Moral letters to Lucilius analysis. Working with the text of Seneca "Moral Letters to Lucilius"

(creative work philosophy, based on a critical article by S.A. Osherova "Seneca: From Rome to the World". Compiled by: Maslennikova E., mech.-mash. faculty, gr. 24062, 2005-06)

The final works of Seneca ("Studies on Nature", "On Good Deeds" and "Moral Letters to Lucilius") differ from the previous treatises, primarily in size - and this is not an accident: after all, in them the philosopher solves more than one problem, posed with particular urgency before him life, but seeks to give a code ethical rules, - a set of laws for the human race. Related to this intention is the central place that ethics occupies in them. Seneca subordinates even his natural scientific research to a moralistic task; whatever he writes about (about lightning and thunder, about earthquakes, about waters and winds), he wants one thing: through knowledge, to save a person from the fear of death. "Since the cause of fear is ignorance, then shouldn't we know in order not to be afraid?"

In the "Letters to Lucilius" Seneca is almost completely limited to the field of ethics. He rejects the sophisticated dialectics and logic of the ancient stoa - all these "Greek nonsense": they will not help a person find the right path in life and replace the solution of her questions with sophistication about them (p. XXV, etc.). Seneca is not carried away by the materialistic natural philosophy of the Stoics either: he, however, does not reject it, but if he expounds its provisions somewhere, then as a hardened lesson, without internal participation. On the other hand, ethics was developed by Seneca with scrupulous completeness. Probably, all the questions he had dealt with before were included in the Letters in one form or another. (I myself, having read only a small part of this work, was convinced of this: the area of \u200b\u200bproblems, questions and tasks raised in the letters is so vast, and it seems that Seneca dismantled and illuminated the entire structure of the world. Reading, you realize that he is completely right, and I agree with all the arguments presented, although I didn’t read everything and, perhaps, I didn’t understand everything and subsequently would not agree with the great philosopher and thinker, maybe ...) Ultimately, the system of Stoic ethics in the interpretation of Seneca is formed from a mosaic of letters, logical and coherent, despite the apparent fragmentation of the presentation. At the same time, this system, like authentic letters, is open, open to life - Seneca carefully and skillfully stylizes this property. It is as if he is not going to talk, but only informs a friend about himself: about his illness, about his next trip, meeting with one or another acquaintance. Thus, the "sender of letters" himself becomes the main example in the system of moral rules, and this gives the exhortations the credibility of experienced experience. Any everyday trifle becomes a starting point for reasoning, any life fact - from the campaigns of Alexander the Great to obscene gossip about a contemporary unknown to us - can serve as an example. The addressee of the messages, the procurator of Sicily overwhelmed with business, is also vitally concrete, and their sender, suffering from city noise, traveling from estate to estate, overcoming illness, remembering youth. (In fact, when the reader understands that the life of a real person is revealed to him, examples of real events are given, when you realize that it was true, and not fiction or fantasy, you really begin to not only believe the author, but also look for answers the fact that the author lived hundreds of years ago is not embarrassing at all: all human values are eternal, which means that the experience of a sage is eternally valuable and cannot replace the experience of a sage ...) Secondly, the letters are open and formal. Rarely any of them is devoted to one topic. More often, Seneca moves from topic to topic, then, as it were, catches on: "Let's return to our subject," - then he digresses again, skillfully maintaining the intense interest of the reader. The letters remain, as it were, fragmentary, and this further contributes to the impression of life-like authenticity and friendly confidence in the statement. (It seems that he is just talking, conducting a conversation. He himself raises questions that the reader of the letter may presumably have, and answers them. But questions arise, and exactly those that Seneca suggested). In addition, each individual truth acquires more weight than it would have in a logical chain, and the reader's attention remains in constant tension. At the same time, the fluid diversity of life is included in the letters as a kind of negative background for the unshakable norm, that is, philosophy, the healer of souls, the "science of life", called upon to judge it and give it laws. And yet, "Letters to Lucilius" is a single work not only in thought, but also in composition. This whole begins openly - "Do so, my Lucilius," - a response to a friend's message, a link in the chain of a long correspondence. We do not know whether it ended in the same open way: the end of the "Letters to Lucilius" is lost. Inside the collection, everything has been done to preserve the feeling of openness, lack of system. However, in this lack of system there is a system, and it is subject to the successive stages of the conversion of Lucilius (understand - any reader - approx. Osherov) to the Stoic faith. A collection of letters to a friend becomes a code of stoic morality.

First of all, "Letters to Lucilius" is a program of moral self-improvement, equally intended for the addressee and the sender. Define its foundations of Stoic doctrine (n. XCV). Its goal is a "blissful life", that is, a state of complete independence from external circumstances. A wise man achieves a "blissful life", he is also a "vir bonus"; but the traditional Roman moral ideal is reinterpreted by Seneca in a Stoic spirit. Vir bonus is no longer a "valiant husband", but rather a "good man". In the "Letters" leisure is recognized necessary condition for moral improvement. And if for the ancient Roman "valiant man" glory was certainly thought of as a reward, then the Senekovian "good man" neglects it as the praise of unreasonable people and seeks only recognition of his "equals". In general, the reward for a virtuous deed is in itself, for such an deed corresponds to the rational nature of a person, in contrast to the opposite passions. To achieve virtue, one must not limit passions, but completely eradicate them. Thanks to this, one can achieve complete independence from the world, that is, dispassion.

Knowledge of human psychology, analysis of actions and motives, characteristic of Seneca the writer, push him to significant deviations from Stoic beliefs. So, on the one hand, Seneca accepts the position of the rational nature of virtue: in order to become virtuous, you need to understand what is good. But if for Greek ethics since the time of Socrates "to know virtue" means "to become virtuous", then Seneca understands that knowledge of the good alone is not enough. “In the souls, even those who have gone far in evil, there remains a feeling of goodness, and they not only do not know shame, but neglect it” (p. XCVII) (It seems to me that this is true, because any person born in society, from childhood teach: “what is good and what is bad”, which means that any criminal knows that he, at least, does “badly”, but he still commits his deed, driven by his vices and shortcomings). Consequently, the will to good must be active, it is not bestowed by nature, and therefore its role increases: "The desire to become virtuous is half the way to virtue" (p. XXXIV). And to direct our will to good should be another moral instance, which is more involved in feelings than in reason: this is conscience, "scourging evil deeds" (p. XCVII), but not identical with the fear of punishment (which simply sleeps with vicious people in general and with criminals in general). in particular: having talked about “good and evil”, they probably simply forgot about it). From this it is clear that the preacher of virtue needs to appeal not only to reason, but also to conscience, to influence not only logic, but to excite. Such innovations not only changed the whole style of philosophizing, but also forced to re-solve problems that seemed to have already been solved. First of all, the moment of will, that is, the responsible choice of life behavior, came into conflict with stoic fatalism, the doctrine of fate as an inextricable and insurmountable chain of cause-and-effect relationships. Man, according to the ancient Stoics, has only one freedom left: to voluntarily accept the will of fate, there is no place left to choose.

Seneca shifts the emphasis, puts forward another stoic understanding of fate - as the will of the world-creating logos (deity). Unlike the human will, this divine will can only be good (n. XCV): God is the greatest benefactor, the servant of his servants (n. XCV), he takes care of people and his will is providence. (And here, it seems to me, some notes of Christianity are already appearing: God, as great and one. As a true example of perfection, to which everyone is obliged to strive.)

As part of the divine will, a good person also perceives death (n. XXX, etc.). This is the best medicine against the fear of death, that of human passions, against which Seneca in his Letters to Lucilius fights with the greatest persistence. Death is pre-established by world law and therefore cannot be an unconditional evil. But life in itself is not an unconditional good: it is valuable insofar as it has a moral basis.

