"He is the true freeman who has escaped from bondage to self. That slavery is constant, from it there is no deliverance."
— Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (c. 4 B.C. - A.D. 65)
Work Title
Date
c. 65 A.D.
Metaphor
"He is the true freeman who has escaped from bondage to self. That slavery is constant, from it there is no deliverance."
Metaphor in Context
The principal thing is to have life on the very lips, ready to issue when summoned. This makes a man free, not by right of Roman citizenship, but by right of nature. He is the true freeman who has escaped from bondage to self. That slavery is constant, from it there is no deliverance; it presses us day and night alike, without pause, without respite. To be a slave to self is the most grievous kind of slavery; yet its fetters may easily be struck off, if you will but cease to make large demands upon yourself, if you will cease to seek a personal reward for your services, and if you will set clearly before you your nature and your time of life, even though it be the bloom of youth; if you will say to yourself, Why do I rave, and pant, and sweat? Why do I ply the earth? why do I haunt the forum? Man needs but little, nor needs that little long.
(III, p. 113)
Quid est praecipuum? Altos supra fortuita spiritus tollere, hominis meminisse, ut, siue felix eris, scias hoc non futurum diu, siue infelix, scias hoc te non esse, si non putes. Quid est praecipuum? In primis labris animam habere: haec res efficit non e iure Quiritium liberum sed e iure naturae. Liber est autem, qui seruitutem suam effugit: haec est assidua et ineluctabilis et per diem ac noctem aequaliter premens, sine interuallo, sine commeatu. Sibi seruire grauissima est seruitus: quam discutere facile est, si desieris multa te poscere, si desieris tibi referre mercedem, si ante oculos et naturam tuam posueris et aetatem, licet prima sit, ac tibi ipse dixeris: Quid insanio? quid anhelo? quid sudo? quid terram, quid forum uerso? Nec multo opus est nec diu.
(III, Pref, 15-17)
(III, p. 113)
Quid est praecipuum? Altos supra fortuita spiritus tollere, hominis meminisse, ut, siue felix eris, scias hoc non futurum diu, siue infelix, scias hoc te non esse, si non putes. Quid est praecipuum? In primis labris animam habere: haec res efficit non e iure Quiritium liberum sed e iure naturae. Liber est autem, qui seruitutem suam effugit: haec est assidua et ineluctabilis et per diem ac noctem aequaliter premens, sine interuallo, sine commeatu. Sibi seruire grauissima est seruitus: quam discutere facile est, si desieris multa te poscere, si desieris tibi referre mercedem, si ante oculos et naturam tuam posueris et aetatem, licet prima sit, ac tibi ipse dixeris: Quid insanio? quid anhelo? quid sudo? quid terram, quid forum uerso? Nec multo opus est nec diu.
(III, Pref, 15-17)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Physical Science in the Time of Nero: Being a Translation of the Quaestiones Naturales of Seneca, trans. John Clarke (London: Macmillan and Co., 1910). <Link to Internet Archive><Link to www.thelatinlibrary.com>
Date of Entry
09/16/2011
