No secrets. Seneca, Epistles 5.43
Seneca
explains to Lucilius that there is no such thing as securing all
information perfectly. People will know the things you are doing, and
even if they don't, you will. You are people, too. Don't make the
mistake of living in hiding from all the world, including yourself.
If something about your conduct shames you, confront it, fix it, and
move on.
Quomodo
hoc ad me pervenerit quaeris, quis mihi id te cogitare narraverit
quod tu nulli narraveras? Is qui scit plurimum, rumor. Quid ergo?
inquis tantus sum ut possim excitare rumorem? Non est
quod te ad hunc locum respiciens metiaris: ad istum respice in quo
moraris. Quidquid inter vicina eminet magnum est illic ubi eminet;
nam magnitudo non habet modum certum: comparatio illam aut tollit aut
deprimit. Navis quae in flumine magna est in mari parvula est;
gubernaculum quod alteri navi magnum alteri exiguum est. Tu
nunc in provincia, licet contemnas ipse te, magnus es. Quid agas,
quemadmodum cenes, quemadmodum dormias, quaeritur, scitur: eo tibi
diligentius vivendum est. Tunc autem felicem esse te iudica cum
poteris in publico vivere, cum te parietes tui tegent, non
abscondent, quos plerumque circumdatos nobis iudicamus non ut tutius
vivamus, sed ut peccemus occultius. Rem dicam ex qua
mores aestimes nostros: vix quemquam invenies qui possit aperto ostio
vivere. Ianitores conscientia nostra, non superbia opposuit: sic
vivimus ut deprendi sit subito aspici. Quid autem prodest recondere
se et oculos hominum auresque vitare? Bona conscientia turbam
advocat, mala etiam in solitudine anxia atque sollicita est. Si
honesta sunt quae facis, omnes sciant; si turpia, quid refert neminem
scire cum tu scias? O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem! Vale.
You
ask how I received your unpublished news? What messenger brought me
the tale you told to none? I had it from the one who knows most of
all: rumor. “What?” you say. “Am I become so important that I
can rouse rumor?” It isn't right to measure your significance by
looking back here, to your point of origin: look rather to the place
you now dwell. Whatever stands out in its local neighborhood is great
there. Importance thus has no fixed measure, or gauge: comparison
destroys or at least diminishes it. The ship that looms large in a
river becomes small at sea; a rudder huge on one ship is
small on another. Off in your province, away from the capital, you
are great, though not to yourself. What you do, how you dine, how you
sleep: these are objects of common inquiry, and commonly known. You
must live all the more carefully, on this account. Consider that you
will be happy only when you can live in public, since the walls of
your home will only cover you from the weather, not hide you away
from prying eyes. Wretched walls, which we most often want round us
not to keep our lives safer, but to keep our sins more secret. Let me state plainly the condition in which you find our character: you shall
hardly discover anyone who can live with open doors. We live in such
fashion that being suddenly or unexpectedly seen is the same as being
arrested, seized and held down. It is our conscience, rather than our
pride, that has made us put watchmen on the doors. What is the point
of hiding yourself away, shunning the eyes and ears of your
fellowmen? The good conscience summons a crowd cheerfully, but the
bad one is anxious and worried even in isolation. If you are doing
worthy work, let everyone know. If you aren't, why does it matter
that nobody else knows the shame you already feel? Miserable indeed
your life shall be, if you despise its nearest witness! Farewell.