The same ethical scale of values allowed Seneca to resolve the issue of voluntary death. Once Plato forbade a person to leave the post on which the gods put him, and Zeno, who broke his leg, saw in this the will of the gods who called him and passed away. Seneca stands in the middle between Plato and Zeno. It is impossible to leave life under the influence of passion (n. XXX). Reason and moral sense should suggest when suicide is the best way out. And the criterion that the philosopher is trying to find is the same ethical value of life, determined by the ability to fulfill one's moral duty. (It is impossible not to say now about the continuity of generations. Now, however, as always, the issue of voluntary departure from life is very controversial. Of course, there are many arguments for and against, supporters and opponents, as well as an infinite number of reasons. And it seems to me that Seneca is right in choosing the ethical value of life as the criterion for the expediency of choice.I think it’s not worth it, by hook or by crook, to enliven the “living corpse”, tormented by pain and suffering, with the possibilities of modern medicine, just as it is forbidden thoughtlessly, under the influence of a momentary impulse to commit suicide.) No matter how sickness and old age oppress you, you have no right to leave life as long as your loved ones need your life, as long as you can fulfill your duty to them and to your nature: "I will not leave old age if it keeps me intact - my best part: and if it shakes the mind, if it takes it away in parts, I will throw myself out of the rotten, ready to collapse structure "(paragraph LVIII). But at the same time, if there is no opportunity to fulfill one's duty as a man, suicide is not only permissible, but justified. And this possibility disappears when a person is under the yoke of coercion, deprived of freedom. Striking examples of slave suicides vividly prove the assertion that "roads to freedom are open everywhere, short and easy ... No one can impose life on us, and we are able to shame need" (p. XII) Coercion, the inevitability of execution, slavery - these are extreme phenomena in the life observed by the philosopher, which make even death one of the duties of the sage.

On the question of suicide, Seneca diverges from orthodox stoicism because, along with the duty of a person to himself, he places a duty to others. At the same time, even such insignificant things for a stoic as love, affection and other emotions are taken into account.

The feeling of affection for people, according to Seneca, is natural and inherent in us by nature: “Everything that you see, which contains both the divine and the human, is one: we are only members of a huge body. Nature, which created us from one and the same and to one predestined, gave birth to us brothers. She put mutual love in us, made us sociable, she established what is right and just, and according to her establishment, the one who brings evil is more unfortunate than the one who suffers, at her command a helping hand should be extended "(p. XCV) . This is the basis of the constitution of the Stoic universal state, or that "great republic" of Seneca, which the good man serves. Everyone is equal in it, because everyone got the soul - a particle of the deity, and it can be high both in the Roman horseman and in the slave (p. XXXI). It is not genealogy, but the greatness of the soul that makes a person noble, "because from any state it can rise above fortune," which alone makes a person a horseman or a slave. (To my question: “Where is he, God?”, My grandmother always answered me that he is inside, in the soul of a person. Indeed, no matter what faith a person has, what rank, God, which means the meaning of life, the purpose of life, views , the moral foundations of a person, inside him, in his soul, in his heart, in his mind. A person can be forced to do something against his God, but if this God is killed in him, the person himself will die.) And if so, then there is no need free all slaves: those of them who are noble in spirit will themselves rise above slavery, or, if it becomes unbearable, will gain freedom through death. Equality in spirit is what is more important for the universal state than concrete social action. (This is where I disagree with the philosopher. Of course, the main thing is the freedom of the soul, but the bodily suffering of some is unfair, along with the bliss and well-being of others.)

But between the bleak panorama of real human relations with their consequence - divisive morality - and the rosy theory of equality in spirit, the abyss is too great for Seneca not to feel it. A philosopher who has tried to serve the people through the service of the state, having learned along the way both the bitterness of compromise and the pain of the futility of efforts, cannot help looking for the foundations of human community less speculative than equality in spirit, no matter how disappointed he may be in his activity. And he not only seeks, but also finds them. This is mercy and beneficence. The first is a duty imposed on us by the very fact that we are all human beings: "Man is a sacred object for another man" (p. XCV). But the same is required and life practice. If we want this virtue from the ruler of the state, then we ourselves must possess it in relation to those who are lower, first of all, to slaves (n. XLVII). And then the argument in the letter is exactly the same as in the treatise "On Mercy": gentleness with slaves is a condition of safety for the owner, let the slaves speak at the table - and they will be silent when your accuser begins to interrogate them under torture.

crashed into state activity, disappointed in the possibility of a community of people within the state that meets moral standards, Seneca, nevertheless, does not want to become isolated in the arrogant "dispassion" of the sage, who turned a blind eye to the vicious world or benefits him by the very manifestation of his virtue. Of the two ideals offered by the stand, the ideal of human community, at least in the form of a "universal city", was closer to his Roman soul. As a Roman, he sometimes tried to justify the need for such a community pragmatically - the weakness of the individual in the face of nature. As a moralist, he was looking for such moral foundations of community life that would be accessible to all fellow citizens according to humanity. As a man of his era, which increasingly forgot about the city-state, he did not see his ideal realized in the past (unlike Cicero), did not believe in its implementation in the Roman state in its current state, sharing "the general conviction that from this position there is no way out" that "imperial power based on military domination is an inevitable necessity". And again, as a man of his era, he was looking for new foundations of human community in the "spirit", paving the way to the Augustine city of God, to the Christian writers of subsequent centuries.

"Moral letters to Lucilius" - the last work of Seneca. So large-scale (in terms of volume and content), it is like a storehouse of wisdom, life experience, unobtrusive moralizing, advice and dogmas addressed to a student and friend, therefore informal, open and accessible (not in the sense of frivolity, but in the fact that they are so vital, sincere, that any reader is close and understandable in their authenticity and relevance). Reading everything at once is unrealistic: they need to be opened gradually, starting from the first, as was the case with Lucilius, and "learning the philosophy of life."

Fragments of some "letters to Lucilius"

Letter XII

Therefore, Heraclitus, nicknamed because of the dark meaning of his speeches, says:

"One day is equal to every other." Everyone understands this in their own way. One says that days are equal in number of hours, and does not lie: after all, since a day is twenty-four hours, then all days are certainly equal to each other, since as many hours are added to the night as the day decreases. Another says that any day is equal to all others in similarity: in the most extended time there is nothing that cannot be found in one day, that is, nothing but day and night, which it multiplies in a series of revolutions of the world, but does not change, except perhaps makes the day shorter, the night longer, or vice versa.

Therefore, every day must be spent as if it closes the system, completes the number of days of our life. When Pacuvius, who appropriated Syria, feasted and drank, celebrating a wake for himself, he was carried away from the table into the bedroom to the applause of his lovers, who sang to the music: βεβιωται, βεβιωται - he lived his life (Greek). And every day he gave himself such a takeaway.

But we, what he did from an unclean conscience, must do with a pure soul and, going to sleep, say cheerfully and joyfully:

Life has been lived, and the whole path has been traveled, which is measured by fate to me.

And if God gives us tomorrow, we will accept it with joy. The happiest of all is the one who waits without anxiety for tomorrow: he is sure that he belongs to himself. Whoever said "life is lived" wakes up every morning with a profit.

But it's time to finish the letter. You will ask: "Does it really come to me without a gift?" Don't be afraid, it will bring something. No, how could I say that? Not anything, but a lot! After all, what is better than the saying that I give him to pass on to you: "To live in need is bad, but there is no need to live in need." Why is there no need? Because the roads to freedom are open everywhere, short and easy. Let us thank God that no one can impose life on us and that we are able to shame need.

You will object to me: "These are the words of Epicurus; why do you need someone else's?" What is true is mine. I will not tire of regaling you with Epicurus, and let everyone know who blindly repeats his words and appreciates them not for what they say, but for who they say: the best belongs to everyone.

Be healthy.

Letter XXV

And you show yourself courageous and lighten your burden, however, you do so. None of what we have is necessary. Let's return to the laws of nature - and wealth is ready for us. Everything we need is either cheap or worth nothing. Nature requires only bread and water, and for this no one is poor. “Whoever limits their desires to them will argue in bliss with Jupiter himself,” said Epicurus. And I will add one more of his sayings to this letter:

"Do everything as if Epicurus is watching you." Without a doubt, it is useful to assign a watchman to yourself and have him near, so that you look back at him, seeing in him a witness to all your thoughts. The most beneficial thing is to live as if under the gaze of a good person who is inseparable from you, but it’s enough for me if, no matter what you do, you will do it as if they are watching you. Loneliness for us is the most evil adviser,

When you have succeeded so much that you are ashamed of yourself, then you can let go of the guide, and until then let someone revered by you oversee you, be it Cato, or Scipio, or Lelius - anyone in whose presence even completely lost people curbed their vices, and so on until you yourself become that person in front of whom you do not dare to sin. And when you achieve this and begin to respect yourself a little, I will allow you to act on the advice of the same Epicurus: "Then withdraw into yourself when you have to be in the crowd."

You need to be different from most people. In the meantime, you cannot safely shut yourself up, look at both: it is better for anyone to be with anyone than to be alone with yourself. “Then withdraw into yourself when you have to be in the crowd,” but only if you are a kind person, calm and temperate; otherwise, go away from yourself to the crowd, in order to be away from a bad person.

Be healthy.

Letter XXX

It is the same madness to be afraid of that which will not bring suffering, and that which cannot be felt. Does anyone really think that it is possible to feel the one, thanks to which one ceases to feel? "Therefore," Bass concludes, "death is beyond evil, and therefore beyond the fear of evil."

I know that such words have often been repeated and should be repeated: but they did not help me, neither when I read them, nor when I heard from people who declared that what they themselves did not have to be afraid of was not terrible. And his speech was especially convincing for me, because he spoke about his own imminent death.

And how much confusion the approaching death brings, best of all will be explained by those who were next to her, saw her coming and met her. Bass, who does not want us to remain in error, can be counted among them, and says that the fear of death is as stupid as the fear of old age. After all, just as old age follows youth, death follows old age. Those who do not want to die do not want to live. For life is given to us under the condition of death, and itself is only the path to it. Therefore, it is foolish to be afraid of it: after all, we expect the known in advance, and we are afraid only of the unknown.

The inevitability of death is equal for all and invincible. Is it possible to blame your destiny, if it is the same as everyone else? Equality is the beginning of justice. This means that there is no need to defend nature from accusation, which did not want us to live not according to its law. And it destroys the created, the destroyed creates again.

If, however, old age meekly sends someone away, not suddenly tearing him out of life, but taking him out of it imperceptibly, shouldn’t the one who has fallen to this lot thank all the gods who sent him, well-fed, to rest, necessary for every person, but tired - encouraging? You see, some call for death with more ardor than they usually pray for the extension of life. However, I do not know from whom we will draw more courage: from those who seek death, or from those who cheerfully and calmly await it, because the first is sometimes driven by confusion of feelings and sudden indignation, while the calmness of the second is born of an immutable judgment. Sometimes a person is driven to death by anger; but only those who have been preparing for it for a long time will greet her arrival cheerfully.

Haven't I seen enough people who voluntarily ended their lives? I saw them, but for me the example of those who go to death without hatred for life, who accept, rather than call for death, is more convincing.

Letter XXXI

What is good? Knowledge. What is evil? Ignorance. Who is smart and skillful, depending on the circumstances, one will reject, another will choose. However, he is not afraid of what he rejects, and does not admire what he chooses, if only his soul is high and invincible. I forbid you to lose heart and lament. It is not enough not to give up work: you need to look for it!

“But what is it,” you ask, “empty and unnecessary labor?” - The one that is caused by insignificant reasons. He, too, is not evil, like the labor that is expended for the sake of a beautiful goal; after all, the point is steadfastness itself, and it is a property of the soul that encourages us to overcome difficulties and hardships and encourages us: "What are you delaying? A man is not afraid of sweat!"

But for virtue to be perfect, one more thing is needed: let your life be equal to itself, let nothing in it contradict one another, and this is impossible without knowledge and without art, which makes it possible to know the divine and the human. That is the highest good. Achieve it - and you will become not a petitioner, but an equal to the gods.

"How to come to this?" you ask. Not through the Peninsky or Greek Range, not through the deserts of Candavia; there will be no need to bypass either Sirte or Scylla with Charybdis D:\Work\doc\senek03\refer.htm - pXXXI-4 - even though you did all this for the sake of a miserable procuratorship. No, the road is safe, the road is pleasant, and nature itself equipped you. She gave you everything to make you equal with God, if you do not neglect the given.

It is not money that will make you equal to God: God has nothing; will not make a pretext: God is naked; neither the rumor, nor the ability to show oneself, nor the name known to all the people will do: God is unknown to anyone, many think badly of him - and with impunity; the crowd of slaves, dragging your stretcher along all the roads in the city and in a foreign land, will not do it: the greatest and most powerful god himself moves everything. Neither strength nor beauty will make you happy: both are inferior to old age.

It is necessary to look for something that does not fall more and more day by day under the power that knows no obstacles D:\Work\doc\senek03\refer.htm - pXXXI-6 . What is this? Soul, but the soul is adamant, noble, lofty. Can it be called otherwise than a god who has found shelter in the human body? A Roman horseman, a freedman, and a slave can have such a soul. What is a Roman horseman, freedman, slave? All these are names born of ambition or injustice. From a cramped corner you can ascend to heaven - just rise up and show your spirit to those who are worthy of God! D:\Work\doc\senek03\refer.htm - pXXXI-7

To show him like this, neither gold nor silver is needed: they cannot be used to carve the true image of God. Remember: when the gods looked favorably on us, they were made of clay.

Be healthy.

Letter XXXIV

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

I rejoice and rejoice, and, having shaken off my old age, I flare up like a young man when, from your deeds and letters, I understand how much you have surpassed yourself (because you have long left the crowd behind). If the farmer is pleased with the first fruit of the tree he has grown, if the shepherd is pleased with the growth of the flock, if everyone looks at his pet as if he considers his youth his own - what do you think those who have nurtured a natural gift in another should experience when they suddenly see ripened what was tender under their sculpting hands?

I claim you: you are my creation. As soon as I noticed your inclinations, I took up you, encouraged you, gave spurs and did not allow you to go slowly, every now and then I urged you on, and now I do the same, but I encourage the one who runs and encourages me.

You ask what else I need. “Now comes the most important thing. It is commonly said that the beginning is half the battle; the same applies to our soul: the desire to become virtuous is halfway to virtue. But you know who I'll call virtuous? A perfect and independent man, whom no force, no need can spoil.

This is what I see in you, if you are persistent in your efforts, if you act in such a way that between your deeds and words there is not only a contradiction, but also a discrepancy, if both are of the same coinage. Your soul is not yet on the right path if your actions do not agree with each other.

Be healthy.

Letter XLVII

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

I am happy to learn from those who come from your places that you treat your slaves as if they were your own. So befits with your mind and education. Are they slaves? No, people. Are they slaves? No, your housemates. Are they slaves? No, your humble friends. Are they slaves? No, your comrades in slavery, if you remember that fortune has the same power over you and over them.

I laugh at those who scorn to sit at the table with a slave - and why? Only because arrogant habit surrounded the dining host with a crowd of standing slaves! He eats more than he can, in exorbitant greed weighs down his swollen stomach, so unaccustomed to his business that it is more difficult for him to get rid of food than to contain it.

And unfortunate slaves cannot open their mouths even to say a word. The rod tames the slightest whisper, even an accidental coughing, sneezing, hiccuping is not free from flogging: the slightest violation of silence is atoned for by suffering. So they stand idle for whole nights, silently and not eating.

Because of this, those who are forbidden to talk about the owners talk about the owners. On the other hand, others, to whom one can exchange a word not only in front of the owner, but also with him, to whom they did not shut their mouths, were ready to put their heads under the sword for the owner, to take on imminent danger. At the table they spoke, under torture they were silent.

The shameless proverb is often repeated: "How many slaves, so many enemies." They are not our enemies - we ourselves make them enemies. I'm not talking about cruelty and inhumanity - but we already treat them not like people, but like cattle. We lie at the table, and one of them wipes the spit, the other, bending over, collects the leftovers dropped by drunks, the third cuts the expensive bird and, with confident movements of skillful hands, divides first the breast, then the tail into shares. Unfortunate is he who lives only for the sake of slaughtering a fattened bird according to the rules, but he who teaches it for his own pleasure is more miserable than one who learns out of necessity.

Let me think: is he, whom you call your slave, not born of the same seed, does not walk under the same sky, does not breathe like you, does not live like you, does not die like you? In the same way you could see him as a freeborn, and he as a slave to you. When Var D:\Work\doc\senek03\refer.htm - pXLVII-5 was defeated, fortune humiliated many born brilliant, ready to enter the senate through military service: she made some shepherds, others watchmen at huts. So despise the person of that state into which you yourself, as long as you despise him, can pass.

