Text

Latrunculis ludimus. In supervacuis subtilitas teritur: non faciunt bonos ista, sed doctos. Apertior res est, sapere, immo simplicior: paucis est ad mentem bonam uti litteris, sed nos ut cetera in supervacuum diffundimus, ita philosophiam ipsam. Quemadmodum omnium rerum, sic litterarum quoque intemperantia laboramus: non vitae sed scholae discimus.

Translation

We are playing board games. Subtlety is worn away on superfluous matters: these things do not make us good, but learned. Becoming wise is a more open, indeed a simpler matter: it requires using few writings to attain a good disposition of mind; but just as we scatter everything else into the superfluous, so we do with philosophy itself. Just as we suffer from an intemperance in all things, so too in learning: we learn not for life, but for the schoolroom.

Author

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus

Reference

Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 106, 11-12, [Opera quae extant omnia, Tomus I, p. 614]

Download

[JPG][PDF]

Link

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_vitae_sed_scholae_discimus
(Note the imprint)