Seneca, Epistula 9.1–5 (continued)
[4] Vidē quam sit sē contentus: aliquandō suī parte contentus est. Sī illī manum aut morbus aut hostis exciderit, sī quis oculum vel oculōs cāsus excusserit, reliquiae illī suae satisfacient et erit imminūtō corpore et amputātō tam laetus quam [in] integrō fuit; sed <sī> quae sibi dēsunt nōn dēsīderat, nōn dēesse māvult. [5] Ita sapiēns sē contentus est, nōn ut velit esse sine amīcō sed ut possit; et hoc quod dīcō ‘possit’ tāle est: āmissum aequō animō fert. Sine amīcō quidem numquam erit: in suā potestāte habet quam cito reparet. Quōmodo sī perdiderit Phīdiās statuam prōtinus alteram faciet, sīc hīc faciendārum amīcitiārum artifex substituet alium in locum āmissī.
Interrogata
- How well do you put up with things that are missing?
- Would you describe yourself as “content with yourself”?
- Is there, as Seneca implies, an “art” to making friends? Are you wise enough to have mastered this art?
Commentariolum
The wise person is truly content with himself, even just a part of himself! The wise person does not miss what is not present; in fact, the wise person is able to supply whatever is missing.
14 suī: now that’s what you’d call a true partitive genitive!
illī: this is either a dative of possession (very common with body parts) or a dative of separation (AG 381) with the verb exciderit.
16 corpore: what kind of abl.?
[in]: editors of classical texts use square brackets to indicate words (or letters) that are in the original text, but which the editor feels actually do not belong; this is a classic example of a copying error called “dittography.” What do you think that means?
17 <sī>: conversely, textual editors use angle brackets to indicate that they are adding a word that is not found in the original text, but which they believe needs to be there.
ita: while it is reasonable to suppose that ita triggers the following ut clauses as results, it may also be possible for you to think of these as noun clauses amplifying in what what way the wise person is content.
18 hoc: modifies possit.
20 quam: is the interrogative adverb here with cito.
quōmodo: introduces a comparison (like ita) which is answered with sīc in the next clause.
21 alteram: for the difference between alius and alter, see AG 315.
faciendārum amīcitiārum: I expect we should all review, once again, gerundives, their form and function (AG 155, 504), in order to make sense of how these words are construed with artifex.
