The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Friday, May 8, 2020

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 9.6


Thus in the houses of the laziest of men you will see the works of all the orators and historians stacked upon bookshelves reaching right up to the ceiling. At the present day a library has become as necessary an appendage to a house as a hot and cold bath.

I would excuse them straightway if they really were carried away by an excessive zeal for literature; but as it is, these costly works of sacred genius, with all the illustrations that adorn them, are merely bought for display and to serve as wall furniture.

Is it bad for me to love my books? Not at all. What matters is why I love them, and toward what end I will put them to use. It will be similar with most every other thing I come across in this world, in that I must decide where I will find its meaning and value, and how I will go about respecting what is good within it.

Some people treat a job as a way to increase their influence, and other people treat it as a way to be of service. Some people consider possessions to be ends, and other people consider them to be means. Some people will look at their friends and ask what they can receive, and other people will look at their friends and ask what they can give.

So it also is with learning in general, and with books in particular. The inner life of a man will become clearer by observing how he relates to the power of understanding, whether he employs it to glorify himself, or to glorify the truth.

I seem to notice more and more how certain people are engrossed in playing a grand role in life; what is important to them is not who they are or what they are doing, but how they are perceived and what they are seen to be doing.

It is common not just in the world of entertainment, but in business, politics, and academics as well, where acting skills are thought of as more profitable than living skills.

I have become so conscious of the tendency that I will often go out of my way not to deliberately promote or advertise myself. As much as I enjoy being admired and recognized, I think it more important to first practice integrity; I should be in the business of working on my merits, not the selling of impressions. Perhaps I am too weak, but it is too easy for me to get these things confused, to flip necessity with preference.

If a man is a liar in his trade, I think it likely that he will also be a liar in the other aspects of his life, and so I am hesitant to trust him. It is the danger of what my daughter calls being “such a fake”, of failing to be true to others because one can’t even be true to oneself.

My own library is hardly extensive, and I am at the point where a volume must be passed on to someone else before a new one might be added, but there are still times when someone will look at my shelves and ask, “Have you read all of these books?”

That is what the books are for, I tell myself, and I suppose I could take offense at the question, but I need to remember that books, like framed diplomas, are decorations for most people, sometimes even symbols of vanity.

They will really only matter to me if I read them, not in public but in private, and if they help me to improve myself, not in my appearance but in my character.

“If you see any with a layer of dust on them, you are free to take them. I ask only that you not sell them, and that you not let them stay dusty.” 

Written in 10/2011

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