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1 I | I. The majority of mortals, Paulinus,1 complain
2 I | Paulinus,1 complain bitterly of the spitefulness of Nature,
3 I | bitterly of the spitefulness of Nature, because we are born
4 I | are born for a brief span of life, because even this
5 I | this that made the greatest of physicians exclaim that "
6 I(1) | superintended the grain supply of Rome, and was, therefore,
7 I(1) | and was, therefore, a man of importance. He was, believably,
8 I(1) | believably, a near relative of Seneca's wife, Pompeia Paulina,
9 I(1) | identified with the father of a certain Pompeius Paulinus,
10 I(2) | The famous aphorism of Hippocrates of Cos: ὁ
11 I(2) | aphorism of Hippocrates of Cos: ὁ βίος βραχύς, &#
12 I | wise man—that, in point of age, she has shown such
13 I | that we have a short space of time, but that we waste
14 I | but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough,
15 I | allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things
16 I | greatest things if the whole of it is well invested. But
17 I | nor do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of
18 I | of it, but are wasteful of it. Just as great and princely
19 I | it comes into the hands of a bad owner, while wealth
20 I(4) | i.e., of man. Cf. Hesiod, Frag. 183 (
21 II | II. Why do we complain of Nature? She has shown herself
22 II | hangs upon the decision of others, another, driven
23 II | driven on by the greed of the trader, is led over
24 II | and all seas by the hope of gain; some are tormented
25 II | busy either in the pursuit of other men's fortune or in
26 II | fortune or in complaining of their own; many, following
27 II | I cannot doubt the truth of that utterance which the
28 II | utterance which the greatest of poets delivered with all
29 II | delivered with all the seeming of an oracle: "The part of
30 II | of an oracle: "The part of life we really live is small."5
31 II | small."5 For all the rest of existence is not life, but
32 II | eyes for the discernment of truth, but they keep us
33 II | release, like the waters of the deep sea which continue
34 II | Think you that I am speaking of the wretches whose evils
35 II | how many does the throng of clients that crowd about
36 II | short, run through the list of all these men from the lowest
37 II(5) | A prose rendering of an unknown poet. Cf. the
38 II | everyone is wasted for the sake of another. Ask about the men
39 II | indignation — they complain of the insolence of their superiors,
40 II | complain of the insolence of their superiors, because
41 II | the hardihood to complain of the pride of another when
42 II | to complain of the pride of another when he himself
43 III | the brilliant intellects of the ages were to concentrate
44 III | wonder at this dense darkness of the human mind. Men do not
45 III | dispute about the limit of their lands, yet they allow
46 III | among how many does each one of us distribute his life!
47 III | when it comes to the matter of wasting time, in the case
48 III | wasting time, in the case of the one thing in which it
49 III | someone from the company of older men and say: "I see
50 III | reached the farthest limit of human life, you are pressing
51 III | reckoning. Consider how much of your time was taken up with
52 III | how many have robbed you of life when you were not aware
53 III | when you were not aware of what you were losing, how
54 III | desire, in the allurements of society, how little of yourself
55 III | allurements of society, how little of yourself was left to you;
56 III | What, then, is the reason of this? You live as if you
57 III | live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters
58 III | frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already
59 III | You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires
60 III | mortals and all the desires of immortals. You will hear
61 III | yourself only the remnant of life, and to set apart for
62 III | What foolish forgetfulness of mortality to postpone wholesome
63 III(7) | full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season" (
64 IV | assail or shatter, Fortune of its very self comes crashing
65 IV | to this subject—his hope of leisure. This was the sweet,
66 IV | rest would not be devoid of dignity nor inconsistent
67 IV | led me to forestall some of its delight by the pleasure
68 IV | delight by the pleasure of words." So desirable a thing
69 IV | who determined the fortune of individuals and of nations,
70 IV | fortune of individuals and of nations, thought most happily
71 IV | nations, thought most happily of that future day on which
