I want something to overcome, something on which I may test my endurance. For this is another remarkable quality that Sextius possesses: he will show you the grandeur of the happy life and yet will not make you despair of attaining it; you will understand that it is on high, but that it is accessible to him who has the will to seek it.
And virtue herself will have the same effect upon you, of making you admire her and yet hope to attain her. In my own case, at any rate the very contemplation of wisdom takes much of my time; I gaze upon her with bewilderment, just as I sometimes gaze upon the firmament itself, which I often behold as if I saw it for the first time.
Hence, I worship the discoveries of wisdom and their discoverers; to enter, as it were, into the inheritance of many predecessors is a delight. It was for me that they laid up this treasure; it was for me that they toiled. But we should play the part of a careful householder; we should increase what we have inherited. This inheritance shall pass from me to my descendants larger than before.
Much still remains to do, and much will always remain, and he who shall be born a thousand ages hence will not be barred from his opportunity of adding something further.
And virtue herself will have the same effect upon you, of making you admire her and yet hope to attain her. In my own case, at any rate the very contemplation of wisdom takes much of my time; I gaze upon her with bewilderment, just as I sometimes gaze upon the firmament itself, which I often behold as if I saw it for the first time.
Hence, I worship the discoveries of wisdom and their discoverers; to enter, as it were, into the inheritance of many predecessors is a delight. It was for me that they laid up this treasure; it was for me that they toiled. But we should play the part of a careful householder; we should increase what we have inherited. This inheritance shall pass from me to my descendants larger than before.
Much still remains to do, and much will always remain, and he who shall be born a thousand ages hence will not be barred from his opportunity of adding something further.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 64
Some time ago, I grew tired of constantly being told to work harder, and I worried that this betrayed some fatal flaw in my character. Why could I not bring myself to putting in the extra effort? Yet then I realized that it wasn’t grueling labor that bothered me at all, but rather the waste of committing myself to empty prizes, the false premise that jumping through hoops and accumulating more trinkets would make me happy.
When I allow myself to understand what is truly valuable in this life, then I am glad to go through hell and high water to achieve my goal. Please don’t insist, however, that I will become blessed by being your wage slave, while still remaining perpetually in debt so I can buy more products I don’t actually need.
It helps me so greatly to have someone like a Quintus Sextius urging me on, to show me both the glory that can be mine and to assure me of why such an end is certainly within my power to achieve.
Far too often, the self-appointed saviors will make the task appear as nigh impossible, and then they conveniently demand a total surrender to their wishes as the only remedy. The true philosopher, the man who sees you as a friend and not as a customer, has a faith in your own capacity for excellence.
Wisdom can appear quite lofty, even haughty, and I may wonder if a dull fellow like me has it in him to appreciate her subtleties. But once I have introduced myself, I find that she asks for nothing more than integrity and fidelity, and her teachings about my nature are not complex or cryptic at all, as long as I don’t puff myself up with pride.
I have often overlooked what she has to say, because I thought I had to start from scratch, to reinvent the wheel. No, I don’t need to go it alone; those who came before me have already lit the way. In contrast to the modernists, who believe everything must always be new, I am quite content to rely upon what is timeless.
For every obstacle I face, for every pain I encounter, I am sure to find someone who has already been there, and has already done that. I am not alone.
I suppose I’m sounding stuffier as I get older, but there is a certain security in knowing that the Ancients had already grappled with all the problems of this life, and we are just building on the foundation they built. Though I laughed at it back then, I now respect what was meant when they told me that all later philosophy was just a footnote to Plato.
Though wisdom always grows in each new generation, it’s all from the same seed. Though virtue speaks in different languages, she is an expression of one and the same universal good.
Some time ago, I grew tired of constantly being told to work harder, and I worried that this betrayed some fatal flaw in my character. Why could I not bring myself to putting in the extra effort? Yet then I realized that it wasn’t grueling labor that bothered me at all, but rather the waste of committing myself to empty prizes, the false premise that jumping through hoops and accumulating more trinkets would make me happy.
When I allow myself to understand what is truly valuable in this life, then I am glad to go through hell and high water to achieve my goal. Please don’t insist, however, that I will become blessed by being your wage slave, while still remaining perpetually in debt so I can buy more products I don’t actually need.
It helps me so greatly to have someone like a Quintus Sextius urging me on, to show me both the glory that can be mine and to assure me of why such an end is certainly within my power to achieve.
Far too often, the self-appointed saviors will make the task appear as nigh impossible, and then they conveniently demand a total surrender to their wishes as the only remedy. The true philosopher, the man who sees you as a friend and not as a customer, has a faith in your own capacity for excellence.
Wisdom can appear quite lofty, even haughty, and I may wonder if a dull fellow like me has it in him to appreciate her subtleties. But once I have introduced myself, I find that she asks for nothing more than integrity and fidelity, and her teachings about my nature are not complex or cryptic at all, as long as I don’t puff myself up with pride.
I have often overlooked what she has to say, because I thought I had to start from scratch, to reinvent the wheel. No, I don’t need to go it alone; those who came before me have already lit the way. In contrast to the modernists, who believe everything must always be new, I am quite content to rely upon what is timeless.
For every obstacle I face, for every pain I encounter, I am sure to find someone who has already been there, and has already done that. I am not alone.
I suppose I’m sounding stuffier as I get older, but there is a certain security in knowing that the Ancients had already grappled with all the problems of this life, and we are just building on the foundation they built. Though I laughed at it back then, I now respect what was meant when they told me that all later philosophy was just a footnote to Plato.
Though wisdom always grows in each new generation, it’s all from the same seed. Though virtue speaks in different languages, she is an expression of one and the same universal good.
—Reflection written in 7/2013
IMAGE: Jacob de Wit, Truth and Wisdom Assist History in Writing (1754)
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