On the superficial blessings
115:9
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.
9. we admire walls veneered with a thin layer of marble, although we know the while what defects the marble conceals.
We cheat our own eyesight, and when we have overlaid our ceilings with gold, what else is it but a lie in which we take such delight?
For we know that beneath all this gilding there lurks some ugly wood.
Nor is such superficial decoration spread merely over walls and ceilings; nay, all the famous men whom you see strutting about with head in air, have nothing but a gold-leaf prosperity.
Look beneath, and you will know how much evil lies under that thin coating of titles.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the superficial blessings
Location: Chapter 115, Section 9
Content:
9. we admire walls veneered with a thin layer of marble, although we know the while what defects the marble conceals.
We cheat our own eyesight, and when we have overlaid our ceilings with gold, what else is it but a lie in which we take such delight?
For we know that beneath all this gilding there lurks some ugly wood.
Nor is such superficial decoration spread merely over walls and ceilings; nay, all the famous men whom you see strutting about with head in air, have nothing but a gold-leaf prosperity.
Look beneath, and you will know how much evil lies under that thin coating of titles.