Dab solver - Otium

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* {{cite book |last1=Frazer|first1=Alfred |title=The Roman villa: villa urbana |place=Philadelphia|publisher=[[...|UPenn Museum of Archaeology]]|year=1998 |isbn=0-924171-59-6}}
* {{cite book |last1=Garrison |first1=Daniel H. |title=Horace: [[Epodes]] and  |place=[[Norman, Oklahoma]] |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=0-8061-3057-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Grijp |first1=Paul van der |title=Passion and profit: towards an anthropology of collecting|place=[[California]] |publisher=[[University of California]] |year=2009 |isbn=3-8258-9258-1}}

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[[File:Getty Villa exterior.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Getty Villa]] representing life at otium (leisure) of an ancient Roman villa]] 
'''''Otium''''', a [[Latin]] abstract term, has a variety of meanings, including leisure time in which a person can enjoy eating, playing, resting, contemplation and academic endeavors. It sometimes, but not always, relates to a time in a person's [[retirement]] after previous service to the public or private sector, opposing "active public life". ''Otium'' can be a temporary time of leisure, that is sporadic. It can have intellectual, virtuous or immoral implications. It originally had the idea of withdrawing from one's daily business (''negotium'') or affairs to engage in activities that were considered to be artistically valuable or enlightening (''i.e.'' speaking, writing, philosophy). It had particular meaning to businessmen, diplomats, philosophers and poets.<ref name="Petrarch Otium">{{cite journal |first1=Julia Conaway |last1=Bondanella |year=2008 |url=http://pages.uoregon.edu/clj/BondanellaAbstract.html |title=Petrarch's Rereading of Otium in ''De vita solitaria'' |journal=[http://pages.uoregon.edu/clj/ Comparative Literature]|publisher= [[American Comparative Literature Association]] |volume=60|number=1 |pages=14–28 |accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref><ref>Garrison, p. 282</ref>

==Etymology and origin==
In ancient Roman culture ''otium'' was a military concept as its first Latin usage. This was in Ennius' ''Iphigenia.''<ref>Andre, pp. 17–24</ref>

''Iphigenia'' (241–248)
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''Otio qui nescit uti . . . '' ''plus negoti habet quam cum est negotium in negotio ; '' ''nam cui quod agat institutumst non ullo negotio'' ''id agit, id studet, ibi mentem atque animum delectat suum: '' ''otioso in otio animus nescit quid velit'' ''Hoc idem est ; em neque domi nunc nos nee militiae sumus; '' ''imus hue, hinc illuc; cum illuc ventum est, ire illinc Iubet. '' ''Incerte errat animus, praeterpropter vitam vivitur. ''<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0071%3Abook%3D19%3Achapter%3D10 Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights by John C. Rolfe]</ref>
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He who does not know how to use leisure . . . has more of work than when there is work in work. For to whom a task has been set, he does the work, desires it, and delights his own mind and intellect: in leisure, a mind does not know what it wants. The same is true (of us); we are neither at home or in the battlefield; we go here and there, and wherever there is a movement, we are there too. 
The mind wanders unsure, except in that life is lived.<ref>Erasmo, p. 20</ref>
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[[File:Roman soldiers at rest.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Representation of ancient Roman soldiers at rest]]
According to historian Carl Deroux in his work "Studies in Latin literature and Roman history" '' otium '' appears for the first time in a chorus of Ennius' Iphigenia.<ref>Deroux, p. 13</ref> Ennius' first use of the term ''otium'' around 190 BC showed the restlessness and boredom during a reprieve from war and was termed ''otium negotiosum'' (free time to do what one wanted) and ''otium otiosum'' (idle wasteless free time).<ref name="Langis2">''[http://www.marietta.edu/departments/English/OVSC/Select_Papers/2008/Taft_S&R_2008_Langis.pdf Leisure, Idleness and Virtuous Activity in Shakespearean Drama]'' by Unhae Langis, p. 2</ref> [[Aulus Gellius]], while discussing the word ''praeterpropter'' ("more or less") quotes a fragment of [[Ennius]]'s ''Iphigenia'', which contrasts ''otium'' with ''negotium'' repeatedly.<ref group=upper-alpha>Aulus Gellius, ''Noctes Atticae'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0071:book=19:chapter=10 19, 10]. For this fragment as the first instance of ''otium'' in the extant literature, see Eleanor Winsor Leach, "''Otium'' as ''Luxuria'': Economy of Status in the Younger Pliny's ''Letters''," ''Arethusa'' 36 (2003), p. 148.</ref> Ennius imagined the emotions of Agamemnon's soldiers at Aulus, that while in the field and not at war and not allowed to go home, as "more or less" ''living''.<ref>Barton, p. 97</ref>

