Seneca’s thirteenth letter is one of the longest letters he wrote to Lucilius. With a lot of wisdom that goes into it, we divided the key takeaways into two parts. In this first, part we will discuss the nature of anxiety as Seneca sees it, and then on the second, we will discuss how Seneca advises Lucilius to deal with anxiety. In letters from a stoic 13, Seneca begins by…
In Seneca letter 12, Seneca talks about old age and how he recognizes it each and every day. He, nevertheless, fully embrace it. “Fruits are most welcome when almost over; youth is most charming at its close; the last drink delights the toper, the glass which souses him and puts the finishing touch on his drunkenness. “The Stoics have always stressed the importance of the full acceptance of…
In letters from a stoic 11, Seneca talks about physiological changes that we cannot fully eliminate with training whenever certain situations arise. He talked about blushes on the face but for practicality, we will use butterflies in the stomach as an example. We have been taught by the Stoics a lot of techniques we can try to deal with anxiety. Seneca said we can never completely remove butterflies in…
In this tenth letter, Seneca reiterated what he asked Lucilius in the seventh letter which is to avoid the crowd. A mass of people whose ideals and principles are different than ours may easily corrupt our characters. With no reliable person he could trust to guide Lucilius, he asked him to trust and live by himself. “I do not know any person with whom I should prefer you to associate…
In this ninth letter, Seneca explains what it means to be self-sufficient in the context of Stoicism vs other schools of philosophy (Pyrrhonism, Eclecticism, etc.) that existed during that time. All schools agree that a wise man is self-sufficient meaning he will be happy with himself alone but behaves differently when a part important to him is lost (such as friends, body parts, etc.). Other schools are insensible with the…