SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE LXX.
you find in doing another man's work '
? But he did
not follow her advice ;
he laid violent hands upon
himself. And he was right, after all ;
for when a
man is doomed to die in two or three days at his
enemy's pleasure, he is really "doing another man's
work " if he continues to live.
No general statement can be made, therefore,
with regard to the question whether, when a power
beyond our control threatens us with death, we should
anticipate death, or await it. For there are many
arguments to pull us in either direction. If one
death is
accompanied by torture, and the other is
simple and easy, why not snatch the latter ? Just
as I shall select my ship when I am about to go
on a voyage, or my house when I propose to take a
residence, so I shall choose my death when I am about
to depart from life. Moreover, just as a long-drawnout
life does not necessarily mean a better one, so a
long-drawn-out death necessarily means a worse one.
There is no occasion when the soul should be
humoured more than at the moment of death. Let
the soul depart as it feels itself impelled to go; a
whether it seeks the sword, or the halter, or some
draught that attacks the veins, let it proceed and
burst the bonds of its slavery. Every man ought to
make his life acceptable to others besides himself,
but his death to himself alone. The best form of
death is the one we like. Men are foolish who
fl
reflect thus One :
person will say that my conduct
was not brave enough another, that I was too
;
headstrong a third, that a ;
particular kind of death
would have betokened more spirit."
What you
should really
reflect is : "I have under consideration a
purpose witli which the talk of men has no concern!"
Your sole aim should be to escape from Fortune as
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