Letters from a Stoic

Notes

Stoics View of the World

Seneca and Philosophy | S.XVII

The Stoics saw the world as a single great community in which all men are brothers, ruled by a supreme providence which could be spoken of, almost according to choice or context, under a variety of names or descriptions including the divine reason, creative reason, nature, the spirit or purpose of the universe, destiny, a personal god, even (by way of concession to traditional religion) the gods. It is man's duty to live in conformity with the divine will, and this means, firstly, bringing his life into line with nature's laws and secondly, resigning himself completely and uncomplainingly to whatever fate may send him. Only by living thus, and not settings too high a value on things which can at any moment be taken away from him, can he discover that true, unshakeable peace and contentment to which ambition, luxury and above all avarice are among the greatest obstacles.

Stoics Supreme Ideal

Seneca and Philosophy | S.XVIII

In this way we shall arrive at the true end of man, happiness, through having attained the one and only good things in life, the ideal or goal called arete in Greek and in Latin virtus - for which the English word virtue is so unsatisfactory a translation. This, the summum bonum or supreme ideal, is usually summarized in ancient philosophy as a combination of four qualities: wisdom (or moral insight), courage, self-control and justice (or upright dealing). It enables a man to be self-sufficient, immune to suffering, superior to the wounds and upsets of life (often personalizes as Fortuna, the goddess fo fortune). Even a slave thus armed can be called 'free', or indeed titled 'a king' since even a king cannot touch him. Another example of these 'paradoxes' of which the Stoics were celebrated is one directed at the vanity of worldly possessions: 'the shortest route to wealth is the contempt of wealth'.

Pick Out One Thought

Letter II | S.4

After running over a lot of different thoughts, pick out one to be digested thoroughly that day. This is what I do myself; out of the many bits I have been reading I lay hold of one.

Wealth's Limits

Letter II | S.4f.

It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more. [...] You ask what is the proper limit to a person's wealth? First, having what is essential, and second, having what is enough.

Letter VI | S.13

There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with.

Love induced by Love

Letter IX | S.25

"I shall show you," said Hecato, "a love philtre compounded without drug or herb or witch's spell. It is this: if you wish to be loved, love."

Away with Pomp and Show

Letter XV | S.44

Away with pomp and show; as for the uncertain lot that the future has in store for me, why should I demand from fortune that she should give me this and that rater than demand from myself that I should not ask for them? Why should I ask for them, after all? Am I to pile them up in total forgetfulness of the frailty of human existence? What is the purpose of my labours going to be? See, this day's my last - or maybe it isn't, but it's not so far away from it.

Wisdom as Key to Happiness

Letter XVI | S.46

It is clear to you, I know, Lucilius, that no one can lead a happy life, or even one that is bearable, without the pursuit of wisdom, and that the perfection of wisdom is what makes the happy life, although even the beginnings of wisdom make life bearable. Yet this conviction, clear as it is, needs to be strengthened and given deeper roots through daily reflection; making noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. You have to preserve and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.

Preparing for Difficult Times in Times of Security

Letter XVIII | S.51

It is in times of security that the spirit should be preparing itself to deal with difficult times; while fortune is bestowing favours on it then is the time for it to be strengthened against her rebuffs. In the midst of peact the soldier carries out manoeuvres, throws up earthworks against a non-existent enemy and tires himself out with unnecessary toil in order to be equal to it when it is necessary. If you want a man to keep his head when the crisis comes you must give him some training before it comes.

Running Away in Your Own Company

Letter XXVIII | S.64f.

Here is what Socrates said to someone who was making the same complaint: "How can you wonder your travels do you no good, when you carry yourself around with you? You are saddled with the very thing that drove you away." How can novelty of surroundings abroad and becoming acquainted with foreign scenes or cities be of any help? All that dashing about turns out to be quite futile. And if you want to know why all this running away cannot help you, the answer is simply this: you are running away in your own company. You have to lay aside the load on your spirit. Until you do that, nowhere will satisfy you.

Change of Scene

Letter XXVIII | S.65

Once you have rid yourself of the affliction there, though, every change of scene will become a pleasure. You may be banished to the ends of the earth, and yet in whatever outlandish corner of the world you may find yourself stationed, you will find that place, whatever it may be like, a hospitable home. Where you arrive does not matter so much as what sort of person you are when you arrive there.

Venturing into the Unknown

Letter XXXIII | S.71f.

