Language
Explore the books in this Open Philosophy Library collection.
Written during Seneca's exile on Corsica, Of Consolation: To Helvia, His Mother reassures Helvia that her absent son has not been made miserable by displacement, reduced wealth or lost status.…
View BookMarcus Aurelius's Meditations is a twelve-book record of private Stoic reflection, composed during the later second century CE. In Meric Casaubon's historic 1634 English translation, Marcus examines judgement, duty, mortality,…
View BookOf Benefits is Sir Roger L'Estrange's 1678 compilation of Seneca's teaching on generosity, obligation and gratitude. Its twenty chapters argue that a benefit is defined chiefly by intention, judgement and…
View BookOf Anger is Sir Roger L'Estrange's 1678 English compilation of Senecan teaching on anger, revenge and cruelty. Across twelve thematic chapters, it examines anger's origin in judgement, distinguishes involuntary first…
View BookOf a Happy Life is Sir Roger L'Estrange's 1678 English compilation of Senecan moral teaching, arranged in twenty-five thematic chapters. Rather than directly translating the single ancient dialogue De Vita…
View BookIn On the Shortness of Life, Seneca argues that life is not inherently too brief: it becomes short when time is surrendered to distraction, ambition, anxiety and endless obligation. Addressing…
View BookIn On the Firmness of the Wise Person, Seneca defends the Stoic claim that genuine wisdom cannot be injured or insulted. Addressing Serenus across nineteen sections, he distinguishes bodily or…
View BookIn On Providence, Seneca responds to the question of why good people suffer if the universe is governed by divine order. Across six sections addressed to Lucilius, he argues that…
View BookWritten during Seneca's exile on Corsica, Of Consolation: To Polybius addresses an imperial freedman grieving for his brother. Across eighteen surviving sections, Seneca places personal loss within universal mortality, distinguishes…
View BookBook IV of Epictetus' Discourses examines freedom as mastery of judgement and desire rather than possession of status, wealth or unrestricted circumstances. Across thirteen chapters, Epictetus discusses slavery, familiar relationships,…
View Book