On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~10,700 words · 51 passages
Cite this work
- APALucius Annaeus Seneca. (n.d.). On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-constantia-sapientis
- MLALucius Annaeus Seneca. "On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-constantia-sapientis.
- ChicagoLucius Annaeus Seneca. On the Firmness of the Wise Man (ed. 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-constantia-sapientis.
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.
1. Tantum inter Stoicos, Serene, et ceteros sapientiam professos interesse quantum inter feminas et mares non inmerito dixerim, cum utraque turba ad uitae societatem tantundem conferat, sed altera pars ad obsequendum, altera imperio nata sit. Ceteri sapientes molliter et blande, ut fere domestici et familiares medici aegris corporibus, non qua optimum et celerrimum est medentur sed qua licet: Stoici uirilem ingressi uiam non ut amoena ineuntibus uideatur curae habent, sed ut quam primum nos eripiat et in illum editum uerticem educat qui adeo extra omnem teli iactum surrexit ut supra fortunam emineat. 2. 'At ardua per quae uocamur et confragosa sunt.' Quid enim? plano aditur excelsum? Sed ne tam abrupta quidem sunt quam quidam putant. Prima tantum pars saxa rupesque habet et inuii speciem, sicut pleraque ex longinquo speculantibus abscisa et conexa uideri solent, cum aciem longinquitas fallat, deinde propius adeuntibus eadem illa quae in unum congesserat error oculorum paulatim adaperiuntur, tum illis quae praecipitia ex interuallo apparebant redit lene fastigium. 3. Nuper cum incidisset mentio M. Catonis, indigne ferebas, sicut es iniquitatis inpatiens, quod Catonem aetas sua parum intellexisset, quod supra Pompeios et Caesares surgentem infra Vatinios posuisset, et tibi indignum uidebatur quod illi dissuasuro legem toga in foro esset erepta quodque a rostris usque ad arcum Fabianum per seditiosae factionis manus traditus uoces inprobas et sputa et omnis alias insanae
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