SPACEDK · DAILY CLASSICS · 07:00 CST
The Daily Classics Library
At 7:00 every morning in Beijing, 500 complete sayings, verses, reflections, or stories are selected from edition- and rights-verified books, then read again in historical and contemporary context.
Verification rule: Unsourced internet quotations are excluded. Every item records its work, authorship or traditional attribution, translator, locator, source revision, and rights status. “Complete” means a self-contained saying, verse, reflection, or story—not copying an entire protected modern book.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §71
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 221, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §71,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[71] Ita est: inritamentum est omnium in quae insanimus admirator et conscius. Ne concupiscamus efficies si ne ostendamus effeceris. Ambitio et luxuria et inpotentia scaenam desiderant: sanabis ista si absconderis.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §3
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 222, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §3,” can mean this: Be honest with friends. If someone does not understand you, do not rush to anger.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVI
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[3] Causas doloris conquirimus et de fortuna etiam inique queri volumus, quasi non sit iustas querendi causas praebitura: at mehercules satis mihi iam videbaris animi habere etiam adversus solida mala, nedum ad istas umbras malorum quibus ingemescunt homines moris causa. Quod damnorum omnium maximum est, si amicum perdidisses, danda opera erat ut magis gauderes quod habueras quam maereres quod amiseras.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 8, passage 41
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 223, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 8, passage 41 · book-8-p-41,” can mean this: A first feeling may not be the whole truth. Pause and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
If thou takest away thy opinion about that which appears to give thee pain, thou thyself standest in perfect security.—Who is this self?—The reason.—But I am not reason.—Be it so. Let then the reason itself not trouble itself. But if any other part of thee suffers, let it have its own opinion about itself.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XXVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §8
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 224, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §8,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber III
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[8] Desinere iam volebam et manus spectabat ad clausulam, sed conficienda sunt aera et huic epistulae viaticum dandum est. Puta me non dicere unde sumpturus sim mutuum: scis cuius arca utar. Exspecta me pusillum, et de domo fiet numeratio; interim commodabit Epicurus, qui ait 'meditare mortem', vel si commodius sic transire ad nos hic potest sensus: 'egregia res est mortem condiscere'.
Pensées
Pensées · Section XIV · 929
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 225, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section XIV · fragment 929,” can mean this: Words can help or hurt. Think before you speak.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section XIV
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[Et on se dispose à chasser de l’Église ceux qui refusent cet aveu. En v…] Tout le monde déclare qu’elles le sont. M. Arnauld (et ses amis) proteste qu’il les condamne en elles-mêmes et en quelque lieu où elles se trouvent ; que si elles sont dans Jansénius, il les y condamne ; qu’alors même qu’elles n’y soient pas, si le sens hérétique de ces propositions que le pape a condamné se trouve dans Jansénius, qu’il condamne Jansénius. Mais vous n’êtes pas satisfaits de ces protestations : vous voulez qu’il assure que ces propositions sont mot à mot dans Jansénius. Il a répondu qu’il ne peut l’assurer, ne sachant pas si cela est ; qu’il les y a cherchées et une infinité d’autres sans jamais les y trouver. Ils vous ont priés vous et tous les vôtres de citer en quelles pages elles sont ; jamais personne ne l’a fait. Et vous voulez néanmoins le retrancher de l’Église sur ce refus, quoiqu’il condamne tout ce qu’elle condamne, par cette seule raison qu’il n’assure pas que des paroles, ou un sens, est dans un livre où il ne l’a jamais trouvé, et où personne ne le lui veut montrer. En vérité, mon père, ce prétexte est si vain qu’il n’y eut peut-être jamais dans l’Église de procédé si étrange, si injuste et si téméraire que… L’Église peut bien obliger. Il ne faut pas être théologien pour voir que leur hérésie ne