Seneca, On the Happy Life 38: Better than the Worst

. . . I will add some reproaches afterwards, and will bring more accusations against myself than you can think of.

For the present, I will make you the following answer: "I am not a wise man, and I will not be one in order to feed your spite, so do not require me to be on a level with the best of men, but merely to be better than the worst. I am satisfied, if every day I take away something from my vices and correct my faults.

“I have not arrived at perfect soundness of mind, indeed, I never shall arrive at it. I compound palliatives rather than remedies for my gout, and I am satisfied if it comes at rarer intervals, and does not shoot so painfully.

“Compared with your feet, which are lame, I am a racer."

I make this speech, not on my own behalf, for I am steeped in vices of every kind, but on behalf of one who has made some progress in virtue.

—Seneca the Younger, On the happy life, Chapter 17 (tr Stewart)

A common characteristic of an arrogant man is his belief that he can really do no wrong. You may find him telling you that he might have been in error, but listen to his words closely. His flaw is hardly ever a flaw, because he says he acted with too much honesty, or kindness, or understanding, and in criticizing himself, he is actually praising himself for just being too good. Since he doesn’t really make mistakes, he then assumes other people must think in exactly the same way.

Seneca isn’t claiming to be without weaknesses, because he knows that every man is subject to failure. A good life is hardly a perfect state, but a constant process of learning, of growth, of improvement. It is never about being the best, but always about striving to be better. Each of us, as they say, will inevitably fall down, but the success is in getting up, dusting ourselves off, and trying again. The doing and the living is itself the goal.

We never really cure ourselves of making mistakes, because that would mean no longer being creatures moved by our own thinking and choices, though with effort we become better at managing our weaknesses. Sometimes the progress seems so slow, and sometimes we seem to slide backwards, but even the slightest effort, and the smallest improvement, is an essential part of the practice of living well.

A worse man is content to think he is already good, while a better man always struggles to raise himself higher. Remember that Socrates learned that he was wise because he could admit he was ignorant, just as any man who aspires to virtue recognizes all of his vices.

I sometimes feel that I carry with me the burden of far too many terrible choices, many that make me squirm in shame, some that seem downright irredeemable. There are weak times when I wish I could erase them, though a dose of Stoic common sense can usually sets me straight.

It is not only that they did happen, but also that every one of them played a necessary part in becoming who I now am, and in what good I have within me. Each was an opportunity to become better. That does not justify an error, but it allows me to transform an error into something good. While I cannot go back and remove a mistake, I can always continue making right out of something wrong. 

Written in 3/2002

Image: Double Herm of Seneca and Socrates (3rd cent. AD)