. Mutum animal sensu conprendit praesentia. Praeteritorum reminiscitur, cum id incidit, quo sensus admoneretur ; tamquam equus * reminiscitur viae, cum ad initium eius admotus ^ est. In stabulo quidem nulla illi viae est quamvis saepe calcatae memoria. Tertium vero tempus, id est futurum, ad muta non pertinet.

17 Quomodo ergo potest eorum videri perfecta natura, quibus usus perfecti temporis non est ? Tempus enim tribus partibus constat, praeterito, praesente, venturo. Animalibus tantum quod gravissimum est intra cursum datum, praesens. Praeteriti rara me- moria est nee umquam revocatur nisi praesentium

18 occursu. Non potest ergo perfectae naturae bonum

^ illo Schweighaeuser ; ilia BA. * tantum cod. Harl. and Schweighaeuser ; tarn BA. 3 nee . . . vita later MSS. ; om. BA.

* equus later MSS. ; quos BA. * admotus Erasmus ; admotum BA.

444

EPISTLE CXXIV.

same nature, distinct only by virtue of the im- mortality of the one and the mortality of the other. Of one of these, then — to wit God — it is Nature that perfects the Good ; of the other — to wit man — pains and study do so. All other things are perfect only in their particular nature, and not truly perfect, since they lack reason.

Indeed, to sum up, that alone is perfect which is perfect according to nature as a whole, and nature as a whole is possessed of reason. Other things can be perfect according to their kind. That which cannot contain the happy life cannot contain that which produces the happy life ; and the happy life is produced by Goods alone. In dumb animals there is not a trace of the happy life, nor of the means whereby the happy life is produced ; in dumb animals the Good does not exist. The dumb animal com- prehends the present world about him through his senses alone. He remembers the past only by meet- ing with something which reminds his senses ; a horse, for example, remembers the right road only when he is placed at the starting-point. In his stall, however, he has no memory of the road, no matter how often he may have stepped along it. The third state — the future — does not come within the ken of dumb beasts.

How, then, can we regard as perfect the nature of those who have no experience of time in its perfec- tion ? For time is three-fold, — past, present, and future. Animals perceive only the time which is of greatest moment to them within the limits of their coming and going — the present. Rarely do they recollect the past — and that only when they are confronted with present reminders. Therefore the Good of a perfect nature cannot exist in an im-

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA

in inperfecta esse natura, aut si natura talis hoc habet,^ habent et sata. Nee illud nego, ad ea, quae videntur secundum naturam, magnos esse mutis animalibus impetus et concitatos, sed inordinatos ac turbidos. Numquam autem inordinatum ^ est bonum aut turbidum.

19 *' Quid ergo ? " inquis, " muta animalia perturbate et indisposite moventur ? *' Dicerem ^ ilia perturbate et indisposite moveri, si natura illorum ordinem caperet ; nunc moventur secundum naturam suam, Perturbatum enim id est, quod esse aliquando et non perturbatum potest ; sollicitum est, quod potest esse securum. Nulli vitium est, nisi cui virtus potest esse ; mutis animalibus talis ex natura sua motus

20 est. Sed ne te diu teneam, erit aliquod * bonum in muto animali, erit aliqua virtus, erit aliquid per- fectum, sed nee bonum absolute nee virtus nee perfectum. Haec enim rationalibus solis contin- gunt, quibus datum est scire quare, quatenus, quem- admodum. Ita bonum in nullo est, nisi in quo ratio.

21 Quo nunc pertineat ista disputatio quaeris, et quid animo tuo profutura sit ? Dico : et exercet ilium et acuit et utique aliquid acturum occupatione honesta tenet. Prodest autem etiam quo moratur ad prava properantes.^ Sed et illud ^ dico : nullo modo prodesse possum magis, quam si tibi bonum

^ 5i . . . hahet Buecheler ; si naturalia habet, hoc hahet BA.

^ aut before inordinatum removed by Bartsch. ^ dicerem later MSS. ; dicer e BA. * aliquod Harl. ; aliquando BA

^ properantes Madvig ; properante(i) MSS. ^ et illud Harl. : ilium BA.

446

EPISTLE CXXIV.

perfect nature ; for if the latter sort of nature should possess the Good, so also would mere vegetation. I do not indeed deny that dumb animals have strong and swift impulses toward actions which seem according to nature, but such impulses are confused and disordered. The Good, however, is never confused or disordered.

** What ! ** you say, *' do dumb animals move in disturbed and ill-ordered fashion ? " I should say that they moved in disturbed and ill-ordered fashion, if their nature admitted of order ; as it is, they move in accordance with their nature. For that is said to be " disturbed '* which can also at some other time be " not disturbed '* ; so, too, that is said to be in a state of trouble which can be in a state of peace. No man is vicious except one who has the capacity of virtue ; in the case of dumb animals their motion is such as results from their nature. But, not to weary you, a certain sort of good will be found in a dumb animal, and a certain sort of virtue, and a certain sort of perfection — but neither the Good, nor virtue, nor perfection in the absolute sense. For this is the privilege of reasoning beings alone, who are permitted to know the cause, the degree, and the means. Therefore, good can exist only in that which possesses reason.

Do you ask now whither our argument is tending, and of what benefit it will be to your mind ? I will tell you : it exercises and sharpens the mind, and ensures, by occupying it honourably, that it will accomplish some sort of good. And even that is beneficial which holds men back when they are hurrying into wickedness. However, I will say this also : I can be of no greater benefit to you than by revealing the Good that is rightly yours, by

THE EPISTLES OF SENEGA

tuum ostendo, si te a mutis animalibus separo, si

22 cum deo pono. Quid, inquam, vires corporis alis et exerces ? Pecudibus istas maiores ferisque na- tura concessit. Quid excolis forraam ? Cum omnia feceris, a mutis animalibus decore vinceris. Quid capillum ^ ingenti diligentia comis ? Cum ilium vel efFuderis more Parthorum vel Germanorum modo vinxeris vel, ut Scythae solent, sparseris, in quolibet equo densior iactabitur iuba, horrebit in leonum J cervice formonsior. Cum te ad velocitatem pa-

23 raveris, par lepusculo non eris. Vis tu relictis, in quibus vinci te necesse est, dum in aliena niteris, ad bonum reverti tuum ?

Quod est hoc ? Animus scilicet emendatus ac purus, aemulator dei, super humana se extoUens, nihil extra se sui ponens. Rationale animal es. Quod ergo in te bonum est ? Perfecta ratio. An tu ad suum finem hanc evocas, in quantum potest plurimum crescere ? Tunc beatum esse te iudica, 24: cum tibi ex ea ^ gaudium omne nascetur, cum visis, quae homines eripiunt, optant, custodiunt, nihil inveneris, non dico quod malis, sed quod velis. Brevem tibi formulam dabo, qua te metiaris, qua perfectum esse iam sentias : tunc habebis tuum, cum intelleges infelicissimos esse felices. Vale.

^ capillum later MSS. ; eapullum BA. ^ tibi ex ea later MSS. ; tibi ex BA.

