Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

144 SENECAgave me to all men ;but she has given all men to me.That which I have I shall neither meanly hoard norfoolishly squander. None of my possessions will seem tome more truly my own than what I have well bestowed ;benefits I shall reckon neither by number nor by weight,but by the worth of the recipient. I shall never countthe cost of what I give to merit. Opinion shall never,and conscience always, guide my actions. ... I will bepleasant to my friends, mild and placable to my enemies,I will forgive before my forgiveness is asked, I willsatisfy all honest petitions.I shall know that the worldis my country with the gods as its rulers, and these Ishall regard as the judges of all I do and all I say. Andso whenever Nature takes once more my spirit to herself,or when my reason releases it, I shall go hence bearingwitness that I have loved a good conscience and a goodmanner of life, and that none through me have sufferedloss of liberty, myself least of all.' ^Such was the apologia of Seneca, and we cannotdoubt that it was sincere. His personal habitswere simple to the verge of austerity ;the choicewine that he gave to his guests he did not himselftouch ;he was distinguished as a generousfriend to honest poverty, especially among men ofletters ; nothing is recorded by historians of hisfive years of power to lead us to question the truthof his boast, that by his means no man had beenunjustly deprived of liberty.But there was another consideration relatingto the source of his wealth which he could notdirectly advance, but which he suggested inseveral other passages in his books. Withoutmortal offence to the emperor he could not haverefused his gifts.In his treatise On ' Benefits '»De Vita Beata, 17, 20.