Sentence Explanation - Seneca's On the Shortness of Life












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"I realized that your grief should not be intruded upon while it was fresh and agonizing, in case the consolations themselves should rouse and inflame it: for an illness too nothing is more harmful than premature treatment."



If I'm understanding correctly, Seneca refers to consolation of a fresh and agonizing wound as "premature treatment" and therefore, he should abstain from doing so to not make the situation worse. This indicates that premature consolation is less harmful than an "illness too nothing"? That doesn't make much sense to me.



If consolation is less harmful than a "too nothing" illness, than why isn't he consoling his mother?



What am I missing here? The sentence after the colon is contradicting the first.









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  • Seems like a poor translation to me.
    – Hot Licks
    7 secs ago
















0














"I realized that your grief should not be intruded upon while it was fresh and agonizing, in case the consolations themselves should rouse and inflame it: for an illness too nothing is more harmful than premature treatment."



If I'm understanding correctly, Seneca refers to consolation of a fresh and agonizing wound as "premature treatment" and therefore, he should abstain from doing so to not make the situation worse. This indicates that premature consolation is less harmful than an "illness too nothing"? That doesn't make much sense to me.



If consolation is less harmful than a "too nothing" illness, than why isn't he consoling his mother?



What am I missing here? The sentence after the colon is contradicting the first.









share







New contributor




Nahuatl_C137 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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  • Seems like a poor translation to me.
    – Hot Licks
    7 secs ago














0












0








0







"I realized that your grief should not be intruded upon while it was fresh and agonizing, in case the consolations themselves should rouse and inflame it: for an illness too nothing is more harmful than premature treatment."



If I'm understanding correctly, Seneca refers to consolation of a fresh and agonizing wound as "premature treatment" and therefore, he should abstain from doing so to not make the situation worse. This indicates that premature consolation is less harmful than an "illness too nothing"? That doesn't make much sense to me.



If consolation is less harmful than a "too nothing" illness, than why isn't he consoling his mother?



What am I missing here? The sentence after the colon is contradicting the first.









share







New contributor




Nahuatl_C137 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











"I realized that your grief should not be intruded upon while it was fresh and agonizing, in case the consolations themselves should rouse and inflame it: for an illness too nothing is more harmful than premature treatment."



If I'm understanding correctly, Seneca refers to consolation of a fresh and agonizing wound as "premature treatment" and therefore, he should abstain from doing so to not make the situation worse. This indicates that premature consolation is less harmful than an "illness too nothing"? That doesn't make much sense to me.



If consolation is less harmful than a "too nothing" illness, than why isn't he consoling his mother?



What am I missing here? The sentence after the colon is contradicting the first.







terminology quotes





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Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • Seems like a poor translation to me.
    – Hot Licks
    7 secs ago


















  • Seems like a poor translation to me.
    – Hot Licks
    7 secs ago
















Seems like a poor translation to me.
– Hot Licks
7 secs ago




Seems like a poor translation to me.
– Hot Licks
7 secs ago










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