The earliest extant appearance of the word in [[Latin literature]] occurs in a fragment from the soldiers' chorus in the ''Iphigenia'' of [[Ennius]], where it is contrasted to ''negotium''.<ref group=upper-alpha>Ennius, frg. XCIX in the edition of Jocelyn, ''otio qui nescit uti | plus negoti habet quam cum est negotium in negotio'', rendered by Jocelyn: "the man who has no job to do and does not know how to employ the resulting leisure has more difficulty than when there is difficulty in a job on hand". For this fragment as the first instance of ''otium'' in the extant literature, see Eleanor Winsor Leach, "''Otium'' as ''Luxuria'': Economy of Status in the Younger Pliny's ''Letters''," ''Arethusa'' 36 (2003), p. 148.</ref> Researches have determined the etymological and semantic use of ''otium'' was never a direct translation of the Greek word "schole", but derived from specifically Roman contexts. ''Otium'' is an example of the usage of the term "praeterpropter", meaning more or less of leisure. It was first used in military terms related to inactivity of war.<ref name="Sadlek33">Sadlek, p. 33</ref> In ancient Roman times soldiers were many times unoccupied, resting and bored to death when not at war (''i.e.'', winter months, weather not permitting war).<ref name="Sadlek33"/> This was associated with ''otium otiosum'' (unoccupied and pointless leisure—idle leisure). The opposite of this was ''otium negotiosum'' (busy leisure) - leisure with a satisfying [[hobby]] or being able to take care of one's personal affairs or one's own estate. This was ''otium privatum'' (private leisure), equal to ''negotium'' (a type of business).<ref group=upper-alpha>[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x/abstract "Leisure and idleness in the Renaissance: the ambivalence of otium" by Brian Vickers], p. 6 ''The first recorded use of the term is in a fragment from a soldiers' chorus in Ennius' Iphigenia (c. 190 BC), whose preservation we owe to that philologian's ragbag, the Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius (c. 150 AD) - he cites it as an example of the usage of the word praeterpropter (19.10.12). The soldiers are unoccupied, resting and bored, wanting to return home. They distinguish between otium negotiosum, leisure with a satisfying occupation, which takes place in the city, around the hearth, and otium otiosum, unoccupied and pointless leisure, such as their prolonged stay in the countryside, which they find disorientating. Andre argues that otium originally had military, not pastoral associations, referring to the enforced inactivity that coincided each year with the dead months of winter (especially January and February), unsuitable for war, farming or fishing.''</ref>

Our oldest citation for ''otium'' is this chorus of soldiers, singing about idleness on campaign, in an otherwise lost Latin tragedy by Ennius.<ref>Andre, pp. 17-24, The tragedy is [[Ennius]]'s ''Iphigenia'', ''apud'' [[Aulus Gellius]], ''Noctes Atticae'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0071%3Abook%3D19%3Achapter%3D10 19, 10] (a discussion of a different word in the same fragment).</ref> Andre shows in these lines that Ennius is showing the soldiers in the field would rather go home tending to their own affairs (''otium'') than to be idle doing nothing.<ref>Andre, p. 17</ref> Its military origin meant to stop fighting in battle and laying down of the weapons<ref name="Bernard16">Bernard, p. 16</ref> - a time for peace.<ref>Bright, page 217</ref> Even though originally ''otium'' was a military concept in early Roman culture of laying down one's weapons,<ref name="Bright, p. 217">Bright, p. 217</ref> it later became an elite prestigious time for caring for onesself.<ref>Stiegler, pp 53-4</ref> The ancient Romans had a sense of obligatory work ethics in their culture and considered the idle-leisure definition of ''otium'' as a waste of time.<ref>Andre, pp. 27-30</ref> Historians of ancient Roman considered ''otium'' a time of laborious leisure of much personal duties instead of public duties.<ref>Toner, p. 147</ref><ref>Paoli, p. 183</ref> Author Almasi shows that historians Jean-Marie Andre and [[Brian Vickers (literary scholar)|Brian Vickers]] point out the only legitimate form of ''otium'' was transpired with intellectual activity.<ref>Almasi, p. 115</ref> ''Otium'' was thought of by the wise elite as being free from work and other obligations (''negotium'') and leisure time spent on productive activities, however a time that should not be wasted as was thought the non-elite did with their leasure time.<ref>Taplin, p. 493</ref>

== Greek philosophers ==
[[File:Epikur2.png|thumb|right|<center>Epicurus]]

The favorable sense of ''otium'' in Ciceronian Latin reflects the Greek term {{lang|grc|σχολή}} (''skholē'', "leisure", a meaning retained in [[Modern Greek]] as σχόλη, ''schólē''); "leisure" having a complex history in Greek philosophy before being used in Latin (through Latin the word became the root of many education-related English terms, such as school, scholar and scholastic). In Athens, leisure was one of the marks of the [[kalos kagathos|Athenian gentleman]]: the time to do things right, unhurried time, time to discuss in. From there it became "discussion", and from there, philosophical and educational schools, which were both conducted by discussion. Four major Greek philosophical schools influenced the Roman gentlemen of Cicero's time. [[Plato]] (and his contemporaries, if the ''[[Greater Hippias]]'' be not authentic) brought ''schole'' into philosophy; as often, Plato can be quoted on both sides of the question whether leisure is better than the business of a citizen. In the ''Greater Hippias'', it is one weakness of the title character that, although he has the education and manners of a gentleman, he has no leisure; but Socrates, in the ''[[Apology (Plato)|Apology]]'', has no leisure either; he is too busy as a gad-fly, keeping his fellow Athenians awake to virtue.<ref>Brian Henry Smith, ''The new nobility: A prolegomenon to Plato's "Greater Hippias"'' 2007; pp. 45-6.</ref> However, by the time the Romans encountered Plato's school, the [[Academy]], they had largely ceased to discuss anything so practical as the good life; the [[New Academy]] of [[Carneades]] practiced verbal agility and boundless skepticism.<ref>The Academy lasted nearly a thousand years; different authors divide its history differently. For the text,see, ''inter permulta alia'', R. J. Hankinson, ''The Skeptics'', pp. 86-7.</ref>

[[Theophrastus]] and [[Dicaearchus]], students of Aristotle, debated much on the contemplative life and the active life.<ref name="297549 JSTOR"/>

Roman Epicureans used ''otium'' for the quiet bliss promised by Epicurus.<ref name="Haase, p. 2265">Haase, p. 2265</ref> An Epicurean proverb {{cquote|
''It is better to lie on the naked ground and be at ease, than to have a golden coach and a rich table and be worried.''<ref>Rosenmeyer, p. 65</ref>}}
The phrase "to be at ease" can have the meaning "to be of good cheer" or "to be without fear" {{mdash}} these being interdependent. The [[Epicurean]] idea of ''otium'' favors contemplation,<ref>Dillion, p. 48</ref> compassion, gratitude and friendship. The Epicurean view is that wisdom has as much to contribute to the benefit of the public as does that of contributions of politicians and laborers (''i.e.'' sailors). The rustic ''otium'' concept incorporates country living into Epicureanism. The active city public life of ''negotium'' and an ''otium'' of reserved country life of reflection have been much written about by [[Cicero]] and [[Seneca the Younger]].

