On the usefulness of basic principles
95:18
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.
18.
Why should I mention the other innumerable diseases, the tortures that result from high living?
Men used to be free from such ills, because they had not yet slackened their strength by indulgence, because they had control over themselves, and supplied their own needs.
They toughened their bodies by work and real toil, tiring themselves out by running or hunting or tilling the earth.
They were refreshed by food in which only a hungry man could take pleasure.
Hence, there was no need for all our mighty medical paraphernalia, for so many instruments and pill-boxes.
For plain reasons they enjoyed plain health; it took elaborate courses to produce elaborate diseases.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the usefulness of basic principles
Location: Chapter 95, Section 18
Content:
18.
Why should I mention the other innumerable diseases, the tortures that result from high living?
Men used to be free from such ills, because they had not yet slackened their strength by indulgence, because they had control over themselves, and supplied their own needs.
They toughened their bodies by work and real toil, tiring themselves out by running or hunting or tilling the earth.
They were refreshed by food in which only a hungry man could take pleasure.
Hence, there was no need for all our mighty medical paraphernalia, for so many instruments and pill-boxes.
For plain reasons they enjoyed plain health; it took elaborate courses to produce elaborate diseases.