Lucius Annaeus Seneca→Lucilius Junior|c. 65 AD|Seneca the Younger|From Southern Italy (regional)|To Sicily (regional)|AI-assisted
[1] Where is that good sense of yours? Where your sharpness in examining matters? Where your greatness of soul? Does so trifling a thing touch you? Your slaves judged your preoccupations to be an opportunity for flight. If your friends had deceived you (for by all means let them keep the name our error has imposed on them, and let them be called what makes their failure all the more shameful) [...] all your affairs lack only those men who were both wasting your effort and supposing you to be a burden to others.
[2] None of these things is unusual, none unexpected; to be offended by such matters is as ridiculous as to complain of being splashed in the bath or jostled in public or befouled in the mud. The condition of life is the same as that of the bath, the crowd, the road: some things will be flung at you, some will fall upon you by chance. Living is not a delicate business. You have set out on a long road: you must slip and collide and fall and grow weary and cry out, 'O death!' -- that is, you must lie. In one place you will leave a companion behind, in another you will carry one out for burial, in another you will be afraid: through stumblings of this kind you must measure out this rough journey.
[3] Does a man wish to die? Let his mind be prepared against all things; let it know it has come to where the lightning thunders; let it know it has come to where
dwell pale Diseases and gloomy Old Age. [a line adapted from Virgil, Aeneid 6.275, describing the threshold of the underworld]
In such company life must be passed. You cannot escape these things, but you can despise them; and you will despise them if you reflect often and anticipate what is to come. [4] There is no one who has not approached more bravely the thing for which he had long composed himself, and who has not withstood even hard trials if they had been thought through beforehand; whereas, on the contrary, the unprepared man has been terrified even by the lightest of things. This must be our task: that nothing be unforeseen by us; and because all things are heavier through their novelty, constant reflection will ensure this -- that you be a raw recruit to no misfortune.
[5] 'My slaves have abandoned me.' Another man they have plundered, another they have accused, another they have killed, another they have betrayed, another they have beaten, another they have attacked with poison, another with slander: whatever you may name has befallen many [...] thereafter the many and various weapons that are aimed at us. Some are fixed in us, some are quivering and at this very moment arriving, some, on their way to others, only graze us. [6] Let us be surprised at none of those things for which we were born, things that no one should lament, precisely because they are equal for all. I say it deliberately: they are equal; for even what someone has escaped he could have suffered. And a just law consists not of what all have undergone but of what has been laid down for all. Let fairness be commanded over the mind, and without complaint let us pay the tribute of our mortality.
[7] Winter brings on the cold: we must shiver. Summer brings back the heat: we must swelter. The intemperance of the sky assails our health: we must fall ill. In some place a wild beast will meet us, and a man more destructive than any beast. Water will snatch away one thing, fire another. This condition of things we cannot change: what we can do is to take up a great spirit, worthy of a good man, by which we may bravely endure what chance brings and may consent to Nature. [8] Now Nature governs this kingdom that you see by means of changes: clear skies succeed clouds; the seas are stirred up after they have grown calm; the winds blow in turn; day follows night; one part of the heavens rises, another sinks: it is of opposites that the eternity of things is constituted. [9] To this law our mind must be fitted; let it follow this law, let it obey it; and let it consider that whatever happens had to happen, and let it not wish to reproach Nature. The best thing is to endure what you cannot mend, and to accompany without grumbling the god by whose authorship all things come to pass: he is a bad soldier who follows his commander while groaning. [10] Therefore let us, untiring and eager, receive his commands, and let us not desert the course of this most beautiful work, into which whatever we shall suffer is woven; and let us address Jupiter, by whose helm this great mass is steered, just as our own Cleanthes addresses him in most eloquent verses [Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher and head of the Stoa] -- verses which I am permitted to render into our own speech after the example of Cicero, that most eloquent of men. If they please you, take them in good part; if they displease you, you will know that in this I have followed Cicero's example.
[11] [The verse translation of Cleanthes' hymn is absent from the source text at this point.]
