I’m Not Sorry for Taking So Long to Respond

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Seneca, Moral Epistles 106.1-3

“I am rather late in responding to your messages and not because I was too busy. Be skeptical when you hear this excuse. I had the time and everyone has the time if they want to. Work doesn’t control anyone. People get all mixed up in their tasks and imagine that busyness is a proof of their success.

So, what’s the reason that I didn’t respond right away? Well, that thing that you were asking about was just starting to develop as part of my writing. You know that I am trying to explain moral philosophy and all the issues that attend it. So, I was unsure about whether I would put answering you off until I got to the place of your question or whether it was right for me to answer you out of order. But it seemed nicer to not slow down someone coming from so far away.  So I am taking this out of the logical sequence to send you along with associated questions you didn’t ask for.”

Tardius rescribo ad epistulas tuas, non quia districtus occupationibus sum. Hanc excusationem cave audias; vaco et omnes vacant, qui volunt. Neminem res secuntur. Ipsi illas amplexantur et argumentum esse felicitatis occupationem putant.

Quid ergo fuit, quare non protinus rescriberem? Id, de quo quaerebas, veniebat in contextum operis mei. Scis enim me moralem philosophiam velle conplecti et omnes ad eam pertinentis quaestiones explicare. Itaque dubitavi utrum differrem te, donec suus isti rei veniret locus, an ius tibi extra ordinem dicerem; humanius visum est tam longe venientem non detinere. Itaque et hoc ex illa serie rerum cohaerentium excerpam et, si qua erunt eiusmodi, non quaerenti tibi ultro mittam.

Meme of oil painting with man at writing table holding his head. There is the Latin "non quia districtus occupationibus sum." This means I am writing rather late to you and not because I was occupied"

The Five Causes of Our Ruin

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Seneca, Moral Epistle 105.2-4

“Think about the kinds of things that cause people to destroy each other. You will see hope, envy, hatred, fear, and contempt. Contempt is the least serious of these to such a degree that many have defaulted to it as a remedy for the others. When someone feels contempt, they do cause harm, but then move on. No one harms someone continually or quite carefully because of contempt. In battle, the fallen soldier is passed by and the fight is carried on by someone standing.

You will avoid the hope of wicked people if you possess nothing capable of inspiring someone else’s desire, if you possess nothing outstanding. People desire even small things if they are notable or rare.

You will avoid envy if you don’t parade yourself around in public, if you don’t make a big deal about your good things, if you know how to laugh in private. Hatred comes either from causing some offense–which you will avoid by not harming anyone–or it has no explanation. Common sense will make you safe from this. Still, it has been dangerous for many–there are those who have suffered hatred but have no enemy.

Moderate wealth and a kind character will prevent you from being feared. People should know that you are someone they can offend without danger and that making amends would be easy and certain. It is, indeed, as problematic to be feared at home as outside, by enslaved people as by the free. Every person has enough ability to harm you. This matters too: who ever is feared, fears as well. No one who inspires fear can feel safe.”

Considera, quae sint, quae hominem in perniciem hominis instigent: invenies spem, invidiam, odium, metum, contemptum. Ex omnibus istis adeo levissimum est contemptus, ut multi in illo remedii causa delituerint. Quem quis contemnit, violat sine dubio, sed transit; nemo homini contempto pertinaciter, nemo diligenter nocet. Etiam in acie iacens praeteritur, cum stante pugnatur. Spem inproborum vitabis, si nihil habueris, quod cupiditatem alienam et inprobam inritet, si nihil insigne possederis. Concupiscuntur enim etiam parva, si notabilia sunt, si rara.

Invidiam effugies, si te non ingesseris oculis, si bona tua non iactaveris, si scieris in sinu gaudere. odium aut est ex offensa: hoc vitabis neminem lacessendo; aut gratuitum: a quo te sensus communis tuebitur. Fuit hoc multis periculosum; quidam odium habuerunt nec inimicum  Illud, ne timearis, praestabit tibi et fortunae mediocritas et ingenii lenitas; eum esse te homines sciant, quem offendere sine periculo possint; reconciliatio tua et facilis sit et certa. Timeri autem tam domi molestum est quam foris, tam a servis quam a liberis. Nulli non ad nocendum satis virium est. Adice nunc, quod qui timetur, timet; nemo potuit terribilis esse secure.