" One of the most conspicuous Stoic paradoxes maintained that " the wise man is a God,'*

448

EPISTLE CXXIV.

taking you out of the class of dumb animals, and by placing you on a level with God. Why, pray, do you foster and practise your bodily strength ? Nature has granted strength in greater degree to cattle and wild beasts. Why cultivate your beauty ? After all your efforts, dumb animals surpass you in comeliness. Why dress your hair with such unending attention ? Though you let it down in Parthian fashion, or tie it up in the German style, or, as the Scythians do, let it flow wild — yet you will see a mane of greater thickness tossing upon any horse you choose, and a mane of greater beauty bristling upon the neck of any lion. And even after training yourself for speed, you will be no match for the hare. Are you not willing to abandon all these details — wherein you must acknowledge defeat, striv- ing as you are for something that is not your own — and come back to the Good that is really yours ?

And what is this Good ? It is a clear and flawless mind, which rivals that of God,^ raised far above mortal concerns, and counting nothing of its own to be outside itself. You are a reasoning animal. What Good, then, lies within you ? Perfect reason. Are you willing to develop this to its farthest limits — to its greatest degree of increase ? Only consider yourself happy when all your joys are born of reason, and when — having marked all the objects which men clutch at, or pray for, or watch over — you find nothing which you will desire ; mind, I do not say prefer. Here is a short rule by which to measure yourself, and by the test of which you may feel that you have reached perfection : ** You will come to your own when you shall understand that those whom the world calls fortunate are really the piost unfortunate of all." Farewell.

449

APPENDIX A

Ep. xciv. deals^ on the whole^ with the question whether doctrines without precepts are enough for the student and the philosopher; Ep. xcv. whether precepts without doctrines will suffice. Seneca con- cludes that they are both necessary and are comple- mentary to one another^ especially in view of the complicated life which one is called upon to live, with its many duties and choices. The terms dis- cussed, with some of the Greek original definitions, may be summed up as follows : —

(1) The outward expressions of cTrta-rry/x?; (scientia, knowledge) and of the Kotvat eVi/otat (notiones com- munes, 7rpokrj\f/€LS) innate ideas) are found in the form of d^tdf/jLara {^pronuntiata, incontrovertible statements), SoyfjLara (^placita, decreta, scita, doctrines, tenets, dogmas, principles). Determined by opot (definitiones, definitions), they are tested by their d^ia {honestum, moral value), by the KpiTrjpiov (norma iudicii, standard of judgment) or Acavwv (lex, regula, etc.), and by the 6p6os Adyos (recta ratio, universal law, etc.). By such means the doctrines of philosophy are contrasted with 8d^a (opinio) and with a KardXy^xj/Ls (cognitio or comprehensio) which falls short of completeness and perfection. Conduct which results from a thorough understanding and peiformance of such doctrines is Karopdaypia (rkX^iov KaOrJKov, perjectum officiuviy *' absolute duty")

VOL. Ill p 2 451

APPENDIX A

(2) The pars praeceptiva (TrapaiveTiK'j) of philosophy, which deals with ^^ average duty " (^KaOrJKov, commune or medium officium\ is approved, among others, by Posidonius, Cicero (see the De Officiis), and Seneca. It is related to active living and to the dSidcfyopa (media or indifferentia^ (see Subject Index) which play so large a role in the individual's daily existence. This department of ^^ counsel/' ^^ admonition/' or ^^ advice" has many forms. For irapaivecns (vionitio) are needed : the Aoyos TrporpeTrnKos (exhortatio\ TOTTO? viroOeTLKOs (suasio), aTrorpoTrrj (dissuasio), kiri- TtfX7]G-i<s (obiurgatio), Aoyos irapaixvOi^TLKO'^ (consolatio), aiTioXoyia (causarum inquisitio), rjOoXoy ta [descriptio), and all the gamut of precepts which run from blame to praise. These are reinforced by diro^ei^is (probatio, argumentum, proof) and by such helps as xpdaiy dTrofjLvrjfjLovev/jLara {senteniiae, proverbs, maxims).

By such stages of advancement, irpoKoirrj (pro- gressio), and relying upon Tra/oaSety/xara (exempla), one rises, through practical precepts and the observance of duties, to an appreciation of the virtues, the contemplative mastery of the Universe, and to the Supreme Good, conformity with Nature (o/xoAoyov- [xiviDS ry (pvcreL ^7]v (vivere convenienter naturaey

4-52

APPENDIX B

The following publications may profitably be con- sulted by one who wishes to investigate Seneca's prose further :

E. Albertini. La Composition dans les ouvrages pkilosophiques de Seneque, Paris^ 1923 (with full bibliography of recent works).

A. BouRGERv \ Seneque prosateur, etudes litteraires et grammaticales sur la prose de Seneque le pkilosopke. Paris, 1922.

With special reference to Ep. xc. and other passages, one may consult : —

I. Heinemann. Poseidonios* 7netaphysische Sckriften.

Breslau, 1921. K. Reinhardt. Poseido7iios. Munich, 1921.

4^53

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

Africa, Pompey in, xciv. 65; Gate's march through the deserts of, civ. 33 ; crops in, cxiv. 26 ; marbles from, cxv. 8

M. Vipsanius Agrippa (counsellor of Augustus) on harmony in government, xciv. 46 f.

Alban villa (Seneca's), visit to, cxxiii. If.

Alexander the Great (856-323 B.C.), his conquests of Greece, Persia, and India, xciv. 62 f. ; cxiii. 29 f. ; cxix. 7

Ancus Marcius (Roman king), doubtful parentage of, cviii. 30

M. Gavins Apicius (epicure, age of Tiberius), extravagance of, xcv. 42 ; gluttony of, cxx. 19

Appius Claudius Caecus (censor 312 B.C.), source for archaic oratorical style, cxiv. 13

Archedemus (Stoic, of Tarsus, second century B.C.), authority of, cxxi. 1

Ardea (on sea- coast, S. of Rome), country-place of Lucilius, cv. 1

Aristo of Chius (Stoic, 3rd cent. B.C.), on the superfluity of pre- cepts, xciv. 1 tf. ; on admira- tion of superfluous things, cxv. 8f.

L. Arruntius (cos. a.d. 6), imitator of Sallnst's style, cxiv. 17 if.

Asclepiades (Greek physician at Rome, 2nd cent, b.c), xcv. 9

Attains (Stoic, teacher of Seneca,), on philosophical ambition, cviii. passim ; on the worthlessness of riches, ex. 14 ff.

T. Pomponius Atticus (friend of Cicero), regularity of his corre- spondence, cxviii. 1,

Liber (Bacchus), travels of, xciv. 63 M. lunius Brutus (author, friend

of Cicero, and slayer of Caesar)

on precepts, xcv. 45 Acilius Buta (temp. Tiberius), night

life of, cxxii. 10 ff.

Caecilius (temp. Cicero), penuri- ousness of, cxviii. 2

Caelius (see note ad loc.) quoted, cxiii. 26

Caesar (Augustus, the Emperor) delegates power to Maecenas, cxiv. 6

C. lulius Caesar, ambition of, xciv. 65 f. ; relations with Cato the Younger, xcv. 70 ; part in Clodian trial, xcvii. 2, 8; civ. 29 f. ; cxviii. 2

Licinius Calvus (see note ad loc), xciv. 25

Cato, "wisdom" of, quoted, xciv. 27 ; cxix. 2

M. Porcius Cato (the Censor), nobility of, xcv. 72 ; civ. 21

M. Porcius Cato (the Younger), his courage in the face of Caesar and Pompey, xcv. 69 fF. ; his part in the trial of Clodius, xcvii. Iff.; heroism of, xcviii. 12 ; civ. 21 ; conduct during Civil War, ib. 29 ff. ; used as a dialectic illus- tration, cxvii. 13 ; contrasted with Vatinius, cxviii. 4 and cxx. 19 ; quoted, cxxii. 2

Q. Lutatius Catulus (cos. 78 b.c), witticism of, xcvii. 6

Chimaera (see note ad loc), cxiii. 9

Chrysippus (Stoic, successor of Cleanthes), civ. 22 ; utters great words, cviii. 38 ; on the source of muscular activity, cxiii. 23 f.