[12] Let us live thus, let us speak thus; let fate find us ready and untiring. This is the great soul, the one that has handed itself over to fate; on the contrary, that soul is petty and degenerate which struggles against it, thinks ill of the order of the world, and would rather mend the gods than itself. Farewell.
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 something; 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 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, betrayed, stamped under foot, attacked by poison or by slander; no matter what trouble you mention, it has happened to many. Again, there are manifold 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 themselves, 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, and to attend uncomplainingly upon the God under whose guidance everything progresses; for it is a bad soldier who grumbles when following his commander. 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 suffer,
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 himself. Farewell.
[1] Ubi illa prudentia tua? ubi in dispiciendis rebus subtilitas? ubimagnitudo? Tam pusilla <te res> tangit? Servi occupationes tuas occasionemfugae putaverunt. Si amici deciperent (habeant enim sane nomen quod illisnoster error inposuit, et vocentur quo turpius non sint) * * * omnibusrebus tuis desunt illi qui et operam tuam conterebant et te aliis molestumesse credebant. [2] Nihil horum insolitum, nihil inexpectatum est; offendi rebus istis tam ridiculum est quam queri quod spargaris <in balneo autvexeris> in publico aut inquineris in luto. Eadem vitae condicio est quaebalnei, turbae, itineris: quaedam in te mittentur, quaedam incident. Nonest delicata res vivere. Longam viam ingressus es: et labaris oportet etarietes et cadas et lasseris et exclames 'o mors!', id est mentiaris. Alioloco comitem relinques, alio efferes, alio timebis: per eiusmodi offensasemetiendum est confragosum hoc iter. [3] Mori vult? praeparetur animuscontra omnia; sciat se venisse ubi tonat fulmen; sciat se venisse ubi
pallentesque habitant Morbi tristisque Senectus.
In hoc contubernio vita degenda est. Effugere ista non potes, comtemnerepotes; contemnes autem si saepe cogitaveris et futura praesumpseris. [4]Nemo non fortius ad id cui se diu composuerat accessit et duris quoque, si praemeditata erant, obstitit: at contra inparatus etiam levissima expavit. Id agendum est ne quid nobis inopinatum sit; et quia omnia novitate graviorasunt, hoc cogitatio adsidua praestabit, ut nulli sis malo tiro.
[5] 'Servi me reliquerunt. ' Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium prodiderunt, alium mulcaverunt, alium veneno, aliumcriminatione petierunt: quidquid dixeris multis accidit * * * deincepsquae multa et varia sunt in nos deriguntur. Quaedam in nos fixa sunt, quaedamvibrant et cum maxime veniunt, quaedam in alios perventura nos stringunt. [6] Nihil miremur eorum ad quae nati sumus, quae ideo nulli querenda quiaparia sunt omnibus. Ita dico, paria sunt; nam etiam quod effugit aliquispati potuit. Aequum autem ius est non quo omnes usi sunt sed quod omnibuslatum est. Imperetur aequitas animo et sine querella mortalitatis tributapendamus. [7] Hiems frigora adducit: algendum est. Aestas calores refert:aestuandum est. Intemperies caeli valetudinem 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 fortiterfortuita patiamur et naturae consentiamus. [8] Natura autem hoc quod videsregnum mutationibus temperat: nubilo serena succedunt; turbantur mariacum quieverunt; flant in vicem venti; noctem dies sequitur; pars caeliconsurgit, pars mergitur: contrariis rerum aeternitas constat. [9] Ad hanclegem animus noster aptandus est; hanc sequatur, huic pareat; et quaecumquefiunt debuisse fieri putet nec velit obiurgare naturam. Optimum est patiquod emendare non possis, et deum quo auctore cuncta proveniunt sine murmurationecomitari: malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur. [10] Quare inpigriatque alacres excipiamus imperia nec deseramus hunc operis pulcherrimicursum, cui quidquid patiemur intextum est; et sic adloquamur Iovem, cuiusgubernaculo moles ista derigitur, quemadmodum Cleanthes noster versibusdisertissimis adloquitur, quos mihi in nostrum sermonem mutare permittiturCiceronis, disertissimi viri, exemplo. Si placuerint, boni consules; sidisplicuerint, scies me in hoc secutum Ciceronis exemplum.
