Lucius Annaeus Seneca→Lucilius Junior|c. 63 AD|Seneca the Younger|From Southern Italy (regional)|To Sicily (regional)|AI-assisted
You have promised to be a good man; you have taken the oath of enlistment. This is the strongest bond there is for holding you to a sound mind. Anyone who tells you that this is a soft and easy kind of soldiering will only be mocking you. I do not want you to be deceived. The words of this most honorable enlistment are the very same as those of that most shameful one: "to be burned, to be bound, and to be slain by the sword."
From the men who hire out their hands to the arena, and who eat and drink what they will pay back with their blood, a guarantee is exacted that they will endure these things even against their will; from you, that you will endure them willingly and gladly. They are permitted to lower their weapons and to appeal to the pity of the crowd; you will neither lower your weapon nor beg for your life. You must die upright and unconquered. And anyway, what good does it do to gain a few days or a few years? We are born without any prospect of discharge.
"How, then," you say, "am I to extricate myself?" You cannot escape necessities, but you can conquer them. "A way is forced open." [Seneca quotes Vergil, Aeneid 2.494, on storming a barred entrance.]
And philosophy will give you this way. Betake yourself to it if you wish to be safe, if you wish to be free from care, if you wish to be happy, and finally—what matters most—if you wish to be free; there is no other way this can come about. Folly is a lowly thing, abject, sordid, slavish, subject to many passions, and to the cruelest ones. Wisdom dismisses these masters from you—masters so oppressive, lording it over you sometimes by turns, sometimes all together—and wisdom is the only freedom there is. One road leads to it, and a straight one at that; you will not lose your way; advance with a sure step. If you wish to bring all things under your control, bring yourself under the control of reason; you will rule over many, if reason rules you. From reason you will learn what you ought to undertake, and how; you will not stumble blindly into things.
You will not be able to show me a single man who knows how he came to want what he wants: he was not led to it by deliberation, but driven to it by impulse. Fortune crashes into us no less often than we crash into her. It is shameful not to go forward but to be swept along, and then suddenly, in the very midst of the whirlwind of affairs, to ask in a daze: "How did I get here?" Farewell.
You have promised to be a good man; you have enlisted under oath; that is the strongest chain which will hold you to a sound understanding. Any man will be but mocking you, if he declares that this is an effeminate and easy kind of soldiering. I will not have you deceived. The words of this most honourable compact are the same as the words of that most disgraceful one, to wit: “Through burning, imprisonment, or death by the sword.” From the men who hire out their strength for the arena, who eat and drink what they must pay for with their blood, security is taken that they will endure such trials even though they be unwilling; from you, that you will endure them willingly and with alacrity. The gladiator may lower his weapon and test the pity of the people; but you will neither lower your weapon nor beg for life. You must die erect and unyielding. Moreover, what profit is it to gain a few days or a few years? There is no discharge for us from the moment we are born.
“Then how can I free myself?” you ask. You cannot escape necessities, but you can overcome them.
By force a way is made.
And this way will be afforded you by philosophy. Betake yourself therefore to philosophy if you would be safe, untroubled, happy, in fine, if you wish to be,—and that is most important,—free. There is no other way to attain this end. Folly is low, abject, mean, slavish, and exposed to many of the cruellest passions. These passions, which are heavy taskmasters, sometimes ruling by turns, and sometimes together, can be banished from you by wisdom, which is the only real freedom. There is but one path leading thither, and it is a straight path; you will not go astray. Proceed with steady step, and if you would have all things under your control, put yourself under the control of reason; if reason becomes your ruler, you will become ruler over many. You will learn from her what you should undertake, and how it should be done; you will not blunder into things. You can show me no man who knows how he began to crave that which he craves. He has not been led to that pass by forethought; he has been driven to it by impulse. Fortune attacks us as often as we attack Fortune. It is disgraceful, instead of proceeding ahead, to be carried along, and then suddenly, amid the whirlpool of events, to ask in a dazed way: “How did I get into this condition?” Farewell.
[1] Quod maximum vinculum est ad bonam mentem, promisisti virum bonum, sacramento rogatus es. Deridebit te, si quis tibi dixerit mollem esse militiam et facilem. Nolo te decipi. Eadem honestissimi huius et illius turpissimi auctoramenti verba sunt: 'uri, vinciri ferroque necari'. [2] Ab illis qui manus harenae locant et edunt ac bibunt quae per sanguinem reddant cavetur ut ista vel inviti patiantur: a te ut volens libensque patiaris. Illis licet arma summittere, misericordiam populi temptare: tu neque summittes nec vitam rogabis; recta tibi invictoque moriendum est. Quid porro prodest paucos dies aut annos lucrificare? sine missione nascimur. [3] 'Quomodo ergo' inquis 'me expediam?' Effugere non potes necessitates, potes vincere.
