Lucius Annaeus Seneca→Lucilius Junior|c. 63 AD|Seneca the Younger|From Southern Italy (regional)|To Sicily (regional)|AI-assisted
Do you think your trouble is with the people you wrote to me about? Your greatest trouble is with yourself. You are your own obstacle. You do not know what you want. You are better at approving the right path than at following it. You see where true happiness lies, but you do not yet have the courage to reach it. Let me tell you what is holding you back, since you do not see it clearly yourself.
You think the life you are about to leave is important. Even after you have decided on the calm condition you hope to enter, the shine of your present life holds you back, as though leaving it meant falling into filth and darkness. That is a mistake, Lucilius. Moving from your present life into the other one is a promotion. The difference between them is the difference between mere brightness and real light. One has a definite source within itself; the other borrows its radiance from elsewhere. If anyone stands between it and the thing that lights it, it falls at once into heavy shadow. But real light glows from within.
Your own studies will make you shine and will make you distinguished. Let me bring in Epicurus. He wrote to Idomeneus, trying to recall him from a showy public life to a fame that was secure and lasting. Idomeneus was then a powerful minister, exercising stern authority and handling important business. "If fame attracts you," Epicurus said, "my letters will make you more famous than everything you cherish and everything that makes you cherished."
Was Epicurus wrong? Who would have known Idomeneus if the philosopher had not engraved his name in those letters? All the great men, the provincial governors, even the king from whom Idomeneus sought his title, have sunk into deep oblivion. Cicero's letters keep the name of Atticus from disappearing. It would not have helped Atticus to have Agrippa as a son-in-law, Tiberius as a grandson-in-law, and Drusus Caesar as a great-grandson. Among such mighty names, his own would never be spoken if Cicero had not bound it to his own. The deep flood of time will roll over us. A few great spirits will lift their heads above it, and though they too are destined at last for the same silence, they will fight against oblivion and hold their ground for a long while.
What Epicurus could promise his friend, I promise you, Lucilius. I shall have some favor with later generations, and I can take with me names that will endure as long as mine. Our poet Virgil promised eternal fame to two heroes, and he is keeping his promise:
Fortunate pair! If my song has any power,
your names will never be erased from time
while the house of Aeneas keeps the Capitol,
that unmoving rock, and a Roman father rules.
People whom Fortune has pushed forward, people who become part of someone else's influence, have plenty of favor and crowded houses only while they themselves keep their position. Once they leave it, they disappear from memory. But with native talent, respect grows over time; and not only does honor gather around the person himself, but whatever has attached itself to his memory is handed on from one person to another.
So that Idomeneus does not enter my letter for free, let him pay the debt from his own account. Epicurus wrote to him the famous saying about making Pythocles rich, but not rich in the common and ambiguous sense. "If you want to make Pythocles rich," he said, "do not add to his money; subtract from his desires." This thought is too clear to need explanation and too sharp to need support. But I want to warn you not to think it applies only to wealth. It has the same force wherever you put it: if you want to make Pythocles honorable, do not add to his honors, but subtract from his desires; if you want him to have pleasure forever, do not add to his pleasures, but subtract from his desires; if you want to make him an old man whose life is full, do not add to his years, but subtract from his desires.
There is no reason to think these words belong to Epicurus alone. They are public property. I think we should do in philosophy what people often do in the Senate: when someone has made a motion that I approve only in part, I ask him to divide it, and I vote for the part I approve. I am all the more glad to repeat the excellent sayings of Epicurus, because I want to prove to people who run to him from bad motives, imagining that he will shelter their vices, that they must live honorably no matter what school they follow.
Go to his Garden [Epicurus's school at Athens] and read the motto carved there: "Stranger, here you will do well to stay; here our highest good is pleasure." The keeper of that home, a kind host, will be ready for you. He will welcome you with barley meal and serve you plenty of water, saying, "Have you not been well entertained?" This garden does not sharpen appetite; it quenches it. It does not make you thirstier with every drink; it relieves thirst by a natural cure, one that charges no fee. This is the "pleasure" in which Epicurus grew old.
When I speak with you, however, I mean the desires that refuse relief and must be bribed before they will stop. As for the occasional desires that can be postponed, disciplined, and checked, I have only this to say: a pleasure of that kind may be according to our nature, but it is not one of our needs. We owe it nothing; whatever is spent on it is a gift. The belly will not listen to advice. It makes demands; it presses its claim. Yet it is not a troublesome creditor. You can dismiss it at small cost, provided that you give it what you owe, not everything you are able to give. Farewell.
