On the vitality of the soul and its attributes
113:22
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.
22.
And what next?
Should I not ask our honourable opponents what shape these living beings have?
Is it that of man, or horse, or wild beast?
If they are given a round shape, like that of a god, I shall ask whether greed and luxury and madness are equally round.
For these, too, are “living things.” If I find that they give a rounded shape to these also, I shall go so far as to ask whether a modest gait is a living thing; they must admit it, according to their argument, and proceed to say that a gait is a living thing, and a rounded living thing, at that!
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the vitality of the soul and its attributes
Location: Chapter 113, Section 22
Content:
22.
And what next?
Should I not ask our honourable opponents what shape these living beings have?
Is it that of man, or horse, or wild beast?
If they are given a round shape, like that of a god, I shall ask whether greed and luxury and madness are equally round.
For these, too, are “living things.” If I find that they give a rounded shape to these also, I shall go so far as to ask whether a modest gait is a living thing; they must admit it, according to their argument, and proceed to say that a gait is a living thing, and a rounded living thing, at that!