Picture of Sesame Street's The Count saying in Latin "quae hominem in perniciem hominis instigent" which means "consider the things that make people do each other harm"

After 100 Letters, Seneca Mentions His Wife

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Seneca, Moral Epistles 104.1-3

“I fled to my place in Nomentum. Why do you think? To leave the city? no, to escape a fever that was working its way through me. It already grabbed ahold of me. My doctor was saying that the movement was troubled and uncertain and ruining my natural state. So, I ordered my car to be readied immediately and I persisted in leaving, although Paulina was trying to keep me at home. I remember that word from my teacher Gallio who, when he began to develop a fever in Achaea, ran aboard a ship right away shouting that his body wasn’t sick but the place was.

This is what I said to my Paulina who urges me to think about my health.  I understand that her breath turns on mine and I am trying to care for myself to take care of her. And although old age has helped me be braver about many things, I am losing one benefit of this time of life. Indeed, the idea has entered my mind that there is a young man in this old age who needs compassion.

So, because I cannot persuade her to love me more stoically, she has persuaded me to treat myself more carefully.  Real emotions should be indulged, even if other things press upon us in the meantime. Breath must be called back and held in  even in pain to honor those we care for–the good person must not live as long as it is pleasing, but instead as long as they must. Someone who doesn’t think their spouse or friend worth living a bit longer for, who persists in wanting to die, is truly selfish.”

In Nomentanum meum fugi, quid putas? Urbem? Immo febrem et quidem subrepentem. Iam manum mihi iniecerat. Medicus initia esse dicebat motis venis et incertis et naturalem turbantibus modum. Protinus itaque parari vehiculum iussi; Paulina mea retinente exire perseveravi; illud mihi ore erat domini mei Gallionis, qui cum in Achaia febrem habere coepisset, protinus navem ascendit clamitans non corporis esse, sed loci morbum. Hoc ego Paulinae meae dixi, quae mihi valitudinem meam commendat. Nam cum sciam spiritum illius in meo verti, incipio, ut illi consulam, mihi consulere. Et cum me fortiorem senectus ad multa reddiderit, hoc beneficium aetatis amitto. Venit enim mihi in mentem, in hoc sene et adulescentem esse, cui parcitur. Itaque quoniam ego ab illa non impetro, ut me fortius amet, a me impetrat illa, ut me diligentius amem. Indulgendum est enim honestis adfectibus; et interdum, etiam si premunt causae, spiritus in honorem suorum vel cum tormento revocandus et in ipso ore retinendus est, cum bono viro vivendum sit non quamdiu iuvat sed quamdiu oportet. Ille, qui non uxorem, non amicum tanti putat, ut diutius in vita commoretur, qui perseverabit mori, delicatus est.

Color photograph of a wall painting from the medieval period. A servant helps a husband get into bed with his wife. both spouses are shirtless
Memmi di Filippuccio, Profane love scenes: The spouses retired to bed, c. 1306. Level San Gimignano (Details of level on Google Art Project) room Civic Museums of San Gimignano: Palazzo Comunale, Picture Gallery, Big Tower (

 

Stoic Paranoid Style: People Like Ruining Each Other

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Seneca, Moral Epistles 103.1-3

“Why do you look around for those things that just might happen to you but also might not happen at all? I am talking about a fire, building damage, and the other kinds of things that happen to us but aren’t done to us. Instead, look out for those things, avoid those things that follow us, that clutch at us.

Accidents are relatively rare, even if they are serious: a shipwreck, a car crash. But there’s daily danger for people from people. Set yourself against this–keep your eyes open for this. There’s no danger so common, nothing so persistent,  nothing so endearing on the surface. A storm at least threatens before it strikes; foundations creak before they crumble; smoke presages a fire–yet peril from another person and it is as carefully hidden as it kept nearby.

You’re screwing up if you trust the expressions of the people you meet. They have human faces but the hearts of beasts, except the danger of beasts comes from your first meeting, and they don’t seek those they have passed by. They only do harm when need forces it: they are compelled to fight by hunger or fear. But people enjoy destroying other people.”

