On the Firmness of the Wise Man
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~13,900 words · 66 passages
Cite this work
- APALucius Annaeus Seneca. (n.d.). On the Firmness of the Wise Man. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/on-the-firmness-of-the-wise-man
- MLALucius Annaeus Seneca. "On the Firmness of the Wise Man." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/on-the-firmness-of-the-wise-man.
- ChicagoLucius Annaeus Seneca. On the Firmness of the Wise Man. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/on-the-firmness-of-the-wise-man.
What it is about
The wise man can receive no injury, because what might wound him touches nothing that is truly his.
Context and history
English translation of De constantia sapientis. This entry is the English translation; the Latin original is in the catalogue separately and is what should be cited.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
MIGHT truly say, Serenus, that there is as wide a difference between the Stoics and the other sects of philosophers as there is between men and women, since each class contributes an equal share to human society, but the one is born to command, the other to obey. The other philosophers deal with us gently and coaxingly, just as our accustomed family physicians usually do with our bodies, treating them not by the best and shortest method, but by that which we allow them to employ; whereas the Stoics adopt a manly course, and do not care about its appearing attractive to those who are entering upon it, but that it should as quickly as possible take us out of the world, and lead us to that lofty eminence which is so far beyond the scope of any missile weapon that it is above the reach of Fortune herself. "But the way by which we are asked to climb is steep and uneven." What then? Can heights be reached by a level path? Yet they are not so sheer and precipitous as some think. It is only the first part that has rocks and cliffs and no apparent outlet, just as many hills seen from a long way off appear abruptly steep and joined together, because the distance deceives our sight, and then, as we draw nearer, those very hills which our mistaken eyes had made into one gradually unfold themselves, those parts which seemed precipitous from afar assume a gently sloping outline. When just now mention was made of Marcus Cato, you whose mind revolts at injustice were indignant at Cato's
What is On the Firmness of the Wise Man about?Summarize On the Firmness of the Wise Man brieflyWhat are the key ideas in On the Firmness of the Wise Man?
← Back to Lucius Annaeus Seneca