I do not want to deal with this too broad subject and discuss the treatment of slaves, with whom we are so arrogant, cruel and quarrelsome. But here is the general gist of my advice: Treat those below as you would like. to be treated by those above you. Remembering how much power you have over your slave, remember that your master has just as much power over you.

"But there is no master over me!" - You're still young; and there, you see, it will be. Do you not know in what years Hecuba fell into slavery, in what - Croesus, and the mother of Darius, and Plato, and Diogenes? D:\Work\doc\senek03\refer.htm - pXLVII-6

It is impossible, Lucilius, to look for friends only in the forum and in the curia; if you are careful, you will find them at home. Often a good stone disappears for lack of a sculptor; try it, try it yourself. Stupid is the one who, when buying a horse, looks only at the bridle and blanket, even more stupid is the one who appreciates a person by dress or position, which also only envelops us, like a dress.

Be friendly with your slaves, show yourself tall without arrogance: let them honor you rather than fear you.

Therefore, in my opinion, you are doing the right thing when, not wanting your slaves to be afraid of you, you punish them with words. Beatings instruct dumb animals. Not everything that hurts harms us; but being spoiled drives us to such a frenzy that everything that interferes with our desire makes us furious.

I will not detain you any longer: after all, you do not need exhortations. Good morals have, among other things, the advantage that they are pleased with themselves and do not change. Malevolence is fickle: it changes often, but never for the better.

Be healthy.

Letter LVIII

But let's see what the end of life is - its sediment or something of the purest and most transparent - if only the mind is not injured, and the feelings, preserved intact, help the soul, and the body does not lose strength and does not die to death. After all, the whole point is that to prolong - life or death.

But if the body is not fit for its service, then why not bring the tormented soul to freedom? And perhaps this should be done a little earlier than it should be, so as not to be powerless to do it in due time. And since a miserable life is much more terrible than imminent death, he is stupid who does not refuse a short delay in order to pay off a great danger at this price. Only a few have long old age led to death without causing suffering, but for many their inactive life, as it were, did not even come in handy. What do you think, a more cruel fate - to lose a piece of life, which will end anyway?

Do not listen to me against your will, as if my sentence applies to you, but still weigh my words. I will not leave old age, if it keeps me whole for me - it keeps the best part of me; and if it shakes my mind, if it takes it away piece by piece, if it leaves me not a life, but a soul, I will throw myself out of a rotten, ready to collapse building.

I will not run into death from a disease, so long as it is curable and does not affect the soul; I will not lay hands on myself in pain, because to die like this means to give up. But if I know that I will have to endure it all the time, I will leave, not because of the pain itself, but because it will interfere with everything for which we live. Weak and cowardly is he who dies because of pain; stupid is he who lives out of fear of pain. But I am too verbose, and the subject itself is such that one can talk about it all day. How can someone who cannot finish a letter end his life in time? Be healthy! You will read these words more readily than you have read everything about death and about death.

Be healthy.

Letter XCVII

We are greedy for everything bad, because here you will certainly find both a leader and a companion, and even without a leader, without a companion, things will go: the road to vices does not lead downhill, but downhill. And this is what makes many incorrigible: in all the arts, for those who practice them, errors are shameful and harmful to those who have made a mistake, but in life sins are sweet.

The helmsman does not rejoice if the ship capsizes; the speaker does not rejoice if, through the fault of the defense counsel, the defendant loses the case; the doctor does not rejoice when the patient is buried; but crime against oneself is pleasant for everyone. He rejoices in adultery, to which the difficulty of the case provoked him; this one rejoices in deceit and theft; and no one will be disappointed in evil deeds until he is disappointed in their good fortune. All this comes from a bad habit.

You can see for yourself that in the souls, even those who have gone far in evil, a feeling of goodness remains, and they not only do not know shame, but neglect it: after all, everyone hides their sins and, even if everything goes well, enjoy the fruits, and the deed itself hide. Only a clear conscience wants to go out and stand in plain sight; malevolent and in the darkness is scary.

We should not agree with Epicurus when he says that there is no justice by nature, and crimes must be avoided, since fear cannot be avoided. But one should agree with him that evil deeds are scourged by conscience, that the greatest torture for the villain is the anxiety that eternally torments and torments him, which does not allow him to believe the guarantors of his safety. But after all, if no one can not be afraid even in safety - this, Epicurus, is proof that it is nature that makes us recoil from crimes. Fortune freed many from punishment, but none from fear.

Why is that? Is it not because we have an aversion to everything that is condemned by nature? Because of this, even the one who has hidden does not believe in the possibility of hiding, that his conscience convicts him and convicts him before himself. It would be a bad thing for us if many evil deeds eluded the avenging law and the prescribed punishment - and we would not have to immediately pay for them with a heavy punishment imposed by nature, which replaces torture with fear.

Be healthy.

XCV letter

Too often we want to show that we want what we don't want. Someone brings for public reading the long "History", written in small, small and tightly rolled up, and, having read the most part, declares: "If you want, I will stop." Everyone shouts: "Read, read!" - and they themselves only want the reader to be silent. We often wish one thing in our minds, another out loud, and even the gods do not tell the truth; but the gods either do not listen to us, or feel sorry for us.

And now I'll try, skipping the introduction, go straight to the point. They say this: "A blissful life consists of right actions; instructions lead to right actions; therefore, instructions are enough for a blissful life." - But instructions do not always lead to right actions, but only when the mind obeys them, sometimes, if the soul is besieged by false opinions, it is useless to instruct it.

"If honest deeds flow from instruction, then they are abundantly sufficient for a blessed life; and since the first is true, the second is also true." - To this we will answer: instructions induce honest deeds, but not only instructions.

“If all sciences are content with instructions, then philosophy should be content with them, because it is also the science of life. The one who instructs him makes the helm of a person: so turn the steering oar, so lower the sails, so move with a fair wind, so resist the oncoming , and so use the lateral, not favorable and not hostile. " And any instruction is strengthened in its science; This means that they can do the same for the science of living."

But all these sciences are concerned only with the means of subsistence, and not with life in general. Therefore, many things interfere with them and prevent them from the outside: hope, desire, fear. And that which has proclaimed itself the science of life, nothing will ever prevent it from exerting its effect: it overturns barriers and entails obstacles. Do you want to know how dissimilar this and all other sciences are? In those, it is more excusable to err on purpose, and not by chance; in this, the greatest fault is to err of your own free will.

Philosophy is both speculative and applied science; it both contemplates and acts. You are mistaken in thinking that it promises benefit only in earthly affairs; she aims higher! She says: I explore the whole world and do not remain among mortals, content to convince you or dissuade you; I am attracted by the great, that which is higher than you:

"Ancient wisdom teaches only what to do and what to avoid - and people were better then. When there were more scientists, there were fewer good ones, because a simple and obvious virtue turned into a dark and eloquent science, and they teach us to reason, not live".

Healing was once reduced to the knowledge of a few herbs that stopped bleeding, healed wounds, and then gradually it reached its current variety. And it is not surprising that he had less to do when people were still strong and strong in body, and food was light and not spoiled by the art of receiving pleasure. Only then was food needed that would not satisfy, but inflame hunger, and hundreds of spices were invented to inflame gluttony, and what was food for the hungry became a burden for the well-fed.

In the old days, doctors did not know how to increase the frequency of meals and maintain a weakening heartbeat with wine, they did not know how to open the blood and alleviate a protracted illness by bathing and sweating, they did not know how, by tying their hands and feet, they could not pull the disease-causing force hidden in the depths to the limbs. They did not need, due to the small number of threats, to seek out many means of help.

And now the damage to health has reached! It is we who pay the penalty for the passion for pleasure that passes every measure and law. Count the cooks and you will cease to be surprised that there are so many diseases. All the sciences have receded, and the tutors of the liberal arts sit in empty corners, unvisited by anyone. There is not a soul in the schools of philosophers and rhetoricians, but how crowded are the kitchens of gluttons, how many young people crowd there by the stove!

