Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

138 SENECAfor they are public property. Lawyers deny that anypublic property can be appropriated by prescription. Iam mistaken in you if Aetna does not whet your appetite.Already you are wishing to write something great andequal to the work of your predecessors — equal, I say,for j^our modesty does not allow you to hope for more ;a modesty so great that I think you would rather withholdsomething from the full force of your genius thanrun the risk of surpassing them, so high is your reverencefor the elder poets. Wisdom has this good point amongthe rest, that no one can be surpassed therein by anotherexcept during the ascent. When you reach the summitall are equal, there is no room for an increase, a halt ismade. Can the sun add aught to his greatness ? Canthe moon wax further than she is wont ? The seas donot increase ;the universe preserves the same habit andmeasure. Whatever has completed its natural magnitudecannot gain in stature. Wise men, in so far aswise, are equal and on a level. Each of them mayhave his own proper gifts: one will be more easyof access, another readier, another more fluent, anothermore eloquent ;that wisdom of which we are speaking,that only source of happiness, will be equal in all. Whetheryour Aetna can sink down and fall in upon itself, orwhether the constant action of the fire can draw downthis lofty summit, so conspicuous over a wide expanseof sea, I know not ; neither flame nor crumbling awaycan lower the height of virtue. This is the one majestythat can never be degraded ; it can be neither extendednor reduced. Its magnitude is fixed, like that of theheavenly bodies. To her let us endeavour to raiseourselves : much is already done, or rather, to confessthe truth, not much. For it is not goodness to be betterthan the worst. Who boasts of eyes that shrink fromdayhght ? for which the sun shines through a mist ?Though he may be satisfied to have escaped from totaldarkness, he does not yet enjoy the full light of day.Then will our soul have cause for rejoicing when escapingfrom the darkness in which it was involved, it sees no