Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

174 SENECAhad the contempt of a man of the world forpedantry, though the impatience with purespeculation that he felt as an ethical instructorwas tempered in some degree by his own insatiablecuriosity. We sometimes find,' he'wrotein one of his letters,'that the pursuit of liberalarts makes men tedious, wordy, unreasonable,self-satisfied, and ignorant of what they shouldknow, just because they have learnt what isneedless.' ^Philosophy, in his view, is the science'of reality, the knowledge of which the godshave given to none,' he tells us, ' but the powerof attainment to all. Had they indeed made thisa common possession, had we been born wise,wisdom would have lost her chief excellence andhave been subject to Fortune, whereas it is hermost precious and noble quality that she falls ofherself to no man's lot, that each man owes herto himself, and seeks her from no other.' ^Thisacquisition of ' self-control in accordance with'fixed principles that are self-prescribed formswhat is called character, which, as Kant remarks,implies a subject conscious of something which hehas himself acquired. The man who possessesit is free, for he is the slave of nothing — of nowant, of no chance; he meets Fortune on equalterms and can do what he pleases, for nothingpleases him that he ought not to do. Thephilosopher sees things as they are presented tohim by nature, not as they are represented to himby hisof others.imagination worked on by the suggestion'Above all things, remember,' writes1Ep. 88. 2Ep. 90.