Quid ista circumspicis, quae tibi possunt fortasse evenire, sed possunt et non evenire? Incendium dico, ruinam, alia, quae nobis incidunt, non insidiantur; illa potius vide, illa devita, quae nos observant, quae captant. Rariores sunt casus, etiam si graves, naufragium facere, vehiculo everti; ab homine homini cotidianum periculum. Adversus hoc te expedi, hoc intentis oculis intuere. Nullum est malum frequentius, nullum pertinacius, nullum blandius. Ac tempestas minatur antequam surgat, crepant aedificia antequam corruant, praenuntiatfumus incendium; subita est ex homine pernicies et eo diligentius tegitur, quo propius accedit.

Erras, si istorum tibi qui occurrunt vultibus credis; hominum effigies habent, animos ferarum, nisi quod illarum perniciosus est primus incursus; quos transiere, non quaerunt. Numquam enim illas ad nocendum nisi necessitas incitat; aut fame aut timore coguntur ad pugnam; homini perdere hominem libet.

Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia conspiracy meme with Latin saying "there's daily danger from people for people"

Your Message Interrupted My Daydream

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Seneca, Moral Epistles 102.1-2

“Just as someone is annoying when they disturb a person from a happy dream, since he interrupts a pleasure, which, even if counterfeit, has something of a real effect, so your letter has caused me pain. It pulled me back from a needed reverie and I would have gone further if allowed.

It was pleasing me to think about the immortality of our souls, ok, really, to believe in it. I was opening myself to the arguments of great thinkers who promise as much as approve of this most welcome matter. I was surrendering myself to a great hope. I was feeling tired of myself, already sick of the broken pieces of my age and ready to cross over into that endless expanse of time and the embrace of every era. Then, suddenly, I was shaken up by your letter and I lost so beautiful a dream. Maybe I will seek it and find it again, if I get rid of you.

Quomodo molestus est iucundum somnium videnti qui excitat, aufert enim voluptatem, etiam si falsam, effectum tamen verae habentem; sic epistula tua mihi fecit iniuriam. Revocavit enim me cogitationi aptae traditum et iturum, si licuisset, ulterius. Iuvabat de aeternitate animarum quaerere, immo mehercules credere. Praebebam enim me facilem opinionibus magnorum virorum rem gratissimam promittentium magis quam probantium. Dabam me spei tantae. Iam eram fastidio mihi, iam reliquias aetatis infractae contemnebam in immensum illud tempus et in possessionem omnis aevi transiturus; cum subito experrectus sum epistula tua accepta et tam bellum somnium perdidi. Quod repetam, si te dimisero, et redimam.

Color photograph of a book illustration. A woman in a yellow dress looks into a hilly distance at a castle with a light

 

How Fast A Rotten Foundation Falls

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Epictetus, Discourses 2.15 (Go here for the full text)

“If you put down a rotten foundation, already falling apart, not even a little shack can be built upon it, and the greater and more forceful thing you build upon it, the faster it will fall to the ground.

So you are depriving this dear person of life without any reason, a citizen of the very same state, both the larger one and the local one. Then, as you commit an act of murder and destroy another human being who did no wrong, you claim that “you have to stick to what was decided!”  If it ever occurred to you to kill me, would you have to stick to your decisions then?

That kind of a person is scarcely persuaded to change his mind. But it is impossible to transform others today. So, now, I think I understand that proverb that used to confuse me, that “you can’t persuade or break a fool!”

May I never have a wise fool as a friend, there’s nothing harder to deal with. He says, “I have decided.” Well, people who are out of their minds decided too. But just as much as they believe that what isn’t true is solid, that’s how much hellebore they need to drink.”

ἂν δὲ σαπρὸν ὑποστήσῃ καὶ καταπῖπτον, οὐκ οἰκοδομημάτιον, ὅσῳ δ᾿ ἂν πλείονα καὶ ἰσχυρότερα ἐπιθῇς, τοσούτῳ θᾶττον κατενεχθήσεται. ἄνευ πάσης αἰτίας ἐξάγεις ἡμῖν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν φίλον καὶ συνήθη, τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως πολίτην καὶ τῆς μεγάλης 11καὶ τῆς μικρᾶς· εἶτα φόνον ἐργαζόμενος καὶ ἀπολλύων ἄνθρωπον μηδὲν ἠδικηκότα λέγεις ὅτι τοῖς κριθεῖσιν ἐμμένειν δεῖ. εἰ δ᾿ ἐπῆλθέν σοί πώς ποτ᾿ ἐμὲ ἀποκτεῖναι, ἔδει σε ἐμμένειν τοῖς κριθεῖσιν;

Ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν μόγις μετεπείσθη. τῶν δὲ νῦν τινας οὐκ ἔστι μεταθεῖναι. ὥστε μοι δοκῶ ὃ πρότερον ἠγνόουν νῦν εἰδέναι, τί ἐστι τὸ ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ λεγόμενον· μωρὸν οὔτε πεῖσαι οὔτε ῥῆξαι ἔστιν. μή μοι γένοιτο φίλον ἔχειν σοφὸν μωρόν. δυσμεταχειριστότερον οὐδέν ἐστιν. “κέκρικα.” καὶ γὰρ οἱ μαινόμενοι· ἀλλ᾿ ὅσῳ βεβαιότερον κρίνουσι τὰ οὐκ ὄντα, τοσούτῳ πλείονος ἐλλεβόρου δέονται.

Robert Delaunay, “Fenétre Sur La Ville” 1914

Every Day is an Entire Life

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CW: ableism

Seneca, Moral Epistles 101.10-12

So, hurry, my Lucilius, and live–treat each individual day like a whole life. Who ever adapts in this way–whoever’s daily life is complete–feels safe. But the time right in front of them always slides away from those who live for hope and that greed and that miserable fear of death that makes everything else miserable slips in.

It is from there that that foulest prayer of Maecenas comes. In it, he does not swear off weakness, deformity, and then at the end the painful cross as long as he can continue life throughout.

Give me a broken hand, weaken my foot;
grow a hump on my back and shake my teeth loose
as long as life persists, it’s all good.
Keep it going, even if I lie on a sharp cross

He begs for something that would be completely pitiable if it merely happened to him and he pleads for a delay as if he were asking for life!”

Ideo propera, Lucili mi, vivere et singulos dies singulas vitas puta. Qui hoc modo se aptavit, cui vita sua cotidie fuit tota, securus est; in spem viventibus proximum quodque tempus elabitur subitque aviditas et miserrimus ac miserrima omnia efficiens metus mortis. Inde illud Maecenatis turpissimum votum, quo et debilitatem non recusat et deformitatem et novissime acutam crucem, dummodo inter haec mala spiritus prorogetur:

​Debilem facito manu, debilem pede coxo,
Tuber adstrue gibberum, lubricos quate dentes;
Vita dum superest, benest; hanc mihi, vel acuta
Si sedeam cruce, sustine.

Quod miserrimum erat, si incidisset, optatur et tamquam vita petitur supplici mora.

GIF from life of Brian with man on cross singing "always look on the bright side of life"

Fourth Place is Still Better than You!

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Seneca, Moral Epistle 100.9

“Offer up someone you think is better than Fabianus. Sure, there’s Cicero , who has nearly as many books relevant to philosophy as Fabianus does. I’ll allow this, but it is no minor affair to be somewhat less than the best. Then there’s Asinius Pollio. I’ll grant that too and respond that it is impressive to be third after those two. Name Livy too, for he also wrote dialogues, which you can include as philosophy no less than history, alongside books that expressly contain philosophy. I grant Livy his place as well. Think, then, of how many authors Fabianus surpasses if he is inferior to only three, and three rhetorical greats as it is!”

adfer, quem Fabiano possis praeponere. Dic Ciceronem, cuius libri ad philosophiam pertinentes paene totidem sunt, quot Fabiani; cedam, sed non statim pusillum est, si quid maximo minus est. Dic Asinium Pollionem; cedam, et respondeamus: in re tanta eminere est post duos esse. Nomina adhuc T. Livium, scripsit enim et dialogos, quos non magis philosophiae adnumerare possis quam historiae, et ex professo philosophiam continentis libros; huic quoque dabo locum. Vide tamen, quam multos antecedat, qui a tribus vincitur et tribus eloquentissimis.

color photography of a black figure greek vase. nude youths on horseback in horse-race
C Painter (late work) – period / date: high archaic, ca. 560-550 BC

 

Sappho, Mother & Daughter

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Sappho Fr. 98A

My mother me
It was stylish in her day
To pin back your hair
With a purple headband.
That was the style.
But if a woman’s hair
Was more fair than fire
She fastened it with garlands
Made of blooming flowers.

Sappho Fr. 132

I have a lovely daughter
Who looks like golden flowers.
The beloved girl is Kleis.
I would not her
For all of Lydia . . .

Fr. 98A
.

