Give yourself limits. Seneca, Epistles 2.15.9-11
Seneca
ends his discussion of health with an admonition to avoid living for
future outcomes. We should gratefully enjoy, and share, goods that we
have rather than forge splendid plans for future goods that may prove
illusory.
Detraxi
tibi non pusillum negotii: una mercedula et unum Graecum
ad haec beneficia accedet. Ecce insigne praeceptum: stulta vita
ingrata est, trepida; tota in futurum fertur. Quis hoc inquis
dicit? idem qui supra. Quam tu nunc vitam dici existimas stultam?
Babae et Isionis? Non ita est: nostra dicitur, quos caeca cupiditas
in nocitura, certe numquam satiatura praecipitat, quibus si quid
satis esse posset, fuisset, qui non cogitamus quam iucundum sit nihil
poscere, quam magnificum sit plenum esse nec ex fortuna pendere.
Subinde itaque, Lucili, quam multa sis consecutus recordare;
cum aspexeris quot te antecedant, cogita quot sequantur. Si vis
gratus esse adversus deos et adversus vitam tuam, cogita quam multos
antecesseris. Quid tibi cum ceteris? te ipse antecessisti. Finem
constitue, quem transire ne possis quidem si velis;
discedant aliquando ista insidiosa bona et sperantibus meliora quam
assecutis. Si quid in illis esset solidi, aliquando et implerent:
nunc haurientium sitim concitant. Mittantur
(†)
speciosi apparatus; et quod futuri temporis incerta sors
volvit, quare potius a fortuna impetrem ut det, quam a me ne petam?
Quare autem petam? oblitus fragilitatis humanae congeram? in quid
laborem? Ecce hic dies ultimus est; ut non sit, prope ab ultimo est.
Vale.
I
have already claimed no insignificant part of your day. I shall pay
for it now, topping your wage with a little Greek aphorism. Behold
this remarkable precept: "The fool's life is ungrateful, and
fearful: everything in it looks toward the future." "Who
says this?" you ask. The same source as before. Whose life do
you suppose is being called foolish? Baba's? Isio's? (‡)
No! The fool's life is ours. We are the idiots driven to harm by
blind desire, plunging headlong after lusts that cannot be
satisfied. For if our lust could be quenched, that would have already
happened, and we would not fail to notice how pleasant it is to
demand nothing, how wonderful to have enough already, and expect no
outcome from fortune. Remind yourself always, Lucilius, that you are
just one in a long series of events. When you look back on all the
things that precede you, consider how many shall follow after. If you
wish to be grateful before the gods, and the prospect of your own
life, think how many people shall come after you. What does your
identity matter in such a crowd? Even now, you are not now what you
once were. Give yourself limits, then, beyond which you would not go,
even if you could. Shun the treacherous goods that lure others, who
hope for better than what they have. If there were any real hope in
these goods, we would see it every now and then, but all they
actually do is stir up thirst in the desperate. Put aside your
splendid preparations. And as for the future outcomes that
uncertainty holds in her shaky hands: why would I demand from fortune
what I do not ask of myself? Why should I ask it at all? Do I really
want to blow my wad right now, forgetful of human weakness? To what
purpose? See here: this day is our last. Even
if it isn't, the end is always near. Farewell.
---
(†)
The MSS have imitantur here;
I have accepted Madvig's emendation, though part of me would really
like to discover the authenticity of imitantur speciosi
apparatus.
(‡)
I am not sure who Baba and Isio are, but their names put me in mind
of two old slaves.