SenecaСенека

Illud autem vide, ne ista lectio auctorum multorum et omnis generis voluminum habeat aliquid vagum et instabile. Certis ingeniis immorari et innutriri oportet, si velis aliquid trahere quod in animo fideliter sedeat.

Distringit librorum multitudo; …

Probatos itaque semper lege, et si quando ad alios deverti libuerit, ad priores redi.

Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. You must linger among a limited number of master-thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.

And in reading of many books is distraction.

So you should always read standard authors; and when you crave a change, fall back upon those whom you read before.

Nemo non, cum alteri prodest, sibi profuit, non eo nomine dico, quod volet adiuvare adiutus, protegere defensus, quod bonum exemplum circuitu ad facientem revertitur …

… sed quod virtutum omnium pretium in ipsis est. Non enim exercentur ad praemium: recte facti fecisse merces est.

There is not a man who, when he has benefited his neighbour, has not benefited himself,—I do not mean for the reason that he whom you have aided will desire to aid you, …

… but that the reward for all the virtues lies in the virtues themselves.

For they are not practised with a view to recompense; the wages of a good deed is to have done it.

Благотворя ближним, мы, сами не замечая, делаем гораздо более для себя, чем для других.

… omne hoc quod vides, quo divina atque humana conclusa sunt, unum est; membra sumus corporis magni.

Natura nos cognatos edidit, cum ex isdem et in eadem gigneret; haec nobis amorem indidit mutuum et sociabiles fecit.

Illa aequum iustumque composuit; ex illius constitutione miserius est nocere quam laedi; ex illius imperio paratae sint iuvandis manus.

Societas nostra lapidum fornicationi simillima est, quae, casura nisi in vicem obstarent, hoc ipso sustinetur.

… all that you behold, that which comprises both god and man, is one—we are the parts of one great body.

Nature produced us related to one another, since she created us from the same source and to the same end.

Let us possess things in common; for birth is ours in common.

Our relations with one another are like a stone arch, which would collapse if the stones did not mutually support each other, and which is upheld in this very way.

… sic cogitandum tamquam aliquis in pectus intimum introspicere possit: et potest.

… and it is thus that we should think,—as if there were someone who could look into our inmost souls; and there is one who can so look.

Sic certe vivendum est tamquam in conspectu vivamus, sic cogitandum tamquam aliquis in pectus intimum introspicere possit: et potest.

Quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum? nihil deo clusum est; …

At any rate, it is thus that we should live,—as if we lived in plain sight of all men; and it is thus that we should think,—as if there were someone who could look into our inmost souls; and there is one who can so look.

For what avails it that something is hidden from man? Nothing is shut off from the sight of God.

… omne hoc quod vides, quo divina atque humana conclusa sunt, unum est; membra sumus corporis magni.

Natura nos cognatos edidit, cum ex isdem et in eadem gigneret; …

Magna et spatiosa res est sapientia; vacuo illi loco opus est; …

Quamcumque partem rerum humanarum divinarumque conprenderis, ingenti copia quaerendorum ac discendorum fatigaberis. Haec tam multa, tam magna ut habere possint liberum hospitium, supervacua ex animo tollenda sunt.

Sic effectum est ut diligentius loqui scirent quam vivere.

Audi quantum mali faciat nimia subtilitas et quam infesta veritati sit.

Wisdom is a large and spacious thing. It needs plenty of free room.

Thus, whatever phase of things human and divine you have apprehended, you will be wearied by the vast number of things to be answered and things to be learned. And in order that these manifold and mighty subjects may have free entertainment in your soul, you must remove therefrom all superfluous things.

… the result is that they know more about careful speaking than about careful living.

Let me tell you what evils are due to over-nice exactness, and what an enemy it is of truth!

Мудрость — предмет великий и обширный, она требует всего свободного времени, которое может быть посвящено ей.

Заметь, какое зло порождает чрезмерное мудрствование и как оно может быть опасно для истины.

Aeque praecepta bona, si saepe tecum sint, profutura quam bona exempla.

It is, that good precepts, often welcomed within you, will benefit you just as much as good examples.

The language of truth is simple.

… nam, ut ait ille tragicus, 'veritatis simplex oratio est', ideoque illam implicari non oportet; …

The language of truth is simple.

We should not, therefore, make that language intricate; since there is nothing less fitting for a soul of great endeavour than such crafty cleverness.

… ἁπλοῦς ὁ μῦθος τῆς ἀληθείας ἔφυ.

Tu quidem ita vive ut nihil tibi committas nisi quod committere etiam inimico tuo possis; sed quia interveniunt quaedam quae consuetudo fecit arcana, cum amico omnes curas, omnes cogitationes tuas misce.

As to yourself, although you should live in such a way that you trust your own self with nothing which you could not entrust even to your enemy, yet, since certain matters occur which convention keeps secret, you should share with a friend at least all your worries and reflections.