[[Epicurus]]'s philosophy was contrary to [[Stoicism|Hellenistic Stoicism]]. Epicurus promised enjoyment in retirement as a concept of ''otium''.<ref name="Haase, p. 2265"/> The concept of the Epicurean ''otium'' (private world of leisure) and the contemplative life were represented in [[Epicureanism|Epicurus' school of philosophy and his garden]]. The portraits of the Garden of Epicurus near Athens represented political and cultural heroes of the time. Twenty-first–century historians Gregory Warden and David Romano have argued that the layout of the sculptures in "The Garden" were designed to give the viewer contrasting viewpoints of the Epicurean ''otium'' and the Hellenistic Stoic viewpoint of ''otium'' (''i.e.'' private or public; contemplation or "employment"; ''otium'' or ''negotium'').<ref>Dillon, p.48</ref>

== Roman Republic ==
In early and colloquial Latin, despite the etymological contrast, ''otium'' is often used pejoratively, in contrast rather to ''officium'', "office, duty" than to ''negotium'' ('business"). There was a difference established in ancient Roman times (second century BCE and forward) developing the idea elite social status was when one fulfilled one's duties in business and then ''otium'' meant "leisure" while ''negotium'' meant "non-leisure" (work duties still needed to be done). This new time of ''otium'' was filled by Greek scholarly pursuits and Greek pleasures. The time environment within which a person existed had sides to it that were filled with Greek customs such as pastimes, hobbies, interchanges of thoughts and ideas, and private bathing. ''Otium '' and ''negotium'' was then a new social concept which has perpetuated to our own time.<ref>Zanker, p. 11</ref>

Historian J.M. Andre concludes that the original sense of ''otium'' was related to military service and the idleness that happened in the winter,<ref>Andre, pp. 20-22, 35-36, 79-81, 421, 434-437</ref> as opposed to the business (''negotium'') of the rest of the year. The most ancient Roman calendar divided the year into ten months devoted to war and farming, leaving the winter months of January and February vacant for individual ''otium.''<ref>Andre, p. 21</ref> Andre shows that the beauty of the individual ''otium'' poses rest.<ref>Andre, p. 514 ''beaute de l'otium individuel poesie du repos.''</ref> [[Titus Maccius Plautus]] in his play ''[[Mercator (play)|Mercator]]'' says that while you are young is the time to save up for your retirement otium so you can enjoy it later, in his claim ''tum in otium te conloces, dum potes, ames'' (then you may set yourself at your ease, drink and be amorous).<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0102%3Aact%3D3%3Ascene%3D2 T. Maccius Plautus, Mercator (3.2)]</ref>

[[File:CiceroEpistulaeAdFamiliaresVenice1547page329Detail.jpg|thumb|<center> Cicero busy at work]]

[[Cicero]] speaks of himself, with the expression ''otium cum dignitate'', that time spent in activities one prefers is suitable for a Roman citizen who has retired from public life.<ref name="297549 JSTOR">{{cite journal |first1=Chaim |last1=Wirszubski |journal=The [[Journal of Roman Studies]] |volume=44|year=1954 |pages=1–13|title=Cicero's CVM Dignitate Otivm: A Reconsideration |accessdate=9 November 2011 |jstor=637589}}</ref><ref>[http://www.jstor.org/pss/637589 AUCTORITAS, DIGNITAS, OTIUM]</ref> When Caesar ousted him from each office, this forced an inactive period, which he used for "worthy leisure". During this time he composed ''[[Tusculanae Disputationes]]'', a series of books on [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[philosophy]].<ref name="Petrarch Otium"/> Cicero saw free time as a time to devote to writing.<ref name="Stroup, p. 61">Stroup, p. 61</ref> Cicero defines ''otium'' as leisure, avoiding active participation in politics. He further defines it as a state of security and peace (pax) - a type of "public health".<ref name="Stroup, p. 61"/> It is often associated with tranquility. Cicero advises in his third book ''On Duties'' that when the city life becomes [[Frustration|too much]], one should retreat to the country for leisure.<ref>Prosperetti, p. 47</ref> The term ''otium cum dignitate'' in Cicero's ''Pro Sestio'' was to mean peace (pax) for all and distinction for some.<ref>Wirszubski, pp. 93–94</ref> Cicero says in ''Pro Sestio'', XLV., 98{{cquote|
''Id quod est praestantissimum, maximeque optabile omnibus sanis et bonis et beatis, cum dignitate otium.'' That which stands first, and is most to be desired by all happy, honest and healthy-minded men, is ease with dignity.<ref>Harbottle, p. 36</ref>}}
Cicero explains that, while not necessarily his cup of tea, he recognized many different ways to spend leisure time and ''otium''. In one passage of ''[[De Oratore]]'' he explains that [[Philistus]] spent his retirement writing history as his ''otium''.<ref>Cicero, ''De Oratore'', Book ii. 13.57</ref> He goes on to say in ''De Oratore'' Book iii that other men passed their ''otium'' of leisure due to bad weather that prevented them from doing their daily chores to playing ball, [[knucklebones]], dice games or just games they made up. Others that were "retired" from public life for whatever reason devoted their ''otium cum seritio'' (leisure with service) to poetry, mathematics, music and teaching children.<ref>Cicero, ''De Oratore'', Book iii.15.57</ref>

