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SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

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EPISTLE LXXIV.<br />

" "<br />

preferred things. a Let us, however, recognize<br />

that they are our chattels, not parts <strong>of</strong> ourselves ;<br />

and<br />

let us have them in our possession, but take heed to<br />

remember that they are outside ourselves. Even<br />

though they are in our possession, they are to<br />

be reckoned as things subordinate and poor, the<br />

possession <strong>of</strong> which gives no man a right to plume<br />

himself. For what is more foolish than being selfcorn<br />

placent about something which one has not<br />

accomplished by one's own efforts ? Let everything<br />

<strong>of</strong> this nature be added to us, and not stick fast<br />

to us, so that, if it is withdrawn, it may come<br />

away without tearing <strong>of</strong>f any part <strong>of</strong> us. Let us use<br />

these things, but not boast <strong>of</strong> them, and let<br />

o<br />

us use<br />

*<br />

them sparingly,<br />

as if they were given for safe-keeping<br />

and will be withdrawn. Anyone who does not<br />

employ reason in his possession <strong>of</strong> them never keeps<br />

them long for ; prosperity <strong>of</strong> itself, if uncontrolled<br />

by reason, overwhelms itself. If anyone has put his<br />

trust in goods that are most fleeting, he is soon<br />

bereft <strong>of</strong> them, and, to avoid being bereft, he suffers<br />

distress. Few men have been permitted to lay aside<br />

prosperity gently.<br />

The rest all fall, together with<br />

the things amid which they have come into eminence,<br />

and they are weighted down by the very things<br />

which had before exalted them. For this reason<br />

foresight must be brought into play, to insist upon<br />

a limit or upon frugality<br />

in the use <strong>of</strong> these<br />

things, since licence overthrows and destroys its own<br />

abundance. That which has no limit has never<br />

endured, unless reason, which sets limits, has held it<br />

in check. The fate <strong>of</strong> many cities will prove the<br />

truth <strong>of</strong> this their ; sway has ceased at the very<br />

prime because they were given to luxury, and excess<br />

has ruined all that had been won by<br />

virtue. We<br />

125

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