- 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-lat2:25.1-25.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-03
Seneca discusses the methods of correcting the vices of two different friends, and then, quoting Epicurus, advises living simply according to nature, setting a moral guardian over oneself, and avoiding harmful solitude until one's character is fully improved.
Quod ad duos amicos nostros pertinet, diversa via eundum est; alterius enim vitia emendanda, alterius frangenda sunt. Utar libertate tota. Non amo illum, nisi offendo.1 "Quid ergo?" inquis, "quadragenarium pupillum cogitas sub tutela tua continere? Respice aetatem eius iam duram et intractabilem.
As far as our two friends are concerned, we must go by different paths; for the vices of the one must be corrected, and those of the other must be broken. I shall use complete freedom. I do not love him unless I offend him. “What then?” you say, “Are you thinking of keeping a forty-year-old ward under your guardianship? Look at his age, already hard and unmanageable.
Non potest reformari; tenera finguntur." An profecturus sim nescio. Malo successum mihi quam fidem deesse.2 Nec desperaveris etiam diutinos aegros posse sanari, si contra intemperantiam steteris, si multa invitos et facere coegeris et pati. Ne de altero quidem satis fiduciae habeo, excepto eo, quod adhuc peccare erubescit. Nutriendus est hic pudor, qui quamdiu in animo eius duraverit, aliquis erit bonae spei locus. Cum hoc veterano parcius agendum puto, ne in desperationem sui veniat.
He cannot be reshaped; tender things are molded.” Whether I shall make progress, I do not know. I prefer that success be lacking to me rather than loyalty. And you should not despair that even long-term sick people can be cured, if you stand against their intemperance, if you compel them against their will both to do and to suffer many things. I do not have enough confidence even about the other, except for the fact that he still blushes to sin. This shame must be nurtured; as long as it lasts in his mind, there will be some room for good hope. I think we must deal more sparingly with this veteran, lest he fall into despair of himself.
Nec ullum tempus adgrediendi fuit melius quam hoc, dum interquiescit, dum emendato similis est. Aliis haec intermissio eius inposuit; mihi verba non dat. Exspecto cum magno faenore vitia reditura, quae nunc scio cessare, non deesse. Inpendam huic rei dies et utrum possit aliquid agi an non possit, experiar.
And there has been no better time for approaching him than this, while he is resting, while he is like a reformed person. This intermission of his has deceived others; to me he does not give words. I expect that the vices, which I now know to be inactive, not absent, will return with high interest. I shall spend days on this matter, and I shall try whether something can be done or cannot be done.
Tu nobis te, ut facis, fortem praesta et sarcinas contrahe. Nihil ex his, quae habemus, necessarium est. Ad legem naturae revertamur; divitiae paratae sunt. Aut gratuitum est, quo egemus, aut vile; panem et aquam natura desiderat Nemo ad haec pauper est, intra quae quisquis desiderium suum clusit, cum ipso Iove de felicitate contendat, ut ait Epicurus, cuius aliquam vocem huic epistulae involvam. "
Do you show yourself brave to us, as you are doing, and pack up your baggage. Nothing of these things which we have is necessary. Let us return to the law of nature; riches are prepared. Either what we need is free, or cheap; nature desires bread and water. No one is poor in respect to these, within which whoever has enclosed his desire, may contend in happiness with Jove himself, as Epicurus says, some saying of whom I shall wrap up in this letter.
Sic fac," inquit, "omnia, tamquam spectet Epicurus." Prodest sine dubio custodem sibi inposuisse et habere, quem respicias, quem interesse cogitationibus tuis iudices. Hoc quidem longe magnificentius est, sic vivere tamquam sub alicuius boni viri ac semper praesentis oculis, sed ego etiam hoc contentus sum, ut sic facias, quaecumque facies, tamquam spectet aliquis; omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet.
”Do all things thus,” he says, “as if Epicurus were watching.” It is undoubtedly useful to have set a guardian over oneself and to have someone whom you look back to, whom you judge to be present at your thoughts. This indeed is far more magnificent, to live thus as if under the eyes of some good man who is always present, but I am content even with this, that you do thus, whatever you do, as if someone were watching; solitude persuades us to all bad things.
Cum iam profeceris tantum, ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia, licebit dimittas paedagogum; interim aliquorum te auctoritate custodi, aut Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius aut talis, cuius interventu perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent, dum te efficis eum, cum quo peccare non audeas.3 Cum hoc effeceris, et aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio, incipiam tibi permittere, quod idem suadet Epicurus: "Tunc praecipue in te ipse secede, cum esse cogeris in turba."
When you have already made so much progress that you have respect even for yourself, it will be permitted that you dismiss your tutor; meanwhile guard yourself by the authority of some men, whether it be that great Cato, or Scipio, or Laelius, or such a one by whose intervention even ruined men would suppress their vices, until you make yourself someone with whom you would not dare to sin. When you have achieved this, and some self-esteem has begun to exist in you, I shall begin to permit you what the same Epicurus advises: “Then especially withdraw into yourself, when you are forced to be in a crowd.”
Dissimilem te fieri multis oportet. Dum tibi tutum non est ad te recedere, circumspice singulos; nemo est, cui non satius sit cum quolibet esse quam secum. "Tunc praecipue in te ipse secede, cum esse cogeris in turba"; si bonus vir, si quietus, si temperans. Alioquin in turbam tibi a te recedendum est; istic malo viro propius es.4 VALE.
You ought to become unlike the many. As long as it is not safe for you to withdraw into yourself, look around at individuals; there is no one for whom it is not better to be with anyone at all than with himself. “Then especially withdraw into yourself, when you are forced to be in a crowd”—if you are a good, quiet, and temperate man. Otherwise, you must withdraw from yourself into the crowd; there you are closer to a bad man. FAREWELL.
- 25.1Non amo illum, nisi offendo.
This means 'I do not love him unless I offend him (by speaking hard truths and chiding him)'. Seneca succinctly expresses the classical view of friendship, where true affection entails a willingness to point out faults and speak frankly (offendere) for the friend's moral improvement.
- 25.2Malo successum mihi quam fidem deesse.
Two accusative-and-infinitive clauses, "successum [mihi] deesse" (success to be lacking to me) and "fidem [mihi] deesse" (faithfulness to be lacking), serve as the contrasted objects of "malo". Here, "fides" refers to a friend's moral duty and sincerity of effort, reflecting Seneca's stance that failing to succeed is better than failing to try faithfully.
- 25.6cum quo peccare non audeas
A relative clause introduced by "cum quo" (= "quocum") modifying the antecedent pronoun "eum". The verb "audeas" is in the present subjunctive (2nd person singular of "audeo") because it describes not a specific existing person, but a potential characteristic or quality ("the kind of person with whom you would not dare to sin").
- 25.7Alioquin in turbam tibi a te recedendum est; istic malo viro propius es.
The syntax reads: 'Otherwise, you must withdraw from yourself into the crowd; there (in solitude) you are closer to a bad man (your unperfected self).' The adverb 'istic' (there, in that state) refers to the state of being alone. Seneca presents a paradox: for an unperfected soul, solitude is harmful because it forces them into the company of their own bad inclinations.