4}55

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

M. TuUius Cicero, quoted in regard

to the trial of Clodius, xcvii. 3 ff. ;

style and rank of, c. 7 ff. ; as

translator, cvii. 10 ; quoted (from

the Be Re Publico), cviii. 30 ff. ;

on rhetorical subtleties, cxi. 1 ;

style of, cxiv. 16; advice to

Atticus, cxviii. 1 f. Cleanthes (successor of Zeno as

head of the Stoic school), on the

relation of precepts to general

principles of philosophy, xciv.

4 ff. ; hymn of, cvii. 10 f. ; on

rules of poetry, cviii. 10 ; on the

source of muscular activity,

cxiii. 23 f. P. Clodius Pulcher (d. 52 B.C.),

defendant in adultery charge,

xcvii. 2 ff. Ti. Coruncanius (cos. 280 B.C.),

source for archaic oratorical

style, cxiv. 13 L. Licinius Crassus (b. 140 B.C.),

source for oratorical vocabulary,

cxiv. 13 M. Licinius Crassus (the triumvir),

opponent of Cato, civ. 29 ; riches

of, cxix. 9 C. Scribonius Curio (cos. 76 b.c),

source for oratorical vocabulary,

cxiv. 13

Darius (king of Persia), xciv. 63 ;

cxix. 7 M'. Cnrius Dentatus (cos. 290 B.C.),

sternness of, cxx. 19

Egypt, marbles from, cxv. 8

Q. Ennius (Roman poet, fl. 200

B.C.), verses on Scipio Africanus,

cviii. 32 f.; indebtedness to

Homer, ib. 34 Epicurus (founder of school, 342-

279 B.C.) quoted, xcvii. 13, 15 Euripides (Greek tragic poet),

anecdote of, cxv. 15 f.

Papip.ius Fabianus (teacher of Seneca), style of, c. passim

C. Fabricius Luscinus {temp. Pyrrhus), self-restraint of, xcviii. 13 ; loyalty and temperance of, cxx. 6 ; plainness of, cxx. 19

Fenestella (Augustan antiquarian)

Ai56

on the death of Romulus, cviii. 31 Floralia (Roman festival, April 28 to May 3), tributes to Cato during the, xcvii. 8

Gallic (brother of Seneca), illness

of, in Achaia, civ. 1 and note

ad loc. Genius (the ''patron saint" of

Roman men), ex. 1 Germans, bound-up hair of, exxiv.

22 C. Sempronius Gracchus (tribune

123 B.C.), source for oratorical

vocabulary, cxiv. 13 Greeks, a proverb of the, cxiv. 1 ;

preceptive philosophy of, xcv. 1 ;

ih. 10 ; association with their

philosophers, civ. 21; tragic'poets,

quoted, cxv. 14 f.

Hercules, travels of, xciv. 63 Hippocrates(*' Father of Medicine,"

5th cent. B.C.), xcv. 9; on the

health of women, ib. 20 Homer, indebtedness of Ennius to,

cviii. 34 Horatius (defender of Rome against

Tarquins), heroism of, cxx. 7 Q. Horatius Flaccus(poet, Augustan

age) quoted, cxix. 13 f. ; cxx. 20 f.

JuGURTHA (African prince, con- quered by Marius), xciv. 66

Juno, dedications to, xcv. 47; patroness of women, ex. 1

Jupiter, dedications to, xcv. 47 ; ib. 72 ; addressed in hymn of Cleanthes, cvii. 10 f. ; happiness of, ex. 18 ; independence of, cxix. 7

C. Laelius Sapiens (friend of Scipio

the Younger), sanity of, xcv. 72 ;

civ. 21 Latin language, technical terms

in, xcv. 65 Licinus (native of Gaul ; appointed

governor in 15 B.C.), riches of,

cxix. 9 ; cxx. 19 T. Livius (historian, age of

Augustus) reckoned as both

historian and philosopher, c. 9 Lucilius (procurator in Sicily and

contemporary of Seneca) ad-

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

dressed, passim. See Introduc- tion, vol. i. p. ix T. Lucretius Carus (Roman poet, 1st cent. B.C.) quoted xcv. 11 ; on corporeality, cvi. 8 ; on fear, ex. 6 f.

Maeander (river in Phrygia, Asia Minor), tortuous course of, civ. 15

0. Cilnius Maecenas (minister of Augustus), his womanly fear of death, ci. lOff. ; careless speech of, cxiv. passim ; daintiness of, cxx. 19

C. Marius (see note ad loc), politi- cal and martial ambition of, xciv. 66

Junius (?) Marullus (see note ad loc), consolation addressed to, xcix. 1 ff.

Metrodorus (follower of Epicurus), quoted, xcviii. 9 ; on the pleasure of sadness, xcix. 25 ff.

Metronax, death of, xciii. 1 (and note)

Mithridates (king of Pontus), con- quered by Pompey, xciv. 65

lulius Montanus (poet and favourite of Tiberius), anecdote of, cxxii. 11 f.

Mucins Scaevola (hero of Etruscan wars), heroism of, xcviii. 12

Cn. Naevius (early Roman writer

of drama) quoted, cii. 16 Pinarius Natta (see note ad loc),

cxxii. 11 f. Nile, rising in summer, civ. 15 Nomentum (Latin town 14 m. N.E.

of Rome), Seneca's villa at, civ.

1 ff. ; ex. 1 Numidian outriders, cxxiii. 7

P. OcTAvius (gourmand, age of Tiberius), bids against Apicius, xcv. 42

P. Ovidius Naso (Roman poet, Augustan age), on the lower order of gods, ex. 1 ; on gold, cxv. 13

Panaetitjs (head of Stoic school, 2nd cent, b.c.) on love, cxvi. 5 f.

Sextus Papinius (an Early Empire night-liver), cxxii. 15 f.

Parthians (tribe E. of Euphrates), flowing hair of, cxxiv. 22

Paulina (wife of Seneca), civ. 2ff,,

note ad loc, and Introduction, vol. i.

Pedo Albinovanus (poet, contem- porary of Ovid), anecdote of, cxxii. 15 f.

Peripatetics, their interpretation of emotion, cxvi. 1 ; on wisdom and being wise, cxvii. 11 f.

