XXXV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM
By Spencer Curry, thoroughly revised by Jacques Bailly

[1] Cum te tam valde rogo ut studeas, meum negotium ago: habere amicum volo, quod contingere mihi, nisi pergis ut coepisti excolere te, non potest. Nunc enim amas me, amicus non es. 'Quid ergo? haec inter se diversa sunt?' immo dissimilia. Qui amicus est amat; qui amat non utique amicus est; itaque amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet. [2] Si nihil aliud, ob hoc profice, ut amare discas. Festina ergo dum mihi proficis, ne istuc alteri didiceris. Ego quidem percipio iam fructum, cum mihi fingo uno nos animo futuros et quidquid aetati meae vigoris abscessit, id ad me ex tua, quamquam non multum abest, rediturum; sed tamen re quoque ipsa esse laetus volo. [3] Venit ad nos ex iis quos amamus etiam absentibus gaudium, sed id leve et evanidum: conspectus et praesentia et conversatio habet aliquid vivae voluptatis, utique si non tantum quem velis sed qualem velis videas. Affer itaque te mihi, ingens munus, et quo magis instes, cogita te mortalem esse, me senem. [4] Propera ad me, sed ad te prius. Profice et ante omnia hoc cura, ut constes tibi. Quotiens experiri voles an aliquid actum sit, observa an eadem hodie velis quae heri: mutatio voluntatis indicat animum natare, aliubi atque aliubi apparere, prout tulit ventus. Non vagatur quod fixum atque fundatum est: istud sapienti perfecto contingit, aliquatenus et proficienti provectoque. Quid ergo interest? hic commovetur quidem, non tamen transit, sed suo loco nutat; ille ne commovetur quidem. Vale.

Introduction
A very short letter urging Lucilius to make progress so that he can be Seneca's equal and a true friend.

Commentary

[1] Cum te tam valde rogo ut studeas, meum negotium ago: habere amicum volo, quod contingere mihi, nisi pergis ut coepisti excolere te, non potest. Nunc enim amas me, amicus non es. 'Quid ergo? haec inter se diversa sunt?' immo dissimilia. Qui amicus est amat; qui amat non utique amicus est; itaque amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet.

cum: the conjunction (not the preposition), introduces a temporal clause. | rogo ut studeas: ut + subjunctive in indirect command.
amas ... amicus: consonance of amas and amicus makes the formulation memorable, something Seneca strives for. Later repeated with amicus ... amat ... amat amicus ... amicitia ... amor.
quid haec: note that Seneca introduces a nameless conversation partner for liveliness.
immo: "On the contrary ..."  In German, doch is used like immo in Latin.
qui... est ... qui... est: repeated structure adds emphasis and pithiness. Neither qui has an expressed antecedent.
etiam: can mean "also" or "even": context must decide.
nocet: normally, noceo takes a dative, but here it is used "absolutely" (which means it lacks its normal object or other complements).

[2] Seneca views friendship as a mutually beneficial union of souls, no matter the age difference.  The benefit in his friendship with Lucilius is that Seneca draws new life from Lucilius' youth.

[2]Si nihil aliud, ob hoc profice, ut amare discas. Festina ergo dum mihi proficis, ne istuc alteri didiceris. Ego quidem percipio iam fructum, cum mihi fingo uno nos animo futuros et quidquid aetati meae vigoris abscessit, id ad me ex tua, quamquam non multum abest, rediturum; sed tamen re quoque ipsa esse laetus volo.

si nihil aliud (sc. facis): supply an appropriate nondescript verb like facis for this brachylogy (aka telegraphic speech). Or perhaps we are supposed to understand this as si ob nihil aliud ... . This expression is eerily similar to English "If nothing else, ... " and seems just as ambiguous grammatically. | ob hoc: although this expression could have been omitted without loss of intelligibility, it prepares for the purpose clause, because hoc refers to the purpose clause. | profice: imperative, “make progress towards”, takes an internal accusative - nihil aliud. | ut amare discas: purpose clause, primary sequence. | dum: introduces a temporal clause , usually with an indicative verb. | ne ... didiceris: negative purpose clause. Primary sequence. | istuc: "thither," "to that place" is a spatial word, but here it is used figuratively of reaching a certain "place" in one's learning. | alteri: dative of advantage: alter means "the other" (of two), but sometimes, as here, it means "the next fellow" and is practically equivalent to "another."ego quidem: more often equidem is used instead of ego quidem. Seneca uses equidem 17 times (4 in prose), while he uses ego quidem 4 times (all in prose, twice in the Epistulae). For comparison, Cicero uses equidem 246 times (118 further instances occur in his Epistulae, some of which are by his correspondents) and ego quidem only 10 times, 8 of which are in his Epistulae (5 further uses are by his correspondents), and equidem is found 1081 times on the PHI disk, while ego quidem is found 89 times.

