THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For JUNE, 1786.

The Epiftles of Lucius Annæus Seneca; with large Annotations. In Troo Volumes. By Thomas Morell, D. D. 4to. 11. 10s, in Boards. Robinsons.

DR.

2 Vols.

R. Morell has tranflated the Epiftles of Seneca with accuracy, conciseness, and perfpicuity. Thofe who are acquainted with the ftyle and manner of his author will perceive the difficulty of the task, particularly of uniting the two latter characteristics, and, at the fame time referving a fmoothness and elegance, without which, at this period, the beft work has little chance of being read. In general, how ́ever, the translator has facrificed the concifenefs of Seneca to perfpicuity, where both were incompatible; but the translation is ftill far from diffuse. The fashion of the prefent day gives the best idea of the ftyle of this author: it is terfe, pointed, full of fhort fentences, and, as they have been fometimes called, ftrings of maxims, or rather of propofitions; and, when Dr. Morell has expatiated moft freely, he has continued to preferve the manner of his author. We have compared paffages in different parts of the work, but have found no fitter illuftration of what we have advanced than in the firft Epiftle. It is fo fhort, that we may tranfcribe it entire.

"On the Value and Ufe of Time.

This do, my Lucilius; vindicate the dignity of man: be your own mafter: and fuch hours as have hitherto been forcibly taken from you, or stolen unawares, or have flipped by inadvertently, recollect, and for the future turn to fome account. You may be affured what I fay is true: part of our time. ave are obliged to facrifice to office and power; friendship and com mon occurrences fteal another part; and another flides away infenfibly but moft fcandalous is the lofs of it when owing to neg ligence and diffipation: and yet fmall attention will evince, that great part of life is fpent in doing ill, a greater in doing nothing, and too often the whole in doing little or nothing to the great purpose of being. Where will you find a man who VOL. LXI. June, 1785. D d

fets

fets any value upon time? who rates a day, or feems to understand that he dies daily? For herein are we deceived; we look forwards at (to) death; whereas death, in a great measure, is already passed: all the lapfed years of life are in the tenure of death. Act, therefore, my Lucilius, as you inform me you do. Embrace every hour: the ftronger hold you have on to-day, the lefs will be your dependence on to-morrow. Life, however unimproved, ftill glides away. There is nothing we can properly call our own, but time: all other things are foreign to us: nature hath put us in poffeffion of this one fleeting tranfitory boon; which any one deprives us of at pleasure and fo great is the folly of mortals, that when by entreaty they have obtained things of the lowest value, mere trifles, at leaft fuch as are payable again, they fuffer them to be fet to their ac count; but no one thinks himself indebted, who hath borrowed time; whereas this is the only thing that the most grateful heart cannot repay,

You will afk, perhaps, how I act myself, who am giving you this advice? I will confefs, ingenuously; it is with me, as with those who are luxurious, and yet not quite negligent of their affairs. I ftill keep an account of my expences; I cannot fay, I lofe nothing; but I can tell you what I lofe, and why, and in what manner. I am not ashamed to own the cause of my poverty: but it happens to me, as to many who have been reduced to indigence, not merely by their own mifconduct; all men are ready to excufe and pity, but none to affift them. What then? I can by no means think him a poor man, who hath ftill enough, however small a portion it be, wherewith to be content. But may you, my friend, ftill keep your own; and feize the opportunity to use it properly. For as our ancestors wifely judged Sera parfimonia in fundo eft,—It is too late to be fparing when the veffel is almoft out. As not only a little but the worst of every thing generally remains at the bottom.'

We shall add the original, and the learned reader will perceive the reason of our marking some paffages in Italics; that it is not to point out errors, but a little, perhaps unnecessary, enlargement.

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• Tempo is Eftimationem & Ufum Lucilio commendat; non deferri debere, non elabi, non male poni.

