Letter 123
W earied with the discomfort rather than with
the length of my journey, I have reached my Alban villa late at night,
and I find nothing in readiness except myself. So I am getting rid
of fatigue at my writing-table: I derive some good from this tardiness
on the part of my cook and my baker. For I am communing with myself
on this very topic - that nothing is heavy if one accepts it with a light
heart, and that nothing need provoke one's anger if one does not add to
one's pile of troubles by getting angry. My baker is out of bread;
but the overseer, or the house-steward, or one of my tenants can supply
me therewith. "Bad bread!" you say. But just wait for it; it will
become good. Hunger will make even such bread delicate and of the
finest flavour. For that reason I must not eat until hunger bids
me; so I shall wait and shall not eat until I can either get good bread
or else cease to be squeamish about it. It is necessary that one
grow accustomed to slender fare: because there are many problems of time
and place which will cross the path even of the rich man and one equipped
for pleasure, and bring him up with a round turn. To have whatsoever
he wishes is in no man's power; it is in his power not to wish for what
he has not, but cheerfully to employ what comes to him. A great step
towards independence is a good-humoured stomach, one that is willing to
endure rough treatment.
Y ou cannot imagine how much pleasure I derive
from the fact that my weariness is becoming reconciled to itself; I am
asking for no slaves to rub me
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EPISTLE
CXXIII. down, no bath, and no other restorative except time. For
that which toil has accumulated, rest can lighten. This repast, whatever
it may be, will give me more pleasure than an inaugural banquet. For
I have made trial of my spirit on a sudden - a simpler and a truer test.
Indeed, when a man has made preparations and given himself a formal summons
to be patient, it is not equally clear just how much real strength of mind
he possesses; the surest proofs are those which one exhibits off- hand,
viewing one's own troubles not only fairly but calmly, not flying into
fits of temper or wordy wranglings, supplying one's own needs by not craving
something which was really due, and reflecting that our habits may be unsatisfied,
but never our own real selves. How many things are superfluous we
fail to realize until they begin to be wanting; we merely used them not
because we needed them but because we had them. And how much do we
acquire simply because our neighbours have acquired such things, or because
most men possess them! Many of our troubles may be explained from
the fact that we live according to a pattern, and, instead of arranging
our lives according to reason, are led astray by convention. There
are things which, if done by the few, we should refuse to imitate; yet
when the majority have begun to do them, we follow along - just as if anything
were more honourable because it is more frequent! Furthermore, wrong
views, when they have become prevalent, reach, in our eyes, the standard
of righteousness. Everyone now travels with Numidian outriders preceding
him, with a troop of slave-runners to clear the way; we deem it disgraceful
to have no attendants who will elbow crowds from the road, or will prove,
by a great cloud of dust,
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that a high dignitary is approaching! Everyone now possesses mules
that are laden with crystal and myrrhine cups carved by skilled artists
of great renown; it is disgraceful? or all your baggage to be made up of
that which can be rattled along without danger. Everyone has pages
who ride along with ointment-covered faces so that the heat or the cold
will not harm their tender complexions; it is disgraceful that none of
your attendant slave- boys should show a healthy cheek, not covered with
cosmetics.
Y ou should avoid conversation with all such
persons: they are the sort that communicate and engraft their bad habits
from one to another. We used to think that the very worst variety
of these men were those who vaunted their words; but there are certain
men who vaunt their wickedness. Their talk is very harmful; for even
though it is not at once convincing, yet they leave the seeds of trouble
in the soul, and the evil which is sure to spring into new strength follows
us about even when we have parted from them. Just as those who have
attended a concert carry about in their heads the melodies and the charm
of the songs they have heard - a proceeding which interferes with their
thinking and does not allow them to concentrate upon serious subjects,
- even so the speech of flatterers and enthusiasts over that which is depraved
sticks in our minds long after we have heard them talk. It is not
easy to rid the memory of a catching tune; it stays with us, lasts on,
and comes back from time to time. Accordingly, you should close your
ears against evil talk, and right at the outset, too; for when such talk
has gained an entrance and the words are admitted and are in our minds,
they become more shameless. And then we begin to
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speak as follows: "Virtue, Philosophy, Justice - this is a jargon of
empty words. The only way to be happy is to do yourself well.
To eat, drink, and spend your money is the only real life, the only way
to remind yourself that you are mortal. Our days flow on, and life
- which we cannot restore -hastens away from us. Why hesitate to
come to our senses? This life of ours will not always admit pleasures;
meantime, while it can do so, while it clamours for them, what profit lies
in imposing thereupon frugality? Therefore get ahead of death, and let
anything that death will filch from you be squandered now upon yourself.
