Moral Letters 2–52

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC–AD 65), the Stoic philosopher and former tutor and adviser of Nero, wrote the Moral Letters to his friend Lucilius in the last years of his life, after he withdrew from court in AD 62. The 124 surviving letters, in twenty books, use the informal letter to give practical guidance in the Stoic life. This volume contains letters 2 to 52, the first five books, apart from letters 7 and 47, which are in the course.

The early letters advise Lucilius to read a few good authors deeply, to trust his friends fully once he has chosen them, to free himself from the fear of death, to practise philosophy without outward show, and to share his progress with others. Later letters treat friendship and the self-sufficient wise man, solitude and prayer, the pleasures of old age, needless fears, health of mind and body, poverty and the rehearsal of poverty during the Saturnalia, retirement from public affairs, and the agreement of words and deeds. Others discuss death and how to face it, through examples such as Cato and the dying Aufidius Bassus; correct friends' faults; mock Calvisius Sabinus and his learned slaves; and describe the god within each of us. The volume ends with letters on style, true nobility, the misuse of logic, the resort of Baiae and the choice of a guide to wisdom.

Seneca's short, pointed sentences make him one of the most quotable Latin authors. The letters are an excellent introduction to Stoic ethics, and their prose, though concise, is rarely obscure.