Letter 37: On allegiance to virtue
You have promised to be a good man; you have enlisted under oath; that is the strongest chain which will hold you to a sound understanding. Any man will be but mocking you, if he declares that this is an effeminate and easy kind of soldiering.
I will not have you deceived. The words of this most honorable compact are the same as the words of that most disgraceful one, to wit: "Through burning, imprisonment, or death by the sword."
From the men who hire out their strength for the arena, who eat and drink what they must pay for with their blood, security is taken that they will endure such trials even though they be unwilling; from you, that you will endure them willingly and with alacrity.
The gladiator may lower his weapon and test the pity of the people; but you will neither lower your weapon nor beg for life. You must die erect and unyielding. Moreover, what profit is it to gain a few days or a few years? There is no discharge for us from the moment we are born.
You have promised to be a good man; you have enlisted under oath; that is the strongest chain which will hold you to a sound understanding. Any man will be but mocking you, if he declares that this is an effeminate and easy kind of soldiering.
I will not have you deceived. The words of this most honorable compact are the same as the words of that most disgraceful one, to wit: "Through burning, imprisonment, or death by the sword."
From the men who hire out their strength for the arena, who eat and drink what they must pay for with their blood, security is taken that they will endure such trials even though they be unwilling; from you, that you will endure them willingly and with alacrity.
The gladiator may lower his weapon and test the pity of the people; but you will neither lower your weapon nor beg for life. You must die erect and unyielding. Moreover, what profit is it to gain a few days or a few years? There is no discharge for us from the moment we are born.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 37
In the quest for self-confidence, some will turn to a physical courage, the will to rush into the fray and to take the pain. I should never underestimate its power, but in itself it is only a tool, becoming beneficial or harmful by how I choose to employ it. Behind it there must first be a moral courage, the will to stand firm with a judgment of what is right. Superman without a conscience is a villain, not a hero.
Accordingly, if anyone derides you for exercising your principles more strenuously than your muscles, know that he has his wires crossed.
Not being born with the strength of an ox, I do find myself struggling with certain brute tasks, and yet those challenges never come close to the difficulties I confront in taming my habits of thinking. Those who believe a change of character to be a piece of cake are in for a big surprise, since the resistance to be overcome can bring more agony and require more forbearance than any pressure on the bones or muscles.
The Roman gladiators made an oath “to endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword.” The commitment to virtue makes equally terrifying demands, though the man fighting to be good is not kept in line the way a gladiator was ruled and disciplined by his master. He must hold fast on his own, and if he falls in the face of overwhelming odds, there is no one who can grant him mercy. If he is faithful to his task, he will not abandon his responsibility.
I must bite my tongue when I hear decent people be so assured that their efforts at integrity will win them worldly success. They should not be discouraged, but they will also have to learn how self-improvement will inevitably meet with bitter opposition from those who are sick with resentment and envy. Whether I find myself with riches or poverty, fame or disgrace, a long or a short life is quite secondary to the state of my soul.
Fighting pain is hard. Fighting wickedness is even harder. The most valuable accomplishments are always the most difficult.
In the quest for self-confidence, some will turn to a physical courage, the will to rush into the fray and to take the pain. I should never underestimate its power, but in itself it is only a tool, becoming beneficial or harmful by how I choose to employ it. Behind it there must first be a moral courage, the will to stand firm with a judgment of what is right. Superman without a conscience is a villain, not a hero.
Accordingly, if anyone derides you for exercising your principles more strenuously than your muscles, know that he has his wires crossed.
Not being born with the strength of an ox, I do find myself struggling with certain brute tasks, and yet those challenges never come close to the difficulties I confront in taming my habits of thinking. Those who believe a change of character to be a piece of cake are in for a big surprise, since the resistance to be overcome can bring more agony and require more forbearance than any pressure on the bones or muscles.
The Roman gladiators made an oath “to endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword.” The commitment to virtue makes equally terrifying demands, though the man fighting to be good is not kept in line the way a gladiator was ruled and disciplined by his master. He must hold fast on his own, and if he falls in the face of overwhelming odds, there is no one who can grant him mercy. If he is faithful to his task, he will not abandon his responsibility.
I must bite my tongue when I hear decent people be so assured that their efforts at integrity will win them worldly success. They should not be discouraged, but they will also have to learn how self-improvement will inevitably meet with bitter opposition from those who are sick with resentment and envy. Whether I find myself with riches or poverty, fame or disgrace, a long or a short life is quite secondary to the state of my soul.
Fighting pain is hard. Fighting wickedness is even harder. The most valuable accomplishments are always the most difficult.
—Reflection written in 12/2012
IMAGE: Fyodor Bronnikov, The Dying Gladiator (1856)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment