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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 16

On the true good as attained by reason

124:16

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.

16.

The dumb animal comprehends the present world about him through his senses alone.

He remembers the past only by meeting with something which reminds his senses; a horse, for example, remembers the right road only when he is placed at the starting-point.

In his stall, however, he has no memory of the road, no matter how often he may have stepped along it.

The third state—the future—does not come within the ken of dumb beasts.