EPISTULAE MORALES VI, 3=LETTER 55:
A gestatione cum maxime venio (especially when I come from a transport; being carried (on a sedan)), non minus fatigatus (I am not less tired) quam si tantum ambulassem (as if I had just walked by foot that much, quantum sedi (how much I was seated).
The reason for this is that this way of movement is unnatural. Besides, being glad to have a sedan means we aren't in shape any more.
On his trip by sedan chair SENECA, coming from CUMAE, passes by the villa of VATIA. This man was known by nothing but his idleness (inaction; the fact that he did nothing). People often used to say that only VATIA knew how to live. SENECA, however, disagrees to this: VATIA didn't know how to live, but to keep away from everything. For there is a great difference between living in leisure (otium) and just doing nothing! That's why SENECA never passed VATIA'S villa, when he was still alive, without saying: VATIA is buried here! Retreat (in privacy) is often mistaken for happiness. Living for nobody else doesn't necessarily mean living on one's own! For many a man living in solitude is devoted to vices! So VATIA spent his life in lazy silence and quiet. For the place where you are doesn't contribute much to your peace of mind (tranquility)! Consequently, also friends don't have to be in the same place for being together.
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by decurio
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