The Purpose of Life, Worship of Gods, and Fellow Feeling — Seneca the Younger, Moral Letters to Lucilius 95.46–95.55, Latin & English

§95.46

Vita sine proposito vaga est: quod si utique proponendum est, incipiunt necessaria esse decreta. Illud, ut puto, concedes, nihil esse turpius dubio et incerto ac timide pedem referente.¹ Hoc in omnibus rebus accidet nobis, nisi eximuntur, quae reprendunt animos et detinent et periclitari conarique totos vetant.

Life without a purpose is wandering; but if a purpose must indeed be set up, decrees begin to be necessary. You will grant, I think, that nothing is more shameful than one who is hesitant, uncertain, and timidly drawing back his foot. This will happen to us in all things, unless those things are removed which hold back our minds and detain them and forbid us from risking ourselves and striving with our whole being.

§95.47

Quomodo sint di colendi, solet praecipi. Accendere aliquem lucernas sabbatis prohibeamus, quoniam nec lumine di egent et ne homines quidem delectantur fuligine, vetemus salutationibus matutinis fungi et foribus adsidere templorum; humana ambitio istis officiis capitur, deum colit qui novit, vetemus lintea et strigiles Iovi ferre et speculum tenere Iunoni; non quaerit ministros deus. Quidni? Ipse humano generi ministrat, ubique et omnibus praesto est.

It is customary to give precepts on how the gods are to be worshipped. Let us forbid anyone to light lamps on the Sabbath, since the gods do not need light, and not even humans delight in soot; let us forbid performing morning salutations and sitting at the doors of temples; human ambition is caught by such offices; he worships God who knows Him; let us forbid bringing linen cloths and strigils to Jupiter and holding a mirror for Juno; God does not seek attendants. Why should He? He Himself ministers to the human race; He is present everywhere and to all.

§95.48

Audiat licet, quem modum servare in sacrificiis debeat, quam procul resilire a molestis superstitionibus, numquam satis profectum erit, nisi qualem debet deum mente conceperit, omnia habentem, omnia tribuentem, beneficum gratis. Quae causa est dis bene faciendi?

Granted that one may hear what limit he ought to keep in sacrifices, how far he should leap back from troublesome superstitions, there will never be enough progress unless he has conceived in his mind God as He ought to be: possessing all things, bestowing all things, beneficent without reward. What is the cause for the gods doing good?

§95.49

Natura. Errat, si quis illos putat nocere nolle; non possunt. Nec accipere iniuriam queunt nec facere; laedere etenim laedique coniunctum est. Summa illa ac pulcherrima omnium natura quos periculo exemit, ne periculosos quidem fecit.

Their nature. He errs who thinks that they are unwilling to do harm; they are unable to do so. They can neither receive an injury nor inflict one; for injuring and being injured are linked together. That supreme and most beautiful nature of all, which has exempted them from danger, has not even made them dangerous.

§95.50

Primus est deorum cultus deos credere; deinde reddere illis maiestatem suam, reddere bonitatem, sine qua nulla maiestas est. Scire illos esse, qui praesident mundo, qui universa vi sua temperant, qui humani generis tutelam gerunt interdum incuriosi singulorum. Hi nec dant malum nec habent; ceterum castigant quosdam et coercent et inrogant poenas et aliquando specie boni puniunt. vis deos propitiare? Bonus esto. Satis illos coluit, quisquis imitatus est.

The first worship of the gods is to believe in the gods; then to attribute to them their majesty, to attribute to them their goodness, without which there is no majesty. It is to know that they are the ones who preside over the world, who regulate the universe by their power, who exercise guardianship over the human race, though at times unconcerned with individuals. These neither give evil nor possess it; yet they chastise certain people, restrain them, impose penalties, and sometimes punish under the appearance of good. Do you wish to propitiate the gods? Be good. Whoever has imitated them has worshipped them sufficiently.

