26 Seneca, Epistula 3.1–4
Anything you would do or say yourself should be shared with a friend, unless you are using that term in a common way (and not in a precise philosophical way). But to do this you must choose your friends only after much deliberation.
| 1 | SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM |
| 2 | [1] Epistulās ad mē perferendās trādidistī, ut scrībis, “amīcō tuō”; |
| 3 | deinde admonēs mē nē omnia cum eō ad tē pertinentia commūnicem, quia nōn soleās nē ipse quidem id facere: |
| 4 | ita eādem epistulā illum et dīxistī amīcum et negāstī. |
| 5 | Itaque sī propriō illō verbō quasi pūblicō ūsus es |
| 6 | et sīc illum “amīcum” vocāstī quōmodo omnēs candidātōs “bonōs virōs” dīcimus, quōmodo obviōs, sī nōmen nōn succurrit, “dominōs” salūtāmus, hāc abierit. |
| 7 | [2] Sed sī aliquem amīcum exīstimās cui nōn tantundem crēdis quantum tibi, vehementer errās et nōn satis nōstī vim vērae amīcitiae. |
| 8 | Tū vērō omnia cum amīcō dēlīberā, sed dē ipsō prius: post amīcitiam crēdendum est, ante amīcitiam iūdicandum. |
| 9 | Istī vērō praeposterō officia permiscent quī, contrā praecepta Theophrastī, cum amāvērunt iūdicant, et nōn amant cum iūdicāvērunt. |
| 10 | Diū cōgitā an tibi in amīcitiam aliquis recipiendus sit. Cum placuerit fierī, tōtō illum pectore admitte; tam audāciter cum illō loquere quam tēcum. |
| 1 | Seneca…salutem: this is the standard formula for opening a letter, although it may seem strange for a writer to speak of himself or herself in the third person; you need to understand mittit or dīxit or something similar. |
| 2 | perferendās: here the future passive participle also carries the notion of purpose, with a dative of agent. |
| 3 | nē…commūnicem: what kind of clause, especially following admonēs?
nē ipse quidem: remember that nē…quidem “brackets” the word that it wants to particularly negate |
| 4 | negāstī: another syncopated form; what has dropped out? (note vocāstī line 6). |
| 5 | propriō: describes Lucilius’ own usage (and so the technical usage of Stoic philosophers who were very concerned about using exact language to refer to the world) as compared to the pūblicō usage.
verbō: recall that the verb ūtor -ī governs the ablative. |
| 6 | obviōs: these are people who are literally “in the way” and so the people one “runs into” when out walking.
hāc: understand viā and treat as abl. of manner. abierit: this future perfect completes Seneca’s idea of “letting something go”; literally, “it will pass (in this way)”. |
| 7 | aliquem amīcum: supply the infinitive esse between these words. |
| 8 | Tū: occasionally the nominative pronoun, although not strictly needed, is added to increase the force of an imperative.
sed…prius: understand dēlīberā again in this second clause; this kind of omission of a verb that can be easily supplied from the preceding context is a feature of Seneca’s conversational and compressed style (which differentiates it somewhat from Cicero). |
| 9 | praeposterō: you can understand modo here as an abl. of manner.
Theophrastī: Theophrastus was a student of Aristotle who, building on his teacher’s ideas in the Nicomachean Ethics wrote a treatise On Friendship (which has not come down to us). |
| 10 | fierī: supply illum (from what follows) as acc. subject of the infinitive and amīcum as the accusative predicate noun.
loquere: I am sure that I don’t need to tell you that this cannot be an infinitive. |
Interrogata
- What areas of overlap do you see with Cicero’s presentation of friendship?
- How does Seneca’s style strike you in comparison to Cicero’s?