We are mad not only one by one, but also by entire nations. Murder and individual murderers we curbed; and what about wars, that the extermination of entire tribes is a glorified villainy? Neither greed nor cruelty know the measure. Murders committed alone and on the sly are not so dangerous and monstrous; but cruelties are now committed by the decree of the senate and the people, and what is forbidden to private individuals is ordered on behalf of the state.

For the same crime they pay with their heads, if it is committed secretly, and if they receive praises in soldier's cloaks. People, a meek race, are not ashamed to rejoice in the blood of each other, to wage wars and instruct children to continue them, while peace reigns among dumb and wild animals.

Against such a mighty and widespread madness, philosophy, to which labor has been added, has accumulated as much strength as the enemy has gained. It was easy to blame those devoted to wine and dainty to gourmet dishes; little strength was needed to bring the soul to the path of abstinence when it had barely left it.

People everywhere seek pleasure, every vice overflows. The thirst for luxury slips into greed; honesty in oblivion; that promises a pleasant reward, of that they are not ashamed. A person - a sacred object for another person - is killed for fun and fun; he who was criminally taught to receive and inflict wounds is brought into the arena naked and unarmed: to entertain the audience, he only needs to die.

With such a perversion of morals, more powerful means are needed to drive away old ailments; ground rules are needed to eradicate deeply held false opinions. Together with the fundamental principles of instruction, consolation, encouragement, it may turn out that they will be strong enough, but by themselves they will not work.

It is customary to give instructions on how to honor the gods. We forbid them to light their lamps on Saturdays, because even the gods do not need lighting, and people have no joy from soot. We forbid appearing with morning greetings and sitting in front of the doors of temples: people's vanity is bribed with such pleasing, God is honored by the one who knows him. We do not order to bring sheets and combs to Jupiter, to hold a mirror in front of Juno - God does not need servants. Why? Yes, because he himself serves the human race, everywhere and everyone is ready to help.

Let a person listen to what measure must be observed in sacrifices, how it is necessary to run away from annoying superstitions - all the same, he will not go far unless he properly comprehends with his mind what God is - owning everything, bestowing everything, gratuitously beneficent. What is the reason for divine blessings? In the nature of the gods.

Those who think that they do not want to harm are mistaken: they cannot. It is impossible to harm them, nor suffer damage from them: after all, the damage that is done to us and that we do are connected. Whom the high and beautiful nature delivered from threats, she did not allow to threaten others.

The beginning of the worship of the gods is faith in them; then one should recognize for them both greatness and goodness, without which there is no greatness, to know that it is they who rule the world, they arrange the universe with their power, take care of the human race, sometimes taking care of individual people. They do no harm, and they do not experience; however, they punish some, and curb, and impose punishment, sending it sometimes and under the guise of good. Do you want to propitiate the gods? Be good! Whoever imitates them honors them enough!

“Everything that you see, which contains both divine and human, is one: we are only members of a huge body. Nature, which created us from one and the same and destined us to one, gave birth to us as brothers. She put mutual love in us, made us sociable, she established what is right and just, and according to her establishment, the bringer of evil is more unfortunate than the sufferer, at her command a helping hand should be extended.

Remember: we were born to live together. And our community is like a vault, which is kept because the stones do not allow each other to fall.

Having said about the gods and people, let's see how things should be handled. We would throw instructions to the wind, without first instructing what our opinions should be about each subject: about poverty and wealth, about fame and reproach, about the homeland and about exile. Let's evaluate everything separately, discarding the general rumors, and look for what it is, and not what it is called.

Now let's move on to the virtues. Another will instruct us to highly value rationality, learn courage, love temperance, and, if possible, attach our souls to justice most of all. But he will not achieve anything if we do not know what virtue is, whether it is one or there are many of them, whether they exist separately or are inextricably linked, whether he who possesses one and all the others, whether they differ and in what.

The action will not be right without the right intention, which is the reason for the action. And again, the intention will not be correct without the correct structure of the soul, which generates the intention. And the structure of the soul will not be the best if it does not comprehend the laws of all life, does not determine how to judge each thing, and does not reduce it to what it truly is. Only those who have come to unshakable and firm judgments will get peace of mind, while the rest now and then again take up the former, with which they have finished, and so rush between refusal and desire.

In philosophy, one thing requires exhortations, another, and much more, proofs: this is what does not lie on the surface and can hardly be discovered thanks to the greatest diligence and subtlety. But if proofs are necessary, fundamentals are also necessary, because in them the truth is supported by arguments. There are obvious things, there are dark ones. Explicit ones are those that are comprehended by feelings and memory, dark ones are those that are inaccessible to them. The mind, however, is not content with the obvious; its largest and most beautiful part is occupied with the secret. The secret requires proof, but without foundations it is impossible to prove; so the fundamentals are necessary.

Finally, if we instruct someone to treat a friend as himself, to believe that an enemy can become a friend, to try to inspire love in the first, and in the second to appease hatred, we add: "This is just and fair." But in honesty and justice lies the meaning of our principles; it means that they are necessary if neither one nor the other is without them.

It is necessary to combine principles and instructions: after all, even branches without a root are useless, and roots receive help from what they have generated.

Posidonius considers necessary not only "mentoring" (we will use his word), but also encouragement, consolation, and persuasion. To them he adds the search for causes - etiology (I don't see why we shouldn't say so, if the grammarians, the guardians of the Latin language, use this name). According to him, a description of each virtue will also be useful, Posidonius calls it "otology", and others - "characteristics", since it highlights the signs of each virtue and vice, by which one can distinguish similar ones.

Is it useless, in your opinion, to name signs by which you recognize a noble horse, so as not to make a mistake when buying and not to waste labor, going around a lazy one? So how much more useful it is to know the signs of greatness of spirit that can be adopted from another!

It is useful not only to talk about what good men are and draw their appearance and features, but also to tell what they were .... Be healthy.

Epictetus

/ excerpt from the book “What is our good?” with comments/

(Compiled by Ekaterina Krasikova, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 2nd year, 2005-06 academic year)

About Epictetus.

The history of this or that period of the spiritual development of mankind, apparently, can be best understood by carefully reading the works of those philosophers who were most popular with contemporaries. They expressed the worries and sorrows of the time in a concentrated form. The era, which was reflected in the works of the Stoic philosopher Epictetus (second half of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd century), now, like many years ago, attracts special attention of many thinking people, becoming a turning point for the spiritual consciousness of mankind. After all, it was then that the evangelists worked, turning the personal memory of the Savior's earthly existence into a fact of the history of all mankind, for, no matter how great his feat, not recorded by a pen, he could not become a lesson and example for mankind. At the same (approximately) time, the highest rise of Roman stoicism is noted, a peculiar and vibrant philosophical school, probably the most Roman of all, which has ever grown on poor Roman soil for philosophy. Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius - three thinkers, so close to each other in their initial philosophical positions, and so different in their final conclusions, which they cited after long and difficult reflections. The work of each of them is a complex fusion of the traditions of the philosophical school to which they belonged. The environment in which each of them grew up and brought up gave him his personal life experience, and, finally, his own unique "I".

The biography of Epictetus, unfortunately, is not very well known to us. However, the basic facts of his life are such that we can hardly doubt what kind of life experience Epictetus acquired and how this experience could influence the formation of his philosophical concepts.

He was born, apparently, around the year 50 AD in Phrygia (one of the regions of Asia Minor, which had been part of the Roman Empire for many years), I think, in the city of Hierapolis. It is known that his mother was a slave. Accordingly, Epictetus himself was a slave. Under circumstances unknown to us, he ended up in Rome, as part of the property of Epaphrodite, one of the freedmen and secretaries of Emperor Nero. According to some testimonies, Epictetus remained lame for life, after Epaphrodite, either in a fit of anger or as a punishment, broke his leg. It is known that, while still a slave, Epictetus met the most famous Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus at that time in Rome and became his student. There is no doubt that Musonius had a great influence on the formation of the worldview of his young student, which indisputably follows from the context of all Epictetus' statements about him, as well as a comparison of Epictetus' works with those, unfortunately, few fragments of the works of Musonius Rufus that have come down to us. But the opinion of those researchers who completely reject the creative principle in the works of Epictetus and consider him only an epigone, slavishly repeating what he received from his teacher, is hardly fair.