. ] . θος· ἀ γάρ με γέννα[τ

σ]φ̣ᾶς ἐπ’ ἀλικίας μέγ[αν
κ]όσμον, αἴ τις ἔχη φόβα⟨ι⟩ς̣[
π̣ορφύρ̣ῳ κατελιξαμέ[να πλόκῳ,

ἔ̣μμεναι μά̣λα τοῦτο δ̣[ή·
ἀ̣λλ’ ἀ ξανθοτέραις ἔχη[
τ̣αὶς κόμαις δάϊδος προ[

σ]τεφάνοισιν ἐπαρτία[ις
ἀ̣νθέων ἐριθαλέων·

Fr. 132

ἔστι μοι κάλα πάις χρυσίοισιν ἀνθέμοισιν
ἐμφέρην ἔχοισα μόρφαν Κλέις ἀγαπάτα,
ἀντὶ τᾶς ἔγωὐδὲ Λυδίαν παῖσαν οὐδ’ ἐράνναν . . .

Stylized oil painting of a mother and daughter, somewhat abstract. One woman looks out at the viewer, the other turns to look at her
Max Beckmann. Mother and Daughter.
1946. Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Larry Benn has a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College, an M.Phil in English Literature from Oxford University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Making amends for a working life misspent in finance, he’s now a hobbyist in ancient languages and blogs at featsofgreek.blogspot.com.

“Give the Child a Book and Order Them to Read”

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Polybius, Histories 10.47 7-12

“There are many other examples which provide proof for this, but the clearest one of all is that from reading. In this case, if someone sets a person who is illiterate and unaccustomed to reading but not a fool and then place next to him a child who can read, give the child a book and order them to read what is written, it is clear that the man would not be able to believe that while reading one must first understand the image of each letter, then the value of its sound, and then the possible combinations with other letters, all things that require a great deal of time.

When he sees the child reading without pausing seven or five lines, he will not easily be able to believe that the child has not read the book before. He will straight out deny it if the reader observes the rhythm, the pauses, the rough breathings and the smooth breathings too. We should not bar for ourselves, then, anything which is useful because it appears to be difficult at first. No, we must use the force of habit, the means by which humans achieve all good things and even more so when it concerns the matters upon which our very safety depends.”

τοῦ δὲ τοιούτου λόγου παραδείγματα μὲν πολλὰ καὶ ἕτερα πρὸς πίστιν, ἐναργέστατον δὲ τὸ γινόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως. ἐπὶ γὰρ ἐκείνης, εἴ τις παραστησάμενος ἄνθρωπον ἄπειρον μὲν καὶ ἀσυνήθη γραμματικῆς, τἄλλα δ᾿ ἀγχίνουν, κἄπειτα παιδάριον ἕξιν ἔχον παραστήσας καὶ δοὺς βυβλίον κελεύοι λέγειν τὰ γεγραμμένα, δῆλον ὡς οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο πιστεῦσαι διότι <δεῖ> πρῶτον ἐπὶ τὰς ὄψεις τὰς ἑνὸς ἑκάστου τῶν γραμμάτων ἐπιστῆσαι τὸν ἀναγινώσκοντα, δεύτερον ἐπὶ τὰς δυνάμεις, τρίτον ἐπὶ τὰς πρὸς ἄλληλα συμπλοκάς, ὧν ἕκαστον ποσοῦ χρόνου τινὸς δεῖται.διόπερ ὅταν ἀνεπιστάτως θεωρῇ τὸ παιδάριον ὑπὸ τὴν ἀναπνοὴν ἑπτὰ καὶ πέντε στίχους συνεῖρον, οὐκ ἂν εὐχερῶς δύναιτο πιστεῦσαι διότι πρότερον οὗτος οὐκ ἀνέγνωκε τὸ βυβλίον· εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑπόκρισιν καὶ τὰς διαιρέσεις, ἔτι δὲ δασύτητας καὶ ψιλότητας δύναιτο συσσῴζειν, οὐδὲ τελέως. διόπερ οὐκ ἀποστατέον οὐδενὸς τῶν χρησίμων διὰ τὰς προφαινομένας δυσχερείας, προσακτέον δὲ τὴν ἕξιν, ᾗ πάντα τὰ καλὰ γίνεται θηρατὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἄλλως τε καὶ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων, ἐν οἷς πολλάκις κεῖται τὸ συνέχον τῆς σωτηρίας.

Image result for ancient greek child reading