【每日斯多葛】9月24日

September 24th

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU

“Being unexpected adds to the weight of a disaster, and being a surprise has never failed to increase a person’s pain. For that reason, nothing should ever be unexpected by us. Our minds should be sent out in advance to all things and we shouldn’t just consider the normal course of things, but what could actually happen. For is there anything in life that Fortune won’t knock off its high horse if it pleases her?”

—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 91.3a–4

In the year 64, during the reign of Nero, a fire tore through the city of Rome. The French city of Lyons sent a large sum of money to aid the victims. The next year the citizens of Lyons were suddenly struck by a tragic fire of their own, prompting Nero to send an equal sum to its victims. As Seneca wrote about the event to a friend in one of his letters, he must have been struck by the poetry—one city helping another, only to be struck by similar disaster not long after.

How often does that happen to us? We comfort a friend during a breakup, only to be surprised when our own relationship ends. We must prepare in our minds for the possibility of extreme reversals of fate. The next time you make a donation to charity, don’t just think about the good turn you’re doing, but take a moment to consider that one day you may need to receive charity yourself.

As far as we know, Seneca truly lived these words. Just a year or so after writing this letter, he was falsely accused of plotting against Nero. The price? Seneca was sentenced to commit suicide. As the historian Tacitus relates the scene, Seneca’s closest friends wept and protested the verdict. “Where,” Seneca asked them repeatedly, “are your maxims of philosophy, or the preparations of so many years’ study against evils to come? Who knew not Nero’s cruelty?” That is: he knew it could happen to him too, and so he was prepared for it.

9月24日

这也可能发生在你身上

“出乎意料会加重灾难的分量，而突如其来的事情总会增加一个人的痛苦。因此，对我们来说，任何事情都不应该真正出乎意料。我们的思想应该提前走向所有可能发生的事情；我们不应只考虑事情通常会如何发展，也要考虑实际上可能发生什么。人生中有什么东西，是命运只要愿意，就不能把它从高位上打落下来的吗？”

——塞内卡，《道德书信》，91.3a–4

公元64年，尼禄统治时期，一场大火席卷了罗马城。法国的里昂城向灾民捐赠了一大笔钱。第二年，里昂市民自己却突然遭遇了一场惨烈的大火，于是尼禄又向那里的灾民捐出了同样数额的钱。塞内卡后来在一封写给朋友的信中谈到这件事，他一定被其中那种命运的诗意所触动——一座城市刚刚帮助了另一座城市，不久之后，自己却遭遇了类似的灾难。

这种事情在我们身上发生得有多频繁？我们在朋友分手时安慰他，后来自己的关系结束时却大吃一惊。我们必须在头脑中为命运发生巨大逆转的可能性做好准备。下次你向慈善机构捐款时，不要只想到自己正在做一件善事，也花一点时间想一想：也许有一天，你自己也会需要接受别人的慈善帮助。

据我们所知，塞内卡确实是按照这些话生活的。写下这封信仅仅一年左右之后，他就被诬告参与了反对尼禄的阴谋。代价是什么？塞内卡被判必须自杀。据历史学家塔西佗记载，当时塞内卡最亲近的朋友们哭泣并抗议这一判决。塞内卡则一再问他们：“你们的哲学信条到哪里去了？多年来为了应对未来灾祸所作的准备又到哪里去了？谁不知道尼禄的残酷？”也就是说：他知道这种事情同样可能发生在自己身上，所以他已经为此做好了准备。