Contentment with Little and Warning Against Luxury — Seneca the Younger, Moral Letters to Lucilius 123.1–123.9, Latin & English

§123.1

Itinere confectus incommodo magis quam longo in Albanum meum multa nocte perveni; nihil habeo parati nisi me. Itaque in lectulo lassitudinem pono, hanc coci ac pistoris moram boni consulo. Mecum enim de hoc ipso loquor, quam nihil sit grave, quod leviter excipias, indignandum nihil nisi ipse indignando adstruas.¹

Exhausted by a journey that was inconvenient rather than long, I arrived at my estate in Alba late at night; I have nothing ready except myself. Therefore, I lay my weariness down upon my small bed, and I take in good part this delay of the cook and the baker. For I talk with myself about this very thing, how nothing is heavy that you take lightly, and that there is nothing to be indignant about unless you yourself add to it by being indignant.

§123.2

Non habet panem meus pistor; sed habet vilicus, sed habet atriensis, sed habet colonus. "Malum panem "inquis. Exspecta: bonus fiet. Etiam illum tibi tenerum et siligineum fames reddet. Ideo non est ante edendum quam illa imperat;² exspectabo ergo nec ante edam quam aut bonum panem habere coepero aut fastidire desiero.

My baker has no bread; but the bailiff has, but the house-steward has, but the tenant has. “Bad bread,” you say. Wait: it will become good. Hunger will make even that bread tender and of finest wheat for you. Therefore, one must not eat before she commands; I shall wait, then, and I shall not eat before I either begin to have good bread or cease to be squeamish.

§123.3

Necessarium est parvo adsuescere: multae difficultates locorum, multae temporum etiam locupletibus et instructis ad voluptatem prohibentes occurrent. Quidquid vult habere nemo potest, illud potest, nolle quod non habet, rebus oblatis hilaris uti. Magna pars libertatis est bene moratus venter et contumeliae patiens.

It is necessary to accustom oneself to a little: many difficulties of places, many also of times, will occur even to the rich and those equipped for pleasure, blockading them. No one can have whatever he wants; but this he can do, not to want what he has not, and cheerfully to use what is offered. A great part of liberty is a well-disciplined stomach and one capable of enduring insult.

§123.4

Aestimari non potest, quantam voluptatem capiam ex eo, quod lassitudo mea sibi ipsa adsuescit; non unctores, non balineum, non ullum aliud remedium quam temporis quaero. Nam quod labor contraxit, quies tollit. Haec qualiscumque cena aditiali iucundior erit.

It cannot be estimated how much pleasure I derive from the fact that my weariness becomes reconciled to itself; I seek no unctors, no bath, no other remedy than that of time. For what labor has contracted, rest removes. This dinner, of whatever sort, will be more agreeable than an inaugural banquet.

§123.5

Aliquod enim experimentum animi sumpsi subito; hoc enim est simplicius et verius. Nam ubi se praeparavit et indixit sibi patientiam, non aeque apparet, quantum habeat verae firmitatis; illa sunt certissima argumenta, quae ex tempore dedit,³ si non tantum aequus molestias, sed placidus aspexit; si non excanduit, non litigavit; si quod dari deberet ipse sibi non desiderando supplevit et cogitavit aliquid consuetudini suae, sibi nihil deesse.

For I have suddenly taken a certain trial of my mind; indeed, this is simpler and truer. For when the mind has prepared itself and commanded patience upon itself, it is not equally apparent how much of true firmness it possesses; those are the surest proofs which it has given on the spur of the moment, if it has looked upon annoyances not only with an even mind but calmly; if it has not flared up, has not disputed; if it has supplied for itself what ought to have been given by not desiring it, and has reflected that something is missing for its custom, but nothing is missing for itself.

§123.6

Multa quam supervacua essent, non intelleximus, nisi deesse coeperunt; utebamur enim illis, non quia debebamus, sed quia habebamus. Quam multa autem paramus, quia alii paraverunt, quia apud plerosque sunt! Inter causas malorum nostrorum est, quod vivimus ad exempla, nec ratione conponimur sed consuetudine abducimur. Quod, si pauci facerent, nollemus imitari, cum plures facere coeperunt, quasi honestius sit, quia frequentius, sequimur. Et recti apud nos locum tenet error, ubi publicus factus est.⁴

How many things were superfluous we did not understand until they began to be wanting; for we used them not because we ought to, but because we had them. But how many things do we procure because others have procured them, because they are in the possession of most people! Among the causes of our evils is that we live according to examples, and are not regulated by reason but are carried away by custom. A thing which, if few did it, we should be unwilling to imitate, when many have begun to do it, we follow, as if it were more honorable because it is more frequent. And error holds the place of right among us once it has become public.