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 than 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 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 philosopher 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. 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.
That which Epicurus could promise his friend, this I promise you, Lucilius. 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 increases, 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 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, I 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 bribed to cease. For in regard to the exceptional desires, which may be postponed, which may be chastened and checked, I 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 is a 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.
[1] Cum istis tibi esse negotium iudicas de quibus scripseras? Maximum negotium tecum habes, tu tibi molestus es. Quid velis nescis, melius probas honesta quam sequeris, vides ubi sit posita felicitas sed ad illam pervenire non audes. Quid sit autem quod te impediat, quia parum ipse dispicis, dicam: magna esse haec existimas quae relicturus es, et cum proposuisti tibi illam securitatem ad quam transiturus es, retinet te huius vitae a qua recessurus es fulgor tamquam in sordida et obscura casurum. [2] Erras, Lucili: ex hac vita ad illam ascenditur. Quod interest inter splendorem et lucem, cum haec certam originem habeat ac suam, ille niteat alieno, hoc inter hanc vitam et illam: haec fulgore extrinsecus veniente percussa est, crassam illi statim umbram faciet quisquis obstiterit: illa suo lumine illustris est. Studia te tua clarum et nobilem efficient. [3] Exemplum Epicuri referam. Cum Idomeneo scriberet et illum a vita speciosa ad fidelem stabilemque gloriam revocaret, regiae tunc potentiae ministrum et magna tractantem, 'si gloria' inquit 'tangeris, notiorem te epistulae meae facient quam omnia ista quae colis et propter quae coleris'. [4] Numquid ergo mentitus est? quis Idomenea nosset nisi Epicurus illum litteris suis incidisset? Omnes illos megistanas et satrapas et regem ipsum ex quo Idomenei titulus petebatur oblivio alta suppressit. Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistulae non sinunt. Nihil illi profuisset gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drusus Caesar pronepos; inter tam magna nomina taceretur nisi <sibi> Cicero illum applicuisset. [5] Profunda super nos altitudo temporis veniet, pauca ingenia caput exserent et in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent ac se diu vindicabunt. Quod Epicurus amico suo potuit promittere, hoc tibi promitto, Lucili: habebo apud posteros gratiam, possum mecum duratura nomina educere. Vergilius noster duobus memoriam aeternam promisit et praestat:
[6] Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicumque membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerant, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt: post ipsos cito memoria defecit. Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quidquid illorum memoriae adhaesit excipitur.
[7] Ne gratis Idomeneus in epistulam meam venerit, ipse eam de suo redimet. Ad hunc Epicurus illam nobilem sententiam scripsit qua hortatur ut Pythoclea locupletem non publica nec ancipiti via faciat. 'Si vis' inquit 'Pythoclea divitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum sed cupiditati detrahendum est.' [8] Et apertior ista sententia est quam <ut> interpretanda sit, et disertior quam ut adiuvanda. Hoc unum te admoneo, ne istud tantum existimes de divits dictum: quocumque transtuleris, idem poterit. Si vis Pythoclea honestum facere, non honoribus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea esse in perpetua voluptate, non voluptatibus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea senem facere et implere vitam, non annis adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum. [9] Has voces non est quod Epicuri esse iudices: publicae sunt. Quod fieri in senatu solet faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo: cum censuit aliquis quod ex parte mihi placeat, iubeo illum dividere sententiam et sequor quod probo.
Eo libentius Epicuri egregia dicta commemoro, ut istis qui ad illum confugiunt spe mala inducti, qui velamentum ipsos vitiorum suorum habituros existimant, probent quocumque ierint honeste esse vivendum. [10] Cum adieris eius hortulos +et inscriptum hortulis+ 'HOSPES HIC BENE MANEBIS, HIC SVMMVM BONVM VOLVPTAS EST' paratus erit istius domicilii custos hospitalis, humanus, et te polenta excipiet et aquam quoque large ministrabit et dicet, 'ecquid bene acceptus es?' 'Non irritant' inquit 'hi hortuli famem sed exstinguunt, nec maiorem ipsis potionibus sitim faciunt, sed naturali et gratuito remedio sedant; in hac voluptate consenui.' [11] De his tecum desideriis loquor quae consolationem non recipiunt, quibus dandum est aliquid ut desinant. Nam de illis extraordinariis quae licet differre, licet castigare et opprimere, hoc unum commonefaciam: ista voluptas naturalis est, non necessaria. Huic nihil debes; si quid impendis, voluntarium est. Venter praecepta non audit: poscit, appellat. Non est tamen molestus creditor: parvo dimittitur, si modo das illi quod debes, non quod potes. Vale.