uno nos animo: ablative of quality, esse+ablative. | aetati meae: dative of time. | vigoris: genitive with quidquid, as often occurs. | id: id refers to quidquid. | tua: feminine agreeing with an understood aetate. | quamquam: “although.” | abest: subject is mea aetas. | multum: adverb modifying abest. | rediturum: future participle in agreement with id, and part of the future infinitive rediturum (sc. esse). | re...ipsa: ablative of respect, “in reality.”

[3] Presence heightens the joy of having a friend, but even at a distance, it is joyful.

[3] Venit ad nos ex iis quos amamus etiam absentibus gaudium, sed id leve et evanidum: conspectus et praesentia et conversatio habet aliquid vivae voluptatis, utique si non tantum quem velis sed qualem velis videas. Affer itaque te mihi, ingens munus, et quo magis instes, cogita te mortalem esse, me senem.

venit: unusually, the verb comes first and its subject, gaudium, comes last in the sentence for emphasis. | iis: ablative with ex, modifies absentibus. | habet: a singular verb with multiple subjects: Seneca sees the three subjects conspectus et praesentia et conversatio as a single phenomena, hence the singular verb. Note the uses of et: when a list has more words for "and" than is normal in English, it is called "polysyndeton." | aliquid: “something”, frequently takes a genitive, here vivae voluptatis. | si...videas: Future Less Vivid condition. | velis+velis: subjunctive either merely by "attraction" or in relative clauses of characteristic. "Attraction" means that the speaker put the subordinate clause into the subjunctive for no other reason than that the leading verb was subjunctive. They are translated just as an indicative would be translated. Attraction is not reliably predictable. Relative clauses of characteristic, on the other hand, generalize things and so these clauses would mean "the sort of person you want in the sort of condition you want." | Affer: imperative. Adfer is a possible alternate spelling. | ingens munus: in apposition to the whole thought of the preceding clause. | quo magis instes: when purpose clauses contain a comparative, they are introduced by quo. | cogita: imperative. | me senem: dependent on cogita, with an understood esse. Note the lack of a connective, such as et, between this clause and the parallel te mortalem esse: when an expected connective is lacking, it is called "asyndeton."

[4] Seneca is fond of paradoxical formulation, as with propera ad te here: how does one "rush to oneself"? The stoic idea here is that one's true nature (the goal of life as a human) is perfect wisdom, and one should strive to realize and develop that nature. There was perhaps only one person the Stoics thought had achieved it (Cato), and the rest were "making progress." The stoics also denied that one could progress toward wisdom: it is like a light switch that has two positions, on and off, but Seneca seems to not be concerned with that particular Stoic claim here.

[4] Propera ad me, sed ad te prius. Profice et ante omnia hoc cura, ut constes tibi. Quotiens experiri voles an aliquid actum sit, observa an eadem hodie velis quae heri: mutatio voluntatis indicat animum natare, aliubi atque aliubi apparere, prout tulit ventus. Non vagatur quod fixum atque fundatum est: istud sapienti perfecto contingit, aliquatenus et proficienti provectoque. Quid ergo interest? hic commovetur quidem, non tamen transit, sed suo loco nutat; ille ne commovetur quidem. Vale.

propera ... profice ... cura...: imperative. | ut constes tibi: indirect command dependent on cura: cf. section 1 above. | actum sit: indirect question subjunctive introduced by an dependent on  experiri. | observa: imperative. | quae heri/eadem hodie: both use velis as the main verb. | velis: indirect question subjunctive. | quae heri (sc. voluerit): this relative clause needs a verb: supply voluerit (subjunctive, because it is subordinate to an indirect question: perfect, because it is primary sequence expressing prior time (heri)). | animum natare: indirect speech dependent on indicat. | aliubi...aliubi: whenever two forms with ali- occur in the same clause, translate as "different ____ .... different ____" or "one ... , another ...." as in "different people say different things" or "one person says one thing, another says another thing." | apparere: infinitive in indirect speech, subject is still animum. | quod: understood antecedent id. Compare English "Pick which you want." (="Pick that one which you want"). | istud: refers to the though of the previous clauses in the sentence. | sapienti perfecto: dative dependent on contingit. | proficienti provectoque: dative dependent on contingit.
hic ... ille: used in the sense of “this one....the other one...” (the sage who has achieved wisdom vs. those who are progressing toward wisdom).

