On the vitality of the soul and its attributes
113:25
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.
25.
The dispute is settled, and we are therefore agreed.
For I shall admit, meanwhile, that the soul is a living thing with the proviso that later on I may cast my final vote; but I deny that the acts of the soul are living beings.
Otherwise, all words and all verses would be alive; for if prudent speech is a Good, and every Good a living thing, then speech is a living thing.
A prudent line of poetry is a Good; everything alive is a Good; therefore, the line of poetry is a living thing.
And so “Arms and the man I sing,” is a living thing; but they cannot call it rounded, because it has six feet!
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 25
Content:
25.
The dispute is settled, and we are therefore agreed.
For I shall admit, meanwhile, that the soul is a living thing with the proviso that later on I may cast my final vote; but I deny that the acts of the soul are living beings.
Otherwise, all words and all verses would be alive; for if prudent speech is a Good, and every Good a living thing, then speech is a living thing.
A prudent line of poetry is a Good; everything alive is a Good; therefore, the line of poetry is a living thing.
And so “Arms and the man I sing,” is a living thing; but they cannot call it rounded, because it has six feet!