UcUIHUIIc^Jllc^llgJUc^ll^JlieJIIcUlldJIieJIIall I I LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY I I i SENECA I IV I I [STULAE MORALES I I i I BOOKS I-LXV I I I I I I I I I I i I I i i i I I Translated by I R. M. GUMMERE I I § 1 I \ \ \ \ \ Complete list of Loeb titles can be \ \ fovnd at the end of each volume SENECA, Lucius Annaeus, born at Corduba (Cordova) c; or 4 b.c„ of a noble and wealthy family, after an ailing \ childhood and youth at Rome in an aunt's care, was a victim of life-long neurosis but became famous in rhetoric, philosophy, money-making, and imperial service. After some disgrace during Claudius' reign he became tutor and then, in a.d.^4, advising minister to Nero, some of whose worst misdeeds he did not prevent. In- volved (innocently?) in a conspiracy, he killed himselfby order in . a d 6 s . Wealthy, he preached indifference to wealth; evader of pain and death, he preached scorn of both; and there were other contrasts between practice and principle. Wicked himself he was not. Of his works we have 10 mis-called 'Dialogi', seven being philosophical - on providence, steadfastness, happy life, anger, leisure, calmness of mind, shortness of life; 3 other treatises (on money, benefits, and natural phenomena); 124 'Epistulae morales' all addressed to one person; a skit on the official deification of Claudius; and 9 rhetorical tragedies (not for acting) on ancient Greek themes. Many 'Epistulae' and all his speeches are lost. Much of his thought is clever rather than deep, and his style is pointed rather than ample. / • 876 SENECA. SENECA t LUCIUS ANNAEUS AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE morales; 7///K* VOLUME U 14. SO NN8R 700467764 MM LL NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES The Newark Public Library 3 3333 02803 1744 Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations 3 FEB 1 2 The Branch Libraries MID-MANHATTAN LIBRARY Literature & Language Dept. MM 455 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10016 LL BOOKS MAY BE RETURNED TO ANY BRANCH OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ALL RECORDINGS MUST BE RETURNED TO BRANCH FROM WHICH BORROWED NO RENEWALS ARE ALLOWED FINES FOR OVERDUE MATERIAL PER CALENDAR DAY: Adult books lOtf Juvenile books 54 Recordings 10* Form #Q6 THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D. EDITED BY G. P. GOOLD, PH.D. PREVIOUS EDITORS fT. E. PAGE, c.h., litt.d. fE. CAPPS, ph.d., ll.d. t W. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d. t L. A. POST, l.h.d. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a., f.b.hist.soo. SENECA IV AD LUCILIUM EPISTULAE MORALES I 75 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/adluciliumepistu01sene SENECA IN TEN VOLUMES IV AD LUOILIUM EPISTULAE MORALES WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY RICHARD M. GUMMERE, Ph.D. HEADJCASTER, WILLIAM PENN CHARTER SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA IN THREE VOLUMES I CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD MCMLXXIX American ISBN 0-674-99084-6 British ISBN 434 99075 2 First printed 1917 Reprinted 1925, 1934, 1953, 1961, 1967, 1979 Printed in Great Britain ?7< 2tclt7Yy CONTENTS OF VOLUME I PA3E INTRODUCTION ..... vii LETTERS I. ON SAVING TIME 2 II. ON DISCURSIVENESS IN READING . 6 III. ON TRUE AND FALSE FRIENDSHIP 8 IV. ON THE TERRORS OF DEATH 12 V. ON THE PHILOSOPHER'S MEAN 20 VI. ON SHARING KNOWLEDGE . 24 VII. ON CROWDS .... 28 VIII. ON THE PHILOSOPHER'S SECLUSION 36 IX. ON PHILOSOPHY AND FRIENDSHIP 42 X. ON LIVING TO ONESELF 56 XL ON THE BLUSH OF MODESTY 60 XII. ON OLD AGE .... 64 XIII. ON GROUNDLESS FEARS 72 XIV. ON THE REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING THE WORLD . 84 XV. ON BRAWN AND BRAINS 94 XVI. ON PHILOSOPHY, THE GUIDE OF LIFE 102 XVII. ON PHILOSOPHY AND RICHES 108 XVIII. ON FESTIVALS AND FASTING 116 XIX. ON WORLDLINESS AND RETIREMENT 124 iii CONTENTS v\c.r. XX. ON PRACTISING WHAT YOU PREACH . 132 XXI. ON THE RENOWN WHICH MY WRITINGS WILL BRING YOU XXII. ON THE FUTILITY OF HALF-WAY MEASURE: XXIII. ON THE TRUE JOY WHICH COMES FROM PHILOSOPHY .... XXIV. ON DESPISING DEATH XXV. ON REFORMATION .... XXVI. ON OLD AGE AND DEATH XXVII. ON THE GOOD WHICH ABIDES . XXVIII. ON TRAVEL AS A CURE FOR DISCONTENT XXIX. ON THE CRITICAL CONDITION OF MAR CELLINUS . XXX. ON CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR XXXI. ON SIREN SONGS .... XXXII. ON PROGRESS . XXXIII. ON THE FUTILITY OF LEARNING MAXIMS XXXIV. ON A PROMISING PUPIL . XXXV. ON THE FRIENDSHIP OF KINDRED MINDS XXXVI. ON THE VALUE OF RETIREMENT XXXVII. ON ALLEGIANCE TO VIRTUE XXXVIII. ON QUIET CONVERSATION . ' . XXXIX. ON NOBLE ASPIRATIONS . XL. ON THE PROPER STYLE FOR A PHILO SOPHER'S DISCOURSE XLI. ON THE GOD WITHIN US. XLII. ON VALUES ..... XLI1I. ON THE RELATIVITY OF FAME . XLIV. ON PHILOSOPHY AND PEDIGREES XLV. ON SOPHISTICAL ARGUMENTATION iv 1 CONTENTS PAG1 XLVI. ON A NEW BOOK BV LUCILIUS 298 XLVII. ON MASTER AND SLAVE 300 XLVIII. ON QUIBBLING AS UNWORTHY OF THE PHILOSOPHER 312 XLIX. ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE 322 L. ON OUR BLINDNESS AND ITS CURE 330 LI. ON BAIAE AND MORALS 336 HI. ON CHOOSING OUR TEACHERS 344- LIU. ON THE FAULTS OF THE SPIRIT . 352 LIV. ON ASTHMA AND DEATH . 360 LV. ON VATIA'S VILLA . 364 LVL ON QUIET AND STUDY 372 LVII. ON THE TRIALS OF TRAVEL 382 LVIII. ON BEING .... 386 LIX. ON PLEASURE AND JOY 408 LX. ON HARMFUL PRAYERS 422 LXI. ON MEETING DEATH CHEERFULLY 424 LXII. ON GOOD COMPANY 426 LXIII. ON GRIEF FOR LOST FRIENDS 428 LXIV. ON THE PHILOSOPHER'S TASK 438 LXV. ON THE FIRST CAUSE 444 INDEX ...... 46 INTRODUCTION Among the personalities of the early Roman Empire there are few who offer to the readers of to-day such dramatic interest as does Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the author of the Epistles which are translated in this volume. Born in a province, educated at Rome, prominent at the bar, a distinguished exile, a trusted minister of State, and a doomed victim of a capricious emperor, Seneca is so linked with the age in which he lived that in reading his works we read those of a true representative of the most thrilling period of Roman history. Seneca was born in the year 4 B.C., a time of great opportunity, at Corduba, in Spain, son of the talented rhetorician, Annaeus Seneca. We gather that the family moved to Rome during the boyhood of Lucius, that he was educated for the bar, and that he was soon attracted by the Stoic philosophy, the stern nurse of heroes during the first century of the Empire. That his social connexions were distinguished we infer from the prominence and refinement of his brother Gallio,—the Gallio of the New Testament,—from the fact that he himself was noticed and almost condemned to death by the Emperor Caligula soon after he began to speak in public, and especially because his aunt, whom he vol. i a 2 vii INTRODUCTION visited in Egypt, was the wife of the governor of that country. Up to the year 41 he prospered. He makes mention of his children, of his mother who, like the mother of Goethe, seems to have imbued him with idealism and a certain amount of mysticism, and of many valued friends. But during that year, as a result of court intrigue, he was banished to the island of Corsica. The charge against him was a too great intimacy with Iulia Livilla, unfortunate sister of the late emperor, and the arch-foe of Messalina, whose husband, Claudius, had recalled the princess from exile. We may discount any crime on Seneca's part because even the gossip-laden Suetonius says : 1 ' The charge was vague and the accused was given no opportunity to defend himself." The eight years of exile were productive of much literary work. The tragedies, which have had such influence on later drama, are the fruit of this period, besides certain essays on philosophic subjects, and a rather cringing letter to Polybius, a rich freedman at the court of Claudius. In 49, however, Fortune, whom Seneca as a Stoic so often ridicules, came to his rescue. Agrippina had him recalled and ap- pointed tutor to her young son, later to become the Emperor Nero. Holding the usual offices of state, and growing in prominence, Seneca administered the affairs of the prince, in partnership with Burrus, the praetorian. Together they maintained the balance of power between throne and Senate until the death of Burrus in the year 62. After that time, a philo- sopher without the support of military power was unable to cope with the vices and whims of the monster on the throne. The last two years of Seneca's life were spent in INTRODUCTION travelling about southern Italy, composing essays on natural history and relieving his burdened soul by correspondence with his friend Lucilius. In the year 65 came his suicide, anticipating an act of violence on the Emperor's part ; in this deed of heroism he was nobly supported by his young wife Paulina The best account of these dark days is given in Tacitus. These letters are all addressed to Lucilius. From internal evidence we gather that the native country of this Lucilius was Campania, and his native city Pompeii or Naples. He was a Roman knight, having gained that position, as Seneca tells us, by sheer industry. Prominent in the civil service, he had rilled many important positions and was, at the time when the Letters were written, procurator in Sicily.