Puta itaque te non equitem Romanum esse sed libertinum: potes hoc consequi, ut solus sis liber inter ingenuos.

'Quomodo?' inquis. Si mala bonaque non populo auctore distineris.

Suppose, then, that you were not a Roman knight, but a freedman, you might nevertheless by your own efforts come to be the only free man amid a throng of gentlemen.

“How?” you ask. Simply by distinguishing between good and bad things without patterning your opinion from the populace.

Nec potest quisquam beate degere qui se tantum intuetur, qui omnia ad utilitates suas convertit: alteri vivas oportet, si vis tibi vivere.

And no one can live happily who has regard to himself alone and transforms everything into a question of his own utility; you must live for your neighbour, if you would live for yourself.

Если человек думает только о себе и ищет во всем своей выгоды, то он не может быть счастлив. Хочешь жить для себя, живи для других.

Sic vivamus, sic loquamur; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum.

Hic est magnus animus qui se ei tradidit: at contra ille pusillus et degener …

… qui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deos …

Let us live thus, and speak thus; let Fate find us ready and alert. Here is your great soul—the man who has given himself over to Fate; on the other hand, that man is a weakling and a degenerate who struggles and maligns the order of the universe and would rather reform the gods than reform himself.

Non quam multis placeas, sed qualibus stude.

Malis displicere est laudari.

Do not care how many, but whom, you please.

Не интересуйся количеством, а качеством твоих почитателей: не нравиться дурным — для человека похвально.

Sic gerere nos debemus, non tamquam propter corpus vivere debeamus, sed tamquam non possimus sine corpore; …

Istuc quoque ab Epicuro dictum est: 'si ad naturam vives, numquam eris pauper; si ad opiniones, numquam eris dives'.

Exiguum natura desiderat, opinio immensum.

We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, …

If you live according to nature, you will never be poor ; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.

… the demands of opinion are boundless.

Consumpsere se quidam, dum acta regum externorum componunt quaeque passi inuicem ausique sunt populi.

Quanto satius est sua mala extinguere quam aliena posteris tradere!

Quanto potius deorum opera celebrare quam Philippi aut Alexandri latrocinia ceterorumque, qui exitio gentium clari non minores fuere pestes mortalium quam inundatio, qua planum omne perfusum est, quam conflagratio, qua magna pars animantium exarsit!

Surely it is wiser to try to end one's own ills than to record for a coming generation the ills of others.

How much better to make one's theme the works of the gods than the robberies of Philip, or Alexander, or the other conquerors who earned their fame by the destruction of mankind !

… as truly scourges of humanity as a flood by which a whole plain has been inundated, …

… quaeris quo iaceas post obitum loco? quo non nata iacent.

Dost ask where thou shalt lie when death has claimed thee? Where they lie who were never born.

Ante senectutem curavi ut bene viverem, in senectute ut bene moriar; bene autem mori est libenter mori.

Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying ​well means dying gladly.

Прежде, чем достигнуть старости, я старался хорошо жить; в старости я стараюсь хорошо умереть; чтобы хорошо умереть, нужно умереть охотно.

… prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.

Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos; …

… sic animus magnus ac sacer et in hoc demissus, ut propius [quidem] divina nossemus, conversatur quidem nobiscum sed haeret origini suae; illinc pendet, illuc spectat ac nititur, …

God is near you, he is with you, he is within you.

This is what I mean, Lucilius: a holy spirit indwells within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our guardian.

… even so the great and hallowed soul, which has come down in order that we may have a nearer knowledge of divinity, does indeed associate with us, but still cleaves to its origin; on that source it depends, thither it turns its gaze and strives to go, …

… hic deos aequat, illo tendit originis suae memor.

Quid est autem cur non existimes in eo divini aliquid existere qui dei pars est?

Illa vero non est paupertas, si laeta est; non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est.

Indeed, if it be contented, it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

O egregiam artem! scis rotunda metiri, in quadratum redigis quamcumque acceperis formam, intervalla siderum dicis, nihil est quod in mensuram tuam non cadat: si artifex es, metire hominis animum, dic quam magnus sit, dic quam pusillus sit.

Scis quae recta sit linea: quid tibi prodest, si quid in vita rectum sit ignoras?

Ad alia multum, ad virtutem nihil; …

… sic liberales artes non perducunt animum ad virtutem sed expediunt.

O what marvellous skill! You know how to measure the circle; you find the square of any shape which is set before you; you compute the distances between the stars; there is nothing which does not come within the scope of your calculations.

But if you are a real master of your profession, measure me the mind of man! Tell me how great it is, or how puny! You know what a straight line is; but how does it benefit you if you do not know what is straight in this life of ours?

Very much in other respects, but nothing at all as regards virtue.

… so the liberal arts do not conduct the soul all the way to virtue, but merely set it going in that direction.

