On Peace of Mind, Section 9 — In Plain English

Seneca — The Senator

So get as many books as you want, but don't get them just to show off. "It's more respectable," you say, "to spend money on books than on bronze vases and paintings." Not really. Anything taken to extremes is wrong. What excuse is there for someone who buys fancy ivory and citrus wood bookcases, collects works by unknown or terrible authors, and then sits yawning among thousands of books? The spines and titles please him more than anything inside them. So in the homes of the laziest people, you'll see all the great speeches and histories stacked on shelves reaching to the ceiling. Today a library has become as essential to a house as hot and cold running water. I'd forgive them if they were truly carried away by love of literature. But they're not. These expensive works of genius, with all their beautiful illustrations, are just bought for display — fancy wallpaper.

Seneca — The Senator Original

Let a man, then, obtain as many books as he wants, but none for show. "It is more respectable," say you, "to spend one's money on such books than on vases of Corinthian brass and paintings." Not so: everything that is carried to excess is wrong. What excuses can you find for a man who is eager to buy bookcases of ivory and citrus wood, to collect the works of unknown or discredited authors, and who sits yawning amid so many thousands of books, whose backs and titles please him more than any other part of them? Thus in the houses of the laziest of men you will see the works of all the orators and historians stacked upon book-shelves reaching right up to the ceiling. At the present day a library has become as necessary an appendage to a house as a hot and cold bath. I would excuse them straightway if they really were carried away by an excessive zeal for literature; but as it is, these costly works of sacred genius, with all the illustrations that adorn them, are merely bought for display and to serve as wall-furniture.

Seneca — The Senator

Even books and learning — the most proper way for a gentleman to spend money — only make sense if you keep them reasonable. What's the point of owning thousands of books and huge libraries when you can't even read all the titles in your lifetime? A student gets overwhelmed by too many books, not educated by them. It's much better to focus on a few good writers than to skim through hundreds. Forty thousand books burned in the great fire at Alexandria. Some people, like the historian Livy, praised that library as a wonderful monument to royal wealth and refined taste. But it had nothing to do with taste or care. It was just showing off with books — and not even smart showing off, since they collected books not to learn from them, but to impress people. Many men today know less about literature than their slaves do, yet they use their books not for study but as dining room decorations.

Seneca — The Senator Original

Even literary pursuits, the most becoming thing for a gentleman to spend money upon, are only justifiable as long as they are kept within bounds. What is the use of possessing numberless books and libraries, whose titles their owner can hardly read through in a lifetime? A student is overwhelmed by such a mass, not instructed, and it is much better to devote yourself to a few writers than to skim through many. Forty thousand books were burned at Alexandria: some would have praised this library as a most noble memorial of royal wealth, like Titus Livius, who says that it was "a splendid result of the taste and attentive care of the kings." It had nothing to do with taste or care, but was a piece of learned luxury, nay, not even learned, since they amassed it, not for the sake of learning, but to make a show, like many men who know less about letters than a slave is expected to know, and who uses his books not to help him in his studies but to ornament his dining-room.