- 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-lat2:84.1-84.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
Seneca explains how his journeys benefit both his health and studies, emphasizing the need to balance reading with writing. He urges the imitation of bees, who gather from various flowers but transform what they collect into a single flavor, just as our bodies digest food to nourish ourselves, transforming external knowledge into our own.
Itinera ista, quae segnitiam mihi excutiunt, et valitudini meae prodesse iudico et studiis. Quare valitudinem adiuvent, vides: cum pigrum me et neglegentem corporis litterarum amor faciat, aliena opera1 exerceor; studio quare prosint, indicabo: a lectionibus nihil recessi. Sunt autem, ut existimo, necessariae, primum ne sim me uno contentus; deinde ut, cum ab aliis quaesita cognovero, tum et de inventis iudicem et cogitem de inveniendis. Alit lectio ingenium et studio fatigatum, non sine studio tamen, reficit.
These journeys of mine, which shake off my laziness, I judge to be beneficial both to my health and to my studies. Why they help my health, you see: since the love of letters makes me lazy and neglectful of my body, I am exercised by the labour of others; how they benefit my study, I will explain: I have in no way retreated from my readings. Moreover, they are, as I think, necessary, first so that I may not be content with myself alone; next, so that when I have come to know what has been sought by others, then I may both judge of what has been found and think about what is to be found. Reading nourishes the intellect and refreshes it when fatigued by study, yet not without study.
Nec scribere tantum nec tantum legere debemus; altera res contristabit vires et exhauriet, de stilo dico, altera solvet ac diluet. Invicem hoc et illo commeandum est et alterum altero temperandum, ut quicquid lectione collectum est, stilus redigat in corpus.
We ought neither to write only nor to read only; the one thing will depress and exhaust our strength—I mean the pen—the other will relax and dilute it. We must go back and forth between this and that, and temper the one with the other, so that whatever has been gathered by reading, the pen may reduce into a body.
Apes, ut aiunt, debemus imitari, quae vagantur et flores ad mel faciendum idoneos carpunt, deinde quicquid attulere, disponunt ac per favos digerunt et, ut Vergilius noster ait, liquentia mella Stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas.
We ought, as they say, to imitate the bees, which wander and pluck flowers suitable for making honey, then arrange whatever they have brought and distribute it through the honeycombs, and, as our Vergil says, ”pack close the flowing honey and stretch the cells with sweet nectar.”
De illis non satis constat, utrum sucum ex floribus ducant, qui protinus mel sit, an quae collegerunt, in hunc saporem mixtura quadam et proprietate spiritus sui mutent. Quibusdam enim placet non faciendi mellis scientiam esse illis, sed colligendi. Aiunt inveniri apud Indos mel in arundinum foliis, quod aut ros illius caeli aut ipsius arundinis umor dulcis et pinguior gignat. In nostris quoque herbis vim eandem, sed minus manifestam et notabilem poni,2 quam persequatur et contrahat animal huic rei genitum. Quidam existimant conditura et dispositione in hanc qualitatem verti, quae ex tenerrimis virentium florentiumque decerpserint, non sine quodam, ut ita dicam, fermento, quo in unum diversa coalescunt.
Regarding them, it is not sufficiently agreed whether they draw from the flowers a juice which is immediately honey, or whether they change what they have gathered into this flavor by a certain mixture and the property of their own breath. For some believe that they do not have the science of making honey, but of collecting it. They say that among the Indians honey is found on the leaves of reeds, which either the dew of that sky or the sweet and richer moisture of the reed itself produces. That in our plants also the same power is placed, but less manifest and noticeable, which the animal born for this thing pursues and contracts. Some think that by seasoning and arrangement, those things which they have plucked from the tenderest parts of green and blooming plants are turned into this quality, not without a certain ferment, so to speak, by which diverse things coalesce into one.
Sed ne ad aliud quam de quo agitur abducar, nos quoque has apes debemus imitari et quaecumque ex diversa lectione congessimus, separare, melius enim distincta servantur, deinde adhibita ingenii nostri cura et facultate in unum saporem varia illa libamenta confundere, ut etiam si apparuerit, unde sumptum sit, aliud tamen esse quam unde sumptum est, appareat. Quod in corpore nostro videmus sine ulla opera nostra facere naturam:
But lest I be led away to something other than what is being discussed, we also ought to imitate these bees and separate whatever we have gathered from diverse reading (for things kept distinct are better preserved), then, applying the care and faculty of our intellect, blend those various libations into one flavor, so that even if it is apparent from where it was taken, it may nevertheless appear to be something other than that from which it was taken. Which thing we see nature do in our body without any effort of ours:
alimenta, quae accepimus, quamdiu in sua qualitate perdurant et solida innatant stomacho, onera sunt; at cum ex eo, quod erant, mutata sunt, tum demum in vires et in sanguinem transeunt. Idem in his, quibus aluntur ingenia, praestemus, ut quaecumque hausimus, non patiantur3 integra esse, ne aliena sint.
the food which we have received, as long as it remains in its own quality and floats solid in the stomach, is a burden; but when they have been changed from what they were, then at last they pass into strength and into blood. Let us perform the same in those things by which intellects are nourished, so that whatever we have drawn in, they may not allow to remain whole, lest they be alien.
- 84.1aliena opera
Ablative of means/cause. It refers to Seneca being shaken by the movement of a carriage or litter. Although he does not move by himself, he is passively exercised through the physical labor of others ("by the work of others").
- 84.4In nostris quoque herbis vim eandem, sed minus manifestam et notabilem poni
Accusative with infinitive clause (accusative subject "vim eandem" and infinitive "poni"). The indirect statement introduced by the verb "aiunt" (they say) in the preceding sentence continues into this sentence across the period.
- 84.6non patiantur
Third-person plural present subjunctive. Taking the things represented by the relative pronoun "quaecumque" (the knowledge we have absorbed) as the subject, it expresses the wish or purpose that "they should not allow themselves to remain intact (integra)."