This is why I look on people lit this as a spiritless lot - the people who are forever acting as interpreters and never as creators, always lurking in someone else's shadow. They never venture to do for themselves the things they have spent such a long time learning. They exercise their memories on things that are not their own. It is one thing, however, to remember, another to know. To remember is to safeguard something entrusted to your memory, whereas to know, by contrast, is actually to make each item your own, and not be dependent on some original and constantly looking to see what the master said. [...] A further point, too, is that these people who never attain independence follow the views of their predecessors, first, in matters in which everybody else without exception has abandoned the older authority concerned, and secondly, in matters in which investigations are still not complete. But no new findings will ever be made if we rest content with the findings of the past. Besides, a man who folows someone else not only does not find anything, the is not even looking. [...] I shall use the old road, but if I find a shorter and easier one I shall open it up. The men who pioneered the old routes are leaders, not our masters. Truth lies open to everyone. There has yet to be a monopoly of truth. And there is plenty of it left for future generations too.

The Elevated Soul

Letter XLI | S.81

The soul that is elevated and well regulated, that passes through any experience as if it counted for comparatively little, that smiles at all things we fear or pray for, is impelled by a force that comes from heaven.

Letter XLI | S.83

So, too, in a man praise is due only to what is his very own. Suppose he has a beautiful home and a handsome collection of servants, a lot of land under cultivation and a lot of money out at interest; not one of these things can be said to be in him - they are just things around him. Praise in him what can neither be given nor snatched away, what is peculiarly a man's.

You ask what that is? It is his spirit, and the perfection of his reason in the spirit. For man is a rational animal. Man's ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he was born. And what is it that reason demands of him? Something very easy - that he live in accordance with his own nature. Yet this is turned into something difficult by the madness that is universal among men; we push one another into vices. And how can people be called back to spiritual well-being when no one is trying to call them back and the crowd is urging them on?

Good Way of Life

Letter XLVII | S.93

It is a mark of a good way of life that, among other things, it satisfies and abides; bad behaviour, constantly changing, not for the better, simply into different forms, has none of this stability.

Letter LIII | S.102

Philosophy, likewise, tells all other occupations_ "It's not my intention to accept whatever time is left over from you; you shall have, instead, what I reject." Give your whole mind to her. Sit at her side and pay her constant court, and an enormous gap will widen between yourself and other men. You'll end up far in advance of all mankind, and not far behind the gods themselves. [...] There is one ting, too, in which the wise man actually surpasses any god: a god has nature to thank for his immunity from fear, while the wise man can thank his own efforts for this.

Letter LIV | S.106

You can feel assured on my score of this: I shall not be afraid when the last hour comes - I'm already prepared, not planning as much as a day ahead. The man, though, whom you should admire and imitate is the one who finds it a joy to live and in spite of that is not reluctant to die. For where's the virtue in going out when you're really being thrown out? And yet there is virtue about my case: I'm in the process of being thrown out, certainly, but the manner of it is as if I were going out. And the reason why it never happens to a wise man is that being thrown out signifies expulsion from a place one is reluctant to depart from, and there is noting the wise man does reluctantly. He escapes necessity because he wills what necessity is going to force on him.

Letter LV | S.110

There's nothing to stop you enjoying the company of absent friends, as often as you like, too, and for as long as you like. This pleasure in their company - and there's no greater pleasure - is one we enjoy the more when we're absent from one another. For having our friends present makes us spoilt; as a result of our talking and walking and sitting together every now and then, on being separated we haven't a thought for those we've just been seeing. One good reason, too, why we should endure the absence patiently is the fact that every one of us is absent to a great extent from his friends even when they are around. Count up in this connexion first the nights spent away from one another, then the different engagements that keep each one busy, then the time passed in the privacy of one's study and in trips into the country, and you'll see that periods abroad don't deprive us of so very much. Possession of a friend should be with the spirit: the spirit's never absent: it see daily whoever it likes. So share with me my studies, my meals, my walks. Life would be restricted indeed if there were any barrier to our imaginations. I see you, my dear Lucilius, I hear you at this very moment. I feel so very much with you that I wonder whether I shouldn't start writing you notes rather than letters!

Definition of Death

Letter LXV | S.133

What is death? Either a transition or an end. I am not afraid of coming to an end, this being the same as never having begun, nor of transition, for I shall never be in confinement quite so cramped anywhere else as I am here.