Onerat discentem turba librorum, non instruit …

A large library is apt to distract rather than to instruct the learner; it is much better to confine yourself to a few authors than to wander at random over many.

Quo innumerabiles libros et bibliothecas, quarum dominus uix tota uita indices perlegit? Onerat discentem turba, non instruit, multoque satius est paucis te auctoribus tradere quam errare per multos.

What is the use of possessing numberless books and libraries, whose titles their owner can hardly read through in a lifetime? A student is overwhelmed by such a mass, not instructed, and it is much better to devote yourself to a few writers than to skim through many.

Non sunt dii fastidiosi, non invidi: admittunt et ascendentibus manum porrigunt.

Miraris hominem ad deos ire? Deus ad homines venit, immo quod est propius, in homines venit: nulla sine deo mens bona est.

The gods are not disdainful or envious; they open the door to you; they lend a hand as you climb.

Do you marvel that man goes to the gods? God comes to men; nay, he comes nearer,—he comes into men.

No mind that has not God, is good.

… prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.

Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos; hic prout a nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat.

Bonus vero vir sine deo nemo est: …

God is near you, he is with you, he is within you.

This is what I mean, Lucilius: a holy spirit indwells within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our guardian.

As we treat this spirit, so are we treated by it. Indeed, no man can be good without the help of God.

Rursus voluntas non erit recta nisi habitus animi rectus fuerit; ab hoc enim est voluntas. Habitus porro animi non erit in optimo nisi totius vitae leges perceperit et quid de quoque iudicandum sit exegerit, nisi res ad verum redegerit.

Nor, again, can the will be right without a right attitude of mind; for this is the source of the will. Furthermore, such an attitude of mind will not be found even in the best of men unless he has learned the laws of life as a whole and has worked out a proper judgment about everything, and unless he has reduced facts to a standard of truth.

Si vis scire quam nihil in illa mali sit, compara inter se pauperum et divitum vultus: saepius pauper et fidelius ridet; nulla sollicitudo in alto est …

If you would know how little evil there is in poverty, compare the faces of the poor with those of the rich; …

… his troubles do not go deep down; even if any anxiety comes upon him, it passes like a fitful cloud.

Quae, ut scis, non semper retinenda est; non enim vivere bonum est, sed bene vivere.

For mere living is not a good, but living well.

… nam cum ita natura conparatum sit, ut altius iniuriae quam merita descendant et illa cito defluant, has tenax memoria custodiat, quid expectat, qui offendit, dum obligat?

… human nature is so constituted that insults sink deeper than kindnesses; the remembrance of the latter soon passes away, while that of the former is treasured in the memory …

'Non potest' inquit 'fieri' Theophrastus 'ut non uir bonus irascatur malis.' Isto modo quo melior quisque, hoc iracundior erit: uide ne contra placidior solutusque adfectibus et cui nemo odio sit.

Non est autem prudentis errantis odisse; alioqui ipse sibi odio erit. Cogitet quam multa contra bonum morem faciat, quam multa ex iis quae egit ueniam desiderent: iam irascetur etiam sibi. Neque enim aequus iudex aliam de sua, aliam de aliena causa sententiam fert.

Errantem per agros ignorantia uiae melius est ad rectum iter admouere quam expellere.

… meliorque tam sibi quam aliis faciendus non sine castigatione, sed sine ira; quis enim cui medetur irascitur?

It is impossible, says Theophrastus, for a good man not to be angry with bad men. By this reasoning, the better a man is, the more irascible he will be: yet will he not rather be more tranquil, more free from passions, and hating no one: …

No one, I affirm, will be found who can acquit himself. Every one when he calls himself innocent looks rather to external witnesses than to his own conscience.

When a man is wandering about our fields because he has lost his way, it is better to place him on the right path than to drive him away.

… but not by anger: for who is angry with the patient whose wounds he is …

Nemo sibi tantummodo errat, sed alieni erroris et causa et auctor est …

… no one can merely go wrong by himself, but he must become both the cause and adviser of another’s wrongdoing.

… longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla.

… the way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful, if one follows patterns.

… hominibus prodesse natura me iubet. Serui liberine sint hi, ingenui an libertini, iustae libertatis an inter amicos datae, quid refert? ubicumque homo est, ibi benefici locus est.

Nature bids me do good to mankind—what difference does it make whether they be slaves or freemen, free-born or emancipated, whether their freedom be legally acquired or betowed by arrangement among friends? Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a benefit: …

Nec de malignitate naturae queri possumus, quia nullius rei difficilis inventio est, nisi cuius hic unus inventae fructus est invenisse; quidquid nos meliores beatosque facturum est, aut in aperto aut in proximo posuit.

Nor can we complain that nature deals hardly with us, for there is nothing which is hard to discover except those things by which we gain nothing beyond the credit of having discovered them; whatever things tend to make us better or happier are either obvious or easily discovered.