Seneca says that very few men find their way to the truth without anyone’s help, carving their own passage, and that most of us need teachers, dividing this sort into those with an aptitude for learning and others who must struggle against their nature. “I should accordingly deem more fortunate…

This week’s letter would fit well with a time of festivities such as the Carnival or Spring Break. In it Seneca warns Lucilius of the dangers of pleasures and vices, saying that we should seek out places that are healthy not only for the body but especially for the spirit…

https://thestoicletters.com/letter-l-on-our-blindness-and-its-cure/ Letters 49 to 58 were written while Seneca was traveling. This reflex on the first teaching of Letter 50, as Seneca says that our problems are not external, but intrinsic to each of us: We are indeed apt to ascribe certain faults to the place or to the time…

Letter 49 discusses a very relevant theme for Seneca, which he dealt with in depth in his book “On the Shortness of Life“. In this letter we got the main idea, that is, that life is not short, but rather we make bad use of it: “For this reason I…

In the letter 48, Seneca for the first time sharply criticizes Epicureanism, the antagonistic philosophy toward Stoicism. The central point of the criticism is the relationship with friends: Seneca says that for the Stoic, the terms “friend” and “man” are coextensive, since he is everyone’s friend, and his motive for…

In letter 47 Seneca talks about the relationship between master and slave and brings some of his most striking phrases: “No servitude is more disgraceful than that which is self-imposed. ” (XLVII, 17) The letter is long, but a very interesting read, mainly because of the details of Roman life…

Letter 46 is quite particular to Lucilius and contains little actual message. However it is a good example of a laudatory text. Originally published at http://thestoicletters.com on February 20, 2021. XLVI. On a New Book by Lucilius 1. I received the book of yours which you promised me. I opened it hastily with the idea of glancing…

In the letter 45 Sêneca talks about the sophist school and defines it as a futile exercise: “They lost much time in quibbling about words and in sophistical argumentation; all that sort of thing exercises the wit to no purpose. We tie knots and bind up words in double meanings…

The letter 44 is quite significant for the present days where it is common to complain about the “privileges” of others and play the victim, that is, just like Lucilius did 2000 years ago. Seneca’s response is excellent, and contains two parts: That we are all equal: “Philosophy neither rejects…