You have no mistress, no favourite slave to make your mistress envious;
you are sober when you make your daily appearance in public; you dine as
if you had to show your account-book to 'Papa'; but that is not living,
it is merely going shares in someone else's existence. And what madness
it is to be looking out for the interests of your heir, and to deny yourself
everything, with the result that you turn friends into enemies by the vast
amount of the fortune you intend to leave! For the more the heir
is to get from you, the more he will rejoice in your taking-off!
All those sour fellows who criticize other men's lives in a spirit of priggishness
and are real enemies to their own lives, playing schoolmaster to the world
- you should not consider them as worth a farthing, nor should you hesitate
to prefer good living to a good reputation." These are voices which you
ought to shun just as Ulysses did; he would not sail past them until he
was lashed to the mast. They are no less potent; they lure men from
country, parents, friends, and virtuous ways; and by a hope that, if not
base, is ill-starred, they wreck them upon a life of baseness.
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How much better to follow a straight course and attain a goal where
the words "Pleasant" and "honourable" have the same meaning! "This end
will be possible for us if we understand that there are two classes of
objects which either attract us or repel us. We are attracted by
such things as riches, pleasures, beauty, ambition, and other such coaxing
and pleasing objects; we are repelled by toil, death, pain, disgrace, or
lives of greater frugality. We ought therefore to train ourselves
so that we may avoid a fear of the one or a desire for the other. Let us
fight in the opposite fashion: let us retreat from the objects that allure,
and rouse ourselves to meet the objects that attack. Do you not see
how different is the method of descending a mountain from that employed
in climbing upwards? Men coming down a slope bend backwards; men
ascending a steep place lean forward. For, my dear Lucilius, to allow yourself
to put your body's weight ahead when coming down, or, when climbing up,
to throw it backward is to comply with vice. The pleasures take one
down hill but one must work upwards toward that which is rough and bard
to climb; in the one case let us throw our bodies forward, in the others
let us put the check-rein on them.
D o you believe me to be stating now that
only those men bring ruin to our ears, who praise pleasure, who inspire
us with fear of pain - that element which is in itself provocative of fear?
I believe that we are also in injured by those who masquerade under the
disguise of the Stoic school and at the same time urge us on into vice.
They boast that only the wise man and the learned is a lover/.b "He alone
has wisdom in this art; the wise man too is
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Latin / Greek Original
(1) Itinere confectus incommodo magis quam longo in Albanum meum multanocte perueni: nihil habeo parati nisi me. Itaque in lectulo lassitudinempono, hanc coci ac pistoris moram boni consulo. Mecum enim de hoc ipsoloquor, quam nihil sit graue quod leuiter excipias, quam indignandum nihil<dum nihil> ipse indignando adstruas. (2) Non habet panem meus pistor;sed habet uilicus, sed habet atriensis, sed habet colonus. 'Malum panem'inquis. Expecta: bonus fiet; etiam illum tibi tenerum et siligineum famesreddet. Ideo non est ante edendum quam illa imperat. Expectabo ergo necante edam quam aut bonum panem habere coepero aut malum fastidire desiero. (3) Necessarium est paruo adsuescere: multae difficultates locorum, multaetemporum etiam locupletibus et instructis ~aduobus optantem prohibent et~occurrent. Quidquid uult habere nemo potest, illud potest, nolle quod nonhabet, rebus oblatis hilaris uti. Magna pars libertatis est bene moratusuenter et contumeliae patiens. (4) Aestimari non potest quantam uoluptatemcapiam ex eo quod lassitudo mea sibi ipsa adquiescit: non unctores, nonbalineum, non ullum aliud remedium quam temporis quaero. Nam quod laborcontraxit quies tollit. Haec qualiscumque cena aditiali iucundior erit. (5) ~Aliquod enim~ experimentum animi sumpsi subito; hoc enim est simpliciuset uerius. Nam ubi se praeparauit et indixit sibi patientiam, non aequeapparet quantum habeat uerae firmitatis: illa sunt certissima argumentaquae ex tempore dedit, si non tantum aequus molestias sed placidus aspexit;si non excanduit, non litigauit; si quod dari deberet ipse sibi non desiderandosuppleuit et cogitauit aliquid consuetudini suae, sibi nihil deesse.
(6) Multa quam superuacua essent non intelleximus nisi deesse coeperunt; utebamur enim illis non quia debebamus sed quia habebamus. Quam multa autem paramus quia alii parauerunt, quia apud plerosque sunt! Inter causas malorum nostrorum est quod uiuimus ad exempla, nec ratione componimur sed consuetudine abducimur. Quod si pauci facerent nollemus imitari, cum plures facere coeperunt quasi honestius sit quia frequentius, sequimur; et recti apud nos locum tenet error ubi publicus factus est. (7) Omnes iam sic peregrinantur utillos Numidarum praecurrat equitatus, ut agmen cursorum antecedat: turpeest nullos esse qui occurrentis uia deiciant, (ut) qui honestum hominemuenire magno puluere ostendant. Omnes iam mulos habent qui crustallinaet murrina et caelata magnorum artificum manu portent: turpe est uiderieas te habere sarcinas solas quae tuto concuti possint. Omnium paedagogiaoblita facie uehuntur ne sol, ne frigus teneram cutem laedat: turpe estneminem esse in comitatu tuo puerorum cuius sana facies medicamentum desideret.
