Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

'jLETTER TO LUCILIUS ON AETNA 147an abyss of infamy from which it was evidentthat death alone could rescue him.That Seneca made a good and generous use \of his riches, we have not only his own testimonybut that of Juvenal and Martial. And first asto his own. In the De Vita Beata, after explain-\ {Iing that a philosopher may legitimately be rich, ,;provided that his riches are \honourably acquired,taken from no man, earned at the expense of jno man's sufferings, stained with no blood, andspent as honourably as they were 'gained, he adds\that they should not be rejected, unless either |they are thought by their possessor to be useless,or unless he confesses that he does not knowhow to use them. This brings him to a descriptionthus :of their proper employment, and he proceedsHe will give either to the good,or to those whom hecan make good. He will take the greatest trouble todiscover the worthiest and give to them, as one whoremembers that he must account not only for what he hasreceived but for what he has spent. He will give for goodand adequate reasons, since an ill-bestowed gift must becounted as a bad form of wastefulness. His purse will beopen indeed, but have no holes in it ;much wiU comefrom it, but nothing fall. It is a mistake to suppose thatbounty is an easy art. If it is thoughtfully given, ifthere is no promiscuous squandering,it is on the contrarymost difficult. I oblige one man, I discharge my obligationsto another, I come to the aid of a third, I takepity on a fourth. I find one whose poverty binds himto —occupations unworthy of his abilities I releasehim from that poverty. To some, even though theyare in need, I wiU not give, because, whatever I give,they mil always be in need ;to others I will offer aid