The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Monday, October 5, 2020

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 17.5


There is a great difference between slackening your hold of a thing and letting it go. The founders of our laws appointed festivals, in order that men might be publicly encouraged to be cheerful, and they thought it necessary to vary our labors with amusements, and, as I said before, some great men have been wont to give themselves a certain number of holidays in every month, and some divided every day into play-time and work-time.

Thus, I remember that great orator Asinius Pollio would not attend to any business after the tenth hour: he would not even read letters after that time for fear some new trouble should arise, but in those two hours used to get rid of the weariness which he had contracted during the whole day. Some rest in the middle of the day, and reserve some light occupation for the afternoon.

Our ancestors, too, forbade any new motion to be made in the Senate after the tenth hour. Soldiers divide their watches, and those who have just returned from active service are allowed to sleep the whole night undisturbed. We must humor our minds and grant them rest from time to time, which acts upon them like food, and restores their strength.

Some people tell me that if everyone lived as I suggest, then nothing would ever get done. I can only say that much would still get done, but it might not be quite the same balance of tasks we tend to do now, and we might not be as rushed and frantic as we are now.

There would probably be far less time and effort spent on things, and there would be far more time and effort spent on people. There might be fewer luxuries, but there would also be a greater appreciation of what constitutes an actual necessity.

These are usually the same people who laugh at me for having been a Boy Scout. “What the hell did any of that ever get you?” I usually offer them the Scout’s Law, still deeply ingrained in my memory:

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

“So it makes you a nice guy. Great. What use is that?”

I try to calmly point out that it has absolutely no “use” beyond itself, that it is itself its own end, the formation of moral worth. Being that way is precisely what life is about.

They look at me with either confusion or disgust.

The Stoics list their cardinal virtues a bit differently, but the content is ultimately the same, and so it should come as little surprise that Stoic values are also met with confusion or disgust.

Perhaps we worry so much about constantly being busy in trade and industry because we are overlooking the proper business of life.

To do anything at all in a relaxed and leisurely way does not mean we are being lazy; it all depends on what we think is more or less important. I suppose if I wanted to acquire as much wealth and fame as possible, I probably would need to spend fifteen hours a day at the office, but if I wanted to work on primarily being a decent human being, would all of that tedium really be required?

In all the corners of this world I have stumbled into, the happiest people I have ever met are invariably the same people who manage to keep their priorities in order, with the externals in service to the internals.

They are glad to break a sweat, but they will not break their own backs lugging around useless weight. By understanding that life is to be lived instead of bought and sold, they are able to distinguish between what actually needs to be done and what can easily be let go. They know their professional “jobs” are a part of who they are, but not even close to all of who they are.

If my work is somehow in conflict with my leisure, I’m fairly certain I’m in the wrong line of work.

Written in 1/2012


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