Ita fac, mi Lucili vindica te tibi, & tempus quod adhuc aut auferebatur, aut furripiebatur, aut excidebat, collige & ferva. Perfuade tibi fic effe, ut fcribo: quædam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quædam fubducuntur, quædam effluunt. Tarpiffima tamen eft jactura, quæ per negligentiam venit: & fi volueris attendere, magna vitæ pars elabitur male agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota aliud agentibus. Quem mihi dabis, qui aliqucd pretium tempori ponat? qui diem eftimet? qui intelligat fe quotidie mori? In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem profpicimus: magna pars ejus jam præteriit, quidquid ætatis retro est, mors

tenet.

tenet. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te fcribis, omnes horas. complectere: fic fiet, ut minus ex craftino pendeas, fi hodierno manum injeceris, Dum differtur vita, tranfcurrit. Omnia, Lucili, aliena funt: tempus tantum noftrum eft. In hujus rei unius fugacis ac lubricæ poffeffionem natura nos mifit, ex qua expellit quicumque vult. Sed tanta ftultitia mortalium eft, ut quæ minima & viliffima funt certe reparabilia, imputari fibi, cum impetravere, patiantur: nemo fe judicet quidquam debere, qui tempus accepit, cum interim hoc unum eft, quod ne gratus quidem poteft reddere. Interrogabis fortaffe, quid ego faciam, qui tibi ifta præcipio? Fatebor ingenue: quod apud luxuriofum, fed diligentem, evenit, ratio mihi conftat impenfæ. Non poffum dicere, me nihil perdere: fed quid perdam, & quare, & quemadmodum, dicam caufas paupertatis meæ reddam. Sic evenit mihi, quod plerifque non fuo vitio ad inopiam redactis omnes ignofcunt, nemo fuccurrit Quid ergo eft? non puto pauperem cui, quantulumcumque fupereft, fat eft. Tu tamen malo ferves tua, & bono tempore uti incipias. Nam, ut vifum eft majoribus noftris: Sera parfimonia in fando eft. Non enim tantum minimum in imo fed peffimum remanet,'

In one of the paffages which we have marked, Dr. Morell feems to have recollected a beautiful commentary on that part of the Epiftle, where it would be leaft expected, in the Colloquies of Erafmus; though it is not mentioned in the notes. As the book lies before us, we fhall translate it."

I began lately, fays Carinus, in the Convivium Poeticum," to read Seneca's Epistles; but I stumbled, as they fay, on the threshold the paffage is in the first Epiftle," and yet small attention will evince, that a great part of life is spent in doing ill, the greatest in doing nothing, and the whole in doing fomething foreign to the purpose;" in this paffage he feems to affect a little fhrewdnefs, which I do not comprehend.Leonardus. I will guefs at it if you pleafe.-Ca. With all my heart. Le. No one is perpetually in fault; yet the greater part of life is confumed in luxury, luft, ambition, and other vices; but a much greater is spent in doing nothing. Now, to do nothing is not to live in idleness, but to be employed in trifles, and things which do not conduce to our happiness: hence the proverb, it is better to fit till than to do nothing. (Satius ceffare, quam nihil agere.) But our whole life is fpent in doing fomething foreign to the purpofe. This phrafe is applied to the perfon who is not attentive to the fubject of his employment; fo that in fact the whole life is loft: while we are free from vice we are probably doing nothing; while we avoid trifling we are doing fomething foreign. While we study philofophy, if we do it lazily and inattentively, we deferve

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this character, either by not attending to the fubject, or being drawn afide by fome trifle."

We have infifted longer on this beautiful moral leffon, because the fault is fo common (particularly among literary men), fa little fufpected, and, when difcovered, fo feldom repented of or amended. With all the occafional weakness difplayed in Dr. Johnfon's diary, this ftriking feature of the human mind is always confpicuous. Let the literary man, who reflects with care and candour on his own conduct; let the veteran, who has conquered in as many fields of literature as have afforded laurels to the Rambler, if they find themselves free from the fame fault, blame that refpectable author, for this perpetual series of good designs, and irrefolute, indecifive efforts to be completely active. If he only without fault is to caft the first tone, the culprit and the judge will be again left alone.— But, to return from the digreflion which juftice feemed to demand, and which the ftings of a confcience, perhaps wounded by the recollection of fimilar errors, required as an expiation.

