§1.1cit, nobis magno consensu vitia commendant.
..., commend vices to us with great consensus.
Licet nihil aliud, quod sit salutare, temptemus, proderit tamen per se ipsum secedere; meliores erimus singuli.
Even if we attempt nothing else that is salutary, it will still be beneficial to withdraw by oneself; we shall be better individuals.
Quid, quod secedere ad optimos viros et aliquod exemplum eligere, ad quod vitam derigamus, licet? Quod nisi in otio non fit.
What of the fact that we are allowed to withdraw to the best of men and to choose some model towards which we may direct our life? But this does not happen except in leisure.
Tunc potest obtineri quod semel placuit, ubi nemo intervenit, qui iudicium adhuc imbecillum populo adiutore detorqueat; tunc potest vita aequali et uno tenore procedere, quam propositis diversissimis scindimus.
Then can that which once pleased be maintained, where no one intervenes to distort a judgment that is still weak with the crowd as his helper; then can life proceed in an even and single course, which we split by the most diverse purposes.
§1.2Nam inter cetera mala illud pessimum est, quod vitia ipsa mutamus.
For among other evils, the worst is that we change our very vices.
Sic ne hoc quidem nobis contingit permanere in malo iam familiari.
Thus, not even this is granted to us, to remain in an evil already familiar.
Aliud ex alio placet vexatque nos hoc quoque, quod iudicia nostra non tantum prava, sed etiam levia sunt.
One thing after another pleases us, and this also vexes us, that our judgments are not only wicked, but also fickle.
Fluctuamur aliudque ex alio comprendimus, petita relinquimus, relicta repetimus, alternae inter cupiditatem nostram et paenitentiam vices sunt; §1.3pendemus enim toti ex alienis iudiciis et id optimum nobis videtur, quod petitores laudatoresque multos habet, non id quod laudandum petendumque est, nec viam bonam ac malam per se aestimamus, sed turba vestigiorum, in quibus nulla sunt redeuntium.
We fluctuate and grasp one thing after another, we abandon what we sought, we seek again what we abandoned; there are alternating turns between our desire and our repentance; for we depend entirely on the judgments of others, and that seems best to us which has many seekers and praisers, not that which is to be praised and sought; nor do we estimate a road as good or bad by itself, but by the crowd of footprints, among which there are none of those returning.
§1.4Dices mihi: "Quid agis.
You will say to me: "What are you doing, Seneca?
Seneca? Deseris partes? Certe Stoici vestri dicunt: ' Usque ad ultimum vitae finem in actu erimus, non desinemus communi bono operam dare, adiuvare singulos, opem ferre etiam inimicis senili manu.
Are you deserting your party? Surely your Stoics say: 'Up to the very last end of life we shall be in action; we shall not cease to labor for the common good, to help individuals, to bring aid even to our enemies with an aged hand.
Nos sumus, qui nullis annis vacationem damus et, quod ait ille vir disertissimus,
"
Canitiem galea premimus. "
Nos sumus, apud quos usque eo nihil ante mortem otiosum est, ut, si res patitur, non sit ipsa mors otiosa.
We are those who grant exemption to no years, and as that most eloquent man says, "We press our gray hair with a helmet." We are those with whom nothing before death is so at leisure that, if circumstances allow, death itself is not at leisure.' Why do you speak Epicurean precepts to us in the very principles of Zeno?
' Quid nobis Epicuri praecepta in ipsis Zenonis principiis loqueris? Quin tu bene gnaviter, si partium piget, transfugis potius quam prodis?" §1.5Hoc tibi in praesentia respondebo: "Numquid vis amplius, quam ut me similem ducibus meis praestem? Quid ergo est? Non quo miserint me illi, sed quo duxerint, ibo. "
Why do you not, if you are weary of your party, desert to the other side rather than betray us?" To this I will answer you for the present: "Do you wish for anything more than that I show myself similar to my leaders? What is it then? I shall go not where they have sent me, but where they have led me."