Chapter 11 - On the Shortness of Life, by Seneca the Younger
Today, we continue reading On the Shortness of Life, by Seneca the Younger.
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Transcript
In a word, do you want to know why they truly do not live long?
Behold how keen man is to live a so-called long life!
Frail old codgers beg the gods for a few more years. They lie to themselves that they are younger than they are, finding solace in self-deception, as if they had succeeded in tricking fate herself.
But when a mortal illness strikes, they are slowly pulled by death, dragged gradually from existence.
They cry out that they have been fools, because they never really lived, and vow to live a true life if spared from their disease. Too late they realize what time they wasted pursuing worthless things, and how so much hard work seeking happiness from materialism was in vain.
But what about those whose life is spent far from the world of commerce, why should it not be enough?
None of it is assigned to another, none of it is scattered about, none is set aside for Fortune, none of it dies from neglect, nothing is taken back by wasteful giving.
There is no surplus. The amount is fixed like the soul. Though small, the amount is sufficient, and thus when his last day comes, the man who knows this will greet death appropriately.
