son’, thus missing the point. More correctly, the two 
words are translated as ‘‘this poison of gluttony’? (O. 
Apelt: ‘‘dieses Gift der Wollust’’) or with: ‘‘the epi- 
cure’s poison’ as in the Loeb edition of 1958. However, 
proof of the adequacy of this translation is not obtained 
from the quoted sentence alone. The whole context in 
which it appears has to be taken into consideration. 
The topic of gluttony and revelry is by no means 
limited to letter 95. It continues throughout all of the 
124 letters. Seneca touches on it in almost every letter, 
dealing with it in detail in letters 51, 59, 60, 86, 95, 108, 
119, 122, and 123. In letter 95, he starts with the ques- 
tion whether man can live a blissful life by just observ- 
ing moral rules. This leads him to the moral rules of the 
ancients. ‘heir rules were simple, as were their lives. 
Having no complicated vices, they also had no compli- 
‘ated diseases. At this point, Seneca comes to speak of 
the connection between medicine and nutrition: 
**Medicina quondam paucarum fuit scientia herbarum, quibus sis- 
teretur fluens sanguis, vulnera coirent; paulatim deinde in hanc per- 
venit tam multiplicem varietatem. Nec est mirum tune illam minus 
negotii habuisse firmis adhuc solidisque corporibus et facili cibo nec 
per artem voluptatemque corrupto: qui postquam coepit non ad tol- 
lendam, sed ad invitandam famem quaeri et inventae sunt mille con- 
diturae, quibus aviditas excitaretur, quae desiderantibus alimenta 
erant, onera sunt plenis.’’ (Seneca, ep. mor., XV, ep. 95, 15, A. 
Beltram ed. ) 
‘“Medicine once meant acquaintance with a few herbs to staunch 
bleeding and bring a wound together: since then it has gradually 
reached its present manifold variety. That it had less to contend with 
in those days is not surprising: bodies were still hard, sound flesh: 
food was the handiest; gastronomy had not debauched it. But ever 
since the search for it as a means not of removing but of exciting 
hunger began; from the moment when untold processes of seasoning 
to stimulate appetite were discovered, what was once the sustenance 
of the hungry has become the burden of the surfeited.’’ (Seneca, 
ep. mor., ep. 95, transl. by E. P. Barker, p. 144) 
The senseless and excessive gluttony of his contempo- 
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