German historian [[Klaus Bringmann]] shows in Cicero's works that one can not characterize him as a [[hypocrite]] while in ''otium'' because of his sense of duty to serve the state.<ref>Colish, pp. 77-78 ''Cicero on "otium"... Bringmann presents a view of Cicero in which his unwavering sense of duty ...'' ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=JokeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA78&dq=can+all+be+accommodated+without+the+need+to+depict+him+as+a+mediocrity,+a+hypocrite,+or+a+schizophrenic.&hl=en&ei=E5HFTrX7BMOCtge6pszQCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=can%20all%20be%20accommodated%20without%20the%20need%20to%20depict%20him%20as%20a%20mediocrity%2C%20a%20hypocrite%2C%20or%20a%20schizophrenic.&f=false can all be accommodated without the need to depict him as a mediocrity, a hypocrite or a schizophrenic.]'' (Klaus Bringmann - ''Untersuchungen zum spaten Cicero'' (pages 229-232) - [[Göttingen]] 1971)</ref> Cicero's concept of ''otium'' does not mean selfish pursuit of pleasure. It means the well-earned leisure which is a culmination of a long career of action and achievement. It's a reward. Idleness (''desidia'') had derogatory implications and unqualified ''otium'' was a problem for Cicero's elite group of followers. Its break away from civic affairs contrasted with ''negotia publica'', participation in civic affairs of the republican aristocracy.<ref>Cicero, ''off.'' 3.1; ''Brut.'' 7–9</ref> To distinguish between plain "idleness" and aristocratic ''otium homestum'', ''otium liberale'' or ''otium cum dignitate'', writers of the day said that literary and philosophical pursuits were worthwhile activities and that they had benefit to ''res publica'' (the general public). These pursuits were a type of 'employment' and therefore not mere laziness.<ref>Cicero, ''Tusc. 1.5; 5.105; ''fam'' 1.9.21</ref><ref>Sallust, ''Cat.'' 3–4</ref>

Cicero praises [[Cato the Elder]] for his respectful use of ''otium'' in his expression ''non minus otii quam negotii'' (no less for doing nothing than business).<ref>[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x/abstract "Leisure and idleness in the Renaissance: the ambivalence of otium" by Brian Vickers], p. 7</ref> Cicero was associating ''otium'' with writing and thinking when he admires Cato for pointing out that [[Scipio Africanus]] claimed he was ''never less idle than when he was at leisure, and never less lonely than when he was alone.''<ref>Beck, p. 42</ref> Cicero in his ''[[De Officiis]]'' (book III 1-4) further says of Scipio Africanus ''Leisure and solitude, which serve to make others idle, in Scipio's case acted as a [[goad]].'' Cicero's idea of ''otium cum dignitate'' (leisure with dignity) is considerably different from today's version of the concept. In his time, this kind of "free time" was only for the few privileged elite and was mostly made possible by the toil of slaves. It was associated with an egotistic and arrogant lifestyle, compared to those who had to earn their own living with no slaves. Today technology and educational systems enter into the equation on making leisure time (''otium'') available to almost everyone, not just the privileged elite, which enables the pursuit of [[hobby|hobbies]].<ref>Bereday, p. 60 & 156</ref> Cicero has a number of different concept versions for ''otium''. In one concept he feels that a lifetime of loyalty attending one's duty (''maximos labores'') should be rewarded with some form of retirement. This then promotes great sacrifices which promotes civic peace with honor within the state. He points out that the tranquillity one enjoys is due to the efforts of the majority. This concept of retirement through a lifetime of work was enjoyed only by the ruling class and the elite. The common people could only hope to enjoy a leisurely retirement with dignity as an inheritance.<ref>Vasaly, p. 235</ref>

[[Catullus]], a late [[Roman Republic]] poet, in his poems shows that the significance of ''otium'' of the middle Republican time of [[autonomy]] into the concept of how, why, and when a member of the patronal class might exchange political activity for literary leisure. He tended to mark ''otium'' with erotic influence.<ref name="Stroup, p. 61"/>

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''otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est; '' ''otio exsultas nimiumque gestis; '' ''otium et reges prius et beatas '' ''perdidit urbes. ''
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Leisure, Catullus, is mischievous to you: You revel in and desire leisure too much: Leisure has previously destroyed kings and bountiful cities. (51.13-16)<ref>Stroup, p. 55</ref>
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=== Imperial Rome ===
[[File:GNM - Römische Villa.jpg|thumb|left|A modern reconstruction of a Roman villa]]
The imperial dictatorship by [[Augustus]] during the fall of the [[Roman Republic]] put the Roman ruling classes into a state of change as their traditional role as always being in town was no longer needed. They were given much leisure time (''otium'') because of their wealth. The wives of wealthy men were known to write poetry in special rooms devoted to education of the entire family (except the master of the house as it would have been below his dignity).<ref>Zanker, p. 123, 125</ref>

The home of choice (''domus'') then became the countryside [[villa]] as the rise of the [[Roman Empire]] made them even wealthier. They could afford almost anything they could dream up in the way of a residence, especially among the large and middle class Roman landowners.<ref>Webster, p. 19</ref> Greek-style architecture became their new [[Roman villa|villa otium]] outside of town.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/arts/12iht-otium.1.16069552.html?pagewanted=all |title=The pursuit of leisure and the rise of the Roman villa|publisher=[[The New York Times]]|accessdate=13 November 2011}}</ref> In ancient Roman times the "otium villa " was a [[Dionysian]] idealistic rural home setting that evoked peace, leisure, simplicity and serenity. Often in ancient writings is found the mention of restorative powers due its natural setting (''otium'') in the rural country home, contrasted to the busy city life with all the businesses (''negotium'').<ref>Frazer, p. 86</ref> The "villa with a garden" and "villa by the sea" was associated with ''otium''.<ref>Zanker, p. 12</ref>
The life at the Roman villa was associated with Greek culture in rooms which had Greek themes indicating a "superior world" of living.<ref>Zanker, p. 33</ref>

