L. Annaues Seneca Minor Dialogues Together with the Dialogue on Clemency
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page 9
ANNAEUS SENECA
L.
MINOR DIALOGUES
TOGETHER WITH THE DIALOGUE
ON CLEMENCY
TRANSLATED BY
AUBREY STEWART, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY
COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
SEEN BY
PRESERVATION
SERVICES
DATE.
i
B
M
LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET
:
COVENT GARDEN
1889
page 11
CONTENTS.
PAGE
OF PROVIDENCE
1
ON THE FIRMNESS OF THE WISE MAN
OF ANGER.
.
.
.
.
22
.
48
1
II
76
III.
115
OF CONSOLATION. To MARCIA
OF A HAPPY LIFE
OF LEISURE
OF PEACE OF MIND
OF THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE
OF CONSOLATION. To HELVIA
To POLYBIUS
OF CLEMENCY.
I.
II.
162
204
240
250
288
320
.........
.
.
353
380
415
,
page 13
THE FIRST BOOK OF THE DIALOGUES
OF L. ANNAEUS SENECA,
ADDRESSED TO LUCILIUS.
PROVIDENCE EXISTS, ANY MISFi
GOOD MEN;" OR,
OF PROVIDENCE."
"
I.
"\/OU have asked me, Lucilius, why, if the world be ruled
by providence, so many evils befall good men ? The
answer to this would be more conveniently given in the
course of this work, after we have proved that providence
governs the universe, and that God is amongst us but, since
you wish me to deal with one point apart from the whole,
and to answer one replication before the main action has
been decided, I will do what is not difficult, and plead the
:
_,
cause of the gods.
At the present time it is superfluous to
point out that it is not without some guardian that so great
a work maintains its position, that the assemblage and
movements of the stars do not depend upon accidental
impulses, or that objects whose motion is regulated by chance
often fall into confusion and soon stumble, whereas this
swift and safe movement goes on, governed by eternal law,
bearing with it so many things both on sea and land, so many
most brilliant lights shining in order in the skies that
;
this regularity does not belong to matter moving at random,
and that particles brought together by chance could not
page 14, segment 1/2
2
MINOR DIALOGUES.
[BK. I.
arrange themselves with such art as to make the heaviest
weight, that of the earth, remain unmoved, and behold the
flight of the
heavens as they hasten round it, to make the
seas pour into the valleys and so temper the climate of the
land, without any sensible increase
from the rivers which
flow into them, or to cause huge growths to proceed from
minute seeds. Even those phenomena which appear to be
confused and irregular, I mean showers of rain and clouds,
the rush of lightning from the heavens, fire that pours from
the riven peaks of mountains, quakings of the trembling
earth, and everything else which is produced on earth by the
unquiet element in the universe, do not come to pass
without reason, though they do so suddenly but they also
:
have their causes, as also have those things which excite
our wonder by the strangeness of their position, such as
warm springs amidst the waves of the sea, and new islands
that spring up in the wide ocean.
Moreover, any one who
has watched how the shore is laid bare by the retreat of
the sea into itself, and how within a short time it is again
covered, will believe that it is in obedience to some hidden
law of change that the waves are at one time contracted
and driven inwards, at another burst forth and regain their
bed with a strong current, since all the while they wax in
regular proportion, and come up at their appointed day and
hour greater or less, according as the moon, at whose
Let these matters
pleasure the ocean flows, draws them.
be set aside for discussion at their own proper season, but
I, since you do not doubt the existence of providence but
complain of it, will on that account more readily reconcile
you to gods who are most excellent to excellent men for
:
indeed the nature
page 14, segment 2/2
of things does not ever permit good to
be injured by good.
Between good men and the gods
there
is
a friendship which is brought about by virtue
friendship do I say ? nay, rather relationship and likeness,
since the good man differs from a god in time alone,
page 15, segment 1/2
CH. II.]
OF PROVIDENCE.
3
being his pupil and rival and true offspring, whom his
glorious parent trains more severely than other men, in
sisting sternly on virtuous conduct, just as strict fathers
do.
When therefore you see men who are good and ac
ceptable to the gods toiling, sweating, painfully struggling
upwards, while bad men run riot and are steeped in
pleasures, reflect that modesty pleases us in our sons, and
forwardness in our house-born slave-boys that the former
are held in check by a somewhat stern rule, whereas the
boldness of the latter is encouraged.
Be thou sure that
;
God acts in like manner
He does not pet the good man
He tries him, hardens him, and fits him for Himself.
II. Why do many things turn out badly for good men ?
Why, no evil can befall a good man contraries cannot
:
:
:
combine.
Just as so many rivers, so many showers of rain
from the clouds, such a number of medicinal springs, do not
alter the taste of the sea, indeed, do not so much as soften
it,
so the pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of
for the mind of a brave man maintains its
a brave man
;
balance and throws its
own complexion over all that takes
place, because it is more powerful than any external cir
cumstances. I do not say that he does not feel them, but
he conquers them, and on occasion calmly and tranquilly
rises superior to their attacks, holding all misfortunes to be
trials of his own firmness.
Yet who is there who, provided
he be a man and have honourable ambition, does not long
for due employment, and is not eager to do his duty
in spite of danger?
