Seneca’s Commandments to Himself

Despite the title of this essay, virtue ethics is not based on rigid rules, like commandments. However, the Stoics did realize the value of lists of precepts that could help them better navigate through life. A major difference between Stoic precepts and actual commandments is that the Stoics came up with their own personalized lists, which are of course more meaningful since they focus on the things that are important for the individual practitioner of the philosophy.

A few months ago we have taken a look at Marcus Aurelius’ ten “commandments” as found in section 18 of book 11 of the Meditations. Today is Seneca’s turn, from section 20 of On the Happy Life:

I will look upon death or upon a comedy with the same expression of countenance: I will submit to labours, however great they may be, supporting the strength of my body by that of my mind: I will despise riches when I have them as much as when I have them not; if they be elsewhere I will not be more gloomy, if they sparkle around me I will not be more lively than I should otherwise be: whether Fortune comes or goes I will take no notice of her: I will view all lands as though they belong to me, and my own as though they belonged to all mankind.

Whatever I may possess, I will neither hoard it greedily nor squander it recklessly. I will think that I have no possessions so real as…