Letter 17
Cast away everything of that sort, if you are
wise; nay, rather that you may be wise; strive toward a sound mind at top
speed and with your whole strength. If any bond holds you back, untie
it, or sever it. " But," you say, "my estate delays me; I wish to make
such disposition of it that it may suffice for me when I have nothing to
do, lest either poverty be a burden to me, or I myself a burden to others."
You do not seem, when you say this, to know the strength and power of that
good which you are considering. You do indeed grasp the all important
thing, the great benefit which philosophy confers, but you do not yet discern
accurately its various functions, nor do you yet know how great is the
help we receive from philosophy in everything, everywhere, - how, (to use
Cicero's language,) it
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not only succours us in the greatest matters but also descends to the
smallest. Take my advice; call wisdom into consultation; she will
advise you not to sit for ever at your ledger. Doubtless, your object,
what you wish to attain by such postponement of your studies, is that poverty
may not have to be feared by you. But what if it is something to
be desired? Riches have shut off many a man from the attainment of wisdom;
poverty is unburdened and free from care. When the trumpet sounds,
the poor man knows that he is not being attacked; when there is a cry of
"Fire," he only seeks a way of escape, and does not ask what he can save;
if the poor man must go to sea, the harbour does not resound, nor do the
wharves bustle with the retinue of one individual. No throng of slaves
surrounds the poor man, - slaves for whose mouths the master must covet
the fertile crops of regions beyond the sea. It is easy to fill a
few stomachs, when they are well trained and crave nothing else but to
be filled. Hunger costs but little; squeamishness costs much.
Poverty is contented with fulfilling pressing needs.
Why, then, should you reject Philosophy as
a comrade? Even the rich man copies her ways when he is in his senses.
If you wish to have leisure for your mind, either be a poor man, or resemble
a poor man. Study cannot be helpful unless you take pains to live
simply; and living simply is voluntary poverty. Away, then, with
all excuses like: "I have not yet enough; when I have gained the desired
amount, then I shall devote myself wholly to philosophy." And yet this
ideal, which you are putting off and placing second to other interests,
should be secured first of all; you should begin with it. You
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retort: "I wish to acquire something to live on." Yes, but learn while
you are acquiring it; for if anything forbids you to live nobly, nothing
forbids you to die nobly. There is no reason why poverty should call
us away from philosophy, - no, nor even actual want. For when hastening
after wisdom, we must endure even hunger. Men have endured hunger
when their towns were besieged, and what other reward for their endurance
did they obtain than that they did not fall under the conqueror's power?
How much greater is the promise of the prize of everlasting
liberty , and the assurance that we need fear neither God nor man!
Even though we starve, we must reach that goal. Armies have endured
all manner of want, have lived on roots, and have resisted hunger by means
of food too revolting to mention. All this they have suffered to
gain a kingdom, and, - what is more marvellous,to gain a kingdom that will
be another's. Will any man hesitate to endure poverty, in order that
he may free his mind from madness?
Therefore one should not seek to lay up riches
first; one may attain to philosophy, however, even without money for the
journey. It is indeed so. After you have come to possess all
other things, shall you then wish to possess wisdom also? Is philosophy
to be the last requisite in life, - a sort of supplement? Nay, your
plan should be this: be a philosopher now, whether you have anything or
not, - for if you have anything, how do you know that you have not too
much already? - but if you have nothing, seek understanding first, before
anything else. "But," you say, "I shall lack the necessities of life."
In the first place, you cannot lack them; because nature demands but little,
and the wise man
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suits his needs to nature. But if the utmost pinch of need arrives,
he will quickly take leave of life and cease being a trouble to himself.
If, however, his means of existence are meagre and scanty, he will make
the best of them, without being anxious or worried about anything more
than the bare necessities; he will do justice to his belly and his shoulders;
with free and happy spirit he will laugh at the bustling of rich men, and
the flurried ways of those who are hastening after wealth, and say: "Why
of your own accord postpone your real life to the distant future?
Shall you wait for some interest to fall due, or for some income on your
merchandise, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old man, when you
can be rich here and now. Wisdom offers wealth in ready money, and
pays it over to those in whose eyes she has made wealth superfluous." These
remarks refer to other men; you are nearer the rich class. Change
the age in which you live, and you have too much. But in every age,
what is enough remains the same.
