Seneca · c. 4 BCE – 65 CE
To Polybius, on Consolation 18 ¶2 — Seneca
Translation by Aubrey Stewart (1889)
Seneca, To Polybius, on Consolation 18 ¶2
I have thrown together these reflections in the best way that I could, for my mind is dimmed and stupefied with the tedium of my long exile: if, therefore, you should find them unworthy of the consideration of a person of your intelligence, or unable to console you in your grief, remember how impossible it is for one who is full of his own sorrows to find time to minister to those of others, and how hard it is to express oneself in the Latin language, when all around one hears nothing but a rude foreign jargon, which even barbarians of the more civilised sort regard with disgust.
Cite this passage
Seneca, To Polybius, on Consolation 18 ¶2, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/to-polybius-on-consolation/18.2
Seneca, Dialogues, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887–1889). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesAn apology closing a consolation letter: the author admits his advice may fall short because long exile has dulled his mind and left him among people whose speech he finds crude, and he reminds the reader that someone absorbed in his own troubles has little left to comfort others.
Themes and situations
- Exile and loss of home
- Grief and mourning
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