Letter 2

From what you write, and from what I hear, Lucilius, I am forming a good opinion of your future. You are not running from place to place or distracting yourself by changing where you live. That kind of restlessness is the sign of a disordered spirit. The first proof of a well-ordered mind, in my judgment, is the ability to stay in one place and keep company with oneself. But take care that reading many authors and every sort of book does not make you scattered and unstable. You should linger with a limited number of master thinkers and digest their work, if you want ideas that take firm hold in your mind. To be everywhere is to be nowhere. A person who spends all his time traveling abroad ends up with many acquaintances and no friends. The same is true of people who never become intimate with any one author, but hurry past them all as if merely paying visits. Food does no good and is not absorbed into the body if it leaves the stomach as soon as it is eaten. Nothing interferes with healing so much as changing medicine again and again. A wound will not close if one salve after another is tried on it. A plant that is often moved never grows strong. Nothing is so effective that it can help while it is being shifted about. So too with reading many books: there is distraction in it. Since you cannot read all the books you own, it is enough to own only as many as you can read. "But," you say, "I want to dip first into one book and then another." That is the mark of a fussy appetite, playing with many dishes. When foods are too numerous and varied, they cloy rather than nourish. Read the standard authors steadily; when you want a change, return to those you have read before. Each day acquire something that will strengthen you against poverty, against death, and against other misfortunes as well. After you have looked over many thoughts, choose one to digest thoroughly that day. This is my own practice: from the many things I read, I claim one part for myself. Today's thought is one I found in Epicurus. I am accustomed to cross even into the enemy's camp, not as a deserter but as a scout. He says, "Contented poverty is an honorable condition." Indeed, if poverty is contented, it is not poverty at all. The poor person is not the one who has too little, but the one who wants more. What does it matter how much a person has in his safe or warehouse, how many animals he feeds or how much interest he collects, if he is still reaching for someone else's property and counting not what he has gained but what he hopes to gain? Do you ask what the right measure of wealth is? First, to have what is necessary; next, to have what is enough. Farewell.

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. Everywhere 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 acquaintance 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, “I wish to dip first into one book and then into another.” I tell you that it is the sign of an overnice appetite to toy with many dishes; for when 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.

[1] 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 compositae mentis existimo posse consistere et secum morari. [2] Illud autem vide, ne ista lectio auctorum multorum et omnis generis voluminum habeat aliquid vagum et instabile. Certis ingeniis immorari et innutriri oportet, si velis aliquid trahere quod in animo fideliter sedeat. Nusquam est qui ubique est. Vitam in peregrinatione 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. [3] Non prodest cibus nec corpori accedit qui statim sumptus emittitur; nihil aeque sanitatem impedit quam remediorum crebra mutatio; 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. [4] 'Sed modo' inquis 'hunc librum evolvere volo, modo illum.' Fastidientis stomachi est multa degustare; quae ubi 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 auxili compara, nec minus adversus ceteras pestes; et cum multa percurreris, unum excerpe quod illo die concoquas. [5] Hoc ipse quoque facio; ex pluribus quae legi aliquid apprehendo. Hodiernum hoc est quod apud Epicurum nanctus sum - soleo enim et in aliena castra transire, non tamquam transfuga, sed tamquam explorator -: 'honesta' inquit 'res est laeta paupertas'. [6] Illa vero non est paupertas, si laeta est; non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est. Quid enim refert quantum illi in arca, quantum in horreis iaceat, quantum pascat aut feneret, si alieno imminet, si non acquisita sed acquirenda computat? Quis sit divitiarum modus quaeris? primus habere quod necesse est, proximus quod sat est. Vale.