The Imperial Roman poet [[Statius]] writes of a "otium villa" that he plans on retiring to in Naples in his work ''[[Silvae]]'': ''It has secure peace, an idle life of leisure, non-troubled rest and sleep. There is no madness in the market-place, no strict laws in dispute...''<ref>Statius, ''Silvae'' 3.5.85-87</ref> [[Pliny the Younger]] exemplified the philosophy of the Roman elite in ''otium'' of the time by the life he lived from his "otium villas". He would dictate letters to his secretary, read Greek and Latin speeches, go on walks on the villas grounds, dine and socialize with friends, meditate, exercise, bath, take naps and occasionally hunt.<ref>[http://www.virginia.edu/president/kenanscholarship/work/archive_files/penley_chiang/HTML%20Pages/Villa%20Pages/Villa%20-%20ROMAN.htm The Roman Villa]</ref>

[[Tibullus]] was an [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan]] [[Elegiac couplet|elegiac]] poet who offered an alternative lifestyle to the Roman ideal of the military man or the man of action. He preferred the country lifestyle. In his [[Tibullus#Extant works|existing first two books of poetry]] he compares the lifestyle of his chief friend and patron [[Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus]] as a commander and soldier to that of a farmer.<ref>Cairns, p. 146</ref> Tibullus in his poem 1.3 rejects the work style of the rich man, ''adsiduus labor'', and military service (''militia''). He shows in his poetry that originally ''otium'' was a military concept, the no longer use of one's weapons.<ref name="Bright, p. 217"/> Tibullus prefers the rustic agricultural landscape and a simple life. He indicates that while he would do agricultural work, he would only be interested in doing it sometimes (''interdum'') and therefore inserts ''otium'' (peace and leisure time) into agricultural life.<ref name="Myers73">Myers, p. 73</ref> He expresses in his attitude of his poetry that the qualities of the Epicurean resolve to quietism (occultism—religious mysticism) and pacifism (abstention from violence) as the pursuits of ''ignobile otium'' (mean leisure) - peace of mind (peace with one's self) and detachment from worldy ambitions.<ref>Lee-Stecum, p. 265</ref>

[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] compares the difference in the Epicurean and Stoic choice of ''otium''. He confesses that classic Stoicism urges active public life while Epicurus has a tendency not to advance public life unless forced to. Seneca views [[Stoicism]] and [[Epicureanism]] as legitimate to inaction in the proper situations. He defends the Stoic philosophy as leaning toward ''otium''. The main responsibility for the Stoic is to benefit the public in some manner. This could be done by the cultivation of virtue or the research of nature in retirement. This would mean a life of meditation and contemplation rather than an active political life. Seneca shows that ''otium'' is not really "free time", but a study of other matters (''i.e.'', reading, writing) other than political and career gains.<ref>Trapp, pp. 220–221</ref><ref>Cancik, p. 69</ref>

The increase of retirees retreating to rural villas became more attractive as writers of the day wrote that Stoic ways included pursuits of reading, writing and philosophy. This meant that the work of public duties was replaced by ''otium liberale'' (liberal leisure) and was sanctified if the retiree did pursuits of reading, writing and philosophy.<ref>Seneca, ''De otio, De brevitate vitae, De tranquillitate animi, ep.'' 82.3</ref><ref>Pliny, ''epp.'' 1.22; 9.3</ref> The benefits of the simplicity of rustic country life was reinforced in the intellectual legitimacy of ''otium ruris'' (rural leisure) because it drew out the spiritual implications of Horatian and Vergilian images of this type of life.<ref>Horace, ''epod.'' 2</ref><ref>Vergil, ''g.'' 2.475–540</ref><ref>Tacitus, ''dial.'' 13</ref> Seneca's doctrine of ''De Otio'' describes retirement from public life.<ref>Erskine, p. 68</ref> The contemplative life that Seneca revised was a Roman debate on ''otium'' (a productive peaceful time) and at some point in the evolution of the term was later contrasted to ''negotium''.<ref name="Bernard16"/>

These are some of the elements in Seneca's doctrine of ''De Otio'':
# virtue, freedom and happiness by reasoning.
# the military metaphor.
# that the virtuous person chooses ''statio'', a specific place for doing one's 'employment'.
# ''otium'' (leisure) is still ''negotium'' (business) even if withdrawal from public activity.
# that the virtuous person's ''otium'', as a citizen of the universe, is the field for the performance of his duty.<ref>Motto, p. 160-1</ref>

=== Later writers ===

[[File:Saint Augustine of Hippo.jpg|thumb|125px|<center>Augustine studying]]

While Seneca's doctrine appears to be close to the doctrine of [[Athenodorus of Soli|Athenodorus]]'s ''De Tranquillitate'' it is basically different. In ''De Otio 3.5'' Seneca points out the benefits towards man in general, while in ''De Tranquillitate'' the theme is peace of mind.<ref>Motto, p. 161</ref>

[[Saint Augustine of Hippo]] reminded Romans of ''otium philosophandi'', a positive element, that life was happiest when one had time to philosophize. Augustine points out that ''otium'' was the prerequisite for contemplation.<ref>Cavadini, p. 618</ref> It was because of ''otium'' that [[Alypius of Thagaste]] steered Augustine away from marriage. He said that they could not live a life together in the love of wisdom if he married. Augustine described ''Christianae vita otium'' as the Christian life of leisure.<ref>Ferguson, p. 208</ref> Many Christian writers of the time interpreted the Roman idea of ''otium'' as the [[deadly sin]] of [[acedia]] (sloth). Some Christian writers formulated ''otium'' as meaning to serve God through deep thought.<ref name="Petrarch Otium"/> Christian writers encouraged biblical studies to justify ''otium''.<ref>Hilary, ''Trin.'' 1.1–2</ref> These same Christian writers also showed ''otium ruris'' (secluded rural leisure) as a needed step to monastic ''propositum''.<ref>Paulinus of Nola, ''ep.'' 5.4; ''carm.'' 10.166</ref> Augustine describes the monastic life as ''otium sanctum'' (sanctified leisure or approved leisure).<ref name="Enarrations">{{cite book |author=Augustine |url=http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/augustine/textstrans.html |title=Enarrations on the Psalms |page=220.3 |accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref> In Augustine's time the idea of philosophy had two poles of ambitions—one to be a worthy Christian (vacation - ''negotium'') and the other to be a worthy friend of God (devotion - ''otium'').<ref name="Prosperetti 48">Prosperetti, p. 48</ref>