Phaedo (contemporary of Plato) quoted, xciv. 41

Philip (of Macedon, father of Alexander), conquests of, xciv. 62

Phrygian priests (worshippers of Oybele), enthusiasm of, cviii. 7

Plato (Athenian philosopher, 428- 347 B.C.), Laws of, discussed by Posidonius, xciv. 38 ; master of wisdom, cviii. 38

C. Asinius Pollio (patron of Vergil), style and rank of, c. 7 ff.

Gn. Pompeius (the triumvir), am- bitious campaigns of, xciv. 64 f. ; relations with Cato the Younger, xcv. 70 ; part in Clodian trial, xcvii. 8 ; civ. 29 ff. ; cxviii. 2

Posidonius (Stoic philosopher, friend of Cicero), on Plato's Laws, xciv. 38 ; on precepts, and other aids to virtue, xcv. 65 f. ; civ. 22 ; cviii. 38 ; on independence of fortune, cxiii. 28 ; cxxi. 1

Publilius Syrus (writer of farces, 1st cent. B.C., and traditional source of many proverbs) quoted, xciv. 28 ; cviii. 8 ff.

Pyrrhus (king of Epirus, 3rd cent. B.C.), relations with Fabricius, cxx. 6

Pythagoras (Greek philosopher, 6th cent. B.C.), on impressions of divinity, xciv. 42 ; reasons for abstaining from animal food, cviii. 17 ff.

M. Atilius Regulus (hero of first Punic war), heroism of, xcviii. 12

Romulus (first Roman king), death of, cviii. 31

P. Rutilius Rufus (1st cent. B.C.), heroism of, xcviii. 12

0. Sallustius Crispus (historian, close of Republic), quoted, cix.

457

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

16; aped by later historians because of archaic style, cxiv. 17 ff.

P. Cornelius Scipio (Africanus Major) praised by Bnnius, cviii. 32 f.

P. Cornelius Scipio (Africanus Minor, conqueror of Carthage in 146 B.C.), friendship with Laelius, xcv. 72

Scythians (tribe inhabiting steppes of S. Russia), flowing hair of, cxxiv. 22

Seneca, see Introduction, vol. i.

Cornelius Senecio (friend of Seneca), untimely death of, ci. 1 ff.

Sertorius (1st cent. B.C.) conquered by Pompey in Spain, xciv. 64

Servius Tullius (Roman king), doubtful parentage of, cviii. 30

Q. Sextius (the Elder), declines honour at Caesar's hand, xcviii. 13 ; vegetarianism of, cviii. 17 f.

Sicily, crops in, cxiv. 26

Socrates, resignation of, xcviii. 12 ; on restless travel, civ. 7 ; i5. 21 ; sufferings of, civ. 27 f.

Sotion (the Pythagorean, contem- porary of Seneca) on vegetarian- ism, cviii. I7ff.

Stoics, on the value of precepts, xciv. 2 ff. ; on the limits to mourning, xcix. 27 f. ; their many great masters, cviii. 38 ; resem- blance to early Romans in their opinion of the gods, ex. 1 ; their leaders on the "aniraality" of the virtues, cxiii. 1 ff. ; on the primal essence, cxiii. 23 ; on the emotions, cxvi. 1 ff". and 7 ; on wisdom and corporeality, cxvii. 1 ff". ; on honum and honestum, exx. 1 ff. ; overdone ideas of omniscieuce, cxxiii. 15 f.

Tanusius Geminus (historian Ist cent. B.C.), "heaviness" of, xciii. 11. For discussion of his identi- fication with Volusius see edd. of Catullus, 36

P. Terentius Afer (writer of comedies, 2nd cent. B.C.) quoted xcv. 63

Themison (pupil of Asclepiades, 1st cent. B.C.), xcv. 9

Tiberius (Second Roman Emperor), puts a fish up for auction, xcv. 42 ; opposition to foreign cults, cviii. 22 ; epigram of, cxxii. 10

Tibur (now Tivoli), earthenware- from, cxix. 3

Tigris, disappearance and reappear- ance of, civ. 15

Q. Aelius Tubero (2nd cent. B.C.), simple sacrifice of, xcv. 72 f. ; xcviii. 13 ; civ. 21 ; cxx. 19

Twelve Tables, as source for orators' vocabularies, cxiv. 13

Ulysses, self-restraint of, cxxiii. 12

Varus (an Early Empire parasite),

epigram of, cxxii. 12 f. P. Vatinius (see note ad loc), xciv.

25 ; cxviii. 4 ; cxx. 19 P. Vergilius Maro, quoted, xciv.

28 ; xcv. 33, es f. ; xcviii. 6 ; ci.

4; ib. 13; cii. 30; civ. 10; ib.

24 ; ib. 31 (comparing Cato with

Achilles); cvii. 3; cviii. 24, 26,

29, 34 (indebtedness to Ennius) ;

cxiv. 23 ; cxv. 4 f. ; cxxii. 2 ;

cxxiv. 1 M. Vinicius (see note ad Zoc), cxxii.

Zrno (founder of Stoicism), on death, civ. 21 ; master of wisdom, cviii. 38

458

SUBJECT INDEX

(to the three volumes of Seneca's Epistulae Morales)

AociDENS (avfjL^ePriKo^j "contin- gent upon '*), cxvii. 3 ff.

aSia^opa (see media, "indifferent" things), Ixxxii. 10 ff.

adsensio, cxiii. 18 and note

Analogy, with regard to knowledge of the good, cxx. 4 f. and note

Animals, instinct (op^iT^) for self- preservation in, cxxi. passim

andOeLa, impatientia^ ix. 1 ff., xiii. 4, Ixxxv. 3 ff., cxvi. passim

Arch, invention of the, xc. 32

Archaisms, in style and wording, Iviii. 1 ff., cxiv. 17 ff.

Arts, four classes of, Ixxxviii. 21 ff. ; discovery of the, xc. 7 ff. ; in relation to doctrines and pre- cepts, xcv. 7 ff.

Baths, distractions of the, Ivi. 1 ff. ; luxury of, Ixxxvi. 5 ff.

Being, the only existing fact, accord- ing to Parmenides, Ixxxviii. 44

Benefits, Ixxxi. passim

Body, regard for the, xiv. 1 ff., cxxi. 5 ff. ; in relation to mind, cxvii. 13, etc.

hona ("goods"), of various kinds, Ixvi. 5 ff. ; equality of, ib. 15 ff., Ixxi. 7 ff. ; desirability of, Ixvii. 8 ff. ; falsely so called, Ixxiv. 12 ff. ; varieties of, Ixxxviii. 5

honum (the "good"), xxiii. 6 ff. ; defined, xxxi. 6; regarded by Academic School as variable, Ixxi. 17 ff., Ixxvi. 11 ff. ; certain syllogisms on, Ixxxvii. passim ; corporeality of the, cvi. 3 ff., cxvii. 2 ff. ; is it a "living thing**? cxiii. 20 ff. (reduc. ad ahiurdum); defined in several ways, cxviii. 8 ff. ; relation to

the honestmrVf cxx. 1 ff. ; derived from the senses or from the intellect, cxxiv. 1 ff. ; limited to reasoning man, cxxiv. 7 ff. Books, thoroughness in reading, ii. passim; xlv. 1-5; selective reading of, Ixxxiv. 1 ff.

Calx J cviii. 32

Categories, of Aristotle, Ixv. 8 ff.

and notes cause (contrasted with matter), as

discussed by the Stoics, Aristotle,

and Plato, Ixv. 2 ff. Circles, as indications of time,

small and large, xii. 6 ff. compositio (arrangement of words),

cxiv. 15 ff. Consolation, to the bereaved, Ixiii.,

xcix. Contempt, as a source of safety,

cv. 2 ff. Country-places, Seneca's, xii. 1-4;

Scipio*s, Ixxxvi. passim, ; civ. 1 ff.,

ex. 1, cxxiii. 1 ff.