I might close my letter at this point, if
I had not got you into bad habits. One cannot greet Parthian royalty
without bringing a gift; and in your case I cannot say farewell without
paying a price. But what of it? I shall borrow from Epicurus:
"The acquisition of riches has been for many men, not an end, but a change,
of troubles." I do not wonder. For the fault is not in the
wealth , but in the mind itself. That which had made poverty a burden
to us, has made riches also a burden. Just as it matters little whether
you lay a sick man on a wooden or on a golden bed, for whithersoever he
be moved he will carry his malady with him; so one need not care whether
the diseased mind is be-
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] Proice omnia ista, si sapis, immo ut sapias, et ad bonam mentem magno cursu ac totis viribus tende; si quid est quo teneris, aut expedi aut incide. 'Moratur' inquis 'me res familiaris; sic illam disponere volo ut sufficere nihil agenti possit, ne aut paupertas mihi oneri sit aut ego alicui.' [2] Cum hoc dicis, non videris vim ac potentiam eius de quo cogitas boni nosse; et summam quidem rei pervides, quantum philosophia prosit, partes autem nondum satis subtiliter dispicis, necdum scis quantum ubique nos adiuvet, quemadmodum et in maximis, ut Ciceronis utar verbo, 'opituletur' <et> in minima descendat. Mihi crede, advoca illam in consilium: suadebit tibi ne ad calculos sedeas. [3] Nempe hoc quaeris et hoc ista dilatione vis consequi, ne tibi paupertas timenda sit: quid si appetenda est? Multis ad philosophandum obstitere divitiae: paupertas expedita est, secura est. Cum classicum cecinit, scit non se peti; cum aqua conclamata est, quomodo exeat, non quid efferat, quaerit; [ut] si navigandum est, non strepunt portus nec unius comitatu inquieta sunt litora; non circumstat illam turba servorum, ad quos pascendos transmarinarum regionum est optanda fertilitas. [4] Facile est pascere paucos ventres et bene institutos et nihil aliud desiderantes quam impleri: parvo fames constat, magno fastidium. Paupertas contenta est desideriis instantibus satis facere: quid est ergo quare hanc recuses contubernalem cuius mores sanus dives imitatur? [5] Si vis vacare animo, aut pauper sis oportet aut pauperi similis. Non potest studium salutare fieri sine frugalitatis cura; frugalitas autem paupertas voluntaria est. Tolle itaque istas excusationes: 'nondum habeo quantum sat est; si ad illam summam pervenero, tunc me totum philosophiae dabo'. Atqui nihil prius quam hoc parandum est quod tu differs et post cetera paras; ab hoc incipiendum est. 'Parare' inquis 'unde vivam volo.' Simul et parare <te> disce: si quid te vetat bene vivere, bene mori non vetat. [6] Non est quod nos paupertas a philosophia revocet, ne egestas quidem. Toleranda est enim ad hoc properantibus vel fames; quam toleravere quidam in obsidionibus, et quod aliud erat illius patientiae praemium quam in arbitrium non cadere victoris? Quanto hoc maius est quod promittitur: perpetua libertas, nullius nec hominis nec dei timor. Ecquid vel esurienti ad ista veniendum est? [7] Perpessi sunt exercitus inopiam omnium rerum, vixerunt herbarum radicibus et dictu foedis tulerunt famem; haec omnia passi sunt pro regno, quo magis mireris, alieno: dubitabit aliquis ferre paupertatem ut animum furoribus liberet? Non est ergo prius acquirendum: licet ad philosophiam etiam sine viatico pervenire. [8] Ita est? cum omnia habueris, tunc habere et sapientiam voles? haec erit ultimum vitae instrumentum et, ut ita dicam, additamentum? Tu vero, sive aliquid habes, iam philosophare - unde enim scis an iam nimis habeas? -, sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quicquam. [9] 'At necessaria deerunt.' Primum deesse non poterunt, quia natura minimum petit, naturae autem se sapiens accommodat. Sed si necessitates ultimae inciderint, iamdudum exibit e vita et molestus sibi esse desinet. Si vero exiguum erit et angustum quo possit vita produci, id boni consulet nec ultra necessaria sollicitus aut anxius ventri et scapulis suum reddet et occupationes divitum concursationesque ad divitias euntium securus laetusque ridebit [10] ac dicet, 'quid in longum ipse te differs? expectabisne fenoris quaestum aut ex merce compendium aut tabulas beati senis, cum fieri possis statim dives? Repraesentat opes sapientia, quas cuicumque fecit supervacuas dedit.' Haec ad alios pertinent: tu locupletibus propior es. Saeculum muta, nimis habes; idem est autem omni saeculo quod sat est.
[11] Poteram hoc loco epistulam claudere, nisi te male instituissem. Reges Parthos non potest quisquam salutare sine munere; tibi valedicere non licet gratis. Quid istic? ab Epicuro mutuum sumam: 'multis parasse divitias non finis miseriarum fuit sed mutatio'. [12] Nec hoc miror; non est enim in rebus vitium sed in ipso animo. Illud quod paupertatem nobis gravem fecerat et divitias graves fecit. Quemadmodum nihil refert utrum aegrum in ligneo lecto an in aureo colloces - quocumque illum transtuleris, morbum secum suum transferet -, sic nihil refert utrum aeger animus in divitiis an in paupertate ponatur: malum illum suum sequitur. Vale.