30.Seneca, On Benefits 4.7.1.
31.Seneca, On Benefits 2.29.5.
32.Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo: Nietzsche’s Autobiography, trans. Anthony M. Ludovici (New York: Macmillan, 1911), 7. Modified.
33.Richard Dawkins, speaking during the Intelligence Squared Debate, “Atheism Is the New Fundamentalism,” November 2019. A video clip of Dawkins’s remark can be seen at https://youtu.be/lheDgyaItOA, 1:44.
34.Robert C. Solomon, foreword, in The Psychology of Gratitude, eds. Robert A. Emmons and Michael E. McCullough (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), ix.
35.Solomon, foreword, in The Psychology of Gratitude, x.
36.Epictetus, Discourses 3.5.11. The metaphor of life as a festival, which we should feel grateful for upon leaving, appears several separate times in the Discourses of Epictetus. See also Epictetus, Discourses 3.5.10–11 and 4.1.105–106.
37.Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.48.
CHAPTER 14: FREEDOM, TRANQUILITY, AND LASTING JOY
1.William O. Stephens, Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom (New York: Continuum, 2007), 154.
2.As Epictetus explained, “If virtue holds out this promise—to produce happiness, freedom from suffering, and serenity—then progress toward virtue, surely, is also progress toward these states of mind.” Epictetus, Discourses 1.4.3.
3.Seneca, Letters 17.7.
4.Summary of a short dialogue in Epictetus, Discourses 4.1.52.
5.Seneca, Letters 75.18.
6.Seneca, Letters 15.9.
7.Seneca, Letters 42.8.
8.Seneca, Letters 45.9.
9.Seneca, Letters 23.2.
10.Seneca, Letters 32.5 and 32.3. “A life that is already complete” is a memorable phrase from the translation of Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. My translation of the same passage: “In order to surpass all constraints, in order to be released and truly free, one must live a fully completed life” (Letters 32.5).
11.Seneca, Letters 44.7.
12.Stephens, Stoic Ethics, 141.
13.Seneca, Letters 56.6.
14.Seneca, Letters 59.16.
15.Seneca, Letters 87.3.
16.Seneca, On the Happy Life 3.4.
17.Seneca, Letters 92.17.
FOR FURTHER READING: SENECA’S PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS
IF YOU WANT TO READ SENECA’S PHILOSOPHICAL writings, it’s important to know that there are many collections, selections, and anthologies in the English language, most of which are incomplete. While most of these anthologies tend to be quite good, there are only two complete editions of his writings. The editions published by the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press) contain Seneca’s Latin texts with facing English translations, but they are decades old and lack a contemporary tone. Alternatively, The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca published by the University of Chicago Press is much more recent and, without question, the most delightful, readable translation of Seneca’s writings available as a complete edition.
Many people who start reading Seneca begin with the mass-market Penguin edition of Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic, translated by Robin Campbell, which is now in its seventieth printing. (Over the last twelve years alone, it has gone through thirty-seven printings.) There is nothing wrong with that very popular and easy-to-find edition if you want a taste of Seneca’s letters. But you should be aware that Letters from a Stoic is a very small selection of his letters, and some of the letters it contains are incomplete. Therefore, if you decide that you are serious about reading Seneca and want the entire collection of his letters, your choice is simple. Get the wonderful Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long (University of Chicago Press). That is a complete edition and the best translation available. Both the print edition and the e-book edition are excellent productions.
In the bibliography of works cited, I’ve included all the Seneca translations that I own and have read. From my website StoicInsights.com, you can also download a free copy of Seneca: A Reader’s Guide, which contains some helpful resources, including some suggestions on the order in which you might want to read Seneca’s writings. Listed below are all of Seneca’s major philosophical writings, in alphabetical order, and in what volumes you will find these works in the Chicago translations. This is a complete listing of Seneca’s philosophical writings, many of which can be found in other sources as well. Happy reading!
SENECA’S PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS
THIS ALPHABETICAL LISTING SHOWS WHERE YOU CAN find all of Seneca’s philosophical writings in The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca published by the University of Chicago Press. For the publication data for each volume, see the bibliography of works cited in the next section.
Consolation to Helvia
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
Consolation to Marcia
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
Consolation to Polybius
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
Letters
In Seneca, Letters on Ethics to Lucilius
Natural Questions
In Seneca, Natural Questions
On Anger
In Seneca, Anger, Mercy, Revenge
On Benefits
In Seneca, On Benefits
On Clemency
In Seneca, Anger, Mercy, Revenge
On the Constancy of the Wise Person
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
On the Happy Life
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
On Leisure
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
On the Shortness of Life
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
On Providence
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
On Tranquility of Mind
In Seneca, Hardship and Happiness
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED
BASED ON A PUBLISHER’S WHIM, SENECA’S NAME CAN appear as “Seneca,” “Lucius Annaeus Seneca,” or “Seneca the Younger.” In listing Seneca’s published works below, the various forms of his name have not been arranged alphabetically, since they all refer to the same person. Instead, the titles of the translations are arranged in alphabetical order. For a complete listing of Seneca’s philosophical writings and where to find them in The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca (University of Chicago Press), see the previous section.
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Terence Irwin. 2nd ed. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1999.