8.
If anyone should say that the child, hidden in its mother’s womb, of unknown sex too, delicate, unformed, and shapeless—if one should say that this child is already in a state of goodness, he would clearly seem to be astray in his ideas.
And yet how little difference is there between one who has just lately received the gift of life, and one who is still a hidden burden in the bowels of the mother!
They are equally developed, as far as their understanding of good or evil is concerned; and a child is as yet no more capable of comprehending the Good than is a tree or any dumb beast.
But why is the Good non-existent in a tree or in a dumb beast?
Because there is no reason there, either.
For the same cause, then, the Good is non-existent in a child, for the child also has no reason; the child will reach the Good only when he reaches reason.
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 8
Content:
8.
If anyone should say that the child, hidden in its mother’s womb, of unknown sex too, delicate, unformed, and shapeless—if one should say that this child is already in a state of goodness, he would clearly seem to be astray in his ideas.
And yet how little difference is there between one who has just lately received the gift of life, and one who is still a hidden burden in the bowels of the mother!
They are equally developed, as far as their understanding of good or evil is concerned; and a child is as yet no more capable of comprehending the Good than is a tree or any dumb beast.
But why is the Good non-existent in a tree or in a dumb beast?
Because there is no reason there, either.
For the same cause, then, the Good is non-existent in a child, for the child also has no reason; the child will reach the Good only when he reaches reason.