Letter 55
I have just returned from a ride in my litter; and I am
as weary as if I had walked the distance, instead of being seated.
Even to be carried for any length of time is hard work, perhaps all the
more so because it is an unnatural exercise; for Nature gave us legs with
which to do our own walking, and eyes with which to do our own seeing.
Our luxuries have condemned us to weakness; we have ceased to be able to
do that which we have long declined to do. Nevertheless, I found
it necessary to give my body a shaking up, in order that the bile which
had gathered in my throat, if that was my trouble, might be shaken out,
or, if the very breath within me had become, for some reason, too thick,
that the jolting, which I have felt was a good thing for me, might make
it thinner. So I insisted on being carried longer than usual, along
an attractive beach, which bends between Cumae and Servilius Vatia's country-house,
shut in by the sea on one side and the lake on the other, just like a na
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storm; since, as you know, the waves, when they beat upon the beach
hard and fast, level it out ; but a continuous period of fair weather loosens
it, when the sand, which is kept firm by the water, loses its moisture.
As my habit is, I began to look about for
something there that might be of service to me, when my eves fell upon
the villa which had once belonged to Vatia. So this was the place
where that famous praetorian millionaire passed his old age! He was
famed for nothing else than his life of leisure, and he was regarded as
lucky only for that reason. For whenever men were ruined by their
friendship with Asinius Gallus whenever others were ruined by their hatred
of Sejanus, and later by their intimacy with him, - for it was no more
dangerous to have offended him than to have loved him, - people used to
cry out: "O Vatia, you alone know how to live! " But what he knew was how
to hide, not how to live; and it makes a great deal of difference whether
your life be one of leisure or one of idleness. So I never drove
past his country-place during Vatia's lifetime without saying to myself:
"Here lies Vatia!"
But, my dear Lucilius, philosophy is a thing
of holiness, something to be worshipped, so much so that the very counterfeit
pleases. For the mass of mankind consider that a person is at leisure
who has withdrawn from society, is free from care, self- sufficient, and
lives for himself; but these privileges can be the reward only of the wise
man. Does he who is a victim of anxiety know how to live for himself?
What? Does he even know (and that is of first importance) how to live at
all? For the man who has fled from affairs and from men, who has been banished
to seclusion by the unhappiness which his own
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desires have brought upon him, who cannot see his neighbour more happy
than himself, who through fear has taken to concealment, like a frightened
and sluggish animal. - this person is not living for himself he is living
for his belly, his sleep, and his lust, - and that is the most shameful
thing in the world. He who lives for no one does not necessarily
live for himself Nevertheless, there is so much in steadfastness and adherence
to one's purpose that even sluggishness, if stubbornly maintained, assumes
an air of authority with us.
I could not describe the villa accurately;
for I am familiar onlly with the front of the house, and with the parts
which are in public view and can be seen by the mere passer-by. There
are two grottoes, which cost a great deal of labour, as big as the most
spacious hall, made by band. One of these does not admit the rays
of the sun, while the other keeps them until the sun sets. There
is also a stream running through a grove of plane- trees, which draws for
its supply both on the sea and on Lake Acheron; it intersects the grove
just like a race-way and is large enough to support fish, although its
waters are continually being drawn off. When the sea is calm, however,
they do not use the stream, only touching the well-stocked waters when
the storms give the fishermen a foreed holiday. But the most convenient
thing about the villa is the fact that Baiae is next door, it is free from
all the inconveniences of that resort, and yet enjoys its pleasures.
I myself understand these attractions, and I believe that it is a villa
suited to every season of the year. It fronts the west wind, which
it intercepts in such a way that Baiae is denied it. So it seems
that Vatia was no fool when he selected this place as the best in which
to
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spend his leisure when it was already unfruitful and decrepit.
The place where one lives, however, can contribute
little towards tranquillity; it is the mind which must make everything
agreeablc to itself. I have seen men despondent in a gay and lovely
villa, and I have seen them to all appearance full of business in the midst
of a solitude. For this reason you should not refuse to believe that
your life is well-placed merely because you are not now in Campania.
But why are you not there? Just let your thoughts travel, even to
this place. You may hold converse with your friends when they are
absent, and indeed as often as you wish and for as long as you wish.
For we enjoy this, the greatest of pleasures, all the more when we are
absent from one another. For the presence of friends makes us fastidious;
and because we can at any time talk or sit together, when once we have
parted we give not a thought to those whom we have just beheld. And
we ought to bear the absence of friends cheerfully, just because everyone
is bound to be often absent from his friends even when they are present.
Include among such cases, in the first place, the nights spent apart, then
the different engagements which each of two friends has, then the private
studies of each and their excursions into the country, and you will see
that foreign travel does not rob us of much. A friend should be retained
in the spirit; such a friend can never be absent. He can see every
day whomsoever he desires to see.
