SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

THE EPISTLES OF SENECA
" "
32 Democritus," inquit, invenisse dicitur fornicem,
ut lapidum curvatura paulatim inclinatorum medio
saxo alligaretur." Hoc dicam falsum esse ;
necesse
est enim ante Democritum et pontes et portas fuisse ẏ
33 quarum fere summa curvantur. Excidit porro vobis
eundem Democritum invenisse, quemadmodum ebur
molliretur, quemadmodum decoctus calculus in
zmaragdum converteretur, qua hodieque coctura inventi
lapides in l hoc utiles colorantur. Ista sapiens
licet invenerit, non qua sapiens erat, invenit ;
multa
enim facit, quae ab inprudentissimis aut aeque fieri
videmus 2 aut peritius atque exercitatius.
34 Quid sapiens investigaverit, quid in lucem protraxerit,
quaeris ? Primum verum naturamque, quam
non ut cetera animalia oculis secutus est tardis ad
divina. Deinde vitae legem, quam ad uni versa
derexit, nee nosse tantum sed sequi deos docuit et
accidentia non aliter excipere quam imperata. Vetuit
parere opinionibus falsis et quanti quidque esset,
vera aestimatione perpendit. Damnavit mixtas
paenitentia voluptates et bona semper placitura
laudavit et pal
am fecit felicissimum esse cui felicitate
1
in added by Schweighaeuser.
2 videmus Erasmus ; vidimus BA.
a Seneca (see next sentence) is right again. The arch
was known in Chaldaea and in Egypt before 3000 B.C.
Greek bee - hive tombs, Etruscan gateways, and early
Roman remains, testify to its immemorial use.
6 The ancients judged precious stones merely by their
colour ;
their smaruydus included also malachite, jade, and
several kinds of quartz. Exposure to heat alters the colour
of some stones ;
and the alchemists believed that the
"angelical stone" changed common flints into diamonds,
rubies, emeralds, etc. See G. F. Kunz, The Magic of Jewels
and Charms, p. 16. It was also an ancient superstition
that emeralds were produced from jasper.
420