- 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-lat2:79.10-79.18
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
Seneca urges Lucilius to pursue the true virtue that elevates the soul, rather than focusing solely on physical phenomena like Etna. He explains that glory is merely the shadow of virtue, and that even wise men ignored in life will inevitably receive recognition after death.
An Aetna tua possit sublabi et in se ruere, an hoc excelsum cacumen et conspicuum per vasti maris spatia detrahat adsidua vis ignium, nescio; virtutem non flamma, non ruina inferius adducet. Haec una maiestas deprimi nescit. Nec proferri ultra nec referri potest. Sic huius, ut caelestium, stata magnitudo est. Ad hanc nos conemur educere.
Whether your Etna can sink and fall in upon itself, or whether the continuous force of fires drags down this high peak, visible through the spaces of the vast sea, I do not know; virtue neither flame nor ruin will bring down lower. This unique majesty does not know how to be depressed. It can neither be advanced further nor drawn back. Thus the magnitude of this, as of heavenly bodies, is fixed. Let us strive to raise ourselves to this.
Iam multum operis effecti est; immo, si verum fateri volo, non multum. Nec enim bonitas est pessimis esse meliorem.1 Quis oculis glorietur, qui suspicetur diem? Cui sol per caliginem splendet, licet contentus interim sit effugisse tenebras, adhuc non fruitur bono lucis.
Already much of the work has been accomplished; rather, if I want to confess the truth, not much. For it is not goodness to be better than the worst. Who would boast of his eyes, who only suspects the day? He for whom the sun shines through a mist, although he may meanwhile be content to have escaped the darkness, does not yet enjoy the benefit of light.
Tunc animus noster habebit, quod gratuletur sibi, cum emissus his tenebris, in quibus volutatur, non tenui visu2 clara prospexerit, sed totum diem admiserit et redditus caelo suo fuerit, cum receperit locum, quem occupavit sorte nascendi. Sursum illum vocant initia sua. Erit autem illic etiam antequam hac custodia exsolvatur, cum vitia disiecerit purusque ac levis in cogitationes divinas emicuerit.
Then our soul will have reason to congratulate itself, when, released from this darkness in which it wallows, it looks forth upon bright things not with feeble vision, but has admitted the whole day and has been restored to its own heaven, when it has recovered the place which it occupied by the lot of its birth. Its origins call it upward. Moreover, it will be there even before it is released from this custody, when it has dispersed its vices and, pure and light, has leaped forth into divine thoughts.
Hoc nos agere, Lucili carissime, in hoc ire impetu toto, licet pauci sciant, licet nemo, iuvat.3 Gloria umbra virtutis est; etiam invitam comitabitur. Sed quemadmodum umbra aliquando antecedit, aliquando sequitur vel a tergo est, ita gloria aliquando ante nos est visendamque se praebet, aliquando in averso est maiorque quo serior, ubi invidia secessit.
To do this, my dearest Lucilius, to go into this with our whole force, even if few know it, even if no one knows, is a joy. Glory is the shadow of virtue; it will accompany it even against its will. But just as a shadow sometimes goes before, sometimes follows or is behind, so glory is sometimes ahead of us and offers itself to be seen, sometimes is in the rear, and is greater the later it comes, when envy has departed.
Quamdiu videbatur furere Democritus! Vix recepit Socraten fama. Quamdiu Catonem civitas ignoravit! Respuit nec intellexit, nisi cum perdidit. Rutili innocentia ac virtus lateret, nisi accepisset iniuriam; dum violatum effulsit. Numquid non sorti suae gratias egit et exilium suum complexus est? De his loquor, quos inlustravit fortuna, dum vexat; quam multorum profectus in notitiam evasere post ipsos! Quam multos fama non excepit, sed eruit!
How long did Democritus seem to be mad! Fame scarcely received Socrates. How long did the state ignore Cato! It rejected him and did not understand him until it lost him. The innocence and virtue of Rutilius would lie hidden unless he had received injustice; while violated it shone forth. Did he not give thanks to his lot and embrace his exile? I speak of these whom fortune made illustrious while vexing them; how many people’s progress escaped into knowledge after themselves! How many did fame not receive, but dig out!
