8.
You expect me, I suppose, to deny that “race” differs from “running,” that “heat” differs from “being hot,” that “light” differs from “giving light.” I grant that these pairs vary, but hold that they are not in separate classes.
If good health is an indifferent quality, then so is being in good health; if beauty is an indifferent quality, then so is being beautiful.
If justice is a Good, then so is being just.
And if baseness is an evil, then it is an evil to be base—just as much as, if sore eyes are an evil, the state of having sore eyes is also an evil.
Neither quality, you may be sure, can exist without the other.
He who is wise is a man of wisdom; he who is a man of wisdom is wise.
So true it is that we cannot doubt the quality of the one to equal the quality of the other, that they are both regarded by certain persons as one and the same.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On real ethics as superior to syllogistic subtleties
Location: Chapter 117, Section 8
Content:
8.
You expect me, I suppose, to deny that “race” differs from “running,” that “heat” differs from “being hot,” that “light” differs from “giving light.” I grant that these pairs vary, but hold that they are not in separate classes.
If good health is an indifferent quality, then so is being in good health; if beauty is an indifferent quality, then so is being beautiful.
If justice is a Good, then so is being just.
And if baseness is an evil, then it is an evil to be base—just as much as, if sore eyes are an evil, the state of having sore eyes is also an evil.
Neither quality, you may be sure, can exist without the other.
He who is wise is a man of wisdom; he who is a man of wisdom is wise.
So true it is that we cannot doubt the quality of the one to equal the quality of the other, that they are both regarded by certain persons as one and the same.