Humanitext Reader

Seneca the Younger · On Leisure §2.1-2.2

Retirement for Contemplation in Youth and Old Age

Passage 2 of 8 · Latin

Summary

Seneca promises to prove that he is not deviating from Stoic principles, dividing his argument into two parts: that retirement for contemplation is legitimate both from youth and after fulfilling public duties in old age.

§2.1Nunc probabo tibi non desciscere me a praeceptis Stoicorum; nam ne ipsi quidem a suis desciverunt; et tamen excusatissimus essem, etiam si non praecepta illorum sequerer, sed exempla.
Now I will prove to you that I am not deviating from the precepts of the Stoics; for not even they themselves deviated from their own; and yet I would be most excusable even if I were following not their precepts, but their examples.
Hoc quod dico in duas dividam partes: primum, ut possit aliquis vel a prima aetate contemplationi veritatis totum se tradere, rationem vivendi quaerere atque exercere secreto; §2.2deinde, ut possit hoc aliquis emeritis iam stipendiis, profligatae aetatis, iure optimo facere et ad alios actus animum referre virginum Vestalium more, quae annis inter officia divisis discunt facere sacra et cum didicerunt docent.
What I say I shall divide into two parts: first, that someone, even from their earliest age, can devote themselves entirely to the contemplation of truth, and seek a way of living and practice it in private; second, that someone, when their service is already completed and at an advanced age, can do this with perfect right, and turn their mind to other activities in the manner of the Vestal Virgins, who, with their years divided among duties, learn to perform sacred rites and, when they have learned, teach them.

Notes

  1. ¦p.184¦a suis — The noun `praeceptis` (precepts) or `decretis` (principles) is omitted after the possessive `a suis` (from their own). Seneca asserts that even the founders of Stoicism did not deviate from their own principles.
  2. §2.1excusatissimus essem, etiam si ... sequerer — A conditional sentence of contrary-to-fact using the imperfect subjunctive in both the apodosis (`essem`) and the protasis (`sequerer`), implying "I would be highly excusable, even if I were not following their precepts (though in fact I am)."
  3. §2.2emeritis iam stipendiis — An ablative absolute consisting of the noun `stipendium` (pay, military service) and the participle `emeritis` (having been completed). Originally a military term for soldiers completing their service, here used metaphorically for having fulfilled one's civic duties and public career.
  4. §2.2profligatae aetatis — A genitive of quality modifying the subject `aliquis`. The perfect participle `profligatus` is used here in the sense of time "advanced" or "nearly spent," making the phrase equivalent to "of advanced age" or "elderly."

Cite this passage

Seneca the Younger, On Leisure §2.1-2.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0255.stoa011.humanitext-lat2:2.1-2.2

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