Seneca, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
The soul has its fevers, Lucilius, and they are more dangerous than any the body suffers — precisely because the worse they grow, the less the sufferer perceives them.1 A slight bodily ailment deceives us for a time; a genuine fever forces even the hardiest man to confess he is ill. But the diseases of the soul work in the opposite direction: sound slumber annihilates our very dreams, and the spirit sunk deepest in its vices has no perception of self.2
This is why confession of fault is itself evidence of a sound mind — only he who is awake can recount his dream.3 Philosophy, then, is not an ornament for leisure hours. It is the physician. It is the only power that can shake off that deep slumber, the only force that can stir us to correct our mistakes.4 When you were genuinely ill in the body, you would abandon your clients, your business, every claim on your time, and give yourself wholly to recovering.
Why should the disease of the soul receive less urgency?5 She is not a subject to be taken up at odd moments; she appoints her own time and does not allow it to be appointed for her — she is mistress, and she commands our attendance.6 The therapy has a graduated aim. There are those who have escaped the chronic diseases of the mind — the hardened, permanent perversions of judgment, such as greed and ambition, which have enfolded the mind in too close a grip — but who still feel the passions, the sudden vehement impulses that flare even in those near perfection.7
Below them stand those who have laid aside the greatest ills but are not yet in assured possession of immunity, who can still slip back.8 Below them still are those who have escaped some vices but not all — free of avarice, perhaps, but still subject to anger; free of lust, but still troubled by ambition; willing to scorn death, yet in terror of pain.9
Philosophy works through these layers, not by preaching at them from outside, but by building the wall from within. And the wall, once built, is impregnable.10 Fortune has not the long reach with which we credit her; she can seize none except him that clings to her.11 The man who flatters himself that he has checked his fears by willpower alone, without philosophy's discipline, will find a tardy confession wrung from him when the torturer commands him to stretch forth his hands, or when death draws nearer than a boast.12
The blows of chance find no passage through her; she spoils the force of some missiles and hurls others back upon the sender.13 This is what philosophy as therapy means: not consolation, not distraction, not the decoration of an already comfortable life. It is the cure of the soul's blindness to itself, conducted daily, under her authority, until the wise man possesses a serenity the gods themselves have only by nature's gift — while he has earned his by his own.14
the diseases of the soul; the worse one is, the less one perceives it.Moral Letters to Lucilius
sound slumber annihilates our very dreams and sinks the spirit down so deep that it has no perception of self.Moral Letters to Lucilius
a confession of sin is a proof of sound mind.Moral Letters to Lucilius
Philosophy, however, is the only power that can stir us, the only power that can shake off our deep slumber.Moral Letters to Lucilius
If you were ill, you would stop caring for your personal concerns, and forget your business duties... You would try your hardest to be rid of the illness as soon as possible.Moral Letters to Lucilius
She is not a thing to be followed at odd times, but a subject for daily practice; she is mistress, and she commands our attendance.Moral Letters to Lucilius
the diseases are hardened and chronic vices, such as greed and ambition; they have enfolded the mind in too close a grip, and have begun to be permanent evils thereof... they still feel the 'passions' even when very near perfection.Moral Letters to Lucilius
The second class is composed of those who have laid aside both the greatest ills of the mind and its passions, but yet are not in assured possession of immunity. For they can still slip back into their former state.Moral Letters to Lucilius
They have escaped avarice, for example, but still feel anger; they no longer are troubled by lust, but are still troubled by ambition; they scorn death, but are in terror of pain.Moral Letters to Lucilius
gird yourself about with philosophy, an impregnable wall. Though it be assaulted by many engines, Fortune can find no passage into it.Moral Letters to Lucilius
Fortune has not the long reach with which we credit her; she can seize none except him that clings to her.Moral Letters to Lucilius
when some accident catches them off their guard, a tardy confession of error is wrung from them... when the torturer commands them to stretch forth their hands, and when death draws nearer!Moral Letters to Lucilius
No missile can settle in her body; she is well-protected and impenetrable. She spoils the force of some missiles and wards them off with the loose folds of her gown... others she dashes aside, and hurls them back with such force that they recoil upon the sender.Moral Letters to Lucilius
a god is freed from terrors by the bounty of nature, the wise man by his own bounty.Moral Letters to Lucilius