On consolation to the bereaved
99:12
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.
12.
Nevertheless, who will make such an admission as: ‘A man is not better off who is allowed to return home quickly, whose journey is accomplished before he is wearied out’?
Life is neither a Good nor an Evil; it is simply the place where good and evil exist.
Hence this little boy has lost nothing except a hazard where loss was more assured than gain.
He might have turned out temperate and prudent; he might, with your fostering care, have been moulded to a better standard; but (and this fear is more reasonable) he might have become just like the many.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On consolation to the bereaved
Location: Chapter 99, Section 12
Content:
12.
Nevertheless, who will make such an admission as: ‘A man is not better off who is allowed to return home quickly, whose journey is accomplished before he is wearied out’?
Life is neither a Good nor an Evil; it is simply the place where good and evil exist.
Hence this little boy has lost nothing except a hazard where loss was more assured than gain.
He might have turned out temperate and prudent; he might, with your fostering care, have been moulded to a better standard; but (and this fear is more reasonable) he might have become just like the many.