72 IV | countries he followed the path of battle, and when his troops
73 IV | when his troops were weary of shedding Roman blood, he
74 IV | enemies planted in the midst of a peaceful empire, while
75 IV | in Rome itself the swords of Murena, Caepio, Lepidus,
76 IV(9) | by Augustus to the island of Pandataria. ~~
77 IV(10) | Iullus Antonius, younger son of the triumvir, was sentenced
78 IV(10) | sentenced to death by reason of his intrigue with the elder
79 IV | in the hope and thought of which he found relief for
80 IV | labours. This was the prayer of one who was able to answer
81 IV | able to answer the prayers of mankind. ~
82 IV(11) | language is reminiscent of Augustus's own characterization
83 IV(11) | Augustus's own characterization of Julia and his two grandchildren
84 IV(11) | carcinomata sua" ("his trio of boils and trio of ulcers"). ~~
85 IV(11) | his trio of boils and trio of ulcers"). ~~
86 V | curse that very consulship of his, which he had lauded
87 V | former life and complains of the present and despairs
88 V | the present and despairs of the future. Cicero said
89 VI | man, had with the support of a huge crowd drawn from
90 VI | laws and the evil measures of the Gracchi, seeing no way
91 VI | bitterly against the life of unrest he had had from the
92 VI | ward and wearing the dress of a boy, he had had the courage
93 VI | to commend to the favour of a jury those who were accused,
94 VI | deemed them the happiest of men, have expressed their
95 VI | their loathing for every act of their years, and with their
96 VI | they should pass the limit of a thousand years, will shrink
97 VI | will swallow up any amount of time. The space you have,
98 VI | naturally hurries away, of necessity escapes from you
99 VI(13) | corn law and the granting of citizenship to the Italians. ~~
100 VII | possessed by the empty dream of glory, nevertheless go astray
101 VII | plunged into the pleasures of the belly and into lust
102 VII | dishonourable. Search into the hours of all these people,15 see
103 VII(14) | absorbed in the interests of life that they take no time
104 VII | have now become a matter of business—, and you will
105 VII | that is harder to learn. Of the other arts there are
106 VII | teachers everywhere; some of them we have seen that mere
107 VII | master. It takes the whole of life to learn how to live,
108 VII | more—it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.
109 VII | one aim up to the very end of life to know how to live;
110 VII | yet the greater number of them have departed from
111 VII | weaknesses not to allow any of his time to be filched from
112 VII | it follows that the life of such a man is very long
113 VII | whatever time he has had. None of it lay neglected and idle;
114 VII | neglected and idle; none of it was under the control
115 VII | it was under the control of another, for, guarding it
116 VII | those who have been robbed of much of their life by the
117 VII | have been robbed of much of their life by the public,
118 VII | necessarily had too little of it. ~ And there is no reason
119 VII | are not sometimes aware of their loss. Indeed, you
120 VII | Indeed, you will hear many of those who are burdened by
121 VII | out at times in the midst of their throngs of clients,
122 VII | the midst of their throngs of clients, or their pleadings
123 VII | have no chance to live." Of course you have no chance!
124 VII | away from your own self. Of how many days has that defendant
125 VII | that defendant robbed you? Of how many that candidate?
126 VII | how many that candidate? Of how many that old woman
127 VII(15) | i.e., the various types of occupati that have been
128 VII(15) | presented. The looseness of the structure has led some
129 VII(15) | editors to doubt the integrity of the passage. ~~
130 VII | with burying her heirs?16 Of how many that man who is
131 VII | sickness for the purpose of exciting the greed of the
132 VII | purpose of exciting the greed of the legacy-hunters? Of how
133 VII | greed of the legacy-hunters? Of how many that very powerful
134 VII | your like on the list, not of his friends, but of his
135 VII | not of his friends, but of his retinue? Check off,
136 VII | say, and review the days of your life; you will see
137 VII(16) | she has become the prey of legacy-hunters. ~~
138 VII(17) | rods that were the symbol of high office. ~~
139 VII | says: "When shall I be rid of them?" That advocate is
140 VII | the future and a weariness of the present. But he who
141 VII | But he who bestows all of his time on his own needs,
142 VII | thither by a succession of winds that raged from different
