Letter 7
Do you ask me what you should regard as especially to be avoided?
I say, crowds; for as yet you cannot trust yourself to them with safety.
I shall admit my own weakness, at any rate; for I never bring back home
the same character that I took abroad with me. Something of that
which I have forced to be calm within me is disturbed; some of the foes
that I have routed return again. Just as the sick man, who has been
weak for a long time, is in such a condition that he cannot be taken out
of the
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the house without suffering a relapse, so we ourselves are affected
when our souls are recovering from a lingering discase. To consort
with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some vice
attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously therewith.
Certainly, the greater the mob with which we mingle, the greater the danger.
But nothing is so damaging to good character
as the habit of lounging at the games; for then it is that vice steals
subtly upon one through the avenue of pleasure. What do you think
I mean? I mean that I come home more greedy, more ambitious, more voluptuous,
and even more cruel and inhuman, because I have been among human beings.
By chance I attended a mid-day exhibition, expecting some fun, wit, and
relaxation, - an exhibition at which men's eyes have respite from the slaughter
of their fellow-men. But it was quite the reverse. The previous
combats were the essence of compassion; but now all the trifling is put
aside and it is pure murder. The men have no defensive armour.
They are exposed to blows at all points, and no one ever strikes in vain.
Many persons prefer this programme to the usual pairs and to the bouts
"by request." Of course they do; there is no helmet or shield to deflect
the weapon. What is the need of defensive armour, or of skill?
All these mean delaying death. In the morning they throw men to the
lions and the bears; at noon, they throw them to the spectators.
The spectators demand that the slayer shall face the man who is to slay
him in his turn; and they always reserve the latest conqueror for another
butchering. The outcome of every fight is death, and the means are
fire and sword. This sort of thing goes on while the arena is empty.
You
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may retort: "But he was a highway robber; he killed a man!" And what
of it? Granted that, as a murderer, he deserved this punishment,
what crime have you committed, poor fellow, that you should deserve to
sit and see this show? In the morning they cried "Kill him!
Lash him! Burn him; Why does he meet the sword in so cowardly a way?
Why does he strike so feebly? Why doesn't he die game? Whip him to
meet his wounds! Let them receive blow for blow, with chests bare
and exposed to the stroke!" And when the games stop for the intermission,
they announce: "A little throatcutting in the meantime, so that there may
still be something going on!"
Come now; do you not understand even this
truth, that a bad example. reacts on the agent? Thank the immortal
gods that you are teaching cruelty to a person who cannot learn to be cruel.
The young character, which cannot hold fast to righteousness, must be rescued
from the mob; it is too easy to side with the majority. Even Socrates,
Cato, and Laelius might have been shaken in their moral strength by a
crowd that was unlike them; so true it is that none of us, no matter
how much he cultivates his abilities, can withstand the shock of faults
that approach, as it were, with so great a retinue. Much harm is
done by a single case of indulgence or greed; the familiar friend, if he
be luxurious, weakens and softens us imperecptibly; the neighbour, if he
be rich, rouses our covetousness; the companion, if he be slanderous, rubs
off some of his rust upon us, even though we be spotless and sincere.
What then do you think the effect will be on character, when the world
at large assaults it! You must either imitate or loathe the world.
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But both courses are to be avoided; you should not copy the bad simply
because they are many, nor should you hate the many because they are unlike
you. Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can, Associate with those
who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself
can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach.
There is no reason why pride in advertising your abilities should lure
you into publicity, so that you should desire to recite or harangue before
the general public. Of course I should be willing for you to do so if you
had a stock-in-trade that suited such a mob; as it is, there is not a
man of them who can understand you. One or two individuals will perhaps
come in your way, but even these will have to be moulded and trained by
you so that they will understand you. You may say: "For what purpose
did I learn all these things?" But you need not fear that you have wasted
your efforts; it was for yourself that you learned them.
In order, however, that I may not to-day have
learned exclusively for myself, I shall share with you three excellent
sayings, of the same general purport, which have come to my attention.
