On the Happy Life
Lucius Annaeus Seneca · c. 58 AD
Written for his brother Gallio around 58 AD, this Stoic masterwork argues that happiness is not found in pleasure, wealth, or fame — but in virtue, reason, and living in harmony with nature. Two thousand years old, it reads like a letter written this morning.
CHAPTER I — THE UNIVERSAL DESIRE
To live happily, my brother Gallio, is the desire of all men, but their minds are blinded to a clear vision of just what it is that makes life happy; and so far from its being easy to attain the happy life, the more eagerly a man strives to reach it, the farther he recedes from it if he has made a mistake in the road; for when it leads in the opposite direction, his very speed increases the distance between him and his goal.
First, therefore, we must seek what it is that we are aiming at; then we must look about for the road by which we can reach it most quickly, and on the journey itself, if only we are on the right path, we shall discover how much of the distance we overcome each day, and how much nearer we are to the goal toward which we are urged by a natural desire.
But so long as we wander aimlessly, having no guide, and following only the noise and discordant cries of those who call us in different directions, life will be consumed in making mistakes — life that is brief even if we should strive day and night for sound wisdom. Let us, therefore, decide both upon our goal and upon the way, and not fail to find some experienced guide who has explored the region toward which we are advancing.
· · ·
CHAPTER II — SHUN THE CROWD
On most journeys, some well-recognized road and inquiries made of the inhabitants of the region prevent you from going astray; but on this one all the best-beaten and the most frequented paths are the most deceptive. Nothing, therefore, needs to be more emphasized than the warning that we should not, like sheep, follow the lead of the throng in front of us.
Yet nothing involves us in greater trouble than the fact that we adapt ourselves to common report in the belief that the best things are those that have met with great approval — the fact that, having so many to follow as our example, we live after the rule of common practice, not after the rule of reason.
“The first thing to do is not to be unhappy with the things that make us unhappy.”
· · ·
CHAPTER III — THE FOUNDATION: REASON
The happy life, therefore, is a life that is in harmony with its own nature, and it can be attained in only one way. First of all, we must have a sound mind and one that is in constant possession of its sanity; second, it must be courageous and energetic, and capable of the noblest fortitude, ready for every emergency.
If we are agreed on this point, it is natural that we shall be agreed on the following: namely, that the happy life depends upon this and this alone: our attainment of perfect reason. For it is naught but this that keeps the soul from being bowed down, that stands its ground against Fortune.
“That man is happy whom nothing makes less strong than he is; he keeps to the heights, leaning upon none but himself.”
· · ·
CHAPTER IV — VIRTUE IS THE HIGHEST GOOD
The happy life is a life that is in harmony with its own nature, and the only way to be happy is to follow the promptings of virtue — of reason. Virtue is nothing else than right reason. If you wish a formula for the complete list of virtues, in one word it is this: to live in harmony with nature.
The wise man is not disturbed if fortune strikes him — he meets it. Everything he has he holds loosely and is prepared for any fate as for a possibility. Nothing that goes is looked for back by him; he is in the same state whether things fall out well or ill.
The soul that has raised itself up to virtue finds that the very things which trouble common men — disease, loss, bereavement — are among the indifferent things of life. For a great mind is not tortured by what it can never lose; and virtue, once attained, cannot be taken away.
· · ·
CHAPTER V — ON PLEASURE AND VIRTUE
When I say that pleasure is not the goal of right action, I am speaking of those who place the highest good in pleasure. I do not banish it; I only deny it the role of master. Let pleasure be virtue’s companion and revolve around virtue’s body like a shadow.
The proof of virtue is not that pleasure attends it, but that it stands firm though pleasure be absent. The wise man’s pleasure comes not from what he has, but from what he is — and what he is cannot be taken from him by any hand or accident of time.
“Let pleasure be virtue’s companion and revolve around virtue’s body like a shadow.”
· · ·
CHAPTER VI — WEALTH AND WISDOM
I do not cut a wise man off from wealth; I only want him to achieve it honestly, without wronging anyone, without base dealing, without dishonour. No one has condemned wisdom to poverty. The wise man is rich — not because he craves wealth, but because he is content, and contentment is the truest wealth of all.
The wise man neither loves riches nor hates them; he uses them. He allows them into his life without letting them into his soul. And if they should depart tomorrow, he would watch them go with the same calm face with which he greeted their arrival.
· · ·
CHAPTER VII — SEVEN COMMANDMENTS TO ONESELF
In the spirit of this work, Seneca offers seven guiding principles for the one who seeks to live well:
I. I will look upon death or upon a comedy with the same expression of countenance.
II. I will despise riches when I have them as much as when I have them not.
III. I will view all lands as though they belong to me, and my own as though they belonged to all mankind.
IV. Whatever I may possess, I will neither hoard it greedily nor squander it recklessly.
V. I will do nothing because of public opinion, but everything because of conscience.
VI. I will be agreeable with my friends, gentle and mild to my foes: I will grant pardon before I am asked for it.
VII. Whenever either Nature demands my breath again, or reason bids me dismiss it, I will quit this life, calling all to witness that I have loved a good conscience and good pursuits.
· · ·
CHAPTER VIII — PEACE OF MIND IS THE GOAL
What is the happy life? It is peace of mind, and lasting tranquillity. This will be yours if you possess greatness of soul; it will be yours if you possess the steadfast judgment that perseveres in the course it has determined is good.
Let this be my last word: no one can live cheerfully without living honourably. The man who does not know this is not yet wise; the man who knows it and turns from it has lost his way. But the man who knows it and follows it — he has found the only happiness that cannot be taken from him.
“No one can live cheerfully without living honourably.”
De Vita Beata · Lucius Annaeus Seneca · c. 58 AD
Public domain. Translation after John W. Basore (Loeb Classical Library, 1932).
Leave a Reply