Lucius Seneca - Yale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 2)

The next day, then, after the former conversation had taken place, about the second hour, 5while Crassus was yet in bed, and Sulpicius sitting by him, and Antonius walking with Cotta in the portico, suddenly Quintus Catulus 6the elder, with his brother Gaius Julius, 7arrived there; and when Crassus heard of their coming, he arose in some haste, and they were all in a state of wonder, supposing that the occasion of their arrival was of more than common importance. After the parties had greeted each other with most friendly salutations, as their familiarity required, "What has brought you here at last?" said Crassus; "is it anything new?" "Nothing, indeed," said Catulus; "for you know it is the time of the public games. But - you may think us, if you please," added he, "either foolish or impudent - when Caesar came in the evening yesterday to my Tusculan villa, from his own, he told me that he had met Scaevola going from here; and he said that he had heard from Scaevola a wonderful account, namely, that you, whom I could never entice into such conversation, though I endeavoured to prevail on you in every way, had held long discussions with Antonius on eloquence, and had disputed, as in the schools, almost in the manner of the Greeks; and therefore my brother entreated me, who was myself, indeed, not averse to hearing you, but, at the same time, afraid that our visit might be troublesome visit to you, to come here with him; for he said that Scaevola had told him that a great part of the discourse had been postponed until today. If you think we have acted too presumptuously, you will lay the blame upon Caesar, if too familiarly, upon both of us; for we are delighted to have come, if we do not give you trouble by our visit."

Crassus replied, "Whatever object had brought you here, I should rejoice to see at my house men for whom I have so much affection and friendship; but yet, (to tell the truth,) I had rather it had been any other object than that which you mention. For I, (to speak as I think,) was never less satisfied with myself than yesterday; though this happened more through my own good nature than any other fault of mine; for, while I complied with the request of these youths, I forgot that I was an old man, and did that which I had never done even when young; I spoke on subjects that depended on a certain degree of learning. But it has happened very fortunately for me, that as my part is finished, you have come to hear Antonius. " "For my part, Crassus," answered Caesar, "I am indeed desirous to hear you in that kind of fuller and continuous discussion, but yet, if I cannot have that happiness, I shall be content with your ordinary conversation. I will therefore endeavour that neither my friend Sulpicius, nor Cotta, may seem to have more influence with you than myself; and will certainly entreat you to show some of your good nature even to Catulus and me. But if you are not so inclined, I will not press you, nor cause you, while you are afraid of appearing impertinent yourself, to think me impertinent." "Indeed, Caesar," replied Crassus, "I have always thought of all Latin words there was the greatest significance in that which you have just used; for he whom we call impertinent, seems to me to be called by a name that is derived from not being pertinent; and that word, according to our mode of speaking, is of very extensive meaning; for whoever either does not discern what occasion requires, or talks too much, or is ostentatious in himself, or is forgetful either of the dignity or convenience of those in whose presence he is, or is in any respect awkward or presuming, is called impertinent. The most learned nation of the Greeks abounds with this fault; and, consequently, because the Greeks do not feel the influence of this evil, they have not even found a name for the foible; for though you make the most diligent inquiry, you will not find out how the Greeks describe an impertinent person. But of all their other impertinences, which are innumerable, I do not know whether there be any greater than their custom of raising the most subtle disputatious on the most difficult or unnecessary points, in whatever place, and before whatever persons they think proper. This we were compelled to do by these youths yesterday, though against our will, and though we at first declined."

"The Greeks, however, Crassus," replied Catulus, "who were eminent and illustrious in their respective states, as you are, and as we all desire to be, in our own republic, bore no resemblance to those Greeks who force themselves on our ears; yet they did not in their leisure avoid this kind of discourse and disputation. And if they seem to you, as they ought to seem, impertinent, who have no regard to times, places, or persons, does this place, I pray, seem ill adapted to our purpose, in which the very portico where we are walking, and this palaestra, and the seats in so many directions, prompt in some degree the remembrance of the Greek gymnasia and disputations? Or is the time unsuitable, during so much leisure as is seldom afforded us, and is now afforded at a time when it is most desirable? Or are the company unsuited to this kind of discussion, when we are all of such a character as to think that life is nothing without these studies?" "I contemplate all these things," said Crassus, "in a quite different light; for I think that even the Greeks themselves originally contrived their palaestrae, and seats, and porticoes, for exercise and amusement, not for disputation; since their gymnasia were invented many generations before the philosophers began to chatter in them; and at this very day, when the philosophers occupy all the gymnasia, their audience would still rather hear the discus than a philosopher; and as soon as it begins to sound, they all desert the philosopher in the middle of his discourse, though discussing matters of the utmost weight and consequence, to anoint themselves for exercise; thus preferring the lightest amusement to what the philosophers represent to be of the utmost utility. As to the leisure which you say we have, I agree with you; but the enjoyment of leisure is not exertion of mind, but relaxation.

"I have often heard from my father-in-law, in conversation, that his father-in-law Laelius was almost always accustomed to go into the country with Scipio, and that they used to grow incredibly boyish again when they had escaped out of town, as if from a prison, into the open fields. I scarcely dare to say it of such eminent persons yet Scaevola is in the habit of relating that they used to gather shells and pebbles at Caieta and Laurentum, and to descend to every sort of pastime and amusement. For such is the case, that as we see birds form and build nests for the sake of procreation and their own convenience, and, when they have completed any part, fly abroad in freedom, disengaged from their toils, in order to alleviate their anxiety; so our minds, wearied with legal business and the labours of the city, exult and long to flutter about, as it were, relieved from care and solicitude. In what I said to Scaevola, therefore, in pleading for Curius, 8I said only what I thought. 'For if,' said I, 'Scaevola, no will shall be properly made except what is written by you, all of us citizens will come to you with our tablets, and you alone shall write all our wills; but then,' I continued, 'when will you attend to public business? when to that of your friends? when to your own? when, in a word, will you do nothing' adding, 'for he does not seem to me to be a free man, who does not sometimes do nothing; ' in which opinion, Catulus, I still continue; and, when I come hither, the mere privilege of doing nothing, and of being fairly idle, delights me. As to the third remark which you added, that you are of such a disposition as to think life insipid without these studies, that observation not only does not encourage me to any discussion, but even deters me from it. For as Gaius Lucilius, a man of great learning and wit, used to say, that he wished that what he wrote would be read neither by the most illiterate persons, nor by those of the greatest learning, since the one sort understood nothing, and the other perhaps more than himself; to which purpose he also wrote, I do not care to be read by Persius 9(for he was, as we know, about the most learned of all our countrymen); but I wish to be read by Laelius Decimus (whom we also knew, a man of worth and of some learning, but nothing compared with Persius); so I, if I am now to discuss these studies of ours, should not wish to do so before peasants, but much less before you; for I would prefer that my talk should not be understood than be censured."