Back to On style as a mirror of character

Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 19

On style as a mirror of character

114:19

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.

19.

Again, Sallust said: aquis hiemantibus.

Arruntius, in his first book on the Punic War, uses the words: repente hiemavit tempestas.

And elsewhere, wishing to describe an exceptionally cold year, he says: totus hiemavit annus.

And in another passage: inde sexaginta onerarias leves praeter militem et necessarios nautarum hiemante aquilone misit; and he continues to bolster many passages with this metaphor.

In a certain place, Sallust gives the words: inter arma civilia aequi bonique famas petit; and Arruntius cannot restrain himself from mentioning at once, in the first book, that there were extensive “reminders” concerning Regulus.