Humanitext Reader

Seneca the Younger · Moral Letters to Lucilius §62.1-62.3

The False Excuse of Business and Mental Freedom with the Sages

Passage 82 of 254 · Latin

Summary

Seneca criticizes those who use business as an excuse to neglect study, asserting that he always maintains his own mental freedom. He shares his practice of communing with the best minds of the past and with the philosopher Demetrius, illustrating true spiritual self-sufficiency.

§62.1Mentiuntur, qui sibi obstare ad studia liberali turbam negotiorum videri volunt; simulant occupationes et augent et ipsi se occupant.
They lie, who wish it to appear that a crowd of affairs stands in their way to liberal studies; they feign occupations and magnify them and busy themselves.
Vaco, Lucili, vaco et ubicumque sum, ibi meus sum.
I am free, Lucilius, I am free, and wherever I am, there I am my own master.
Rebus enim me non trado, sed commodo, nec consector perdendi temporis causas.
For I do not surrender myself to affairs, but merely lend myself to them, and I do not hunt for excuses for wasting time.
Et quocumque constiti loco, ibi cogitationes meas tracto et aliquid in animo salutare converso.
And in whatever place I have halted, there I handle my thoughts and turn over in my mind something salutary.
§62.2Cum me amicis dedi non tamen mihi abduco, nec cum illis moror, quibus me tempus aliquod congregavit aut causa ex officio nata civili, sed cum optimo quoque sum; ad illos, in quocumque loco, in quocumque saeculo fuerunt, animum meum mitto.
When I have given myself to my friends, I do not nevertheless withdraw myself from myself, nor do I linger with those with whom some chance occasion or some cause arising from public duty has brought me together, but I am with all the best men; to them, in whatever place, in whatever age they lived, I send my mind.
§62.3Demetrium, virorum optimum, mecum circumfero et relictis conchyliatis cum illo seminudo loquor, illum admiror.
I carry Demetrius, the best of men, about with me, and leaving behind the purple-clad, I speak with him who is half-naked, and admire him.
Quidni admirer? Vidi nihil ei deesse.
Why should I not admire him? I have seen that nothing is lacking to him.
Contemnere aliquis omnia potest, omnia habere nemo potest.
Anyone can despise all things; no one can have all things.
Brevissima ad divitias per contemptum divitiarum via est.
The shortest path to riches is through the contempt of riches.
Demetrius autem noster sic vivit, non tamquam contempserit omnia, sed tamquam aliis habenda permiserit.
But our Demetrius lives in such a way, not as if he has despised all things, but as if he has left them for others to possess.
VALE.
FAREWELL.

Notes

  1. 62.1studia liberali — Usually emended to 'studia liberalia' (liberal studies) in modern editions. It is treated as the accusative plural neuter of the adjective 'liberalis' modifying 'studia', or a simple copyist's error, meaning 'liberal studies' or 'intellectual pursuits'.
  2. 62.1perdendi temporis — A genitive gerundive construction. The noun 'temporis' agrees with the gerundive 'perdendi' in gender and number (neuter singular), and the whole phrase functions as a genitive modifier of the noun 'causas' (excuses, causes).
  3. 62.2optimo quoque — The superlative adjective 'optimus' combined with 'quisque' (each) conveys a collective meaning while retaining individual force, meaning 'all the best' or 'everyone who is best'.
  4. 62.3Quidni admirer? — The present subjunctive 'admirer' (first-person singular) combined with the interrogative 'quidni' (why not) is a deliberative subjunctive, functioning as a rhetorical question: 'Why should I not admire?'
  5. 62.3aliis habenda permiserit — The word 'habenda' is the gerundive (neuter accusative plural) of 'habere', acting as a predicative adjunct to the unexpressed object of 'permiserit' (referring to 'omnia'), expressing purpose: 'left them to be possessed by others.'

Cite this passage

Seneca the Younger, Moral Letters to Lucilius §62.1-62.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1017.phi015.humanitext-lat2:62.1-62.3

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.