- 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-lat2:34.1-34.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-03
Seneca rejoices in Lucilius's remarkable intellectual and spiritual progress, claiming him as his own "work." He explains that becoming a good man requires a strong will, and urges him to aim for perfect harmony where actions and words are consistent.
Cresco et exulto et discussa senectute1 recalesco, quotiens ex iis, quae agis ac scribis, intellego, quantum te ipse, nam turbam olim reliqueras, superieceris. Si agricolam arbor ad fructum perducta delectat, si pastor ex fetu gregis sui capit voluptatem, si alumnum suum nemo aliter intuetur quam ut adulescentiam illius suam iudicet; quid evenire credis iis, qui ingenia educaverunt et quae tenera formaverunt adulta subito vident?
I grow and exult, and shaking off my old age, I warm up again, as often as I understand from those things which you do and write how much you have surpassed yourself—for you had long ago left the crowd behind. If a tree brought to fruit delights the farmer, if a shepherd takes pleasure from the offspring of his flock, if no one looks upon his foster child otherwise than to judge that child’s youth as his own; what do you believe happens to those who have educated characters and suddenly see what they formed when tender now grown up?
Adsero te mihi; meum opus es. Ego quom vidissem indolem tuam, inieci manum,2 exhortatus sum, addidi stimulos nec lente ire passus sum, sed subinde incitavi; et nunc idem facio, sed iam currentem hortor et invicem hortantem.
I claim you for myself; you are my work. When I saw your disposition, I laid my hand upon you, exhorted you, applied spurs, and did not allow you to go slowly, but continually urged you on; and now I do the same, but I am urging on one who is already running and who in turn urges me on.
"Quid aliud?" inquis; "adhuc volo." In hoc plurimum est, non sic quomodo principia totius operis dimidium occupare dicuntur; ista res animo constat. Itaque pars magna bonitatis est velle fieri bonum. Scis quem bonum dicam? Perfectum, absolutum, quem malum facere nulla vis, nulla necessitas possit.
”What else?” you say; “I still want to.” In this lies the greatest part, not in the same way as the beginnings of a whole work are said to occupy half of it; this matter consists in the mind. Therefore, a great part of goodness is the will to become good. Do you know whom I call good? The perfect, the absolute man, whom no force, no necessity can make bad.
Hunc te prospicio, si perseveraveris et incubueris et id egeris, ut3 omnia facta dictaque tua inter se congruant ac respondeant sibi et una forma percussa sint. Non est huius animus in recto, cuius acta discordant. VALE.
I foresee you as this man, if you persevere, devote yourself, and see to it that all your deeds and words agree among themselves and correspond to each other, and are stamped from a single mold. The mind of him whose deeds are discordant is not in the right. FAREWELL.
- 34.1discussa senectute
Ablative absolute formed by discussa (perfect passive participle of discutio, "to shake off, dispel") and senectute (ablative singular of senectus, "old age"), meaning "old age having been shaken off."
- 34.2inieci manum
A metaphor derived from the Roman legal procedure of manus iniectio (laying hands on a person or property to assert ownership or claim). It signifies Seneca's assertion of Lucilius as his own pupil/"work."
- 34.4id egeris, ut
The idiomatic expression id agere ut (+ subjunctive), meaning "to see to it that," "to make it one's aim that." Here egeris is the future perfect of ago, parallel with perseveraveris and incubueris.