Letter 93
WHILE reading the letter in which you were lamenting the death of the
philosopher Metronax as if he might have, and indeed ought to have, lived
longer, I missed the spirit of fairness which abounds in all your discussions
concerning men and things, but is lacking when you approach one single
subject, - as is indeed the case with us all. In other words, I have
noticed many who deal fairly with their fellow-men, but none who deals
fairly with the gods. We rail every day at Fate, saying "Why has
A. been carried off in the very middle of his career? Why is not
B. carried off instead? Why should he prolong his old age, which
is a burden to himself as well as to others?" But tell me, pray, do you
consider it fairer that you should obey Nature, or that Nature should obey
you? And what difference does it make how soon you depart from a
place which you must depart from sooner or later? We should strive,
not to live long, but to live rightly for to achieve long life you have
need of Fate only, but for right living you
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need the soul. A life is really long if it is a full life; but
fulness is not attained until the soul has rendered to itself its proper
Good, that is, until it has assumed control over itself. What benefit
does this older man derive from the eighty years he has spent in idleness?
A person like him has not lived; he has merely tarried awhile in life.
Nor has he died late in life; he has simply been a long time dying.
He has lived eighty years, has he? That depends upon the date from
which you reckon his death! Your other friend, however, departed in the
bloom of his manhood. But he had fulfilled all the duties of a good
citizen, a good friend, a good son; in no respect had he fallen short.
His age may have been incomplete, but his life was complete. The
other man has lived eighty years, has he? Nay, he has existed eighty years,
unless perchance you mean by "he has lived" what we mean when we say that
a tree "lives."
P ray, let us see to it, my dear Lucilius,
that our lives, like jewels of great price, be noteworthy not because of
their width but because of their weight. Let us measure them by their
performance, not by their duration. Would you know wherein lies the
difference between this hardy man who, despising
Fortune , has served through every campaign of life
and has attained to life's Supreme Good, and that other person over whose
head many years have passed? The former exists even after his death;
the latter has died even before he was dead.
W e should therefore praise, and number in
the company of the blest, that man who has invested well the portion of
time, however little, that has been allotted to him; for such a one has
seen the true light. He bas not been one of the common herd.
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He has not only lived, but flourished. Sometimes he enjoyed fair
skies; sometimes, as often happens, it was only through the clouds that
there flashed to him the radiance of the mighty star." Why do you ask:
"How long did he live?" He still lives! At one bound he has passed
over into posterity and has consigned himself to the guardianship of memory.
And yet I would not on that account decline for myself a few additional
years; although, if my life's space be shortened, I shall not say that
I have lacked aught that is essential to a happy life. For I have
not planned to live up to the very last day that my greedy hopes had promised
me; nay, I have looked upon every day as if it were my last. Why
ask the date of my birth, or whether I am still enrolled on the register
of the younger men? What I have is my own. Just as one of small
stature can be a perfect man, so a life of small compass can be a perfect
life. Age ranks among the external things. How long I am to exist
is not mine to decide, but how long I shall go on existing in my present
way is in my own control. This is the only thing you have the right
to require of me, - that I shall cease to measure out an inglorious age
as it were in darkness, and devote myself to living instead of being carried
along past life.
A nd what, you ask, is the fullest span of
life? It is living until you possess wisdom. He who has attained
wisdom has reached, not the furthermost, but the most important, goal.
Such a one may indeed exult boldly and give thanks to the gods - aye, and
to himself also - and he may count himself Nature's creditor for having
lived. He will indeed have the right to do so, for he has paid her
back a better life than he has received. He has set up the
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pattern of a good man, showing the quality and the greatness of a good
man. Had another year been added, it would merely have been like
the past. And yet how long are we to keep living? We have had the
joy of learning the truth about the universe. We know from what beginnings
Nature arises; how she orders the course of the heavens; by what successive
changes she summons back the year; how she has brought to an end all things
that ever have been, and has established herself as the only end of her
own being. We know that the stars move by their own motion, and that
nothing except the earth stands still, while all the other bodies run on
with uninterrupted swiftness. We know how the moon outstrips the sun;
why it is that the slower leaves the swifter behind; in what manner she
receives her light, or loses it again; what brings on the night, and what
brings back the day. To that place you must go where you are to have a
closer view of all these things. "And yet," says the wise man, "I do not
depart more valiantly because of this hope -because I judge the path lies
clear before me to my own gods. I have indeed earned admission to their
presence, and in fact have already been in their company; I have sent my
soul to them as they had previously sent theirs to me. But suppose
that I am utterly annihilated, and that after death nothing mortal remains;
I have no less courage, even if, when I depart, my course leads - nowhere."
"But," you say, "he has not lived as many years as he might have lived.