[11]
[12] Sic vivamus, sic loquamur; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum. Hic est magnus animus qui se ei tradidit: at contra ille pusillus et degenerqui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deosquam se. Vale.
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[1] Where is that good sense of yours? Where your sharpness in examining matters? Where your greatness of soul? Does so trifling a thing touch you? Your slaves judged your preoccupations to be an opportunity for flight. If your friends had deceived you (for by all means let them keep the name our error has imposed on them, and let them be called what makes their failure all the more shameful) [...] all your affairs lack only those men who were both wasting your effort and supposing you to be a burden to others.
[2] None of these things is unusual, none unexpected; to be offended by such matters is as ridiculous as to complain of being splashed in the bath or jostled in public or befouled in the mud. The condition of life is the same as that of the bath, the crowd, the road: some things will be flung at you, some will fall upon you by chance. Living is not a delicate business. You have set out on a long road: you must slip and collide and fall and grow weary and cry out, 'O death!' -- that is, you must lie. In one place you will leave a companion behind, in another you will carry one out for burial, in another you will be afraid: through stumblings of this kind you must measure out this rough journey.
[3] Does a man wish to die? Let his mind be prepared against all things; let it know it has come to where the lightning thunders; let it know it has come to where
dwell pale Diseases and gloomy Old Age. [a line adapted from Virgil, Aeneid 6.275, describing the threshold of the underworld]
In such company life must be passed. You cannot escape these things, but you can despise them; and you will despise them if you reflect often and anticipate what is to come. [4] There is no one who has not approached more bravely the thing for which he had long composed himself, and who has not withstood even hard trials if they had been thought through beforehand; whereas, on the contrary, the unprepared man has been terrified even by the lightest of things. This must be our task: that nothing be unforeseen by us; and because all things are heavier through their novelty, constant reflection will ensure this -- that you be a raw recruit to no misfortune.
[5] 'My slaves have abandoned me.' Another man they have plundered, another they have accused, another they have killed, another they have betrayed, another they have beaten, another they have attacked with poison, another with slander: whatever you may name has befallen many [...] thereafter the many and various weapons that are aimed at us. Some are fixed in us, some are quivering and at this very moment arriving, some, on their way to others, only graze us. [6] Let us be surprised at none of those things for which we were born, things that no one should lament, precisely because they are equal for all. I say it deliberately: they are equal; for even what someone has escaped he could have suffered. And a just law consists not of what all have undergone but of what has been laid down for all. Let fairness be commanded over the mind, and without complaint let us pay the tribute of our mortality.
[7] Winter brings on the cold: we must shiver. Summer brings back the heat: we must swelter. The intemperance of the sky assails our health: we must fall ill. In some place a wild beast will meet us, and a man more destructive than any beast. Water will snatch away one thing, fire another. This condition of things we cannot change: what we can do is to take up a great spirit, worthy of a good man, by which we may bravely endure what chance brings and may consent to Nature. [8] Now Nature governs this kingdom that you see by means of changes: clear skies succeed clouds; the seas are stirred up after they have grown calm; the winds blow in turn; day follows night; one part of the heavens rises, another sinks: it is of opposites that the eternity of things is constituted. [9] To this law our mind must be fitted; let it follow this law, let it obey it; and let it consider that whatever happens had to happen, and let it not wish to reproach Nature. The best thing is to endure what you cannot mend, and to accompany without grumbling the god by whose authorship all things come to pass: he is a bad soldier who follows his commander while groaning. [10] Therefore let us, untiring and eager, receive his commands, and let us not desert the course of this most beautiful work, into which whatever we shall suffer is woven; and let us address Jupiter, by whose helm this great mass is steered, just as our own Cleanthes addresses him in most eloquent verses [Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher and head of the Stoa] -- verses which I am permitted to render into our own speech after the example of Cicero, that most eloquent of men. If they please you, take them in good part; if they displease you, you will know that in this I have followed Cicero's example.
[11] [The verse translation of Cleanthes' hymn is absent from the source text at this point.]
