- 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-lat2:67.1-67.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Seneca writes to Lucilius about the uncertain spring weather and his own old age, and addresses the question of whether every good is desirable, arguing that the courageous endurance of difficulties under the influence of virtue is indeed desirable.
Vt a communibus initium faciam, ver aperire se coepit, sed iam inclinatura1 in aestatem, quo tempore calere debebat, intepuit nec adhuc illi fides est. Saepe enim in hiemem revolvitur. Vis scire, quam dubium adhuc sit? Nondum me committo frigidae verae,2 adhuc rigorem eius infringo. "Hoc est," inquis, "nec calidum nec frigidum pati." Ita est, mi Lucili; iam aetas mea contenta est suo frigore. Vix media regelatur aestate.
To begin with common topics, spring has begun to open itself, but already about to incline towards summer, at which time it ought to be hot, it has only grown lukewarm, and as yet there is no trust in it. For it often rolls back into winter. Do you want to know how doubtful it still is? I do not yet commit myself to the genuine cold water; I still break its chill. “This is,” you say, “to endure neither heat nor cold.” So it is, my Lucilius; already my age is content with its own cold. It is scarcely warmed even in the middle of summer.
Itaque maior pars in vestimentis degitur. Ago gratias senectuti, quod me lectulo adfixit. Quidni gratias illi hoc nomine agam? Quicquid debebam nolle, non possum.3 Cum libellis mihi plurimus sermo est. Si quando intervenerunt epistulae tuae, tecum esse mihi videor et sic adficior animo, tamquam tibi non rescribam, sed respondeam, Itaque et de hoc, quod quaeris, quasi conloquar tecum, quale sit, una scrutabimur.
Therefore, the greater part of my time is spent in clothes. I give thanks to old age for having fastened me to my bed. Why should I not give thanks to it on this account? Whatever I ought to have been unwilling to do, I am unable to do. My most frequent conversation is with my books. If ever your letters interrupt, I seem to be with you, and I am so affected in mind as if I were not writing back to you, but answering you in person. Therefore, about this too which you ask, we shall investigate together what kind of thing it is, as if I were conversing with you.
Quaeris, an omne bonum optabile sit. "Si bonum est," inquis, "fortiter torqueri et magno animo uri et patienter aegrotare, sequitur, ut ista optabilia sint. Nihil autem video ex istis voto dignum. Neminem certe adhuc scio eo nomine votum solvisse, quod flagellis caesus esset aut podagra distortus aut eculeo longior factus."
You ask whether every good is desirable. “If it is a good,” you say, “to be tortured bravely, to be burned with a great mind, and to endure illness patiently, it follows that these things are desirable. But I see nothing among these worthy of a vow. Certainly, I know no one who has yet paid a vow on the ground that he was beaten with scourges, or distorted by gout, or made longer by the rack.”
Distingue, mi Lucili, ista, et intelleges esse in iis aliquid optandum. Tormenta abesse a me velim; sed si sustinenda fuerint, ut me in illis fortiter, honeste, animose geram,4 optabo, Quidni ego malim non incidere bellum? Sed si inciderit, ut vulnera, ut famem et omnia,quae bellorum necessitas adfert, generose feram, optabo. Non sum tam demens, ut aegrotare cupiam; sed si aegrotandum fuerit, ut nihil intemperanter, nihil effeminate faciam. optabo. Ita non incommoda optabilia sunt, sed virtus, qua perferantur incommoda.
Distinguish those things, my Lucilius, and you will understand that there is something to be desired in them. I should wish tortures to be away from me; but if they must be endured, I will wish that I conduct myself courageously, honorably, and spiritedly in them. Why should I not prefer not to fall into war? But if it happens, I will wish that I bear generously wounds, hunger, and everything that the necessity of wars brings. I am not so mad as to desire to be sick; but if I must be sick, I will wish that I do nothing intemperately, nothing effeminately. Thus, it is not the discomforts that are desirable, but the virtue by which the discomforts are endured.
Quidam ex nostris existimant omnium istorum fortem tolerantiam non esse optabilem, sed ne abominandam quidem, quia voto purum bonum peti debet et tranquillum et extra molestiam positum. Ego dissentio. Quare? Primum quia fieri non potest, ut aliqua res bona quidem sit, sed optabilis non sit. Deinde si virtus optabilis est, nullum autem sine virtute bonum est, omne bonum optabile est. Deinde etiam tormentorum fortis patientia optabilis est.
Some of our school think that the brave endurance of all these things is not desirable, but not even to be detested, because by a vow a pure good, tranquil and placed beyond trouble, ought to be sought. I dissent. Why? First, because it cannot happen that any thing is indeed good, but not desirable. Next, if virtue is desirable, and no good is without virtue, every good is desirable. Next, even the brave patience under tortures is desirable.
Etiamnunc interrogo: nempe fortitudo optabilis est? Atqui pericula contemnit et provocat. Pulcherrima pars eius maximeque mirabilis illa est, non cedere ignibus, obviam ire vulneribus, interdum tela ne vitare quidem, sed pectore excipere. Si fortitudo optabilis est, et tormenta patienter ferre optabile est; hoc enim fortitudinis pars est. Sed separa ista, ut dixi; nihil erit quod tibi faciat errorem. Non enim pati tormenta optabile est, sed pati fortiter. Illud opto "fortiter," quod est virtus.
Even now I ask: is courage indeed desirable? Yet it despises and provokes dangers. Its most beautiful and most admirable part is that which does not yield to fires, goes to meet wounds, and sometimes does not even avoid weapons, but receives them with the breast. If courage is desirable, then to bear tortures patiently is also desirable; for this is a part of courage. But separate those things, as I said; there will be nothing to cause you error. For it is not the enduring of tortures that is desirable, but the enduring of them bravely. I desire that “bravely,” which is virtue.
- 67.1inclinatura
While the subject ver (spring) is a neuter noun, the future active participle inclinatura is feminine singular. This may imply an understood feminine noun like tempestas (season/weather) or temperies (climate), or that ver is exceptionally treated as feminine. Some manuscripts and editions emend it to the neuter singular inclinaturum.
- 67.1frigidae verae
The feminine singular dative of the adjective frigidus (frigidae) is used substantively to mean frigida (aqua) (cold water, particularly for bathing). The accompanying verae (feminine singular dative of verus 'true') emphasizes that it refers to pure, unheated cold water.
- 67.2Quicquid debebam nolle, non possum
Literally, 'Whatever I ought to have been unwilling to do, I am unable to do.' Seneca paradoxically expresses the physical decline of old age as a benefit, because it deprives him of the very ability to indulge in desires or vices which he previously had to restrain himself from.
- 67.4ut me in illis fortiter, honeste, animose geram
This ut clause functions as a noun clause serving as the object of the verb optabo. The structure means 'if they must be endured, I will wish that I conduct myself courageously, honorably, and spiritedly in them,' showing that the object of desire is not the torture itself but one's virtuous attitude within it.