We do not know when and under what circumstances Epictetus received his freedom. However, we know that by the year 92 he was already a fairly prominent figure among Roman philosophers, for he, like other philosophers, was expelled from Rome that year by decree of the emperor Domitian (although, perhaps, the event took place in 89 according to R. X.). Epictetus moved to the city of Nikopol (in Epirus), where he opened his philosophical school. From Nikopol he traveled to Olympia and Athens. Apparently, under Emperor Trajan, he was allowed to return to Rome, where he soon gained great popularity. Many who came to listen to his talks belonged to the highest strata of Roman society. Among them was Flavius Arrian (the famous author of the biography of Alexander the Great, then a senator, later a consul), who became an ardent admirer of the philosopher. Unlike many other teachers of wisdom, Epictetus in life followed the principles of the teaching that he preached. Despite the glory that came to him and the patronage of the emperor, he remained as modest in everyday life as in the years of obscurity. The strictness of his moral rules and fidelity to the principles of noble poverty aroused deep respect for him not only among his contemporaries, but also among subsequent generations. Even the early Christian authors, who were generally quite severe in their assessments of their pagan predecessors, singled out Epictetus among the general mass of philosophers. He died in extreme old age, probably in the 20s of the II century. He was a contemporary of Tacitus and Plutarch. The Palatine Anthology has preserved for us his epitaph: "Slave Epictetus, lame and poor, like Ir, friend of the immortals."

Epictetus is not among the erudite philosophers. Judging by the quotes in his conversations, he knew the poems of Homer, some of the works of Plato and Xenophon, some tragedies. It has been suggested that he drew most of his knowledge not from the original works, but from the retelling of them that he found in the works of Chrysippus, whom he really read and studied a lot. What Epictetus really knew well were the works of later philosophers. He was not distinguished by a special love for monuments. visual arts. It seems that the chrysoelephantine statues of Athena (in Athens) and Zeus (in Olympia) made a strong impression on him, but the Acropolis was not awarded a very flattering assessment in one of his "Conversations".

Fragment from the book of Epictetus "What is our good?"

II
WHERE SHOULD YOU SEARCH FOR THE GOOD?

There is no such strong and healthy body that would never hurt; there is no such wealth that would not be lost; there is no such high power that would not be undermined. All this is perishable and transient, and a person who has laid his life in all this will always be worried, afraid, upset and suffering. He will never achieve what he wants and fall into the very thing he wants to avoid.

The human soul alone is safer than any impregnable fortress. Why do we try in every possible way to weaken this one stronghold of ours? Why do we do things that cannot give us spiritual joy, and do not care about that which alone can give peace to our soul? We all forget that if our conscience is clear, then no one can harm us, and that all sorts of quarrels and enmities arise only from our foolishness and desire to possess external trifles.

Many people say that a man should seek his own good and avoid evil for himself, and that therefore he should consider as his enemy and adversary anyone who takes away his good and does him harm, even if it be his own father, brother or son.

But is it? Seek your own good and avoid evil, in fact, you should. But can it really be good and bad for me that it depends on other people? Many, it is true, complain that someone else deprives them of good and exposes them to evil. But if they were right, this would mean that man by himself cannot achieve his own good. The good, therefore, is unattainable. How can something be called good that cannot be achieved?

No, friends! Our only good and evil is in ourselves, in our own soul. For each of us, the good lies in living wisely, and the evil lies in not living wisely. If we firmly remember this, then we will never quarrel and be at enmity with anyone, because it is stupid to quarrel over something that does not concern our good, and with people who are mistaken and, therefore, unhappy.

Socrates understood this. The anger of his wife and the ingratitude of his son did not make him cry for fate: his wife poured slop on his head and trampled on his pie, and he said: “This does not concern me. What is mine - my soul - no one in the world can take away from me. In this, a crowd of people is powerless against one person, and the strongest against the weakest. This gift is given by God to every person.

This is how the wise lived. But we only know how to write well, read and talk about it, but in fact we don’t do it. About one ancient people they said that they - lions at myself at home, and in the wrong side - foxes. About us, it can be said that we are lions in words, but in deeds - foxes.

VI
ABOUT WHAT WE CAN AND WHAT CAN'T DO

When we learn to read, we learn how to read and write. But literacy will not teach us whether it is necessary to write a letter to our friend or not. In the same way, music teaches us to sing or play the balalaika, but it does not teach us when to sing and whether it is time to play the balalaika.

What is our ability to tell us what to do and what not to do?

This ability is called intelligence. Reason alone tells us what to do and what not to do. The mind judges everything. A person understands with his mind what business is worth what, whether it should be done, when it should be and how it should be.

Giving us intelligence. God has given us what we need most and what we can handle. He did not give us at the disposal of what we are not able to handle. And thank God that He did so!

In fact, we live on earth connected with our feeble, weak body and surrounded by the same imperfect people as ourselves. Would we then be able to cope with everything that God did not provide us with?

By creating me the way I am. God said to me like this:

"Epictetus! I could bestow so much more on your little body and your little destiny. But don't blame me for not doing it. Don't forget that your body is not yours. It is nothing more than a handful of earth, skillfully crafted.

I wanted to give you complete freedom to do whatever you want, but I instilled in you a divine particle of Myself Himself. I gave you the ability to strive for good and avoid evil; I have given you a free mind. If you apply your mind to everything that happens to you, then nothing in the world will serve as an obstacle or constraint for you on the path that I have appointed for you; you will never cry either at your fate or at people; you will not condemn them or imitate them. Don't think it's not enough for you. Is it really not enough for you that you can live your whole life reasonably, calmly and joyfully? So be content with that!"

Meanwhile, instead of illuminating and directing our lives with reason, we pile on a lot of extraneous worries. One takes care of the health of his body and trembles at the mere thought of getting sick; another torments himself with worries about his wealth; the third worries about the fate of his children, about the deeds of his brother, about the diligence of his slave. We voluntarily take on all these unnecessary worries, and they fall like a heavy stone on our necks.

After all, it is absolutely the same as if a person wanted to sail across the sea on a sailing ship. He sits down on the seashore and waits for a fair wind. Day after day passes, and the wind does not blow the one he needs.

Lord! .. - he exclaims in despair. - When, finally, will a fair wind blow for me?

When it pleases him, dear friend, because God has not appointed you to be the master of the weather.

What should I do in such a case?

Submit to what does not depend on you, and improve in yourself what depends only on you. It is reasonable only to take care of this, and accept everything else as it happens. After all, everything else happens not as you want, but as God pleases.

What do I have to think about in order to live the way you say?

Nothing but what depends on you and what does not depend on you, what you can fulfill and what you cannot. For example, you need to die, but do you need to cry about it? You are forcibly dragged to prison; you can't avoid it, but you don't have to lament it. You are sent into exile; no one can prevent you from leaving in a calm spirit and with a light heart.

Tell me all the secrets of your friend, my enemy will tell me.

No, I will not tell you this, I will answer, because it is in my power to keep the secret of my friend.

But I will shackle you and send you to hard labor if you do not reveal his secrets to me!

What are you talking about? You will not shackle me; you will chain my legs, my hands, but you cannot chain me, my soul, my will, my mind, because no one but me is able to dispose of them.

I'll cut your head off!

Did I ever tell you that my head is more difficult to cut off than the head of any other person? These are the thoughts you should practice daily! Whoever has analyzed and understood what exactly he can do and what he cannot do, no obstacles and accidents will ever prevent him, because he will desire only what is achievable, and avoid what he cannot achieve.

You have sentenced me to death! - such a person will say, - If you want to cut off my head right now, then let's go, I'm ready. If you execute me in two or three hours, then I will have lunch for the time being, because I am hungry; and then, in due time, I will die.

And you will calmly go to the execution? - they will ask him.

Absolutely calm! - he will answer. - As befits a person who gives away what does not belong to him.

VI
ON THE MEASUREMENT OF GOOD AND EVIL

To one person one thing seems good, and to another another, just the opposite. But both opposing opinions cannot be justified.

I, - you will say, - consider my opinion fair and someone else's opinion unfair.

