Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
II
II of 20. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Latin
1. Quid de rerum natura querimur? Illa se benigne gessit: uita, si uti scias, longa est. [At] alium insatiabilis tenet auaritia; alium in superuacuis laboribus operosa sedulitas; alius uino madet, alius inertia torpet; alium defetigat ex alienis iudiciis suspensa semper ambitio, alium mercandi praeceps cupiditas circa omnis terras, omnia maria spe lucri ducit; quosdam torquet cupido militiae numquam non aut alienis periculis intentos aut suis anxios; sunt quos ingratus superiorum cultus uoluntaria seruitute consumat;
2. multos aut affectatio alienae formae aut suae querella detinuit; plerosque nihil certum sequentis uaga et inconstans et sibi displicens leuitas per noua consilia iactauit; quibusdam nihil quo cursum derigant placet, sed marcentis oscitantisque fata deprendunt, adeo ut quod apud maximum poetarum more oraculi dictum est uerum esse non dubitem: "Exigua pars est uitae qua uiuimus. Ceterum quidem omne spatium non uita sed tempus est.
3. Urgent et circumstant uitia undique nec resurgere aut in dispectum ueri attollere oculos sinunt. Et immersos et in cupiditatem infixos premunt, numquam illis recurrere ad se licet. Si quando aliqua fortuito quies contigit, uelut profundo mari, in quo post uentum quoque uolutatio est, fluctuantur nec umquam illis a cupiditatibus suis otium stat.
4. De istis me putas dicere, quorum in confesso mala sunt? Aspice illos ad quorum felicitatem concurritur:bonis suis effocantur. Quam multis diuitiae graues sunt! Quam multorum eloquentia et cotidiana ostentandi ingenii sollicitatio sanguinem educit! Quam multi continuis uoluptatibus pallent! Quam multis nihil liberi relinquit circumfusus clientium populus! Omnis denique istos ab infimis usque ad summos pererra: hic aduocat, hic adest, ille periclitatur, ille defendit, ille iudicat, nemo se sibi uindicat, alius in alium consumitur. Interroga de istis quorum nomina ediscuntur, his illos dinosci uidebis notis: ille illius cultor est, hic illius; suus nemo est.
5. Deinde dementissima quorundam indignatio est: queruntur de superiorum fastidio, quod ipsis adire uolentibus non uacauerint! Audet quisquam de alterius superbia queri, qui sibi ipse numquam uacat? Ille tamen te, quisquis es, insolenti quidem uultu sed aliquando respexit, ille aures suas ad tua uerba demisit, ille te ad latus suum recepit: tu non inspicere te umquam, non audire dignatus es. Non est itaque quod ista officia cuiquam imputes, quoniam quidem, cum illa faceres, non esse cum alio uolebas, sed tecum esse non poteras.
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 these, some are held by the bitterest remorse of their idleness — like men who have drunk the cup of forgetfulness before their journey; and even the happiest of them you will see trembling at the hour they themselves called for. But the man who has spent his time on the public good is the one who always has time enough at his disposal. He holds life in such a way that neither is it carried off before its day, nor snatched away, nor cast aside.
2. Of the life we live, part is given to others; of the life to come, all is in doubt. In a moment, death itself may call you back from any undertaking — the limit nature set, none may pass. And so, of all the wretches, he alone is left whom unforeseen old age has come upon, whom the losses of things dear to him have overturned and made unable to hold what he had: for he had laid up nothing for himself against that hour.
3. The crowd has one more evil still, and that the greatest: they are heavy with the remorse of things done ill; they hear them over in mind, and weigh them; their guilt is before their eyes. These, then, are worse than the first: those could not attain what they wished, and these have fallen back from what they had embraced.
4. So they are wretched before and after. Yet of all men these are the last who could be set free from their troubles, since their vices rise up before their eyes and sting — yes, and come back again to memory. For the memory of what is past brings back both a pleasure and a fear: the good deed done is glad to be seen again; the wicked does not.
5. And there is the most senseless indignation of certain men — those who complain of the disrespect of their forebears, of how little they left to be told of; who say they were born before the age of all these blessings, before the age of crowds crowned its favorites, before the games that draw the whole world. It is a thing to pardon in the young, that they do not yet know what to desire; old men complaining of the calendar, and grieving that they lived with the generations of the Flood — that is senseless madness: whatever your age, there is one fixed limit you can never pass.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. Some of them are seized by the bitterest regret over wasted time, like men who drank a forgetting potion before setting out. Even the happiest of them tremble at the hour they chose for themselves. But the man who has spent his time on the public good always has time to spare. He holds life in such a way that it is never taken early, snatched away, or thrown aside.
2. Of the life we live, part is spent on other people; of the life ahead, nothing is certain. Death can call you away from any plan at any moment — that's a boundary no one crosses. So the most wretched of all is the one old age catches by surprise, who lost what he loved and couldn't keep it, because he saved nothing for that day.
3. The crowd has one more evil, the worst of all: they carry the guilt of things done badly. They replay them, weigh them, and the wrongdoing sits in front of their eyes. These are worse than the first kind — the first never got what they wanted; these lost what they had.
4. So they were unhappy before, and they're unhappy now. And they're the last people who could ever be set free, because their mistakes keep coming back to haunt them. Memory brings back both pleasure and fear: good deeds are a joy to see again; bad ones never are.
5. And then there's the craziest resentment of all: certain men complain about how little respect their ancestors got, how little they left behind worth talking about, that they were born before the age of honors and world-famous games. You can forgive the young for not knowing what to want yet. Old men grumbling about the calendar, grieving that they weren't alive in Noah's time — that's plain madness. Whatever age you live in, there's one fixed limit you can never cross.