EPISTLE XC.
together in close-united fellowship. Philosophy has taught us to worship that which is divine, to love that which is human[1]; she has told us that with the gods lies dominion, and among men, fellowship. This fellowship remained unspoiled for a long time, until avarice tore the community asunder and became the cause of poverty, even in the case of those whom she herself had most enriched. For men cease to possess all things the moment they desire all things for their own.
4. But the first men and those who sprang from them, still unspoiled, followed nature, having one man as both their leader and their law, entrusting themselves to the control of one better than themselves. For nature has the habit of subjecting the weaker to the stronger. Even among the dumb animals those which are either biggest or fiercest hold sway. It is no weakling bull that leads the herd; it is one that has beaten the other males by his might and his muscle. In the case of elephants, the tallest goes first; among men, the best is regarded as the highest. That is why it was to the mind that a ruler was assigned; and for that reason the greatest happiness rested with those peoples among whom a man could not be the more powerful unless he were the better. For that man can safely accomplish what he will who thinks he can do nothing except what he ought to do.
5. Accordingly, in that age which is maintained to be the golden age,[2] Posidonius[3] holds that the government was under the jurisdiction of the wise.
- ↑ Compare the “knowledge of things divine and things human” of lxxxix. 5.
- ↑ The “Golden Age” motif was a frequent one in Latin literature. Compare, e.g., Tibullus, i. 3. 35 ff., the passage beginning:
Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege, priusquam
Tellus in longas est patefacta vias!
Cf. § 46, summing up the message of Seneca’s letter. - ↑ While modern philosophy would probably side with Seneca rather than Posidonius, it is interesting to know the opinion of Macaulay, who holds (Essay on Bacon) that there is much in common between Posidonius and the English inductive philosopher, and thinks but little of Seneca’s ideas on the subject. Cf. W. C. Summers, Select letters of Seneca, p. 312.
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