Nero’s Remorse
Holidays are fundamental in our lives. They help us rest and recover energy to return to work. However, the Greeks and Romans were not always convinced of this.
The Greek philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (1st-2nd century AD) said that our lives are divided between relaxation and effort.
For example, there are times when we are working and times when we are on vacation. He said rest was important: “Rest gives pleasure to work.”
In ancient Greece and Rome, many people also recognized that taking a vacation was an opportunity to restore health to the body and mind.
However, not everyone was convinced the vacation was healthy or even a good idea.
As writes, in the ancient world, people took vacations to try to improve their physical and mental condition. Usually this meant moving from one climate to another in the hope that it would help.
In one of his letters, the Roman writer and jurist Plinythe Younger (1st-2nd century AD), says that tried to heal a man named Zosimos from an illness that made him spit blood.
Pliny sent him on vacation to Egypt. Zósimo returned after a long vacation “with his health restored”.
However, Zosimus fell ill again. Therefore, Plínio sent him on vacation again, this time to Gallia Narbonensis (currently southern France). Plínio tells us in his letter: “The air is healthy and milk is excellent for treating this type of illness. [doença]”.
People also sought out or avoided specific places, depending on whether those places were considered healthy or unhealthy.
The doctor Galen (circa 129-216 AD) tells us that the water of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos had qualities to treat several ailments, including dropsy, a type of fluid accumulation that leads to swelling.
For example, in the treatment of headachesthe physician Caelius Aurelianus wrote about the benefits of sea travel: “Sea travel imperceptibly and gradually opens the pores of the body, causes a burning effect due to the salinity of the sea, and, by bringing about a change, repairs the condition of the body. We must try to organize trips to places where the climate is mild and the north wind prevails, conditions opposite to those that can aggravate the disease.”
But he advises against traveling in fresh water: “Travel in rivers, bays and lakes is considered inappropriate as it causes the head to become damp and cold due to the exhalation of the earth.”
Not everyone prescribes “soups and rest”
Not everyone in ancient times thought vacations were healthy. Some thought vacations could be harmfulbecause sometimes we drank or ate too much.
For example, the doctor Galen complained that people who went on vacation had tendency to make your health worse rather than better.
In Hygiene, Galen observed that people who did not feel well due to their difficult work routine, such as slaves, needed the opportunity to recover their health through vacation. However, Galen also noted that people did not always take advantage of vacations to regain their health, because took advantage of the holidays to eat and drink excessively.
The Greek writer Athenaeus (2nd-3rd century AD) mentions that “all […] they look forward to the parties”, because at parties the tables are full of drinks and food. Clearly it was easy to eat and drink too much.
Vacation? An excuse for the lazy
In the ancient world, people sometimes complained that holidays were a waste of precious time.
The philosopher Seneca (1st century BC – 1st century AD) stated that the religious practice of taking all Sundays off from work meant that people wasted “one-seventh of their life”.
Likewise, the writer Claudius Aelian (2nd-3rd century AD) claimed that holidays were simply invented as a excuse to be lazy: “Look at you, men, who invent endless pretexts and excuses for idleness!”
