SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE XC.
sloping they contrived a drainage for even the heaviest
rains. Beneath such dwellings they lived, but they
lived in peace. A thatched roof once covered free
men ;
under marble and gold dwells slavery.
On another point also I differ from Posidonius,
when he holds that mechanical tools were the
invention of wise men. For on that basis one might
maintain that those were wise who taught the arts
Of setting traps for game, and liming twigs
For birds, and girdling mighty woods with dogs.
a
It was man's ingenuity, not his wisdom, that discovered
all these devices. And I also differ from
him when he says that wise men discovered our
mines of iron and copper, " when the earth, scorched
by forest fires, melted the veins of ore which lay
near the surface and caused the metal to gush forth." b
Nay, the sort of men who discover such things are
the sort of men who are busied with them. Nor do I
consider this question so subtle as Posidonius thinks,
namely, whether the hammer or the tongs came first
into use. They were both invented by some man
whose mind was nimble and keen, but not great
or exalted ;
and the same holds true of any other
discovery which can only be made by means of a
bent body and of a mind whose gaze is upon the
ground.
The wise man was easy-going in his way of living.
And why not ? Even in our own times he would
prefer to be as little cumbered as possible. How, I
ask, can you consistently admire both Diogenes and
Daedalus ? Which of these two seems to you a wise
man the one who devised the saw, or the one who,
on seeing a boy drink water from the hollow of his
hand, forthwith took his cup from his wallet and
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