Letter 108
T he topic about which you ask me is one of
those where our only concern with knowledge is to have the
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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.
T his was the advice, I remember, which Attalus
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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become sunburned. He who frequents the perfumer's shop and lingers
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 "recalcitrant." "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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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 impression
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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upon us, when they are spoken in prose; but when metre is added and
when regular prosody has compressed 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:
He needs but little who desires but little.
or,
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 impressed 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 absolutely
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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can obtain a suitable pleader, will lay strong hands upon those who
can still be taught, those who have been but superficially spoiled.
A t any rate, when I used to hear Attalus
denouncing sin, error, and the evils of life, I often felt sorry for mankind
and regarded Attalus 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, moderation in diet, and a mind free
from 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 mushrooras 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 perfumes; because the best scent for the person is no scent
at all. That is why
my stomach is unacquainted 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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at once unprofitable and effeminate .
Other resolutions 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 dwellingplace; 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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spirit be dwelling temporarily in this bit of flesh! When Sotion
had set forth this doctrine, supplementing 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 lions 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 a being inaugurated, and abstinence from certain 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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it was no very hard matter to induce me to dine more comfortably.
Attalus 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 impulses 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 mistakes 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.
N ow 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,a 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 life
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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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.
L et 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 comprehend 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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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 collocation 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.
T here is no reason why you should marvel
that each man can collect from the same source suitable matter for his
own studies; forin 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
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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 notebook the forms of words,
noting that reapse, equivalent 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
line" n the circus which we call the creta 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 give
Due meed for all his efforts and his deed.
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 Vergil's words:
Over whose head the mighty gate of Heaven
Thunders,
remarking that Ennius stole the idea from Homer,
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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.
B ut 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.
A ll 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
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] Id de quo quaeris ex iis est quae scire tantum eo, ut scias, pertinet. Sed nihilominus, quia pertinet, properas nec vis expectare libros quoscum maxime ordino continentis totam moralem philosophiae partem. Statim expediam; illud tamen prius scribam, quemadmodum tibi ista cupiditas discendi, qua flagrare te video, digerenda sit, ne ipsa se inpediat. [2] Nec passim carpenda sunt nec avide invadenda universa: per partes pervenietur ad totum. Aptari onus viribus debet nec 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 obsideremus et primi veniremus et novissimi exiremus, ambulantem quoque illum ad aliquas disputationes evocaremus, non tantum paratum discentibus sed obvium. 'Idem' inquit 'et docenti et discenti debet esse propositum, ut ille prodesse velit, hic proficere.' [4] Qui ad philosophum venit cotidie aliquid secum boni ferat: aut sanior domum redeat aut sanabilior. Redibit autem: ea philosophiae vis est ut non studentis sed etiam conversantis iuvet. Qui in solem venit, licet non in hoc venerit, colorabitur; qui in unguentaria taberna resederuntet paullo diutius commorati sunt odorem secum loci ferunt; et qui ad philosophum fuerunt traxerint aliquid necesse est quod prodesset etiam neglegentibus. Attende quid dicam: neglegentibus, non repugnantibus.
[5] 'Quid ergo? non novimus quosdam qui multis apud philosophum annis persederint et ne colorem quidem duxerint? ' Quidni noverim? pertinacissimos quidem et adsiduos, quos ego non discipulos philosophorum sed inquilinos voco. [6] Quidam veniunt ut audiant, non ut discant, sicut in theatrum voluptatis 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 aliqua illo vitia deponant, ut aliquam legemvitae accipiant qua mores suos exigant, sed ut oblectamento aurium perfruantur. Aliqui tamen et cum pugillaribus veniunt, non ut res excipiant, sed ut verba, quae tam sine profectu alieno dicant quam sine suo audiunt. [7]Quidam ad magnificas voces excitantur et transeunt in adfectum dicentium alacres vultu et animo, nec aliter concitantur quam solent Phrygii tibicinis sono semiviri et ex imperio furentes. Rapit illos instigatque rerum pulchritudo, non verborum inanium sonitus. Si quid acriter contra mortem dictum est, si quid contra fortunam contumaciter, iuvat protinus quae audias facere. Adficiuntur illis et sunt quales iubentur, si illa animo forma permaneat, si non impetum insignem protinus populus, honesti dissuasor, excipiat: pauci illam quam conceperant mentem domum perferre potuerunt. [8] Facile est auditorem concitare ad cupidinem recti; omnibus enim natura fundamenta dedit semenque virtutum. Omnes ad omnia ista nati sumus: cum inritator accessit, tunc illa animi bona veluti sopita excitantur. Non vides quemadmodum theatra consonent quotiens aliqua dicta sunt quae publice adgnoscimus etconsensu vera esse testamur?
