【每日斯多葛】10月27日

October 27th 

WE REAP WHAT WE SOW

“Crimes often return to their teacher.”

—SENECA, THYESTES, 311

It’s ironic that Seneca would have one of his characters utter this line. As we know, for many years Seneca served as the tutor and mentor to the emperor Nero. There is a lot of evidence that Seneca was, in fact, a positive moral influence on the deranged young man, but even at the time, Seneca’s contemporaries found it strange that a philosopher would serve as the right hand to such an evil person. They even used the Greek word tyrannodidaskalos—tyrant teacher—to describe him. And just as Shakespeare observed in Macbeth, “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague th’inventor,” Seneca’s collaboration with Nero ultimately ended with the student murdering the teacher.

It’s something to think about when you consider whom to work with and whom to do business with in life. If you show a client how to do something unethical or illegal, might they return the favor to an unsuspecting you later on? If you provide a bad example to your employees, to your associates, to your children, might they betray you or hurt you down the road? What goes around comes around, is the saying. Karma is a notion we have imported from the East, along similar lines.

Seneca paid a price for his instructions to Nero. As has been true throughout the ages, his hypocrisy—avoidable or not—was costly. So too will be yours.

10月27日 

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆

“罪行往往会反过来报应教唆犯罪的人。”

——塞涅卡，《梯厄斯忒斯》，311

颇具讽刺意味的是，塞涅卡竟然让自己笔下的一个角色说出了这句话。众所周知，塞涅卡曾多年担任罗马皇帝尼禄的教师和导师。有大量证据表明，塞涅卡实际上对这个精神失常的年轻人产生过积极的道德影响。然而，即使在当时，塞涅卡的同时代人也觉得不可思议：一位哲学家怎么会甘愿成为如此邪恶之人的左膀右臂？他们甚至用希腊语中的 tyrannodidaskalos（暴君之师）来形容他。正如莎士比亚在《麦克白》中所说：“血腥的教诲，一旦传授出去，终将反过来祸及始作俑者。”塞涅卡与尼禄的合作最终以学生杀害老师而告终。

当你考虑人生中应该与谁共事、与谁做生意时，这一点值得深思。如果你教会客户如何做不道德或违法的事情，他们日后会不会以同样的手段对付毫无防备的你？如果你为员工、同事或子女树立了坏榜样，他们将来会不会背叛你或伤害你？俗话说，善恶终有报。我们从东方文化中借来的“业报”观念，表达的也是类似的道理。

塞涅卡为自己对尼禄的教导付出了代价。古往今来，言行不一的虚伪——无论是否能够避免——都可能让人付出惨重的代价。你也不会例外。