Is there any hard-working man to
whom idleness is not a punishment ?
see athletes,
We
who study only their bodily strength, engage in contests
with the strongest of men, and insist that those who
page 15, segment 2/2
train
them for the arena should put out their whole strength
when practising with them they endure blows and mal
:
treatment, and, if they cannot find any single person
is
their match,
they engage with several at once
:
who
their
page 16, segment 1/2
4
MINOR DIALOGUES.
[BE. I.
strength and courage droop without an antagonist they
can only prove how great and how mighty it is by proving
:
how much they can endure. You should know that good
men ought to act in like manner, so as not to fear troubles
and
difficulties, nor to lament their hard fate, to take
good part whatever befalls them, and force it to be
come a blessing to them. It does not matter what you
Do you not see how diffe
bear, but how you bear it.
fathers
and
mothers
rently
indulge their children? how
the former urge them to begin their tasks betimes, will not
suffer them to be idle even on holidays, and exercise them
till
they perspire, and sometimes till they shed tears while
their mothers want to cuddle them in their laps, and keep
them out of the sun, and never wish them to be vexed, or
to cry, or to work.
Grod bears a fatherly mind towards
Let them,"
good men, and loves them in a manly spirit.
be exercised by labours, sufferings, and losses,
says He,
that so they may gather true strength."
Those who are
surfeited with ease break down not only with labour, but
with mere motion and by their own weight. Unbroken
but he who has
prosperity cannot bear a single blow
waged an unceasing strife with his misfortunes has gained
a thicker skin by his sufferings, yields to no disaster, and
even though he fall yet fights on his knee. Do you wonder
that God, who so loves the good, who would have them
attain the highest goodness and pre-eminence, should ap
in
"
"
;
point fortune to be their adversary ? I should not be sur
prised if the gods sometimes experience a wish to behold
We some
great men struggling with some misfortune.
times are delighted when a youth of steady courage re
ceives on his spear the wild beast that attacks him
or
;
when he meets the
page 16, segment 2/2
charge of a lion without flinching and
the more eminent the man is who acts thus, 1 the more
;
1
the loftier the station of the com
The Gracchus of Juvenal, Sat. ii. and viii., illustrates the passage.
honestior is opposed to the gladiator
batant.
page 17, segment 1/2
OF PROVIDENCE.
CH. II.]
attractive is the sight
:
5
yet these are not matters which can
attract the attention of the gods, but are mere pastime and
diversions of human frivolity.
Behold a sight worthy to
be viewed by a god interested in his own work, behold a
worthy of a god, a brave man matched with evil
pair
l
fortune, especially if he himself has given the challenge.
I say, I do not know what nobler spectacle Jupiter could
find on earth, should he turn his eyes thither, than that of
Cato, after his party had more than once been defeated, still
standing upright amid the ruins of the commonwealth.
Quoth he, What though all be fallen into one man s power,
though the land be guarded by his legions, the sea by his
"
though Caesar s soldiers beset the city gate ? Cato
way out of it with one hand he will open a wide
freedom his sword, which he has borne unstained
to
path
by disgrace and innocent of crime even in a civil war, will
it will give to Cato
still perform good and noble deeds
that freedom which it could not give to his country.
Begin, my soul, the work which thou so long hast contem
plated, snatch thyself away from the world of man. Already
Petreius and Juba have met and fallen, each slain by the
other s hand a brave and noble compact with fate, yet not
one befitting my greatness it is as disgraceful for Cato to
beg his death of any one as it would be for him to beg his
fleets,
has a
:
;
;
:
life."
It is clear to me that the gods must have looked on with
great joy, while that man, his own most ruthless avenger, took
thought for the safety of others and arranged the escape
of those who departed, while even on his last night he pur
sued his studies, while he drove the sword into his sacred
breast, while he tore forth his vitals and laid his hand
page 17, segment 2/2
upon that most holy life which was unworthy to be defiled
by steel.
1
This, I am inclined to think, was the reason that
par, a technical term in the language of sport (worthy of such a spec
tator).
page 18, segment 1/2
6
MINOR DIALOGUES.
[BE. I.
his wound was not well-aimed and mortal
not satisfied with seeing Cato die once
:
:
the gods were
his courage
was
kept in action and recalled to the stage, that it might dis
play itself in a more difficult part for it needs a greater
mind to return a second time to death. How could they
fail to view their pupil with interest when leaving his life
:
by such a noble and memorable departure ? Men are raised
by a death which is admired even
fear
them.
who
those
by
III. However, as my argument proceeds, I shall prove
that what appear to be evils are not so for the present I
say this, that what you call hard measure, misfortunes, and
things against which we ought to pray, are really to the
advantage, firstly, of those to whom they happen, and
secondly, of all mankind, for whom the gods care more than
and next, that these evils befall them
for individuals
with their own good will, and that men deserve to endnre
to the level of the gods
;
;
misfortunes, if they are unwilling to receive them. To this
I shall add, that misfortunes proceed thus by destiny, and
that they befall good men by the same law which makes
them good. After this, I shall prevail upon you never to
pity any good man
;
for though he may be called unhappy,
he cannot be so.
Of all these propositions that which I have stated first
appears the most difficult to prove, I mean, that the things
which we dread and shudder at are to the advantage of those
to whom they happen.
Is
say you, to their advantage
to be driven into exile, to be brought to want, to carry out
"
"
it,"
to burial their children and wife, to be publicly disgraced,
Yes if you are surprised at these
to lose their health
?"
!
being to any man s advantage, you will also be surprised
at any man being