Seneca Epistulae ad Lucilium

CXXIII SENECA LVCILIO SVO SALVTEM


Commentary by Jacques Bailly


This letter contains applied Stoic ethics filtered through Seneca's social milieu.


[1] Arriving late at one of his estates, Seneca finds nothing ready for him and takes that as an opportunity to illustrate the stoic idea that no circumstance is bad or good. People make their circumstances bad or good. You may protest that he's as rich as can be, and so what he might deem "bad circumstances" are so far from being truly bad that he's just playing at stoicism: and yet, who of those reading these letters today does not have several sets of clothes, a TV, a cell phone, a car, etc. In many ways, we who read these letters are all as rich as Seneca today. His point may well still stand.

[1] Itinere confectus incommodo magis quam longo in Albanum meum multa nocte perveni: nihil habeo parati nisi me. Itaque in lectulo lassitudinem pono, hanc coci ac pistoris moram boni consulo. Mecum enim de hoc ipso loquor, quam nihil sit grave quod leviter excipias, quam indignandum nihil <dum nihil> ipse indignando adstruas.


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[2] Seneca notes that although his workers hadn't made bread for him, nonetheless they all have bread they can share with him, even if it is not the fancy quality usually served to the boss. Just wait until you are hungry and any bread will be a feast.

[2] Non habet panem meus pistor; sed habet vilicus, sed habet atriensis, sed habet colonus. 'Malum panem' inquis. Expecta: bonus fiet; etiam illum tibi tenerum et siligineum fames reddet. Ideo non est ante edendum quam illa imperat. Expectabo ergo nec ante edam quam aut bonum panem habere coepero aut malum fastidire desiero.


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[3] You cannot control what you will have, but you can control whether you want what you don't have: freedom is the skill of happily doing without.

[3] Necessarium est parvo adsuescere: multae difficultates locorum, multae temporum etiam locupletibus et instructis †advobus optantem prohibent et† occurrent. Quidquid vult habere nemo potest, illud potest, nolle quod non habet, rebus oblatis hilaris uti. Magna pars libertatis est bene moratus venter et contumeliae patiens.


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[4] Being used to doing without brings great pleasure and involves no need of anything fancy: it is more enjoyable than a banquet.

[4] Aestimari non potest quantam voluptatem capiam ex eo quod lassitudo mea sibi ipsa adquiescit: non unctores, non balineum, non ullum aliud remedium quam temporis quaero. Nam quod labor contraxit quies tollit. Haec qualiscumque cena aditiali iucundior erit.


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[5] Seneca extolls the worth of testing oneself without warning to be sure of one's steadfastness. If one remains calm in the face of an unexpected test, that is a more true indication that one' soul is strong. By not wanting a thing, one supplies what one needs.


[5] †Aliquod enim† experimentum animi sumpsi subito; hoc enim est simplicius et verius. Nam ubi se praeparavit et indixit sibi patientiam, non aeque apparet quantum habeat verae firmitatis: illa sunt certissima argumenta quae ex tempore dedit, si non tantum aequus molestias sed placidus aspexit; si non excanduit, non litigavit; si quod dari deberet ipse sibi non desiderando supplevit et cogitavit aliquid consuetudini suae, sibi nihil deesse.


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[6] We often use a thing simply because we have it: if we lose it, we can, however, realize that it was superfluous all along. Or we acquire and use a thing simply because others are doing so (if fewer were using it, we would follow suit). And what is worse, if enough people commit a fault, we think of the fault as a proper action.


[6] Multa quam supervacua essent non intelleximus nisi deesse coeperunt; utebamur enim illis non quia debebamus sed quia habebamus. Quam multa autem paramus quia alii paraverunt, quia apud plerosque sunt! Inter causas malorum nostrorum est quod vivimus ad exempla, nec ratione componimur sed consuetudine abducimur. Quod si pauci facerent nollemus imitari, cum plures facere coeperunt, quasi honestius sit quia frequentius, sequimur; et recti apud nos locum tenet error ubi publicus factus est.


