Seneca (to Paulinus) · Complete work
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1. M. Cicero inter Catilinas, Clodios iactatus Pompeiosque et Crassos, partim manifestos inimicos, partim dubios amicos, dum fluctuatur cum re publica et illam pessum euntem tenet, nouissime abductus, nec secundis rebus quietus nec aduersarum patiens, quotiens illum ipsum consulatum suum non sine causa sed sine fine laudatum detestatur!
2. Quam flebiles uoces exprimit in quadam ad Atticum epistula iam uicto patre Pompeio, adhuc filio in Hispania fracta arma refouente! "Quid agam", inquit, "hic, quaeris? Moror in Tusculano meo semiliber." Alia deinceps adicit, quibus et priorem aetatem complorat et de praesenti queritur et de futura desperat.
3. Semiliberum se dixit Cicero: at me hercules numquam sapiens in tam humile nomen procedet, numquam semiliber erit, integrae semper libertatis et solidae, solutus et sui iuris et altior ceteris. Quid enim supra eum potest esse qui supra fortunam est?
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. And Cicero — how tossed about he was between the daggers of Catiline on one side and the swords of the young Caesar on the other! What day was there to him that did not bring some peril? How he prays against exile, as if against death itself! How he exults at his consulship! How proudly he bears himself, as if he had bought a life immortal with his eloquence!
2. And yet what shall I say of that man of whom, when his country had appeared to him in a vision, the first thing he begged was that he might live to see it safe — this the vision promised — and he gave thanks, and prayed that he might not live too long?
3. But even so great a man, held fast by the memory of his glory, could not set his face against the dangers crowding him: he had to come to terms with living; he had to pray to be spared. He who said of his own consulship "I have lived," who could have said "I have lived well" — the man to whom his glory gave a great witness — lived on in fear, an old man pleading for his years.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 20 chapters and 106 sections of the Latin.
1. And Cicero — tossed back and forth between Catiline's daggers on one side and the young Caesar's swords on the other! What day didn't bring him danger? How he prayed against exile as if it were death! How he celebrated his own consulship! How proud he was, as if his eloquence had bought him immortality!
2. And yet consider the man to whom his country appeared in a dream, and who asked, first of all, to live long enough to see her safe — the dream promised it — and he gave thanks, and prayed not to live too long.
3. But even a man that great, chained to the memory of his own glory, couldn't face the dangers piling up around him. He had to bargain for his life; he had to beg for more time. He who said of his consulship "I have lived" — who could have said "I have lived well" — the man his glory proved a great one — ended up living in fear, an old man pleading for his years.