Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
III
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1. Omnia licet quae umquam ingenia fulserunt in hoc unum consentiant, numquam satis hanc humanarum mentium caliginem mirabuntur: praedia sua occupari a nullo patiuntur et, si exigua contentio est de modo finium, ad lapides et arma discurrunt; in uitam suam incedere alios sinunt, immo uero ipsi etiam possessores eius futuros inducunt; nemo inuenitur qui pecuniam suam diuidere uelit, uitam unusquisque quam multis distribuit! Adstricti sunt in continendo patrimonio, simul ad iacturam temporis uentum est, profusissimi in eo cuius unius honesta auaritia est.
2. Libet itaque ex seniorum turba comprendere aliquem: "Peruenisse te ad ultimum aetatis humanae uidemus, centesimus tibi uel supra premitur annus: agedum, ad computationem aetatem tuam reuoca. Duc quantum ex isto tempore creditor, quantum amica, quantum rex, quantum cliens abstulerit, quantum lis uxoria, quantum seruorum coercitio, quantum officiosa per urbem discursatio; adice morbos quos manu fecimus, adice quod et sine usu iacuit: uidebis te pauciores annos habere quam numeras.
3. Repete memoria tecum quando certus consilii fueris, quotus quisque dies ut destinaueras recesserit, quando tibi usus tui fuerit, quando in statu suo uultus, quando animus intrepidus, quid tibi in tam longo aeuo facti operis sit, quam multi uitam tuam diripuerint te non sentiente quid perderes, quantum uanus dolor, stulta laetitia, auida cupiditas, blanda conuersatio abstulerit, quam exiguum tibi de tuo relictum sit: intelleges te immaturum mori."
4. Quid ergo est in causa? Tamquam semper uicturi uiuitis, numquam uobis fragilitas uestra succurrit, non obseruatis quantum iam temporis transierit; uelut ex pleno et abundanti perditis, cum interim fortasse ille ipse qui alicui uel homini uel rei donatur dies ultimus sit. Omnia tamquam mortales timetis, omnia tamquam immortales concupiscitis.
5. Audies plerosque dicentes: "A quinquagesimo anno in otium secedam, sexagesimus me annus ab officiis dimittet." Et quem tandem longioris uitae praedem accipis? Quis ista sicut disponis ire patietur? Non pudet te reliquias uitae tibi reseruare et id solum tempus bonae menti destinare quod in nullam rem conferri possit? Quam serum est tunc uiuere incipere cum desinendum est? Quae tam stulta mortalitatis obliuio in quinquagesimum et sexagesimum annum differre sana consilia et inde uelle uitam inchoare quo pauci perduxerunt?
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. Therefore, Paulinus, be of good courage: the life you ask for, you shall have. You desire it longer than you have lived: but who could not live it more spaciously? Who could not spend it more gladly? Behold, the years are there — take them, and turn them to good. They are yours: see what lies unused, what lies wasted. Why do you always snatch at the last? What is your reason for this delay? Death waits — will you wait for nothing?
2. Behold, the greatest of poets sings the welcome verse, as if struck with divine terror: "Each best day of life flees first for wretched mortals." Why do you delay? Why do you stand? Unless you seize it, it flees. And even when you have seized it, it will still flee: therefore you must contend with the swiftness of time in the speed of using it, and drink quickly, as from a rushing torrent that will not always flow.
3. And most beautiful of all — for shaming endless deliberation — he does not say each best AGE, but each best DAY. Why do you stretch out to yourself months and years in a long series, at your greed's own pleasure, careless and slow amid so great a flight of time? He speaks to you of the day, and of this very one that is fleeing.
4. In short, there is no doubt but that each best day flees wretched mortals first — that is, the preoccupied. Their minds are still childish when old age comes upon them, for which they arrive unarmed and unprepared: nothing has been provided; they have fallen into it suddenly, unawares — they did not feel it drawing near day by day.
5. "From the fiftieth year," says one, "I shall retire into leisure; the sixtieth shall release me from every duty." And what pledge, unhappy man, do you have for so long a life? Who will grant those things to your plan? Will you use the leftovers of others as if they were your own? Will you postpone everything to the time when you shall be done with everything? How foolish it is to put off the beginning of living, when you can begin from nothing else.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. So take heart, Paulinus: the life you want, you can have. You wish it were longer than it has been — but who couldn't live it more fully? Look: the years are there. Take them and use them well. Ask yourself what has gone to waste. Why do you always grab at the last thing? Why delay? Death is waiting — are you waiting for anything?
2. Listen to the greatest of poets, who sang like a man inspired: "Each best day of life flees first for wretched mortals." Why hesitate? Why wait? Seize it, or it runs. Even when you've grabbed it, it keeps running — so match the speed of time with the speed of using it, and drink fast, like someone drinking from a flood that won't flow twice.
3. And most beautiful of all — the poet doesn't say the best AGE flees first, but the best DAY. Why plan out months and years as if time were endless, when each day is already running out? He's talking about the day — this very day.
4. So there's no question: the best days flee the busy first. Their minds are still children when old age arrives, and they arrive unarmed and unprepared. Nothing was saved up; old age hit them all at once, and they never felt it coming day by day.
5. "At fifty," one man says, "I'll slow down. At sixty, I'll stop working altogether." And what guarantee, poor man, do you have of living that long? Who will make your plans come true? Do you treat the leftovers of other people's lives as if they were yours? Everything gets put off until you're done with everything — but how foolish to postpone the beginning of living, since living is the only place to start.