Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

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176 SENECA'says, a pipe for Fortune's finger to sound whatstop she please.' One gift, says Seneca, we havefrom Nature, and that is, that the hght of virtueis visible to all ;even those who do not followperceive it but if we are not distracted ;by theto us fromfalse opinions of things suggestedoutside or by our own bodily selves,and to follow the light will be all one.^to perceiveStoicism in the centuries before Christ waslike a motor started but off the clutch. There isa great deal of potential energy, but being merelypotential it results in nothing but noise. Senecasupplied the clutch to Stoicism by applying it tothe practical conduct of life, and he was followedin this work by Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.Thus a statesman, a slave, and an emperor, differingas widely in temperament as they did in position,the same conclusions as toreached, nevertheless,the nature of man and the secret of his felicity.What the Greeks — preach, the Romans practise,says Quintilian a greater matter.^ As was naturalto one who had lived in the centre of things andseen much of men and affairs, Seneca felt littlebut disdain for the logical and metaphysical puzzleswhich occupied so much of the time and thoughtof the earlier Greek philosophers and schoolmen,and which seem to have had a great attractionfor his Epicurean friend, Lucilius. He reproachesphilosophers with teaching how to dispute ratherthan how to live, and their pupils with attending^De Beneficiis, 717.2'Quantum enim Graeci praeceptis valent, tantum Romani(quod est majus) exemplis ' (Quintilian, xii. 2).
THE. PHILOSOPHY OF SENECA 177lectures in order to sharpen their wits rather thanimprove their characters. The most mischievousof mortals he declares to be those who bring theirphilosophy to market and by not practising whatthey preach seem a living proof of the futilityof their doctrines. He argues with force againstthose who maintained the sufficiency of generalprinciples and the needlessness of precepts fortheir application to the conduct of life. Virtue,he says, consists partly in theory and partly inpractice you ought both to learn and to make;good what you have learnt by your actions. Ifthis is so, the precepts of wisdom are of service aswell as her decrees ;they issue, as it were, edictsby which our affections are bound and constrained.The earlier philosophers were so occupied withthe form of the human understanding that theyneglectedits material content. The driving powerwas supplied but continued unlinked to theengine to be driven. Seneca, too, considered theexternal world but as the material of wise men—the ball, not prized for its own sake, on whichthe playeris to exercise his skill— but to showthe bearing of this discovery on the actualcircumstances of life and action seemed to himthe main business of philosophy.Not out of ivory only [he tells us] was Phidias skilledmaking statues, he made them of bronze ;ifyoubrought marble or any cheaper material to him hewould turn it to the best use of which it was capable.So, if riches fall to him, the wise man wiU display hiswisdom amidst riches, if not, then in poverty ; if hecan, in his native country,if not, then in exile; if heN
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SENECA
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SENECA.From the double bust of Sene
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,^e.PRticava;lairis^^T\r\(pQ *
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viINTRODUCTORY NOTEin a critical pe
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FRONTISPIECESeneca.— From the dou
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2 SENECAnon-existent rule of law be
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4 SENECAinvention of the effective
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6 SENECAsomething of the eloquence
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8 SENECASeneca and Helvia, was adop
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10 SENECAThe Senecas appear to have
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12 SENECAOriginal minds may not for
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14 SENECAone another yet in each ca
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i6SENECAThe young enthusiast besieg
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i8SENECAbath all the year round, fo
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20 SENECAin his use of words, but u
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22 SENECAmagistracies to senatorial
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CHAPTER IIITHE PRINCIPATE OF CALIGU
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26 SENECAin short sentences that fi
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28 SENECAcomplexion bore witness to
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30 SENECAcarefullyto observe whethe
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CHAPTER IVEXILE IN CORSICA, A.D. 4I
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34 SENECAhad been accustomed to res
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36 SENECAA capital sentence was fir
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38 SENECAornaments to be laid at he
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40 SENECAthat it was capable of giv
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42 SENECACassius, it is true, or hi
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44 SENECAcoincidence may, of course
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CHAPTER VRETURN FROM EXILE— LAST
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48 SENECAThe crisis over, the next
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50 SENECAa decree of the Senate, th
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52, SENECANero was twelve years old
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54 SENECAand were believed to be de
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56 SENECABritannicus with his siste
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58 SENECAwere the subjects of conte
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6oSENECAlaid aside/ Nero made his e
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62 SENECAyoke. He began by heaping
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64 SENECABut he had to choose betwe
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66 SENECAhe put into the prince's m
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68 SENECAothers, have moved me to p
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70 SENECAHer subsequent submission
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72 SENECACampus Martius— all prep
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74 SENECApromisedall she asked. Sil
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76 SENECAinstitutions had been mode
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78 SENECAmost powerful statesman wa
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8oof heaven lestSENECAthe balance o
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82 SENECAconcealed art into the tex
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84 SENECAinformer under Claudius, a
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CHAPTER VIIIthe tragedy of baiae. i
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88 SENECAto be taken into account.
