Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 5

Nec te prohibuerim aliquando ista agere, sed tunc, cum voles nihil agere. Hoc tamen habent in se pessimum: dulcedinem quandam sui faciunt et animum specie subtilitatis inductum tenent ac morantur, cum tanta rerum moles vocet, cum vix tota vita sufficiat, ut hoc unum discas, vitam contemnere. Quid? Regere, inquis. Secundum opus est; nam nemo illam bene rexit nisi qui contempserat. Vale.

Ce sont, au reste, des passe-temps que je n’interdis pas, quand on veut être à rien faire. Mais le mal, le grand mal est qu’ils offrent un je ne sais quel charme, et que, ingénieux en apparence, ils attirent l’esprit, le captivent et retardent sa marche, quand de si vastes labeurs le réclament, lorsqu’à peine la vie tout entière suffit rien que pour apprendre à mépriser la vie.

« Et l’art de la régler ? » dis-tu. Ceci est l’œuvre secondaire : car nul ne règle bien sa vie, si d’abord il ne la méprise.

I would not forbid you to practise such exercises occasionally; but let it be at a time when you wish to do nothing. The worst feature, however, that these indulgences present is that they acquire a sort of self-made charm, occupying and holding the soul by a show of subtlety; although such weighty matters claim our attention, and a whole life seems scarcely sufficient to learn the single principle of despising life. “What? Did you not mean ‘control’ instead of ‘despise’”? No; “controlling” is the second task; for no one has controlled his life aright unless he has first learned to despise it. Farewell.