Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 6

Sed postquam subrepentibus vitiis in tyrannidem regna conversa sunt, opus esse legibus coepit, quas et ipsas inter initia tulere sapientes. Solon qui Athenas aequo iure fundavit, inter septem fuit sapientia notos. Lycurgum si eadem aetas tulisset, sacro illi numero accessisset octavus. Zaleuci leges Charondaeque laudantur. Hi non in foro nec in consultorum atrio, sed in Pythagorae tacito illo sanctoque secessu didicerunt iura, quae florenti tunc Siciliae et per Italiam Graeciae ponerent.

Mais lorsque les sourds progrès de la corruption eurent changé en tyrannies les royautés, le besoin des lois se fit sentir ; et ces lois, dans le principe, furent encore établies par les sages. Solon, qui fonda celles d’Athènes sur l’équité, est connu comme l’un des sept sages de son époque ; et si la Grèce eût alors enfanté Lycurgue, ce nombre sacré se fût enrichi d’un huitième génie : on loue encore les lois de Zaleucus et de Charondas. Ce n’est point au forum, ni dans l’école des jurisconsultes, mais dans la retraite silencieuse et révérée de Pythagore, que ceux-ci étudièrent les lois qu’ils devaient transplanter dans la Sicile alors florissante et dans l’Italie grecque.

But when once vice stole in and kingdoms were transformed into tyrannies, a need arose for laws; and these very laws were in turn framed by the wise. Solon, who established Athens upon a firm basis by just laws, was one of the seven men renowned for their wisdom. Had Lycurgus lived in the same period, an eighth would have been added to that hallowed number seven. The laws of Zaleucus and Charondas are praised; it was not in the forum or in the offices of skilled counsellors, but in the silent and holy retreat of Pythagoras, that these two men learned the principles of justice which they were to establish in Sicily (which at that time was prosperous) and throughout Grecian Italy.