Work with the text of Seneca "Moral Letters to Lucilius". Seneca, Lucius Annaeus - biography and works of Seneca letters to Lucilius analysis

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) So do, my Lucilius! Reclaim yourself for yourself, save and save the time that was previously taken from you or stolen, which wasted in vain. See for yourself that I am writing the truth: some of our time is taken by force, some is stolen, some is wasted. But the most shameful loss of all is our own negligence. Take a closer look: after all, we spend the largest part of our lives on bad deeds, a considerable part on idleness, and all our lives on the wrong things. (2) Will you show me someone who would value time, who would know what a day is worth, who would understand that he is dying every hour? That is our misfortune, that we see death ahead; and most of it is behind us, - after all, how many years of life have passed, all belong to death. So, my Lucilius, do as you write to me: do not miss an hour. If you hold today in your hands, you will be less dependent on tomorrow. It's not that as long as you put it off, your whole life will rush by. (3) Everything with us, Lucilius, is someone else's, only our time. Only time, elusive and fluid, was given to us by nature, but whoever wants it takes it away. Mortals, on the other hand, are stupid: having received something insignificant, cheap and surely easily reimbursable, they allow themselves to be charged; but those who have been spared time do not consider themselves debtors, although even those who know gratitude will not return the only time. (4) Perhaps you will ask how I act if I dare to teach you? I confess frankly: as a spendthrift, meticulous in calculations, I know how much I have squandered. I cannot say that I am not losing anything, but how much I am losing, and why, and how, I will say and name the reasons for my poverty. The situation with me is the same as with the majority of those who, not through their own vice, have come to poverty; everyone forgives me, no one helps. (5) So what? In my opinion, he is not poor for whom even the smallest remainder is sufficient. But you better take care of your property now: after all, it's time to start! As our ancestors believed, it’s too late to be thrifty when it’s left on the bottom. And besides, not only little, but also the worst remains there. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) And what you wrote to me, and what I heard, inspires me with considerable hope in your account. You do not wander, you do not disturb yourself by changing places. After all, such throwing is a sign of a sick soul. I think the first proof of peace of mind is the ability to live settled and remain with oneself. (2) But look: is not the reading of many writers and the most varied books akin to vagrancy and restlessness? One must remain for a long time with one or another of the great minds, nourishing the soul with them, if you want to extract something that would remain in it. Who is everywhere is nowhere. Those who spend their lives wandering end up with many hospitables, but no friends. The same will certainly happen to those who do not get used to any of the great minds, but run through everything in a hurry and hastily. (3) Food is of no use and nothing to the body if it is vomited up as soon as it is swallowed. Nothing is more harmful to health than the frequent change of medicines. The wound will not heal if you try different drugs on it. The plant will not get stronger if it is often transplanted. Even the most useful does not benefit on the fly. In many books only scatter us. Therefore, if you cannot read everything that you have, have as much as you can read - and that's enough. (4) “But,” you say, “sometimes I want to open this book, sometimes another.” - To taste many dishes is a sign of satiety, but an excessive variety of dishes does not nourish, but spoils the stomach. Therefore, always read recognized writers, and if you sometimes decide to be distracted by something else, return to what you have left behind. Every day, store something against poverty, against death, against any other misfortune, and after running through a lot, choose one thing that you can digest today. (5) I myself do this: out of many things I read, I remember one thing. Today, this is what I came across at Epicurus (after all, I often go over to a foreign camp, not as a defector, but as a scout): (6) "Merry poverty," he says, "is an honest thing." But what kind of poverty is this if it is cheerful? Poor is not the one who has little, but the one who wants to have more. Does it really matter to him how much he has in chests and bins, how much he grazes and how much he receives, and a hundred, if he covets someone else's and considers what is not acquired, but what still needs to be acquired? What is the limit of wealth, you ask? The lowest is to have what you need, the highest is to have as much as you have enough. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) You write that you gave the letters to a friend to pass on to me, and then you warn me not to share everything that concerns you with him, because you yourself are not in the habit of doing so. It turns out that in one letter you both recognize and do not recognize him as your friend. All right, if you used this word as a commonplace and called him "friend" in the same way that we call all applicants for elections "valiant men", or as a counter if we cannot remember his name, we welcome the address "Mr." (2) But if you consider someone a friend and at the same time do not believe him as yourself, then you are mistaken and do not know what true friendship is. Try to figure everything out together with a friend, but first figure it out in yourself. Having made friends, trust, judge before you make friends. Those who, contrary to the instructions of Theophrastus, judge, having fallen in love, instead of loving, having made a judgment, they confuse what should be done earlier, what later. Think for a long time whether it is worth becoming a friend to this or that, but having made up your mind, accept your friend with all your heart and speak with him as boldly as with yourself. (3) Live in such a way that you yourself will not be forced to admit anything that cannot be trusted even to an enemy. but since there are things that are customary to keep secret, share only with a friend all your worries, all your thoughts. You will consider it true - true and you will do it. Often they teach deceit by the fact that they are afraid of deceit, and by suspicion they give the right to be treacherous. Why can't I say certain words in front of a friend? Why should I not think that in his presence I am the same as being alone with myself? (4) Some people tell the first person they meet about things that can only be told to a friend, and to everyone, if only he would listen, they spread everything that they have boiled. Others are afraid that those closest to them would know something about them; these, if they could, would not trust themselves, which is why they keep everything to themselves. It should not be done this way or that way: after all, it is a vice to believe everyone and not to believe anyone, only, I would say, the first vice is nobler, the second safer. (5) In the same way, those who are always restless and those who are always calm deserve censure. After all, a passion for vanity is a sign of a spirit that is not active, but restless in constant excitement, and the habit of considering every movement painful is a sign not of serenity, but of effeminacy and licentiousness. (6) Therefore, keep in your mind the words that I read from Pomponius: “Some are so huddled in darkness that they do not see clearly everything that is illuminated.” Everything should be combined: both the lover of peace needs to act, and the active one needs to be at peace. Ask nature for advice: she will tell you that she created both day and night. Be healthy.