Death, scorn of, iv. 3 ff., xxii.

13 ff., xxiv. passim, xxvi. 4 ff.;

anticipation of, xxx. 4 ff., xxxvi.

8 ff., Ixi., Ixxxii. 16 ff., xciii.

passim; suddenness of, ci. 1 ff.

resignation of, cii. 26 ff. decreta (dogmas), see Appendix A-

Ep. xciv. 32, etc.; specially de- fined, xcv. 44 ; necessity of, xcv.

61 f. Degeneracy of morals, xcvii. passim distantia, defined and contrasted

with continua and compositay cii.

6 and note. distinctio (differentiation) of Chrys-

ippus, ix. 14 f.

459

SUBJECT INDEX

Drunkenness, Ixxxiii. pcLSsim

Emotions, as expressed by the features, xi. passim ; during peril, Ivii. 3 ff. ; of bereaved women, Ixiii. 13 ; only transitory in the wise man's case, Ixxi. 29 ; defined as "passions," Ixxv. 11 f. ; subject to reason, Ixxxv. 2 ff. ; corporeal- ity of the, cvi. 5 ff. ; should be checked at the start, cxvi. 2 ff.

issentia (outrta), discussed, Iviii. 6 ff. and note.

exempla (patterns of conduct and philosophy), vi. 5 ff., xi. 8 ff., XXV. 5 ff., lii. 7 ff., xciv. 55 f., 72 ff., xcv. 69 ff., civ. 21 ff.

Exercise, in moderation, xv, 1-6, Ixxxiii. 3 ff.

expetibiley as distinguished from expetendum, cxvii. 5

Extracts (Jlosculi, summaries, maxims, chriai)^ xxxiii. passim, esp. 7 and note, xxxix. 1 f. and note ; in proverbial form, xciv.

» 27 £

Fame, xliii. 3, Ixxix. 13 ff. ; mis- guided desire for, xciv. 64 ff. ; as a good, cii. 3 ff.

Fate, xvi. 4; complaints against, xciii. 1 f.

Figures of speech, abuse of, cxiv. 8ff.

Fortune (Chance), treachery of, viii. 3 f. ; groundless fear of, xiii. passim, xvi. 4, xviii. 6 f. ; robs us of our friends, Ixiii. 7 f. ; gifts of, Ixxii. 7 ft". ; game of, Ixxiv. 6 ff. ; her part in the Lyons fire, xci. 2 ff. ; fickleness of, xcviii. passim ; equipment against, cxiii. 27 f. ; inducements of, cxviii. 3 ff.

Friendship, distinctions in, iii. passim; as applied to the wise man, ix. passim, xix. 10 f., xxxv., xlviii. 2 ff. , Iv. 9 ff. ; impartiality of, lx\i. 24 ff.

Genus, in relation to species^ Iviii.

8 ff. and notes Gladiatorial combats, cruelty of,

vii. 2 ff. ; rigorous training for,

xxxvii. 1 f., Ixxx. 1 ff. Glass, invention of, xc. 25

460

God, xvi. 4; kinship with, xviii. 12 f.jxxxi. 9 ff., xli., Ixxxiii. 1; as Master Builder of the Uni- verse, Iviii. 27 f., Ixv. 19 ff. ; obedience to, in the face of obstacles, xcvi. 2; as Creator, cxiii. 16

Gods, compared with sages, Ixxiii. 12 ff. ; sharing reason with men, xcii. 27 ff. ; belief in, xcv. 60 ; popular, ex. 1

Golden Age, xc. 36 ff. ; simplicity and health of the, xcv. 13 ff,

Grammaticus, defined, Ixxxviii. 3 and note; as a critic of Vergil, cviii. 24 and note

Happiness, dependent upon one- self, ix. 20 f. ; defined, xcii. 3 ff. ; summing up all the benefits of philosophy, xciv. 8; in its rela- tion to precepts, xcv. 4 ff.

Honestum, Ixvi. 9 ff. and note, Ixxi. 4, Ixxiii. passim, Ixxvi. 6 ff., Ixxxv. 17 ff. ; relation to lonum, cxviii. 10 ff., cxx. 1 ff.

Idea (of Plato), Ixv. 7 and note

idos (et5o5), Iviii. 20 f., Ixv. 4 and note

Ill-health, and death, liv. 1 ff. ; bravery in the face of, xxx. 1 ff., Ixvi. 1 ff. ; relieved by philo- sophy, Ixxviii. 1 ff. ; of Lucilius, xcvi. 3 ; civ. 1 ff. ; of the mind, Ixviii. 8 f.

imagines (similes), proper use ot, lix. 6 f.

incommoda (disadvantages), Ixxii. 6

Joy (gaudium), xxiii. 4 ff. ; as con- trasted with common pleasure, lix. Iff., 14 ff.

KaO-qKovTa (duties), Ixxxi. 9 ff. Knowledge (passim), discussed and defined, cxx. 3 ff.

Learning, excess in, xxvii. 5 ff. Lectures, debasing effect of, lii.

8 ff. ; on philosophy, IxxvL 1 ff. ;

perfunctory, cviii. 5 ff. Liberal studies, Ixii. 1 ; defined,

Ixxxviii. 1 ff. and note Love, and other emotions, in rela*

tion to wisdom, cxvL 5 ff.

SUBJECT INDEX

M AGISTER populi, cviii. 31 malum (evil), passim ; defined,

Ixxxv. 28 ; discussed, ib. passim Mathematics (contrasted with

philosophy), Ixxxviii. 10 flf. Matter (contrasted with cause), Ixv.

2fF. Media ("indifferent" things

neither good nor bad), Ixvi

36 f., Ixxxii. 10 ff., cix. 12 f.

"being wise" not an "indiffer

ent" quality, cxvii. 9 f. Mime (farce), as reflector of slave- life, xlvii. 14 Moral Philosophy, passim ; Seneca's

projected book on, cvi. 2 and

note, cviii. 1, cix. 17 Mourning, rules for, Ixiii. 13 f. ;

limits to, xcix. passim

Nature, as embodied in contented poverty, ii. 5 f., iv. 10 f. ; as plain living, xviii. 5 ff., xx. 7 ff., xxvii. 9, Ixxxvii. 1 ff., etc. ; life according to, xvi. 7 f., xxv. 4 ff., XXX. 4, xli. 9, xciii. 2 ff., cvii. 7 ff., cxix. 2 ff. ; in Seneca's own case, cviii. 13 ff., cxxiii. 2 ff. ; as source of reason, Ixvi. 39 f., etc. ; as explanation of rugged character in mountainous coun- tries, li. 10 f.

OLKovoixLK-q (with " civil," a further division ot philosophy), Ixxxix. 10

Old Age, xii. passim, xxvi. 1 ff. ; Seneca's feebleness, Ixvii. 1 ; as an " external " thing, xciii. 7

bfiokoyCa (conformity, consistency of virtue), Ixxiv. 30 ff.

Pain, as torture, xiv. 3 ff., xxiv.

3 If. ; with reference to virtue,

Ixvi. 18 ff. ; endurance of, Ixvii.

