- 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-lat2:74.19-74.26
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Seneca emphasizes that reason is the only impregnable defense against fortune, arguing through the examples of losing friends or children that the loss of external goods does not diminish human virtue or happiness.
Ideo adhibebitur prudentia, quae modum illis aut parsimoniam imponat,1 quoniam quidem licentia opes suas praecipitat atque urget. Nec umquam inmodica durarunt, nisi illa moderatrix ratio conpescuit. Hoc multarum tibi urbium ostendet eventus, quarum in ipso flore luxuriosa imperia ceciderunt et quicquid virtute partum erat, intemperantia corruit. Adversus hos casus muniendi sumus. Nullus autem contra fortunam inexpugnabilis murus est; intus instruamur. Si illa pars tuta est, pulsari homo potest, capi non potest.
Therefore prudence will be applied, which may impose limit or thrift upon them, since indeed license ruins and drives headlong its own wealth. And never did immoderate things last, unless that governing reason restrained them. This the outcome of many cities will show to you, whose luxurious rules collapsed in their very flower, and whatever had been acquired by virtue fell through intemperance . We must be fortified against these falls. Moreover, there is no impregnable wall against fortune; let us be equipped within. If that part is safe, a man can be struck, he cannot be captured.
Quod sit hoc instrumentum, scire desideras? Nihil indignetur sibi accidere sciatque illa ipsa, quibus laedi videtur, ad conservationem universi pertinere et ex iis esse, quae cursum mundi officiumque consummant. Placeat homini, quicquid deo placuit; ob hoc ipsum se suaque miretur, quod non potest vinci, quod mala ipsa sub se tenet, quod ratione, qua valentius nihil est, casum doloremque et iniuriam subigit.
Do you desire to know what this equipment is? Let him feel no indignation that anything happens to him, and let him know that those very things by which he seems to be harmed belong to the preservation of the universe and are among those things which complete the course and duty of the world. Whatever has pleased God, let it please man; on account of this very thing let him admire himself and his own possessions—because he cannot be conquered, because he holds evils themselves under him, because by reason, than which nothing is more powerful, he subdues chance, pain, and injury.
Ama rationem! Huius te amor contra durissima armabit. Feras catulorum amor in venabula inpingit feritasque et inconsultus impetus praestat indomitas; iuvenilia nonnumquam ingenia cupido gloriae in contemptum tam ferri quam ignium misit; species quosdam atque umbra virtutis in mortem voluntariam trudit. Quanto his omnibus fortior ratio est, quanto constantior, tanto vehementius per metus ipsos et pericula exibit.2
Love reason! Love of this will arm you against the hardest things. Love for their young drives wild beasts onto the hunting-spears, and their wildness and unreflecting impulse makes them untamed; sometimes the desire for glory has thrown young minds into contempt of both iron and fires; the appearance and shadow of virtue pushes some into voluntary death. By how much reason is stronger than all these, by how much more steadfast, by so much more vehemently will it go forth through fears themselves and dangers.
"Nihil agitis," inquit, "quod negatis3 ullum esse aliud honesto bonum; non faciet vos haec munitio tutos a fortuna et inmunes. Dicitis enim inter bona esse liberos pios et bene moratam patriam et parentes bonos; horum pericula non potestis spectare securi. Perturbabit vos obsidio patriae, liberorum mors, parentum servitus."
”You accomplish nothing,” he says, “in denying that there is any other good than the honorable; this fortification will not make you safe and immune from fortune. For you say that among goods are dutiful children and a well-ordered country and good parents; you cannot look at their dangers untroubled. The siege of the country, the death of children, the slavery of parents will disturb you.”
Quid adversus hos pro nobis responderi soleat, ponam; deinde tunc adiciam, quid praeterea respondendum putem. Alia condicio est in iis, quae ablata in locum suum aliquid incommodi substituunt; tamquam bona valitudo vitiata in malam transfertur; acies oculorum exstincta caecitate nos adficit; non tantum velocitas perit poplitibus incisis, sed debilitas pro illa subit. Hoc non est periculum in iis, quae paulo ante rettulimus. Quare? Si amicum bonum amisi, non est mihi pro illo perfidia patienda, nec si bonos liberos extuli, in illorum locum impietas succedit.