Vocabulary
abscedo, abscedere, abscessi, abscessum, be gone, be off, go away, depart
absens, absentis, absent
absum, abesse, afui, afuturus, be away, be distant
adfero (see affero)
aetas, -atis, f., stage of life
affero, afferre, attuli, adlatum, apply, bring to bear
ago, agere, egi, actum, accomplish, do; do, drive
aliquando, sometimes
aliquatenus, to a certain degree, somewhat
aliquis, aliquid, someone, something
aliubi, elsewhere
alter, altera, alterum, the other
amicitia, -ae, f., friendship
amicus, -a, -um, friendly
amo (1), love
amor, -oris, m., love
an, whether
animus, -i, m., soul
ante, before (+acc.)
appareo, apparere, apparui, apparitum, show one's self, appear, be seen
atque, and (=ac)
coepio, coepi, coeptum, begin
cogito (1), think
commoveo, commovere, commovi, commotus, set in motion, move forward
conspectus, -us, m., seeing, sight
consto, constare, constiti, constatum, be consistent with, stay true to
contingo, contingere, contigi, contactum, happen
conversatio, -onis, f., conversation, discussion
curo (1), take care of, care for
disco, discere, didici, learn
dissimilis, -e, dissimilar, different
diversus, -a, -um, different
dum, until, as long as
enim, conj., for
ergo, therefore
etiam, even, also
evanidus, -a, -um, short-lived
excolo, excolere, excolui, excultum, cultivate
experior, experiri, expertus sum, experience; try, test, prove
fero, ferre, tuli, latus, carry
festino (1), hurry
fingo, fingere, finxi, fictum, imagine, conceive, think
fixus, fast, unmovable, fixed
fructus, -us, m., fruit, result
fundatus, -a, -um, established, firm, fixed
gaudium, -i, n., joy
habeo, habere, habui, habitum, have
heri, yesterday
hodie, today
iam, at this point, now, already
immo, on the contrary
indico (1), indicate, show
ingens, -entis, huge
insto, instare, institi, instatum, urge on, press forward
inter (+ acc.), between
interest, interesse, interfuit, be a difference, make a difference, matter
istuc, thither, to that place
itaque, thus
itaque, thus, so
laetus, -a, -um, happy, felicitous
levis, leve, light, lightweight, trifling
locus, -i, m., place
magis, more
mortalis, -e, mortal, subject to death
multum, adv., far, much
munus, muneris, n., favor, service
mutatio, -onis, f., change
nato (1), waver, fluctuate
ne ... quidem, not even ...
ne, lest
negotium, -i, n., business
nihil, nothing
nisi, unless
noceo, nocere, nocui, nociturum, harm (+dat.)
nunc, now
nuto (1), nod, sway, totter
ob, on account of (+acc.)
observo (1), notice
percipio, percipere, percepi, perceptum, perceive, see
perfectus, -a, -um, complete, perfect
pergo, pergere, perrexi, perrectum, continue
praesentia, -ae, f., presence
prius, beforehand
proficiens, proficientis, progressing, one making progress
proficio, proficere, profeci, profectum, make progress, advance
propero (1), rush, hurry
prosum, prodesse, profui, profuturus, be advantageous
prout, just as
proveho, provehere, provexi, provectum, advance, carry forward
qualis, -e, of which sort, in what state
quamquam, although
quidem, indeed
quoque, too, also
quotiens, as often as, as many times as
redeo, redire, redii, reditum, return, come back, go back
res, rei, f. (see commentary)
rogo (1), ask
sapiens, sapientis, wise
sed, but
semper, always
senex, senis, m., old man
studeo, studere, studui, be zealous, study
tam, adv., so
tamen, however, nevertheless
tantum, adv., only
transeo, transire, transi(v)i, transitum, go across
tulit, see fero
unus, -a, -um, one
utique, in every way; in any case, at any rate, certainly
vagor (1), wander
valde, strongly
vale, be well, fare well (a form of valeo)
venio, venire, veni, ventum, come
ventus, -i, m., wind
vigor, -oris, m., strength
vivus, -a, -um, living, live
volo, velle, volui, want
voluntas, -atis, f., will
voluptas, -atis, f., pleasure