1I know that this is clear to you, Lucilius: that no one can live happily, nor even tolerably, without the study of wisdom, and that a happy life is brought about by perfected wisdom, but a tolerable one even by wisdom just begun. 1But this, which is clear, must be strengthened and driven deeper by daily reflection; 1there is more work in keeping to your resolutions than in resolving on what is honourable. 1You must persevere and add strength by constant study, until what is a good will becomes a good mind. 2So you no longer need many words or assurances to me; 2I understand that you have made much progress.
2I know where the things you write come from; 2they are not feigned or coloured. 2Still, I shall say what I think: I now have hope of you, not yet confidence. 2I want you to do the same as well; 2there is no reason for you to trust yourself quickly and easily. 2Shake yourself out, search yourself in various ways and watch yourself; 2see above all whether you have made progress in philosophy or in life itself. 3Philosophy is not a craft for the crowd, nor one designed for display. 3It lies not in words but in deeds. 3Nor is it employed for this, that the day may be spent with some amusement, that boredom may be taken away from leisure.
3It shapes and builds the mind, sets life in order, governs actions, shows what should be done and what left undone, sits at the helm and steers the course of those who are tossed about through perils. 3Without it no one can live fearlessly, no one free from care. 3Countless things happen every hour that demand counsel, and that counsel must be sought from philosophy. 4Someone will say: 'What use is philosophy to me, if there is fate? 4What use is it, if a god is the ruler? 4What use is it, if chance holds command? 4For what is fixed cannot be changed, and nothing can be prepared against what is uncertain; 4but either a god has forestalled my counsel and decreed what I should do, or fortune allows nothing to my counsel.' 5Whichever of these is true, Lucilius, or even if all of them are, we must practise philosophy: whether the fates bind us with an inexorable law, or a god, arbiter of the universe, has arranged all things, or chance drives and tosses human affairs without order, philosophy must protect us.
5She will urge us to obey the god willingly, fortune defiantly; 5she will teach you to follow the god and to bear chance. 6But we must not now pass on to this debate, what is within our own control if providence holds power, or if a chain of fates drags us along bound, or if sudden and unforeseen events rule; 6I return now to this point, to warn and exhort you not to let the impulse of your mind slip away and grow cold. 6Hold it fast and settle it, so that what is now an impulse may become a habit of mind. 7Already, from the start, if I know you well, you will be looking round to see what little gift this letter has brought.
7Shake it out, and you will find it. 7There is no reason for you to marvel at my generosity; 7so far I am liberal with another's property. 7But why did I say 'another's'? 7Whatever has been well said by anyone is mine. 7This too was said by Epicurus: 'If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; 7if according to opinion, you will never be rich.' 8Nature desires little, opinion something boundless. 8Let whatever many rich men had possessed be heaped upon you. 8Let fortune carry you beyond the measure of a private fortune, cover you with gold, clothe you in purple, bring you to such a pitch of luxury and wealth that you hide the earth under marble, that you may not only possess riches but tread on them.
8Add statues and paintings and whatever any art of luxury has laboured to produce; 8from these things you will learn to desire still greater ones. 9Natural desires are limited; 9those born from false opinion have no point at which to stop. 9For there is no boundary to what is false. 9For one travelling a road there is some end; 9wandering astray is boundless. 9Draw yourself back, then, from empty things, and when you want to know whether what you seek springs from a natural or a blind desire, consider whether it can come to rest anywhere. 9If, when you have gone far, something farther always remains, know that it is not natural.
9Farewell.