Letter 21
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 ot
<Ep1-141>
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.
<Ep1-143>
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 co
<Ep1-145>
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."
Tn speaking with you, however, I refer to
those desires which refuse alleviation, which must be
<Ep1-147>
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