3 ff. , Ixxviii. 7 ff. ; as endured by

Maecenas, ci. 10 ff. wapddo^a, Ixxxi. 11 f. and note,

Ixxxvii. 1 pauperum cellae, xviii. 7 and note,

c. 6 and note phaecasium, cxiii. 1 and note ^lA-TjTat (street rowdies), 11, 13

and note

pMlologus, on Cicero's De Re Publican cviii. 30 f.

Philosophy, and conformity, v. 1 ff. ; as refuge, xiv. 11 ff., xvi. passim ; and riches, xvii. passim; benefits of, xxxvii. 3 ff . ; as critic of human worth, xliv. passim; in- spiration of, liii. 8 ff. ; demands of, Ixxii. 3 ff. ; as a public service (active or in retirement), Ixxiii. 1 ff. ; impregnability of, Ixxxii.

5 ff. ; as imagined in Homer, Ixxxviii. 5 ff. ; divided into physics, logic, ethics, ib. 24 f. ; divided and defined, Ixxxix. 4 ff. ; twofold Epicurean division, ih. 11; single Cyrenaic, i&. 12; moral i6., 14 ff. ; natural ib.,16; rational ib., 17 f . ; in relation to human progress, xc. passim; as escape from dangers, ciii. 4 f. ; aid from, cviii. 4 ff. ; as interpreting poetry, cviii. 25 ff.

Pleasure, in plain living, xxi. 10 f. ; instability of, xxvii. 2 f., xxxix.

6 f. ; developing into vice, li. 4 ff. ; two kinds of, Ixxviii. 22 ff. ; devices of, xc. 19; in sadness, xcix. 25 ff. ; to be avoided, civ. 34; devotion to gluttony and late hours, cxxii. 2 ff. ; followers of pleasure limit the good to the senses, cxxiv. 2 ff.

Poetry, as an aid to good ideas,

viii. 8ff., cviii. 8 ff. Potter's wheel, discovery of the,

xc. 31 Prayer, x. 5; of the wrong sort,

Ix., cxvii. 23 f. ; of the right

sort, Ixvii. 7 ff. ; as a curse upon

an enemy, ex. 2 f. Precepts (advice, see Appendix

A), xciv. and xcv. passim, cix.

14 ff. prima litteratura (irpiorri a.y(oy^,

elementary schooling), Ixxxviii.

20 principale (riyefjLoviKou, " ruling

power," a part of the world -soul

which stimulates action in living

beings), cxiii. 23, cxxi. 9 ff. and

notes producta (commoda, "advantages '*)

Ixxiv. 17 ff. and note npoKonrj (progress), Ixxi. 30, and

461

SUBJECT INDEX

note, Ixxii. 6 flf., Ixxv. 8 ff. ; pro- fidens, cix. 15 psevdomenos, xlv. 10 and note

Reapse, cviii. 32

Reason {Tatio)^ as curb of passions, xxxvii. 4 ; defined, Ixvi. 12 ff. and note; the source of perfection and the good, cxxiv. 23 f.

Retirement, as contrasted with participation in affairs, viii. 1 ff., X. 1 f., xir. 3 ff., xix. passim, xxii. passim, xxxvi. passim, Ivi. 1 ff. ; mistaken idea of, Iv. 4 ff., xciv. 69 ff. ; in Seneca's own case, Ivi. 9 ff. , Ixxiii. passim

Sage, dual make-up of the, Ixxi. 27 and note

sapere, as distinguished from sapi- entia, cxvii. 1 ff.

Scientific observation, on Etna, li. 1 ; Etna and Sicily, Ixxix. 1 ff. ; xc. 10 ff.

Self-suflaciency, ix. 13 ff., etc.

Senses, inadequacy of the, Ixvi. 85

«epse, cviii. 32

Sin, and reform, xxv. 1-3, cxii. passim ; its removal through knowledge, xxviii. 9 f., xxix. 4 ff., xlii. 1 ff., 1. 4 ff. ; one's own, Ixviii. 8 ff. ; reasons for, xciv. 13 f., 21; and conscience, xcvii. 12 ff.

Slavery, xlvii. passim

Soul, defined, cxiii. 14 and note; divinity of the, xli. 5 ff. ; its contemplative function, Ixv. 16 ff. ; source and destination, Ixxxviii. 34; sustainer of life, xcii. 1 ff. and note ; parts of the, xcii. 8 ff. and note ; unity of the, cxiii. 14 and note ; ruler of the body, cxiv. 23 ff. ; indicator of character, cxiv. 1 ff.

Soul after Death, various possibili- ties, Ixxi. 16 and note ; its release, Ixv. 16 ff., Ixxix. 12, xcii. 30 ff. ; method of departure, Ivii. 6 ff., Ixxvi. 33 ; eternity of the, cii. 21 ff., cxx. 17 ff. ; transmigration, cviii. 17 ff. ; reunion of friends in another world, 1 xxviii. 28

species, in relation to genus, Iviii. 8ff.

462

style, eccentric in case of Maecenas xix. 9 f., cxiv. 4 ff. ; rapid, xl. 2 ff. ; national characteristics of, xl. 11 f. ; of Lucilius, xlvi. 2, lix. 4 ff. ; simplicity and sincerity of, Ixxxv. 3 ff. ; of Fabianus, c. 1 ff.

Suicide, xxiv. 25, xxx. 15, Iviii. 32 ff., Ixx. 4 ff. and note, Ixxvii. 5ff.

supervacua, xlii. 6 ff., ex. 12 ff.

Supreme Good, defined, Ixvi. 6 ff. ; according to Epicurus ib., 45 ff., Ixxi. passim, Ixxii. 5, Ixxiv. 16, 26 ; another definition, Ixxxv. 20; source of, Ixxxvii. 21 ; xcii. 5 ff. ; independence of the, ix. 15, cix. 1 ff.

Syllogisms, futility of, xlv. 8 ff. ; as interrogationes, quaestiunculae, " posers," logical fallacies, xlviii. 4 ff., xlix. 8 f., Ixxxii. 8 ff., 21 ff., Ixxxiii. 8 ff., Ixxxv. passim; on the Good, riches, poverty, etc., Ixxxvii. passim', vanity of, cii. 20 ff. ; cavillationes, sophismata, cxi. passim, cxiii. 26, cxvii. 25 ff.

Tabellariae (naves), packet-ships from Alexandria, Ixxvii. 1 f.

Theatre, hollowness of the pro- fession, Ixxx. 7 f.

Time, saving of, i. passim, xxxii. 3 f., xlix. 2 ff. ; discussed, Ixxxviii. 33 f. and note

translationes (metaphors), proper use of, lix. 6

Transplanting, of olive-trees and vines, Ixxxvi. 14 ff.

Travel, and peace of mind, xxviii. 1-8 ; hardships of sea- voyaging, liii. 1 ff. ; by land, Ivii. 1 ff. ; vanity of, Ixix. 1 ff., civ. 13 ff.

Virtue (passim), acquisition of, 1. 7 ff. ; power of, Ixiv. 6 ff., Ixvi. 2 ff. ; uniformity of, Ixxi. 8 ff., Ixxix. 10 ff. ; identical with truth, Ixxi. 16 ; twofold aspect of, xciv. 45 f. ; a vision of, ex v. 3 ff. ; divided into its parts, cxx. 11 f.