SENECA Lucius Annaeus(c. 4 BC - 65 AD) - an outstanding ancient Roman philosopher, representative of late Stoicism, writer, playwright, prominent statesman of his time. He was the ideologist of the Senate opposition to the manifestations of the despotism of the first Roman emperors. Under Claudius, he was sent into exile in Corsica, where he spent about eight years. Then he was the tutor of the future emperor Nero, during whose reign he reached the heights of power and wealth. In the 60s, he lost influence, the department was removed, and in 65, accused of involvement in the failed conspiracy of Piso, he committed suicide on Nero's orders.

The philosophical views of Seneca are closely related to ethics. They combine the ideas of Stoicism with elements of other teachings that affirm the ideal image of a sage who overcomes human passions, strives for spiritual perfection and, by his example, teaches people to resist the difficulties of life. Seneca's favorite theme is the desire for independence from external circumstances and following the wise obedience to fate. This was most clearly manifested in his "Letters to Lucilius", which, starting from the Renaissance, were highly valued by moral philosophers and had a noticeable influence on the development of European humanitarian thought of the Renaissance and classicism (XVI-XVIII centuries).

Letter I

• (1) So do, my Lucilius! Reclaim yourself for yourself, save and save the time that was previously taken from you or stolen, which wasted in vain. See for yourself that I am writing the truth: some of our time is taken by force, some is stolen, some is wasted. But the most shameful loss of all is our own negligence. Take a closer look: after all, we spend the largest part of our lives on bad deeds, a considerable part on idleness, and all our lives on the wrong things. (2) Will you show me someone who would value time, who would know what a day is worth, who would understand that he is dying every hour? That is our misfortune, that we see death ahead; and most of it is behind us, - after all, how many years of life have passed, all belong to death. So, my Lucilius, do as you write to me: do not miss an hour. If you hold today in your hands, you will be less dependent on tomorrow. It's not that as long as you put it off, your whole life will rush by. (3) Everything with us, Lucilius, is someone else's, only our time. Only time, elusive and fluid, was given to us by nature, but whoever wants it takes it away. Mortals, on the other hand, are stupid: having received something insignificant, cheap and surely easily reimbursable, they allow themselves to be charged; but those who have been spared time do not consider themselves debtors, although even those who know gratitude will not return the only time.
• (4) Perhaps you will ask how I act if I dare to teach you? I confess frankly: as a spendthrift, meticulous in calculations, I know how much I have squandered. I cannot say that I am not losing anything, but how much I am losing, and why, and how, I will say and name the reasons for my poverty. The situation with me is the same as with the majority of those who, not through their own vice, have come to poverty; Pse forgive me, no one helps. (5) So what? In my opinion, he is not poor for whom even the smallest remainder is sufficient. But you better take care of your property now: after all, it's time to start! As our ancestors believed, it’s too late to be thrifty when it’s left on the bottom. And besides, not only little, but the worst remains there. Be healthy.

