Lucius Annaeus Seneca→Lucilius Junior|c. 63 AD|Seneca the Younger|From Rome|To Sicily|AI-assisted
Do you suppose that you alone have had this experience?
Are you surprised, as if it were a novelty, that after such long travel
and so many changes of scene you have not been able to shake off the gloom
and heaviness of your mind? You need a change of soul rather than
a change of climate. Though you may cross vast spaces of sea, and though,
as our Vergil remarks,
Lands and cities are left astern,
your faults will follow you whithersoever you travel.
Socrates made the same remark to one who complained; he said: "Why do you
wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take
yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at
your heels." What pleasure is there in seeing new lands? Or in surveying
cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do
you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee
along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind;
until you do this, no place will satisfy you. Reflect that your present
behaviour is like that of the prophetess whom Vergil describes: she is
excited and goaded into fury, and contains within herself much inspiration
that is not her own: The priestess raves, if haply she may shake
The great god from her heart. You wander hither and yon, to rid yourself
of the
<Ep1-199>
EPISTLE XXVIII
burden that rests upon you, though it becomes more troublesome by reason
of your very restlessness, just as in a ship the cargo when stationary
makes no trouble, but when it shifts to this side or that, it causes the
vessel to heel more quickly in the direction where it has settled.
Anything you do tells against you, and you hurt yourself by your very unrest;
for you are shaking up a sick man.
That trouble once removed, all change of scene
will become pleasant; though you may be driven to the uttermost ends of
the earth, in whatever corner of a savage land you may find yourself, that
place, however forbidding, will be to you a hospitable abode. The
person you are matters more than the place to which you go; for that reason
we should not make the mind a bondsman to any one place. Live in
this belief: "I am not born for any one corner of the universe; this whole
world is my country." If you saw this fact clearly, you would not be surprised
at getting no benefit from the fresh scenes to which you roam each time
through weariness of the old scenes. For the first would have pleased
you in each case, had you believed it wholly yours. As it is, however,
you are not journeying; you are drifting and being driven, only exchanging
one place for another, although that which you seek, - to live well, -
is found everywhere. Can there be any spot so full of confusion as the
Forum? Yet you can live quietly even there, if necessary. Of
course, if one were allowed to make one's own arrangements, I should flee
far from the very sight and neighbourhood of the Forum. For just
as pestilential places assail even the strongest constitution, so there
are some places which are also unwholesome for a healthy mind which is
not yet quite sound, though recover-
<Ep1-201>
[1] Hoc tibi soli putas accidisse et admiraris quasi rem novam quod peregrinatione tam longa et tot locorum varietatibus non discussisti tristitiam gravitatemque mentis? Animum debes mutare, non caelum. Licet vastum traieceris mare, licet, ut ait Vergilius noster,
sequentur te quocumque perveneris vitia. [2] Hoc idem querenti cuidam Socrates ait, 'quid miraris nihil tibi peregrinationes prodesse, cum te circumferas? premit te eadem causa quae expulit'. Quid terrarum iuvare novitas potest? quid cognitio urbium aut locorum? in irritum cedit ista iactatio. Quaeris quare te fuga ista non adiuvet? tecum fugis. Onus animi deponendum est: non ante tibi ullus placebit locus. [3] Talem nunc esse habitum tuum cogita qualem Vergilius noster vatis inducit iam concitatae et instigatae multumque habentis se spiritus non sui:
Vadis huc illuc ut excutias insidens pondus quod ipsa iactatione incommodius fit, sicut in navi onera immota minus urgent, inaequaliter convoluta citius eam partem in quam incubuere demergunt. Quidquid facis, contra te facis et motu ipso noces tibi; aegrum enim concutis. [4] At cum istuc exemeris malum, omnis mutatio loci iucunda fiet; in ultimas expellaris terras licebit, in quolibet barbariae angulo colloceris, hospitalis tibi illa qualiscumque sedes erit. Magis quis veneris quam quo interest, et ideo nulli loco addicere debemus animum. Cum hac persuasione vivendum est: 'non sum uni angulo natus, patria mea totus hic mundus est'. [5] Quod si liqueret tibi, non admirareris nil adiuvari te regionum varietatibus in quas subinde priorum taedio migras; prima enim quaeque placuisset si omnem tuam crederes. Nunc <non> peregrinaris sed erras et ageris ac locum ex loco mutas, cum illud quod quaeris, bene vivere, omni loco positum sit. [6] Num quid tam turbidum fieri potest quam forum? ibi quoque licet quiete vivere, si necesse sit. Sed si liceat disponere se, conspectum quoque et viciniam fori procul fugiam; nam ut loca gravia etiam firmissimam valetudinem temptant, ita bonae quoque menti necdum adhuc perfectae et convalescenti sunt aliqua parum salubria. [7] Dissentio ab his qui in fluctus medios eunt et tumultuosam probantes vitam cotidie cum difficultatibus rerum magno animo colluctantur. Sapiens feret ista, non eliget, et malet in pace esse quam in pugna; non multum prodest vitia sua proiecisse, si cum alienis rixandum est. [8] 'Triginta' inquit 'tyranni Socraten circumsteterunt nec potuerunt animum eius infringere.' Quid interest quot domini sint? servitus una est; hanc qui contempsit in quanta libet turba dominantium liber est.
[9] Tempus est desinere, sed si prius portorium solvero. 'Initium est salutis notitia peccati.' Egregie mihi hoc dixisse videtur Epicurus; nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult; deprehendas te oportet antequam emendes. [10] Quidam vitiis gloriantur: tu existimas aliquid de remedio cogitare qui mala sua virtutum loco numerant? Ideo quantum potes te ipse coargue, inquire in te; accusatoris primum partibus fungere, deinde iudicis, novissime deprecatoris; aliquando te offende. Vale.
