One of the many falsifications circulating during the Middle
Ages was a collection of letters exchanged between Seneca and St. Paul. Still,
but were under the influence of Stoic philosophy – Seneca of course more than
St. Paul – and convergent thoughts are therefore not surprising: sacer spiritus – spiritus sanctus. This
doesn’t mean that they have the same concept of god: for Seneca god reveals
itself in nature. This is not Spinoza’s deus
sive natura, but nature or better, mysterious places in nature, pointing
towards god as a kind of theophany or revelation of the divine. His description
of the awe nature can inspire is very much reminiscent of the way Romanticism
considered nature:
Percy Shelley, ‘Mont Blanc’.
The everlasting universe of things
Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,
Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom—
Now lending splendour, where from secret springs
The source of human thought its tribute brings
Of waters—with a sound but half its own,
Such as a feeble brook will oft assume,
In the wild woods, among the mountains lone,
Where waterfalls around it leap for ever,
Where woods and winds contend, and a vast river
Over its rocks ceaselessly bursts and raves …
I think Seneca would have liked this poem.
Ad Lucilium
epistulae morales, 41, 1-3
SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM
[1] Facis rem optimam et tibi salutarem si, ut scribis, perseveras ire ad
bonam mentem, quam stultum est optare cum possis a te impetrare. Non sunt ad
caelum elevandae manus nec exorandus aedituus ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi
magis exaudiri possimus, admittat: prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est.
[2] Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque
nostrorum observator et custos; hic prout a nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse
tractat. Bonus vero vir sine deo nemo est: an potest aliquis supra fortunam
nisi ab illo adiutus exsurgere? Ille dat consilia magnifica et erecta. In
unoquoque virorum bonorum
[quis deus
incertum est] habitat deus.
[3] Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam
altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli <densitate>
ramorum aliorum alios protegentium summovens, illa proceritas silvae et
secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque continuae fidem
tibi numinis faciet. Si quis specus, saxis penitus exesis, montem suspenderit,
non manu factus, sed naturalibus causis in tantam laxitatem excavatus, animum
tuum quadam religionis suspicione percutiet. Magnorum fluminum capita
veneramur; subita ex abdito vasti amnis eruptio aras habet; coluntur aquarum
calentium fontes, et stagna quaedam vel opacitas vel immensa altitudo sacravit.
rem optimam: `a
very good job’
salutaris –is: wholesome, salutary
quam: refers to bonam mentem
optare…impetrare: i.e. don’t wish (opto) and wait, but work to obtain (impetro) it
exoro (-are): to prayer
aedituus: guardian of a temple
ut nos…admittat: (In order) to give us entrance
simulacrum:
statue
exaudio: to
hear clearly (note the sarcasm in the whole sentence)
prope…intus est: cf. 1 Corinthians 3,16 and 2 Corinthians
6,16
prope a te:
near to you (litt. near seen from (a)
your point)
intus: within,
inside
prout: as far,
in the same degree
tractatus …tractat: there is a reciprocal relation
between god or sacred spirit and man
supra fortunam:
above one’s destiny
adiuvo adiuvi
adiutum (-are): to help, assist
erectus: noble
unusquisque:
everyone
quis…deus: Aeneid 8.352 `which god is uncertain, but there lives a
god’
Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis
frequens lucus et conspectum caeli <densitate> ramorum aliorum alios
protegentium summovens = si tibi occurerit (= appears) lucus frequens (=
full with) vetutustis (= old) arboribus et egressis (= rising above) solitam (=
usual, normal) altitudinem et summovens (= dispelling) conspectum caeli <densitate>
ramorum (= branches) aliorum protegentium (= covering) alios (ramos). Some
copyist has been nodding while writing this sentence and hence densitate (by the denseness) has been
supplied by Erasmus in his 1515 edition, but there are various other
emendations by other editors.
Illa…et…et…fidem tibi numinis facit: …makes/causes for you belief
in a divinity
proceritas –atis (f.): height, tallness
secretum: solitude
admiratio umbrae: astonishment about the shadow
in aperto: in the open air
specus –us (m.): cave
saxis penitus exesis: the stones being completely consumed, i.e.
the stones or rock which once filled the cave
suspenderit montem: holds up the mountain
laxitas –atis (f.): width, spaciousness
quadam religionis suspicione:
by some idea/sense of the divine (note that religio
often doesn’t mean `religion’.
percutio percussi percussum (-ere):
to strike, astound
capita: springs, sources
subitus: sudden (with eruptio)
abditus: hidden
aras habet: springs have always had some mysterious appeal and
hence altars were placed in their neighbourhood or, as the Celts did , sacred
objects were thrown into them.
aquarum calentium fonts: hot water springs were not only venerated,
but also exploited for what we would now call tourism, including lodgings and
shops.
stagnum: lake, pool
opacitas –atis (f.): shade, being hidden under a dense shade
altitudo- -tudinis (f.): depth
Translation by RICHARD M.
GUMMERE, PH.D. (1917)
1. You are doing an excellent
thing, one which will be wholesome for you, if, as you write me, you are
persisting in your effort to attain sound understanding; it is foolish to pray
for this when you can acquire it from yourself. We do not need to uplift our
hands towards heaven, or to beg the keeper of a temple to let us approach his
idol's ear, as if in this way our prayers were more likely to be heard. God is
near you, he is with you, he is within you. 2. This is what I mean, Lucilius: a
holy spirit indwells within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is
our guardian. As we treat this spirit, so are we treated by it. Indeed, no man
can be good without the help of God. Can one rise superior to fortune unless
God helps him to rise? He it is that gives noble and upright counsel. In each
good man
A god doth dwell, but what god know we
not.[1]
3. If ever you have come upon
a grove that is full of ancient trees which have grown to an unusual height,
shutting out a view of the sky by a veil of pleached and intertwining branches,
then the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot, and your marvel at
the thick unbroken shade in the midst of the open spaces, will prove to you the
presence of deity. Or if a cave, made by the deep crumbling of the rocks, holds
up a mountain on its arch, a place not built with hands but hollowed out into
such spaciousness by natural causes, your soul will be deeply moved by a
certain intimation of the existence of God. We worship the sources of mighty
rivers; we erect altars at places where great streams burst suddenly from
hidden sources; we adore springs of hot water as divine, and consecrate certain
pools because of their dark waters or their immeasurable depth.
The complete translation can
be read here:
