Back to On the vitality of the soul and its attributes

Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 2

On the vitality of the soul and its attributes

113:2

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.

2.

The soul, men are agreed, is a living thing, because of itself it can make us living things, and because “living things" have derived their name therefrom.

But virtue is nothing else than a soul in a certain condition; therefore it is a living thing.

Again, virtue is active, and no action can take place without impulse.

And if a thing has impulse, it must be a living thing; for none except a living thing possesses impulse.