Letters from a Stoic

Seneca premises the letter on his recent return from an outing on his palanquin, which left him as tired as if he had walked. While on this trip he saw a house that used to belong to a man named Servilius Vatia. Vatia lived in that house after retiring from the Emperor Tiberius’s court due to fears for his life. While others praised this decision as allowing Vatia to live in peace, Seneca says that he was not truly carefree given that he did not pursue philosophy. A philosopher alone knows how to live.

Seneca moves on to describe the grounds of the house. While he thinks it is a pleasant place, he does not believe that one’s location contributes to their state of mind; only personal reflection influences the latter. He urges Lucilius to imagine that they are in each other’s company so that they may take pleasure in this thought while going about their day.

Seneca says that he does not think silence is as necessary to study as is often thought. He says that while writing the letter, he is staying above a public bathhouse; he describes the building’s cacophony of noises. However, Seneca claims he does not notice the noise, as he has forced his mind to look inward and not become distracted by outside influences. The power of the mind is such that “[t]here can be absolute bedlam without so long as there is no commotion within” (110). In the same way, external silence is useless if internally a person does not have focus.

Seneca states that many who retire from politics are not doing so from internal peace, as they still wish to regain their position if possible. Similarly, a person who has given up living extravagantly may still find that luxuries tempt them. If someone has truly mastered internal peace, no element of the external world will tempt them.

Despite this, Seneca advises that seeking wisdom is best done outside of the city. While distractions can be overcome, he asks why he should “suffer the torture” (113), comparing himself to Odysseus, who found an easy remedy for sailing past the sirens by plugging his ears to their music.

Seneca commiserates with Lucilius about the death of Lucilius’s friend Flaccus. However, he warns that the grief that Lucilius feels should not outweigh reason. It is understandable to feel sadness when friends die, but this should not be excessive. In Seneca’s eyes, a person weeping openly and often is attempting to show others that they feel sad. This is an incredible “ostentation in grief” (114).

Seneca imagines someone asking if he is advising that a person forget their deceased friends. He rejects this, saying a person who is focused on their loss will only remember their friend with grief and avoid thinking of them at all. Instead, Seneca urges Lucilius to recall the moments of pleasure he shared with friends so that eventually he may enjoy their memories without sadness. Seneca’s teacher taught that thinking of dead friends is comparable to drinking an old wine, where the pleasantness has a touch of sourness. Seneca conversely thinks that losing friends is “sweet and mellow” (115), as he no longer has to worry about when he will lose them but can simply be happy about the time he had with them.

Seneca further tells Lucilius to make sure he realizes that while fortune takes away friends, it can also give new ones. Therefore, Lucilius must take every opportunity possible to meet people. He must also ensure that he keeps more than one friend so as not to rob himself of the chance to make connections.

Seneca admits his own inconsolable grief over losing a friend named Annaeus Serenus. This experience brought home to him the transient nature of life. He tells Lucilius to leave behind his mourning as soon as possible, as grief becomes distasteful. Tears a month after the death are the limit for Seneca. Seneca ends the letter with a reminder that he and Lucilius will die soon and that after that they may again see those they have lost.

Seneca begins with a personal note that the day before writing he was confined to bed by illness for most of the morning. When he began to write later in the day, friends tried to dissuade him. As they did so, they disputed a philosophical issue that they want Lucilius to arbitrate.

Seneca sets up the question by explaining philosophical views of cause and effect. Stoic thinkers, he says, maintain that there are two elements in the universe: matter and cause. Matter is inert and inactive; it has unlimited potential but remains ideal unless acted upon. Cause (which is the same as reason) turns matter to whatever end it wishes. Using the example of a sculpture, he compares matter to bronze and cause to the sculptor working the metal.

This is not the same view held by other schools. Aristotle believed that there were four ways in which the term “cause” could be used. First, matter can be described as a cause, as nothing can be made without something existing. Second, the creator is a cause. Third, the form something takes is a cause. Fourth, the intention with which an item is produced is a cause. Referring to the statue analogy again, Seneca says the first cause is bronze, the second is the sculptor, the third is how the statue is meant to look, and the fourth may be money or fame depending on the goals of the sculptor.

To these, Plato adds a fifth cause: the idea. In the sculptor analogy, this is the perfect abstraction the sculptor had in mind while creating the statue. Seneca extrapolates this on a universal scale, saying God has an idea in creating the universe: According to Plato, that idea is “goodness.”

Seneca asks Lucilius to decide between Aristotle’s and Plato’s views but then points out the flaws he perceives in both. Their attempts to define everything that is required of a cause have not included enough causes. To do this, they would have to reference place, time, motion, and a host of other prerequisites ad infinitum. Instead, the Stoic definition is best, as it lists all of this as part of a single, generalized cause: the creative reason God has given to humans.

Seneca assumes Lucilius will ask him the purpose of this debate. Seneca acknowledges that he has previously said the purpose of philosophy is ridding people of fears and desires, which this discussion does not do. However, he says the subject helps the soul engage in uplifting thoughts. By investigating the causes of the world around themselves, a Stoic may detach themselves from their body, which helps them overcome their slavery to desires.

Seneca says that he recently saw boats from Alexandria arriving at a port, which caused great excitement among many people. He prided himself on not feeling excitement; though he knew that there would be news of his financial investments in Egypt, he has given up caring about finances. He notes that not caring about finances may be a product of his age, as he knows that he has more than enough to survive until whenever he dies. He does not believe his life will be incomplete when this happens, as if a person dies peacefully, their life is whole.

Seneca goes into the story of a man named Tullius Marcellinus, who found tranquility in his early life but began to think about suicide after he was diagnosed with a painful disease. A Stoic philosopher told him not to treat this as a decision of great importance, saying that there is nothing inherently great about living, whereas it is great to die in an honorable manner. Marcellinus then chose to distribute his possessions and die by suicide. Seneca says the point of this story is to show that death is not necessarily difficult or unhappy and therefore should not be feared.

Seneca continues to question the value of life. After telling a parable of a Greek youth who died by suicide rather than be enslaved, Seneca questions the reasons why a person might choose life over death. He rejects worldly pleasures, friendship, patriotism, and sunlight as sufficient, posing questions to Lucilius to ask how much these are really appreciated. It is instead the fear of death that Seneca believes responsible for people choosing to continue living. Seneca asks if life ruled by the fear of death is “really any different from being dead” (129).

Seneca concludes that as death is itself one of life’s duties, embracing it does not entail rejecting the responsibilities of life. What matters is not the length of one’s life but its quality.

Seneca commiserates with Lucilius about suffering from illnesses. He says that he was once so painfully ill that he considered dying by suicide. However, philosophy, friends, and his love for his father stopped this. Seneca hopes to include in the letter things that Lucilius can take comfort in while ill. He identifies three things commonly seen as “wrong” with illness: a fear of dying (which is unreasonable according to Stoic thought), suffering (which is only intermittent), and the interruption of pleasures (which will eventually end; moreover, physical illness cannot interfere with true pleasure in spiritual well-being). Having dismissed these issues, Seneca tells Lucilius not to slack in his philosophical duties even if he is sick, as while he is physically capable of doing so, he should be doing all he can to advance his wisdom.

Seneca says that a wise man in touch with his natural state will appreciate that whenever he dies, he has lived his longest possible life. The expectation of death helps relieve him from anxiety when the time eventually comes.