Virtues (prudence, justice, bravery, temperance), diiiciissed, Ixvii. 3 ff., Ixxxv. passim^ Ixxxviii. 29 ff. j

SUBJECT INDEX

prudence, bravery, justice, etc., xcv. 55 flf. ; whether they possess life, cxiii. passim Voice, training of the, xv. 7 ff.

Wealth, as handicap to philosophy, xvii. passim ; as a source of evil, Ixxxvii. 22 ff. ; to be avoided, civ. 84 ; scorn of, cviii. 11 f. ; empti- ness of, ex. 14 ff. ; the curse of.

cxv. 9 ff. ; the true variety, cxix. 5ff. Wisdom (sapientia, <Toj>ia), defined, XX. 5, Ixxxviii. 32 f. ; as an art, xxix. 3; the heritage of, Ixiv. 7 f. ; defined by Socrates, Ixxi. 7, Ixxxiv. 12 f. ; distinguished from philosophy, Ixxxix. 4 ff. ; her accomplishments, xc. 26 tt ; mutual benefits of, cix. 1 ff.

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Aristotle : Athenian Constitution, Eudemian Ethics, Virtues and Vices. H. Rackham.

Aristotle : The Categories. On Interpretation. H. P. Cooke ; Prior Analytics. H. Tredennick.

Aristotle : Generation of Animals. A. L. Peck.

Aristotle : Historia Animalium. A. L. Peck. 3 Vols. Vols. I and II.

Aristotle : Metaphysics. H. Tredennick. 2 Vols.

Aristotle : Meteorologica. H. D. P. Lee.

Aristotle : Minor Works. W. S. Hett. " On Colours," " On Things Heard," '' Physiognomies," " On Plants," " On Marvellous Things Heard," " Mechanical Prob- lems," '* On Invisible Lines," " Situations and Names of Winds," " On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias."

Aristotle : Nicomachean Ethics, H. Rackham.

Aristotle : Oeconomica and Magna Moralia. G. C. Armstrong. (With Metaphysics, Vol 11.)

Aristotle : On the Heavens. W. K. C. Guthrie.

Aristotle : On the Soul, Parva Naturalia, On Breath. W. S. Hett

Aristotle : Parts of Animals. A. L. Peck ; Movement AND Progression of Animals. E. S. Forster.

Aristotle : Physics. Rev. P. Wicksteed and F. M. Corn ford. 2 Vols.

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

Aristotle : Poetics ; Longinus on the Sublime. W.

Hamilton Fyfe ; Demetrius on Style. W. Rhys Roberts. Aristotle : Politics. H. Rackham. Aristotle : Posterior Analytics. H. Tredennick ; Topics.

E. S. Forster. Aristotle : Prohlems. W. S. Hett. 2 Vols. Aristotle : Rhetorica ad Alexandrum. H. Rackham.

(With Problems, Vol. H.) Aristotle : Sophistical Refutations. Coming-to-be and

Passing-away. E. S. Forster ; On the Cosmos. D. J.

Furley. Arrian : History of Alexander and Indica. Rev. E.

Iliife Robson. 2 Vols. Athenaeus : Deipnosophistae. C. B. Gulick. 7 Vols. Babrius and Phaedrus (Latin). B. E. Perry. St. Basil : Letters. R. J. Deferrari. 4 Vols. Callimachus : Fragments. C. A. Trypanis. Callimachus : Hymns and Epigrams, and Lycophron.

A. W. Mair ; Aratus. G. Pt. Mair. Clement of Alexandria. Rev. G. W. Butterworth. Colluthus. C/. Oppian. Daphnis and Chloe. C/. Longus. Demosthenes I : Olynthiacs, Philippics and Minor

Orations : I-XVII and XX. J. H. Vince. Demosthenes II : De Corona and De Falsa Legatione.

C. A. Vince and J. H. Vince. Demosthenes HI : Meidias, Androtion, Aristocrates,

TiMocRATES, Aristogeiton. J. H. Vincc. Demosthenes IV~VI : Private Orations and In Neaeram.

A. T. Murray. Demosthenes VII : Funeral Speech, Erotic Essay, Ex- ordia and Letters. N. W. and N. J. DeWitt. Dio Cassius : Roman History. E. Cary. 9 Vols. Dio Chrysostom. 5 Vols. Vols I and II. J. W. Cohoon.

Vol. III. J. W. Cohoon and H. Lamar Crosby. Vols. IV

and V. H. Lamar Crosby. DioDORus SicuLus. 12 Vols. Vols. I-VI. C. H. Oldfather.

Vol. VII. C.L.Sherman. Vol VIH. C.B.Welles. Vols.

IX and X. Riissel M. Geer. Vols. XI and XII. F. R.

Walton. General Index. Paissel M. Geer. Diogenes Laertius. R. D. Hicks. 2 Vols. DioNYsius OF PIalicarnassus : Roman Antiquities. Spel-

man's translation revised by E. Cary. 7 Vols, JIpictetus. W. a. Oldfather. 2 Vols.

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

Euripides. A. S. Way. 4 Vols. Verse trans.

EusEBius : Ecclesiastical History. Kirsopp Lake and J. E. L. Oiilton. 2 Vols.

Galen : On the Natural Faculties. A. J. Brock.

The Greek Anthology. W. R. Paton. 5 Vols.

The Greek Bucolic Poets (Theocritus, Bion, Moschus). J. M. Edmonds.

Greek Elegy and Iambus with the Anacreontea. J. M. Edmonds. 2 Vols.

Greek Mathematical Works. Ivor Thomas. 2 Vols.

Herodes. C/. Theophrastus : Characters.

Herodian : C. R. Whittaker. 2 Vols.

Herodotus. A. D. Godley. 4 Vols.

Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns. H. G. Evelyn White.

Hippocrates and the Fragments of Heracleitus. W. H. S. Jones and E. T. Withington. 4 Vols.

Homer : Iliad. A. T. Murray. 2 Vols.

Homer : Odyssey. A. T. Murray. 2 Vols.

Isaeus. E. S. Forster.

IsocRATES. George Norlin and LaRue Van Hook. 3 Vols.

[St. John Damascene] : Barlaam and Ioasaph. Rev. G. R. Woodward, Harold Mattingly and D. M. Lang.

JosEPHus. 9 Vols. Vols. I-IV. H. St. J. Thackeray. Vol. V. H. St. J. Thackeray and Ralph Marcus. Vols. VI and VII. Ralph Marcus. Vol. VIII. Ralph Marcus and Allen Wikgren. Vol. IX. L. H. Feldman.

Julian. Wilm-er Cave Wright. 3 Vols.

LiBANius : Selected Works. A. F. Norman. 3 Vols. Vol. L

Longus : Daphnis and Chloe. Thornley's translation re- vised by J. M. Edmonds ; and Parthenius. S. Gaselee.

LuciAN. 8 Vols. Vols I-V. A. M. Harmon. Vol. VI. K. Kilburn. Vols. VII and VIII. M. D. Macleod.

Lycophron. C/. Callimachus.

Lyra Graeca. J. M. Edmonds. 3 Vols.

Lysias. W. R. M. Lamb.

Manetho. W. G. Waddell ; Ptolemy : Tetrabiblos. F. E. Robbins.

