20: Is Life Long Or Short?

     In the twentieth letter to Lucilius, Seneca continues the campaign to encourage his friend to retire from a position as provincial governor: "For it will be to my credit if I manage to extricate you from that place where you are now floundering without hope of escape." As noted in my previous post, one of Seneca's arguments in favor of retirement is that it gives one the leisure time necessary for contemplating the important issues in life.
     Seneca's separate treatise, On The Shortness Of Life, advances another argument in favor of retirement: that time is an immaterial yet precious commodity. The essay is addressed to Pompeius Paulinus, who was the father of Seneca's wife Pompeia Paulina. Apparently, Paulinus was in charge of the Roman grain supply, a stressful job back in the day when famine was an ever-present threat and source of political instability. Seneca begins by telling Paulinus that life is actually long enough for those who devote their days to worthwhile pursuits (like philosophy). However, for those who waste their time, life is indeed short. Seneca devotes a substantial portion of the work to discussing the many activities that he believes preoccupy people, including: pursuing trade on every land and every sea; striving after the wealth of others or complaining about their own; climbing the social ladder; chasing clients (or being chased by them); consorting with prostitutes; drinking to excess; and -- my personal favorite -- speculating about "useless literary questions" (Seneca's example is inquiring into how many rowers Ulysses had aboard his ship in the Odyssey). Those who have spent their careers pursing political ambitions, Seneca notes, often say that when they reach the age of 50 or 60, they will retire and then devote themselves to the pursuit of wisdom. But Seneca observes that there is no guarantee that one will have many years of life left after retirement; the future is uncertain.
     Accordingly, near the end of the essay, Seneca advises Paulinus to retire from his high-pressure occupation sooner rather than later, so that he may spend his remaining time with the likes of Socrates, Epicurus, Zeno, and Aristotle -- "The greater part of your life, and certainly the better part, has been given to the state: take some of your time for yourself as well." Even though I am not retired, as someone who left the public sector after a twenty-nine year career, these words are especially meaningful to me.
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     Seneca, Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by Margaret Graver and A.A. Long (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2015), Letter 20, 1, pages 72-73. 
    Seneca, On The Shortness Of Life, translated by Gareth D. Williams, in Hardship & Happiness (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2014) Book 8, 1-4, page 118; Book 13, 1-2, pages 123-124; Book 14, 1-5, pages 125-126; Book 18, 1, page 130.

19: Leisure Then And Now

     It was around this time last year that I decided to retire from the urban school district where I had been working for the past 22 years, so -- even though I am now freelancing -- the subject of retirement has been on my mind recently.  In the nineteenth letter to Lucilius, Seneca advises his friend to retire from a position as provincial governor:
          "If you can, ease yourself out of that occupation of yours -- and if you can't, then tear yourself away! We have wasted enough time. Old age is upon us: time to start getting our luggage together. Surely no one can object to that. We have lived at sea; let us die in harbor. ... 'How shall I get out?' you say. However you can. Think how many risks you have taken for money, how many labors you have endured to gain fame. You should be just as bold in pursuit of leisure; otherwise you must grow old amid the cares of provincial governorships and then amid responsibilities in the city -- amid the storm, amid waves ever renewed, which you cannot escape even with moderation and quiet living. You want to rest, but what of that? Your success wants otherwise. And you're still letting it grow! The more you achieve, the more you will have to fear." 
     My career has not resulted in much fame or success -- at least not so far -- but two thousand years after Seneca wrote, leisure is something that people still hope for in retirement: resting, spending more time with family and friends, traveling, refocusing on an old hobby or starting a new one. However, Seneca's conception of leisure is different than ours (or at least than most of ours). In his separate treatise On Leisure, Seneca begins by considering the traditional Stoic teaching that one should remain in active service up until the end of life, working for the common good. Yet Seneca argues that -- even later in life -- when someone has completed her official service, she can still devote herself to the contemplation of truth, seek a coherent intellectual basis for life, and practice it. Seneca contends that one can serve the commonwealth with devotion even in leisure, or perhaps even better in leisure, by inquiring into issues such as "... what virtue is, whether it is one or many, and whether a person is made good by nature or by training ... ."
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     Seneca, Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by Margaret Graver and A.A. Long (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2015), Letter 19, 1-2, 8, pages 70-71. 
    Seneca, On Leisure, translated by Gareth D. Williams in Hardship & Happiness (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2014) Book 1, 4; Book 2, 1-2; Book 4, 1-2; pages 222-224.