Seneca the YoungerThe Latin Library The Classics Page
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Do you think your trouble is with the people you wrote to me about? Your greatest trouble is with yourself. You are your own obstacle. You do not know what you want. You are better at approving the right path than at following it. You see where true happiness lies, but you do not yet have the courage to reach it. Let me tell you what is holding you back, since you do not see it clearly yourself.
You think the life you are about to leave is important. Even after you have decided on the calm condition you hope to enter, the shine of your present life holds you back, as though leaving it meant falling into filth and darkness. That is a mistake, Lucilius. Moving from your present life into the other one is a promotion. The difference between them is the difference between mere brightness and real light. One has a definite source within itself; the other borrows its radiance from elsewhere. If anyone stands between it and the thing that lights it, it falls at once into heavy shadow. But real light glows from within.
Your own studies will make you shine and will make you distinguished. Let me bring in Epicurus. He wrote to Idomeneus, trying to recall him from a showy public life to a fame that was secure and lasting. Idomeneus was then a powerful minister, exercising stern authority and handling important business. "If fame attracts you," Epicurus said, "my letters will make you more famous than everything you cherish and everything that makes you cherished."
Was Epicurus wrong? Who would have known Idomeneus if the philosopher had not engraved his name in those letters? All the great men, the provincial governors, even the king from whom Idomeneus sought his title, have sunk into deep oblivion. Cicero's letters keep the name of Atticus from disappearing. It would not have helped Atticus to have Agrippa as a son-in-law, Tiberius as a grandson-in-law, and Drusus Caesar as a great-grandson. Among such mighty names, his own would never be spoken if Cicero had not bound it to his own. The deep flood of time will roll over us. A few great spirits will lift their heads above it, and though they too are destined at last for the same silence, they will fight against oblivion and hold their ground for a long while.
What Epicurus could promise his friend, I promise you, Lucilius. I shall have some favor with later generations, and I can take with me names that will endure as long as mine. Our poet Virgil promised eternal fame to two heroes, and he is keeping his promise:
Fortunate pair! If my song has any power, your names will never be erased from time while the house of Aeneas keeps the Capitol, that unmoving rock, and a Roman father rules.
People whom Fortune has pushed forward, people who become part of someone else's influence, have plenty of favor and crowded houses only while they themselves keep their position. Once they leave it, they disappear from memory. But with native talent, respect grows over time; and not only does honor gather around the person himself, but whatever has attached itself to his memory is handed on from one person to another.
So that Idomeneus does not enter my letter for free, let him pay the debt from his own account. Epicurus wrote to him the famous saying about making Pythocles rich, but not rich in the common and ambiguous sense. "If you want to make Pythocles rich," he said, "do not add to his money; subtract from his desires." This thought is too clear to need explanation and too sharp to need support. But I want to warn you not to think it applies only to wealth. It has the same force wherever you put it: if you want to make Pythocles honorable, do not add to his honors, but subtract from his desires; if you want him to have pleasure forever, do not add to his pleasures, but subtract from his desires; if you want to make him an old man whose life is full, do not add to his years, but subtract from his desires.
There is no reason to think these words belong to Epicurus alone. They are public property. I think we should do in philosophy what people often do in the Senate: when someone has made a motion that I approve only in part, I ask him to divide it, and I vote for the part I approve. I am all the more glad to repeat the excellent sayings of Epicurus, because I want to prove to people who run to him from bad motives, imagining that he will shelter their vices, that they must live honorably no matter what school they follow.
Go to his Garden [Epicurus's school at Athens] and read the motto carved there: "Stranger, here you will do well to stay; here our highest good is pleasure." The keeper of that home, a kind host, will be ready for you. He will welcome you with barley meal and serve you plenty of water, saying, "Have you not been well entertained?" This garden does not sharpen appetite; it quenches it. It does not make you thirstier with every drink; it relieves thirst by a natural cure, one that charges no fee. This is the "pleasure" in which Epicurus grew old.