Letter II. Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) And what you wrote to me, and what I heard, inspires me with considerable hope in your account. You do not wander, you do not disturb yourself by changing places. After all, such throwing is a sign of a sick soul. I think the first proof of peace of mind is the ability to live settled and remain with oneself. (2) But look: is not the reading of many writers and the most varied books akin to vagrancy and restlessness? One must stay long with one or another of the great minds, feeding the soul with them, if you want to extract something that would remain in it. Who is everywhere is nowhere. Those who spend their lives wandering end up with many hospitables, but no friends. The same will certainly happen to those who do not get used to any of the great minds, but run through everything in a hurry and hastily. (3) Food is of no use and nothing to the body if it is vomited up as soon as it is swallowed. Nothing is more harmful to health than the frequent change of medicines. The wound will not heal if you try different drugs on it. The plant will not get stronger if it is often transplanted. Even the most useful does not benefit on the fly. In many books only scatter us. Therefore, if you cannot read everything that you have, have as much as you can read - and that's enough. (4) "But," you say, "sometimes I want to open this book, sometimes another." - Tasting from a variety of dishes is a sign of satiety, while an excessive variety of dishes does not nourish, but spoils the stomach. Therefore, always read recognized writers, and if you sometimes decide to be distracted by something else, return to what you have left behind. Every day, store something against poverty, against death, against any other misfortune, and after running through a lot, choose one thing that you can digest today. (5) I myself do this: out of many things I read, I remember one thing. Today, this is what I came across at Epicurus (after all, I often go over to a foreign camp, not as a defector, but as a scout): (6) "Merry poverty," he says, "is an honest thing." But what kind of poverty is this if it is cheerful? Poor is not the one who has little, but the one who wants to have more. Does it really matter to him how much he has in chests and bins, how much he grazes and how much he gets per hundred, if he covets someone else's and considers what is not acquired, but what else needs to be acquired? What is the limit of wealth, you ask? The lowest is to have what you need, the highest is to have as much as you have enough. Be healthy.

Letter VI. Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

• (1) I understand, Lucilius, that I am not only changing for the better, but also becoming a different person. I do not want to say that there is nothing left to remake in me, and I do not hope so. How can there no longer be something that needs to be corrected, reduced or raised? After all, if the soul sees its shortcomings, which it did not know before, this indicates that it has turned to the best. Some patients should also be congratulated for feeling sick.
• (2) I want this change so quickly taking place in me to be transmitted to you too: then I would have even stronger faith in our friendship - true friendship, which neither hope, nor fear, nor self-interest can break, such as is kept until death, for which they are going to die. (3) I will name you many who are deprived not of friends, but of friendship itself. This cannot be the case with those whose souls are united by a common will and a thirst for honesty. How else? After all, they know that then they have everything in common, especially adversity.

You can't imagine how much every day, as I notice, moves me forward. - (4) "But if you have found anything and learned its benefits from experience, share it with me!" you say. “Why, I myself want to pour everything into you, and having learned something, I rejoice only because I can teach. And no knowledge, even the most sublime and beneficial, but only for me alone, will not give me pleasure. If they gave me wisdom, but with one condition: that I keep it to myself and not share it, I would refuse it. Any benefit is not to our joy if we possess it alone.

