Bad Questions. Seneca, Moral Epistles 48B.10-11
~ Seneca does not like approaches to philosophy that render it as a matter of chopping logic, interrogating syntax, articulating universal grammars. For him, this is weak sauce: insufficient to nourish strong minds. ~
Pudet dicere contra fortunam militaturis quae porrigant tela, quemadmodum illos subornent. Hac ad summum bonum itur? per istud philosophiae sive nive et turpes infamesque etiam ad album sedentibus exceptiones? Quid enim aliud agitis, cum eum quem interrogatis scientes in fraudem inducitis, quam ut formula cecidisse videatur? Sed quemadmodum illos praetor, sic hos philosophia in integrum restituit. Quid disceditis ab ingentibus promissis et grandia locuti, effecturos vos ut non magis auri fulgor quam gladii praestringat oculos meos, ut ingenti constantia et quod omnes optant et quod omnes timent calcem, ad grammaticorum elementa descenditis? Quid dicitis?
sic itur ad astra.
Hoc enim est quod mihi philosophia promittit, ut parem deo faciat; ad hoc invitatus sum, ad hoc veni: fidem praesta.
It's a real shame to speak out against fortune, telling future soldiers what weapons to carry, how to wield them. Is such discourse any way to attain the highest good in life, then? Yea or nay? This or that? Cavils & quibbles! Aren't these inquiries just adding notoriously obscene restrictions to those who sit on philosophy's roster? When you employ such questions against a man, leading him deliberately into error, what are you doing beyond making his downfall appear as a consequence of your rules? Philosophy's rule, in contrast, is like the praetor's: she makes men whole, not yea- & naysaying parts. Why are you running away from great promises & proclamations, that you would make my eyes as indifferent to the glint of gold as to the shining sword? Why descend from such heights, the end of life's race that all men love and fear, to wallow in the grammarians' most basic lessons? What are you saying?
Here's the way to reach the stars (†).
This what philosophy promises me, that she will make me a peer to gods. This is what she invited me for, and this is why I have come to her. Keep the faith that she has given. Show it where I can see.
macte nova virtute, puer, sic itur ad astra,
Well done, boy! Thy first man's work.
Pudet dicere contra fortunam militaturis quae porrigant tela, quemadmodum illos subornent. Hac ad summum bonum itur? per istud philosophiae sive nive et turpes infamesque etiam ad album sedentibus exceptiones? Quid enim aliud agitis, cum eum quem interrogatis scientes in fraudem inducitis, quam ut formula cecidisse videatur? Sed quemadmodum illos praetor, sic hos philosophia in integrum restituit. Quid disceditis ab ingentibus promissis et grandia locuti, effecturos vos ut non magis auri fulgor quam gladii praestringat oculos meos, ut ingenti constantia et quod omnes optant et quod omnes timent calcem, ad grammaticorum elementa descenditis? Quid dicitis?
sic itur ad astra.
Hoc enim est quod mihi philosophia promittit, ut parem deo faciat; ad hoc invitatus sum, ad hoc veni: fidem praesta.
This what philosophy promises me, that she will make me a peer to gods. This is what she invited me for, and this is why I have come to her. Keep the faith that she has given. Show it where I can see.
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(†) This line comes from Vergil's Aeneid, where it occurs in the mouth of Apollo, who is congratulating Aeneas' son Iulus for a kill-shot dedicated to Jupiter, in the midst of a failed Latin attempt to storm the Trojans' camp.macte nova virtute, puer, sic itur ad astra,
dis genite et geniture deos. iure omnia bella
gente sub Assaraci fato ventura resident,
nec te Troia capit.
Well done, boy! Thy first man's work.
Here lies the road to heaven!
Godspawn, and shalt yet get gods!
All the wars in days to come
Fall bound by fate's decree
Assaracus' sons will rule each one
And Troy shall not take thee.
Aeneid 9.641-4
Seneca alludes elsewhere to the star-road as one that heroes travel, on the way to immortality: it appears throughout one of his tragedies, Hercules Furens.
Seneca alludes elsewhere to the star-road as one that heroes travel, on the way to immortality: it appears throughout one of his tragedies, Hercules Furens.