Marcus Aurelius. C. R. Haines.

Menander. F. G. Allinson.

Minor Attic Orators. 2 Vols. K. J. Maidment and J. O. Burtt.

NoNNos : Dionysiaca. W. H. D. Rouse. 3 Vols.

Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus. a. W. Mair.

Papyri. Non-Literary Selections. A. S. Hunt and C. C.

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

Edgar. 2 Vols. Literary Selections (Poetry). D. L.

Page. Parthexius. Cf. LONGUS. Pausanias : Description of Greece. W. H. S. Jones. 4

Vols, and Companion Vol. arranged by R. E. Wycherley. Philo. 10 Vols. Vols. I-V. F. H. Colson and Rev. G. H.

Whitaker. Vols. VI-X. F. H. Colson. General Index.

Rev. J. W. Earp.

Two Supplementary Vols. Translation only from an Armenian Text. Ralph Marcus. Philostratus : The Life of Apollontus of Tyana. F. C.

Conybeare. 2 Vols. Philostratus : Imagines ; Callistratus : Descriptions.

A. Fairbanks.

Philostratus and Eunapius : Lives of the Sophists.

Wilrner Cave Wright. Pindar. Sir J. E. Sandys. Plato : Chaemides, Alcibiades, Hipparchus, The Lovers,

Theages, Minos and Epinomis. W. Pt. M. Lamb. Plato : Cratylus, Parmenides, Greater Hippias, Lesser

HippiAs. H. N. Fowler. Plato : Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Pjiaedrus.

H. N. Fowler. Plato : Laches, Protagoras, Meno, Euthydemus.

W. R. M. Lamb. Plato : Laws. Rev. R. G. Bury. 2 Vols. Plato : Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias. W. R. M. Lamb. Plato : Republic. Paul Shorey. 2 Vols. Plato : Statesman. Philebus. H. N. Fowler ; Ion.

W. R. M. Lamb. Plato : Theaetetus and Sophist. H. N. Fowler. Plato : Timaeus, Critias, Clitopho, Menexenus, Epi-

STULAE. Rev. R. G. Bury. Plotinus. a. H. Armstrong. 6 Vols. Vols. I-III. Plutarch : Moralia. 16 Vols. Vols. I-V. F. C. Babbitt.

Vol. VI. W. C. Helmbold. Vol. VII. P. H. De Lacy and

B. Einarson. Vol. VIII. P. A. Clement, PL B. Hoffleit. Vol. IX. E. L. Minar, Jr., F. H. Sandbach, W. C. Helmbold. Vol. X. H. N. Fowler. Vok XL L.Pearson, F. H. Sandbach. Vol. XII. H. Cherniss, W. C. Helmbold. Vol. XIV. P. H. De Lacy and B. Einarson. Vol. XV. F. H. Sandbach.

Plutarch : The Parallel Lives. B. Perrin. 11 Vols. PoLYBius. W. R. Paton. 6 Vols.

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

Procopius : History of the Wars. H. B. Dewing. 7 Vols.

Ptolemy : Tetrabiblos. C/. Manetho.

QuiNTus S:myrnaeus. A. S. Way. Verse trans.

Sextus Empiricus. Rev. R. G. Bury. 4 Vols.

Sophocles. F. Storr. 2 Vols. Verse trans.

Strabo : Geography. Horace L. Jones. 8 Vols.

Theopiirastus : Characters. J. M. Edmonds ; Herodes, etc. A. D. Knox.

Theophrastus : Enquiry into Plants. Sir Arthur Hort. 2 Vols.

Thucydides. C. F. Smith. 4 Vols.

Tryphiodorus. C/. Oppian.

Xenophon : Anabasis. C. L. Brownson.

Xenophon : Cyropaedia. Walter Miller. 2 Vols.

Xenophon : Hellenica. C. L. Brownson.

Xenophon : Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. E. C. Mar- chant. Symposium and Apology. O. J. Todd.

Xenophon : Scripta Minora. E. C. Marchant and G. W. Bowersock.

VOLUMES IN PREPARATION

GREEK AUTHORS

Aristides : Orations. C. A. Behr.

Musaeus : Hero and Leander. T. Gelzer and C. H.

Whitman. Theophrastus : De Causis Plantarum. G. K. K. Link and

B. Einarson.

LATIN AUTHORS

AscoNius : Commentaries on Cicero's Orations. G, W.

Bowersock. Benedict : The Rule. P. Meyvaert. Justin-Trogus. R. Moss. Manilius. G. p. Goold.

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Source

Epistulae Morales I Books I-Lxv

R. M. Gummere

Ad Lucilium Epistulaf

Fines For Overdue Material. Per Calendar Day: . '.

The Loeb Classical Library Founded By James Loeb, Ll.D. Edited By

Previous Editors

Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales I

Seneca In Ten Volumes Iv Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales With An English Translation By

Contents Of Volume I Page

Xiv. On The Reasons For Withdrawing From

Xx. Xxi. Xxii, Xxiii. Xxiv. Xxv. Xxxvi. Xxvii. Olb Nue Xxaix. Xxx. Xxxi. Xxxii.

On The Futility Of Half-Way Measures On The True Joy Which Comes From

On Noble Aspirations . :

Quiet And Study The Trials Of Travel

Introduction

The Text

Liii.-Lxxxviii. V.

Bibliography

The Epistles Of Seneca L. Annaei Senecae Ad Lucilium Epistulae E

The Epistles Of Seneca I. On Saving Time

The Epistles Of Seneca

Epistle I.

Epistle Ii. It. On Discursiveness In Reading

Epistles Ii., Iii.

Epistle Iii.

Epistles Iii., Iv.

Iv. On The Terrors Of Death

Epistle Iv.

Epistle V.

Epistles V., Vi.

Vi. On Sharing Knowledge

Epistle Vi.

Epistles Vi., Vil.

Vii. On Crowds

Epistle Vii.

Epistles Vil, Viii.

Epistle Viii.

Epistles Viii, Ix.

Ix. On Philosophy And Friendship

Epistle Ix.

Epistles Ix., X.

X. On Living To Oneself

Epistle X.

The Epistles Of Seneca Xi.

Epistle Xi. Xi. On The Blush Of Modesty

Epistle Xi.

Epistles Xi., Xii.

Xii. On Old Age

Epistle Xii.

Vale. Xiii.

Epistles Xii., Xiii.

Xiii. On Groundless Fears

Epistle Xiii.

The Epistles Of Seneca Mv:

Epistle Xiv. Xiv. On The Reasons For With- Drawing From The World

Epistle Xiv.

Epistles Xiv., Xv.

Xv. On Brawn And Brains

Epistle Xv.

Vale. Xvi.

Epistles Xv., Xvi.

Xvi. On Philosophy, The Guide Of Life

Epistle Xvi.

Epistles Xvi., Xvii.

Xvii. On Philosophy And Riches

Epistle Xvii.

Dov Itt:

Epistles Xvii., Xviii.

Xviii. On Festivals And Fasting

Epistle Xviii.

Epistles Xviii... Xix.

Xix. On Worldliness And Retirement

Epistle Xix.

Epistles Xix., Xx.

Xx. On Practising What You Preach

Epistle Xx.

Epistles Xx.,, Xxi.

Xxi. On The Renown Which My Writings Will Bring You

Epistle Xxii.