Stoicism - College of Stoic Philosophers

SENECA AND ST. PAUL. 175any moral sequence between the life on earth and thehereafter; the claims of justice may be met, theythought, by the good and evil of our present lot, theaccount of which is balanced when the last debt ispaid at death.No personal Maker had brought man into being ;there was no one to call him to account for his stewardshipof powers entrusted to his keeping. Instead of,the Lord giveth, the Lord hath taken away" of our*'Burial Service, we read in Seneca, " Fortune hastaken away my friend, but he was her gift."Stoic looked on suicide as hisSo theright when he seemedto risk his dignity by staying longer on the scene.It might be cowardice, indeed, or weak impatience tohurry from the common ills of life, but he trusted hisown judgment— a sadly treacherous guide— to tellhim when he might withdraw in honour from thestage. The literature of the times is full of illustrations of this state of feeling, and among others apassage of his letters may serve to bring it home :—"Tullius Marcellinus, whom you know so well, ayoung man of quiet life, but prematurely aged, wastaken ill with a disease, which, though not incurable,was lingering and troublesome as requiring constantcarej and began to think of death. He called intocouncil many of his friends. Some cautiously gavehim the advice they would have taken in like case ;the flattering and insincere suggested what theythought he would be pleased to hear ;but our Stoicfriend, like a man of bold and resolute nature, to givehim his real due, seems to have offered him the best