Vides Epicurum quantopere non tantum eruditiores, sed haec quoque imperitorum turba miretur. Hic ignotus ipsis Athenis fuit, circa quas delituerat. Multis itaque iam annis Metrodoro suo superstes in quadam epistula, cum amicitiam suam et Metrodori grata commemoratione cecinisset, hoc novissime adiecit, nihil sibi et Metrodoro inter bona tanta nocuisse, quod ipsos illa nobilis Graecia4 non ignotos solum habuisset, sed paene inauditos.
You see how much Epicurus is admired, not only by the more learned, but also by this crowd of unlearned people. He was unknown in Athens itself, around which he had hidden himself. Therefore, having survived his Metrodorus by many years already, in a certain letter, when he had sung of his own friendship and that of Metrodorus with a grateful remembrance, he added this at the very end: that it had not harmed him and Metrodorus at all, among so many goods, that that noble Greece had held them not only unknown, but almost unheard of.
Numquid ergo non postea quam esse desierat, inventus est? Numquid non opinio eius enituit? Hoc Metrodorus quoque in quadam epistula confitetur, se et Epicurum non satis enotuisse; sed post se et Epicurum magnum paratumque nomen habituros, qui voluissent per eadem ire vestigia.
Was he not found, then, after he had ceased to exist? Did not his reputation shine forth? Metrodorus also confesses this in a certain letter , that he and Epicurus were not well enough known; but that after himself and Epicurus, those who wished to go through the same footsteps would have a great and ready-made name.
Nulla virtus latet, et latuisse non ipsius est damnum. Veniet qui conditam et saeculi sui malignitate conpressam dies publicet. Paucis natus est, qui populum aetatis suae cogitat. Multa annorum milia, multa populorum supervenient; ad illa respice. Etiam si omnibus tecum viventibus silentium livor indixerit, venient qui sine offensa, sine gratia iudicent. Si quod est pretium virtutis ex fama, nec hoc interit. Ad nos quidem nihil pertinebit posterorum sermo; tamen etiam non sentientes colet ac frequentabit.
No virtue lies hidden, and to have been hidden is not a loss to itself. A day will come which will publish what has been concealed and compressed by the malice of its age. He is born for a few, who thinks of the people of his own generation. Many thousands of years, many peoples will follow; look to those. Even if envy has decreed silence to all who live with you, there will come those who judge without offense, without favor. If there is any reward for virtue from fame, even this does not perish. To us indeed the talk of posterity will not pertain at all; yet it will respect and frequent us even though we do not feel it.
Nulli non virtus et vivo et mortuo rettulit gratiam, si modo illam bona secutus est fide, si se non exornavit et pinxit, sed idem fuit, sive ex denuntiato videbatur, sive inparatus ac subito. Nihil simulatio proficit. Paucis inponit leviter extrinsecus inducta facies; veritas in omnem partem sui eadem est. Quae decipiunt, nihil habent solidi. Tenue est mendacium; perlucet, si diligenter inspexeris. VALE.
Virtue has returned favor to no one without doing so both to the living and to the dead, if only he followed it in good faith, if he did not adorn and paint himself, but was the same, whether he was seen on announcement, or unprepared and suddenly. Pretence profits nothing. A face lightly laid on from the outside imposes upon few; truth is the same in every part of itself. Things that deceive have nothing solid. A lie is thin; it is transparent if you examine it diligently. FAREWELL.
- 79.11pessimis esse meliorem
The subject of the infinitive esse is an omitted general accusative, which is why the complement meliorem is also in the accusative. pessimis is an ablative of comparison ('better than the worst').
- 79.12tenui visu
Ablative of instrument or manner ('with weak sight' or 'with feeble vision'), modifying prospexerit, which takes the neuter plural accusative clara ('clear/bright things') as its object.
- 79.13Hoc nos agere... iuvat
The accusative-with-infinitive phrases Hoc nos agere and in hoc ire impetu toto serve as the coordinate subjects of the impersonal verb iuvat ('it pleases/delights').
- 79.15quod ipsos illa nobilis Graecia...
The conjunction quod introduces a noun clause explaining the fact ('the fact that...'), which serves as the real subject or explanation for nihil ... nocuisse ('did not harm them at all').