Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 15

Nemo, inquit, aliter quam qui modo natus est exit e vita. Falsum est; peiores morimur quam nascimur. Nostrum istud, non naturae vitium est. Illa nobiscum queri debet et dicere: Quid hoc est? Sine cupiditatibus vos genui, sine timoribus, sine superstitione, sine perfidia ceterisque pestibus; quales intrastis exite.

« Nous ne sortons pas de la vie,
dit-il, autres que nous n’y sommes entrés ; » et il est au dessous
du vrai : nous en sortons pires. C’est notre faute, ce n’est
point celle de la nature. Elle a droit de se plaindre et de nous
dire : « t Pourquoi murmurer ? Je vous ai engendrés purs de passions,
purs de craintes, de superstition, de perfidie, de tous les
poisons de l’âme :

“No one,” he says, “leaves this world in a different manner from one who has just been born.” That is not true; for we are worse when we die than when we were born; but it is our fault, and not that of Nature. Nature should scold us, saying: “What does this mean? I brought you into the world without desires or fears, free from superstition, treachery and the other curses. Go forth as you were when you entered!”