Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

10243

Seneca The Younger, Letters, 53.11-53.12
nan Turn to her, therefore, with all your soul, sit at her feet, cherish her; a great distance will then begin to separate you from other men. You will be far ahead of all mortals, and even the gods will not be far ahead of you. Do you ask what will be the difference between yourself and the gods? They will live longer. But, by my faith, it is the sign of a great artist to have confined a full likeness to the limits of a miniature. The wise man's life spreads out to him over as large a surface as does all eternity to a god. There is one point in which the sage has an advantage over the god; for a god is freed from terrors by the bounty of nature, the wise man by his own bounty.
nan What a wonderful privilege, to have the weaknesses of a man and the serenity of a god! The power of philosophy to blunt the blows of chance is beyond belief. No missile can settle in her body; she is well-protected and impenetrable. She spoils the force of some missiles and wards them off with the loose folds of her gown, as if they had no power to harm; others she dashes aside, and hurls them back with such force that they recoil upon the sender. Farewell.

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

5 results
1. Cicero, On The Nature of The Gods, 1.95, 2.153, 3.86-3.88 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 1.95. As for your saying that the gods are male and female, well, you must see what the consequence of that will be. For my part, I am at a loss to imagine how your great founder arrived at such notions. All the same you never cease vociferating that we must on no account relinquish the divine happiness and immortality. But what prevents god from being happy without having two legs? and why cannot your 'beatitude' or 'beatity,' whichever form we are to use — and either is certainly a hard mouthful, but words have to be softened by use — but whatever it is, why can it not apply to the sun yonder, or to this world of ours, or to some eternal intelligence devoid of bodily shape and members? 2.153. Then moreover hasn't man's reason penetrated even to the sky? We alone of living creatures know the risings and settings and the courses of the stars, the human race has set limits to the day, the month and the year, and has learnt the eclipses of the sun and moon and foretold for all future time their occurrence, their extent and their dates. And contemplating the heavenly bodies the mind arrives at a knowledge of the gods, from which arises piety, with its comrades justice and the rest of the virtues, the sources of a life of happiness that vies with and resembles the divine existence and leaves us inferior to the celestial beings in nothing else save immortality, which is immaterial for happiness. I think that my exposition of these matters has been sufficient to prove how widely man's nature surpasses all other living creatures; and this should make it clear that neither such a conformation and arrangement of the members nor such power of mind and intellect can possibly have been created by chance. 3.86. 'But,' it may be objected, 'the gods disregard smaller matters, and do not pay attention to the petty farms and paltry vines of individuals, and any trifling damage done by blight or hail cannot have been a matter for the notice of Jupiter; even kings do not attend to all the petty affairs in their kingdoms': this is how you argue. As if forsooth it was Publius Rutilius's estate at Formiae about which I complained a little time ago, and not his loss of all security! But this is the way with all mortals: their external goods, their vineyards, cornº-fields and olive-yards, with their abundant harvests and fruits, and in short all the comfort and prosperity of their lives, they think of as coming to them from the gods; but virtue no one ever imputed to a god's bounty. 3.87. And doubtless with good reason; for our virtue is a just ground for others' praise and a right reason for our own pride, and this would not be so if the gift of virtue came to us from a god and not from ourselves. On the other hand when we achieve some honour or some accession to our estate, or obtain any other of the goods or avoid any of the evils of fortune, it is then that we render thanks to the gods, and do not think that our credit has been enhanced. Did anyone ever render thanks to the gods because he was a good man? No, but because he was rich, honoured, secure. The reason why men give to Jupiter the titles of Best and Greatest is not that they the hand that he makes us just, temperate or wise, but safe, secure, wealthy and opulent. 3.88. Nor did anyone ever vow to pay a tithe to Hercules if he became a wise man! It is true there is a story that Pythagoras used to sacrifice an ox to the Muses when he had made a new discovery in geometry! but I don't believe it, since Pythagoras refused even to sacrifice a victim to Apollo of Delos, for fear of sprinkling the altar with blood. However, to return to my point, it is the considered belief of all mankind that they must pray to god for fortune but obtain wisdom for themselves. Let us dedicate temples as we will to Intellect, Virtue and Faith, yet we perceive that these things are within ourselves; hope, safety, wealth, victory are blessings which we must seek from the gods. Accordingly the prosperity and good fortune of the wicked, as Diogenes used to say, disprove the might and power of the gods entirely.
2. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 5.68-5.72 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) 5.68. Sed ne verbis solum attingamus ea quae eaque v. KRV 1 volumus ostendere, proponenda quaedam quasi moventia sunt, quae nos magis ad cognitionem intellegentiamque convertant. sumatur enim nobis quidam praestans vir optumis optumus V artibus, isque animo parumper et cogitatione cognitione K fingatur. primum ingenio eximio sit necesse est; tardis enim mentibus virtus non facile comitatur; deinde deinde denique K ad investigandam vestigandam K veritatem studio incitato. ex quo triplex ille animi fetus fetus KR (ę) factus GV existet, unus I II III ad-scribunt G 1 V 1 in cognitione rerum positus et in explicatione naturae, alter aliter K in discriptione expetendarum fugiendarumque rerum fugiendarumque vererumne vivendi GKV (ve exp. et be supra ne scr. V 3 ) R 1 ut v. (fugiendarumque rerum . post vivendi quod in ras. certo dispicitur alia manus adscripscrat ue) H 1 (fugiendar verer nevivendi. Verba cū ratio ss.non H 1 sed alia manus eiusdem aetatis sec. Stroux ) et in ratio ne We.bene quod fin. 5,15 certa de causa deest add. Po. cl. ac.1, 19 fin. 5, 11. 16 et in ratione be ne vivendi, tertius in iudicando, in ante iud. om. K iudicando nequid KRH quid cuique rei sit consequens quid repugs, in quo inest omnis inest omnis est H cum subtilitas disserendi, tum veritas iudicandi. 5.69. quo tandem igitur gaudio adfici necesse est est V esset GK C RH est et K 1 sapientis animum cum his habitantem pernoctantemque curis! ut, cum totius mundi motus conversionesque perspexerit ut, quod del.Bentl.,pendet a verbis cum — curis (= so da b ). Ciceronem pergere voluisse ut, cum... perspexerit,... ipse se adgnoscat coniunctumque cum divina mente se sentiat, ex quo insatiabili gaudio compleatur cum similitudo verborum v. 9—10 et 436,5—9 tum locus gemellus leg. 1,61 declarant. sideraque viderit innumerabilia caelo inhaerentia cum eius ipsius motu congruere certis infixa sedibus, septem alia suos quaeque tenere cursus multum inter se aut altitudine aut humilitate distantia, quorum vagi motus rata tamen et certa sui cursus spatia definiant—horum nimirum aspectus impulit illos veteres et admonuit, ut plura quaererent; inde est est enim G 1 indagatio nata initiorum et tamquam seminum, unde essent omnia orta generata concreta, quaeque cuiusque generis vel iimi iimi animi H vel animantis animantis iimantis K vel muti vel loquentis loquentes GR 1 V 1 origo, quae vita, qui interitus quae int. GR 1 V 1 quaeque ex alio in aliud vicissitudo atque mutatio, unde terra et quibus librata ponderibus, quibus cavernis maria sustineantur, qua sustineantur, qua Dav sustineant. In qua X (sustineantur vel sustineat s ) omnia delata gravitate medium mundi locum semper expetant, expectant qui est idem infimus in rutundo. rotundo KV c? H 5.70. haec tractanti tractanti s V 3 tractandi X (-i ex -o K 1 ) animo et noctes et dies cogitanti cogitandi KV 1 cogitanti G existit illa a a s om. X deo deo H Delphis praecepta cognitio, ut ipsa se mens agnoscat coniunctamque cum divina mente se sentiat, ex quo insatiabili gaudio compleatur. completur Bentl. ipsa enim cogitatio de vi et natura deorum studium incendit incedit GRV 1 illius aeternitatem aeternitatem Sey. aeternitatis (aeterni status Mdv. ad fin.1, 60 ) imitandi, neque se in brevitate vitae conlocatam conlocata GRV 1 collocatam H ( bis ) conlocatum s We. putat, cum rerum causas alias ex aliis aptas et necessitate nexas videt, quibus ab aeterno tempore fluentibus in aeternum ratio tamen mensque moderatur. 5.71. Haec ille intuens atque suspiciens suspiciens V sed pic in r. 1 suscipiens K 1 vel potius omnis partis orasque circumspiciens quanta rursus animi tranquillitate tranquillitati K humana et citeriora considerat! hinc illa cognitio virtutis existit, efflorescunt genera partesque virtutum, invenitur, quid sit quod natura spectet expectet G 1 expectetur Gr extremum in bonis, quid in malis ultumum, sumatur...436, 20 ultimum H ( extrema bis ) quo referenda sint officia, quae degendae degente G 1 aetatis ratio deligenda. diligenda X corr. s quibus et et add. K c talibus rebus exquisitis hoc vel maxime efficitur, quod hac hac ac G 1 hic V 1 disputatione agimus, ut virtus ad beate vivendum sit se ipsa contenta. 5.72. Sequitur tertia, quae per omnis partis sapientiae manat et funditur, quae rem definit, definivit X (dif. K) corr. s V 3 genera dispertit, sequentia adiungit, perfecta concludit, vera et falsa diiudicat, disserendi ratio et scientia. ex qua cum summa utilitas existit extitit K ( in 18 corr K c ) ad res ponderandas, tum maxume maxime GKH ingenua delectatio et digna sapientia. Sed haec otii. sed haec otii om. H transeat idem iste sapiens ad rem publicam tuendam. quid eo possit esse praestantius, cum †contineri contineri del.Lb. cum temperantia suas adpetitiones contineat ( vel queat continere), prudentia fere desiderat Po.cl.p.371, 22 off.3,96.116; 2,77.rep.6,1 (rei publicae rector...sapiens sit et iustus et temperans eqs.) prudentia utilitatem civium cernat, iustitia sequitur...437, 8 iustitia H nihil in suam domum inde derivet, derivet -iv- scr. G 2 reliquis utatur tot tam variisque virtutibus? adiunge fructum amicitiarum, in quo doctis positum est cum consilium omnis vitae consentiens et paene conspirans, tum summa iucunditas e e et V 1 (ex V rec ) cotidiano cultu atque victu. victu s V 3 victurus GRV 1 victus K cf.Th.l.l.IV,1333 Quid haec tandem vita desiderat, quo quo quod GK sit beatior? cui refertae tot cui rei refertae etot G cui rei referta etot R cui rei referta et tot V cui rei refertae et tot K corr. Man. tantisque gaudiis Fortuna ipsa cedat necesse est. quodsi gaudere talibus bonis animi, id est virtutibus, beatum est omnesque sapientes is gaudiis perfruuntur, omnis eos beatos esse confiteri necesse est. Etiamne etiamne -ne eras.in R in cruciatu atque tormentis?
3. Seneca The Younger, De Providentia (Dialogorum Liber I), 6.6 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
4. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 31.9, 33.4, 53.9, 53.12, 73.13 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
5. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 10.18 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 10.18. And from the revenues made over by me to Amynomachus and Timocrates let them to the best of their power in consultation with Hermarchus make separate provision (1) for the funeral offerings to my father, mother, and brothers, and (2) for the customary celebration of my birthday on the tenth day of Gamelion in each year, and for the meeting of all my School held every month on the twentieth day to commemorate Metrodorus and myself according to the rules now in force. Let them also join in celebrating the day in Poseideon which commemorates my brothers, and likewise the day in Metageitnion which commemorates Polyaenus, as I have done hitherto.

