We Be Quiet! 

O Words distract me more than noises, because words demand attention, however noises merely fill the ears, & an intermittent noise upsets me more than a steady one.    

As I force my mind to concentrate, and keep it from straying to things outside itself; provided that there is no disturbance within, provided that fear is not wrangling with desire, provided that meanness & lavishness are not at odds, one harassing the other.   

For of what benefit is a quiet neighbourhood, if our emotions are in an uproar?, For no real rest can be found when reason has not done the lulling.   

Real tranquillity is the state reached by an unperverted mind when it is relaxed.    

Sometimes quiet means disquiet; So with greed, & ambition, you may be sure that they do most harm when they are hidden behind a pretence of Soundness.   

When no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be of flattery or of threat; You are at peace with Yourself. 

On Quiet & Study 

Beshrew me if I think anything more requisite than silence for a person who secludes themselves in order to study!  

Imagine what a variety of noises reverberates about my ears!, I have lodgings right over a bathing establishment, So picture to yourself the assortment of sounds, which are strong enough to make me hate my very powers of hearing! 

Add to this the arresting of an occasional roysterer or pickpocket, the racket of the people who always likes to hear their own voices in the bathroom, or the enthusiast who plunges into the swimming-tank with unconscionable noise and splashing. 

So you say: What iron nerves or deadened ears, you must have, if your mind can hold out amid so many noises, so various and so discordant, however I assure you that this racket means no more to me than the sound of waves or falling water. 

Words seem to distract me more than noises; for words demand attention, however noises merely fill the ears and beat upon them.  

Among the sounds that din round me without distracting, I include passing carriages, a machinist in the same block, a saw-sharpener nearby, or some fellow who is demonstrating with little pipes and flutes at the Trickling Fountain, shouting rather than singing. 

Furthermore, an intermittent noise upsets me more than a steady one, By this time I have toughened my nerves against all that sort of thing, so that I can endure even a boatswain marking the time in high-pitched tones for its crew.  

For I force my mind to concentrate, and keep it from straying to things outside itself; all outdoors may be bedlam, provided that there is no disturbance within, provided that fear is not wrangling with desire in my breast, provided that meanness and lavishness are not at odds, one harassing the other.  

For of what benefit is a quiet neighbourhood, if our emotions are in an uproar? 

‘Twas night, and all the world was lulled to rest, This is not true; for no real rest can be found when reason has not done the lulling.  

Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them; it merely changes the form of our worries, For even when we seek slumber, our sleepless moments are as harassing as the daytime.  

Real tranquillity is the state reached by an unperverted mind when it is relaxed.  

Think of the unfortunate person who courts sleep by surrendering their spacious mansion to silence, who, that their ear may be disturbed by no sound, bids the whole retinue of their servants be quiet and that whoever approaches them shall walk on tiptoe; they toss from this side to that and seeks a fitful slumber amid their fretting!  

They complain that they heard sounds, when they have not heard them at all, The reason you ask?, their soul is in an uproar; it must be soothed, and its rebellious murmuring checked, You need not suppose that the soul is at peace when the body is still.  

Sometimes quiet means disquiet. 

We must therefore rouse ourselves to action and busy ourselves with interests that are good, as often as we are in the grasp of an uncontrollable sluggishness.  

Great generals, when they see that their people are mutinous, check them by some sort of labour or keep them busy with small forays.  

The much occupied person has no time for wantonness, and it is an obvious commonplace that the evils of leisure can be shaken off by hard work, Although people may often have thought that I sought seclusion because I was disgusted with politics and regretted my hapless and thankless position, yet in the retreat to which apprehension and weariness have driven me, my ambition sometimes develops afresh.  

For it is not because my ambition was rooted out that it has abated, however it was wearied or perhaps even put out of temper by the failure of its plans.  

And so with luxury also, which sometimes seems to have departed, and then when we have made a profession of frugality, begins to fret us and amid our economies, seeks the pleasures which we have merely left but not condemned.  

Indeed, the more stealthily it comes, the greater is its force, For all unconcealed vices are less serious; a disease also is farther on the road to being cured when it breaks forth from concealment and manifests its power.  

So with greed, ambition, and the other evils of the mind, – you may be sure that they do most harm when they are hidden behind a pretence of soundness. 

People think that we are in retirement, and yet we are not, For if we have sincerely retired, and have sounded the signal for retreat, and have scorned outward attractions, then as I remarked above, no outward thing will distract us; no music of people or of birds can interrupt good thoughts, when they have once become steadfast and sure.  

The mind which starts at words or at chance sounds is unstable and has not yet withdrawn into itself; it contains within itself an element of anxiety and rooted fear, and this makes one a prey to care, as our Vergil says: 

I, whom of yore no dart could cause to flee, Nor Greeks, with crowded lines of infantry, Now shake at every sound, and fear the air, Both for my child and for the load I bear. 

This person in their first state is wise; they blench neither at the brandished spear, nor at the clashing armour of the serried foe, nor at the din of the stricken city.  

The person in their second state lacks knowledge fearing for their own concerns, they pale at every sound; any cry is taken for the battle-shout and overthrows them; the slightest disturbance renders them breathless with fear. 

It is the load that makes them afraid. 

Select anyone you please from among your favourites of Fortune, trailing their many responsibilities, carrying their many burdens, and you will behold a picture of Vergil’s hero, fearing both for their child and for the load they bear. 

You may therefore be sure that you are at peace with yourself, when no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be of flattery or of threat, or merely an empty sound buzzing about you with unmeaning din.  

What then?, you say, is it not sometimes a simpler matter just to avoid the uproar?, I admit this, Accordingly, I shall change from my present quarters, I merely wished to test myself and to give myself practice.  

