On the Shortness of Life
by Lucius Annaeus Seneca • Transl. John W. Basore (1932, Loeb Classical Library)
Section I: The Common Complaint
"Nature is not cruel; we are extravagant with our hours"
The majority of mortals, Paulinus, complain bitterly on this point, that nature has brought us forth for an insignificant portion of time, that even this measure of life allotted to us rushes by so speedily, so swiftly, that with very few exceptions life ceases while men are still preparing for it.
Nor is it only the common herd and the unthinking crowd that bemoan this common evil; the same feeling has evoked complaints also from men of distinction. Hence the famous dictum of the greatest of physicians: 'Life is short, art is long.'
Section II: The Many Ways We Lose Ourselves
"Insatiable greed, drinking, and chasing shadows"
Why do we complain of Nature? She has shown herself kindly: life, if you know how to use it, is long. But one man is gripped by insatiable greed; another by a laborious devotion to useless tasks; one man is soaked in wine, another is sluggish with inactivity; one man is worn out by ambition that always depends upon the judgments of others; another through hope of gain is driven over all lands and all seas by a trading passion.
Some are tormented by a passion for warfare, always either intent on the perils of others or anxious about their own; some are worn away by thanking their ungrateful superiors in voluntary servitude.
Section III: Look at Your Accounting
"Call up your past years and count the wasted days"
Take, I beg you, any one of the old men you like: 'We see that you have reached the furthest bound of human age; a hundred years or more are pressing upon your head. Come, call up your life for an audit.'
Compute how much of this time has been taken up by a creditor, how much by a mistress, how much by a patron, how much by a client, how much by quarreling with your wife, how much by the punishment of slaves, how much by rushing about the city on ceremonial duties.
Section IX: The Great Postponement
"Putting off living is the biggest waste of life"
Can anything be more stupid than the attitude of certain people—I mean those who boast of their foresight? They are kept busy in order that they may live better; they spend their lives in preparing to live.
They direct their plans toward the distant future; but putting off things is the greatest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future.
End of Volume
Original Latin text in the public domain worldwide. This English translation by John W. Basore (Loeb Classical Library, 1932) remains under copyright in the United States until 2028. Brief excerpts shared for reflection only.