Letters from a Stoic

⚖The case for it

Seneca writes to one named friend, letter after letter, so the philosophy arrives as private correspondence rather than doctrine. His gift is compression, “squeezing a lifetime into a line,” and readers say they highlight more per page here than anywhere else in philosophy. Letter 2 on reading selectively rather than gluttonously, Letter 91 on rehearsing loss before it arrives, Letter 108 on philosophy as repair rather than display. He also has a “really good sense of humor,” which Marcus does not. Campbell’s Penguin selection is “an immensely readable translation with extensive, useful notes.”

— the honest librarian

✕The case against

He was “one of the wealthiest in the Western world” while “advertising the life of the starving as the perfect diet,” and readers say the whole thing “sounds strongly hypocritical.” It sharpens once you remember he tutored and advised Nero. The letters contradict each other too: do not judge a man by his clothes in one, sloppy dress proves a sloppy character in another. The “annoying parts are Seneca’s old-people-opinions” about young men skipping exercise and noisy nightlife. Readers also report it taking a month against their normal pace.

— the honest librarian

5h

honest hours

7

sittings