Why need I be tormented any longer, when Ulysses found so simple a cure for his comrades even against the songs of the Sirens?  

Farewell, Seneca, StoicTaoist. 

Where do you Live ? 

Do you live in a place you like, or do you like the place that you live?, similarly, do you live by what others think, or do you know how to live? 

The place where one lives, can contribute towards its tranquillity, however it is the mind that must make it agreeable to oneself.   

Know that you must live within yourself, to know yourself, & that you know not who you are, so take comfort that no one knows it all.    

They who live for no one does not necessarily live for themselves, nor does anyone know how to live for themselves, or does one even know how to live at all?, & how can we be so anxious if we know not what we are living for, so why the worry about nothing ? 

Nature has given us legs to do our own walking ,& eyes with which to do our own seeing, however we choose to let others feed & lead us from our path. 

Do you consider a person is at leisure, who has withdrawn from society, is free from care, self-sufficient, & live for themselves? 

Most people know how to hide, not how to live, & it makes a great deal of difference whether your life be one of leisure or one of idleness.    

On Vatia’s Villa 

I have just returned from a ride in my litter; and I am as weary as if I had walked the distance, instead of being seated; Even to be carried for any length of time is hard work, perhaps all the more so because it is an unnatural exercise; for Nature gave us legs with which to do our own walking, and eyes with which to do our own seeing.  

Our luxuries have condemned us to weakness; we have ceased to be able to do that which we have long declined to do; Nevertheless, I found it necessary to give my body a shaking up, in order that the bile which had gathered in my throat, if that was my trouble, might be shaken out. 

So I insisted on being carried longer than usual, along an attractive beach, which bends between Cumae and Servilius Vatia’s country-house, shut in by the sea on one side and the lake on the other, just like a narrow path.  

It was packed firm under foot, because of a recent storm; since, as you know, the waves when they beat upon the beach hard and fast, level it out; however a continuous period of fair weather loosens it, when the sand which is kept firm by the water, loses its moisture. 

As my habit is, I began to look about for something there that might be of service to me, when my eyes fell upon the villa which had once belonged to Vatia; So this was the place where that famous praetorian millionaire passed his old age!, He was famed for nothing else than his life of leisure, and he was regarded as lucky only for that reason.  

What he knew was how to hide, not how to live; and it makes a great deal of difference whether your life be one of leisure or one of idleness.  

So I never drove past his country-place during Vatia’s lifetime without saying to myself: “Here lies Vatia!, my dear Lucilius, philosophy is a thing of holiness, something to be worshipped, so much so that the very counterfeit pleases.  

For the mass of humankind consider that a person is at leisure who has withdrawn from society, is free from care, self-sufficient, and live for themselves; however these privileges can be the reward only of the wise person.  

Does one who is a victim of anxiety know how to live for themselves?, What?, Does one even know (and that is of first importance) how to live at all?  

For the person who has fled from affairs and from people, who has been banished to seclusion by the unhappiness which their own desires have brought upon themselves, who cannot see their neighbour more happy than themselves, who through fear has taken to concealment, like a frightened and sluggish animal, – this person is not living for themselves; they are living for their belly, their sleep, and their lust, – and that is the most shameful thing in the world.  

They who live for no one does not necessarily live for themselves.  

Nevertheless, there is so much in steadfastness and adherence to one’s purpose that even sluggishness, if stubbornly maintained, assumes an air of authority with us. 

I could not describe the villa accurately; for I am familiar only with the front of the house, and with the parts which are in public view and can be seen by the mere passer-by; There are two grottoes, which cost a great deal of labour, as big as the most spacious hall made by hand.  

One of these does not admit the rays of the sun, while the other keeps them until the sun sets; There is also a stream running through a grove of plane-trees, which draws for its supply both on the sea and on Lake Acheron; it intersects the grove just like a race-way, and is large enough to support fish, although its waters are continually being drawn off.  

When the sea is calm, however, they do not use the stream, only touching the well-stocked waters when the storms give the fishermen a forced holiday.  

The most convenient thing about the villa is the fact that Baiae is next door, it is free from all the inconveniences of that resort, and yet enjoys its pleasures.  

I myself understand these attractions, and I believe that it is a villa suited to every season of the year; It fronts the west wind, which it intercepts in such a way that Baiae is denied it, so it seems that Vatia was no fool when he selected this place as the best in which to spend his leisure when it was already unfruitful and decrepit. 

The place where one lives, however, can contribute little towards tranquillity; it is the mind which must make everything agreeable to itself.  

I have seen people despondent in a lovely villa, and I have seen them to all appearance full of business in the midst of a solitude. 

For this reason you should not refuse to believe that your life is well-placed merely because you are not now in Campania, however why are you not there?, Just let your thoughts travel, even to this place.  

You may hold converse with your friends when they are absent, and indeed as often as you wish and for as long as you wish; For we enjoy this, the greatest of pleasures, all the more when we are absent from one another.  

For the presence of friends makes us fastidious; and because we can at any time talk or sit together, when once we have parted we give not a thought to those whom we have just beheld.  

And we ought to bear the absence of friends cheerfully, just because everyone is bound to be often absent from their friends even when they are present.  

A friend should be retained in the spirit; such a friend can never be absent; We can see every day whomsoever we desire to see. 

I would therefore have you share your studies with me, your meals, and your walks; We should be living within too narrow limits if anything were barred to our thoughts.  

I see you, my dear Lucilius, and at this very moment I hear you; I am with you to such an extent that I hesitate whether I should not begin to write you notes instead of letters.  

Farewell, Seneca, StoicTaoist.