15.
But in saying this, you grant the alternative which seems the more difficult to believe,—that the man who is in the midst of unremitting and extreme pain is not wretched, nay, is even happy; and you deny that which is much less serious,—that he is completely happy.
And yet, if virtue can keep a man from being wretched, it will be an easier task for it to render him completely happy.
For the difference between happiness and complete happiness is less than that between wretchedness and happiness.
Can it be possible that a thing which is so powerful as to snatch a man from disaster, and place him among the happy, cannot also accomplish what remains, and render him supremely happy?
Does its strength fail at the very top of the climb?
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the happy life
Location: Chapter 92, Section 15
Content:
15.
But in saying this, you grant the alternative which seems the more difficult to believe,—that the man who is in the midst of unremitting and extreme pain is not wretched, nay, is even happy; and you deny that which is much less serious,—that he is completely happy.
And yet, if virtue can keep a man from being wretched, it will be an easier task for it to render him completely happy.
For the difference between happiness and complete happiness is less than that between wretchedness and happiness.
Can it be possible that a thing which is so powerful as to snatch a man from disaster, and place him among the happy, cannot also accomplish what remains, and render him supremely happy?
Does its strength fail at the very top of the climb?