[[Petrarch]], 14th-century poet and [[Renaissance humanism|Renaissance humanist]], discusses ''otium'' in his ''[[De vita solitaria]]'' as it relates to a human life of simple habits and self-restraint. Like his favorite Roman authors Cicero, Horace, Seneca, Ovid and Livy, he sees ''otium'' not as leisure time devoted to idleness, passion, entertainment or mischievous wrongdoing; but time ideally spent on nature appreciation, serious research, meditation, contemplation, writing and friendship.<ref name="Petrarch Otium"/>

[[File:Francesco Petrarca00.jpg|thumb|100 px|left|<center>Petrarca]]

Petrarch considered solitude (''i.e.'', rural setting, "villa otium", [[Philippe de Cabassoles#The best friend of Petrarch|his Vaucluse home]]) and its relationship to ''otium'' as a great possession for a chance at intellectual activity, the same philosophy as Cicero and Seneca.<ref>Beck, pp. 43-44</ref> He would share such a precious commodity with his best friends in the spirit of Seneca when he said "no good thing is pleasant to possess without friends to share it."<ref>Kleist, p. 136</ref>

Historian Julia Bondanella translates Petrarch's Latin words of his own personal definition of ''otium'':

{{cquote|''...&nbsp;ought it not to be my first aim to have my leisure as remote from idleness as my life is from active affairs?''<ref name="Petrarch Otium"/>}}
Petrarch stressed the idea of an active mind even in ''otium'' (leisure). He refers back to Augustine's ''Vetus Itala'' in ''De otio religioso'' where in [[Christianity]] it was associated with contemplation and ''vacatio'' (vacate—be still). He points out that this is associated with ''videre'' (to see), which in Christianity is physical and mental activity aimed at moral perfection. He relates this concept of ''otium'' as ''vacate et videte'' (be still and see—a form of [[meditation]], contemplation). Petrarch points out that one should not take leisure as so relaxed as to weaken the mind, but to be active in leisure to build up strength in the view of a unique character and religion.<ref>Maggi, p. 202</ref>

[[Andrew Marvell]]’s seventeenth-century poem [[The Garden (poem)|The Garden]] is a [[Lyric poetry|lyric]] of nine [[stanzas]] in which he rejects all forms of activity in the world in favor of solitude of the retiree in a garden. It is a type of retirement poem expressing the love of retirement—an ancient Roman concept related to ''otium''. The poem shows the high degree of pleasure of rural retirement. Some critics see that he shows ''otium'' to mean peace, quiet and leisure—a goal for retirement from politics and business. Others see a Christianized ''otium'' with Marvell showing a representation of the progress of a soul from the pursuit for the pagan promised land of the peaceful countryside and contemplation to the search for the lost heaven on earth.<ref name="Vickers5">{{cite journal |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x/abstract |title=Leisure and Idleness in the Renaissance: the ambivalence of otium |first1=Brian |last1=Vickers |authorlink=Brian Vickers (literary scholar) |doi=10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x |publisher=The [[Society for Renaissance Studies]] ([[John Wiley & Sons]] |volume=4 (1) |pages=1–37 |date=March 1990. Article first published online: 29 August 2008 |accessdate=9 November 2011}}; page 5</ref>

Part of Marvell's poem The Garden below:

{| style="border: 0px; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; white-space: nowrap;"
! scope="col" width="300px" |
|- border="0"
|- Valign=top
|
What wondrous life is this I lead! 
Ripe apples drop about my head; 
The luscious clusters of the vine 
Upon my mouth do crush their wine; 
The nectarine and curious peach 
Into my hands themselves do reach; 
Stumbling on melons as I pass, 
Insnared with flowers, I fall on grass.
|
Meanwhile mind, from pleasure less, 
Withdraws into its happiness: 
The mind, that ocean where each kind 
Does straight its own resemblance find; 
Yet it creates, transcending these, 
Far other worlds, and other seas; 
Annihilating all that's made 
To a green thought in a green shade.
|
Here at the fountain's sliding foot, 
Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root, 
Casting the body's vest aside, 
My soul into the boughs does glide: 
There like a bird it sits and sings, 
Then whets and combs its silver wings; 
And, till prepared for longer flight, 
Waves in its plumes the various light.
|
Such was that happy garden-state, 
While man there walked without a mate: 
After a place so pure and sweet, 
What other help could yet be meet! 
But 'twas beyond a mortal's share 
To wander solitary there: 
Two paradises 'twere in one 
To live in Paradise alone.<ref>[http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/garden.htm The Garden by Andrew Marvell]</ref>
|}

