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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 6

On obedience to the universal will

107:6

Book Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.

Book Description: The final volume of Seneca's moral letters. Common Stoic themes emerge again and again: the unreliability of fortune, the ability to form Stoic resolve, and the importance of virtue.

6.

We should not manifest surprise at any sort of condition into which we are born, and which should be lamented by no one, simply because it is equally ordained for all.

Yes, I say, equally ordained; for a man might have experienced even that which he has escaped.

And an equal law consists, not of that which all have experienced, but of that which is laid down for all.

Be sure to prescribe for your mind this sense of equity; we should pay without complaint the tax of our mortality.