16.
For if things which are extrinsic to virtue can either diminish or increase virtue, then that which is honourable ceases to be the only good.
If you grant this, honour has wholly perished.
And why?
Let me tell you: it is because no act is honourable that is done by an unwilling agent, that is compulsory.
Every honourable act is voluntary.
Alloy it with reluctance, complaints, cowardice, or fear, and it loses its best characteristic—self-approval.
That which is not free cannot be honourable; for fear means slavery.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On various aspects of virtue
Location: Chapter 66, Section 16
Content:
16.
For if things which are extrinsic to virtue can either diminish or increase virtue, then that which is honourable ceases to be the only good.
If you grant this, honour has wholly perished.
And why?
Let me tell you: it is because no act is honourable that is done by an unwilling agent, that is compulsory.
Every honourable act is voluntary.
Alloy it with reluctance, complaints, cowardice, or fear, and it loses its best characteristic—self-approval.
That which is not free cannot be honourable; for fear means slavery.