"Meanwhile, hampered by mortal limbs and encompassed by the heavy burden of the flesh, it surveys, as best it can, the things of heaven in swift and winged thought."
— Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (c. 4 B.C. - A.D. 65)
Date
c. 43 AD
Metaphor
"Meanwhile, hampered by mortal limbs and encompassed by the heavy burden of the flesh, it surveys, as best it can, the things of heaven in swift and winged thought."
Metaphor in Context
Nor is this true only in respect to money or food. Every want that springs, not from any need, but from vice is of a like character; however much you gather for it will serve, not to end, but to advance desire. He, therefore, who keeps himself within the bounds of nature will not feel poverty; but he who exceeds the bounds of nature will be pursued by poverty even though he has unbounded wealth. Even places of exile will provide necessaries, but not even kingdoms superfluities. It is the mind that makes us rich; this goes with us into exile, and in the wildest wilderness, having found there all that the body needs for its sustenance, it itself overflows in the enjoyment of its own goods. The mind has no concern with money--no whit more than have the immortal gods. Those things that men's untutored hearts revere, sunk in the bondage of their bodies--jewels, gold, silver, and polished tables, huge and round--all these are earthly dross, for which the untainted spirit, conscious of its own nature, can have no love, since it is itself light and uncumbered, waiting only to be released from the body before it soars to highest heaven. Meanwhile, hampered by mortal limbs and encompassed by the heavy burden of the flesh, it surveys, as best it can, the things of heaven in swift and winged thought. And so the mind can never suffer exile, since it is free, kindred to the gods, and at home in every world and every age; for its thought ranges over all heaven and projects itself into all past and future time. This poor body, the prison and fetter of the soul, is tossed hither and thither upon it punishments, upon it robberies, upon it diseases work their will. But the soul itself is sacred and eternal, and upon it no hand can be laid.
(XI.4-7)
[ 4. Nec hoc in pecunia tantum aut alimentis euenit; eadem natura est in omni desiderio quod modo non ex inopia sed ex uitio nascitur: quidquid illi congesseris, non finis erit cupiditatis sed gradus. Qui continebit itaque se intra naturalem modum, paupertatem non sentiet; qui naturalem modum excedet, eum in summis quoque opibus paupertas sequetur. Necessariis rebus et exilia sufficiunt, superuacuis nec regna. 5. Animus est qui diuites facit; hic in exilia sequitur, et in solitudinibus asperrimis, cum quantum satis est sustinendo corpori inuenit, ipse bonis suis abundat et fruitur: pecunia ad animum nihil pertinet, non magis quam ad deos inmortalis. 6. Omnia ista quae imperita ingenia et nimis corporibus suis addicta suspiciunt, lapides aurum argentum et magni leuatique mensarum orbes, terrena sunt pondera, quae non potest amare sincerus animus ac naturae suae memor, leuis ipse, expeditus, et quandoque emissus fuerit ad summa emicaturus; interim, quantum per moras membrorum et hanc circumfusam grauem sarcinam licet, celeri et uolucri cogitatione diuina perlustrat. 7. Ideoque nec exulare umquam potest, liber et deis cognatus et omni mundo omnique aeuo par; nam cogitatio eius circa omne caelum it, in omne praeteritum futurumque tempus inmittitur. Corpusculum hoc, custodia et uinculum animi, huc atque illuc iactatur; in hoc supplicia, in hoc latrocinia, in hoc morbi exercentur: animus quidem ipse sacer et aeternus est et cui non possit inici manus.]
[ 4. Nec hoc in pecunia tantum aut alimentis euenit; eadem natura est in omni desiderio quod modo non ex inopia sed ex uitio nascitur: quidquid illi congesseris, non finis erit cupiditatis sed gradus. Qui continebit itaque se intra naturalem modum, paupertatem non sentiet; qui naturalem modum excedet, eum in summis quoque opibus paupertas sequetur. Necessariis rebus et exilia sufficiunt, superuacuis nec regna. 5. Animus est qui diuites facit; hic in exilia sequitur, et in solitudinibus asperrimis, cum quantum satis est sustinendo corpori inuenit, ipse bonis suis abundat et fruitur: pecunia ad animum nihil pertinet, non magis quam ad deos inmortalis. 6. Omnia ista quae imperita ingenia et nimis corporibus suis addicta suspiciunt, lapides aurum argentum et magni leuatique mensarum orbes, terrena sunt pondera, quae non potest amare sincerus animus ac naturae suae memor, leuis ipse, expeditus, et quandoque emissus fuerit ad summa emicaturus; interim, quantum per moras membrorum et hanc circumfusam grauem sarcinam licet, celeri et uolucri cogitatione diuina perlustrat. 7. Ideoque nec exulare umquam potest, liber et deis cognatus et omni mundo omnique aeuo par; nam cogitatio eius circa omne caelum it, in omne praeteritum futurumque tempus inmittitur. Corpusculum hoc, custodia et uinculum animi, huc atque illuc iactatur; in hoc supplicia, in hoc latrocinia, in hoc morbi exercentur: animus quidem ipse sacer et aeternus est et cui non possit inici manus.]
Categories
Citation
English text from The Loeb Classical Library: Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Moral Essays, trans. John W. Basore (London: W. Heinemann,1928-1935). vol. 3 of 3. <Link to stoics.com>
Latin text from The Latin Library.
Latin text from The Latin Library.
Date of Entry
07/16/2014