[9]
Ad hos versus ille sordidissimus plaudit et vitiis suis fieri convicium gaudet: quanto magis hoc iudicas evenire cum a philosopho ista dicuntur, cum salutaribus praeceptis versus inseruntur, efficacius eadem illa demissuri in animum inperitorum? [10] Nam ut dicebat Cleanthes, 'quemadmodum spiritus noster clariorem sonum reddit cum illum tuba per longi canalis angustias tractum patentiore novissime exitu effudit, sic sensus nostros clariores carminis arta necessitas efficit. ' Eadem neglegentius audiuntur minusque percutiunt quamdiu soluta oratione dicuntur: ubi accessere numeri et egregium sensum adstrinxere certi pedes, eadem illa sententia velut lacerto excussiore torquetur. [11] De contemptu pecuniae 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:
[12] Cum haec atque eiusmodi audimus, ad confessionem veritatis adducimur;illi enim quibus nihil satis est admirantur, adclamant, odium pecuniaeindicunt. Hunc illorum adfectum cum videris, urge, hoc preme, hoc onera, relictis ambiguitatibus et syllogismis et cavillationibus et ceteris acuminisinriti ludicris. Dic in avaritiam, dic in luxuriam; cum profecisse te videriset animos audientium adfeceris, insta vehementius: veri simile non estquantum proficiat talis oratio remedio intenta et tota in bonum audientiumversa. Facillime enim tenera conciliantur ingenia ad honesti rectique amorem, et adhuc docilibus leviterque corruptis inicit manum veritas si advocatumidoneum nacta est. [13] Ego certe cum Attalum audirem in vitia, in errores, in mala vitae perorantem, saepe miseritus sum generis humani et illum sublimemaltioremque humano fastigio credidi. Ipse regem se esse dicebat, sed plusquam regnare mihi videbatur cui liceret censuram agere regnantium. [14] Cum vero commendare paupertatem coeperat et ostendere quam quidquid usumexcederet pondus esset supervacuum et grave ferenti, saepe exire e scholapauperi libuit. Cum coeperat voluptates nostras traducere, laudare castumcorpus, sobriam mensam, puram mentem non tantum ab inlicitis voluptatibus sed etiam supervacuis, libebat circumscribere gulam ac ventrem. [15] Indemihi quaedam permansere, Lucili; magno enim in omnia impetu veneram, deindead civitatis vitam reductus ex bene coeptis pauca servavi. Inde ostreisboletisque in omnem vitam renuntiatum est; nec enim cibi sed oblectamenta sunt ad edendum saturos cogentia (quod gratissimum est edacibus et se ultraquam capiunt farcientibus), facile descensura, facile reditura. [16] Indein omnem vitam unguento abstinemus, quoniam optimus odor in corpore estnullus. Inde vino carens stomachus. Inde in omnem vitam balneum fugimus;decoquere corpus atque exinanire sudoribus inutile simul delicatumque credidimus. Cetera proiecta redierunt, ita tamen ut quorum abstinentiam interrupi modumservem et quidem abstinentiae proximiorem, nescio an difficiliorem, quoniamquaedam absciduntur facilius animo quam temperantur.
[17] Quoniam coepi tibi exponere quanto maiore impetu ad philosophiamiuvenis accesserim quam senex pergam, non pudebit fateri quem mihi amoremPythagoras iniecerit. Sotion dicebat quare ille animalibus abstinuisset, quare postea Sextius. Dissimilis utrique causa erat, sed utrique magnifica.