I will set down what is usually answered on our behalf against these; then I will add what I think ought to be answered besides. The condition is different in those things which, when taken away, substitute something of inconvenience in their place; as good health, when impaired, is changed into bad; the eyesight, when extinguished, affects us with blindness; not only does speed perish when the hamstrings are cut, but weakness succeeds in its place. This is not the danger in those things which we reported a little before. Why? If I have lost a good friend, I do not have to endure faithlessness in his stead, nor, if I have buried good children, does impiety succeed in their place.
Deinde non amicorum illic aut liberorum interitus, sed corporum est. Bonum autem uno modo perit, si in malum transit; quod natura non patitur, quia omnis virtus et opus omne virtutis incorruptum manet. Deinde etiam si amici perierunt, etiam si probati respondentesque voto patris liberi, est quod illorum expleat locum. Quid sit quaeris? Quod illos quoque bonos fecerat, virtus.
Then, there is not the destruction of friends or children there, but of their bodies. But a good perishes in only one way, if it passes into an evil; which nature does not allow, because all virtue and every work of virtue remains uncorrupted. Then, even if friends have perished, even if children who were approved and responsive to their father’s wish, there is that which may fill their place. Do you ask what it is? Virtue, which had made them good also.
Haec nihil vacare patitur loci, totum animum tenet, desiderium omnium tollit; sola satis est, omnium enim bonorum vis et origo in ipsa est. Quid refert, an aqua decurrens intercipiatur atque abeat, si fons, ex quo fluxerat, salvus est? Non dices vitam iustiorem salvis liberis quam amissis nec ordinatiorem nec prudentiorem nec honestiorem; ergo ne meliorem quidem. Non facit adiectio amicorum sapientiorem, non facit stultiorem detractio, ergo nec beatiorem aut miseriorem. Quamdiu virtus salva fuerit, non senties, quidquid abscesserit. "
This allows no place to be empty, holds the whole mind, takes away the longing for all things; she alone is enough, for the power and origin of all goods is in her. What does it matter whether the running water is intercepted and departs, if the fountain from which it had flowed is safe? You will not say that life is more just with children safe than lost, nor more orderly, nor more prudent, nor more honorable; therefore not even better. The addition of friends does not make a man wiser, the taking away does not make him more foolish, therefore neither happier nor more miserable. As long as virtue is safe, you will not feel whatever has departed.”
Quid ergo? Non est beatior et amicorum et liberorum turba succinctus?" Quidni non sit?4 Summum enim bonum nec infringitur nec augetur; in suo modo permanet, utcumque fortuna se gessit. Sive illi senectus longa contigit sive citra senectutem finitus est, eadem mensura summi boni est, quamvis aetatis diversa sit.
”What then? Is he not happier who is surrounded by a crowd of both friends and children?” Why should he not be [no happier]? For the supreme good is neither diminished nor increased; it remains in its own measure, however fortune has conducted itself. Whether a long old age fell to his lot or he was finished short of old age, the measure of the supreme good is the same, although that of his age is different.
- 74.19quae modum illis aut parsimoniam imponat
The relative pronoun quae refers back to the antecedent prudentia and introduces a relative clause of purpose or characteristic with the subjunctive verb imponat. illis is a dative referring to the external goods mentioned in the previous section.
- 74.21Quanto his omnibus fortior ratio est... tanto vehementius... exibit
A correlative comparison structure "by how much... by so much..." (quanto... tanto...). his omnibus is an ablative of comparison referring to the animal love, young desire for glory, and the shadow of virtue mentioned just before.
- 74.22Nihil agitis ... quod negatis
The clause introduced by quod explains or gives the ground/means of the main clause nihil agitis ("you accomplish nothing by denying...").
- 74.26Quidni non sit?
A rhetorical question. The combination of quidni ("why not?") and non forms a double negation meaning "Why indeed should he not be [no happier]?", conveying a strong Stoic assertion that such a person is indeed not any happier.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)
- 2026-09-22 AI review — source 1