Mens Sana In Corpore Sano

When I chanced the other day upon a poem by the 2nd-century AD Roman poet

Juvenal and which starts with the famous "mens sana in corpore sano," it clicked

instantly. I wonder if Bruce Lee had read this before he summed up "Do not pray

for an easy life; pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."

 

The following was copied shamelessly from Wikipedia:

 

        > orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.

        > fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem,

        > qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat

        > naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores,

        > nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil et potiores

        > Herculis aerumnas credat saevosque labores

        > et venere et cenis et pluma Sardanapalli.

        > monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare; semita certe

        > tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae.

        

        You should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body.

        Ask for a stout heart that has no fear of death,

        and deems length of days the least of Nature's gifts

        that can endure any kind of toil,

        that knows neither wrath nor desire and thinks

        the woes and hard labors of Hercules better than

        the loves and banquets and downy cushions of Sardanapalus.

        What I commend to you, you can give to yourself;

        For assuredly, the only road to a life of peace is virtue.

 

Note that tranqulity ("peace" seems a poor translation of "tranqullae") through

virtue was also the belief expressed by the Stoic Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius,

of the same era.

 

Older people pay more attention to health, I suspect, because we fear death. Yet

the poem advocates health for its own sake and belittles longevity as "the least

of Nature's gifts," which does make sense as, given the choice, one would prefer

good life quality to prolonged suffering. But maybe I'm assuming too much as

some would argue for living for the sake of living.

 

Below I try to translate the English version into Chinese, but I might need to

know the Latin version better to be more accurate.

 

            你應該祈求的是一個健康的頭腦和健康的身體。

            祈求一顆堅強的心，它

               不畏死亡，

               視壽命為天賜禮物中最輕的，

               能夠承擔各種艱辛，

               既不知道發怒也沒有貪欲，

               篤信Hercules的苦力遠勝Sardanapalus的享樂。

            我向你推薦的，你可以自行獲取；

            我保證，美德是通向心靈平靜的唯一道路。

[7grizzly]

How many, even when in dire health, continue chasing other desires instead of
focusing on bettering themselves by, e.g., sticking to a diet, eating less, exercising, etc?

[7grizzly]

回複 '暖冬cool夏' 的評論 : Thank you, 暖冬, for reading and your thoughtful comments.
I, too, am used to seeing
people struggle to live in physical suffering. It's hard to say they are wrong.

But I feel I'm missing the point. The poem seems to mean to teach that health,
instead of pleasure or longevity, should be the most important goal in life. To
many, this might be a paradigm shift and total game changer. It reminds me of
Chapter 3 of the TaoTeChing:

不尚賢，使民不爭；不貴難得之貨，使民不為盜；不見（xiàn）可欲，使民心不亂。是以聖人
之治，虛其心，實其腹；弱其誌，強其骨。常使民無知無欲，使夫（fú）智者不敢為也。

Have a great weekend.

[暖冬cool夏]

"..given the choice, one would prefer good life quality to prolonged suffering."
Quite coincidentally, he said the exact same thing in the car when we went hiking in the morning. To this, my response was it's easier said than done. "When death is near, you may change your mind." I've seen or heard of too many stories when people desperately hang on to his last breath. They would rather suffer the insufferable than to let life go. 好死不如賴活著.
I love Bruce Lee's quote, and just copied down for J.
The second English translation is a long sentence:)
It is definitely a right attitude to smile back at death:) But let's enjoy life fully first. Happy February!