Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

SENECA IN RETIREMENT 123the doctrines of his school no less by his lifethan by his teaching. Confining his wants to thebarest necessities, living on the roughest fare,clad in the coarsest garments, he was in need ofnothing that man could give him, and thereforehad no motive for concealing his opinions onlife or on the actions of mankind out of anyhuman respect. Seneca, at the summit of hisfame and power and wealth, retained the highestadmiration and regard for this half-nakedchampion of poverty and of contemptworld's goods.for theNature [he says] would seem to have bred him(Demetrius) in our times in order to show that neithercould we corrupt him, nor he correct us. He is,though he deny it, a perfectly wise man ;one whoseconstancy of resolution nothing can shake whose unlabouredeloquence following its natural course and intent;on its end is little concerned with the choice of wordsor the modulation of periods, but is exactly suited tothe great subjectsit treats, and the true expression ofa mighty soul. Providence, I am persuaded, has decreedthat the man should lead such a life, and has endowedhim with such powers of speech, that this age might lackneither an example nor a reproach.^The teaching of Demetrius was that of hisschool, but confirmed in his instance by anunchanging practice.The wise man [he taught] must despise whatever issubject to fortune, must raise himself above fear, andlearn to attach no value to riches save those that springfrom himself, remembering always that there is little tofear from men, and nothing from the goodness of the gods ;*De Benef. vii. 8.