Going it alone. Seneca, Epistles 1.9.1-3

Seneca writes to Lucilius about the life and character of the sage, a favorite topic in ancient philosophy. Here the discussion is specifically about friendship: what is its place in the life of a wise person? Do we need friends? Or are they merely pleasant? <Latin>.

An merito reprehendat in quadam epistula Epicurus eos qui dicunt sapientem se ipso esse contentum et propter hoc amico non indigere, desideras scire. Hoc obicitur Stilboni ab Epicuro et iis quibus summum bonum visum est animus inpatiens.

In ambiguitatem incidendum est, si exprimere ἀπάθειαν uno verbo cito voluerimus et impatientiam dicere; poterit enim contrarium ei quod significare volumus intellegi. Nos eum volumus dicere qui respuat omnis mali sensum: accipietur is qui nullum ferre possit malum. Vide ergo num satius sit aut invulnerabilem animum dicere aut animum extra omnem patientiam positum.

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.

You want to know whether Epicurus is right, in one of his epistles, to disagree with those who say that a wise man is content with his own company and does not require any friends. Epicurus offers this rebuke to Stilbon, and to others who value an untroubled mind as our greatest asset.

There is an ambiguity to confront here: should we express the Greek word apathy directly with Latin impatience? The latter might be understood to say the opposite of what we want to indicate. We desire the word to describe someone immune to every bad feeling, but it will be taken to indicate a person incapable of enduring anything wrong. Consider, then, whether it is too much to say that Stilbon finds our greatest asset to be an invulnerable mind, or a mind placed beyond all suffering.

Here is the difference between us and the foes of Epicurus: our sage conquers every discomfort but still feels it; theirs does not even feel. We agree that the sage is content with himself, but ours still wants to have a friend, a neighbor, a tent-mate in life's camp, although he is enough for himself on his own.