Dialogues and Essays by Reinhardt Tobias Seneca Davie John

Author:Reinhardt, Tobias, Seneca, Davie, John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, UK
Published: 2007-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE

TO PAULINUS

1. The greater part of mankind, Paulinus,* complains bitterly about the malice of Nature, in that we are born for a brief span of life, and even this allotted time rushes by so swiftly, so speedily, that with very few exceptions all find themselves abandoned by life just when they are preparing themselves to live. And this universal evil, as it is regarded, has not drawn tears of grief only from the common man, the foolish crowd: it has roused the voice of complaint also in men who have won distinction. This is what made the greatest of physicians exclaim, ‘Life is short, but art long;’* this that prompted Aristotle,* when taking Nature to task, to file a complaint not at all becoming to a wise man, saying that ‘in number of years she has shown such bias towards animals that they live out five or ten lifetimes, while a far shorter limit has been set for man, though he is born for so many great achievements.’ It is not that we have a brief length of time to live, but that we squander a great deal of that time. Life is sufficiently long, and has been granted with enough generosity for us to accomplish the greatest things, provided that in its entirety it is well invested; but when it is dissipated in extravagance and carelessness, when it is spent on no good purpose, then, compelled at last by the final necessity, we realize it has passed away without our noticing its passing. So it stands: we do not receive a life that is short, but rather we make it so; we are not beggars in it, but spendthrifts. Just as great and princely wealth, when it falls into the hands of a bad owner, is squandered in a moment, while wealth that is by no means great, if it becomes the property of a good guardian, grows by use, so our span of life has ample measure for one who manages it properly.

2. Why do we complain about Nature? She has proved herself generous: life is long, if only you knew how to use it. But one man is held fast by a greed that knows no bounds, another by a tedious devotion to tasks that have no purpose; one man is besotted with wine, another paralysed by indolence; one man is exhausted by an ambition that constantly depends on the judgement of others, another is driven on by his greed as a trader and drawn over every land and every sea by the hope of profit; some are tormented by their passion for soldiering, constantly either eager to bring danger to others or fearful in facing it themselves; some there are who are worn out by a self-inflicted slavery as they cultivate their superiors for little or no return; many are fully occupied in seeking to gain other men’s wealth or in complaining about their own; many, having no fixed purpose, are plunged

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