Seneca ad Lucilum 1.1 Dont waste your time!

Seneca  (around 4 BC - 65 AD) was the richest man of his age and so had enough time to read and write. Opinions have differed about him: `That eloquent moral weakling,, the advisor through his works of thousands of better men than himself' was the verdict of H.J. Rose in his handbook on Latin literature. I feel some sympathy for this statement, but still, Seneca had to say something  useful now and then. The following  text is the first letter in his collection of letters to Lucilius, who may or may not have been just  an imaginairy addressee. In this letter Seneca tells us not to waste our time. In this he had a point, I think....

I. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM
[1] Ita fac, mi Lucili: vindica te tibi, et tempus quod adhuc aut auferebatur aut subripiebatur aut excidebat collige et serva. Persuade tibi hoc sic esse ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus. [2] Quem mihi dabis qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat, qui diem aestimet, qui intellegat se cotidie mori? In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus: magna pars eius iam praeterit; quidquid aetatis retro est mors tenet. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te scribis, omnes horas complectere; sic fiet ut minus ex crastino pendeas, si hodierno manum inieceris. [3] Dum differtur vita transcurrit. Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est; in huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit, ex qua expellit quicumque vult. Et tanta stultitia mortalium est ut quae minima et vilissima sunt, certe reparabilia, imputari sibi, cum impetravere, patiantur, nemo se iudicet quicquam debere qui tempus accepit, cum interim hoc unum est quod ne gratus quidem potest reddere.  [4] Interrogabis fortasse quid ego faciam qui tibi ista praecipio. Fatebor ingenue: quod apud luxuriosum sed diligentem evenit, ratio mihi constat impensae. Non possum dicere nihil perdere, sed quid perdam et quare et quemadmodum dicam; causas paupertatis meae reddam. Sed evenit mihi quod plerisque non suo vitio ad inopiam redactis: omnes ignoscunt, nemo succurrit. [5] Quid ergo est? non puto pauperem, cui quantulumcumque superest, sat est; tu tamen -  malo - serves tua, et bono tempore incipies. Nam ut visum est maioribus nostris, 'sera parsimonia in fundo est'; non enim tantum minimum in imo sed pessimum remanet. Vale.

1.         vindico (1): to protect

            tempus quod adhuc:     the time, which has thusfar

aufero (3): to take away

subripio (3): to snatch

excido (3): escape, slip out

iactura: loss

2          Quem mihi dabis, qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat: Whom shall  you show me, who puts some price on time. i.e. who values time.

attendo (3): to pay attention

male agentibus; `while doing something bad’ an abl.abs. with `nobis’ understood

aliud: someting unimportant

praetereo: to pass by

qui intellegat se cotidie mori: i.e. because every day we come closer to our death

In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus: magna pars eius iam praeterit; quidquid aetatis retro est mors tenet. i.e. our past already belongs to death.

praeterit = praeteriit

quidquid aetatis retro: what of our life is behind us

complecto (3): to embrace

sic fiet: may it thus happen

ut minus ex crastino pendeas: that you would be less depending on tomorrow

hodiernuo (tempori) on todays’ time

manum inicere (3) : to put your hands on

3.         diferro : to postpone

transcurro: pass by

alienus: not one’s own

in huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit. In English the wordorder would be:  natura misit nos in possessionem huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae. Mind the way of saying: nature has sent us to the possession of that fugative and slippery thing.  We would  say: nature has sent us the possession etc, but Senaca may also have written it because it is a reciprocal thing: we posses time, yes, but time also possesses us.

ex qua (nos) expellit quicumque vult: from which he expells us, whoever wants.

villisimus: most worthless

imputari sibi cum impetravere, patiantur: .`they allow (patiantur) for them (these things)  to be put on the reckoning, once they have obtained it (impetravere= impetraverunt.’i.e. if someone gives you something, you have to give a gift back at some time.

gratus; a grateful person

4.         ingenue: openly, freely

quod apud luxuriosum sed diligentem evenit, ratio mihi constat impensae. What happens to a rich but careful person, my expense account balances.

causas paupertatis meae reddam: how moving to hear that from the richest man of Rome!

causas reddo (3) : give reasons

Sed evenit mihi quod  (evenit) plerisque non suo vitio ad inopiam redactis

non suo vitio: not by their own fault

ad inopiam redigo (3): to reduce to poverty

ignosco (3): excuse

5          non puto pauperem, cui quantulumcumque superest, sat est; I do not reckon him poor, for whom whatever little has survivd, is enough.

malo: from malle, not malus!

'sera parsimonia in fundo est' (cf. Hesiod Erga, 369). Parsimony is too late (once one) is in the bottom. `Parsimony when the bottom  is in sight, is too late’

imus: the lowest, deepest, last