The tranflator, who was himself a veteran in the fervice of literature, has added fome ufeful and judicious notes. They are chiefly defigned to illuftrate the Epiftles of Seneca, from parallel paffages in the works of the ancient philosophers, and to contraft them with the precepts of the Gofpel. From this word, which is ufed in the title, we fufpected that Dr. Morell gave no credit to the ftory of Seneca having enjoyed the honour of a correfpondence with St. Paul. The fathers, par ticularly Jerom and St. Auguftin, think the Thirteen Letters which are extant, certainly genuine; but the more fagacious critics acknowlege, that neither the ftyle nor the fubftance refemble the language or fentiments of the pretended correl pondents. Dr. Morell does not decide on their authenticity, But promifed to tranflate them, though we have not met with them in thefe volumes. In the notes on the tenth Epiftle, "on Solitude and Prayer,' he obferves, that it has been faid of Socrates, that he was half a Chriftian; I think this Epistle of Seneca will carry him fomewhat farther.'

The prevailing philofophy of Seneca was that of the Porch, which is moft diftinct from the tenets of Epicurus; fo that of courfe they are more frequently the fubject of the annotator's remarks. As a fpecimen of the notes, we fhall add those on the following paffage.

There are three different opinions relating to the caufe (a) 1. Our floics, you know, fay there are two things from whence all other are derived, viz. caufe and matter (): matter lies inert, and helpless, ready for all purposes; but for ever conti.

nuing in the fame ftate, if not put into motion. Caufe, i. e. reafon (c), gives a certain form to matter, and fhapes it at pleafure from whence proceed all the various works of nature: there must be fomething, therefore, from whence a thing is made, and fomething by which it is made: this they call caufe the other matter.'

The notes on this paffage are the following.

(a) Between the Stoics, and Ariftotle, and Plato.

(b) The fame, according to Laertius, called by Plato εov naι λ, which Thales calls, mentem et aquam. Pythagoras, monas, unio, (mens, five Deus, God) Avas, binio, (materia, matter) which Lipfius carries back to Homer d. 366, under the allegorical characters, of Proteus, and his daughter Eidothea, (al. Theonomè. Eur. al. Eurynomè, Zenod.) Cicero, Acad. Queft. 1. 6. Naturam dividebant (Stoici) in res duas, ut altera effet efficiens; altera autem quafi huic fe præbens, ex qua aliquid efficeretur, &c. Explained by Lactantius, vii. 3. Stoici naturam in duas dividunt partes unam quæ efficiat, alteram quæ fe ad faciendum tractabilem præftat. Ita ifti uno naturæ nomine res diverfiffimas comprehenderunt, Deum, et mundum, artificem et opus, dicuntque alterum fine altero nihil poffe, tanquam natura fit Deus mundo permiftus: nam interdum fic confundunt, ut fit Deus ipfa mens mundi, et mundus fit corpus Dei. The Stoics divide nature into two parts; the maker and the thing made, i. e. God and the world; as if God was the foul of the world, and the world the body of God. It were well (fays Leland, 1. 13.) if the abfurdity of this way of philofophifing were the worst of it. But befides that it gave occafion to fome of those extravagant flights of the Stoics, fo unbecoming dependent creatures, as if they had a divinity and fufficiency in themselves, which placed them in feveral respects on an equality with God (fee Ep. 53.) this notion was made ufe of for fupporting Pagan idolatry, and was, therefore, of the most pernicious confequence to the intereft of religion.

But the principal error, and what among the Greek philofophers, from the time of Ariftotle, became the favourite opinion, was, they all (Plato perhaps excepted) thought it impoffible to admit the making any thing out of nothing, and and confequently that matter was co-eternal with the eternal mind. A fcheme which confounds God and the creature, and, purfued to its genuine confequence, is fubverfive of all religion and morality. But as a fufficient anfwer to thefe or the like ⚫ abfurd principles relating to the Deity, I fhall refer the reader to the words of Mr. Locke, (vol. ii. p. 249.) “ 'Tis an overvaluing ourselves to reduce all to the narrow measure of our capacities; and to conclude all things impoffible to be done, whofe manner of doing exceeds our comprehenfion: this is to make our comprehenfion infinite, or God finite; when what

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