Lucius Annaeus Seneca→Lucilius Junior|c. 63 AD|Seneca the Younger|From Southern Italy (regional)|To Sicily (regional)|AI-assisted
[1] I keep inquiring about you, and I question everyone who comes from your part of the world about what you are doing, where you are staying, and with whom. You cannot put me off with mere words: I am with you. So live as if I were going to hear what you are doing, indeed as if I were going to see it. Do you ask what pleases me most among the things I hear about you? It is that I hear nothing, that most of the people I question do not know what you are doing.
[2] This is what keeps a man safe: not to keep company with those who are unlike you and who desire different things. I have full confidence, in fact, that you cannot be twisted aside and that you will hold to your resolve, even if a crowd of distractors swarms around you. What, then, is the matter? I am not afraid that they will change you; I am afraid that they will hold you back. And even the one who merely delays you does great harm, especially given how short life is, a life we make shorter still by our inconstancy, forever making one fresh beginning of it after another. We pull it apart into little pieces and tear it to shreds.
[3] Hurry on, then, dearest Lucilius, and consider how much you would add to your speed if an enemy were pressing at your back, if you suspected that cavalry was bearing down and treading on the heels of those in flight. This is exactly what is happening: you are being pressed. So pick up your pace and get clear, bring yourself to safety, and reflect again and again on what a fine thing it is to complete one's life before death, and then to await in security the remaining portion of one's allotted time, claiming nothing for oneself, settled in possession of the happy life [vita beata, the Stoic ideal of a fully realized, virtuous existence], which is not made happier by being longer.
[4] When will you see that time at last when you will know that time is no concern of yours, when you will be tranquil and calm, indifferent to tomorrow, and in the fullest satisfaction with yourself! Do you wish to know what it is that makes men crave the future? No one has yet come into possession of himself. And so your parents wished other things for you; but I, on the contrary, wish for you contempt for all those things which they wished for you in abundance. Their prayers plunder many people in order to enrich you; whatever they transfer to you has to be taken away from someone else.
[5] What I wish for you is mastery over yourself, so that your mind, now driven about by wandering thoughts, may at last stand firm and be steadfast, so that it may be pleased with itself and, having understood the true goods—which are possessed at the very moment they are understood—may have no need of any addition of years. That man has finally risen above all necessities, and has been honorably discharged and set free, who lives on with his life already complete.
I have been asking about you, and inquiring of everyone who comes from your part of the country, what you are doing, and where you are spending your time, and with whom. You cannot deceive me; for I am with you. Live just as if I were sure to get news of your doings, nay, as if I were sure to behold them. And if you wonder what particularly pleases me that I hear concerning you, it is that I hear nothing, that most of those whom I ask do not know what you are doing.
This is sound practice,—to refrain from associating with men of different stamp and different aims. And I am indeed confident that you cannot be warped, that you will stick to your purpose, even though the crowd may surround and seek to distract you. What, then, is on my mind? I am not afraid lest they work a change in you; but I am afraid lest they may hinder your progress. And much harm is done even by one who holds you back, especially since life is so short; and we make it still shorter by our unsteadiness, by making ever fresh beginnings at life, now one and immediately another. We break up life into little bits, and fritter it away. Hasten ahead, then, dearest Lucilius, and reflect how greatly you would quicken your speed if an enemy were at your back, or if you suspected the cavalry were approaching and pressing hard upon your steps as you fled. It is true; the enemy is indeed pressing upon you; you should therefore increase your speed and escape away and reach a safe position, remembering continually what a noble thing it is to round out your life before death comes, and then await in peace the remaining portion of your time, claiming nothing for yourself, since you are in possession of the happy life; for such a life is not made happier for being longer. O when shall you see the time when you shall know that time means nothing to you, when you shall be peaceful and calm, careless of the morrow, because you are enjoying your life to the full?
Would you know what makes men greedy for the future? It is because no one has yet found himself. Your parents, to be sure, asked other blessings for you; but I myself pray rather that you may despise all those things which your parents wished for you in abundance. Their prayers plunder many another person, simply that you may be enriched. Whatever they make over to you must be removed from someone else. I pray that you may get such control over yourself that your mind, now shaken by wandering thoughts, may at last come to rest and be steadfast, that it may be content with itself and, having attained an understanding of what things are truly good, – and they are in our possession as soon as we have this knowledge,—that it may have no need of added years. He has at length passed beyond all necessities,—he has won his honourable discharge and is free,—who still lives after his life has been completed. Farewell.