Why did you know that your opinion fair, and someone else's unfair? For this, it is not enough that you consider yourself right. When we need, for example, to measure some distance, we do not rely on the words of this or that person, but measure the distance with a true measure - an arshin, a sazhen.

If for such simple things there is a sure measure, then is there really no such measure for the more important matters of life? If such a measure could be found to avoid mistakes, then, of course, we would not take a single step without coping with it. Such a measure would open the eyes of all those who err, taking as true what they only "seem".

This measure exists. In order to acquire it, it is necessary, first of all, to understand well what is our true good, what is true evil, and what are their main properties.

When we clarify this for ourselves and clearly understand, then we will already have in our hands the measure that we are looking for.

I would like, for example, to know: is good or evil some kind of carnal pleasure? Some people say it's good, others say it's evil. I'm taking my measure. My measure tells me that true good is safe, inspires respect and delivers permanent good. Is this carnal pleasure? No, it is not safe for health, and cannot inspire respect in anyone, and does not deliver permanent good. Therefore, pleasure is not good.

You can check the significance of this pleasure by yet another measure: we all know that true goodness always gives pleasure to our soul. Discuss now, is this carnal pleasure?

When you answer this question, be careful; because if you say that carnal pleasure can give satisfaction to our soul, then you will only show by this that you do not know how to use the measure of good and evil.

Real wisdom is nothing else than the ability to find out and establish the true measure of good and evil; and the task of every rational person is to apply this

Exercise:

1. Formulate the history of the topic

Thus, the "sender of letters" himself becomes the main example in the system of moral rules, and this gives the exhortations the credibility of experienced experience. Any everyday trifle becomes a starting point for reasoning, any life fact - from the campaigns of Alexander the Great to obscene gossip about a contemporary unknown to us - can serve as an example. The addressee of the messages, the procurator of Sicily overwhelmed with business, is also vitally concrete, and their sender, suffering from city noise, traveling from estate to estate, overcoming illness, remembering youth.

The letters are open and formal. Rarely any of them is devoted to one topic. More often, Seneca moves from topic to topic, then, as it were, catches on: "Let's return to our subject," - then he digresses again, skillfully maintaining the intense interest of the reader. The letters remain, as it were, fragmentary, and this further contributes to the impression of life-like authenticity and friendly confidence in the statement. (It seems that he is just talking, conducting a conversation. He himself raises questions that the reader of the letter may presumably have, and answers them. But questions arise, and exactly those that Seneca suggested). In addition, each individual truth acquires more weight than it would have in a logical chain, and the reader's attention remains in constant tension. At the same time, the fluid diversity of life is included in the letters as a kind of negative background for the unshakable norm, that is, philosophy, the healer of souls, the "science of life", called upon to judge it and give it laws. And yet, "Letters to Lucilius" is a single work not only in thought, but also in composition. This whole begins openly - "Do so, my Lucilius," - a response to a friend's message, a link in the chain of a long correspondence. We do not know whether it ended in the same open way: the end of the "Letters to Lucilius" is lost. Inside the collection, everything has been done to preserve the feeling of openness, lack of system. However, in this lack of system there is a system, and it is subject to the successive stages of the conversion of Lucilius (understand - any reader - approx. Osherov) to the Stoic faith. A collection of letters to a friend becomes a code of stoic morality.

First of all, "Letters to Lucilius" is a program of moral self-improvement, equally intended for the addressee and the sender. Define its foundations of Stoic doctrine (n. XCV). Its goal is a "blissful life", that is, a state of complete independence from external circumstances. A wise man achieves a "blissful life", he is also a "vir bonus"; but the traditional Roman moral ideal is reinterpreted by Seneca in a Stoic spirit. Vir bonus is no longer a "valiant husband", but rather a "good man". In the "Letters" leisure is recognized as a necessary condition for moral perfection. And if for the ancient Roman "valiant man" glory was certainly thought of as a reward, then the Senekovian "good man" neglects it as the praise of unreasonable people and seeks only recognition of his "equals". In general, the reward for a virtuous deed is in itself, for such an deed corresponds to the rational nature of a person, in contrast to the opposite passions. To achieve virtue, one must not limit passions, but completely eradicate them. Thanks to this, one can achieve complete independence from the world, that is, dispassion.

"Moral letters to Lucilius" - the last work of Seneca. So large-scale (in terms of volume and content), it is like a storehouse of wisdom, life experience, unobtrusive moralizing, advice and dogmas addressed to a student and friend, therefore unofficial, open and accessible (not in the sense of frivolity, but in the fact that they are so vital, sincere, which is close and understandable to any reader with its authenticity and relevance). Reading everything at once is unrealistic: they need to be opened gradually, starting from the first, as was the case with Lucilius, and "learning the philosophy of life."

1.1. Brief overview of the biography of Seneca

Seneca Lucius Annei (he is simply called Seneca the Younger, in contrast to his father, the famous philosopher Seneca the Elder) is a Roman philosopher, statesman, one of the most famous representatives of Stoicism, a poet. Born in the city of Corduba (currently Spanish Cordoba) around 4 BC. e. His father was a man of the old school and believed that philosophy was less important than practical activity, so he sought to help his sons make a political career in the future. For this, he moved to Rome, where the young Seneca the Younger learned the basics of science, in particular, he was a student of the Stoics Sextius, Attalus, and the Pythagorean Sotion.

During the reign of the emperor Tiberius, in about 33, he became a quaestor. As a member of the Senate, he led the opposition, passionately and consistently denounced the despotism of the current emperors. When Caligula took the throne in 37, Seneca was such a famous senator, orator and writer that the emperor decided to kill him, and only the intervention of one of the concubines helped to avoid such an unenviable fate: it was decided that Seneca, who was no different good health will quickly die of natural causes.

In 41, under Emperor Claudius I, he was sent into exile for 8 years in deserted Corsica because of the accusation of involvement in a conspiracy. The wife of Claudius I Agrippina helped turn this sad page in the biography of Seneca, who brought him back from exile and invited him to court as a mentor to her son, then still young Nero. From 49 to 54 he was the educator of the future emperor, and after the 16-year-old Nero took the throne after the poisoning of Claudius, he became one of the first persons of the state, an adviser influencing decisions in the field of both external and internal politicians. In 57 he became a consul, i.e. received the highest possible position. Tall social status brought him great wealth.

However, the relationship between Seneca and his former pupil gradually became worse and worse. In 59, Seneca had to write a text for the emperor justifying the murder of his mother Agrippina, for a speech in the Senate. This act worsened the reputation in the eyes of the public and widened the gulf between the philosopher and the emperor. In 62, Seneca resigns, leaving Nero all the fortune acquired over many years.

From the point of view of philosophical views, Seneca was closest to the Stoics. His ideal was a spiritually independent sage who could serve as a model for universal imitation and was free, among other things, from human passions. Throughout his adult life, Seneca, who fought against despotism, in 65 joined the palace conspiracy led by Senator Piso. The intrigue was revealed, and Nero, for whom Seneca was always the personification of a ban, a restriction in actions, could not miss the opportunity to remove him from his path. The emperor personally ordered the philosopher, a former teacher, to commit suicide, leaving the form of death to his own discretion. Seneca opened his veins, and in order to hasten death, which was slowly advancing due to his advanced age, he resorted to the use of poison. His wife committed suicide with him.

The literary heritage of Seneca consists of 12 small treatises, highest value of which they have "On Anger", "On Providence", "On Peace of Mind". He left behind three major works - "Natural Historical Questions", "On Good Deeds", "On Mercy". He is also the author of 9 tragedies with stories drawn from mythology. World fame was gained by his "Medea", "Oedipus", "Agamemnon", "Phaedra"; European drama of the XVI-XVIII centuries. was greatly influenced by these plays.

2. Determine the main provisions of the essay "Moral Letters to Lucilius"

writing Seneca, representing the "sum" of his worldview in the most capacious and thoughtful formulations. The addressee of the letters is Lucilius (the works of Seneca “On Providence” and “Studies on Nature” are also addressed to him), a younger contemporary of Seneca, from the class of horsemen, at the time of writing “N. P." procurator of Sicily, an adherent of Epicureanism. The idea of Seneca was to gradually convert Lucilius to Stoicism and along the way to set forth the foundations of Stoic philosophy, and first of all, as the title of the work testifies, ethics (theoretical and practical). With rare exceptions, not a single letter is devoted to any one issue; Seneca often repeats himself, returning to what was said before. Nevertheless, despite the outward lack of system, in N. P." one can see a cross-cutting theme - the rise of true wisdom through self-improvement - and a certain composition.