143 VII(18) | this time the management of the public games was committed
144 VIII | some men demanding the time of others and those from whom
145 VIII | it most indulgent. Both of them fix their eyes on the
146 VIII | their eyes on the object of the request for time, neither
147 VIII | request for time, neither of them on the time itself;
148 VIII | not come beneath the sight of the eyes, and for this reason
149 VIII | a very cheap thing—nay, of almost no value at all.
150 VIII | same people clasp the knees of physicians if they fall
151 VIII | fall ill and the danger of death draws nearer, see
152 VIII | great is the inconsistency of their feelings. But if each
153 VIII | one could have the number of his future years set before
154 VIII | is possible in the case of the years that have passed,
155 VIII | few remaining, how sparing of them would they be! And
156 VIII | devotedly they have a habit of saying that they are ready
157 VIII | ready to give them a part of their own years. And they
158 VIII | realizing it; but the result of their giving is that they
159 VIII | without adding to the years of their dear ones. But the
160 VIII | therefore, the removal of something that is lost without
161 VIII | it will not remind you of its swiftness. Silent it
162 VIII | prolong itself at the command of a king, or at the applause
163 VIII | king, or at the applause of the populace. Just as it
164 IX | be sillier than the point of view of certain people—I
165 IX | sillier than the point of view of certain people—I mean those
166 IX | people—I mean those who boast of their foresight? They keep
167 IX | postponement is the greatest waste of life; it deprives them of
168 IX | of life; it deprives them of each day as it comes, it
169 IX | wastes to-day. You dispose of that which lies in the hands
170 IX | which lies in the hands of Fortune, you let go that
171 IX | straightway! See how the greatest of bards cries out, and, as
172 IX | s swiftness in the speed of using it, and, as from a
173 IX | And, too, the utterance of the bard is most admirably
174 IX | that he has reached the end of his journey before he was
175 IX | unceasing and most swift journey of life, which we make at the
176 IX | are engrossed become aware of it only at the end. ~
177 X | Fabianus,20 who was none of your lecture-room philosophers
178 X | lecture-room philosophers of to-day, but one of the genuine
179 X | philosophers of to-day, but one of the genuine and old-fashioned
180 X | in order that the victims of them nay be censured, each
181 X | is, that which will be. Of these the present time is
182 X | disguised under some allurement of momentary pleasure, do not
183 X | submitted to the censorship of his conscience, which is
184 X | And yet this is the part of our time that is sacred
185 X | apart, put beyond the reach of all human mishaps, and removed
186 X | removed from the dominion of Fortune, the part which
187 X | by no fear, by no attacks of disease; this can neither
188 X | minutes; but all the days of past time will appear when
189 X | roam into all the parts of its life; but the minds
190 X | its life; but the minds of the engrossed, just as if
191 X(20) | A much admired teacher of Seneca. ~~
192 X | through the chinks and holes of the mind. Present time is
193 X(21) | An allusion to the fate of the Danaids, who in Hades
194 XI | prayers for the addition of a few more years; they pretend
195 XI | infirmity has reminded them of their mortality, in what
196 XI | they are being dragged out of life, and not merely leaving
197 XI | should it not be ample? None of it is assigned to another,
198 XI | assigned to another, none of it is scattered in this
199 XI | direction and that, none of it is committed to Fortune,
200 XI | committed to Fortune, none of it perishes from neglect,
201 XI | by wasteful giving, none of it is unused; the whole
202 XI | it is unused; the whole of it, so to speak, yields
203 XI | however small the amount of it, it is abundantly sufficient,
204 XII | crushed in their own crowd of followers, or scornfully
205 XII | fester. Even the leisure of some men is engrossed; in
206 XII | their couch, in the midst of solitude, although they
207 XII | are themselves the source of their own worry; we should
208 XII(23) | in the ground as the sign of a public auction where captured
209 XII | bronzes, that the mania of a few makes costly, and
210 XII | spends the greater part of each day upon rusty bits
211 XII | each day upon rusty bits of copper? Who sits in a public
212 XII | watching the wrangling of lads? Who sorts out the
213 XII | Who sorts out the herds of his pack-mules into pairs