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[7] Many people in Seneca's circles travel in style with subordinates to clear the riff raff out of the way and make it clear that the traveler is important. They carry expensive fragile things to show off their supposed worth. Their servants are never tanned, because that would mean they are workers. They need skin products because they are delicate.
Seneca thrice uses forms of
omnes, by which he means anything but "everyone": he means everyone who counts, namely the rich, noble, or powerful. The rest, the staff, the slaves, the workers, are not part of omnes.


[7] Omnes iam sic peregrinantur ut illos Numidarum praecurrat equitatus, ut agmen cursorum antecedat: turpe est nullos esse qui occurrentis via deiciant, [ut] qui honestum hominem venire magno pulvere ostendant. Omnes iam mulos habent qui 5 crustallina et murrina et caelata magnorum artificum manu portent: turpe est videri eas te habere sarcinas solas quae tuto concuti possint. Omnium paedagogia oblita facie vehuntur ne sol, ne frigus teneram cutem laedat: turpe est neminem esse in comitatu tuo puerorum cuius sana facies medicamentum desideret.


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[8] All people of that sort are to be avoided: their influence is nefarious and persistent and leaves a trace that will develop into a problem later.

[8] Horum omnium sermo vitandus est: hi sunt qui vitia tradunt et alio aliunde transferunt. Pessimum genus [horum] hominum videbatur qui verba gestarent: sunt quidam qui vitia gestant. Horum sermo multum nocet; nam etiam si non statim proficit, semina in animo relinquit sequiturque nos etiam cum ab illis discessimus, resurrecturum postea malum.


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[9] Praise of bad things is a seductive song difficult to expel from one's mind. It must be blocked from the start.

[9] Quemadmodum qui audierunt synphoniam ferunt secum in auribus modulationem illam ac dulcedinem cantuum, quae cogitationes inpedit nec ad seria patitur intendi, sic adulatorum et prava laudantium sermo diutius haeret quam auditur. Nec facile est animo dulcem sonum excutere: prosequitur et durat et ex intervallo recurrit. Ideo cludendae sunt aures malis vocibus et quidem primis; nam cum initium fecerunt admissaeque sunt, plus audent.


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[10] An imaginary interlocutor suggests that happiness consists in consuming: why save or be wise, for tomorrow we may die? This interlocutor makes many claims, but the connections between them are not made explicit. For example, is the interlocutor's point that consuming is a way to remember one's mortality because life slowly leaks away just as food, riches, and pleasures are used up or ephemeral? Or is it that consuming is being mindful of one's mortality because good food, wealth, and pleasures do no good to the dead, and so we may as well indulge? Seneca would agree with the first point (time is our only possession, as Letter 1 says: tempus tantum nostrum est), but not the second. The idea that other people's well being (or even that of one's future self) might matter doesn't occur to this interlocutor, nor does Seneca point it out later.


[10] Inde ad haec pervenitur verba: 'virtus et philosophia et iustitia verborum inanium crepitus est; una felicitas est bene vitae facere; esse, bibere, frui patrimonio, hoc est vivere, hoc est se mortalem esse meminisse. Fluunt dies et inreparabilis vita decurrit. Dubitamus? Quid iuvat sapere et aetati non semper voluptates recepturae interim, dum potest, dum poscit, ingerere frugalitatem? †Eo† mortem praecurre et quidquid illa ablatura est iam sibi †interere†. Non amicam habes, non puerum qui amicae moveat invidiam; cottidie sobrius prodis; sic cenas tamquam ephemeridem patri adprobaturus: non est istud vivere sed alienae vitae interesse.


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[11] The imaginary interlocutor suggests that leaving an inheritance only makes enemies: friends and family are turned into enemies by greed. Thus, the interlocutor continues, pay no attention to critics: a good life is better than a good reputation.

[11] Quanta dementia est heredis sui res procurare et sibi negare omnia ut tibi ex amico inimicum magna faciat hereditas; plus enim gaudebit tua morte quo plus acceperit. Istos tristes et superciliosos alienae vitae censores, suae hostes, publicos paedagogos assis ne feceris nec dubitaveris bonam vitam quam opinionem bonam malle.'


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[12] Seneca urges Lucilius to ignore the interlocutor's siren song. No argument is given, merely exhortation not to give in to it. There is an implied argument that if one wants to keep one's patria, parentes, and amici as well as one's virtutes, one should not give in to the siren song. It is also claimed that it is more satisfying to keep within limits and take pleasure in things that are honesta, but this letter does not justify those claims.

