Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
XX
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1. Omnium quidem occupatorum condicio misera est, eorum tamen miserrima, qui ne suis quidem laborant occupationibus, ad alienum dormiunt somnum, ad alienum ambulant gradum, amare et odisse, res omnium liberrimas, iubentur. Hi si uolent scire quam breuis ipsorum uita sit, cogitent ex quota parte sua sit.
2. Cum uideris itaque praetextam saepe iam sumptam, cum celebre in foro nomen, ne inuideris: ista uitae damno parantur. Vt unus ab illis numeretur annus, omnis annos suos conterent. Quosdam antequam in summum ambitionis eniterentur, inter prima luctantis aetas reliquit; quosdam, cum in consummationem dignitatis per mille indignitates erepsissent, misera subiit cogitatio laborasse ipsos in titulum sepulcri; quorundam ultima senectus, dum in nouas spes ut iuuenta disponitur, inter conatus magnos et improbos inualida defecit.
3. Foedus ille quem in iudicio pro ignotissimis litigatoribus grandem natu et imperitae coronae assensiones captantem spiritus liquit; turpis ille qui uiuendo lassus citius quam laborando inter ipsa officia collapsus est; turpis quem accipiendis immorientem rationibus diu tractus risit heres.
4. Praeterire quod mihi occurrit exemplum non possum: Turannius fuit exactae diligentiae senex, qui post annum nonagesimum, cum uacationem procurationis ab C. Caesare ultro accepisset, componi se in lecto et uelut exanimem a circumstante familia plangi iussit. Lugebat domus otium domini senis nec finiuit ante tristitiam quam labor illi suus restitutus est. Adeone iuuat occupatum mori?
5. Idem plerisque animus est; diutius cupiditas illis laboris quam facultas est; cum imbecillitate corporis pugnant, senectutem ipsam nullo alio nomine grauem iudicant quam quod illos seponit. Lex a quinquagesimo anno militem non legit, a sexagesimo senatorem non citat: difficilius homines a se otium impetrant quam a lege.
6. Interim dum rapiuntur et rapiunt, dum alter alterius quietem rumpit, dum mutuo miseri sunt, uita est sine fructu, sine uoluptate, sine ullo profectu animi; nemo in conspicuo mortem habet, nemo non procul spes intendit, quidam uero disponunt etiam illa quae ultra uitam sunt, magnas moles sepulcrorum et operum publicorum dedicationes et ad rogum munera et ambitiosas exsequias. At me hercules istorum funera, tamquam minimum uixerint, ad faces et cereos ducenda sunt. Seneca the Younger The Latin Library The Classics Page
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. Hold fast, therefore, Paulinus, to this: do not let your time be carried off in the tide of another's business, and keep yourself for better things. Let this one thing be charged against your constant service — it must not be endless.
2. Consider how many things you have taken up in your charge that are foreign to it: none of your offices is necessary, none is worthy of a man at peace; and yet all of them, weighed, consume the man. How many days have been taken by clients who had no claim on you, by mourners at another's funeral, by banquets! See, the year has closed — do you think it closed in anything of yours?
3. Call to mind, then, when you shall be free of such offices: they will grieve you less if you know you are quitting them. For he is most unhappy who — when there is the best cause — does not at once depart.
4. What you call your offices — the tribuneship, the commission, the guard of the letter and the rest — are things to which you have not been called by nature, but by men; and those things that are of chance and not of nature are removed with the same ease by which they were brought on. Keep for yourself the better part of your life for things better than these.
5. Why do you delay to do this? Even if you should take from your whole life every care that others press on you, yet what is left is but a little, and it flees. But your age invites, even urges: it is not strength failing, it is at its very height. Yet delay — the body will be the first to fail, and then the mind, and at last you will say you had no leisure.
6. You will have leisure only when you have ceased to hope, to fear; but for now, though you seem to hold it back, life slips through — so that I seem to hear one of the great, warned by a mighty conscience, saying: "We are not permitted to live." Why are you not permitted? For all the occasions that call you away, one man keeps the greatest of all. Make haste: this last office is owed to yourself.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. Hold on to this, Paulinus, and don't let your time be swept away in the tide of other people's business. Keep yourself for better things. Let one charge be made against your faithful service: it must not be endless.
2. Look at how much of your work is beside the point. None of your offices is necessary; none suits a man at peace; and yet each of them, weighed honestly, wears the man down. How many days have gone to clients who had no claim on you, to mourners at other people's funerals, to banquets! Look: the year has ended. Do you think it ended with anything of yours in it?
3. Then think about when you'll finally be free of these offices. They'll hurt less if you know you're the one walking away. The most unhappy man is the one who, with the best reason in the world, doesn't leave at once.
4. The things you call your duties — the tribuneship, the commission, the letter service, the rest — you were called to them not by nature but by men. And what chance brought on, chance can take away just as easily. Keep the better part of your life for better things than these.
5. Why wait? Even if you stripped from your whole life every care that other people press on you, what's left is still small — and it flees. But your age invites you; it practically begs. Your strength isn't failing — it's at its peak. Delay, though, and the body gives out first, then the mind — and at last you'll say you never had the time.
6. You'll have leisure when you stop hoping and stop fearing. For now, though you seem to be holding it back, life is slipping through your fingers — so that I feel I can hear one of the great ones, warned by his own conscience, saying: "We are not allowed to live." Why not? All those things pulling you away — one man holds the greatest of them all. Hurry. This last duty is owed to yourself.