214 XII | his pack-mules into pairs of the same age and colour?
215 XII | they are being stripped of whatever grew out the night
216 XII | How they flare up if any of their mane is lopped off,
217 XII | mane is lopped off, if any of it lies out of order, if
218 XII | off, if any of it lies out of order, if it does not all
219 XII | its proper ringlets! Who of these would not rather have
220 XII | and the mirror? And what of those who are engaged in
221 XII | straightforward, into the meanderings of some indolent tune, who
222 XII | diligently they tie up the tunics of their pretty slave-boys,
223 XII | boar issues from the hands of the cook, with what speed
224 XII | lads wipe up the spittle of drunkards. By such means
225 XII | they seek the reputation of being fastidious and elegant,
226 XII | them into all the privacies of life that they can neither
227 XII | the excessive lassitude of a pampered mind that they
228 XII | hungry! I hear that one of these pampered people—provided
229 XII | pampering to unlearn the habits of human life—when he had been
230 XII | subject to forgetfulness of many things, but they also
231 XII | also pretend forgetfulness of many. Some vices delight
232 XII | delight them as being proofs of their prosperity; it seems
233 XII | prosperity; it seems the part of a man who is very lowly
234 XII(25) | For the technical meaning of otiosi, "the leisured,"
235 XII(25) | definition at the beginning of chap. 14. ~~
236 XII | many things to make a mock of luxury! In very truth, they
237 XII | invent, and such a multitude of unbelievable vices has come
238 XII | who has also a perception of his leisure. But this other
239 XII | he may know the postures of his own body, needs someone
240 XII | how can he be the master of any of his time? ~
241 XII | he be the master of any of his time? ~
242 XIII | who have spent the whole of their life over chess or
243 XIII | or ball or the practice of baking their bodies in the
244 XIII | useless literary problems, of whom even among the Romans
245 XIII | inquire into what number of rowers Ulysses had, whether
246 XIII | and various other matters of this stamp, which, if you
247 XIII | them, make you seem more of a bore than a scholar. But
248 XIII | our attention by reason of the attractiveness of an
249 XIII | reason of the attractiveness of an empty subject. We may
250 XIII | whence also the Tables of the Law are called codices,27
251 XIII | Messana, and was the first of the family of the Valerii
252 XIII | the first of the family of the Valerii to bear the
253 XIII | had transferred the name of the conquered city to himself,
254 XIII | after the gradual corruption of the name in the popular
255 XIII | to exhibit the slaughter of eighteen elephants in the
256 XIII | mimic battle? He, a leader of the state and one who, according
257 XIII(27) | The ancient codex was made of tablets of wood fastened
258 XIII(27) | codex was made of tablets of wood fastened together. ~~
259 XIII | conspicuous among the leaders28 of old for the kindness of
260 XIII | of old for the kindness of his heart, thought it a
261 XIII | thought it a notable kind of spectacle to kill human
262 XIII | them be crushed by animals of monstrous bulk! Better would
263 XIII | learn them and be jealous of an act that was nowise human.29
264 XIII | was casting so many troops of wretched human beings to
265 XIII | much blood before the eyes of the Roman people, who itself
266 XIII | he was beyond the power of Nature. But later this same
267 XIII | offered himself to the dagger of the vilest slave, and then
268 XIII(29) | Pompey. Cicero's impressions of the occasion are recorded
269 XIII | Sicily, was the only one of all the Romans who had caused
270 XIII | that Sulla was the last of the Roman's who extended
271 XIII | extend after the acquisition of Italian but never of provincial,
272 XIII | acquisition of Italian but never of provincial, territory. Is
273 XIII | outside the pomerium for one of two reasons, either because
274 XIII | crammed with falsehood or are of the same sort? For though
275 XIII | themselves for the truth of what they write, still whose
276 XIII(31) | the city wall. The right of extending it belonged originally
277 XIV | XIV. Of all men they alone are at
278 XIV | content to be good guardians of their own lifetime only.
279 XIV | men, glorious fashioners of holy thoughts, were born
280 XIV | they have prepared a way of life. By other men's labours
281 XIV | we are led to the sight of things most beautiful that
282 XIV | is our wish, by greatness of mind, to pass beyond the
283 XIV | beyond the narrow limits of human weakness, there is
