Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

LETTER TO LUCILIUS ON AETNA 141by later critics, '^^ut to supposethat Senecathought riches an evil in themselves — as the firstChristians, who were his contemporaries andwhose teaching resembles his on many otherpoints, really did think — is to misunderstand hiswhole doctrine. Things in themselves, accordingto the Stoics, are neither good nor evil, but onlythe use we make of them and the manner inwhich we regard and handle them. They arethe material, not the substance, of goodand evil.A wise man may possess riches so long as heregards himself merely as Fortune's banker, andis ready to yield them up at her demand withas littleregret as a banker pays out the depositsof his clients. The dangeris lest the rich manshould confound his shirt with his skin and regardhis possessions as part of himself. If he does notdo this he may without inconsistency prefer richesthat exile isto poverty, just as he may denyan evil, and yetif it be in his power spend his lifethink a shortin his native land, or as he mayHfe as desirable as a long, and yet may live to atranquil old age. The reason, indeed, for thinkinglightly of such things is not that we may ridourselves of them, but that we may enjoy themwithout anxiety. The difference between you and)me, wrote Seneca to his critics, is that my richest*belong to me; you to your riches.In the treatise De Vita Beata, addressed to hisbrother Gallio, Seneca stated with uncompromisingfrankness and force— impossible, one would think,to a disingenuous man— the charges broughtagainst him on this head, and gave his answer.