Lucius Annaeus Seneca→Lucilius Junior|c. 65 AD|Seneca the Younger|From Rome|To Sicily|AI-assisted
S pite of all do you still chafe and complain,
not understanding that, in all the evils to which you refer, there is really
only one - the fact that you do chafe and complain? If you ask me,
I think that for a man there is no misery unless there be something in
the universe which he thinks miserable. I shall not endure myself
on that day when I find anything unendurable. I am ill; but that
is a part of my lot. My slaves have fallen sick, my income has gone
off, my house is rickety, I have been assailed by losses, accidents, toil,
and fear; this is a common thing. Nay, that was an understatement; it was
an inevitable thing. Such affairs come by order, and not by accident.
if you will believe me, it is my inmost emotions that I am just now disclosing
to you: when everything seems to go hard and uphill, I have trained myself
not merely to obey God, but to agree with His
<Ep3-105>
decisions. I follow Him because my soul wills it, and not
because I must. Nothing will ever happen to me that I shall receive with
ill humour or with a wry face. I shall pay up all my taxes willingly.
Now all the things which cause us to groan or recoil, are part of the tax
of life - things, my dear Lucilius, which you should never hope and never
seek to escape. It was disease of the bladder that made you apprehensive;
downcast letters came from you; you were continually getting worse; I will
touch the truth more closely, and say that you feared for your life.
But come, did you not know, when you prayed for long life, that this was
what you were praying for? A long life includes all these troubles,
just as a long journey includes dust and mud and rain. "But," you cry,
"I wished to live, and at the same time to be immune from all ills." Such
a womanish cry does no credit to a man. Consider in what attitude
you shall receive this prayer of mine (I offer it not only in a good, but
in a noble spirit): "May gods and goddesses alike forbid that Fortune keep
you in luxury!" Ask yourself voluntarily which you would choose if some
god gave you the choice - a life in a cafe of life in a camp. And
yet life, Lucilius, is really a battle. For this reason those who are tossed
about at sea, who proceed uphill and downhill over toilsome crags and heights,
who go on campaigns that bring the greatest danger, are heroes and front-rank
fighters; but persons who live in rotten luxury and ease while others toil,
are mere turtle-doves safe only because men despise them.
Farewell.
<Ep3-107>
[1] Tamen tu indignaris aliquid aut quereris et non intellegis nihil esse in istis mali nisi hoc unum quod indignaris et quereris? Si me interrogas, nihil puto viro miserum nisi aliquid esse in rerum natura quod putet miserum. Non feram me quo die aliquid ferre non potero. Male valeo: pars fati est. Familia decubuit, fenus offendit, domus crepuit, damna, vulnera, labores, metus incucurrerunt: solet fieri. Hoc parum est: debuit fieri. [2] Decernuntur ista, non accidunt. Si quid credis mihi, intimos adfectus meos tibi cum maxime detego: in omnibus quae adversa videntur et dura sic formatus sum: non pareo deo sed adsentior; ex animo illum, non quia necesse est, sequor. Nihil umquam mihi incidet quod tristis excipiam, quod malo vultu; nullum tributum invitus conferam. Omnia autem ad quae gemimus, quae expavescimus, tributa vitae sunt: horum, mi Lucili, nec speraveris immunitatem nec petieris. [3] Vesicae te dolor inquietavit, epistulae venerunt parum dulces, detrimenta continua — propius accedam, de capite timuisti. Quid, tu nesciebas haec te optare cum optares senectutem? Omnia ista in longa vita sunt, quomodo in longa via et pulvis et lutum et pluvia. [4] 'Sed volebam vivere, carere tamen incommodis omnibus.' Tam effeminata vox virum dedecet. Videris quemadmodum hoc votum meum excipias; ego illud magno animo, non tantum bono facio: neque di neque deae faciant ut te fortuna in delicis habeat. [5] Ipse te interroga, si quis potestatem tibi deus faciat, utrum velis vivere in macello an in castris. Atqui vivere, Lucili, militare est. Itaque hi qui iactantur et per operosa atque ardua sursum ac deorsum eunt et expeditiones periculosissimas obeunt fortes viri sunt primoresque castrorum; isti quos putida quies aliis laborantibus molliter habet turturillae sunt, tuti contumeliae causa. Vale.
