Letter 20
If you are in good health and if you think
yourself worthy of becoming at last your own master, I am glad. For
the credit will be mine, if I can drag you from the floods in which you
are being buffeted without hope of emerging. This, however, my dear
Lucilius, I ask and beg of you, on your part, that you let wisdom sink
into your soul, and test your progress, not by mere speech or writings,
but by stoutness of heart and decrease of desire. Prove your words
by your deeds.
Far different is the purpose of those who
are speech-making and trying to win the approbation of a throng of hearers,
far different that of those who allure the ears of young men and idlers
by manysided or fluent argumentation; philosophy teaches us to act, not
to speak; it exacts of every man that he should live according to his own
standards, that his life should not be out of harmony with his words, and
that, further, his inner life should be of one hue and not out of harmony
with all his activities. This, I say, is the highest duty and the
highest proof of
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wisdom, - that deed and word should be in accord, that a man should
be equal to himself under all conditions, and always the same.
But," you reply, "who can maintain this standard?"
Very few, to be sure; but there are some. It is indeed a hard undertaking,
and I do not say that the philosopher can always keep the same pace.
But he can always travel the same path. Observe yourself, then, and
see whether your dress and your house are inconsistent, whether you treat
yourself lavishly and your family meanly, whether you eat frugal dinners
and yet build luxurious houses. You should lay hold, once for all,
upon a single norm to live by, and should regulate your whole life according
to this norm. Some men restrict themselves at home, but strut with
swelling port before the public; such discordance is a fault, and it indicates
a wavering mind which cannot yet keep its balance. And I can tell
you, further, whence arise this unsteadiness and disagreement of action
and purpose; it is because no man resolves upon what he wishes, and, even
if be has done so, he does not persist in it, but jumps the track; not
only does he change, but he returns and slips back to the conduct which
he has abandoned and abjured. Therefore, to omit the ancient definitions
of wisdom and to include the whole manner of human life, I can be satisfied
with the following: "What is wisdom? Always desiring the same things,
and always refusing the same things." You may be excused from adding
the little proviso, - that what you wish, should be right; since no man
can always be satisfied with the same thing, unless it is right.
For this reason men do not know what they
wish, except at the actual moment of wishing; no man
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ever decided once and for all to desire or to refuse. Judgment
varies from day to day, and changes to the opposite, making many a man
pass his life in a kind of game. Press on, therefore, as you have
begun; perhaps you will be led to perfection, or to a point which you alone
understand is still short of perfection. "But what," you say, "will become
of my crowded household without a household income?" If you stop supporting
that crowd, it will support itself; or perhaps you will learn by the bounty
of poverty what you cannot learn by your own bounty.
Poverty will keep for you your true and tried friends; you will be
rid of the men who were not seeking you for yourself, but for something
which you have. Is it not true,
however, that you should love poverty, if only for this single reason,
- that it will show you those by whom you are loved? O when will
that time come, when no one shall tell lies to compliment you! Accordingly,
let your thoughts, your efforts, your desires, help to make you content
with your own self and with the goods that spring from yourself; and commit
all your other prayers to God's keeping! What happiness could come
closer home to you? Bring yourself down to humble conditions, from
which you cannot be ejected and in order that you may do so with greater
alacrity, the contribution contained in this letter shall refer to that
subject; I shall bestow it upon you forthwith.
Although you may look askance, Epicurus
will once again be glad to settle my indebtedness: "Believe me, your words
will be more imposing if you sleep on a cot and wear rags. For in
that case you will not be merely saying them; you will be demonstrating
their truth." I, at any rate, listen in
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a different spirit to the utterances of our friend Demetrius, after
I have seen him reclining without even a cloak to cover him, and, more
than this, without rugs to lie upon. He is not only a teacher of
the truth, but a witness to the truth. "May not a man, however, despise
wealth when it lies in his very pocket?" Of course; he also is great-souled,
who sees riches heaped up round him and,
after wondering long and deeply because they have come into his possession,
smiles, and hears rather than feels that they are his. It means much
not to be spoiled by intimacy with riches; and he is truly great who is
poor amidst riches. "Yes, but I do not know," you say, "how the man you
speak of will endure poverty, if he falls into it suddenly." Nor do I,
Epicurus, know whether the poor man you speak of will despise riches, should
he suddenly fall into them; accordingly, in the case of both, it is the
mind that must be appraised, and we must investigate whether your man is
pleased with his poverty, and whether my man is displeased with his riches.
Otherwise, the cot-bed and the rags are slight proof of his good intentions,
if it has not been made clear that the person concerned endures these trials
not
from necessity but from preference.
It is the mark, however, of a noble spirit
not to precipitate oneself into such things a on the ground that they are
better, but to practise for them on the ground that they are thus easy
to endure. And they are easy to endure, Lucilius; when, however,
you come to them after long rehearsal, they are even pleasant; for they
contain a sense of freedom from care, - and without this nothing is pleasant.