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
abstractions divinized	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
apollo	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
autarkeia,and the senecan sapiens	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
autonomy,and senecan isolationism	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
autonomy,and the senecan sapiens	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
awakening	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
bliss	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
brutus,marcus	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
cataleptic	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
charity	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
christianity	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
chrysippus	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
cicero	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
comparisons,with heroes and gods	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
conversion,philosophical	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
conversion,process	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
daily life	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
divine	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
divinization of abstractions	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
education/educational	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
epicurus	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
ethics	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
exhortation,paraenesis	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
freedom,in senecan stoicism	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
gods,abstractions divinized	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
habit	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
happiness	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
identity,and freedom/self-determination	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
immanent	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
immortalis	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
immortalitas	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
immortality,vs. divine happiness	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
immortality	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
impression	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
irrational	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
islam	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
isolation,and the senecan sapiens	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
joy	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
judaism	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
jupiter	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
koran	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
mental	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
mind	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
nature,according to	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
philosophy,hellenistic and imperial	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
philosophy,stoic	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
regimen	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
relationship	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
religion,religious	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
religions,roman,abstractions divinized'	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
religions,roman	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
sapiens,and contingency	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
sapiens,and divinity	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
sapiens,and self-sufficiency	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
sapiens,isolation of	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
self-examination	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
soul	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
stoic sage	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
stoicism,and freedom	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
stoicism,and isolation	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
stoicism,and virtus	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
stoicism	Jenkyns (2013), God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination, 231
strength	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
therapy	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
truth	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
uita beata	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
vigilance	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
virtus	Bexley (2022), Seneca's Characters: Fictional Identities and Implied Human Selves, 281
vision (of god)	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
wakefulness	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
wisdom	Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 193
εὐδαίμων,εὐδαιμονία	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9
ἀθάνατοϲ	Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 9