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S pite of all do you still chafe and complain, not understanding that, in all the evils to which you refer, there is really only one - the fact that you do chafe and complain? If you ask me, I think that for a man there is no misery unless there be something in the universe which he thinks miserable. I shall not endure myself on that day when I find anything unendurable. I am ill; but that is a part of my lot. My slaves have fallen sick, my income has gone off, my house is rickety, I have been assailed by losses, accidents, toil, and fear; this is a common thing. Nay, that was an understatement; it was an inevitable thing. Such affairs come by order, and not by accident. if you will believe me, it is my inmost emotions that I am just now disclosing to you: when everything seems to go hard and uphill, I have trained myself not merely to obey God, but to agree with His <Ep3-105>
decisions. I follow Him because my soul wills it, and not because I must. Nothing will ever happen to me that I shall receive with ill humour or with a wry face. I shall pay up all my taxes willingly. Now all the things which cause us to groan or recoil, are part of the tax of life - things, my dear Lucilius, which you should never hope and never seek to escape. It was disease of the bladder that made you apprehensive; downcast letters came from you; you were continually getting worse; I will touch the truth more closely, and say that you feared for your life. But come, did you not know, when you prayed for long life, that this was what you were praying for? A long life includes all these troubles, just as a long journey includes dust and mud and rain. "But," you cry, "I wished to live, and at the same time to be immune from all ills." Such a womanish cry does no credit to a man. Consider in what attitude you shall receive this prayer of mine (I offer it not only in a good, but in a noble spirit): "May gods and goddesses alike forbid that Fortune keep you in luxury!" Ask yourself voluntarily which you would choose if some god gave you the choice - a life in a cafe of life in a camp. And yet life, Lucilius, is really a battle. For this reason those who are tossed about at sea, who proceed uphill and downhill over toilsome crags and heights, who go on campaigns that bring the greatest danger, are heroes and front-rank fighters; but persons who live in rotten luxury and ease while others toil, are mere turtle-doves safe only because men despise them. Farewell. <Ep3-107>
Latin / Greek Original
[1] Tamen tu indignaris aliquid aut quereris et non intellegis nihil esse in istis mali nisi hoc unum quod indignaris et quereris? Si me interrogas, nihil puto viro miserum nisi aliquid esse in rerum natura quod putet miserum. Non feram me quo die aliquid ferre non potero. Male valeo: pars fati est. Familia decubuit, fenus offendit, domus crepuit, damna, vulnera, labores, metus incucurrerunt: solet fieri. Hoc parum est: debuit fieri. [2] Decernuntur ista, non accidunt. Si quid credis mihi, intimos adfectus meos tibi cum maxime detego: in omnibus quae adversa videntur et dura sic formatus sum: non pareo deo sed adsentior; ex animo illum, non quia necesse est, sequor. Nihil umquam mihi incidet quod tristis excipiam, quod malo vultu; nullum tributum invitus conferam. Omnia autem ad quae gemimus, quae expavescimus, tributa vitae sunt: horum, mi Lucili, nec speraveris immunitatem nec petieris. [3] Vesicae te dolor inquietavit, epistulae venerunt parum dulces, detrimenta continua — propius accedam, de capite timuisti. Quid, tu nesciebas haec te optare cum optares senectutem? Omnia ista in longa vita sunt, quomodo in longa via et pulvis et lutum et pluvia. [4] 'Sed volebam vivere, carere tamen incommodis omnibus.' Tam effeminata vox virum dedecet. Videris quemadmodum hoc votum meum excipias; ego illud magno animo, non tantum bono facio: neque di neque deae faciant ut te fortuna in delicis habeat. [5] Ipse te interroga, si quis potestatem tibi deus faciat, utrum velis vivere in macello an in castris. Atqui vivere, Lucili, militare est. Itaque hi qui iactantur et per operosa atque ardua sursum ac deorsum eunt et expeditiones periculosissimas obeunt fortes viri sunt primoresque castrorum; isti quos putida quies aliis laborantibus molliter habet turturillae sunt, tuti contumeliae causa. Vale.