Letter 4
Keep on as you have begun, and make all possible
haste, so that you may have longer enjoyment of an improved mind, one that
is at peace with itself. Doubtless you will derive enjoyment during
the time
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when you are improving your mind and setting it at peace with itself;
but quite different is the pleasure which comes from contemplation when
one's mind is so cleansed from every stain that it shines. You remember,
of course, what joy you felt when you laid aside the garments of boyhood
and donned the man's toga, and were escorted to the forum; nevertheless,
you may look for a still greater joy when you have laid aside the mind
of boyhood and when wisdom has enrolled you among men. For it is
not boyhood that still stays with us, but something worse, - boyishness.
And this condition is all the more serious because we possess the authority
of old age, together with the follies of boyhood, yea, even the follies
of infancy. Boys fear trifles, children fear shadows, we fear both.
All you need to do is to advance; you will
thus understand that some things are less to be dreaded, precisely because
they inspire us with great fear. No evil is great which is the last
evil of all. Death arrives; it would be a thing to dread, if it could
remain with you. But death must either not come at all, or else must
come and pass away.
"It is difficult, however," you say, "to bring
the mind to a point where it can scorn life." But do you not see what trifling
reasons impel men to scorn life? One hangs himself before the door
of his mistress; another hurls himself from the house-top that he may no
longer be compelled to bear the taunts of a bad- tempered master; a third,
to be saved from arrest after running away, drives a sword into his vitals.
Do you not suppose that virtue will be as efficacious as excessive fear?
No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it,
or believes that living through many consulships is a great bless-
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ing. Rehearse this thought every day, that you may be able to
depart from life contentedly; for man men clutch and cling to life, even
as those who are carried down a rushing stream clutch and cling to briars
and sharp rocks. Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the
fear of death and the hardships of life; they are unwilling to live, and
yet they do not know how to die. For this reason, make life as a
whole agreeable to yourself by banishing all worry about it. No good
thing renders its possessor happy, unless his mind is reconciled to the
possibility of loss; nothing, however, is lost with less discomfort than
that which, when lost, cannot be missed. Therefore, encourage and
toughen your spirit against the mishaps that afflict even the most powerful.
For example, the fate of Pompey was settled by a boy and a eunuch, that
of Crassus by a cruel and insolent Parthian.
Gaius Caesar ordered Lepidus to bare his neck
for the axe of the tribune Dexter; and he himself offered his own throat
to Chaerea. No man has ever been so far advanced by Fortune that she
did not threaten him as greatly as she had previously indulged ban.
Do not trust her seeming calm; in a moment the sea is moved to its depths.
The very day the ships have made a brave show in the games, they are engulfed.
Reflect that a highwayman or an enemy may cut your throat; and, though
he is not your master, every slave wields the power of life and death over
you. Therefore I declare to you: he is lord of your life that scorns
his own. Think of those who have perished through plots in their
own home, slain either openly or by guile; you will that just as many have
been killed by angry slaves as by angry kings. What matter, therefore,
how power-
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ful he be whom you fear, when every one possesses the power which inspires
your fear? But," you will say, "if you should chance to fall into
the hands of the enemy, the conqueror will command that you be led away,"
- yes, whither you are already being led. Why do you voluntarily deceive
yourself and require to be told now for the first time what fate it is
that you have long been labouring under? Take my word for it: since
the day you were born you are being led thither. We must ponder this
thought, and thoughts of the like nature, if we desire to be calm as we
await that last hour, the fear of which makes all previous hours uneasy.
But I must end my letter. Let me share
with you the saying which pleased me to-day. It, too, is culled from
another man's Garden: "Poverty
brought into conformity with the law of nature, is great wealth." Do you
know what limits that law of nature ordains for us? Merely to avert
hunger, thirst, and cold. In order to banish hunger and thirst, it
is not necessary for you to pay court at the doors of the purse-proud,
or to submit to the stern frown, or to the kindness that humiliates; nor
is it necessary for you to scour the seas, or go campaigning; nature's
needs are easily provided and ready to hand. It is the superfluous
things for which men sweat, - the superfluous things that wear our togas
threadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign
shores. That which is enough is ready to our hands. He who
has made a fair compact with poverty is rich. Farewell.
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] Persevera ut coepisti et quantum potes propera, quo diutius frui emendato animo et composito possis. Frueris quidem etiam dum emendas, etiam dum componis: alia tamen illa voluptas est quae percipitur ex contemplatione mentis ab omni labe purae et splendidae. [2] Tenes utique memoria quantum senseris gaudium cum praetexta posita sumpsisti virilem togam et in forum deductus es: maius expecta cum puerilem animum deposueris et te in viros philosophia transscripserit. Adhuc enim non pueritia sed, quod est gravius, puerilitas remanet; et hoc quidem peior est, quod auctoritatem habemus senum, vitia puerorum, nec puerorum tantum sed infantum: illi levia, hi falsa formidant, nos utraque. [3] Profice modo: intelleges quaedam ideo minus timenda quia multum metus afferunt. Nullum malum magnum quod extremum est. Mors ad te venit: timenda erat si tecum esse posset: necesse est aut non perveniat aut transeat. [4] 'Difficile est' inquis 'animum perducere ad contemptionem animae.' Non vides quam ex frivolis causis contemnatur? Alius ante amicae fores laqueo pependit, alius se praecipitavit e tecto ne dominum stomachantem diutius audiret, alius ne reduceretur e fuga ferrum adegit in viscera: non putas virtutem hoc effecturam quod efficit nimia formido? Nulli potest secura vita contingere qui de producenda nimis cogitat, qui inter magna bona multos consules numerat. [5] Hoc cotidie meditare, ut possis aequo animo vitam relinquere, quam multi sic complectuntur et tenent quomodo qui aqua torrente rapiuntur spinas et aspera. Plerique inter mortis metum et vitae tormenta miseri fluctuantur et vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt. [6] Fac itaque tibi iucundam vitam omnem pro illa sollicitudinem deponendo. Nullum bonum adiuvat habentem nisi ad cuius amissionem praeparatus est animus; nullius autem rei facilior amissio est quam quae desiderari amissa non potest. Ergo adversus haec quae incidere possunt etiam potentissimis adhortare te et indura. [7] De Pompei capite pupillus et spado tulere sententiam, de Crasso crudelis et insolens Parthus; Gaius Caesar iussit Lepidum Dextro tribuno praebere cervicem, ipse Chaereae praestitit; neminem eo fortuna provexit ut non tantum illi minaretur quantum permiserat. Noli huic tranquillitati confidere: momento mare evertitur; eodem die ubi luserunt navigia sorbentur. [8] Cogita posse et latronem et hostem admovere iugulo tuo gladium; ut potestas maior absit, nemo non servus habet in te vitae necisque arbitrium. Ita dico: quisquis vitam suam contempsit tuae dominus est. Recognosce exempla eorum qui domesticis insidiis perierunt, aut aperta vi aut dolo: intelleges non pauciores servorum ira cecidisse quam regum. Quid ad te itaque quam potens sit quem times, cum id propter quod times nemo non possit? [9] At si forte in manus hostium incideris, victor te duci iubebit - eo nempe quo duceris. Quid te ipse decipis et hoc nunc primum quod olim patiebaris intellegis? Ita dico: ex quo natus es, duceris. Haec et eiusmodi versanda in animo sunt si volumus ultimam illam horam placidi exspectare cuius metus omnes alias inquietas facit.
[10] Sed ut finem epistulae imponam, accipe quod mihi hodierno die placuit - et hoc quoque ex alienis hortulis sumptum est: 'magnae divitiae sunt lege naturae composita paupertas'. Lex autem illa naturae scis quos nobis terminos statuat? Non esurire, non sitire, non algere. Ut famem sitimque depellas non est necesse superbis assidere liminibus nec supercilium grave et contumeliosam etiam humanitatem pati, non est necesse maria temptare nec sequi castra: parabile est quod natura desiderat et appositum. [11] Ad supervacua sudatur; illa sunt quae togam conterunt, quae nos senescere sub tentorio cogunt, quae in aliena litora impingunt: ad manum est quod sat est. Cui cum paupertate bene convenit dives est. Vale.