Letter 19On Worldliness and Retirement

The letter, part by part

Eight parts, following the website’s sections. Each has a short explanation and its key line. Open “Read this part in full” for the complete text. Tap a dotted word for its meaning.

1. Part 1

   Don’t parade your retreat, or hide it

   Seneca is delighted by Lucilius’s letters and urges him to drop his round of duties, or wrench himself free if he must. They have wasted enough time; in old age it is time, in his phrase, to pack up our baggage. But Lucilius shouldn’t make a show of his retirement, or vanish into hiding either. He is too well known to disappear anyway: his past work will keep shining after him.

   We have spent our lives on the high seas; let us die in harbour.

   In freto viximus, moriamur in portu.

   Paraded
   retiring as a show

   Hidden
   a hole to vanish into

   Quiet, in view
   Seneca’s middle way

   Read this part in full

   I leap for joy whenever I receive letters from you. For they fill me with hope; they are now not mere assurances concerning you, but guarantees. And I beg and pray you to proceed in this course; for what better request could I make of a friend than one which is to be made for his own sake? If possible, withdraw yourself from all the business of which you speak; and if you cannot do this, tear yourself away. We have dissipated enough of our time already; let us in old age begin to pack up our baggage. Surely there is nothing in this that men can begrudge us. We have spent our lives on the high seas; let us die in harbour.

   Not that I would advise you to try to win fame by your retirement; one’s retirement should neither be paraded nor concealed. Not concealed, I say, for I shall not go so far in urging you as to expect you to condemn all men as mad and then seek out for yourself a hiding-place and oblivion; rather make this your business, that your retirement be not conspicuous, though it should be obvious.

   In the second place, while those whose choice is unhampered from the start will deliberate on that other question, whether they wish to pass their lives in obscurity, in your case there is not a free choice. Your ability and energy have thrust you into the work of the world; so have the charm of your writings and the friendships you have made with famous and notable men. Renown has already taken you by storm. You may sink yourself into the depths of obscurity and utterly hide yourself; yet your earlier acts will reveal you. You cannot keep lurking in the dark; much of the old gleam will follow you wherever you fly.

2. Part 2

   What would you really leave behind?

   Leaving costs less than it seems. The clients who crowd Lucilius’s door want what he can hand out, not the man himself; when a rich old man changes his will, the morning-caller simply moves on to another door. So weigh it up: would he rather lose his true self, or just some of his things?

   None of these men courts you for yourself; they merely court something from you.

   Quorum nemo te ipsum sequitur, sed aliquid ex te.

   They court your purse, not you

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   Peace you can claim for yourself without being disliked by anyone, without any sense of loss, and without any pangs of spirit. For what will you leave behind you that you can imagine yourself reluctant to leave? Your clients? But none of these men courts you for yourself; they merely court something from you. People used to hunt friends, but now they hunt pelf; if a lonely old man changes his will, the morning-caller transfers himself to another door. Great things cannot be bought for small sums; so reckon up whether it is preferable to leave your own true self, or merely some of your belongings.

3. Part 3

   A ladder with no top

   Seneca wishes Lucilius had grown old in the modest station he was born to. His quick rise, his province and his post as procurator will only lead to bigger jobs, then bigger still. Desires come in a chain, each starting where the last one stopped, so the day you want nothing more never comes. Better to slip the yoke now than be rubbed raw by it for ever.

   There is a succession in our desires; for one begins where its predecessor ends.

   Altera ex fine alterius nascitur.

   A ladder with no top

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   Would that you had had the privilege of growing old amid the limited circumstances of your origin, and that fortune had not raised you to such heights! You were removed far from the sight of wholesome living by your swift rise to prosperity, by your province, by your position as procurator, and by all that such things promise; you will next acquire more important duties and after them still more. And what will be the result?