284 XIV | there is a great stretch of time through which we may
285 XIV | paltry and fleeting span of time and surrender ourselves
286 XIV | about in the performance of social duties, who give
287 XIV | that are very far apart—out of a city so huge and torn
288 XIV | their lips in the midst of a most insolent yawn, manage
289 XIV(32) | Academy taught that certainty of knowledge was unattainable. ~~
290 XIV | in order to wait on that of another, the right name
291 XIV | engaged in the true duties of life who shall wish to have
292 XIV | all the other high priests of liberal studies, and Aristotle
293 XIV | friends every day. No one of these will be "not at home,"
294 XIV | be "not at home," no one of these will fail to have
295 XIV | than when he came, no one of these will allow anyone
296 XV | XV. No one of these will force you to
297 XV | teach you how to die; no one of these will wear out your
298 XV | conversations with no one of these will bring you peril,
299 XV | you peril, the friendship of none will endanger your
300 XV | your life, the courting of none will tax your purse.
301 XV | wish; it will be no fault of theirs if you do not draw
302 XV | yet we may be the sons of whomsoever we will. Households
303 XV | will. Households there are of noblest intellects; choose
304 XV | down. This is the only way of prolonging mortality—nay,
305 XV | prolonging mortality—nay, of turning it into immortality.
306 XV | decrees or reared in works of stone, quickly sink to ruin;
307 XV | is nothing that the lapse of time does not tear down
308 XV | free to admire. The life of the philosopher, therefore,
309 XV | freed from the limitations of the human race; all ages
310 XVI | they have reached the end of it, the poor wretches perceive
311 XVI | not know how to dispose of their leisure or to drag
312 XVI | waiting for the appointed time of some other show or amusement,
313 XVI | between. All postponement of something they hope for
314 XVI | which they spend in the arms of a harlot or in wine! It
315 XVI | accounts for the madness of poets in fostering human
316 XVI | Jupiter under the enticement of the pleasures of a lover
317 XVI | enticement of the pleasures of a lover doubled the length
318 XVI | lover doubled the length of the night. For what is it
319 XVI | vices to inscribe the name of the gods as their sponsors,
320 XVI | present the excused indulgence of divinity as an example to
321 XVI | lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night
322 XVI | night, and the night in fear of the dawn. ~
323 XVII | XVII. The very pleasures of such men are uneasy and
324 XVII | and disquieted by alarms of various sorts, and at the
325 XVII | and at the very moment of rejoicing the anxious thought
326 XVII | delighted in the greatness of their fortune, as they have
327 XVII | time come. When the King of Persia,34 in all the insolence
328 XVII | in all the insolence of his pride, spread his army
329 XVII | copious tears because inside of a hundred years not a man
330 XVII | hundred years not a man of such a mighty army would
331 XVII(35) | On the plain of Doriscus in Thrace the huge
332 XVII(35) | estimated by counting the number of times a space capable of
333 XVII(35) | of times a space capable of holding 10,000 men was filled (
334 XVII | groundlessly as they are born. But of what sort do you think those
335 XVII | greatest blessings are a source of anxiety, and at no time
336 XVII | prosperity there is need of other prosperity, and in
337 XVII | prosperity, and in behalf of the prayers that have turned
338 XVII | merely short, must the life of those be who work hard to
339 XVII | meanwhile they take no account of time that will never more
340 XVII | engrossments take the place of the old, hope leads to new
341 XVII | They do not seek an end of their wretchedness, but
342 XVII | own public honours? Those of others take more of our
343 XVII | Those of others take more of our time. Have we ceased
344 XVII | others. Have we got rid of the troubles of a prosecutor?
345 XVII | got rid of the troubles of a prosecutor? We find those
346 XVII | prosecutor? We find those of a judge. Has a man ceased
347 XVII | judge? He becomes president of a court. Has he become infirm
348 XVII | in managing the property of others at a salary? He is
349 XVII(37) | Caliga, the boot of the common soldier, is here
350 XVII | hasten to get to the end of his dictatorship? He will
351 XVII | over Antiochus, the glory of his own consulship, the
352 XVII | Jove39; but the discord of civilians will vex their
353 XVII | honours that rivalled those of the gods, at length, when
354 XVII | be lacking, whether born of prosperity or of wretchedness;