[12] Let us live thus, let us speak thus; let fate find us ready and untiring. This is the great soul, the one that has handed itself over to fate; on the contrary, that soul is petty and degenerate which struggles against it, thinks ill of the order of the world, and would rather mend the gods than itself. Farewell.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
[1] Ubi illa prudentia tua? ubi in dispiciendis rebus subtilitas? ubimagnitudo? Tam pusilla <te res> tangit? Servi occupationes tuas occasionemfugae putaverunt. Si amici deciperent (habeant enim sane nomen quod illisnoster error inposuit, et vocentur quo turpius non sint) * * * omnibusrebus tuis desunt illi qui et operam tuam conterebant et te aliis molestumesse credebant. [2] Nihil horum insolitum, nihil inexpectatum est; offendi rebus istis tam ridiculum est quam queri quod spargaris <in balneo autvexeris> in publico aut inquineris in luto. Eadem vitae condicio est quaebalnei, turbae, itineris: quaedam in te mittentur, quaedam incident. Nonest delicata res vivere. Longam viam ingressus es: et labaris oportet etarietes et cadas et lasseris et exclames 'o mors!', id est mentiaris. Alioloco comitem relinques, alio efferes, alio timebis: per eiusmodi offensasemetiendum est confragosum hoc iter. [3] Mori vult? praeparetur animuscontra omnia; sciat se venisse ubi tonat fulmen; sciat se venisse ubi
pallentesque habitant Morbi tristisque Senectus.
In hoc contubernio vita degenda est. Effugere ista non potes, comtemnerepotes; contemnes autem si saepe cogitaveris et futura praesumpseris. [4]Nemo non fortius ad id cui se diu composuerat accessit et duris quoque, si praemeditata erant, obstitit: at contra inparatus etiam levissima expavit. Id agendum est ne quid nobis inopinatum sit; et quia omnia novitate graviorasunt, hoc cogitatio adsidua praestabit, ut nulli sis malo tiro.
[5] 'Servi me reliquerunt. ' Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium prodiderunt, alium mulcaverunt, alium veneno, aliumcriminatione petierunt: quidquid dixeris multis accidit * * * deincepsquae multa et varia sunt in nos deriguntur. Quaedam in nos fixa sunt, quaedamvibrant et cum maxime veniunt, quaedam in alios perventura nos stringunt. [6] Nihil miremur eorum ad quae nati sumus, quae ideo nulli querenda quiaparia sunt omnibus. Ita dico, paria sunt; nam etiam quod effugit aliquispati potuit. Aequum autem ius est non quo omnes usi sunt sed quod omnibuslatum est. Imperetur aequitas animo et sine querella mortalitatis tributapendamus. [7] Hiems frigora adducit: algendum est. Aestas calores refert:aestuandum est. Intemperies caeli valetudinem 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 fortiterfortuita patiamur et naturae consentiamus. [8] Natura autem hoc quod videsregnum mutationibus temperat: nubilo serena succedunt; turbantur mariacum quieverunt; flant in vicem venti; noctem dies sequitur; pars caeliconsurgit, pars mergitur: contrariis rerum aeternitas constat. [9] Ad hanclegem animus noster aptandus est; hanc sequatur, huic pareat; et quaecumquefiunt debuisse fieri putet nec velit obiurgare naturam. Optimum est patiquod emendare non possis, et deum quo auctore cuncta proveniunt sine murmurationecomitari: malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur. [10] Quare inpigriatque alacres excipiamus imperia nec deseramus hunc operis pulcherrimicursum, cui quidquid patiemur intextum est; et sic adloquamur Iovem, cuiusgubernaculo moles ista derigitur, quemadmodum Cleanthes noster versibusdisertissimis adloquitur, quos mihi in nostrum sermonem mutare permittiturCiceronis, disertissimi viri, exemplo. Si placuerint, boni consules; sidisplicuerint, scies me in hoc secutum Ciceronis exemplum.
[11]
[12] Sic vivamus, sic loquamur; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum. Hic est magnus animus qui se ei tradidit: at contra ille pusillus et degenerqui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deosquam se. Vale.