[12] Hae voces non aliter fugiendae sunt quam illae quas Ulixes nisi alligatus praetervehi noluit. Idem possunt: abducunt a patria, a parentibus, ab amicis, a virtutibus, et †inter spem vitam misera nisi turpis inludunt†. Quanto satius est rectum sequi limitem et eo se perducere ut ea demum sint tibi iucunda quae honesta!


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[13] Some things attract us, while we fear others: we should practice in order to resist and uproot that fear and attraction.


What Seneca does not mention here is the vast Stoic argumentative apparatus about emotions (including the claim that all the usual emotions are to be gotten rid of) and everything aside from virtue (everything, absolutely every thing, has no worth for good or bad: every thing aside from virtue is an 'indifferent'). Rather than arguing carefully, Seneca is 'preaching to the converted' in this letter, shoring up their resolve.

[13] Quod adsequi poterimus si scierimus duo esse genera rerum quae nos aut invitent aut fugent. Invitant [ut] divitiae, voluptates, forma, ambitio, cetera blanda et adridentia: fugat labor, mors, dolor, ignominia, victus adstrictior. Debemus itaque exerceri ne haec timeamus, ne illa cupiamus. In contrarium pugnemus et ab invitantibus recedamus, adversus petentia concitemur.


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[14] Seneca makes a perhaps forced analogy between on the one hand bodily posture when physically ascending or descending and on the other hand one's mental/psychic nisus and attitude toward pleasures versus more difficult things. The gist seems to be that one should resist pleasures and pursue the more difficult things.

[14] Non vides quam diversus sit descendentium habitus et escendentium? qui per pronum eunt resupinant corpora, qui in arduum, incumbunt. Nam si descendas, pondus suum in priorem partem dare, si escendas, retro abducere, cum vitio, Lucili, consentire est. In voluptates descenditur, in aspera et dura subeundum est: hic inpellamus corpora, illic refrenemus.


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[15] Stoics are known for paradoxically claiming that the Stoic sage's every action (every action!) is virtuous, and equally virtuous, while everyone else's every action is vicious, and equally vicious at that. By calling purveyors of these ideas perniciosos and saying that these ideas can be used to urge us to vices and to justify libertine behavior (carousing and amatory pursuits), Seneca here points out that genuine Stoic ideas are amenable to abuse and distortion.
Note the use of direct speech purporting to quote, as with the anonymous interlocutor 'quoted' earlier.


[15] Hoc nunc me existimas dicere, eos tantum perniciosos esse auribus nostris qui voluptatem laudant, qui doloris metus, per se formidabiles res, incutiunt? Illos quoque nocere nobis existimo qui nos sub specie Stoicae sectae hortantur ad vitia. Hoc enim iactant: solum sapientem et doctum esse amatorem. 'Solus aptus est ad hanc artem; aeque conbibendi et convivendi sapiens est peritissimus. Quaeramus ad quam usque aetatem iuvenes amandi sint.'


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[16] Seneca calls the misuse of Stoic doctrines 'Greek' and suggests that he and Lucilius should follow the straight path of Stoic virtue, including a short list of Stoic commonplaces about things we should not be motivated by (glory, riches, avoiding death, superstition).


[16] Haec Graecae consuetudini data sint, nos ad illa potius aures derigamus: 'nemo est casu bonus: discenda virtus est. Voluptas humilis res et pusilla est et in nullo habenda pretio, communis cum mutis animalibus, ad quam minima et contemptissima advolant. Gloria vanum et volubile quiddam est auraque mobilius. Paupertas nulli malum est nisi repugnanti. Mors malum non est: quid <sit> quaeris? sola ius aequum generis humani. Superstitio error insanus est: amandos timet, quos colit violat. Quid enim interest utrum deos neges an infames?'


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[17] Philosophy ought never to justify vice, just as a doctor could never cure a sick man by recommending immoderate behavior.

[17] Haec discenda, immo ediscenda sunt: non debet excusationes vitio philosophia suggerere. Nullam habet spem salutis aeger quem ad intemperantiam medicus hortatur. Vale.


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