[[Brian Vickers (literary scholar)|Brian Vickers]], a 20th-century British literary scholar, points out an expression made by [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], a 19th-century German philosopher, on scholars' opinion of ''otium'' in his 1878 publication ''[[Human, All Too Human|Menschliches, Allzumenschliches]]'':{{cquote|
Scholars are ashamed of ''otium.'' But there is something noble about leisure and idleness. {{mdash}} If idleness really is the beginning of all vice, then it is at any rate in the closest proximity to all virtue; the idle man is always a better man than the active. {{mdash}} But when I speak of leisure and idleness, you do not think I am alluding to you, do you, you sluggards?<ref name="Vickers1">{{cite journal |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x/abstract |title=Leisure and Idleness in the Renaissance: the ambivalence of otium |first1=Brian |last1=Vickers |authorlink=Brian Vickers (literary scholar) |doi=10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x |publisher=The [[Society for Renaissance Studies]] ([[John Wiley & Sons]] |volume=4 (1) |pages=1–37 |date=March 1990. Article first published online: 29 August 2008 |accessdate=14 November 2011}}; page 1</ref><ref group=upper-alpha>Nietzsche, ''Menschliches, Allzumenschliches.'' 1.284, 'Zu Gunsten der Müssigen', in Friedrich Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke, ed. G. Colli and M. Montinari (15 vols, Berlin, 1967) ) II (1967). 132.</ref><ref group=upper-alpha>[[s:Human All-Too-Human|HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN, 'A Book For Free Spirits' Part I (1914), by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Helen Zimmern, FIFTH DIVISION - The Signs of Higher and Lower Culture, IN FAVOUR OF THE IDLE]]: ''As a sign that the value of a contemplative life has decreased, scholars now vie with active people in a sort of hurried enjoyment, so that they appear to value this mode of enjoying more than that which really pertains to them, and which, as a matter of fact, is a far greater enjoyment. Scholars are ashamed of otium. But there is one noble thing about idleness and idlers. If idleness is really the beginning of all vice, it finds itself, therefore, at least in near neighbourhood of all the virtues; the idle man is still a better man than the active. You do not suppose that in speaking of idleness and idlers I am alluding to you, you sluggards?''</ref> }}

== Private life and public life meanings ==
Private life meaning of ''otium'' meant personal [[retirement]]—the opposite of business. It meant leisure only for one's own pleasure with no benefit to the state or public. Examples here is where one attends only his own farm or estate. Another is hunting. It was the opposite of "active public life". One would not be a historian in this case.<ref name="Balsdon47">{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/637589 |title= Auctoritas, Dignitas, Otium |first1=J. P. V. D. |last1=Balsdon |authorlink= |doi= |publisher= Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association|volume=10 (1) |pages=43–50 |date=May 1960 |accessdate=16 November 2011}}; page 47</ref>

In public life ''otium'' meant public peace and relief after war.<ref name="Balsdon47"/> It meant freedom from the enemy with no hostilities. It was not only freedom from external assault (the enemy), it was also freedom from internal disorder (civil war).<ref name="Balsdon47"/> This then had the meaning of leisure, peace and safety at the homeland. This eventually became the ''[[status quo]]'': acceptance of existing political and social conditions of the local laws, the custom of the ancestors, the powers of magistrates, authority of the senate, religions, the military, the treasury, and the praise of the empire.<ref>Cicero ''Pro Sestio'' 98; cf. 137</ref>

==Other uses==
[[File:Oslo US embassy residence.gif|thumb|<center> Villa Otium [http://norway.usembassy.gov/cmr.html Norway US embassy residence]]]
* The term ''cum dignitate otium'' ("leisure with dignity")<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Otium%20Cum%20Dignitate |title=Look up: Otium Cum Dignitate |publisher=[[Encyclo]] on line encyclopedia |accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref> is found in [[Cicero]]'s writings and refers to an aim and purpose of the [[Optimates]].<ref>Nietzsche, p. 46</ref>
* '' Leisure without literature is death and burial for a living man. '' – a quote from [[Seneca the Younger]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://audiolatinproverbs.blogspot.com/2007/07/otium-sine-sine-litteris-mors-est-et.html |title="Otium sine litteris mors est et hominis vivi sepultur" {{mdash}} Bestiaria Latina: Audio Latin Proverbs |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma]] |date=2 July 2007 |accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref>
* ''Leisure is a system of symbols which acts to establish a feeling of freedom and pleasure by formulating a sense of choice and desire.''<ref>Toner, p. 17</ref>
* ''Mr. Morgan was enjoying his otium in a dignified manner, surveying the evening fog, and smoking a cigar&nbsp;...''<ref>Thackeray, p. 349</ref>
* The [[Art nouveau]] or [[Jugendstil#Jugend and Jugendstil|Jugendstyle]] residence of the [[United States Ambassador to Norway]] is called the Villa Otium.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://norway.usembassy.gov/cmr.html |title=Ambassador’s Residence in Oslo; "Villa Otium" |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]] |accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref><ref group=upper-alpha>By Norwegian architect [[Henrik Bull]]. The building was inspired by Russian architecture, and was built for [[Hans Andreas Olsen]], who had encountered it when he was the Consul General for Norway at [[St. Petersburg, Russia]] with his wife Ester, the niece of [[Alfred Nobel]]. {{cite web |url=http://norway.usembassy.gov/cmr.html |title=Ambassador’s Residence in Oslo; "Villa Otium" |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]] |accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref>

== Synonyms ==
''Otium'' carried with it many different meanings (including but not limited to time, chance, opportunity), depending on the time period or the philosophers involved in determining the concept.<ref name="Sadlek33">Sadlek, p. 33</ref>

=== Positive sense ===
Synonyms of positive connotations are:
* ''quies'' - rest, repose, relief from toil.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>
* ''requies'' - rest, repose, rest from labor, a hobby.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>
* ''tranquilitas'' - tranquility, calm, quiet.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>
* ''peace'' - as a state or condition of freedom from external enemies.<ref name="Maclardy195">Maclardy, p. 195</ref>
* ''pax'' - to pacify or appease, as the outcome of diplomatic conference and agreement with an enemy.<ref name="Maclardy195"/>

