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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 51

On the usefulness of basic principles

95:51

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.

52. all that you behold, that which comprises both god and man, is one—we are the parts of one great body.

Nature produced us related to one another, since she created us from the same source and to the same end.

She engendered in us mutual affection, and made us prone to friendships.

She established fairness and justice; according to her ruling, it is more wretched to commit than to suffer injury.

Through her orders, let our hands be ready for all that needs to be helped.