SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE LXXIV.
" "
preferred things. a Let us, however, recognize
that they are our chattels, not parts of ourselves ;
and
let us have them in our possession, but take heed to
remember that they are outside ourselves. Even
though they are in our possession, they are to
be reckoned as things subordinate and poor, the
possession of which gives no man a right to plume
himself. For what is more foolish than being selfcorn
placent about something which one has not
accomplished by one's own efforts ? Let everything
of this nature be added to us, and not stick fast
to us, so that, if it is withdrawn, it may come
away without tearing off any part of us. Let us use
these things, but not boast of them, and let
o
us use
*
them sparingly,
as if they were given for safe-keeping
and will be withdrawn. Anyone who does not
employ reason in his possession of them never keeps
them long for ; prosperity of itself, if uncontrolled
by reason, overwhelms itself. If anyone has put his
trust in goods that are most fleeting, he is soon
bereft of them, and, to avoid being bereft, he suffers
distress. Few men have been permitted to lay aside
prosperity gently.
The rest all fall, together with
the things amid which they have come into eminence,
and they are weighted down by the very things
which had before exalted them. For this reason
foresight must be brought into play, to insist upon
a limit or upon frugality
in the use of these
things, since licence overthrows and destroys its own
abundance. That which has no limit has never
endured, unless reason, which sets limits, has held it
in check. The fate of many cities will prove the
truth of this their ; sway has ceased at the very
prime because they were given to luxury, and excess
has ruined all that had been won by
virtue. We
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