- Source
- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, Vol 1-3. Gummere, Richard Mott, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1917-1925.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi1017.phi015.humanitext-lat2:108.20-108.28
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Seneca recalls his temporary practice of vegetarianism influenced by Sotion, which he abandoned at his father's request. He then argues that the true purpose of reading philosophy is not grammatical analysis, but realizing the swiftness of time and improving one's life.
Haec cum exposuisset Sotion et inplesset argumentis suis, "Non credis," inquit, "animas in alia corpora atque alia discribi et migrationem esse quod dicimus mortem? Non credis in his pecudibus ferisve aut aqua mersis illum quondam hominis animum morari? Non credis nihil perire in hoc mundo, sed mutare regionem? Nec tantum caelestia per certos circuitus verti, sed animalia quoque per vices ire et animos per orbem agi? Magni ista crediderunt viri.
When Sotion had explained these things and filled them with his arguments, he said, “Do you not believe that souls are distributed into other and other bodies, and that what we call death is a migration? Do you not believe that in these cattle or wild beasts or those submerged in water that soul of what was once a man stays? Do you not believe that nothing perishes in this world, but only changes its region? And that not only celestial bodies are turned through certain circuits, but animals also go through vicissitudes and souls are driven through a circle? Great men believed these things.
Itaque iudicium quidem tuum sustine, ceterum omnia tibi in integro serva. Si vera sunt ista, abstinuisse animalibus innocentia est; si falsa, frugalitas est. Quod istic credulitatis tuae1 damnum est? Alimenta tibi leonum et vulturum eripio."
Therefore, hold indeed your judgment in suspense, but keep all things intact for yourself. If those things are true, it is innocence to have abstained from animals; if false, it is frugality. What loss of your credulity is there in this? I am snatching from you the food of lions and vultures.”
His ego instinctus abstinere animalibus coepi, et anno peracto non tantum facilis erat mihi consuetudo, sed dulcis. Agitatiorem mihi animum esse credebam, nec tibi hodie adfirmaverim, an fuerit. Quaeris, quomodo desierim? In primum Tiberii Caesaris principatum iuventae tempus inciderat. Alienigena tum sacra movebantur,2 sed inter argumenta superstitionis ponebatur quorundam animalium abstinentia. Patre itaque meo rogante, qui non calumniam timebat, sed philosophiam oderat, ad pristinam consuetudinem redii. Nec difficulter mihi, ut inciperem melius cenare, persuasit.
Incited by these things, I began to abstain from animals, and when a year had passed, the custom was not only easy for me, but sweet. I believed my mind to be more active, and I would not affirm to you today whether it was. You ask how I ceased? The time of my youth had fallen upon the beginning of the principate of Tiberius Caesar. Alien rites were then being moved against, but among the proofs of superstition was placed the abstinence from certain animals. Therefore, at the request of my father, who did not fear accusation but hated philosophy, I returned to my former custom. Nor did he persuade me with difficulty to begin to dine better.
Laudare solebat Attalus culcitam, quae resisteret corpori; tali utor etiam senex, in qua vestigium apparere non possit. Haec rettuli ut probarem tibi, quam vehementes haberent tirunculi impetus primos ad optima quaeque, si quis exhortaretur illos, si quis incenderet. Sed aliquid praecipientium vitio peccatur,3 qui nos docent disputare, non vivere, aliquid discentium, qui propositum adferunt ad praeceptores suos non animum excolendi, sed ingenium. Itaque quae philosophia fuit, facta philologia est.
Attalus used to praise a mattress which resisted the body; such a one I use even as an old man, in which no footprint can appear. I have related these things so that I might prove to you how vehement first impulses beginners have toward all the best things, if someone should exhort them, if someone should set them on fire. But some wrong is committed by the fault of those who teach, who teach us to dispute, not to live, and some by the fault of those who learn, who bring to their teachers a purpose not of cultivating their mind, but their intellect. Thus what was philosophy has become philology.
Multum autem ad rem pertinet, quo proposito ad quamquam rem accedas. Qui grammaticus futurus Vergilium scrutatur, non hoc animo legit illud egregium: "fugit inreparabile tempus:" vigilandum est; nisi properamus, relinquemur; agit nos agiturque velox dies; inscii rapimur; omnia in futurum disponimus et inter praecipitia lenti sumus; sed ut observet,4 quotiens vergilius de celeritate temporum dicit, hoc uti verbo illum "fugit." "Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis." Ille, qui ad philosophiam spectat, haec eadem quo debet, adducit: numquam vergilius, inquit, dies dicit ire, sed fugere, quod currendi genus concitatissimum est, et optimos quosque primos rapi; quid ergo cessamus nos ipsi concitare, ut velocitatem rapidissimae rei possimus aequare? Meliora praetervolant, deteriora succedunt.