[18] Hic homini satis alimentorum citra sanguinem esse credebat et crudelitatisconsuetudinem fieri ubi in voluptatem esset adducta laceratio. Adiciebatcontrahendam materiam esse luxuriae; colligebat bonae valetudini contrariaesse alimenta varia et nostris aliena corporibus. [19] At Pythagoras omniuminter omnia cognationem esse dicebat et animorum commercium in alias atquealias formas transeuntium. Nulla, si illi credas, anima interit, ne cessatquidem nisi tempore exiguo, dum in aliud corpus transfunditur. Videbimusper quas temporum vices et quando pererratis pluribus domiciliis in hominemrevertatur: interim sceleris hominibus ac parricidii metum fecit, cum possentin parentis animam inscii incurrere et ferro morsuve violare, si in quo<corpore> cognatus aliqui spiritus hospitaretur. [20] Haec cum exposuissetSotion et implesset argumentis suis, 'non credis' inquit 'animas in aliacorpora atque alia discribi et migrationem esse quod dicimus mortem? Noncredis in his pecudibus ferisve aut aqua mersis illum quondam hominis animummorari? Non credis nihil perire in hoc mundo, sed mutare regionem? nectantum caelestia per certos circuitus verti, sed animalia quoque per vicesire et animos per orbem agi? Magni ista crediderunt viri. [21] Itaque iudiciumquidem tuum sustine, ceterum omnia tibi in integro serva. Si vera suntista, abstinuisse animalibus innocentia est; si falsa, frugalitas est. Quod istic credulitatis tuae damnum est? alimenta tibi leonum et vulturumeripio. ' [22] His ego instinctus abstinere animalibus coepi, et anno peractonon tantum facilis erat mihi consuetudo sed dulcis. Agitatiorem mihi animumesse credebam nec tibi hodie adfirmaverim an fuerit. Quaeris quomodo desierim? In primum Tiberii Caesaris principatum iuventae tempus inciderat: alienigenatum sacra movebantur et inter argumenta superstitionis ponebatur quorundamanimalium abstinentia. Patre itaque meo rogante, qui non calumniam timebatsed philosophiam oderat, ad pristinam consuetudinem redii; nec difficultermihi ut inciperem melius cenare persuasit. [23] Laudare solebat Attalusculcitam quae resisteret corpori: tali utor etiam senex, in qua vestigiumapparere non possit. Haec rettuli ut probarem tibi quam vehementes haberent tirunculi impetusprimos ad optima quaeque, si quis exhortaretur illos, si quis inpelleret. Sed aliquid praecipientium vitio peccatur, qui nos docent disputare, nonvivere, aliquid discentium, qui propositum adferunt ad praeceptores suosnon animum excolendi sed ingenium. Itaque quae philosophia fuit facta philologiaest. [24] Multum autem ad rem pertinet quo proposito ad quamquam rem accedas. Qui grammaticus futurus Vergilium scrutatur non hoc animo legit illud egregium
'vigilandum est; nisi properamus relinquemur; agit nos agiturque veloxdies; inscii rapimur; omnia in futurum disponimus et inter praecipitialenti sumus': sed ut observet, quotiens Vergilius de celeritate temporumdicit, hoc uti verbo illum 'fugit'.
[25] Ille qui ad philosophiam spectat haec eadem quo debet adducit. 'NumquamVergilius' inquit 'dies dicit ire, sed fugere, quod currendi genus concitatissimumest, et optimos quosque primos rapi: quid ergo cessamus nos ipsi concitare, ut velocitatem rapidissimae rei possimus aequare? Meliora praetervolant, deteriora succedunt. ' [26] Quemadmodum ex amphora primum quod est sincerissimumeffluit, gravissimum quodque turbidumque subsidit, sic in aetate nostraquod est optimum in primo est. Id exhauriri [in] aliis potius patimur, ut nobis faecem reservemus? Inhaereat istud animo et tamquam missum oraculoplaceat:
[27] Quare optima? quia quod restat incertum est. Quare optima? quia iuvenespossumus discere, possumus facilem animum et adhuc tractabilem ad melioraconvertere; quia hoc tempus idoneum est laboribus, idoneum agitandis perstudia ingeniis [est] et exercendis per opera corporibus: quod superestsegnius et languidius est et propius a fine. Itaque toto hoc agamus animoet omissis ad quae devertimur in rem unam laboremus, ne hanc temporis pernicissimiceleritatem, quam retinere non possumus, relicti demum intellegamus. Primusquisque tamquam optimus dies placeat et redigatur in nostrum. [28] Quodfugit occupandum est. Haec non cogitat ille qui grammatici oculis carmenistud legit, ideo optimum quemque primum esse diem quia subeunt morbi, quia senectus premit et adhuc adulescentiam cogitantibus supra caput est, sed ait Vergilium semper una ponere morbos et senectutem -- non meherculesinmerito; senectus enim insanabilis morbus est. [29] 'Praeterea' inquit'hoc senectuti cognomen inposuit, "tristem" illam vocat:
Non est quod mireris ex eadem materia suis quemque studiis apta colligere:in eodem prato bos herbam quaerit, canis leporem, ciconia lacertam.