===Negative sense===
Synonyms of negative connotations are:
* ''inhonestum otium'' - dishonorable leisure, idle self-indulgence leisure.<ref name="Balsdon47"/>
* ''desidia'' - slackness, idleness.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>
* ''inertia'' - sloth, idleness, indolence.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>
* ''ignavia'' - sloth, idleness, faint-heartedness.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>
* ''desidiosissimum otium'' - a sluggard's free time, he that fears labor; a man careless to attend to his duty first.<ref>Dumesnil, p. 224</ref>

==Modern scholars==
For a comparatively recent and exhaustive authoritative study on "otium"' in the history of Roman culture see {{cite journal |first1=Jean-Marie |last1=André |title=L'otium dans la vie morale et intellectuelle romaine des origines à l'époque augustéenne |place=Paris |publisher=[[Presses universitaires de France]] |year=1966}}<ref name="Sadlek33"/><ref name="Philology">{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/292840 |first1=Edna S. |last1=de Angeli |title=Reviewed work(s): L'otium dans la vie morale et intellectuelle romaine des origines a l'epoque Augusteenne by Jean-Marie Andre |work=[[The American Journal of Philology]] |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University]] |volume=89 |number=4 |date=October 1968 |pages=500–503 |accessdate=28 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="Drexler">{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/27684288 JSTOR |first1=Hans |last1=Drexler |publisher=Verlag C.H.Beck |issn=00171417 |place=München |date=November, 1967 |pages=694–698 |accessdate=28 December 2011 |title=Reviewed work(s): L'Otium dans la vie morale et intellectuelle romaine des origines à l'époque augustéenne by Jean-Marie André |work=Gnomon |volume=39 Bd., H. |number=7}}</ref>

Georgy M. Sadlek gives even a more recent and exhaustive study on "otium"' in his 2004 book '' Idleness working: the discourse of love's labor from Ovid through Chaucer and Gower'', ISBN 0-8132-1373-8.<ref name="Sadlek33"/>

==Bibliography==

===Footnotes===
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2011}}
<references group = upper-alpha/>

===Endnotes===
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2011}}
{{reflist|30em}}

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* {{cite book |last1=Stroup |first1=Sarah Culpepper |title=[[Catullus]], Cicero, and a society of patrons: the generation of the text |place=Cambridge; New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=0-521-51390-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Thackeray |first1=William Makepeace |authorlink=William Makepeace Thackeray |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9904 |title=The history of Pendennis: his fortunes and misfortunes, his friends and his greatest enemy |volume=2 |publisher=[[Smith, Elder & Co]] |year=1858}}
* {{cite book |last1=Taplin |first1=Oliver |title=Literature in the Greek and Roman worlds: a new perspective|place=Oxford England|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn= 0-19-210020-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Toner |first1=J. P. |title=Leisure and ancient Rome |place=Cambridge England; Cambridge, MA |publisher=Polity Press; [[Wiley-Blackwell]] |year=1995 |isbn= 0-7456-1432-9}}
* {{cite book |last1=Trapp |first1=Michael B. |title=Philosophy in the Roman Empire: ethics, politics and society |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.; Aldershot |place=[[Hampshire, England]]; Burlington, Vermont|year=2007 |isbn=0-7546-1618-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=Veblen |first1=Thorstein |authorlink=Thorstein Veblen |title=[[The Theory of the Leisure Class]] |publisher=Cosimo, Inc |year=2007 |isbn=1-60206-180-7}} [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833 Downloadable edition at] [[Project Gutenberg]].
* {{cite book |last1=Vasaly |first1=Ann |title=Representations: images of the world in Ciceronian oratory |publisher=University of California Press|place=Berkeley, California|year=1996 |isbn=0-520-20178-7}}
*{{cite book |last1=Webster |first1=Leslie |title=Transformation of the Roman World AD 400-900|publisher=California University Press |place=Berkeley, California; Los Angeles|year=1997 |isbn=0-520-21060-3}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x/abstract |title=Leisure and Idleness in the Renaissance: the ambivalence of otium |first1=Brian |last1=Vickers |authorlink=Brian Vickers (literary scholar) |doi=10.1111/j.1477-4658.1990.tb00408.x |publisher=The [[Society for Renaissance Studies]] ([[John Wiley & Sons]] |volume=4 (1) |pages=1–37 |date=March 1990. Article first published online: 29 August 2008 |accessdate=9 November 2011}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wirszubski |first1=Chaim |title=Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome During the Late Republic and Early Principate |publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York |year=1950 |isbn=0-521-06848-7}}
* {{cite book |author=World Book Inc |title=The [[World Book Dictionary]] |volume= 1 |publisher=[[World Book]] |place=Chicago |year=2003 |isbn= 0-7166-0299-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Zanker |first1=Paul |title= Roman Art |publisher=Getty Publications|place=Los Angeles, CA |year=2010 |isbn=1606060309}}

===Further reading===
* {{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=Arthur |url=http://www.archive.org/details/generalepistles01carrgoog |title=General epistle of St. James |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1896}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kusch |first1=Martin |title=The sociology of philosophical knowledge |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]];Kluwer Academic Publishers  |place=Dordrecht Boston  |year=2000 |isbn=0-7923-6150-4}}

==See also==
{{Commons category|Otium}}
* [[Italian Renaissance garden]]

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|otium}}
* [http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2w.htm Hellenistic Philosophy]
* [http://www.epicurus.net/en/otium.html Ode II-XVI “Otium”] {{mdash}} [[Quintus Horatius Flaccus|Horace]]

[[Category:Ancient Roman virtues]]
[[Category:Epicureanism]]
[[Category:Hellenistic philosophy]]
[[Category:Roman-era philosophy]]
[[Category:Latin legal terms]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Leisure]]
[[Category:Philosophy of law]]
[[Category:Political philosophy]]
[[Category:Roman law]]
[[Category:Stoicism|Otium]]

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