◆
Do you suppose that you alone have had this experience? Are you surprised, as if it were a novelty, that after such long travel and so many changes of scene you have not been able to shake off the gloom and heaviness of your mind? You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate. Though you may cross vast spaces of sea, and though, as our Vergil remarks, Lands and cities are left astern, your faults will follow you whithersoever you travel. Socrates made the same remark to one who complained; he said: "Why do you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels." What pleasure is there in seeing new lands? Or in surveying cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you. Reflect that your present behaviour is like that of the prophetess whom Vergil describes: she is excited and goaded into fury, and contains within herself much inspiration that is not her own: The priestess raves, if haply she may shake The great god from her heart. You wander hither and yon, to rid yourself of the <Ep1-199>
EPISTLE XXVIII
burden that rests upon you, though it becomes more troublesome by reason of your very restlessness, just as in a ship the cargo when stationary makes no trouble, but when it shifts to this side or that, it causes the vessel to heel more quickly in the direction where it has settled. Anything you do tells against you, and you hurt yourself by your very unrest; for you are shaking up a sick man. That trouble once removed, all change of scene will become pleasant; though you may be driven to the uttermost ends of the earth, in whatever corner of a savage land you may find yourself, that place, however forbidding, will be to you a hospitable abode. The person you are matters more than the place to which you go; for that reason we should not make the mind a bondsman to any one place. Live in this belief: "I am not born for any one corner of the universe; this whole world is my country." If you saw this fact clearly, you would not be surprised at getting no benefit from the fresh scenes to which you roam each time through weariness of the old scenes. For the first would have pleased you in each case, had you believed it wholly yours. As it is, however, you are not journeying; you are drifting and being driven, only exchanging one place for another, although that which you seek, - to live well, - is found everywhere. Can there be any spot so full of confusion as the Forum? Yet you can live quietly even there, if necessary. Of course, if one were allowed to make one's own arrangements, I should flee far from the very sight and neighbourhood of the Forum. For just as pestilential places assail even the strongest constitution, so there are some places which are also unwholesome for a healthy mind which is not yet quite sound, though recover- <Ep1-201>
Latin / Greek Original
[1] Hoc tibi soli putas accidisse et admiraris quasi rem novam quod peregrinatione tam longa et tot locorum varietatibus non discussisti tristitiam gravitatemque mentis? Animum debes mutare, non caelum. Licet vastum traieceris mare, licet, ut ait Vergilius noster,
sequentur te quocumque perveneris vitia. [2] Hoc idem querenti cuidam Socrates ait, 'quid miraris nihil tibi peregrinationes prodesse, cum te circumferas? premit te eadem causa quae expulit'. Quid terrarum iuvare novitas potest? quid cognitio urbium aut locorum? in irritum cedit ista iactatio. Quaeris quare te fuga ista non adiuvet? tecum fugis. Onus animi deponendum est: non ante tibi ullus placebit locus. [3] Talem nunc esse habitum tuum cogita qualem Vergilius noster vatis inducit iam concitatae et instigatae multumque habentis se spiritus non sui:
Vadis huc illuc ut excutias insidens pondus quod ipsa iactatione incommodius fit, sicut in navi onera immota minus urgent, inaequaliter convoluta citius eam partem in quam incubuere demergunt. Quidquid facis, contra te facis et motu ipso noces tibi; aegrum enim concutis. [4] At cum istuc exemeris malum, omnis mutatio loci iucunda fiet; in ultimas expellaris terras licebit, in quolibet barbariae angulo colloceris, hospitalis tibi illa qualiscumque sedes erit. Magis quis veneris quam quo interest, et ideo nulli loco addicere debemus animum. Cum hac persuasione vivendum est: 'non sum uni angulo natus, patria mea totus hic mundus est'. [5] Quod si liqueret tibi, non admirareris nil adiuvari te regionum varietatibus in quas subinde priorum taedio migras; prima enim quaeque placuisset si omnem tuam crederes. Nunc <non> peregrinaris sed erras et ageris ac locum ex loco mutas, cum illud quod quaeris, bene vivere, omni loco positum sit. [6] Num quid tam turbidum fieri potest quam forum? ibi quoque licet quiete vivere, si necesse sit. Sed si liceat disponere se, conspectum quoque et viciniam fori procul fugiam; nam ut loca gravia etiam firmissimam valetudinem temptant, ita bonae quoque menti necdum adhuc perfectae et convalescenti sunt aliqua parum salubria. [7] Dissentio ab his qui in fluctus medios eunt et tumultuosam probantes vitam cotidie cum difficultatibus rerum magno animo colluctantur. Sapiens feret ista, non eliget, et malet in pace esse quam in pugna; non multum prodest vitia sua proiecisse, si cum alienis rixandum est. [8] 'Triginta' inquit 'tyranni Socraten circumsteterunt nec potuerunt animum eius infringere.' Quid interest quot domini sint? servitus una est; hanc qui contempsit in quanta libet turba dominantium liber est.
[9] Tempus est desinere, sed si prius portorium solvero. 'Initium est salutis notitia peccati.' Egregie mihi hoc dixisse videtur Epicurus; nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult; deprehendas te oportet antequam emendes. [10] Quidam vitiis gloriantur: tu existimas aliquid de remedio cogitare qui mala sua virtutum loco numerant? Ideo quantum potes te ipse coargue, inquire in te; accusatoris primum partibus fungere, deinde iudicis, novissime deprecatoris; aliquando te offende. Vale.