When I speak with you, however, I mean the desires that refuse relief and must be bribed before they will stop. As for the occasional desires that can be postponed, disciplined, and checked, I have only this to say: a pleasure of that kind may be according to our nature, but it is not one of our needs. We owe it nothing; whatever is spent on it is a gift. The belly will not listen to advice. It makes demands; it presses its claim. Yet it is not a troublesome creditor. You can dismiss it at small cost, provided that you give it what you owe, not everything you are able to give. 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] Cum istis tibi esse negotium iudicas de quibus scripseras? Maximum negotium tecum habes, tu tibi molestus es. Quid velis nescis, melius probas honesta quam sequeris, vides ubi sit posita felicitas sed ad illam pervenire non audes. Quid sit autem quod te impediat, quia parum ipse dispicis, dicam: magna esse haec existimas quae relicturus es, et cum proposuisti tibi illam securitatem ad quam transiturus es, retinet te huius vitae a qua recessurus es fulgor tamquam in sordida et obscura casurum. [2] Erras, Lucili: ex hac vita ad illam ascenditur. Quod interest inter splendorem et lucem, cum haec certam originem habeat ac suam, ille niteat alieno, hoc inter hanc vitam et illam: haec fulgore extrinsecus veniente percussa est, crassam illi statim umbram faciet quisquis obstiterit: illa suo lumine illustris est. Studia te tua clarum et nobilem efficient. [3] Exemplum Epicuri referam. Cum Idomeneo scriberet et illum a vita speciosa ad fidelem stabilemque gloriam revocaret, regiae tunc potentiae ministrum et magna tractantem, 'si gloria' inquit 'tangeris, notiorem te epistulae meae facient quam omnia ista quae colis et propter quae coleris'. [4] Numquid ergo mentitus est? quis Idomenea nosset nisi Epicurus illum litteris suis incidisset? Omnes illos megistanas et satrapas et regem ipsum ex quo Idomenei titulus petebatur oblivio alta suppressit. Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistulae non sinunt. Nihil illi profuisset gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drusus Caesar pronepos; inter tam magna nomina taceretur nisi <sibi> Cicero illum applicuisset. [5] Profunda super nos altitudo temporis veniet, pauca ingenia caput exserent et in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent ac se diu vindicabunt. Quod Epicurus amico suo potuit promittere, hoc tibi promitto, Lucili: habebo apud posteros gratiam, possum mecum duratura nomina educere. Vergilius noster duobus memoriam aeternam promisit et praestat:
[6] Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicumque membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerant, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt: post ipsos cito memoria defecit. Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quidquid illorum memoriae adhaesit excipitur.
[7] Ne gratis Idomeneus in epistulam meam venerit, ipse eam de suo redimet. Ad hunc Epicurus illam nobilem sententiam scripsit qua hortatur ut Pythoclea locupletem non publica nec ancipiti via faciat. 'Si vis' inquit 'Pythoclea divitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum sed cupiditati detrahendum est.' [8] Et apertior ista sententia est quam <ut> interpretanda sit, et disertior quam ut adiuvanda. Hoc unum te admoneo, ne istud tantum existimes de divits dictum: quocumque transtuleris, idem poterit. Si vis Pythoclea honestum facere, non honoribus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea esse in perpetua voluptate, non voluptatibus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea senem facere et implere vitam, non annis adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum. [9] Has voces non est quod Epicuri esse iudices: publicae sunt. Quod fieri in senatu solet faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo: cum censuit aliquis quod ex parte mihi placeat, iubeo illum dividere sententiam et sequor quod probo.
Eo libentius Epicuri egregia dicta commemoro, ut istis qui ad illum confugiunt spe mala inducti, qui velamentum ipsos vitiorum suorum habituros existimant, probent quocumque ierint honeste esse vivendum. [10] Cum adieris eius hortulos +et inscriptum hortulis+ 'HOSPES HIC BENE MANEBIS, HIC SVMMVM BONVM VOLVPTAS EST' paratus erit istius domicilii custos hospitalis, humanus, et te polenta excipiet et aquam quoque large ministrabit et dicet, 'ecquid bene acceptus es?' 'Non irritant' inquit 'hi hortuli famem sed exstinguunt, nec maiorem ipsis potionibus sitim faciunt, sed naturali et gratuito remedio sedant; in hac voluptate consenui.' [11] De his tecum desideriis loquor quae consolationem non recipiunt, quibus dandum est aliquid ut desinant. Nam de illis extraordinariis quae licet differre, licet castigare et opprimere, hoc unum commonefaciam: ista voluptas naturalis est, non necessaria. Huic nihil debes; si quid impendis, voluntarium est. Venter praecepta non audit: poscit, appellat. Non est tamen molestus creditor: parvo dimittitur, si modo das illi quod debes, non quod potes. Vale.
Seneca the YoungerThe Latin Library The Classics Page