Stoicism - College of Stoic Philosophers

148 STOICISM.as when he tells his friend Lucilius that he has takenrooms above a public bath, that he might learn toconcentrate his thoughts, and disregard distractionsof all kinds. He dwells complacently on the curiousmedley of the local noises which were forced uponhis ears— the hissing and the groaning, the leapingand the splashing, the singing and the whistling, thehue and cry after the pickpocket, and many a disturbanceof the kind— as longa list as Londonerscould make of the costermongers' cries, and organgrindersand brass bands, or rumbling carriages thatallow no rest to mind or body. We read at the closeof the epistle that the experiment has been successful,and the writer thinks that he may leave theunpleasant scene, and betake himself to more attractivequarters.^It has been said above, that Seneca lays littlestress on rigid adherence to an abstract system. Itis curious to notice that the quotations which occurin the earlier letters to Lucilius are rarely drawn fromStoic authors, but most frequently from Epicurus,who had given his name to the theory most markedlycontrasted with the doctrines of the Porch. Pleasureis the standard of the one, while the other speaks ofright and duty. This seems to encourage a worldlyprudence, which would shun all high ambition, andchiefly aim at keeping on good terms with self, andwith mankind at large. That would nerve the willfor conflict, and live laborious days, and shun all self-'Ep. 58..