Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
IV
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1. Potentissimis et in altum sublatis hominibus excidere uoces uidebis quibus otium optent, laudent, omnibus bonis suis praeferant. Cupiunt interim ex illo fastigio suo, si tuto liceat, descendere; nam ut nihil extra lacessat aut quatiat, in se ipsa fortuna ruit.
2. Diuus Augustus, cui dii plura quam ulli praestiterunt, non desiit quietem sibi precari et uacationem a re publica petere; omnis eius sermo ad hoc semper reuolutus est, ut speraret otium: hoc labores suos, etiam si falso, dulci tamen oblectabat solacio, aliquando se uicturum sibi.
3. In quadam ad senatum missa epistula, cum requiem suam non uacuam fore dignitatis nec a priore gloria discrepantem pollicitus esset, haec verba inueni: "Sed ista fieri speciosius quam promitti possunt. Me tamen cupido temporis optatissimi mihi prouexit, ut quoniam rerum laetitia moratur adhuc, praeciperem aliquid uoluptatis ex uerborum dulcedine."
4. Tanta uisa est res otium, ut illam, quia usu non poterat, cogitatione praesumeret. Qui omnia uidebat ex se uno pendentia, qui hominibus gentibusque fortunam dabat, illum diem laetissimus cogitabat quo magnitudinem suam exueret.
5. Expertus erat quantum illa bona per omnis terras fulgentia sudoris exprimerent, quantum occultarum sollicitudinum tegerent: cum ciuibus primum, deinde cum collegis, nouissime cum affinibus coactus armis decernere mari terraque sanguinem fudit. Per Macedoniam, Siciliam, Aegyptum, Syriam Asiamque et omnis prope oras bello circumactus Romana caede lassos exercitus ad externa bella conuertit. Dum Alpes pacat immixtosque mediae paci et imperio hostes perdomat, dum [ut] ultra Rhenum et Euphraten et Danuuium terminos mouet, in ipsa urbe Murenae, Caepionis Lepidi, Egnati, aliorum in eum mucrones acuebantur.
6. Nondum horum effugerat insidias: filia et tot nobiles iuuenes adulterio uelut sacramento adacti iam infractam aetatem territabant Paulusque et iterum timenda cum Antonio mulier. Haec ulcera cum ipsis membris absciderat: alia subnascebantur; uelut graue multo sanguine corpus parte semper aliqua rumpebatur. Itaque otium optabat, in huius spe et cogitatione labores eius residebant, hoc uotum erat eius qui uoti compotes facere poterat.
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. From the most powerful of men, raised far aloft, utterances of longing for leisure have fallen — in their prayers first of all. Even in the season of their prosperity, when it was permitted to them, above all things they begged for rest, for a withdrawal into safe retreats — desires they had no hope of attaining by their own judgment.
2. That lord of the world, the man to whom the whole blood of his citizens sometimes gave way, the man before whose nod all things bowed, once said, when he was weary: "When, O Rome, shall I be permitted to lay this burden down?" — as if a man who could command it had not the power to wish it.
3. He had proved how much those goods that shine through all lands draw out of men their sweat, how much hidden anxiety they cover: forced to decide with arms first with citizens, then with colleagues, last with kinsmen, by sea and land he shed blood. Through Macedonia, and driving before him the wrecks of peoples, he wandered to the edge of the world; he was giving laws to the Athenians — and while he moved the boundaries of empire, daggers were being whetted against him in the city itself: against Murena, Caepio, Lepidus, Egnatius, and others.
4. He had not yet escaped these ambushes when his daughter and so many noble youths, bound by adultery as if by a sacrament, were already shaking his enfeebled age, and Paulus, and a woman twice to be feared with Antony. These sores he had cut away with the limbs themselves: others were growing beneath; and — like a ship heavy-laden which takes in water even in calm — the burden he had laid on himself sank him.
5. The arms, the soldiers, the fleets — with which he hemmed the seas, and carried the Roman people to the ends of the earth — even in dream he looked to; his labors returned to him in hope and thought.
6. And yet this was the prayer of a man who had it in his own power to make any prayer come true.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. Some of the most powerful men in the world have said out loud that they longed for rest — and it was in their prayers first of all. Even at the height of their success, they asked above all for quiet and a safe place to withdraw to, wishes they knew they'd never be allowed to act on.
2. The ruler of the whole world — before whose frown everything bowed — once said, tired out: "When, Rome, will I get to put this burden down?" As if he couldn't simply wish it so, when he had the power to command it.
3. He had learned by then how much sweat those shining treasures of his cost, and how much hidden worry: forced to fight with arms — first fellow citizens, then his own colleagues, finally his own family — he spilled blood on land and sea. Through Macedonia he chased the wreckage of nations to the edge of the world; he was dictating laws to Athens — and while he was redrawing the borders of empire, daggers were being sharpened against him in Rome itself: against Murena, Caepio, Lepidus, Egnatius, and others.
4. He had barely escaped those plots when his daughter, and a crowd of young nobles bound to adultery like a secret oath, shook his already weakened old age — and Paullus, and a woman to be feared twice over, once with Antony. He cut away those sores along with the limbs they belonged to; new ones kept growing. And like an overloaded ship that takes on water even in calm seas, the weight he had taken on sank him.
5. His armies, his soldiers, his fleets — with them he fenced off the seas and carried the Roman people to the ends of the earth — he saw even in his dreams; his labors came back to him in hopes and imaginings.
6. And yet that was the prayer of a man who could make any prayer come true.