But it matters much with what purpose you approach any matter. He who, about to be a grammarian, scrutinizes Vergil, does not read that excellent passage with this mind: ‘ time irrecoverable flees: ‘ we must watch; unless we hurry, we shall be left behind; the swift day drives us and is driven; we are snatched away unknowingly; we arrange all things for the future and are slow in the midst of precipices; but so that he may observe how often Vergil, when he speaks of the swiftness of times, uses this word “flees.” ‘ Each best day of life for wretched mortals First flees; diseases creep in and sad old age And labor, and the severity of harsh death snatches away. ‘ He who looks toward philosophy leads these same things to where he ought: Vergil, he says, never says that days go, but flee, which is the most rapid kind of running, and that all the best days are snatched away first; why then do we delay to urge ourselves on, so that we may match the speed of the most rapid thing? Better things fly past, worse things succeed.
Quemadmodum ex amphora primum, quod est sincerissimum, effluit, gravissimum quodque turbidumque subsidit, sic in aetate nostra quod est optimum, in primo est. Id exhauriri aliis potius patimur, ut nobis faecem reservemus? Inhaereat istud animo et tamquam missum oraculo placeat: "Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit." Quare optima? Quia quod restat, incertum est. Quare optima? Quia iuvenes possumus discere, possumus facilem animum et adhuc tractabilem ad meliora convertere; quia hoc tempus idoneum est laboribus, idoneum agitandis per studia ingeniis et exercendis per opera corporibus; quod superest, segnius et languidius est et propius a fine. Itaque toto hoc agamus animo et omissis, ad quae devertimur, in rem unam laboremus, ne hanc temporis pernicissimi celeritatem, quam retinere non possumus, relicti demum intellegamus. Primus quisque tamquam optimus dies placeat et redigatur in nostrum.
Just as from an amphora what is clearest flows out first, and all the heaviest and turbid sinks to the bottom, so in our age what is best is in the first part. Do we suffer that to be exhausted by others instead, so that we reserve the dregs for ourselves? Let that cling to the mind and please as if sent by an oracle: ‘ Each best day of life for wretched mortals First flees. ‘ Why best? Because what remains is uncertain. Why best? Because as youths we can learn, we can turn an easy and still tractable mind to better things; because this time is suitable for labors, suitable for stimulating intellects through studies and exercising bodies through works; what remains is slower and more sluggish and closer to the end. Therefore, let us do this with all our mind, and having dismissed the things to which we turn aside, let us labor for one thing, lest we, left behind, only then understand this speed of the swiftest time, which we cannot retain. Let each first day please us as if it were the best, and let it be reduced into our own.
Quod fugit, occupandum est. Haec non cogitat ille, qui grammatici oculis carmen istud legit, ideo optimum quemque primum esse diem, quia subeunt morbi, quia senectus premit et adhuc adulescentiam cogitantibus supra caput est; sed ait Vergilium semper una ponere morbos et senectutem, non mehercules immerito. Senectus enim insanabilis morbus est.
What flees must be occupied. He does not think of these things who reads that song with the eyes of a grammarian, namely that each best day is first because diseases creep in, because old age presses and is over the head of those still thinking of youth; but he says that Vergil always puts diseases and old age together, by Hercules, not undeservedly. For old age is an incurable disease.
- 108.21credulitatis tuae
This functions as an objective genitive dependent on the noun damnum (loss), indicating the object of the loss—i.e., your credulity.
- 108.22sacra movebantur
The verb moveo is used here in the sense of "to remove, expel, or suppress," referring to the historical event of Tiberius suppressing foreign cults.
- 108.23aliquid praecipientium vitio peccatur
peccatur is the impersonal passive of the intransitive verb pecco ("sin/error is committed"), and aliquid is an adverbial accusative of degree ("in some part, to some extent").
- 108.24non hoc animo ... sed ut observet
This is a long sentence with the subject qui grammaticus futurus..., where the negation non and the contrasting sed ut (subjunctive clause of purpose) are widely separated. It structures the contrast: "he reads not with this mind... but in order to observe..."