355 XVII | whether born of prosperity or of wretchedness; life pushes
356 XVII | pushes on in a succession of engrossments. We shall always
357 XVIII | peaceful harbour. Think of how many waves you have
358 XVIII | leisure. The greater part of your life, certainly the
359 XVIII | certainly the better part of it, has been given to the
360 XVIII | state; take now some part of your time for yourself as
361 XVIII | occupy you in the midst of your release and retirement.
362 XVIII | know, manage the accounts of the whole world as honestly
363 XVIII | better to have knowledge of the ledger of one's own
364 XVIII | knowledge of the ledger of one's own life than of the
365 XVIII | ledger of one's own life than of the corn-market. Recall
366 XVIII | corn-market. Recall that keen mind of yours, which is most competent
367 XVIII | entrust many thousand pecks of corn to your charge; you
368 XVIII | your charge; you gave hope of something greater and more
369 XVIII | lofty. There will be no lack of men of tested worth and
370 XVIII | There will be no lack of men of tested worth and painstaking
371 XVIII | ever hampers the fleetness of such high-born creatures
372 XVIII | dealings are with the belly of man. A hungry people neither
373 XVIII | was building his bridges of boats42 and playing with
374 XVIII(41)| allusion to the mad wish of Caligula: "utinam populus
375 XVIII(41)| Ira, iii. 19. 2. The logic of the whole passage suffers
376 XVIII(41)| suffers from the uncertainty of the text. ~~
377 XVIII | playing with the resources of the empire, we were threatened
378 XVIII | during a siege—the lack of provisions; his imitation
379 XVIII | provisions; his imitation of a mad and foreign and misproud
380 XVIII(42)| reaching from Baiae to the mole of Puteoli (Suetonius, Calig.
381 XVIII | very nearly at the cost of the city's destruction and
382 XVIII | must have been the feeling of those who had charge of
383 XVIII | of those who had charge of the corn-market, and had
384 XVIII | that lurked in the vitals of the state—with good reason,
385 XVIII | in ignorance; knowledge of their disease has caused
386 XVIII | disease has caused the death of many. ~
387 XIX | dishonesty or the neglect of those who transport it,
388 XIX | studies with the purpose of discovering what substance,
389 XIX | what pleasure, what mode of life, what shape God has;
390 XIX | heaviest matter in the centre of this world, suspends the
391 XIX | ether matters, in turn, full of mighty wonders? You really
392 XIX | better course. In this kind of life there awaits much that
393 XIX | know—the love and practice of the virtues, forgetfulness
394 XIX | the virtues, forgetfulness of the passions, knowledge
395 XIX | the passions, knowledge of living and dying, and a
396 XIX | living and dying, and a life of deep repose. ~ The condition
397 XIX | repose. ~ The condition of all who are engrossed is
398 XIX | wretched is the condition of those who labour at engrossments
399 XIX | regulate their sleep by that of another, their walk by the
400 XIX | their walk by the pace of another, who are under orders
401 XIX | are under orders in case of the freest things in the
402 XIX | reflect how small a part of it is their own. ~
403 XX | man often wearing the robe of office, when you see one
404 XX | are bought at the price of life. They will waste all
405 XX | has left some in the midst of their first struggles, before
406 XX | could climb up to the height of their ambition; some, when
407 XX | sheer weakness in the midst of their great and shameless
408 XX | leaves him in the midst of a trial when, advanced in
409 XX | still courting the applause of an ignorant circle, he is
410 XX | more quickly by his mode of living than by his labour,
411 XX | collapses in the very midst of his duties; disgraceful
412 XX | is he who dies in the act of receiving payments on account,
413 XX(44) | year was dated by the names of the two annual consuls. ~~
414 XX(45) | i.e., long kept out of his inheritance. ~~
415 XX | Turannius was an old man of long tested diligence, who,
416 XX | release from the duties of his office by Gaius Caesar'
417 XX | house bemoaned the leisure of its old master, and did
418 XX | fight against the weakness of the body, they judge old
419 XX | without any improvement of the mind. No one keeps death
420 XX | beyond life—huge masses of tombs and dedications of
421 XX | of tombs and dedications of public works and gifts for
422 XX | very truth, the funerals of such men ought to be conducted
423 XX | be conducted by the light of torches and wax tapers,47
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