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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 64

On the value of advice

94:64

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.

64.

It was not virtue or reason which persuaded Gnaeus Pompeius to take part in foreign and civil warfare; it was his mad craving for unreal glory.

Now he attacked Spain and the faction of Sertorius; now he fared forth to enchain the pirates and subdue the seas.

These were merely excuses and pretexts for extending his power.