Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
XIV
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1. Soli omnium otiosi sunt qui sapientiae uacant, soli uiuunt; nec enim suam tantum aetatem bene tuentur: omne aeuum suo adiciunt; quicquid annorum ante illos actum est, illis adquisitum est. Nisi ingratissimi sumus, illi clarissimi sacrarum opinionum conditores nobis nati sunt, nobis uitam praeparauerunt. Ad res pulcherrimas ex tenebris ad lucem erutas alieno labore deducimur; nullo nobis saeculo interdictum est, in omnia admittimur et, si magnitudine animi egredi humanae imbecillitatis angustias libet, multum per quod spatiemur temporis est.
2. Disputare cum Socrate licet, dubitare cum Carneade, cum Epicuro quiescere, hominis naturam cum Stoicis uincere, cum Cynicis excedere. Cum rerum natura in consortium omnis aeui patiatur incedere, quidni ab hoc exiguo et caduco temporis transitu in illa toto nos demus animo quae immensa, quae aeterna sunt, quae cum melioribus communia?
3. Isti qui per officia discursant, qui se aliosque inquietant, cum bene insanierint, cum omnium limina cotidie perambulauerint nec ullas apertas fores praeterierint, cum per diuersissimas domos meritoriam salutationem circumtulerint, quotum quemque ex tam immensa et uariis cupiditatibus districta urbe poterunt uidere?
4. Quam multi erunt quorum illos aut somnus aut luxuria aut inhumanitas summoueat! Quam multi qui illos, cum diu torserint, simulata festinatione transcurrant! Quam multi per refertum clientibus atrium prodire uitabunt et per obscuros aedium aditus profugient, quasi non inhumanius sit decipere quam excludere! Quam multi hesterna crapula semisomnes et graues illis miseris suum somnum rumpentibus ut alienum exspectent, uix alleuatis labris insusurratum miliens nomen oscitatione superbissima reddent!
5. Hos in ueris officiis morari putamus, licet dicant, qui Zenonem, qui Pythagoran cotidie et Democritum ceterosque antistites bonarum artium, qui Aristotelen et Theophrastum uolent habere quam familiarissimos. Nemo horum non uacabit, nemo non uenientem ad se beatiorem, amantiorem sui dimittet, nemo quemquam uacuis a se manibus abire patietur; nocte conueniri, interdiu ab omnibus mortalibus possunt.
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. Of all men, those who give themselves to wisdom are alone at leisure. They alone live: for they do not keep only their own age — they add every age to theirs; all the years that have gone before are theirs to use.
2. Most sacred, most august is that temple: we must enter it and set before it all the ages, admire one thing, take another. It is the greatest mark of shame to be ignorant of the very thing for which life is given: those men live through all ages.
3. The busy, whom I began by naming, are cast into their own affairs as into the waves; the whole crowd is carried down more often than it rises; of these some pray and stretch their hands to heaven, and give thanks to the immortal gods as if their heads had been raised from the lowest pit — others groan that they have slipped back again into the same labors: this is a thing they have already prayed to escape.
4. From these, then, the leisure of those is far removed who turn to wisdom; their lot is set apart; they do not climb into peril on account of others; they do not fall with the falling crowd. For the rest — with how much favor fortune treats them, in how great peace they spend their time! They are not lifted up, not cast down: their life flows in the deep stillness of a secure stream.
5. The busiest of all, then, are the idle; those, I say, who labor at composing, hearing, learning songs. This, truly, is the kind of leisure which a philosopher's dignity rejects — but it is the least wicked kind of the others.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. Of all people, only those who give themselves to wisdom are truly at leisure. Only they live. They don't keep just their own age — they add every age to it. All the years that came before are open for them to use.
2. That temple is most holy and most majestic: we should walk in and lay before it every age — admiring one thing, absorbing another. What a disgrace it would be to be ignorant of the very thing life is for. These people live in every century.
3. The busy — where I started — are thrown into their affairs as into the waves. The whole crowd goes under more often than it rises. Some pray, stretch their hands to heaven, and thank the immortal gods as if they'd been pulled out of a pit. Others groan that they've slipped back into the same labors — the very thing they'd already prayed to escape.
4. For these, the leisure of those who study wisdom is out of reach. Their lot is separate: they never climb into danger for someone else, never fall with the falling crowd. And besides — how kindly fortune treats them, in what deep peace they spend their days! Never inflated, never crushed: their life flows like a calm, safe river.
5. So the busiest of all are the idle — I mean the ones sweating over songs. That's the kind of leisure a philosopher's dignity refuses — though it's still the least wicked kind of leisure there is.