There are books which contain very few lines, admirable and useful in spite
of their size; and there are also the Annals of Tanusius - you know how
bulky the book is, and
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Latin / Greek Original
[1] In epistula qua de morte Metronactis philosophi querebaris, tamquam et potuisset diutius vivere et debuisset, aequitatem tuam desideravi, quae tibi in omni persona, in omni negotio superest, in una re deest, in qua omnibus: multos inveni aequos adversus homines, adversus deos neminem. Obiurgamus cotidie fatum: 'quare ille in medio cursu raptus est? quare ille non rapitur? quare senectutem et sibi et aliis gravem extendit?' [2] Utrum, obsecro te, aequius iudicas, te naturae an tibi parere naturam? quid autem interest quam cito exeas unde utique exeundum est? Non ut diu vivamus curandum est, sed ut satis; nam ut diu vivas fato opus est, ut satis, animo. Longa est vita si plena est; impletur autem cum animus sibi bonum suum reddidit et ad se potestatem sui transtulit. [3] Quid illum octoginta anni iuvant per inertiam exacti? non vixit iste sed in vita moratus est, nec sero mortuus est, sed diu. 'Octoginta annis vixit.' Interest mortem eius ex quo die numeres. 'At ille obiit viridis.' [4] Sed officia boni civis, boni amici, boni filii executus est; in nulla parte cessavit; licet aetas eius inperfecta sit, vita perfecta est. 'Octoginta annis vixit.' Immo octoginta annis fuit, nisi forte sic vixisse eum dicis quomodo dicuntur arbores vivere. Obsecro te, Lucili, hoc agamus ut quemadmodum pretiosa rerum sic vita nostra non multum pateat sed multum pendeat; actu illam metiamur, non tempore. Vis scire quid inter hunc intersit vegetum contemptoremque fortunae functum omnibus vitae humanae stipendiis atque in summum bonum eius evectum et illum cui multi anni transmissi sunt? alter post mortem quoque est, alter ante mortem perit. [5] Laudemus itaque et in numero felicium reponamus eum cui quantulumcumque temporis contigit bene conlocatum est. Vidit enim veram lucem; non fuit unus e multis; et vixit et viguit. Aliquando sereno usus est, aliquando, ut solet, validi sideris fulgor per nubila emicuit. Quid quaeris quamdiu vixerit? vivit: ad posteros usque transiluit et se in memoriam dedit. [6] Nec ideo mihi plures annos accedere recusaverim; nihil tamen mihi ad beatam vitam defuisse dicam si spatium eius inciditur; non enim ad eum diem me aptavi quem ultimum mihi spes avida promiserat, sed nullum non tamquam ultimum aspexi. Quid me interrogas quando natus sim, an inter iuniores adhuc censear? habeo meum. [7] Quemadmodum in minore corporis habitu potest homo esse perfectus, sic et in minore temporis modo potest vita esse perfecta. Aetas inter externa est. Quamdiu sim alienum est: quamdiu ero, <vere> ut sim, meum est. Hoc a me exige, ne velut per tenebras aevum ignobile emetiar, ut agam vitam, non ut praetervehar. [8] Quaeris quod sit amplissimum vitae spatium? usque ad sapientiam vivere; qui ad illam pervenit attigit non longissimum finem, sed maximum. Ille vero glorietur audacter et dis agat gratias interque eos sibi, et rerum naturae inputet quod fuit. Merito enim inputabit: meliorem illi vitam reddidit quam accepit. Exemplar boni viri posuit, qualis quantusque esset ostendit; si quid adiecisset, fuisset simile praeterito. [9] Et tamen quousque vivimus? Omnium rerum cognitione fruiti sumus: scimus a quibus principiis natura se attollat, quemadmodum ordinet mundum, per quas annum vices revocet, quemadmodum omnia quae usquam erunt cluserit et se ipsam finem sui fecerit; scimus sidera impetu suo vadere, praeter terram nihil stare, cetera continua velocitate decurrere; scimus quemadmodum solem luna praetereat, quare tardior velociorem post se relinquat, quomodo lumen accipiat aut perdat, quae causa inducat noctem, quae reducat diem: illuc eundum est ubi ista propius aspicias. [10] 'Nec hac spe' inquit sapiens ille 'fortius exeo, quod patere mihi ad deos meos iter iudico. Merui quidem admitti et iam inter illos fui animumque illo meum misi et ad me illi suum miserant. Sed tolli me de medio puta et post mortem nihil ex homine restare: aeque magnum animum habeo, etiam si nusquam transiturus excedo.' Non tam multis vixit annis quam potuit. [11] Et paucorum versuum liber est et quidem laudandus atque utilis: annales Tanusii scis quam ponderosi sint et quid vocentur. Hoc est vita quorundam longa, et quod Tanusii sequitur annales. [12] Numquid feliciorem iudicas eum qui summo die muneris quam eum qui medio occiditur? numquid aliquem tam stulte cupidum esse vitae putas ut iugulari in spoliario quam in harena malit? Non maiore spatio alter alterum praecedimus. Mors per omnis it; qui occidit consequitur occisum. Minimum est de quo sollicitissime agitur. Quid autem ad rem pertinet quam diu vites quod evitare non possis? Vale.