Letters 1-30 outline key issues for ongoing discussion: contempt for external benefits and death, fearlessness in the face of fate, acquired through the assimilation of philosophy and clothed in concrete moral prescriptions and useful examples. One should strive for wisdom, which is inaccessible to affect (9). Portrait of a sage in "N. P." marked with Roman flavor and reflects the notion of a “worthy husband” (vir bonus) as an impeccably virtuous citizen (a favorite example is Cato the Younger, for example, 13 ff.). Letters 31-80 touch on a number of themes of a more theoretical nature. Virtue is knowledge, the basis of knowledge is reason, the soul is rational and has a divine nature, due to which all people are equal (31-47). Vices are the opposite of virtue (50-57, with relevant examples). The highest goal is wisdom (58-59), and it is also true virtue, which is also explained by numerous examples (60-80). Of particular importance for Seneca is the motivation of the act: the internal moral law, conscience (conscientia) becomes the most important criterion of morality. The last section (81-124) is a return to the issues raised earlier through the prism of wisdom-virtue; so, in the final letter, Seneca once again emphasizes that "where there is no place for reason, there is no good"; only that true perfection which is perfect in harmony with universal nature, and universal nature is reasonable.

3. Determine the significance of Seneca's "Moral Letters to Lucilius" in the development of world philosophy

All the literary work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is closely connected with his philosophy. And the best of his works - "Letters to Lucilius" - serves as a convincing example. In these letters, Seneca acted both as a great thinker and as a brilliant stylist and artist, who presented an interesting and very original example of Roman epistolography of the 1st century BC. n. e.

"Letters to Lucilius" are small philosophical and literary studies on various ethical topics, consonant with the times and in one way or another responding to the moods and aspirations of the philosopher himself. They develop the main problems of the theory of morality, borrowed from the Stoics, in relation to the new conditions put forward by the Roman reality of the time of the early empire. And if in themselves the moral ideas expounded by Seneca are not new, nevertheless they received from him their new development and expression in application to questions relating to practical moral life Romans.

(1) Your friend was talking to me, a young man with good inclinations; What is his soul, what is his mind, what are his successes - everything became clear to me, as soon as he spoke. As he showed himself from the first test, he will remain so: after all, he spoke without preparation, taken by surprise. And even when he collected his thoughts, he could barely overcome his shyness (and this is a good sign in young man ), - before that he blushed. "I suspect that this will remain with him even when he, having grown stronger and got rid of all vices, reaches wisdom. No wisdom eliminates the natural flaws of the body or soul2: what is inherent in us by birth, (2.) Some, even very hardy people, are thrown into sweat at the sight of a crowd of people, as if they were tired or suffering from heat: some have trembling knees when they have to speak, others teeth chatter, tongues tangle, lips stick together.Neither training nor habit will help here, here nature shows its strength, through this flaw reminding itself of the healthiest and strongest. (3) Among such flaws, I know, paint belongs, suddenly flooding the face even of the most sedate people. Most often this happens in young men - they have a higher fever, and the skin on the face is thinner; but both the elderly and the old are not spared from such a flaw. Some are most to be feared when they turn red : then all shame leaves them. (4 ) Sulla was especially cruel when blood rushed to his face. No one changed his face so easily as Pompeii, who invariably blushed in public, especially during gatherings. I remember how Fabian3, when they brought him to the Senate as a witness, blushed, and this blush of shame colored him miraculously. (5) The reason for this is not weakness of the spirit, but novelty, which, although not frightening, excites the inexperienced and, moreover, easily blushing due to the natural predisposition of the body. After all, if the blood of some is calm, then in others it is hot and mobile and immediately rushes into the face. (6) From this, I repeat, no wisdom can deliver: otherwise, if it could eradicate any flaws, nature itself would be subject to it. What is laid down in us by the birth and structure of the body will remain, no matter how long and persistently our spirit is perfected. And it is just as impossible to prevent these things as it is to cause them by force. (7) Actors on the stage, when they imitate passions, when they want to portray fear or awe or represent sadness, imitate only some signs of embarrassment: they lower their heads, speak in a low voice, look at the ground with a downcast look, but they cannot blush, because the blush can neither be suppressed nor forced to appear. Here wisdom promises nothing, will not help in any way: such things are not subject to anyone - they come without an order, they disappear without an order. (8) But this letter is already asking for completion. Receive something useful and healing from me and keep forever in your soul: "You should choose one of the people of good4 and always have him before your eyes - to live as if he were looking at us, and to act as if he were seeing us." 9 This, my Lucilius, is taught by Epicurus. He gave us a guard and a guide - and he did the right thing. Many sins could have been avoided if we were ready to sin, a witness. Let the soul find someone to whom it would feel reverence, whose example would help it cleanse the deepest recesses. Happy is he who, being present only in the thoughts of another, corrects him! Happy is the one who can honor another so much that even the memory of him serves as a model for improvement! Whoever can so honor another will soon inspire respect himself. (10) Choose for yourself Cato, and if he seems too harsh to you, choose a husband not so adamant - Lelia. Choose the one whose life and speech, and even the face in which the soul is reflected, are pleasing to you; and let him always be before your eyes, either as a guardian or as an example. We need, I repeat, someone to model our character. After all, you can correct a crooked line only along the line. Be healthy.

About the time. Poor is he who does not have enough of what he has. Time is the only thing, the most valuable thing. And we spend it on worthless things.
About sufficient and excessive. Who is everywhere is nowhere. If you can't read what you have, have what you read. An excessive variety of dishes does not nourish, but spoils the stomach.
About friendship. First judge, then recognize as a friend. Considering him faithful as faithful, you will make him faithful. A vice is to believe everyone and not to believe anyone.
About philosophy. Leave fears. Most are torn between the fear of death and the pain of life; pitiful, they do not want to die and do not know how to live. From the hour of your birth you go to death. Natural wealth: to endure neither thirst, nor hunger, nor cold. What nature requires is achievable, you have to sweat for the sake of excess.
About vanity and asceticism. Do not overdo it, do not scare others with your appearance and behavior. Philosophy promises to give the ability to live among people, benevolence and sociability. To live in harmony with nature, to know the measure in everything, to be neat, not to stand out excessively among people. Let him who enters the house marvel at us, and not at our utensils. Hope and fear are two ends of the same chain. The inability to adapt to the present and the habit of sending thoughts far ahead.
About wisdom. Some sick people should be congratulated for admitting they are sick. We are not happy with any good if we possess it alone. Long is the way of instruction, short and convincing is the way of examples.
About the crowd. There is no worse enemy: each one will either certainly seduce you with his vice, or infect you, or imperceptibly stain you. There is nothing more fatal to good morals than a spectacle. A single example of extravagance or stinginess brings a lot of evil. Spend time with those who will make you better, admit to yourself those whom you yourself can make better. Each of us is worth a crowded theater for the other.
About instructions. Labor for posterity. Although my ulcers did not close, they stopped spreading in breadth. Nothing but the soul is worthy of admiration, and for a great soul it is less and less. "Become a slave to philosophy in order to gain true freedom" - Epicurus. What is given to us can be taken away.
Invincible soul. Pretty self, but not bad to have both friends and neighbors. Although he does not yearn for the lost, he would prefer to do without losses. “If you want to be loved, love” - Hekaton. Bad thoughts of the one who made friends, seeing only himself; as he began, so he will end. There is no need for the wise. The highest good does not look for tools outside, but is created from itself. What is important is not what he says, but what he feels, and not what he feels today, but always feels.
Foolish people should not be left to their own devices. Ask God for clarity of mind and mental health.
What is inherent in birth can be softened, but not conquered. Many sins could have been avoided if we were ready to sin, witness.
About old age. Every pleasure saves its joyful moment for the end. Every day should be lived like the last. What is true is mine. The best belongs to everyone.
Dolbest - having fallen, rise even more adamant. We ourselves multiply our suffering, either by inventing it or by anticipating it.