   Why wait until there is nothing left for you to crave? That time will never come. We hold that there is a succession of causes, from which fate is woven; similarly, you may be sure, there is a succession in our desires; for one begins where its predecessor ends. You have been thrust into an existence which will never of itself put an end to your wretchedness and your slavery. Withdraw your chafed neck from the yoke; it is better that it should be cut off once for all, than galled for ever.

4. Part 4

   Poor and full, or rich and hungry?

   Private life is smaller, but it fills you up; Lucilius’s present plenty leaves him empty. Wealth is greedy itself, and it draws other people’s greed too. If nothing is ever enough for you, you can never be enough for anyone else.

   Would you rather be poor and sated, or rich and hungry?

   Utrum autem mavis ex inopia saturitatem an in copia famem?

   Poor and full beats rich and hungry

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   If you retreat to privacy, everything will be on a smaller scale, but you will be satisfied abundantly; in your present condition, however, there is no satisfaction in the plenty which is heaped upon you on all sides. Would you rather be poor and sated, or rich and hungry? Prosperity is not only greedy, but it also lies exposed to the greed of others. And as long as nothing satisfies you, you yourself cannot satisfy others.

5. Part 5

   “But how do I get out?”

   Lucilius asks how he can leave. Any way he likes, says Seneca: he took big risks for money and rank, so he can take one for his freedom. Otherwise he will grow old in one post after another, with no escape. And as his position grows, so do his fears.

   All that is added to your successes will be added to your fears.

   Quantum ad successus accesserit accedet ad metus.

   Every gain adds a fear

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   “But,” you say, “how can I take my leave?” Any way you please. Reflect how many hazards you have ventured for the sake of money, and how much toil you have undertaken for a title! You must dare something to gain leisure, also,—or else grow old amid the worries of procuratorships abroad and subsequently of civil duties at home, living in turmoil and in ever fresh floods of responsibilities, which no man has ever succeeded in avoiding by unobtrusiveness or by seclusion of life. For what bearing on the case has your personal desire for a secluded life? Your position in the world desires the opposite! What if, even now, you allow that position to grow greater? But all that is added to your successes will be added to your fears.

6. Part 6

   Thunder on the highest peaks

   Seneca quotes Maecenas, who spoke from the very top of Roman power: storms gather on the highest peaks. He teases Maecenas for his showy writing, a fine talent spoiled by too much good fortune. Lucilius should shorten sail and keep close to shore now; Maecenas left it until too late.

   There’s thunder even on the loftiest peaks.

   Ipsa enim altitudo attonat summa.

   Storms strike the highest peaks

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   At this point I should like to quote a saying of Maecenas, who spoke the truth when he stood on the very summit: “There’s thunder even on the loftiest peaks.” If you ask me in what book these words are found, they occur in the volume entitled Prometheus. He simply meant to say that these lofty peaks have their tops surrounded with thunder-storms. But is any power worth so high a price that a man like you would ever, in order to obtain it, adopt a style so debauched as that? Maecenas was indeed a man of parts, who would have left a great pattern for Roman oratory to follow, had his good fortune not made him effeminate,—nay, had it not emasculated him! An end like his awaits you also, unless you forthwith shorten sail and,—as Maecenas was not willing to do until it was too late,—hug the shore!

7. Part 7

   Think whom you dine with, not what

   Seneca pays off his usual “debt” of a good saying with a line from Epicurus: choose your companions before your food, since eating without a friend is how a lion or a wolf lives. A busy great man can’t do that; his guests are whoever his slave-secretary picks from the crowd. He thinks favours win friends, but big favours can breed hatred.

   A dinner of meats without the company of a friend is like the life of a lion or a wolf.

   Sine amico visceratio leonis ac lupi vita est.

   Whom you eat with, not what

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   This saying of Maecenas’s might have squared my account with you; but I feel sure, knowing you, that you will get out an injunction against me, and that you will be unwilling to accept payment of my debt in such crude and debased currency. However that may be, I shall draw on the account of Epicurus. He says: “You must reflect carefully beforehand with whom you are to eat and drink, rather than what you are to eat and drink. For a dinner of meats without the company of a friend is like the life of a lion or a wolf.”