This letter will give you one of them as payment of my debt; the other
two you may accept as a contribution in advance. Democritus says:
"One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much
as one man." The following also was nobly spoken by someone or other, for
it is doubtful who the author was; they asked him what was the object of
all this study applied to an art that would reach but very few. He
replied: "I am content with few, content with one, content with none at
al
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] Quid tibi vitandum praecipue existimes quaeris? turbam. Nondum illi tuto committeris. Ego certe confitebor imbecillitatem meam: numquam mores quos extuli refero; aliquid ex eo quod composui turbatur, aliquid ex iis quae fugavi redit. Quod aegris evenit quos longa imbecillitas usque eo affecit ut nusquam sine offensa proferantur, hoc accidit nobis quorum animi ex longo morbo reficiuntur. [2] Inimica est multorum conversatio: nemo non aliquod nobis vitium aut commendat aut imprimit aut nescientibus allinit. Utique quo maior est populus cui miscemur, hoc periculi plus est. Nihil vero tam damnosum bonis moribus quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere; tunc enim per voluptatem facilius vitia subrepunt. [3] Quid me existimas dicere? avarior redeo, ambitiosior, luxuriosior? immo vero crudelior et inhumanior, quia inter homines fui. Casu in meridianum spectaculum incidi, lusus exspectans et sales et aliquid laxamenti quo hominum oculi ab humano cruore acquiescant. Contra est: quidquid ante pugnatum est misericordia fuit; nunc omissis nugis mera homicidia sunt. Nihil habent quo tegantur; ad ictum totis corporibus ex positi numquam frustra manum mittunt. [4] Hoc plerique ordinariis paribus et postulaticiis praeferunt. Quidni praeferant? non galea, non scuto repellitur ferrum. Quo munimenta? quo artes? omnia ista mortis morae sunt. Mane leonibus et ursis homines, meridie spectatoribus suis obiciuntur. Interfectores interfecturis iubent obici et victorem in aliam detinent caedem; exitus pugnantium mors est. Ferro et igne res geritur. [5] Haec fiunt dum vacat harena. 'Sed latrocinium fecit aliquis, occidit hominem.' Quid ergo? quia occidit, ille meruit ut hoc pateretur: tu quid meruisti miser ut hoc spectes? 'Occide, verbera, ure! Quare tam timide incurrit in ferrum? quare parum audacter occidit? quare parum libenter moritur? Plagis agatur in vulnera, mutuos ictus nudis et obviis pectoribus excipiant.' Intermissum est spectaculum: 'interim iugulentur homines, ne nihil agatur'. Age, ne hoc quidem intellegitis, mala exempla in eos redundare qui faciunt? Agite dis immortalibus gratias quod eum docetis esse crudelem qui non potest discere.
[6] Subducendus populo est tener animus et parum tenax recti: facile transitur ad plures. Socrati et Catoni et Laelio excutere morem suum dissimilis multitudo potuisset: adeo nemo nostrum, qui cum maxime concinnamus ingenium, ferre impetum vitiorum tam magno comitatu venientium potest. [7] Unum exemplum luxuriae aut avaritiae multum mali facit: convictor delicatus paulatim enervat et mollit, vicinus dives cupiditatem irritat, malignus comes quamvis candido et simplici rubiginem suam affricuit: quid tu accidere his moribus credis in quos publice factus est impetus? [8] Necesse est aut imiteris aut oderis. Utrumque autem devitandum est: neve similis malis fias, quia multi sunt, neve inimicus multis, quia dissimiles sunt. Recede in te ipse quantum potes; cum his versare qui te meliorem facturi sunt, illos admitte quos tu potes facere meliores. Mutuo ista fiunt, et homines dum docent discunt. [9] Non est quod te gloria publicandi ingenii producat in medium, ut recitare istis velis aut disputare; quod facere te vellem, si haberes isti populo idoneam mercem: nemo est qui intellegere te possit. Aliquis fortasse, unus aut alter incidet, et hic ipse formandus tibi erit instituendusque ad intellectum tui. 'Cui ergo ista didici?' Non est quod timeas ne operam perdideris, si tibi didicisti.
[10] Sed ne soli mihi hodie didicerim, communicabo tecum quae occurrunt mihi egregie dicta circa eundem fere sensum tria, ex quibus unum haec epistula in debitum solvet, duo in antecessum accipe. Democritus ait, 'unus mihi pro populo est, et populus pro uno'. [11] Bene et ille, quisquis fuit - ambigitur enim de auctore -, cum quaereretur ab illo quo tanta diligentia artis spectaret ad paucissimos perventurae, 'satis sunt' inquit 'mihi pauci, satis est unus, satis est nullus'. Egregie hoc tertium Epicurus, cum uni ex consortibus studiorum suorum scriberet: 'haec' inquit 'ego non multis, sed tibi; satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus'. [12] Ista, mi Lucili, condenda in animum sunt, ut contemnas voluptatem ex plurium assensione venientem. Multi te laudant: ecquid habes cur placeas tibi, si is es quem intellegant multi ? introrsus bona tua spectent. Vale.