(8) Horum omnium sermo uitandus est: hi sunt qui uitia tradunt et alioaliunde transferunt. Pessimum genus (horum) hominum uidebatur qui uerbagestarent: sunt quidam qui uitia gestant. Horum sermo multum nocet; nametiam si non statim proficit, semina in animo relinquit sequiturque nosetiam cum ab illis discessimus, resurrecturum postea malum. (9) Quemadmodumqui audierunt synphoniam ferunt secum in auribus modulationem illam acdulcedinem cantuum, quae cogitationes inpedit nec ad seria patitur intendi,sic adulatorum et praua laudantium sermo diutius haeret quam auditur. Necfacile est animo dulcem sonum excutere: prosequitur et durat et ex interuallo recurrit. Ideo cludendae sunt aures malis uocibus et quidem primis; namcum initium fecerunt admissaeque sunt, plus audent. (10) Inde ad haec peruenituruerba: 'uirtus et philosophia et iustitia uerborum inanium crepitus est;una felicitas est bene uitae facere; esse, bibere, frui patrimonio, hocest uiuere, hoc est se mortalem esse meminisse. Fluunt dies et inreparabilisuita decurrit. Dubitamus? Quid iuuat sapere et aetati non semper uoluptatesrecepturae interim, dum potest, dum poscit, ingerere frugalitatem? ~Eo~mortem praecurre et quidquid illa ablatura est iam sibi ~interere~. Nonamicam habes, non puerum qui amicae moueat inuidiam; cottidie sobrius prodis;sic cenas tamquam ephemeridem patri adprobaturus: non est istud uiueresed alienae uitae interesse. (11) Quanta dementia est heredis sui res procurareet sibi negare omnia ut tibi ex amico inimicum magna faciat hereditas;plus enim gaudebit tua morte quo plus acceperit. Istos tristes et superciliososalienae uitae censores, suae hostes, publicos paedagogos assis ne fecerisnec dubitaueris bonam uitam quam opinionem bonam malle. ' (12) Hae uocesnon aliter fugiendae sunt quam illae quas Ulixes nisi alligatus praeteruehinoluit. Idem possunt: abducunt a patria, a parentibus, ab amicis, a uirtutibus,et ~inter spem uitam misera nisi turpis inludunt~. Quanto satius est rectumsequi limitem et eo se perducere ut ea demum sint tibi iucunda quae honesta!(13) Quod adsequi poterimus si scierimus duo esse genera rerum quae nosaut inuitent aut fugent. Inuitant (ut) diuitiae, uoluptates, forma, ambitio,cetera blanda et adridentia: fugat labor, mors, dolor, ignominia, uictusadstrictior. Debemus itaque exerceri ne haec timeamus, ne illa cupiamus. In contrarium pugnemus et ab inuitantibus recedamus, aduersus petentiaconcitemur.
(14) Non uides quam diuersus sit descendentium habitus et escendentium? qui per pronum eunt resupinant corpora, qui in arduum, incumbunt. Nam sidescendas, pondus suum in priorem partem dare, si escendas, retro abducere,cum uitio, Lucili, consentire est. In uoluptates descenditur, in asperaet dura subeundum est: hic inpellamus corpora, illic refrenemus. (15) Hoc nunc me existimas dicere, eos tantum perniciosos esse auribusnostris qui uoluptatem laudant, qui doloris metus, per se formidabilesres, incutiunt? Illos quoque nocere nobis existimo qui nos sub specie Stoicaesectae hortantur ad uitia. Hoc enim iactant: solum sapientem et doctumesse amatorem. 'Solus aptus est ad hanc artem; aeque conbibendi et conuiuendisapiens est peritissimus. Quaeramus ad quam usque aetatem iuuenes amandisint. ' (16) Haec Graecae consuetudini data sint, nos ad illa potius auresderigamus: 'nemo est casu bonus: discenda uirtus est. Voluptas humilisres et pusilla est et in nullo habenda pretio, communis cum mutis animalibus,ad quam minima et contemptissima aduolant. Gloria uanum et uolubile quiddamest auraque mobilius. Paupertas nulli malum est nisi repugnanti. Mors malumnon est: quid <sit> quaeris? sola ius aequum generis humani. Superstitioerror insanus est: amandos timet, quos colit uiolat. Quid enim interestutrum deos neges an infames? ' (17) Haec discenda, immo ediscenda sunt:non debet excusationes uitio philosophia suggerere. Nullam habet spem salutisaeger quem ad intemperantiam medicus hortatur. Vale.