Letter 8
"Do you bid me," you say, "shun the throng,
and withdraw from men, and be content with my own conscience? Where
are the counsels of your school, which order a man to die in the midst
of active work?" As to the course which I seem to you to be urging on
you now and then, my object in shutting myself up and locking the door
is to be able to help a greater number. I never spend a day in idleness;
I appropriate even a part of the night for study. I do not allow
time for sleep but yield to it when I must, and when my eyes are wearied
with waking and ready to fall shut, I keep them at their task. I
have withdrawn not only from men, but from affairs, especially from my
own affairs; I am working for later generations, writing down some ideas
that may be of assistance to them. There are certain wholesome counsels,
which may be compared to prescriptions of useful drugs; these I am putting
into writing; for I have found them helpful in ministering to my own sores,
which, if not wholly cured, have at any rate ceased to spread.
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I point other men to the right path, which
I have found late in life, when wearied with wandering. I cry out
to them: "Avoid whatever pleases the throng: avoid the gifts of Chance!
Halt before every good which Chance brings to you, in a spirit of doubt
and fear; for it is the dumb animals and fish that are deceived by tempting
hopes . Do you call these things the 'gifts' of
Fortune ? They are snares. And any man among you who
wishes to live a life of safety will avoid, to the utmost of his power,
these limed twigs of her favour, by which we mortals, most wretched in
this respect also, are deceived; for we think that we hold them in our
grasp, but they hold us in theirs. Such a career leads us into precipitous
ways, and life on such heights ends in a fall. Moreover, we cannot
even stand up against prosperity when she begins to drive us to leeward;
nor can we go down, either, 'with the ship at least on her course,' or
once for all,; Fortune does not capsize us, - she plunges our bows under
and dashes us on the rocks.
Hold fast, then, to this sound and wholesome
rule of life - that you indulge the body only so far as is needful for
good health. The body should be treated more rigorously, that it
may not be disobedient to the mind. Eat merely to relieve your hunger;
drink merely to quench your thirst; dress merely to keep out the cold;
house yourself merely as a protection against personal discomfort.
It matters little whether the house be built of turf, or of variously coloured
imported marble; understand that a man is sheltered just as well by a thatch
as by a roof of gold. Despise everything that useless toil creates as an
ornament and an object of beauty. And reflect that nothing except
the soul is worthy
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of wonder; for to the soul, "if it be great, naught is great."
When I commune in such terms with myself and
with future generations, do you not think that I am doing more good than
when I appear as counsel in court, or stamp my seal upon a will, or lend
my assistance in the senate, by word or action, to a candidate? Believe
me, those who seem to be busied with nothing are busied with the greater
tasks; they are dealing at the same time with things mortal and things
immortal.
But I must stop, and pay my customary contribution,
to
balance this letter. The payment shall not be made from my own property;
for I am still conning Epicurus. I read to-day, in his works, the following
sentence: "If you would enjoy real
freedom , you must be the slave of
Philosophy." The man who submits and surrenders himself to her is not kept
waiting; he is emancipated on the spot. For the very service of
Philosophy is freedom. It is likely that you will ask me why I quote
so many of Epicurus's noble words instead of words taken from our own school.
But is there any reason why you should regard them as sayings of Epicurus
and not common property? How many poets give forth ideas that have
been uttered, or may be uttered, by philosophers! I need not touch
upon the tragedians and our writers of national drama; for these last
are also somewhat serious, and stand half-way between comedy and tragedy.
What a quantity of sagacious verses lie buried in the mime! How many
of Publilius's lines are worthy of being spoken by buskin-clad actors,
as well as by wearers of the slipper! I shall quote one verse of his,
which concerns philosophy, and particularly that phase
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] 'Tu me' inquis 'vitare turbam iubes, secedere et conscientia esse contentum? ubi illa praecepta vestra quae imperant in actu mori?' Quid? ego tibi videor inertiam suadere? In hoc me recondidi et fores clusi, ut prodesse pluribus possem. Nullus mihi per otium dies exit; partem noctium studiis vindico; non vaco somno sed succumbo, et oculos vigilia fatigatos cadentesque in opere detineo. [2] Secessi non tantum ab hominibus sed a rebus, et in primis a meis rebus: posterorum negotium ago. Illis aliqua quae possint prodesse conscribo; salutares admonitiones,velut medicamentorum utilium compositiones, litteris mando, esse illas efficaces in meis ulceribus expertus, quae etiam si persanata non sunt, serpere desierunt. [3] Rectum iter, quod sero cognovi et lassus errando, aliis monstro. Clamo: 'vitate quaecumque vulgo placent, quae casus attribuit; ad omne fortuitum bonum suspiciosi pavidique subsistite: et fera et piscis spe aliqua oblectante decipitur. Munera ista fortunae putatis? insidiae sunt. Quisquis vestrum tutam agere vitam volet, quantum plurimum potest ista viscata beneficia devitet in quibus hoc quoque miserrimi fallimur: habere nos putamus, haeremus. [4] In praecipitia cursus iste deducit; huius eminentis vitae exitus cadere est. Deinde ne resistere quidem licet, cum coepit transversos agere felicitas, aut saltim rectis aut semel ruere: non vertit fortuna sed cernulat et allidit. [5] Hanc ergo sanam ac salubrem formam vitae tenete, ut corpori tantum indulgeatis quantum bonae valetudini satis est. Durius tractandum est ne animo male pareat: cibus famem sedet, potio sitim exstinguat, vestis arceat frigus, domus munimentum sit adversus infesta temporis. Hanc utrum caespes erexerit an varius lapis gentis alienae, nihil interest: scitote tam bene hominem culmo quam auro tegi. Contemnite omnia quae supervacuus labor velut ornamentum ac decus ponit; cogitate nihil praeter animum esse mirabile, cui magno nihil magnum est.' [6] Si haec mecum, si haec cum posteris loquor, non videor tibi plus prodesse quam cum ad vadimonium advocatus descenderem aut tabulis testamenti anulum imprimerem aut in senatu candidato vocem et manum commodarem? Mihi crede, qui nihil agere videntur maiora agunt: humana divinaque simul tractant.
[7] Sed iam finis faciendus est et aliquid, ut institui, pro hac epistula dependendum. Id non de meo fiet: adhuc Epicurum compilamus, cuius hanc vocem hodierno die legi: 'philosophiae servias oportet, ut tibi contingat vera libertas'. Non differtur in diem qui se illi subiecit et tradidit: statim circumagitur; hoc enim ipsum philosophiae servire libertas est. [8] Potest fieri ut me interroges quare ab Epicuro tam multa bene dicta referam potius quam nostrorum: quid est tamen quare tu istas Epicuri voces putes esse, non publicas? Quam multi poetae dicunt quae philosophis aut dicta sunt aut dicenda! Non attingam tragicos nec togatas nostras - habent enim hae quoque aliquid severitatis et sunt inter comoedias ac tragoedias mediae -: quantum disertissimorum versuum inter mimos iacet! quam multa Publilii non excalceatis sed coturnatis dicenda sunt! [9] Unum versum eius, qui ad philosophiam pertinet et ad hanc partem quae modo fuit in manibus, referam, quo negat fortuita in nostro habenda:
alienum est omne quidquid optando evenit.
[10] Hunc sensum a te dici non paulo melius et adstrictius memini:
non est tuum fortuna quod fecit tuum.
Illud etiam nunc melius dictum a te non praeteribo:
dari bonum quod potuit auferri potest.
Hoc non imputo in solutum: de tuo tibi. Vale.