Seneca: a lively bathhouse.

Noise disturbance is an evil rapidly having spread since the invention of loudspeakers and ghetto blasters, but it is not something new: an overcrowded city like Rome must have been a disaster for people insisting on a quiet surrounding. In Letter 56 Seneca describes the noises from the bathhouse above which he has an apartment. What is told with some irony seems to be an accurate description of what was happening there.  Of course Seneca, a true stoic, doesn’t care about all that noise.

LVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM

[1] Peream si est tam necessarium quam videtur silentium in studia seposito. Ecce undique me varius clamor circumsonat: supra ipsum balneum habito. Propone nunc tibi omnia genera vocum quae in odium possunt aures adducere: cum fortiores exercentur et manus plumbo graves iactant, cum aut laborant aut laborantem imitantur, gemitus audio, quotiens retentum spiritum remiserunt, sibilos et acerbissimas respirationes; cum in aliquem inertem et hac plebeia unctione contentum incidi, audio crepitum illisae manus umeris, quae prout plana pervenit aut concava, ita sonum mutat. Si vero pilicrepus supervenit et numerare coepit pilas, actum est. [2] Adice nunc scordalum et furem deprensum et illum cui vox sua in balineo placet, adice nunc eos qui in piscinam cum ingenti impulsae aquae sono saliunt. Praeter istos quorum, si nihil aliud, rectae voces sunt, alipilum cogita tenuem et stridulam vocem quo sit notabilior subinde exprimentem nec umquam tacentem nisi dum vellit alas et alium pro se clamare cogit; iam biberari varias exclamationes et botularium et crustularium et omnes popinarum institores mercem sua quadam et insignita modulatione vendentis.

in studio seposito: for one engaged in study

undique: from all sides

balneum (balineum): bath

propone tibi: imagine

in odium possent aures adducere: which can lead to hating one’s own ears

fortiores: rather strong men

manus plumbo graves:  the Romans used a kind of muffles with lead

iacto: to thrust, swing

gemitus gemitus (m.): groan (think of tennis games…)

retentum spiritum: breath hold in

sibilus: hissing

acerbus: harsh

hac plebeia unctione contentum: satisfied with that cheap oil (Seneca is referring to someone getting a cheap oil massage)

incidi incidi: to fall upon

crepitus crepitus (m.): clashing

illisae manus umeris: of a hand having been struck on the shoulders (i.e. the hand of the masseur)

prout: according as

pilicrepus: ballplayer (but score-shouter seems a better translation here)

pila: ball

actum est: it is done with the quietness

scordalus: a quarrelsome fellow

fur furis (m.): thief

deprehendo deprehendi deprehensum: to catch

piscina: swimming pool

salio salui saltum: to jump

rectae voces: normal voices

alipilus: one who epilates armpits

cogita: think of

tenuem et stridulam vocem (acc. resp.): with his thin and shrieking voice

quo sit notabilior: in order that he may be more distinctive

subinde: continually

vello (-ere): to pluck

ala: armpit

alium pro se clamare cogit: it must have been a rather painful experience

iam (cogita)

biberarius: seller of drinks

botularius: sausage-maker

crustularius: pastry-maker

popina: food sold at a cookshop

institor institoris (m.): peddler, broker

mercem sua quadam et insignita modulatione vendentis (= es): selling their ware with some own and specific melody

Translation by Richard Mott Gummere (1917)

1. Beshrew me if I think anything more requisite than silence for a man who secludes himself in order to study! Imagine what a variety of noises reverberates about my ears! I have lodgings right over a bathing establishment. So picture to yourself the assortment of sounds, which are strong enough to make me hate my very powers of hearing! When your strenuous gentleman, for example, is exercising himself by flourishing leaden weights; when he is working hard, or else pretends to be working hard, I can hear him grunt; and whenever he releases his imprisoned breath, I can hear him panting in wheezy and high-pitched tones. Or perhaps I notice some lazy fellow, content with a cheap rubdown, and hear the crack of the pummelling hand on his shoulder, varying in sound according as the hand is laid on flat or hollow. Then, perhaps, a professional comes along, shouting out the score; that is the finishing touch. 2. Add to this the arresting of an occasional roisterer or pickpocket, the racket of the man who always likes to hear his own voice in the bathroom, or the enthusiast who plunges into the swimming-tank with unconscionable noise and splashing. Besides all those whose voices, if nothing else, are good, imagine the hair-plucker with his penetrating, shrill voice, – for purposes of advertisement, – continually giving it vent and never holding his tongue except when he is plucking the armpits and making his victim yell instead. Then the cakeseller with his varied cries, the sausageman, the confectioner, and all the vendors of food hawking their wares, each with his own distinctive intonation.