Seneca

Question 1

[1] 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.

Answer 1

I am glad to learn, through those who come from you that you live on friendly terms with your slaves. This behooves/befits a prudent and erudite man like you. ‘they are slaves.’ No indeed they are men. ‘They are slaves.’ Nay comrades. ‘they are slaves.’ No indeed they are humble/lowly friends. ‘they are slaves.’ No indeed they are our fellow-slaves, if you reflect that fortune has equal rights over both slaves and free-men.

Question 2

[2] Itaque rideo 5 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.

Answer 2

In this way I laugh/smile at those who think/consider it unseemly to dine with his slave. Why except because the most arrogant custom surrounded the crowd of slaves standing around their master while he is dining? He (the master) eats more than he can hold, and with great greed loads his belly until it is distended and now ceases/is unaccustomed to the work of the belly, so that it is a greater task to bring out all the food than to ingest it.

Question 3

[3] At infelicibus servis movere labra ne in hoc quidem ut loquantur, licet; virga murmur omne 10 compescitur, et ne fortuita quidem verberibus excepta sunt, tussis, sternumenta, singultus; magno malo ulla voce interpellatum silentium luitur; nocte tota ieiuni mutique perstant.

Answer 3

But all this time the unlucky slaves are not permitted to move their lips not even to speak. Every murmur is suppressed by a rod, and even chance blows are not exempt, coughing, sneezing, sobbing; silence interrupted by any voice pays a great punishment; they are remaining hungry and silent all through the night.

Question 4

[4] Sic fit ut isti de domino loquantur quibus coram domino loqui non licet. At illi quibus non tantum coram dominis sed cum ipsis erat sermo, quorum os non consuebatur, parati erant pro domino porrigere cervicem,
15 periculum imminens in caput suum avertere; in conviviis loquebantur, sed in tormentis tacebant.

Answer 4

Thus it is the case that these (slaves) who may not talk in the presence of their master talk about their master. But those (slaves) who could speak not only in the prescence of their master but also with him, whose mouth was not stitched up, were prepared to extend their neck for their master, to avert the imminent danger on their own head; they were speaking at banquets but silent in torments/during torture.

Question 5

[5] Deinde eiusdem arrogantiae proverbium iactatur, totidem hostes esse quot servos: non habemus illos hostes sed facimus.

Answer 5

Finally, the same arrogant proverb/saying is touted, that there are as many enemies as slaves: we do not have enemies but we make them.

Question 6

[16] Non est, mi Lucili, quod amicum tantum in foro et in curia quaeras: si diligenter attenderis, et domi invenies. Saepe bona materia cessat sine artifice: tempta et experire. Quemadmodum stultus est qui equum empturus non ipsum inspicit sed stratum eius ac frenos, sic stultissimus est qui hominem aut ex veste
5 aut ex condicione, quae vestis modo nobis circumdata est, aestimat.

Answer 6

You need not, my Lucilius, search for friends only in the forum and in the court/senate: if you are diligently attentive/ diligent and attentive, you will find them at home as well. Good material is often idle without an artist: try it and experiment. As he is a fool who, when buying a horse does not his consider the horse itself but its saddle and bridle, so he is a very stupid man who values a man from either his clothes or from his rank which indeed is only a robe which clothes us.

Question 7

[17] ‘Servus est.’ Sed fortasse liber animo. ‘Servus est.’ Hoc illi nocebit? Ostende quis non sit: alius libidini servit, alius avaritiae, alius ambitioni, <omnes>, omnes timori. Dabo consularem aniculae servientem, dabo ancillulae divitem, ostendam nobilissimos iuvenes mancipia pantomimorum: nulla servitus turpior est quam
10 voluntaria. Quare non est quod fastidiosi isti te deterreant quominus servis tuis hilarem te praestes et non superbe superiorem: colant potius te quam timeant.</omnes>

Answer 7

‘he is a slave.’ But he is free in his soul. ‘he is a slave.’ Will this hurt him? Show me a man who is not (A slave): one is a slave to lust, one to greed, one to ambition, <all>, all to fear. I will give you as an example an ex-consul who is a slave to a hag, a millionare a slave to a slave-girl, I will show you young men of the noblest birth in servitude to pantomime actors: no servitude is more disgraceful than that which is voluntary. Therefore these disdainful things should not deter you from showing yourself as cheerful to your slaves and not proudly superior to them: let them respect you rather than fear you.</all>

Question 8

[18] Dicet aliquis nunc me vocare ad pilleum servos et dominos de fastigio suo deicere, quod dixi, ‘colant potius dominum quam timeant’. ‘Ita’ inquit ‘prorsus? colant tamquam clientes, tamquam salutatores?’ Hoc qui dixerit obliviscetur id
15 dominis parum non esse quod deo sat est. Qui colitur, et amatur: non potest amor cum timore misceri.

Answer 8

Some may say that i am now calling slaves to the liberty-call and casting masters down from their high estate, because I said, ‘let them respect their master instead of fearing him.’ They say, ‘exactly in this way, are slaves going to pay their respects like clients or like visitors?’ Anyone who might say this forgets that what is enough for a god cannot be too little for a master. what is respected is also loved: and love cannot be mingled with fear.

Question 9

[19] Rectissime ergo facere te iudico quod timeri a servis tuis non vis, quod verborum castigatione uteris: verberibus muta admonentur. Non quidquid nos offendit et laedit; sed ad rabiem cogunt pervenire deliciae, ut quidquid non ex voluntate respondit iram evocet.

Answer 9

Therefore, I judge you that you act most rightly because you do not want to be feared by your slave, because you use lashings of words: only dumb animals are admonished by floggings. not everything that offends us that harms us; but indulgences drive us to reach madness, so that whatever does not respond according to one’s will evokes anger.

Question 10

[20] Regum nobis induimus
20 animos; nam illi quoque obliti et suarum virium et imbecillitatis alienae sic excandescunt, sic saeviunt, quasi iniuriam acceperint, a cuius rei periculo illos fortunae suae magnitudo tutissimos praestat. Nec hoc ignorant, sed occasionem nocendi captant querendo; acceperunt iniuriam ut facerent.

Answer 10

We put on the spirits of kings; for they too forgetful alike both of their own strength and of other men’s weakness grow hot with rage, as if they have received an injury, though the magnitude of their station keeps them entirely safe from danger of such a thing. And they are not ignorant of this, but they seize an opportunity to do harm by complaining; They claim that they have received an injury in order to inflict one.

Question 11

[21] Diutius te morari nolo; non est enim tibi exhortatione opus. Hoc habent inter 25 cetera boni mores: placent sibi, permanent. Levis est malitia, saepe mutatur, non in melius sed in aliud. Vale.

Answer 11

I do not wish to delay you any longer; for you have no need for exhortation. This among other things is a quality good character has: they please themselves, they endure. Badness is fickle, frequently changing, not into something better but into something different. Farewell.