consiste qu’en l’opposition qu’ils vous font. Je l’éprouve en moi-même et on en voit l’épreuve générale en tous ceux qui vous ont attaqués : les curés de Rouen, jansénistes… de Caen. Vous croyez vos desseins si honnêtes, que vous en faites matière de vœu. Il y a deux ans que leur hérésie était la bulle ; l’année passée c’était intérieur ; il y a six mois que c’était totidem ; à présent c’est le sens. Ne vois-je pas bien que vous ne voulez que les rendre hérétiques ? Saint-Sacrement. Préface. Villeloin… Jansénius — Aurelius — Arnauld — Provinciales. Je vous ai querellés en parlant pour les autres. Vous êtes bien ridicules de faire du bruit pour les propositions ; ce n’est rien. Il faut qu’on l’entende. Sans nom d’auteurs ; mais comme on savait votre dessein 70 s’opposèrent. Dater l’arrêt. Afin que celui que vous n’aviez pu rendre hérétique sur ses propres paroles, etc. [Que moi j’ai démontré que tout cela est de vos auteurs jusqu’aux plus horribles.] Car tout se sait. [N’avez-vous que cela à répondre, et que cette manière de le prouver ?] Ou il sait que oui, ou que non, ou il doute ; ou pécheur ou hérétique. En ne considérant que les païens. Cette même lumière qui découvre les vérités surnaturelles, les découvre sans erreur, au lieu que la lumière que… [Un corps de réprouvés. On ouvrirait tous les troncs de Saint-Merri sans que vous en fussiez moins innocents.] [Aussi cela n’est pas étrange… Faux droit… Pour moi j’aimerais mieux être injustement que.] Quelle raison en avez-vous ? vous dites que je suis janséniste, que le Port-Royal soutient les cinq propositions et qu’ainsi je les soutiens : trois mensonges. Et je vous prie de ne venir pas me dire que ce n’est pas vous qui faites agir tout cela. Épargnez-moi la réponse. Je vous répondrais des choses qui ne plairaient ni à vous ni à d’autres. Le pape n’a pas condamné deux choses ; il n’a condamné que le sens des propositions ; direz-vous qu’il ne l’a pas condamné ? — Mais le sens de Jansénius y est enfermé, dit le pape. — Je vois bien que le pape le pense à cause de vos totidem ; mais il ne l’a pas dit sur peine d’excommunication. Comment ne l’eût-il pas cru et les évêques de France aussi ? Vous le disiez totidem, et ils ne savaient pas que vous êtes en pouvoir de le dire encore que cela ne fut pas. Imposteurs, on n’avait pas vu ma quinzième lettre. Comment le sens de Jansénius serait-il dans des propositions qui ne sont point de lui ? Ou cela est dans Jansénius, ou non. Si cela y est, le voilà condamné en cela ; sinon, pourquoi le voulez-vous faire condamner ? Que l’on condamne seulement une de vos propositions du P. Escobar, j’irai porter d’une main Escobar, de l’autre la censure, et j’en ferai un argument en forme.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 4, passage 53
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 226, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 4, passage 53 · book-4-p-53,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
It is a vulgar, but still a useful help towards contempt of death, to pass in review those who have tenaciously stuck to life. What more then have they gained than those who have died early? Certainly they lie in their tombs somewhere at last, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus, Lepidus, or anyone else like them, who have carried out many to be buried, and then were carried out themselves. Altogether the interval is small between birth and death; and consider with how much trouble, and in company with what sort of people and in what a feeble body this interval is laboriously passed. Do not then consider life a thing of any value. For look to the immensity of time behind thee, and to the time which is before thee, another boundless space. In this infinity then what is the difference between him who lives three days and him who lives three generations?
Aesop’s Fables
The Butcher and His Customers
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 227, “Aesop’s Fables · The Butcher……he-butcher-and-his-customers,” can mean this: Ask one more question before making a judgment.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
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Two Men were buying meat at a Butcher’s stall in the marketplace, and, while the Butcher’s back was turned for a moment, one of them snatched up a joint and hastily thrust it under the other’s cloak, where it could not be seen. When the Butcher turned round, he missed the meat at once, and charged them with having stolen it: but the one who had taken it said he hadn’t got it, and the one who had got it said he hadn’t taken it. The Butcher felt sure they were deceiving him, but he only said, “You may cheat me with your lying, but you can’t cheat the gods, and they won’t let you off so lightly.” Prevarication often amounts to perjury.
