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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 6

On instinct in animals

121:6

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.

6.

We are apt to wonder at skilled dancers because their gestures are perfectly adapted to the meaning of the piece and its accompanying emotions, and their movements match the speed of the dialogue.

But that which art gives to the craftsman, is given to the animal by nature.

No animal handles its limbs with difficulty, no animal is at a loss how to use its body.

This function they exercise immediately at birth.

They come into the world with this knowledge; they are born full-trained.