Beyond Philosophy

Seneca continues describing Roman slavery, disapproving the haughty attitude that makes many masters keep distance from their slaves. Ironically, the distance is often more metaphorical than literal: the bad masters will share intimate space with servants, but they refuse to acknowledge the humanity of their servants in that space. If master and slave are together at table, then they must not be dining as equals. One is there to serve, the other to be served. This won't do, for Seneca. The outcome is a game of resentment, in which bad fortune is weaponized by master and slave alike, with each acting to harm rather than help the other. Alia interim crudelia, inhumana praetereo, quod ne tamquam hominibus quidem sed tamquam iumentis abutimur. Quod cum ad cenandum discubuimus, alius sputa deterget, alius reliquias temulentorum subditus colligit. Alius pretiosas aves scindit; per pectus et clunes certis ductibus circumferens eruditam manum frusta excutit, infelix, qui huic uni rei vivit...

Civilization requires us to inherit and transmit a material legacy that needs careful looking after. Tools won't use and repair themselves well if we neglect to maintain them. Proper maintenance requires us to think about what they were created originally to do (which does not imply that they won't or cannot do other things, of course, but Marcus thinks more about keeping old goods than adding new ones). Ὄργανον, ἐργαλεῖον, σκεῦος πᾶν εἰ πρὸς ὃ κατεσκεύασται ποιεῖ, εὖ ἔχει· καίτοι ἐκεῖ ὁ κατασκευάσας ἐκποδών. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ὑπὸ φύσεως συνεχομένων ἔνδον ἐστὶ καὶ παραμένει ἡ κατασκευάσασα δύναμις· καθὸ καὶ μᾶλλον αἰδεῖσθαι αὐτὴν δεῖ καὶ νομίζειν, ἐὰν κατὰ τὸ βούλημα ταύτης ἔχῃς καὶ διεξάγῃς, ἔχειν σοι πάντα κατὰ νοῦν. ἔχει δὲ οὕτως καὶ τῷ παντὶ κατὰ νοῦν τὰ ἑαυτοῦ. Every tool, instrument, or vessel is good, when it is applied to the task for which it has been prepared, even when the person who prepared it is long gone. While a tool lasts, its power to work remains sure, surviving wit...

Unamuno consistently portrays mankind as a tragic battle between the head, which is rational, and the heart, which is not. A good head might entertain rational arguments whose proper logical conclusion is a denial of God's existence, Unamuno thinks, but a good heart longs for life and consciousness, wanting these to abide, in us and in the universe. So the heart affirms God as long as it finds meaning and awareness in life, even if the head denies him, seeing how he resists reduction to rational proofs. The worst prospect here, for Unamuno, is that of a heart that does not affirm life, that does not want consciousness or purpose (such as our humanity requires) to abide. ¿Qué sería un universo sin conciencia alguna que lo reflejase y lo conociese? ¿Qué sería la razón objetivada, sin voluntad ni sentimiento? Para nosotros lo mismo que la nada; mil veces más pavoroso que ella. Si tal supuesto llega a ser realidad, nuestra vida carece de valor y de sentido. No es, pues, necesidad racio...

Seneca notices that Lucilius treats his servants as members of the family, and approves. What is the right way to be a boss, in modern terms, or an employer? Seneca would not advise quashing your subordinates. Libenter ex iis qui a te veniunt cognovi familiariter te cum servis tuis vivere: hoc prudentiam tuam, hoc eruditionem decet. Servi sunt. Immo homines. Servi sunt. Immo contubernales. Servi sunt. Immo humiles amici. Servi sunt. Immo conservi, si cogitaveris tantundem in utrosque licere fortunae. Itaque rideo istos qui turpe existimant cum servo suo cenare: quare, nisi quia superbissima consuetudo cenanti domino stantium servorum turbam circumdedit? Est ille plus quam capit, et ingenti aviditate onerat distentum ventrem ac desuetum iam ventris officio, ut maiore opera omnia egerat quam ingessit. At infelicibus servis movere labra ne in hoc quidem ut loquantur, licet; virga murmur omne compescitur, et ne fortuita quidem verberibus excepta sunt, tussis, sternumenta, singultus; m...

Marcus Aurelius does not want to cultivate the dissatisfaction that causes us to be always looking to replace things or people around ourselves, shopping for better fulfilment, more happiness, or whatever it is that leads us to seek our fate beyond what exists here & now. Find the best in your immediate reach & commit to it, for real (ἀλλ’ ἀληθινῶς). Οἷς συγκεκλήρωσαι πράγμασι, τούτοις συνάρμοζε σεαυτόν, καὶ οἷς συνείληχας ἀνθρώποις, τούτους φίλει, ἀλλ’ ἀληθινῶς. Put yourself in harmony with whatever circumstances fall to your lot, and love the people with whom you must face them, but you have to be earnest about it.

Unamuno asks why humans believe in God, and how we might make peace with our own personal mortality, in conditions where life appears to us as something indefinitely & even infinitely valuable. Acaso en un supremo y desesperado esfuerzo de resignación llegáramos a hacer, ya lo he dicho, el sacrificio de nuestra personalidad si supiéramos que al morir iba a enriquecer una Personalidad, una Conciencia Suprema; si supiéramos que el Alma Universal se alimenta de nuestras almas y de ellas necesita. Podríamos tal vez morir en una desesperada resignación o en una desesperación resignada entregando nuestra alma al alma de la humanidad, legando nuestra labor, la labor que lleva el sello de nuestra persona, si esa humanidad hubiera de legar a su vez su alma a otra alma cuando al cabo se extinga la conciencia sobre esta Tierra de dolor, de ansias. ¿Pero y si no ocurre así? Y si el alma de la humanidad es eterna, si es eterna la conciencia colectiva humana, si hay una Conciencia del Universo y...

Seneca thanks Lucilius for sending him a copy of a book the latter wrote. He praises the style of the book, offering also a little advice about how to speak, write, hear, and read well. Librum tuum quem mihi promiseras accepi et tamquam lecturus ex commodo adaperui ac tantum degustare volui; deinde blanditus est ipse ut procederem longius. Qui quam disertus fuerit ex hoc intellegas licet: levis mihi visus est, cum esset nec mei nec tui corporis, sed qui primo aspectu aut Titi Livii aut Epicuri posset videri. Tanta autem dulcedine me tenuit et traxit ut illum sine ulla dilatione perlegerim. Sol me invitabat, fames admonebat, nubes minabantur; tamen exhausi totum. Non tantum delectatus sed gavisus sum. Quid ingenii iste habuit, quid animi! Dicerem quid impetus! , si interquievisset, si intervallo surrexisset; nunc non fuit impetus sed tenor. Compositio virilis et sancta; nihilominus interveniebat dulce illud et loco lene. Grandis, erectus es: hoc te volo tenere, sic ire. Fecit aliquid et...