(5) I will also send you books, and so that you do not waste your time looking for useful things, I will make notes by which you will immediately find everything that I approve and admire. But more good than words would bring you the living voice of the sages and life next to them. It is better to come and see everything on the spot, firstly, because people trust their eyes more than their ears, and secondly, because the path of instructions is long, the path of examples is short and convincing. (6) Hc would have become Cleanthes' exact likeness of Zeno, had he only heard him. But he shared his life with him, saw the hidden, watched whether Zenon lives in accordance with his rules. And Plato, and Aristotle, and the whole host of wise men, who then dispersed in different directions, learned more from the mores of Socrates than from his words. Metrodorus and Hermarchus, and Polnen made great people not by the lessons of Epicurus, but by living with him. However, I call you not only for the sake of the benefit that you will receive, but also for the sake of the one that you will bring; together we give more to each other. (7) By the way, I have a daily gift for me. That's what I liked today at Hekaton: "You ask, what have I achieved? Became my own friend!" He achieved a lot, because now he will never be alone. And know: such a person will be a friend to everyone. Be healthy.

Letter XXXIV . Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(I) I rejoice and rejoice, and, shaking off my old age, I inflame like a young man when, from your deeds and letters, I understand how much you have surpassed yourself (because you have long left the crowd behind). If the farmer is pleased with the first fruit of the tree he has grown, if the shepherd is pleased with the growth of the flock, if everyone looks at his pet as if he considers his youth his own - what do you think those who have nurtured a natural gift in another should experience when they suddenly see ripened what was tender under their sculpting hands? (2) I claim you: you are my creation. As soon as I noticed your inclinations, I took up you, encouraged you, gave spurs and didn’t let you go slowly, every now and then I urged you on, and now I’m doing the same, but I encourage the one who runs and encourages me. (3) You ask what else I need. - Now-το and the most important thing will go. It is commonly said that the beginning is half the battle; the same applies to our soul: the desire to become virtuous is halfway to virtue. But you know who I'll call virtuous? A perfect and independent man, whom no force, no need can spoil. (4) This is what I see in you, if you are persistent in your efforts, if you act in such a way that between your deeds and words there is not only a contradiction, but also a discrepancy, if both are of the same coinage. Your soul is not yet on the right path if your actions do not agree with each other. Be healthy!

