Despise wealth. Seneca, Epistles 2.18.12-13
Seneca's
gods despise wealth. They don't need temples, offerings, worship,
obedience. Seneca urges Lucilius to imitate them in this, cultivating
a detachment from all material possessions that leaves him minimally
vulnerable to loss. Ideally, his soul should become utterly
immune to any strong emotion deriving from the acquisition or loss of
material goods, even those minimal goods necessary for his mortal
life. Contrast Seneca's position here with that of Unamuno: the Roman
worships deity not because he longs to live forever, but because he
admires the ability to live here and now without fear—without hope
even, as she is deceitful. Roman virtue requires committed action in
the present, and according to the authorities Seneca recognizes, this
happens best when we act boldly, without hesitation (intrepide).
A true Roman has always nothing to lose.
Incipe
ergo, mi Lucili, sequi horum consuetudinem et aliquos dies destina
quibus secedas a tuis rebus minimoque te facias familiarem.
Incipe cum paupertate habere commercium:
aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum finge deo. Nemo
alius est deo dignus quam qui opes contempsit; quarum possessionem
tibi non interdico, sed efficere volo ut illas intrepide possideas;
quod uno consequeris modo, si te etiam sine illis beate victurum
persuaseris tibi, si illas tamquam exituras semper aspexeris.
Begin
now to follow the custom
of these men, Lucilius, and
choose a few days during
which to separate yourself from your possessions, making
friends with bare necessity.
Begin to do business with poverty. "Dare despise all mortal
wealth: as
peer of gods invent thyself"
(†).
None is equal to any god except the man who has disdained riches. I
do not forbid you to possess them, but I wish to bring it about that
you possess them boldly. There is only one way for you to achieve
this: you must have persuaded yourself that you will live happily
without them; you must have learned to look upon them as being always
about to depart your life.
---
(†)
This line comes from Vergil's Aeneid
(8.364-365), an epic poem celebrating the mythological origins of the
Roman people and empire. The words Seneca quotes are uttered in the
story by Evander, a poor but virtuous king in the wilds of ancient
Italy who entertains the Roman hero Aeneas in a rude hut formerly
occupied by the divine Hercules (whose peer he invites Aeneas to
become).