Find good teachers, then become one. Seneca, Epistles 3.25.4-7
Proper
development of moral character requires some interaction with others.
You cannot learn it by refusing to engage society. While the ethics
of a crowd are not safe to imbibe or imitate wholesale, neither is
the aspiring philosopher well-advised to run carelessly after
whatever his personal tastes dictate, when he is alone. You can wreck
with the group, on its terms, and alone, on yours. Temperance is
learned as you consciously avoid the wreck, however that happens: it
is generally easier to begin with help from those around you. Find
the right teachers! Then, become your own teacher.
Tu
nobis te, ut facis, fortem praesta et sarcinas contrahe; nihil ex his
quae habemus necessarium est. Ad legem naturae revertamur; divitiae
paratae sunt. Aut gratuitum est quo egemus, aut vile: panem et aquam
natura desiderat. Nemo ad haec pauper est, intra quae quisquis
desiderium suum clusit cum ipso Iove de felicitate contendat, ut ait
Epicurus, cuius aliquam vocem huic epistulae involvam. Prodest sine
dubio custodem sibi imposuisse et habere quem respicias, quem
interesse cogitationibus tuis iudices. Hoc quidem longe
magnificentius est, sic vivere tamquam sub alicuius boni viri ac
semper praesentis oculis, sed ego etiam hoc contentus sum, ut sic
facias quaecumque facies tamquam spectet aliquis: omnia nobis mala
solitudo persuadet. Cum iam profeceris tantum ut sit tibi etiam tui
reverentia, licebit dimittas paedagogum: interim aliquorum te
auctoritate custodi, aut Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius
aut alius cuius interventu perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent,
dum te efficis eum cum quo peccare non audeas. Cum hoc effeceris et
aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio, incipiam tibi permittere
quod idem suadet Epicurus: tunc praecipue in te ipse secede cum
esse cogeris in turba. Dissimilem te fieri multis oportet. Dum
tibi tutum non sit ad te recedere, circumspice singulos: nemo est cui
non satius sit cum quolibet esse quam secum. Tunc praecipue in te
ipse secede cum esse cogeris in turba; si bonus vir, si quietus,
si temperans. Alioquin in turbam tibi a te recedendum est: istic malo
viro propius es. Vale.
As
for yourself: be strong for us, as is your custom, and cast off the
material burdens that weigh you down. None of the things we possess
is necessary. Let us return to the law of nature. Her wealth is
already there for us, already ours. Anything we lack is either
superfluous, or easy to come by. Nature desires only bread and water.
Nobody is too poor for these things, and anyone who desires nothing
more is vying with Jove when it comes to achieving happiness, as
Epicurus remarks. I shall add his voice to this epistle, as to
others. It is definitely beneficial to impose on yourself a guardian
whose opinion you hold close, someone you can respect, someone whom
you regard as a meaningful reference for your own thoughts. An even
better recipe for greatness is living beneath the gaze of a good man
who is always spending time in your presence, but I am content here
with a half-measure: that you act in every case as though somebody
were watching. Solitude urges us to every sort of evil. Only when you
have learned to respect yourself properly will you be safe to dismiss
your guardian and teacher. Meanwhile, as you build yourself into the
kind of man in whose company you would not dare to sin, fortify your
position with the authority of others—be it Cato, or Scipio, or
Laelius (†), or someone else whose intervention has assisted lost
men in overcoming their vices. Once you have achieved sufficient
personal worship or honor, enough that you begin to respect your own
opinion of yourself, then I will allow you to practice the habit
Epicurus recommends: “When forced to be in a crowd, then especially
you should withdraw into yourself.” It
is right that you become different from the crowd. But as long as it
is not yet safe for you to withdraw into yourself, regard the
individuals you know: there is not a single one but would be better
off in others' company, however indifferent, than on his own.
“Withdraw into yourself most when you are forced to be in a crowd.”
This works if you are a good man, quiet and self-regulating.
Otherwise, you must flee solitude, withdrawing from it into the crowds,
as cultivating
your own company puts you too close to a bad man. Farewell.
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