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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 7

On the quality, as contrasted with the length, of life

93:7

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.

7.

Just as one of small stature can be a perfect man, so a life of small compass can be a perfect life.

Age ranks among the external things.

How long I am to exist is not mine to decide, but how long I shall go on existing in my present way is in my own control.

This is the only thing you have the right to require of me,—that I shall cease to measure out an inglorious age as it were in darkness, and devote myself to living instead of being carried along past life.