- 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-lat2:93.7-93.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Seneca emphasizes that the perfection of life is determined by the quality of living and the attainment of wisdom rather than its length, advocating for a noble acceptance of inevitable death.
Habeo meum. Quemadmodum in minore corporis habitu potest homo esse perfectus, sic et in minore temporis modo potest vita esse perfecta. Aetas inter externa est. Quamdiu sim, alienum est; quamdiu ero, ut sim,1 meum est. Hoc a me exige, ne velut per tenebras aevum ignobile emetiar, ut agam vitam, non ut praetervehar, Quaeris quod sit amplissimum vitae spatium? Usque ad sapientiam vivere. Qui ad illam pervenit, attigit non longissimum finem, sed maximum. Ille vero glorietur audacter et dis agat gratias interque eos sibi, et rerum naturae inputet, quod fuit. Merito enim inputabit; meliorem illi vitam reddidit quam accepit. Exemplar boni viri posuit, qualis quantusque esset ostendit. Si quid adiecisset, fuisset simile praeterito.
I have what is mine. Just as a human being can be perfect in a smaller bodily stature, so also a life can be perfect in a smaller measure of time. Age is among external things. How long I exist is someone else’s affair; as long as I shall exist, how I exist is my own. Demand this of me, that I do not measure out an inglorious age as if through darkness, so that I may live life, not just drift through it. Do you ask what is the greatest span of life? To live up to wisdom. He who has reached it has touched not the longest limit, but the greatest. He indeed may boast boldly and give thanks to the gods, and among them to himself, and attribute to the nature of things that he existed. For he will attribute it with merit; he has returned to nature a better life than he received. He set up an exemplar of a good man, and showed what sort of person and how great he was. If he had added anything, it would have been similar to the past.
Et tamen quo usque vivimus? Omnium rerum cognitione fruiti sumus. Scimus a quibus principiis natura se adtollat, quemadmodum ordinet mundum, per quas annum vices revocet, quemadmodum omnia, quae usquam erant, cluserit et se ipsam finem sui fecerit. Scimus sidera impetu suo vadere, praeter terram nihil stare, cetera continua velocitate decurrere. Scimus quemadmodum solem luna praetereat, quare tardior velociorem post se relinquat, quomodo lumen accipiat aut perdat, quae causa inducat noctem, quae reducat diem. Illuc eundum est, ubi ista propius aspicias. "
And yet, how far do we live? We have enjoyed the knowledge of all things. We know from what principles nature raises herself, how she orders the universe, by what alternations she recalls the year, how she has closed all things that ever existed anywhere and made herself her own end. We know that the stars go by their own impulse, that nothing stands still except the earth, and that the rest run down with continuous speed. We know how the moon passes the sun, why the slower leaves the swifter behind, how she receives or loses light, what cause brings on the night and what brings back the day. We must go thither, where you may behold these things more closely.
Nec hac spe," inquit sapiens ille, "fortius exeo, quod patere mihi ad deos meos iter iudico. Merui quidem admitti et iam inter illos fui animumque illo meum misi et ad me illi suum miserant. Sed tolli me de medio puta et post mortem nihil ex homine restare; aeque magnum animum habeo, etiam si nusquam transiturus2 excedo."
”Nor do I depart more bravely,” says that wise man, “because of this hope, that I judge the path to my gods lies open to me. Indeed, I have deserved to be admitted and have already been among them, and I sent my mind thither and they had sent theirs to me. But suppose I am removed from the midst, and nothing remains of a human being after death; I have an equally great mind, even if I depart intending to go nowhere.”
"Non tam multis vixit annis quam potuit." Et paucorum versuum liber est et quidem laudandus atque utilis; annales Tanusii scis quam ponderosi sint et quid vocentur.3 Hoc est vita quorumdam longa, et quod Tanusii sequitur annales.
”He did not live as many years as he could have.” A book of even a few lines exists and is indeed to be praised and useful; you know how heavy the annals of Tanusius are and what they are called. Such is the long life of some, and like what follows the annals of Tanusius.
Numquid feliciorem iudicas eum, qui summo die muneris, quam eum, qui medio occiditur? Numquid aliquem tam stulte cupidum esse vitae putas, ut iugulari in spoliario4 quam in harena malit? Non maiore spatio alter alterum praecedimus. Mors per omnes it; qui occidit, consequitur occisum. Minimum est, de quo sollicitissime agitur. Quid autem ad rem pertinet, quam diu vites, quod evitare non possis? Vale.
Do you judge him to be happier who is slain on the last day of the games, than him who is slain in the middle? Do you think anyone is so foolishly desirous of life that he would rather have his throat cut in the stripping-room than in the arena? We do not precede one another by any larger interval. Death goes through all; he who slays follows the slain. It is a mere trifle about which we are most anxiously concerned. What difference does it make, moreover, how long you avoid what you cannot escape? Farewell.
- 93.7ut sim
Here ut functions as a modal adverb ('how' or 'in what manner'), and ut sim forms a noun clause. In contrast with the preceding quamdiu ero ('as long as I shall exist'), it emphasizes that the quality or manner of existence (ut), rather than its duration (quamdiu), is within one's own control (meum).
- 93.10nusquam transiturus
The future active participle transiturus expresses intention or destiny ('about to migrate' or 'destined to go to another place'). It stresses that the greatness of the wise man's mind remains undiminished regardless of the philosophical question of the soul's survival after death.
- 93.11quid vocentur
This refers to the historical anecdote where the annals of Tanusius Geminus, much like the 'Annals of Volusius' in Catullus (Poem 36), were colloquially dubbed 'shitty sheets' (cacata carta) due to their tediousness and immense bulk. Seneca uses this as a metaphor for a long but hollow life.
- 93.12spoliario
The spoliarium was the chamber adjacent to the arena (harena) where dead or mortally wounded gladiators were stripped of their armor and clothing, and where their throats were cut if they were still alive. Seneca contrasts a spectacular death in the spotlight with a miserable end in this dark backroom.