- 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-lat2:94.64-94.74
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Analyzing the cases of Pompey, Caesar, and Marius to show how ambition drove them to self-destruction, the author argues that to cure our vices, we must withdraw from the public gaze and return to nature and self-reflection.
Ne Gnaeo quidem Pompeio externa bella ac domestica virtus aut ratio suadebat,1 sed insanus amor magnitudinis falsae. Modo in Hispaniam et Sertoriana arma, modo ad colligandos piratas ac maria pacanda vadebat.
Not even to Gnaeus Pompey did foreign and domestic wars recommend virtue or reason, but an insane love of false greatness. At one time he went to Spain and the Sertorian arms, at another to collect pirates and pacify the seas.
Hae praetexebantur causae ad continuandam potentiam. Quid illum in Africam, quid in septentrionem, quid in Mithridaten et Armeniam et omnis Asiae angulos traxit? Infinita scilicet cupido crescendi, cum sibi uni parum magnus videretur. Quid C. Caesarem in sua fata pariter ac publica inmisit? Gloria et ambitio et nullus supra ceteros eminendi modus.
These causes were pretended in order to continue his power. What dragged him into Africa, what into the north, what into Mithridates and Armenia and every corner of Asia? Surely an infinite desire of growing, when he seemed to himself alone not great enough. What sent Gaius Caesar into his own fate as well as that of the public? Glory and ambition and no limit of rising above the rest.
Unum ante se ferre non potuit, cum res publica supra se duos ferret. Quid, tu C. Marium semel consulem—unum enim consulatum accepit, ceteros rapuit—cum Teutonos Cimbrosque concideret, cum Iugurtham per Africae deserta sequeretur, tot pericula putas adpetisse virtutis instinctu? Marius exercitus, Marium ambitio ducebat.
He could not bear one before him, though the republic bore the two of them above itself. Why, do you think Gaius Marius—for he received only one consulship, and snatched the rest—when he slaughtered the Teutones and Cimbri, when he followed Jugurtha through the deserts of Africa, sought so many dangers by the instinct of virtue? Marius led armies, ambition led Marius.
Isti cum omnia concuterent, concutiebantur turbinum more, qui rapta convolvunt, sed ipsi ante volvuntur et ob hoc maiore impetu incurrunt, quia nullum illis sui regimen est2 ideoque cum multis fuerunt malo, pestiferam illam vim, qua plerisque nocuerunt, ipsi quoque sentiunt. Non est quod credas quemquam fieri aliena infelicitate felicem.
These men, while they shook all things, were shaken themselves in the manner of whirlwinds, which roll together what they have snatched, but themselves are rolled first, and for this reason run on with greater force, because there is no self-control for them, and therefore they have been a mischief to many; that pestilential force, by which they harmed most people, they themselves also feel. There is no reason why you should believe anyone is made happy by another’s unhappiness.
Omnia ista exempla, quae oculis atque auribus nostris ingeruntur, retexenda sunt et plenum malis sermonibus pectus exhauriendum. Inducenda in occupatum locum virtus, quae mendacia et contra verum placentia exstirpet, quae nos a populo, cui nimis credimus, separet ac sinceris opinionibus reddat. Hoc est enim sapientia, in naturam converti et eo restitui, unde publicus error expulerit.
All those examples which are forced upon our eyes and ears must be unraveled, and the breast full of evil rumors must be emptied. Virtue must be introduced into the occupied place, to root out lies and things pleasing contrary to the truth, to separate us from the crowd in whom we trust too much, and to restore us to sincere opinions. For this is wisdom: to turn back to nature and to be restored there, from where public error has driven us out.
Magna pars sanitatis est hortatores insaniae reliquisse et ex isto coitu invicem noxio procul abisse. Hoc ut esse verum scias, aspice, quanto aliter unusquisque populo vivat, aliter sibi. Non est per se magistra innocentiae solitudo nec frugalitatem docent rura, sed ubi testis ac spectator abscessit, vitia subsidunt, quorum monstrari et conspici fructus est.
A great part of sanity is to have left behind the encouragers of madness and to have gone far away from that mutually harmful association. That you may know this to be true, see how differently everyone lives to the crowd, and how differently to himself. Solitude is not by itself a teacher of innocence, nor does the countryside teach frugality, but when the witness and spectator has departed, vices subside, of which to be shown and seen is the fruit.