I hold it essential, therefore, to do as I have told you in a letter that
great men have often done: to reserve a
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] Si vales et te dignum putas qui aliquando fias tuus, gaudeo; mea enim gloria erit, si te istinc ubi sine spe exeundi fluctuaris extraxero. Illud autem te, mi Lucili, rogo atque hortor, ut philosophiam in praecordia ima demittas et experimentum profectus tui capias non oratione nec scripto, sed animi firmitate, cupiditatum deminutione: verba rebus proba. [2] Aliud propositum est declamantibus et assensionem coronae captantibus, aliud his qui iuvenum et otiosorum aures disputatione varia aut volubili detinent: facere docet philosophia, non dicere, et hoc exigit, ut ad legem suam quisque vivat, ne orationi vita dissentiat vel ipsa inter se vita; <ut> unus sit omnium actio[dissentio]num color [sit]. Maximum hoc est et officium sapientiae et indicium, ut verbis opera concordent, ut ipse ubique par sibi idemque sit. 'Quis hoc praestabit?' Pauci, aliqui tamen. Est enim difficile [hoc]; nec hoc dico, sapientem uno semper iturum gradu, sed una via. [3] Observa te itaque, numquid vestis tua domusque dissentiant, numquid in te liberalis sis, in tuos sordidus, numquid cenes frugaliter, aedifices luxuriose; unam semel ad quam vivas regulam prende et ad hanc omnem vitam tuam exaequa. Quidam se domi contrahunt, dilatant foris et extendunt: vitium est haec diversitas et signum vacillantis animi ac nondum habentis tenorem suum. [4] Etiam nunc dicam unde sit ista inconstantia et dissimilitudo rerum consiliorumque: nemo proponit sibi quid velit, nec si proposuit perseverat in eo, sed transilit; nec tantum mutat sed redit et in ea quae deseruit ac damnavit revolvitur. [5] Itaque ut relinquam definitiones sapientiae veteres et totum complectar humanae vitae modum, hoc possum contentus esse: quid est sapientia? semper idem velle atque idem nolle. Licet illam exceptiunculam non adicias, ut rectum sit quod velis; non potest enim cuiquam idem semper placere nisi rectum. [6] Nesciunt ergo homines quid velint nisi illo momento quo volunt; in totum nulli velle aut nolle decretum est; variatur cotidie iudicium et in contrarium vertitur ac plerisque agitur vita per lusum. Preme ergo quod coepisti, et fortasse perduceris aut ad summum aut eo quod summum nondum esse solus intellegas.
[7] 'Quid fiet' inquis 'huic turbae familiarium sine re familiari?' Turba ista cum a te pasci desierit, ipsa se pascet, aut quod tu beneficio tuo non potes scire, paupertatis scies: illa veros certosque amicos retinebit, discedet quisquis non te se aliud sequebatur. Non est autem vel ob hoc unum amanda paupertas, quod a quibus ameris ostendet? O quando ille veniet dies quo nemo in honorem tuum mentiatur! [8] Huc ergo cogitationes tuae tendant, hoc cura, hoc opta, omnia alia vota deo remissurus, ut contentus sis temet ipso et ex te nascentibus bonis. Quae potest esse felicitas propior? Redige te ad parva ex quibus cadere non possis, idque ut libentius facias, ad hoc pertinebit tributum huius epistulae, quod statim conferam.
[9] Invideas licet, etiam nunc libenter pro me dependet Epicurus. 'Magnificentior, mihi crede, sermo tuus in grabatto videbitur et in panno; non enim dicentur tantum illa sed probabuntur.' Ego certe aliter audio quae dicit Demetrius noster, cum illum vidi nudum, quanto minus quam [in] stramentis incubantem: non praeceptor veri sed testis est. [10] 'Quid ergo? non licet divitias in sinu positas contemnere?' Quidni liceat? Et ille ingentis animi est qui illas circumfusas sibi, multum diuque miratus quod ad se venerint, ridet suasque audit magis esse quam sentit. Multum est non corrumpi divitiarum contubernio; magnus ille qui in divits pauper est. [11] 'Nescio' inquis 'quomodo paupertatem iste laturus sit, si in illam inciderit.' Nec ego, Epicure, an +gulus+ [si] iste pauper contempturus sit divitias, si in illas inciderit; itaque in utroque mens aestimanda est inspiciendumque an ille paupertati indulgeat, an hic divitiis non indulgeat. Alioquin leve argumentum est bonae voluntatis grabattus aut pannus, nisi apparuit aliquem illa non necessitate pati sed malle. [12] Ceterum magnae indolis est ad ista non properare tamquam meliora, sed praeparari tamquam ad facilia. Et sunt, Lucili, facilia; cum vero multum ante meditatus accesseris, iucunda quoque; inest enim illis, sine qua nihil est iucundum, securitas. [13] Necessarium ergo iudico id quod tibi scripsi magnos viros saepe fecisse, aliquos dies interponere quibus nos imaginaria paupertate exerceamus ad veram; quod eo magis faciendum est quod deliciis permaduimus et omnia dura ac difficilia iudicamus. Potius excitandus e somno et vellicandus est animus admonendusque naturam nobis minimum constituisse. Nemo nascitur dives; quisquis exit in lucem iussus est lacte et panno esse contentus: ab his initiis nos regna non capiunt. Vale.