et hanc tibi viam dabit philosophia. Ad hanc te confer si vis salvus esse, si securus, si beatus, denique si vis esse, quod est maximum, liber; hoc contingere aliter non potest. [4] Humilis res est stultitia, abiecta, sordida, servilis, multis affectibus et sacrissimis subiecta. Hos tam graves dominos, interdum alternis imperantes, interdum pariter, dimittit a te sapientia, quae sola libertas est. Una ad hanc fert via, et quidem recta; non aberrabis; vade certo gradu. Si vis omnia tibi subicere, te subice rationi; multos reges, si ratio te rexerit. Ab illa disces quid et quemadmodum aggredi debeas; non incides rebus. [5] Neminem mihi dabis qui sciat quomodo quod vult coeperit velle: non consilio adductus illo sed impetu impactus est. Non minus saepe fortuna in nos incurrit quam nos in illam. Turpe est non ire sed ferri, et subito in medio turbine rerum stupentem quaerere, 'huc ego quemadmodum veni?' Vale.
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You have promised to be a good man; you have taken the oath of enlistment. This is the strongest bond there is for holding you to a sound mind. Anyone who tells you that this is a soft and easy kind of soldiering will only be mocking you. I do not want you to be deceived. The words of this most honorable enlistment are the very same as those of that most shameful one: "to be burned, to be bound, and to be slain by the sword."
From the men who hire out their hands to the arena, and who eat and drink what they will pay back with their blood, a guarantee is exacted that they will endure these things even against their will; from you, that you will endure them willingly and gladly. They are permitted to lower their weapons and to appeal to the pity of the crowd; you will neither lower your weapon nor beg for your life. You must die upright and unconquered. And anyway, what good does it do to gain a few days or a few years? We are born without any prospect of discharge.
"How, then," you say, "am I to extricate myself?" You cannot escape necessities, but you can conquer them. "A way is forced open." [Seneca quotes Vergil, Aeneid 2.494, on storming a barred entrance.]
And philosophy will give you this way. Betake yourself to it if you wish to be safe, if you wish to be free from care, if you wish to be happy, and finally—what matters most—if you wish to be free; there is no other way this can come about. Folly is a lowly thing, abject, sordid, slavish, subject to many passions, and to the cruelest ones. Wisdom dismisses these masters from you—masters so oppressive, lording it over you sometimes by turns, sometimes all together—and wisdom is the only freedom there is. One road leads to it, and a straight one at that; you will not lose your way; advance with a sure step. If you wish to bring all things under your control, bring yourself under the control of reason; you will rule over many, if reason rules you. From reason you will learn what you ought to undertake, and how; you will not stumble blindly into things.
You will not be able to show me a single man who knows how he came to want what he wants: he was not led to it by deliberation, but driven to it by impulse. Fortune crashes into us no less often than we crash into her. It is shameful not to go forward but to be swept along, and then suddenly, in the very midst of the whirlwind of affairs, to ask in a daze: "How did I get here?" Farewell.
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] Quod maximum vinculum est ad bonam mentem, promisisti virum bonum, sacramento rogatus es. Deridebit te, si quis tibi dixerit mollem esse militiam et facilem. Nolo te decipi. Eadem honestissimi huius et illius turpissimi auctoramenti verba sunt: 'uri, vinciri ferroque necari'. [2] Ab illis qui manus harenae locant et edunt ac bibunt quae per sanguinem reddant cavetur ut ista vel inviti patiantur: a te ut volens libensque patiaris. Illis licet arma summittere, misericordiam populi temptare: tu neque summittes nec vitam rogabis; recta tibi invictoque moriendum est. Quid porro prodest paucos dies aut annos lucrificare? sine missione nascimur. [3] 'Quomodo ergo' inquis 'me expediam?' Effugere non potes necessitates, potes vincere.
et hanc tibi viam dabit philosophia. Ad hanc te confer si vis salvus esse, si securus, si beatus, denique si vis esse, quod est maximum, liber; hoc contingere aliter non potest. [4] Humilis res est stultitia, abiecta, sordida, servilis, multis affectibus et sacrissimis subiecta. Hos tam graves dominos, interdum alternis imperantes, interdum pariter, dimittit a te sapientia, quae sola libertas est. Una ad hanc fert via, et quidem recta; non aberrabis; vade certo gradu. Si vis omnia tibi subicere, te subice rationi; multos reges, si ratio te rexerit. Ab illa disces quid et quemadmodum aggredi debeas; non incides rebus. [5] Neminem mihi dabis qui sciat quomodo quod vult coeperit velle: non consilio adductus illo sed impetu impactus est. Non minus saepe fortuna in nos incurrit quam nos in illam. Turpe est non ire sed ferri, et subito in medio turbine rerum stupentem quaerere, 'huc ego quemadmodum veni?' Vale.