# Moral Letters to Lucilius

- Identifiant : `seneca.epistulae_morales`
- Auteur : Seneca
- URL canonique : https://prokopton42.com/en/works/seneca/moral-letters-to-lucilius/livre-58/passage-12/
- Empreinte : `bf9a43d5ede33f646ed2023931ab595ab8d7664da52eaa01c4f0eae1997be740`

## Passage 58.12

### Latin

Hoc ergo est genus primum et antiquissimum et, ut ita dicam, generale. Cetera genera quidem sunt, sed specialia. Tamquam homo genus est. Habet enim in se nationum species: Graecos, Romanos, Parthos. Colorum: albos, nigros, flavos. Habet singulos: Catonem, Ciceronem, Lucretium. Ita qua multa continet, in genus cadit; qua sub alio est, in speciem. Illud genus quod est generale, supra se nihil habet; initium rerum est; omnia sub illo sunt.

### French

Voilà donc le genre primordial, antérieur et pour ainsi dire générique ; tous les autres sont bien des genres, mais spéciaux. Ainsi l’homme est genre, car il comprend en soi les nations de toute espèce, Grecs, Romains, Parthes ; de toute couleur, blancs, noirs, cuivrés ; il comprend les individus, Caton, Cicéron, Lucrèce. En tant qu’il contient des espèces, il est genre ;

### English

This, therefore, is what genus is,—the primary, original, and (to play upon the word) “general.” Of course there are the other genera: but they are “special” genera: “man” being, for example, a genus. For “man” comprises species: by nations,—Greek, Roman, Parthian; by colours,—white, black, yellow. The term comprises individuals also: Cato, Cicero, Lucretius. So “man” falls into the category genus, in so far as it includes many kinds; but in so far as it is subordinate to another term, it falls into the category species. But the genus “that which exists” is general, and has no term superior to it. It is the first term in the classification of things, and all things are included under it.