   This privilege will not be yours unless you withdraw from the world; otherwise, you will have as guests only those whom your slave-secretary sorts out from the throng of callers. It is, however, a mistake to select your friend in the reception-hall or to test him at the dinner-table. The most serious misfortune for a busy man who is overwhelmed by his possessions is, that he believes men to be his friends when he himself is not a friend to them, and that he deems his favours to be effective in winning friends, although, in the case of certain men, the more they owe, the more they hate. A trifling debt makes a man your debtor; a large one makes him an enemy.

8. Part 8

   Who receives matters more than what

   Don’t kindnesses make friends? Yes, says Seneca, if you choose who gets them and place them with care instead of flinging them about. His parting advice, while Lucilius is starting to own his mind again: think about who receives a gift before you think about the gift.

   It is more important who receives a thing, than what it is he receives.

   Magis ad rem existimes pertinere quis quam quid acceperit.

   Place your gifts; don’t scatter them

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   “What,” you say, “do not kindnesses establish friendships?” They do, if one has had the privilege of choosing those who are to receive them, and if they are placed judiciously, instead of being scattered broadcast.

   Therefore, while you are beginning to call your mind your own, meantime apply this maxim of the wise: consider that it is more important who receives a thing, than what it is he receives. Farewell.

The modern take

The website breaks Letter 19 into 12 lessons for today. I’ve grouped them into 4 themes; each lesson is summarised in plain words.

Read the website’s own translation and full breakdown

Words

Harder words and names from the letter, in the order they appear.

Lucilius

Seneca’s friend, to whom all these letters are written. A Roman knight who rose by his own effort, he was then procurator of Sicily.

pack up our baggage

Latin vasa colligere, the soldiers’ phrase for packing up kit to break camp. Here: getting ready to leave public life.

retirement

Latin otium: time free from public business, given to study and thought. Romans did not see it as idleness.

clients

Dependants of a powerful Roman. They called on their patron each morning and got favours, meals or money in return.

pelf

An old word for money, usually with a whiff of greed.

morning-caller

Latin salutator: a client making the dawn visit to a great man’s house. Many fawned on childless rich men, hoping for a legacy.

province

A territory outside Italy ruled by Rome. Lucilius’s was Sicily.

procurator, procuratorships

An official who ran the emperor’s finances and estates in a province. Lucilius held this post in Sicily.

succession of causes

The Stoic idea that fate is an unbroken chain of cause and effect. Seneca says desires form a chain in the same way.

galled

Rubbed sore, as a yoke rubs an ox’s neck.

sated

Fully fed; satisfied.

Maecenas

Gaius Maecenas (died 8 BC), Augustus’s right-hand man and patron of the poets Virgil and Horace. Famous for wealth and luxury.

Prometheus

A work by Maecenas, now lost. Seneca calls it a book; it may have been a play.

a style so debauched

A dig at Maecenas’s showy, twisted prose. Seneca pretends that a florid style and high office go together.

shorten sail

Take in sail to slow down when a storm is coming. Here: cut back your career.

injunction

A court order stopping someone from acting. Seneca jokes that Lucilius will go to law to refuse his “payment”.

debased currency

Coins with cheap metal mixed in. Seneca pays off each early letter with a good saying, and jokes that this one is not sound coin.

Epicurus

Greek philosopher (341–270 BC) who taught that a calm, pleasant life is the goal. Seneca quotes him often, though he led a rival school.

slave-secretary

Latin nomenclator: a slave who reminded his master of callers’ names and sorted out who was let in.

reception-hall

Latin atrium: the front hall of a Roman house, where clients waited each morning to greet their patron.

broadcast

Scattered widely, the way seed is flung by hand over a field rather than planted.