On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~10,700 words · 51 passages
Cite this work
- APALucius Annaeus Seneca. (n.d.). De constantia sapientis [On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2)]. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-constantia-sapientis
- MLALucius Annaeus Seneca. De constantia sapientis [On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-constantia-sapientis.
- ChicagoLucius Annaeus Seneca. De constantia sapientis [On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-constantia-sapientis.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The wise man can receive no injury, because what might wound him touches nothing that is truly his. One of the hardest and most disputed Stoic texts.
Context and history
The thesis is deliberately extreme, and Seneca admits it: he notes that Stoics are accused of promising more than any man can deliver, and answers that a high ideal does not stop being useful because nobody reaches it. This entry is the Latin original; the catalogue also carries the English translation as a separate work. Cite the original.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
quae nefas erat diuidi; neque enim Cato post libertatem uixit nec libertas post Catonem. 3. Huic tu putas iniuriam fieri potuisse a populo quod aut praeturam illi detraxit aut togam, quod sacrum illud caput purgamentis oris adspersit? Tutus est sapiens nec ulla adfici aut iniuria aut contumelia potest. 1. Videor mihi intueri animum tuum incensum et efferuescentem, paras adclamare: 'haec sunt quae auctoritatem praeceptis uestris detrahant. Magna promittitis et quae ne optari quidem, nedum credi possint. Deinde ingentia locuti cum pauperem negastis esse sapientem, non negatis solereilli et seruum et tectum et cibum deesse; cum sapientem negastis insanire, non negatis et alienari et parum sana uerba emittere et quidquid uis morbi cogit audere; cum sapientem negastis seruum esse, idem non itis infitias et ueniturum et imperata facturum et domino suo seruilia praestaturum ministeria: ita sublato alte supercilio in eadem quae ceteri descenditis mutatis rerum nominibus. 2. Tale itaque aliquid et in hoc esse suspicor, quod prima specie pulchrum atque magnificum est, nec iniuriam nec contumeliam accepturum esse sapientem. Multum autem interest utrum sapientem extra indignationem an extra iniuriam ponas. Nam si dicis illum aequo animo laturum, nullum habet priuilegium, contigit illi res uulgaris et quae discitur ipsa iniuriarum adsiduitate, patientia; si negas accepturum iniuriam, id est neminem illi temptaturum facere, omnibus relictis negotiis Stoicus fio.' 3. Ego uero sapientem non imaginario honore uerborum exornare constitui, sed eo loco ponere quo nulla permittatur iniuria. 'Quid ergo? nemo erit qui lacessat, qui temptet?' Nihil in rerum natura tam sacrum est quod sacrilegum non inueniat, sed non ideo diuina minus in sublimi sunt si existunt qui magnitudinem multum ultra se