§95.51

Ecce altera quaestio, quomodo hominibus sit utendum. Quid agimus? Quae damus praecepta? Ut pareamus sanguini humano? Quantulum est ei non nocere, cui debeas prodesse!² Magna scilicet laus est, si homo mansuetus homini est. Praecipiemus, ut naufrago manum porrigat, erranti viam monstret, cum esuriente panem suum dividat? Quando omnia, quae praestanda ac vitanda sunt, dicam, cum possim breviter hanc illi formulam humani officii tradere: omne hoc, quod vides, quo divina atque humana conclusa sunt, unum est; membra sumus corporis magni.

Behold, another question: how we ought to treat human beings. What are we doing? What precepts do we give? That we should spare human blood? How small a thing it is not to harm one whom you ought to benefit! It is indeed a great praise if a human being is gentle to a human being! Shall we prescribe that he stretch out a hand to the shipwrecked, show the way to the wanderer, divide his bread with the hungry? When shall I say all things that are to be performed and avoided, when I can briefly hand down to him this formula of human duty: “all this which you see, in which divine and human things are enclosed, is one; we are members of a great body.”

§95.52

Natura nos cognatos edidit, cum ex isdem et in eadem gigneret. Haec nobis amorem indidit mutuum et sociabiles fecit. Illa aequum iustumque composuit; ex illius constitutione miserius est nocere quam laedi. Ex illius imperio paratae sint iuvandis manus.

Nature produced us as kinsmen, since she begot us from the same things and for the same ends. She implanted in us mutual love and made us sociable. She established equity and justice; according to her constitution, it is more wretched to do harm than to suffer it. By her command, let our hands be ready for those who need help.

§95.53

Ille versus et in pectore et in ore sit: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto." Habeamus in commune; nati sumus. Societas nostra lapidum fornicationi simillima est, quae casura, nisi in vicem obstarent,³ hoc ipso sustinetur.

Let that verse be both in our heart and on our lips: “I am a human being, I think nothing human is foreign to me.” Let us hold things in common; we were born for this. Our society is very like an arch of stones, which, destined to fall unless they opposed each other, is supported by this very fact.

§95.54

Post deos hominesque dispiciamus, quomodo rebus sit utendum. In supervacuum praecepta iactavimus, nisi illud praecesserit, qualem de quacumque re habere debeamus opinionem, de paupertate de divitiis, de gloria de ignominia, de patria de exilio. Aestimemus singula fama remota et quaeramus, quid sint, non quid vocentur.

After gods and men, let us consider how things are to be used. We have cast our precepts in vain, unless there first precedes a view of what kind of opinion we ought to have about everything: about poverty, about riches, about glory, about ignominy, about fatherland, about exile. Let us estimate each thing, removing common rumor, and let us seek what they are, not what they are called.

§95.55

Ad virtutes transeamus. Praecipiet aliquis, ut prudentiam magni aestimemus, ut fortitudinem complectamur, iustitiam, si fieri potest, propius etiam quam ceteras nobis adplicemus. Sed nil aget, si ignoramus, quid sit virtus, una sit an plures, separatae aut innexae, an qui unam habet et ceteras habeat, quo inter se differant.

Let us pass to the virtues. Someone will prescribe that we value prudence highly, that we embrace fortitude, and that we apply justice to ourselves, if possible, even more closely than the others. But he will accomplish nothing if we are ignorant of what virtue is, whether it is one or many, separate or interconnected, or whether he who has one also has the others, and in what way they differ from one another.

Syntax notes3 items

95.46dubio et incerto ac timide pedem referente
An ablative of comparison following the comparative 'turpius', where the adjectives 'dubius', 'incertus' and the participle 'referens' are used substantively ('one who is hesitant, uncertain, and timidly drawing back his foot').
95.51ei non nocere, cui debeas prodesse
The dative 'ei' serves as the object of the infinitive 'non nocere' and also as the antecedent of the relative clause 'cui debeas prodesse'. Both 'nocere' and 'prodesse' govern the dative case.
95.53quae casura, nisi in vicem obstarent
The future participle 'casura' (feminine nominative, agreeing with the antecedent 'societas') combined with the condition in the imperfect subjunctive 'obstarent' concisely expresses a contrary-to-fact nuance ('which would fall, were they not to support one another').

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)

2026-09-22 AI review — source 1

urn:cts:latinLit:phi1017.phi015.humanitext-lat2:95.46-95.55