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Seneca

Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 3

Section 69 of 2,141

Canonical reference 9.3

Latin

Perseus canonical Latin TEI

Hoc inter nos et illos interest: noster sapiens vincit quidem incommodum omne, sed sentit; illorum ne sentit quidem. Illud nobis et illis commune est: sapientem se ipso esse contentum. Sed tamen et amicum habere vult et vicinum et contubernalem, quamvis sibi ipse sufficiat.

French

Baillard 1914

Voici en quoi nous différons des Mégariques : notre sage est invincible à toutes les disgrâces, mais il n’y est pas insensible ; le leur ne les sent même pas. Le point commun entre eux et nous, c’est que le sage se suffit : toutefois il désire en outre les douceurs de l’amitié, du voisinage, du même toit, bien qu’il trouve en soi assez de ressources.

English

Richard M. Gummere · Moral Letters to Lucilius

There is this difference between ourselves and the other school: our ideal wise man feels his troubles, but overcomes them; their wise man does not even feel them. But we and they alike hold this idea, - that the wise man is self-sufficient. Nevertheless, he desires friends, neighbours, and associates, no matter how much he is sufficient unto himself.

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