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90 SENECAwhere Acerronia either att
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92 SENECAhe proceeded to an indictm
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94 SENECAhimself was of no service
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96 SENECAtheir emperor personally c
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CHAPTER IXDECLINE OF SENECA's INFLU
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100 SENECAIn Rome the event of the
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102 SENECAof affection and gratitud
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104 SENECAinfluence for good. It is
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10 6 SENFXAshould be content to gai
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io8the exulting tyrant.Senate made
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noSENECAdelighted at the news and o
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112 SENECAindications of the divine
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114 SENECAby a wall, with towers er
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ii6SENECAplant an old plantation. T
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Ii8SENECAis adopted but by a few we
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120 SENECAFriendship [he writes to
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122 SENECAachieved by constantly ke
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' *124 SENECAhe must disdain all th
Page 142 and 143: 126 SENECAwith others of his friend
Page 144 and 145: 128 SENECAextraordinary distinctnes
Page 146 and 147: 130 SENECAtreats his subject in a s
Page 148 and 149: 132 SENECAproceed to the solution o
Page 150 and 151: 134 SENECAtude whatever fate might
Page 152 and 153: CHAPTER XILETTER TO LUCILIUS ON AET
Page 154 and 155: 138 SENECAfor they are public prope
Page 156 and 157: 140 SENECAwere less audible than th
Page 158 and 159: 142 SENECAThe following extracts wi
Page 160 and 161: 144 SENECAgave me to all men ;but s
Page 162 and 163: 146 SENECAthe duty he owed to human
Page 164 and 165: 148 SENECAthough they have not aske
Page 166 and 167: CHAPTER XIITHE CONSPIRACY OF PISO A
Page 168 and 169: 152 SENECAseemed to regard, in Taci
Page 170 and 171: 154 SENECAdisregarded, made a last
Page 172 and 173: 156 SENECAthis important recruit, a
Page 174 and 175: 158 SENECAScevinus, being separatel
Page 176 and 177: i6oSENECAbeforehand, and even if th
Page 178 and 179: i62SENECAhad conspired to avenge. B
Page 180 and 181: CHAPTER XIIITHE PHILOSOPHY OF SENEC
Page 182 and 183: ,poweri66SENECAmay— have power ov
Page 184 and 185: i68SENECAable to our eyes or ears.
Page 186 and 187: 170 SENECAwill you feel no venerati
Page 188 and 189: 172 SENECAat the back of them, beca
Page 190 and 191: 174 SENECAhad the contempt of a man
Page 194 and 195: 178 SENECAcan, as a general, if not
Page 196 and 197: i8oSENECAon conventional lines, was
Page 198 and 199: i82SENECAthe tragedian were actuall
Page 200 and 201: i84SENECAMedes, Indians, and tribes
Page 202 and 203: i86SENECAprobability by way of Flor
Page 205 and 206: CAIUS MAECENASThe battle of Actium
Page 207 and 208: CAIUS MAECENAS191restoration of the
Page 209 and 210: CAIUS MAECENAS 193pessimism. He exp
Page 211 and 212: CAIUS MAECENAS195Heindolence and so
Page 213 and 214: CAIUS MAECENAS197his fame, and here
Page 215 and 216: CAIUS MAECENAS199He was not offende
Page 217 and 218: CAIUS MAECENAS 201which he parodies
Page 219 and 220: CAIUS MAECENAS 203smaller or larger
Page 221 and 222: and endeavoured toCAIUS MAECENAS 20
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