[1] Inquiro de te et ab omnibus sciscitor qui ex ista regione veniunt quid agas, ubi et cum quibus moreris. Verba dare non potes: tecum sum. Sic vive tamquam quid facias auditurus sim, immo tamquam visurus. Quaeris quid me maxime ex iis quae de te audio delectet? quod nihil audio, quod plerique ex iis quos interrogo nesciunt quid agas. [2] Hoc est salutare, non conversari dissimilibus et diversa cupientibus. Habeo quidem fiduciam non posse te detorqueri mansurumque in proposito, etiam si sollicitantium turba circumeat. Quid ergo est? non timeo ne mutent te, timeo ne impediant. Multum autem nocet etiam qui moratur, utique in tanta brevitate vitae, quam breviorem inconstantia facimus, aliud eius subinde atque aliud facientes initium; diducimus illam in particulas ac lancinamus. [3] Propera ergo, Lucili carissime, et cogita quantum additurus celeritati fueris, si a tergo hostis instaret, si equitem adventare suspicareris ac fugientium premere vestigia. Fit hoc, premeris: accelera et evade, perduc te in tutum et subinde considera quam pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortem, deinde exspectare securum reliquam temporis sui partem, nihil sibi, in possessione beatae vitae positum, quae beatior non fit si longior. [4] O quando illud videbis tempus quo scies tempus ad te non pertinere, quo tranquillus placidusque eris et crastini neglegens et in summa tui satietate! Vis scire quid sit quod faciat homines avidos futuri? nemo sibi contigit. Optaverunt itaque tibi alia parentes tui; sed ego contra omnium tibi eorum contemptum opto quorum illi copiam. Vota illorum multos compilant ut te locupletent; quidquid ad te transferunt alicui detrahendum est. [5] Opto tibi tui facultatem, ut vagis cogitationibus agitata mens tandem resistat et certa sit, ut placeat sibi et intellectis veris bonis, quae simul intellecta sunt possidentur, aetatis adiectione non egeat. Ille demum necessitates supergressus est et exauctoratus ac liber qui vivit vita peracta.
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[1] I keep inquiring about you, and I question everyone who comes from your part of the world about what you are doing, where you are staying, and with whom. You cannot put me off with mere words: I am with you. So live as if I were going to hear what you are doing, indeed as if I were going to see it. Do you ask what pleases me most among the things I hear about you? It is that I hear nothing, that most of the people I question do not know what you are doing.
[2] This is what keeps a man safe: not to keep company with those who are unlike you and who desire different things. I have full confidence, in fact, that you cannot be twisted aside and that you will hold to your resolve, even if a crowd of distractors swarms around you. What, then, is the matter? I am not afraid that they will change you; I am afraid that they will hold you back. And even the one who merely delays you does great harm, especially given how short life is, a life we make shorter still by our inconstancy, forever making one fresh beginning of it after another. We pull it apart into little pieces and tear it to shreds.
[3] Hurry on, then, dearest Lucilius, and consider how much you would add to your speed if an enemy were pressing at your back, if you suspected that cavalry was bearing down and treading on the heels of those in flight. This is exactly what is happening: you are being pressed. So pick up your pace and get clear, bring yourself to safety, and reflect again and again on what a fine thing it is to complete one's life before death, and then to await in security the remaining portion of one's allotted time, claiming nothing for oneself, settled in possession of the happy life [vita beata, the Stoic ideal of a fully realized, virtuous existence], which is not made happier by being longer.
[4] When will you see that time at last when you will know that time is no concern of yours, when you will be tranquil and calm, indifferent to tomorrow, and in the fullest satisfaction with yourself! Do you wish to know what it is that makes men crave the future? No one has yet come into possession of himself. And so your parents wished other things for you; but I, on the contrary, wish for you contempt for all those things which they wished for you in abundance. Their prayers plunder many people in order to enrich you; whatever they transfer to you has to be taken away from someone else.
[5] What I wish for you is mastery over yourself, so that your mind, now driven about by wandering thoughts, may at last stand firm and be steadfast, so that it may be pleased with itself and, having understood the true goods—which are possessed at the very moment they are understood—may have no need of any addition of years. That man has finally risen above all necessities, and has been honorably discharged and set free, who lives on with his life already complete.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
[1] Inquiro de te et ab omnibus sciscitor qui ex ista regione veniunt quid agas, ubi et cum quibus moreris. Verba dare non potes: tecum sum. Sic vive tamquam quid facias auditurus sim, immo tamquam visurus. Quaeris quid me maxime ex iis quae de te audio delectet? quod nihil audio, quod plerique ex iis quos interrogo nesciunt quid agas. [2] Hoc est salutare, non conversari dissimilibus et diversa cupientibus. Habeo quidem fiduciam non posse te detorqueri mansurumque in proposito, etiam si sollicitantium turba circumeat. Quid ergo est? non timeo ne mutent te, timeo ne impediant. Multum autem nocet etiam qui moratur, utique in tanta brevitate vitae, quam breviorem inconstantia facimus, aliud eius subinde atque aliud facientes initium; diducimus illam in particulas ac lancinamus. [3] Propera ergo, Lucili carissime, et cogita quantum additurus celeritati fueris, si a tergo hostis instaret, si equitem adventare suspicareris ac fugientium premere vestigia. Fit hoc, premeris: accelera et evade, perduc te in tutum et subinde considera quam pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortem, deinde exspectare securum reliquam temporis sui partem, nihil sibi, in possessione beatae vitae positum, quae beatior non fit si longior. [4] O quando illud videbis tempus quo scies tempus ad te non pertinere, quo tranquillus placidusque eris et crastini neglegens et in summa tui satietate! Vis scire quid sit quod faciat homines avidos futuri? nemo sibi contigit. Optaverunt itaque tibi alia parentes tui; sed ego contra omnium tibi eorum contemptum opto quorum illi copiam. Vota illorum multos compilant ut te locupletent; quidquid ad te transferunt alicui detrahendum est. [5] Opto tibi tui facultatem, ut vagis cogitationibus agitata mens tandem resistat et certa sit, ut placeat sibi et intellectis veris bonis, quae simul intellecta sunt possidentur, aetatis adiectione non egeat. Ille demum necessitates supergressus est et exauctoratus ac liber qui vivit vita peracta.