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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



10243
Seneca The Younger, Letters, 94.39-94.40


nanBut, it is said, "they are not of avail in every case." Well neither is philosophy; and yet philosophy is not on that account ineffectual and useless in the training of the soul. Furthermore, is not philosophy the Law of Life? Grant, if we will, that the laws do not avail; it does not necessarily follow that advice also should not avail. On this ground, you ought to say that consolation does not avail, and warning, and exhortation, and scolding, and praising; since they are all varieties of advice. It is by such methods that we arrive at a perfect condition of mind.


nanSuppose that a man is acting as he should; he cannot keep it up continuously or consistently, since he will not know the reason for so acting. Some of his conduct will result rightly because of luck or practice; but there will be in his hand no rule by which he may regulate his acts, and which he may trust to tell him whether that which he has done is right. One who is good through mere chance will not give promise of retaining such a character for ever.


nanNothing is more successful in bringing honourable influences to bear upon the mind, or in straightening out the wavering spirit that is prone to evil, than association with good men.[18] For the frequent seeing, the frequent hearing of them little by little sinks into the heart and acquires the force of precepts. We are indeed uplifted merely by meeting wise men; and one can be helped by a great man even when he is silent.


nanFurthermore, precepts will perhaps help you to do what should be done; but they will not help you to do it in the proper way; and if they do not help you to this end, they do not conduct you to virtue. I grant you that, if warned, a man will do what he should; but that is not enough, since the credit lies, not in the actual deed, but in the way it is done.


Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

8 results
1. Cicero, On Laws, 1.17, 1.42, 2.11 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

2. Cicero, On Duties, 3.69 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

3.69. Hoc quamquam video propter depravationem consuetudinis neque more turpe haberi neque aut lege sanciri aut iure civili, tamen naturae lege sanctum est. Societas est enim (quod etsi saepe dictum est, dicendum est tamen saepius), latissime quidem quae pateat, omnium inter omnes, interior eorum, qui eiusdem gentis sint, propior eorum, qui eiusdem civitatis. Itaque maiores aliud ius gentium, aliud ius civile esse voluerunt; quod civile, non idem continuo gentium, quod autem gentium, idem civile esse debet. Sed nos veri iuris germanaeque iustitiae solidam et expressam effigiem nullam tenemus, umbra et imaginibus utimur. Eas ipsas utinam sequeremur! feruntur enim ex optimis naturae et veritatis exemplis. 3.69.  Owing to the low ebb of public sentiment, such a method of procedure, I find, is neither by custom accounted morally wrong nor forbidden either by statute or by civil law; nevertheless it is forbidden by the moral law. For there is a bond of fellowship — although I have often made this statement, I must still repeat it again and again — which has the very widest application, uniting all men together and each to each. This bond of union is closer between those who belong to the same nation, and more intimate still between those who are citizens of the same city-state. It is for this reason that our forefathers chose to understand one thing by the universal law and another by the civil law. The civil law is not necessarily also the universal law; but the universal law ought to be also the civil law. But we possess no substantial, life-like image of true Law and genuine Justice; a mere outline sketch is all that we enjoy. I only wish that we were true even to this; for, even as it is, it is drawn from the excellent models which Nature and Truth afford.
3. Plutarch, Cimon, 2.2-2.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)

4. Plutarch, On Stoic Self-Contradictions, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)

5. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 90.28, 94.29, 94.37, 94.40, 95.4, 95.37 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)

6. Libanius, Letters, 1434 (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)

7. Orosius Paulus, Historiae Adversum Paganos, 4.13.6 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)

8. Vergil, Aeneis, 2.361-2.362

2.361. the son of Peleus, came, and Acamas 2.362. King Menelaus, Thoas and Machaon


Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
carthage Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
christianity Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
cicero,and law of nature Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
claudius quadrigarius Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
emotions Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
exempla Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
exemplum,injunctive Roller (2018), Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries, 285
exemplum,praeceptor as Roller (2018), Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries, 285
fools,mankind as Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
god Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
gregory of nazianzus Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
historiography,classical or pagan Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
janus Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
julian,emperor Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
law of nature,and stoicism Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
law of nature,and wise man Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
law of nature,in philo Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
libanius Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
nature,philos and stoics views of Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
pacatus Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
panegyric Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
polybius Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
praecepta/precepts Roller (2018), Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries, 285
praeceptor (stoic),as exemplum Roller (2018), Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries, 285
progressor (stoic) Roller (2018), Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries, 285
sage (stoic) Roller (2018), Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries, 285
socrates,historian Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
sozomen,historian Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
stoics/stoicism,and the sage Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
stoics/stoicism,natural law Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157
themistius Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
theodosius i Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 158
troy Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
valerius antias Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 72
wise man,katoryvmata of' Martens (2003), One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law, 157