Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
XI
XI of 20. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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1. Denique uis scire quam non diu uiuant? Vide quam cupiant diu uiuere. Decrepiti senes paucorum annorum accessionem uotis mendicant: minores natu se ipsos esse fingunt; mendacio sibi blandiuntur et tam libenter se fallunt quam si una fata decipiant. Iam uero cum illos aliqua imbecillitas mortalitatis admonuit, quemadmodum pauentes moriuntur, non tamquam exeant de uita sed tamquam extrahantur. Stultos se fuisse ut non uixerint clamitant et, si modo euaserint ex illa ualetudine, in otio uicturos; tunc quam frustra parauerint quibus non fruerentur, quam in cassum omnis ceciderit labor cogitant.
2. At quibus uita procul ab omni negotio agitur, quidni spatiosa sit? Nihil ex illa delegatur, nihil alio atque alio spargitur, nihil inde fortunae traditur, nihil neglegentia interit, nihil largitione detrahitur, nihil superuacuum est: tota, ut ita dicam, in reditu est. Quantulacumque itaque abunde sufficit, et ideo, quandoque ultimus dies uenerit, non cunctabitur sapiens ire ad mortem certo gradu.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin for fidelity, Senecan compression, modern clarity, and cadence.
1. In short, would you know how SHORT a time they live? See how eagerly they long to live. Decrepit old men beg by their prayers the addition of a few years: they pretend they are younger than they are; they flatter themselves with a lie, and are as glad to deceive themselves as if they deceived the Fates withal. Then, when some weakness has admonished them of mortality, they die trembling — not as if they were going out of life, but as if they were being dragged from it. They cry out that they were fools, that they had not lived, and that, if only they escape that sickness, they will live in leisure: then they see how vainly they provided for all that was not to be theirs.
2. But for him whose life is passed far from all business — why should it not be spacious? Nothing in it is handed on, nothing scattered here and there, nothing given over to fortune, nothing lost by neglect, nothing taken away by lavishness, nothing is superfluous: the whole of it, so to speak, is gain. However small, therefore, it is enough; and therefore, whenever the last day shall come, the wise man will not hesitate to go to death with sure step.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. Want to know how short a time they really live? Watch how desperately they want to live. Weak old men beg and pray for a few extra years. They claim to be younger than they are; they flatter themselves with a lie, as glad to fool themselves as if they'd fooled the Fates. Then when some weakness reminds them they're mortal, they die trembling — not as if leaving life, but as if being dragged out of it. They cry that they were fools, that they never lived, and that if they get better this time, they'll finally slow down. Only then do they see how pointlessly they prepared for things that were never going to be theirs.
2. But the person who spends life far from all that business — how could it not be spacious? Nothing gets passed along, nothing scattered, nothing handed to fortune, nothing lost by carelessness, nothing thrown away, nothing extra. The whole thing, so to speak, is pure gain. So however small it is, it's enough — and whenever that last day comes, the wise man won't hesitate to walk to death with a sure step.