On the conflict between pleasure and virtue
123:12
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.
12.
These are voices which you ought to shun just as Ulysses did; he would not sail past them until he was lashed to the mast.
They are no less potent; they lure men from country, parents, friends, and virtuous ways; and by a hope that, if not base, is ill-starred, they wreck them upon a life of baseness.
How much better to follow a straight course and attain a goal where the words “pleasant” and “honourable” have the same meaning!
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the conflict between pleasure and virtue
Location: Chapter 123, Section 12
Content:
12.
These are voices which you ought to shun just as Ulysses did; he would not sail past them until he was lashed to the mast.
They are no less potent; they lure men from country, parents, friends, and virtuous ways; and by a hope that, if not base, is ill-starred, they wreck them upon a life of baseness.
How much better to follow a straight course and attain a goal where the words “pleasant” and “honourable” have the same meaning!