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Seneca

Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 36

Section 1,202 of 2,141

Canonical reference 85.36

Latin

Perseus canonical Latin TEI

Deinde gubernatoris ars alienum bonum est: ad eos, quos vehit, pertinet, quomodo medici ad eos, quos curat. Commune bonum est sapientis: est et eorum, cum quibus vivit, et proprium ipsius. Itaque gubernatori fortasse noceatur, cuius ministerium aliis promissum tempestate inpeditur;

French

Baillard 1914

Et puis son art existe pour le service d’autrui : ce sont les passagers qu’il intéresse, comme l’art du médecin s’applique à ceux qu’il traite. La sagesse est un bien tout à la fois commun aux hommes avec lesquels vit le sage, et personnel au sage. Ainsi peut-être la tempête contrarie le pilote en paralysant le ministère qu’il a promis aux passagers ;

English

Richard M. Gummere · Moral Letters to Lucilius

Again, the pilot’s art is another’s good - it concerns his passengers just as a physician’s art concerns his patients. But the wise man’s good is a common good - it belongs both to those in whose company he lives, and to himself also. Hence our pilot may perhaps be harmed, since his services, which have been promised to others, are hindered by the storm;

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