Quis eam, quam nulli ostenderet, induit purpuram? Quis posuit secretam in auro dapem? Quis sub alicuius arboris rusticae proiectus umbra luxuriae suae pompam solus explicuit? Nemo oculis suis lautus est, ne paucorum quidem aut familiarium,-sed apparatum vitiorum suorum pro modo turbae spectantis expandit.
Who wears that purple which he would show to no one? Who places a secret feast in gold? Who, cast down under the shade of some rustic tree, has displayed alone the pomp of his luxury? No one is elegant only for his own eyes, nor even for those of a few or of his family, but he spreads out the apparatus of his vices according to the measure of the spectating crowd.
Ita est: inritamentum est omnium, in quae insanimus, admirator et conscius. Ne concupiscamus efficies, si ne ostendamus effeceris.3 Ambitio et luxuria et inpotentia scaenam desiderant: sanabis ista, si absconderis.
So it is: the admirer and the witness is the irritant of all things in which we are mad. You will bring it about that we do not desire, if you bring it about that we do not show. Ambition and luxury and lack of self-control desire a stage: you will cure these things if you hide them.
Itaque si in medio urbium fremitu conlocati sumus, stet ad latus monitor et contra laudatores ingentium patrimoniorum laudet parvo divitem et usu opes metientem. Contra illos, qui gratiam ac potentiam attollunt, otium ipse suspiciat traditum litteris et animum ab externis ad sua reversum.
Therefore, if we are placed in the midst of the roar of cities, let a monitor stand at our side, and against the praisers of huge patrimonies, let him praise the man rich with a little and measuring wealth by its use. Against those who lift up influence and power, let him respect leisure devoted to letters and the mind returned from external things to its own.
Ostendat ex constitutione vulgi beatos in illo invidioso fastigio suo trementes et adtonitos longeque aliam de se opinionem habentes quam ab aliis habetur. Nam quae aliis excelsa videntur, ipsis praerupta sunt. Itaque exanimantur et trepidant, quotiens despexerunt in illud magnitudinis suae praeceps. Cogitant enim varios casus et in sublimi maxime lubricos.
Let him show those who are happy by the judgment of the crowd trembling and astonished on that enviable summit of theirs, and having a far different opinion of themselves than is held by others. For what seems lofty to others is steep to themselves. Therefore they are breathless and tremble as often as they have looked down into that precipice of their greatness. For they think of various downfalls, and especially slippery ones on high.
Tunc adpetita formidant et quae illos graves aliis reddit, gravior ipsis felicitas incubat. Tunc laudant otium lene et sui iuris, odio est fulgor4 et fuga a rebus adhuc stantibus quaeritur. Tunc demum videas philosophantis metu et aegrae fortunae sana consilia. Nam quasi ista inter se contraria sint, bona fortuna et mens bona, ita melius in malis sapimus; secunda rectum auferunt. Vale.
Then they dread what they sought, and that happiness which makes them heavy to others broods heavier upon themselves. Then they praise gentle leisure that is under its own law; brightness is an object of hatred, and flight is sought from things still standing. Then at last you may see the wholesome plans of one philosophizing from fear and in a sick fortune. For as if those things were contrary to each other, good fortune and a good mind, so we are wiser in evils; prosperous things take away what is right. Farewell.
- 94.64externa bella ac domestica virtus aut ratio suadebat
The accusative externa bella ac domestica (foreign and domestic wars) is the direct object of suadebat, while virtus aut ratio (virtue or reason) is the subject. Although the word order might tempt one to read the wars as the subject, the context demands this interpretation to establish the contrast with "an insane love of false greatness" as the true instigator of Pompey's campaigns.
- 94.67nullum illis sui regimen est
illis is a dative of possession ("they have no..."), and sui is the genitive of the reflexive pronoun se, functioning as an objective genitive with the noun regimen ("control of themselves").
- 94.71Ne concupiscamus efficies, si ne ostendamus effeceris
This sentence employs the construction of efficio with a ne clause acting as a noun clause object ("to bring it about that... not"). ne concupiscamus and ne ostendamus are the objects of efficies and effeceris respectively. The future perfect effeceris in the protasis and the future efficies in the apodosis express a logical sequence of cause and effect: "if you have brought it about that we do not show, you will bring it about that we do not desire."
- 94.74odio est fulgor
odio is a dative of purpose or result ("serves as an object of hatred") and fulgor (brightness, splendor) is the subject. This predicative use of the dative characterizes the result or state of the subject.