Letter LXII . Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) Those who want to show that a lot of things do not leave them time for free sciences lie. Such pretend to be busy, multiply things and take days from themselves. And I am free, Lucilius, free and belong to myself wherever I am. I do not give myself to affairs, but I give in for a while and do not look for reasons to waste a hundred in vain. Wherever I stop, I continue my thoughts and think in my soul about something that will save her. (2) Having betrayed myself to friends, I do not leave myself and for a long time remain not with those with whom time or civic obligations have brought me, but only with the best: to them I carry away with my soul, in whatever place, in whatever century they didn't live. (3) Demetrius, the best of people, is with me everywhere, and, moving away from those who shine with purple, I talk with him, half-dressed, and admire him. And how not to admire them? I see that he lacks nothing. Some may despise everything, no one can have everything. The shortest path to wealth is through contempt for wealth. Our Demetrius does not live as if he despised everything, but as if he ceded everything to the possession of others. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) So do, my Lucilius! Reclaim yourself for yourself, save and save the time that was previously taken from you or stolen, which wasted in vain. See for yourself that I am writing the truth: some of our time is taken by force, some is stolen, some is wasted. But the most shameful loss of all is our own negligence. Take a closer look: after all, we spend the largest part of our lives on bad deeds, a considerable part on idleness, and all our lives on the wrong things. (2) Will you show me someone who would value time, who would know what a day is worth, who would understand that he is dying every hour? That is our misfortune, that we see death ahead; and most of it is behind us - after all, how many years of life have passed, all belong to death. So, my Lucilius, do as you write to me: do not miss an hour. If you hold today in your hands, you will be less dependent on tomorrow. It's not that as long as you put it off, your whole life will rush by. (3) Everything with us, Lucilius, is someone else's, only our time. Only time, elusive and fluid, was given to us by nature, but whoever wants it takes it away. Mortals, on the other hand, are stupid: having received something insignificant, cheap and surely easily reimbursable, they allow themselves to be charged; but those who have been spared time do not consider themselves debtors, although even those who know gratitude will not return the only time. (4) Perhaps you will ask how I act if I dare to teach you? I confess frankly: as a spendthrift, meticulous in calculations, I know how much I have squandered. I cannot say that I am not losing anything, but how much I am losing, and why, and how, I will say and name the reasons for my poverty. The situation with me is the same as with the majority of those who, not through their own vice, have come to poverty; everyone forgives me, no one helps. (5) So what? In my opinion, he is not poor for whom even the smallest remainder is sufficient. But you better take care of your property now: after all, it's time to start! As our ancestors believed, it's too late to be thrifty when it's left on the bottom. And besides, not only little, but also the worst remains there. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) And what you wrote to me, and what I heard, inspires me with considerable hope in your account. You do not wander, you do not disturb yourself by changing places. After all, such throwing is a sign of a sick soul. I think the first proof of peace of mind is the ability to live settled and be yourself. (2) But look: is not the reading of many writers and the most varied books akin to vagrancy and restlessness? One must remain for a long time with one or another of the great minds, nourishing the soul with them, if you want to extract something that would remain in it. Who is everywhere is nowhere. Those who spend their lives wandering end up with many hospitables, but no friends. The same will certainly happen to those who do not get used to any of the great minds, but run through everything hastily and hastily. (3) Food is of no use and nothing to the body if it is vomited up as soon as it is swallowed. Nothing is more harmful to health than the frequent change of medicines. The wound will not heal if you try different drugs on it. The plant will not get stronger if it is often transplanted. Even the most useful does not benefit on the fly. In many books only scatter us. Therefore, if you cannot read everything that you have, have as much as you can read - and that's enough. (4) “But,” you say, “sometimes I want to open this book, sometimes another.” - Tasting from a variety of dishes is a sign of satiety, while an excessive variety of dishes does not nourish, but spoils the stomach. Therefore, always read recognized writers, and if you sometimes decide to be distracted by something else, return to what you have left behind. Every day, store something against poverty, against death, against any other misfortune, and after running through a lot, choose one thing that you can digest today. (5) I myself do this: out of many things I read, I remember one thing. Today, this is what I came across at Epicurus (after all, I often go over to a foreign camp, not as a defector, but as a scout): (6) "Merry poverty," he says, "is an honest thing." But what kind of poverty is this if it is cheerful? Poor is not the one who has little, but the one who wants to have more. Does it really matter to him how much he has in chests and bins, how much he grazes and how much he receives, and a hundred, if he covets someone else's and considers not what he has acquired, but what still needs to be acquired? What is the limit of wealth, you ask? The lowest is to have what you need, the highest is to have as much as you have enough. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) You write that you gave the letters to a friend to pass on to me, and then you warn me not to share everything that concerns you with him, because you yourself are not in the habit of doing so. It turns out that in one letter you both recognize and do not recognize him as your friend. All right, if you used this word as a commonplace and called him "friend" in the same way that we call all applicants for elections "valiant men", or as an oncoming one, if we cannot remember his name, we welcome the address "master." (2) But if you consider someone a friend and at the same time do not believe him as yourself, then you are mistaken and do not know what true friendship is. Try to figure everything out together with a friend, but first figure it out in yourself. Having made friends, trust, judge before you make friends. Those who, contrary to the admonition of Theophrastus, “judge by loving, instead of loving by making a judgment”, they confuse what should be done earlier, what later. Think for a long time whether it is worth becoming a friend to this or that, but having made up your mind, accept your friend with all your heart and speak with him as boldly as with yourself. (3) Live in such a way that you yourself will not be forced to admit anything that cannot be trusted even to an enemy. But since there are things that are usually kept secret, share only with a friend all your worries, all your thoughts. You will consider it true - true and you will do it. Often they teach deceit by the fact that they are afraid of deceit, and by suspicion they give the right to be treacherous. Why can't I say certain words in front of a friend? Why should I not think that in his presence I am the same as being alone with myself? (4) Some people tell the first person they meet about things that can only be told to a friend, and to everyone, if only he would listen, they spread everything that they have boiled. Others are afraid that even those closest to them know something about them; these, if they could, would not trust themselves, which is why they keep everything to themselves. One should not do this or that: after all, it is a vice to believe everyone and not to believe anyone, only, I would say, the first vice is nobler, the second safer. (5) In the same way, those who are always restless and those who are always calm deserve censure. After all, a passion for vanity is a sign of a spirit that is not active, but restless in constant excitement, and the habit of considering every movement painful is a sign not of serenity, but of effeminacy and licentiousness. (6) Therefore, keep in your mind the words that I read from Pomponius: “Some are so huddled in darkness that they do not see clearly everything that is illuminated.” Everything should be combined: both the lover of peace needs to act, and the active one needs to be at peace. Ask nature for advice: she will tell you that she created both day and night. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) Persevere in what you have begun, and hasten as much as you can, so that you may enjoy the perfection and peace of your soul for a longer time. There is also pleasure in perfecting it, in striving for peace; but you will experience a completely different pleasure, contemplating the spirit, free from corruption and blameless. (2) Do you remember what joy you experienced when, having removed the pretext, you put on a man's toga and were taken to the forum? Greater joy awaits you when you get rid of childish disposition and philosophy records you among the husbands. After all, even to this day, it is no longer childish age that remains with us, but, what is much more dangerous, childishness. And this is all the worse because we are honored as old men, although the vices of boys live in us, and not only boys, but also babies; because babies are afraid of trifling things, boys are afraid of imaginary things, and we are afraid of both. (3) Take a step forward - and you will understand that many things are not so scary just because they scare you the most. No evil is great if it is the last. Has death come to you? She would be terrible if she could stay with you, but she will either not appear, or will soon be behind, nothing else. (4) "It is not easy," you say, "to get the spirit to despise life." “But don’t you see for what petty reasons it is scorned with contempt? One hanged himself in front of his mistress's door, another threw himself from the roof so as not to hear the master's rage anymore, the third, on the run, plunged a blade into his stomach, only to not be returned. So do you think that virtue cannot do what excessive fear does? A quiet life is not for those who think too much about its extension, who consider it a great blessing to survive many consulates. (5) Meditate on this every day, so that you may part with indifference from life, to which many cling and cling, as if carried away by a stream, to thorny bushes and sharp stones. The majority is torn between the fear of death and the torments of life; pitiful, they do not want to live, and they do not know how to die. (6) Make your life pleasant, leaving all anxiety about it. No good will bring joy to the owner if he is not ready in his soul to lose it, and it is most painless to lose what it is impossible to regret, having lost. Therefore, strengthen your courage and temper your spirit against what can happen even to the most powerful. (7) Pompey was sentenced to death by a boy and an eunuch, Crassus by a cruel and insolent Parthian. Gaius Caesar ordered Lepidus to put his neck under the sword of the tribune Dextra - and he himself put it under the blow of Chaerea. No one has been so highly exalted by fortune that her threats were less than her connivance. Do not believe in a lull: in an instant the sea will be agitated and swallow up the ships that have just frolicked. (8) Consider that both a robber and an enemy can put a sword to your throat. But let high power not threaten you - any slave is free to dispose of your life and death. I will say this: whoever despises his own life has become the master of yours. Remember the example of those who died from domestic wiles, informed either by force or cunning, and you will understand that the wrath of the slaves killed no less people than the anger of the king. So what do you care about the power of the one you fear, if what you fear can be done by anyone? (9) So you fell into the hands of the enemy, and he ordered you to be led to death. But after all and so you go to the same goal! Why do you deceive yourself that you have only now comprehended what has always happened to you? I tell you: from the hour of your birth you go to death. We must think about and remember this constantly if we want to calmly wait for the last hour, the fear of which deprives us of peace at all other hours. (10) And so that I can finish the letter, find out what I liked today (and it was plucked in other people's gardens): "Poverty, in accordance with the law of nature, is great wealth." Do you know what limits this law of nature sets for us? To endure neither thirst, nor hunger, nor cold. And in order to drive away hunger and thirst, you do not need to climb haughty thresholds, endure gloomy arrogance or insulting friendliness, there is no need to try your luck at sea or follow the army. What nature requires is available and achievable, we sweat only for the sake of excess. (11) For his sake we wear out our toga, for his sake we grow old in camp tents, for his sake we are carried to foreign shores. And what is enough for us is at hand. Whoever is good in poverty is rich. Be healthy.