SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE LXV1.
It is because nothing can be more fitting than that
which is fitting,,
and nothing more level than that
which is level. You cannot say that one thing
is
more equal to a given object than another thing;
hence also is
nothing more honourable than that which
is honourable. Accordingly, if all the virtues are by
nature equal, the three varieties of goods are equal.
This is what I mean : there is an equality between
feeling joy with self-control and suffering pain with
self-control. The joy in the one case does not surpass
in the other the steadfastness of soul that gulps
down the groan when the victim is in the clutches
of the torturer ; goods of the first kind are desirable,
while those of the second are worthy of admiration ;
and in each case they are none the less equal,
because whatever inconvenience attaches to the latter
is
compensated by the qualities of the good, which is so
much greater. Any man who believes them to be unequal
is turning his gaze away from the virtues themselves
and is surveying- mere externals : true goods