論語
八佾第三 · 三之一
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 228, “論語 · 八佾第三 · 三之一 · 三之一,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》八佾第三
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孔子謂季氏：「八佾舞於庭。是可忍也，孰不可忍也！」
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §27
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 229, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §27,” can mean this: Words can help or hurt. Think before you speak.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[27] Dic ergo quare sapiens non debeat ebrius fieri; deformitatem rei et inportunitatem ostende rebus, non verbis. Quod facillimum est, proba istas quae voluptates vocantur, ubi transcenderunt modum, poenas esse. Nam si illud argumentaberis, sapientem multo vino non inebriari et retinere rectum tenorem etiam si temulentus sit, licet colligas nec veneno poto moriturum nec sopore sumpto dormiturum nec elleboro accepto quidquid in visceribus haerebit eiecturum deiecturumque. Sed si temptantur pedes, lingua non constat, quid est quare illum existimes in parte sobrium esse, in parte ebrium? Vale.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §9
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 230, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §9,” can mean this: Things change, so we can pause and choose carefully.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[9] Vult nos ab ebrietate deterrere Zenon, vir maximus, huius sectae fortissimae ac sanctissimae conditor. Audi ergo quemadmodum colligat virum bonum non futurum ebrium: 'ebrio secretum sermonem nemo committit, viro autem bono committit; ergo vir bonus ebrius non erit'. Quemadmodum opposita interrogatione simili derideatur adtende (satis enim est unam ponere ex multis): 'dormienti nemo secretum sermonem committit, viro autem bono committit; vir bonus ergo non dormit'.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · I:20
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 231, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · I:20 · I:20,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Dhammapada is an anthology of Pali Buddhist verses shaped by long transmission and compilation, so a verifiable occasion cannot be assigned to each verse. This source uses Max Müller’s 1881 translation and keeps its nineteenth-century philological vocabulary visible.
- Period
- Ancient Indian Buddhist tradition; 1881 English translation
- Region
- South Asia / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Ancient compilation of uncertain date; translation published 1881
- Edition
- Dhammapada, translated by F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
The follower of the law, even if he can recite only a small portion (of the law), but, having forsaken passion and hatred and foolishness, possesses true knowledge and serenity of mind, he, caring for nothing in this world or that to come, has indeed a share in the priesthood.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VI · 340
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 232, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section VI · fragment 340,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section VI
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
La machine d’arithmétique fait des effets qui approchent plus de la pensée que tout ce que font les animaux ; mais elle ne fait rien qui puisse faire dire qu’elle a de la volonté, comme les animaux.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · XXI:299
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 233, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · XXI:299 · XXI:299,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Dhammapada is an anthology of Pali Buddhist verses shaped by long transmission and compilation, so a verifiable occasion cannot be assigned to each verse. This source uses Max Müller’s 1881 translation and keeps its nineteenth-century philological vocabulary visible.
- Period
- Ancient Indian Buddhist tradition; 1881 English translation
- Region
- South Asia / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Ancient compilation of uncertain date; translation published 1881
- Edition
- Dhammapada, translated by F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day and night are always set on their body.
Pensées
Pensées · Section XI · 697
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 234, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section XI · fragment 697,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section XI
Check the complete text with an adult
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Prodita lege. — Impleta cerne. — Implenda collige.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §17
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 235, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §17,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber VIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[17] Vis adversus hoc corpus liber esse? tamquam migraturus habita. Propone tibi quandoque hoc contubernio carendum: fortior eris ad necessitatem exeundi. Sed quemadmodum suus finis veniet in mentem omnia sine fine concupiscentibus?
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §3
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 236, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §3,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[3] Quid illum octoginta anni iuvant per inertiam exacti? non vixit iste sed in vita moratus est, nec sero mortuus est, sed diu. 'Octoginta annis vixit.' Interest mortem eius ex quo die numeres. 'At ille obiit viridis.'
Meditations
Meditations · Book 7, passage 53
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 237, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 7, passage 53 · book-7-p-53,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.
Pensées
Pensées · Section IX · 622
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 238, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section IX · fragment 622,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section IX
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La création du monde commençant à s’éloigner, Dieu a pourvu d’un historien unique contemporain, et a commis tout un peuple pour la garde de ce livre, afin que cette histoire fût la plus authentique du monde, et que tous les hommes pussent apprendre par là une chose si nécessaire à savoir, et qu’on ne pût la savoir que par là.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §1
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 239, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §1,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVII – XVIII
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[1] Tardius rescribo ad epistulas tuas, non quia districtus occupationibussum. Hanc excusationem cave audias: vaco, et omnes vacant qui volunt. Neminemres sequuntur: ipsi illas amplexantur et argumentum esse felicitatis occupationemputant. Quid ergo fuit quare non protinus rescriberem? id de quo quaerebasveniebat in contextum operis mei;
Aesop’s Fables
The Swollen Fox
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 240, “Aesop’s Fables · The Swollen……wollen Fox · the-swollen-fox,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
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A hungry Fox found in a hollow tree a quantity of bread and meat, which some shepherds had placed there against their return. Delighted with his find he slipped in through the narrow aperture and greedily devoured it all. But when he tried to get out again he found himself so swollen after his big meal that he could not squeeze through the hole, and fell to whining and groaning over his misfortune. Another Fox, happening to pass that way, came and asked him what the matter was; and, on learning the state of the case, said, “Well, my friend, I see nothing for it but for you to stay where you are till you shrink to your former size; you’ll get out then easily enough.”