Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
XIX
XIX of 20. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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1. Recipe te ad haec tranquilliora, tutiora, maiora! Simile tu putas esse, utrum cures ut incorruptum et a fraude aduehentium et a neglegentia frumentum transfundatur in horrea, ne concepto umore uitietur et concalescat, ut ad mensuram pondusque respondeat, an ad haec sacra et sublimia accedas sciturus quae materia sit dei, quae uoluptas, quae condicio, quae forma; quis animum tuum casus exspectet; ubi nos a corporibus dimissos natura componat; quid sit quod huius mundi grauissima quaeque in medio sustineat, supra leuia suspendat, in summum ignem ferat, sidera uicibus suis excitet; cetera deinceps ingentibus plena miraculis?
2. Vis tu relicto solo mente ad ista respicere! Nunc, dum calet sanguis, uigentibus ad meliora eundum est. Exspectat te in hoc genere uitae multum bonarum artium, amor uirtutum atque usus, cupiditatum obliuio, uiuendi ac moriendi scientia, alta rerum quies.
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 they alone are at leisure who have time for wisdom: they alone live — for they do not keep only their own age; they add every age. All the years that have gone before are open to them. But the most short and anxious life is theirs who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.
2. When they have come to the end — the wretched return to a new fear, for they cannot look back on anything with ease: their regrets are remembered, their negligence is present, their fear is before them. Some of the busy are kept even from the last comfort by the memory of their own pleasure; and there are those who have, in the things they have done, a sort of light to accompany them. But for these, life is all anxiety; and they — the one class must judge its own life is not good, the other does not hold it to be lived.
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 make time for wisdom are truly at leisure. Only they live — because they don't guard just their own years; they add every age. All the years gone before are open to them. But the most fleeting, most anxious life belongs to those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.
2. When they reach the end, the wretched turn back into a new fear: they can't look back on anything with peace. Their regrets are remembered, their neglect is present, their fear is ahead. Some of the busy are denied even the last comfort of remembering their own pleasure. And there are those whose past deeds shine like a lamp beside them. But for these others, everything is anxiety: one class must admit its life was no good; the other never believes it was lived.