[30] Cum Ciceronis librum de re publica prendit hinc philologus aliquis, hinc grammaticus, hinc philosophiae deditus, alius alio curam suam mittit. Philosophus admiratur contra iustitiam dici tam multa potuisse. Cum adhanc eandem lectionem philologus accessit, hoc subnotat: duos Romanos regesesse quorum alter patrem non habet, alter matrem. Nam de Servi matre dubitatur;Anci pater nullus, Numae nepos dicitur. [31] Praeterea notat eum quem nosdictatorem dicimus et in historiis ita nominari legimus apud antiquos magistrumpopuli' vocatum. Hodieque id extat in auguralibus libris, et testimoniumest quod qui ab illo nominatur 'magister equitum' est. Aeque notat Romulumperisse solis defectione; provocationem ad populum etiam a regibus fuisse;id ita in pontificalibus libris +et aliqui qui+ putant et Fenestella. [32]Eosdem libros cum grammaticus explicuit, primum [verba expresse] 'reapse'dici a Cicerone, id est 're ipsa', in commentarium refert, nec minus 'sepse', id est 'se ipse'. Deinde transit ad ea quae consuetudo saeculi mutavit, tamquam ait Cicero 'quoniam sumus ab ipsa calce eius interpellatione revocati. 'Hanc quam nunc in circo 'cretam' vocamus 'calcem' antiqui dicebant. [33]Deinde Ennianos colligit versus et in primis illos de Africano scriptos:
Ex eo se ait intellegere <opem> apud antiquos non tantum auxilium significassesed operam. Ait [opera] enim Ennius neminem potuisse Scipioni neque civemneque hostem reddere operae pretium. [34] Felicem deinde se putat quodinvenerit unde visum sit Vergilio dicere
Ennium hoc ait Homero [se] subripuisse, Ennio Vergilium; esse enim apudCiceronem in his ipsis de re publica hoc epigramma Enni:
[35] Sed ne et ipse, dum aliud ago, in philologum aut grammaticum delabar, illud admoneo, auditionem philosophorum lectionemque ad propositum beataevitae trahendam, non ut verba prisca aut ficta captemus et translationesinprobas figurasque dicendi, sed ut profutura praecepta et magnificas voceset animosas quae mox in rem transferantur. Sic ista ediscamus ut quae fuerintverba sint opera. [36] Nullos autem peius mereri de omnibus mortalibusiudico quam qui philosophiam velut aliquod artificium venale didicerunt, qui aliter vivunt quam vivendum esse praecipiunt. Exempla enim se ipsosinutilis disciplinae circumferunt, nulli non vitio quod insequuntur obnoxii.
[37] Non magis mihi potest quisquam talis prodesse praeceptor quam gubernatorin tempestate nauseabundus. Tenendum rapiente fluctu gubernaculum, luctandumcum ipso mari, eripienda sunt vento vela: quid me potest adiuvare rectornavigii attonitus et vomitans? Quanto maiore putas vitam tempestate iactariquam ullam ratem? Non est loquendum sed gubernandum. [38] Omnia quae dicunt, quae turba audiente iactant, aliena sunt: dixit illa Platon, dixit Zenon, dixit Chrysippus et Posidonius et ingens agmen nominum tot ac talium. Quomodoprobare possint sua esse monstrabo: faciant quae dixerint.
[39] Quoniam quae volueram ad te perferre iam dixi, nunc desideriotuo satis faciam et in alteram epistulam integrum quod exegeras transferam, ne ad rem spinosam et auribus erectis curiosisque audiendam lassus accedas. Vale.