Moral Letters to Lucilius

”Yet who ever wished this for himself?” (you will say). Some wishes are open and professed when they are made in detail; some are hidden when many things are comprehended in a single wish. For instance, I wish for myself an honorable life. But an honorable life consists of various actions; in this is the box of Regulus, the wound of Cato torn open by his own hand, the exile of Rutilius, the poisoned cup which transferred Socrates from prison to heaven. Therefore, when I wished for myself an honorable life, I also wished for these things, without which at times an honorable life cannot exist.

” O thrice and four times blessed, Whose lot it was to meet death before the faces of their fathers Under the high walls of Troy!” What difference does it make whether you wish this for someone or confess that it was desirable for them?

​Decius devoted himself for the republic; spurring his horse, he rushed into the midst of the enemy, seeking death. Another after him, a rival of his father’s virtue, having pronounced the solemn and by now family-standard words, charged into the thickest of the battle line, concerned only about this, that his sacrifice might be acceptable, thinking a noble death a desirable thing. Do you doubt, then, whether it is best to die in a memorable way and in some work of virtue?

​When anyone endures tortures bravely, he makes use of all virtues. Perhaps one, namely patience, is in readiness and is most apparent. But there is courage, of which patience, endurance, and tolerance are branches. There is prudence, without which no plan is undertaken, which advises you to bear as bravely as possible what you cannot escape. There is constancy, which cannot be cast down from its position and abandons its purpose under no extorting force. There is that inseparable company of virtues: whatever is done honorably, a single virtue does it, but in accordance with the judgment of the council. But what is approved by all virtues, even if it seems to be done by one, is desirable.

​What? Do you think that those things only are desirable which come through pleasure and leisure, which are welcomed at decorated doors? There are some goods of a grim countenance. There are some wishes which are celebrated not by a crowd of people offering congratulations, but of those adoring and venerating.

​So you do not think that Regulus wished to reach the Carthaginians? Put on the mind of a great man and withdraw for a little while from the opinions of the common crowd. Take, as fully as you ought, the likeness of that most beautiful and magnificent virtue, which must be worshiped by us not with incense or garlands, but with sweat and blood.

​Look at Marcus Cato applying his most pure hands to that sacred breast and tearing open the wounds that were not deep enough. Will you, pray, say to him “I could wish what you wished” and “I am sorry,” or “Success to what you do”?

​At this point our friend Demetrius occurs to me, who calls a life secure and without any incursions of fortune a “dead sea.” To have nothing to excite you, nothing to urge you on, nothing by whose threat and attack you may test the firmness of your mind, but to lie in undisturbed leisure, is not tranquility; it is a dead calm.

​Attalus the Stoic used to say: “I prefer that fortune keep me in its camp rather than in its pleasures. I am tortured, but bravely; it is well. I am killed, but bravely; it is well.” Listen to Epicurus; he will even say “It is sweet.” I will never bestow a soft name upon so honorable and severe a matter.

​I am burned, but undefeated. Why should I not think this desirable — not because the fire burns me, but because it does not conquer me? Nothing is more excellent than virtue, nothing more beautiful. Whatever is done under its command is both good and desirable. FAREWELL.