Lucius (or Marcus) Annaeus Seneca [Seneca the Elder or Seneca Rhetor]
54 BC-39 AD *executed by Emperor Nero
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era/Augustan Era/Imperial period)
L. ANNAEI SENECAE MAIORIS SUASORIARUM LIBER
(SVASORIARVM LIBER)
1. (Deliberat Alexander, an Oceanum naviget)
[Alexander is deliberating whether to sail the unknown seas or not]
[1] . . . sinunt.
[They look clear enough.]
cuicumque rei magnitudinem natura dederat, dedit et modum.
[To each and every action nature hath bequeathed greatness, it has also given a path.]
nihil infinitum est nisi Oceanus.
[There is nothing infinite, except the unknown Ocean.]
Aiunt fertiles in Oceano iacere terras ultraque Oceanum rursus alia litora, alium nasci orbem,
[People say that fertile lands lie across the Ocean, and that there are other shores beyond the Ocean, that it holds another world,]
nec usquam rerum naturam desinere sed semper inde, ubi desisse videatur, novam exsurgere.
[nor ever has it does bind off the universe, but always, from then on, even when it seems to have ceased, it follows out anew.]
facile ista finguntur,
[these kinds of things are easily imagined,]
quia Oceanus navigari non potest.
[because the Ocean is not able to be sailed.]
Satis sit hactenus Alexandro vicisse,
[let it be enough for Alexander to have prevailed,]
qua mundo lucere satis est.
[wherever it befit light to be shed upon the world.]
intra has terras caelum Hercules meruit.
[Hercules yearned his spot in heaven, staying down on Earth.]
Stat immotum mare
[the unmmoved ocean remains]
et quasi deficientis in suo fine naturae pigra moles;
[like a lazy bulk of in its own boundary of a missing universe.]
novae ac terribiles figurae, magna etiam Oceano portenta, quae profunda ista vastitas nutrit;
[new and terrible are the forms, and also ghastly monstrosities from the Ocean, ones that a vast space like this breeds.]
confusa lux alta caligine et interceptus tenebris dies;
[Its light is blurred by deep darkness, and the day there is undercut by shadows;]
ipsum vero grave et defixum mare et aut nulla aut ignota sidera.
[in truth, the sea itself is grave and planted down, and there are no stars, none known.]
Tua est, Alexander, rerum natura:
[Alexander, this is your universe: ]
post omnia Oceanus, post Oceanum nihil.
[past all things is the Ocean, past the Ocean, nothing.]
[2] ARGENTARI. {Argentarius' argument:]
Resiste,
[Stand back,]
orbis te tuus revocat.
[your own world harkens you back.]
vicimus qua lucet.
[We prevail, so long as there is light.]
Nihil tantum est,
[There is nothing so great]
quod ego Alexandri periculo petam.
[as that I seek during Alexander's adventure.]
POMPEI SILONIS. [Pompey Silo's argument: ]
Venit ille dies, Alexander, exoptatus,
[There now comes that well-known and deeply desired day, Alexander,]
quo tibi opera desset:
[when your efforts should fail you:]
idem sunt termini et regni tui et mundi.
[all at the same time, the limits of your kingdom and world shall appear.]