I would therefore have you share your studies
with me, your meals, and your walks. We should be living within too
narrow limits if anything were barred to our thoughts. I see you,
my dear Lucilius,
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] A gestatione cum maxime venio, non minus fatigatus quam si tantum ambulassem quantum sedi; labor est enim et diu ferri, ac nescio an eo maior quia contra naturam est, quae pedes dedit ut per nos ambularemus, oculos ut per nos videremus. Debilitatem nobis indixere deliciae, et quod diu noluimus posse desimus. [2] Mihi tamen necessarium erat concutere corpus, ut, sive bilis insederat faucibus, discuteretur, sive ipse ex aliqua causa spiritus densior erat, extenuaret illum iactatio, quam profuisse mihi sensi. Ideo diutius vehi perseveravi invitante ipso litore, quod inter Cumas et Servili Vatiae villam curvatur et hinc mari, illinc lacu velut angustum iter cluditur. Erat autem a recenti tempestate spissum; fluctus enim illud, ut scis, frequens et concitatus exaequat, longior tranquillitas solvit, cum harenis, quae umore alligantur, sucus abscessit.
[3] Ex consuetudine tamen mea circumspicere coepi an aliquid illic invenirem quod mihi posset bono esse, et derexi oculos in villam quae aliquando Vatiae fuit. In hac ille praetorius dives, nulla alia re quam otio notus, consenuit, et ob hoc unum felix habebatur. Nam quotiens aliquos amicitiae Asinii Galli, quotiens Seiani odium, deinde amor merserat - aeque enim offendisse illum quam amasse periculosum fuit -, exclamabant homines, 'o Vatia, solus scis vivere'. [4] At ille latere sciebat, non vivere; multum autem interest utrum vita tua otiosa sit an ignava. Numquam aliter hanc villam Vatia vivo praeteribam quam ut dicerem, 'Vatia hic situs est'. Sed adeo, mi Lucili, philosophia sacrum quiddam est et venerabile ut etiam si quid illi simile est mendacio placeat. Otiosum enim hominem seductum existimat vulgus et securum et se contentum, sibi viventem, quorum nihil ulli contingere nisi sapienti potest. Ille solus scit sibi vivere; ille enim, quod est primum, scit vivere. [5] Nam qui res et homines fugit, quem cupiditatum suarum infelicitas relegavit, qui alios feliciores videre non potuit, qui velut timidum atque iners animal metu oblituit, ille sibi non vivit, sed, quod est turpissimum, ventri, somno, libidini; non continuo sibi vivit qui nemini. Adeo tamen magna res est constantia et in proposito suo perseverantia ut habeat auctoritatem inertia quoque pertinax.
[6] De ipsa villa nihil tibi possum certi scribere; frontem enim eius tantum novi et exposita, quae ostendit etiam transeuntibus. Speluncae sunt duae magni operis, cuivis laxo atrio pares, manu factae, quarum altera solem non recipit, altera usque in occidentem tenet. Platanona medius rivus et a mari et ab Acherusio lacu receptus euripi modo dividit, alendis piscibus, etiam si assidue exhauriatur, sufficiens. Sed illi, cum mare patet, parcitur: cum tempestas piscatoribus dedit ferias, manus ad parata porrigitur. [7] Hoc tamen est commodissimum in villa, quod Baias trans parietem habet: incommodis illarum caret, voluptatibus fruitur. Has laudes eius ipse novi: esse illam totius anni credo; occurrit enim Favonio et illum adeo excipit ut Bais neget. Non stulte videtur elegisse hunc locum Vatia in quem otium suum pigrum iam et senile conferret.
[8] Sed non multum ad tranquillitatem locus confert: animus est qui sibi commendet omnia. Vidi ego in villa hilari et amoena maestos, vidi in media solitudine occupatis similes. Quare non est quod existimes ideo parum bene compositum esse te quod in Campania non es. Quare autem non es? huc usque cogitationes tuas mitte. [9] Conversari cum amicis absentibus licet, et quidem quotiens velis, quamdiu velis. Magis hac voluptate, quae maxima est, fruimur dum absumus; praesentia enim nos delicatos facit, ct quia aliquando una loquimur, ambulamus, consedimus, cum diducti sumus nihil de iis quos modo vidimus cogitamus. [10] Et ideo aequo animo ferre debemus absentiam, quia nemo non multum etiam praesentibus abest. Pone hic primum noctes separatas, deinde occupationes utrique diversas, deinde studia secreta, suburbanas profectiones: videbis non multum esse quod nobis peregrinatio eripiat. [11] Amicus animo possidendus est; hic autem numquam abest; quemcumque vult cotidie videt. Itaque mecum stude, mecum cena, mecum ambula: in angusto vivebamus, si quicquam esset cogitationibus clusum. Video te, mi Lucili; cum maxime audio; adeo tecum sum ut dubitem an incipiam non epistulas sed codicellos tibi scribere. Vale.