§123.7

Omnes iam sic peregrinantur, ut illos Numidarum praecurrat equitatus, ut agmen cursorum antecedat; turpe est nullos esse, qui occurrentis via deiciant, aut qui honestum hominem venire magno pulvere ostendant. Omnes iam mulos habent, qui crustallina et murrina et caelata magnorum artificum manu portent; turpe est videri eas te habere sarcinas totas, quae e tuto concuti possint. Omnium paedagogia oblita facie vehuntur, ne sol, ne frigus teneram cutem laedat; turpe est neminem esse in comitatu tuo puerorum, cuius sana facies medicamentum desideret.

Everyone now travels in such a way that a troop of Numidian horsemen runs before them, that a train of runners precedes them; it is a shameful thing if there are none to push from the road those who meet them, or who show by a great cloud of dust that a gentleman is coming. Everyone now has mules to carry crystal vessels, and murrhine, and those carved by the hand of great artists; it is a shameful thing if you are seen to have only such baggage as can be shaken with safety. The young slaves of all travel with their faces smeared, lest the sun or the cold should damage their tender skin; it is a shameful thing if there is no boy in your train whose healthy face requires a cosmetic.

§123.8

Horum omnium sermo vitandus est: hi sunt, qui vitia tradunt et alio aliunde transerunt. Pessimum genus horum hominum videbatur, qui verba gestarent; sunt quidam, qui vitia gestant. Horum sermo multum nocet; nam etiam si non statim profecit, semina in animo relinquit sequiturque nos etiam cum ab illis discessimus, resurrecturum postea malum.

The conversation of all these must be avoided: these are they who hand down vices and transfer them from one place to another. The worst class of these men used to seem to be those who carried words; there are some who carry vices. The conversation of these does much harm; for even if it has not immediately succeeded, it leaves seeds in the mind, and follows us even when we have departed from them, the evil being destined to rise again later.

§123.9

Quemadmodum qui audierunt symphoniam, ferunt secum in auribus modulationem illam ac dulcedinem cantuum, quae cogitationes impedit nec ad seria patitur intendi, sic adulatorum et prava laudantium sermo diutius haeret quam auditur. Nec facile est animo dulcem sonum excutere; prosequitur et durat et ex intervallo recurrit. Ideo cludendae sunt aures malis vocibus et quidem primis; quom initum fecerunt admissaeque insunt⁵ plus audent.

Just as those who have heard a concert carry away with them in their ears that modulation and sweetness of songs, which obstructs thoughts and does not suffer them to be directed to serious matters, so the discourse of flatterers and of those who praise bad things clings longer than it is heard. Nor is it easy to shake off the sweet sound from the mind; it follows and endures and returns after an interval. Therefore, the ears must be closed against bad words, and indeed the very first; for when they have made an entry and being admitted are within, they dare more.

Syntax notes5 items

123.1indignandum nihil nisi ipse indignando adstruas
The copula sit is omitted after indignandum nihil. The clause nisi ipse indignando adstruas uses the present subjunctive adstruas to express a general or potential condition ("unless you yourself should add to it by being indignant"), where indignando is an ablative gerund functioning instrumentally.
123.2non est ante edendum quam illa imperat
non est edendum is an impersonal passive periphrastic construction denoting necessity or obligation ("one must not eat"). The pronoun illa refers back to the feminine noun fames (hunger) from the preceding sentence, which is here personified.
123.5illa sunt certissima argumenta, quae ex tempore dedit
The subject of dedit is animus (mind) from the preceding sentences. The demonstrative illa (those) anticipates the conditions introduced by the subsequent si clauses, which describe the specific responses given by the mind.
123.6Et recti apud nos locum tenet error, ubi publicus factus est.
recti is a genitive modifying locum ("the place of right"). The noun error is the subject. The sentence describes the inversion of values that occurs "when error has become public (or general)."
123.9quom initum fecerunt admissaeque insunt
quom is an archaic/classical spelling of the temporal conjunction cum (when/since). admissae is a feminine plural perfect participle agreeing with the subject (implied from malis vocibus, bad words), functioning adverbially ("once they have been admitted").

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — note 1

urn:cts:latinLit:phi1017.phi015.humanitext-lat2:123.1-123.9