Moral Letters to Lucilius
Seneca · ancient · 208k words
The last and greatest work of Rome’s foremost Stoic — 124 letters written in his final years to a younger friend, and really a course in how to live. Seneca ranges over everything a life throws up: the right use of time, the fear of death, the crowd, friendship, poverty and riches, the treatment of slaves, illness, grief, and the daily work of becoming a better person. Practical, intimate, and endlessly quotable, the Letters are the most approachable door into Stoicism ever written — read letter by letter beside Seneca’s own Latin.
Contents
- Letter 1. On saving time2 min
- Letter 2. On discursiveness in reading2 min
- Letter 3. On true and false friendship3 min
- Letter 4. On the terrors of death4 min
- Letter 5. On the philosopher's mean3 min
- Letter 6. On sharing knowledge3 min
- Letter 7. On crowds5 min
- Letter 8. On the philosopher's seclusion4 min
- Letter 9. On philosophy and friendship9 min
- Letter 10. On living to oneself2 min
- Letter 11. On the blush of modesty3 min
- Letter 12. On old age5 min
- Letter 13. On groundless fears7 min
- Letter 14. On the reasons for withdrawing from the world8 min
- Letter 15. On brawn and brains5 min
- Letter 16. On philosophy, the guide of life4 min
- Letter 17. On philosophy and riches5 min
- Letter 18. On festivals and fasting6 min
- Letter 19. On worldliness and retirement5 min
- Letter 20. On practising what you preach5 min
- Letter 21. On the renown which my writings will bring you5 min
- Letter 22. On the futility of half-way measures7 min
- Letter 23. On the true joy which comes from philosophy5 min
- Letter 24. On despising death11 min
- Letter 25. On reformation3 min
- Letter 26. On old age and death4 min
- Letter 27. On the good which abides4 min
- Letter 28. On travel as a cure for discontent3 min
- Letter 29. On the critical condition of Marcellinus5 min
- Letter 30. On conquering the conqueror7 min
- Letter 31. On siren songs5 min
- Letter 32. On progress2 min
- Letter 33. On the futility of learning maxims5 min
- Letter 34. On a promising pupil1 min
- Letter 35. On the friendship of kindred minds2 min
- Letter 36. On the value of retirement5 min
- Letter 37. On allegiance to virtue2 min
- Letter 38. On quiet conversation1 min
- Letter 39. On noble aspirations3 min
- Letter 40. On the proper style for a philosopher's discourse6 min
- Letter 41. On the god within us4 min
- Letter 42. On values4 min
- Letter 43. On the relativity of fame2 min
- Letter 44. On philosophy and pedigrees3 min
- Letter 45. On sophistical argumentation5 min
- Letter 46. On a new book by Lucilius1 min
- Letter 47. On master and slave8 min
- Letter 48. On quibbling as unworthy of the philosopher5 min
- Letter 49. On the shortness of life6 min
- Letter 50. On our blindness and its cure4 min
- Letter 51. On Baiae and morals5 min
- Letter 52. On choosing our teachers6 min
- Letter 53. On the faults of the spirit5 min
- Letter 54. On asthma and death3 min
- Letter 55. On Vatia's villa5 min
- Letter 56. On quiet and study5 min
- Letter 57. On the trials of travel3 min
- Letter 58. On being15 min
- Letter 59. On pleasure and joy8 min
- Letter 60. On harmful prayers2 min
- Letter 61. On meeting death cheerfully2 min
- Letter 62. On good company1 min
- Letter 63. On grief for lost friends6 min
- Letter 64. On the philosopher's task4 min
- Letter 65. On the first cause10 min
- Letter 66. On various aspects of virtue22 min
- Letter 67. On ill-health and endurance of suffering6 min
- Letter 68. On wisdom and retirement5 min
- Letter 69. On rest and restlessness2 min
- Letter 70. On the proper time to slip the cable11 min
- Letter 71. On the supreme good16 min
- Letter 72. On business as the enemy of philosophy5 min
- Letter 73. On philosophers and kings6 min
- Letter 74. On virtue as a refuge from worldly distractions16 min
- Letter 75. On the diseases of the soul7 min
- Letter 76. On learning wisdom in old age15 min
- Letter 77. On taking one's own life8 min
- Letter 78. On the healing power of the mind13 min
- Letter 79. On the rewards of scientific discovery8 min
- Letter 80. On worldly deceptions5 min
- Letter 81. On benefits15 min
- Letter 82. On the natural fear of death12 min
- Letter 83. On drunkenness12 min
- Letter 84. On gathering ideas6 min
- Letter 85. On some vain syllogisms17 min
- Letter 86. On Scipio's villa9 min
- Letter 87. Some arguments in favour of the simple life17 min
- Letter 88. On liberal and vocational studies19 min
- Letter 89. On the parts of philosophy10 min
- Letter 90. On the part played by philosophy in the progress of man23 min
- Letter 91. On the lesson to be drawn from the burning of Lyons10 min
- Letter 92. On the happy life16 min
- Letter 93. On the quality, as contrasted with the length, of life6 min
- Letter 94. On the value of advice31 min
- Letter 95. On the usefulness of basic principles30 min
- Letter 96. On facing hardships2 min
- Letter 97. On the degeneracy of the age6 min
- Letter 98. On the fickleness of fortune8 min
- Letter 99. On consolation to the bereaved14 min
- Letter 100. On the writings of Fabianus6 min
- Letter 101. On the futility of planning ahead6 min
- Letter 102. On the intimations of our immortality13 min
- Letter 103. On the dangers of association with our fellow-men2 min
- Letter 104. On care of health and peace of mind15 min
- Letter 105. On facing the world with confidence3 min
- Letter 106. On the corporeality of virtue3 min
- Letter 107. On obedience to the universal will4 min
- Letter 108. On the approaches to philosophy16 min
- Letter 109. On the fellowship of wise men7 min
- Letter 110. On true and false riches8 min
- Letter 111. On the vanity of mental gymnastics2 min
- Letter 112. On reforming hardened sinners1 min
- Letter 113. On the vitality of the soul and its attributes12 min
- Letter 114. On style as a mirror of character12 min
- Letter 115. On the superficial blessings8 min
- Letter 116. On self-control4 min
- Letter 117. On real ethics as superior to syllogistic subtleties16 min
- Letter 118. On the vanity of place-seeking7 min
- Letter 119. On nature as our best provider6 min
- Letter 120. More about virtue10 min
- Letter 121. On instinct in animals10 min
- Letter 122. On darkness as a veil for wickedness8 min
- Letter 123. On the conflict between pleasure and virtue8 min
- Letter 124. On the true good as attained by reason9 min