On the true good as attained by reason
124:12
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.
And what is this Good?
I shall tell you: it is a free mind, an upright mind, subjecting other things to itself and itself to nothing.
So far is infancy from admitting this Good that boyhood has no hope of it, and even young manhood cherishes the hope without justification; even our old age is very fortunate if it has reached this Good after long and concentrated study.
If this, then, is the Good, the good is a matter of the understanding.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the true good as attained by reason
Location: Chapter 124, Section 12
Content:
12.
And what is this Good?
I shall tell you: it is a free mind, an upright mind, subjecting other things to itself and itself to nothing.
So far is infancy from admitting this Good that boyhood has no hope of it, and even young manhood cherishes the hope without justification; even our old age is very fortunate if it has reached this Good after long and concentrated study.
If this, then, is the Good, the good is a matter of the understanding.