[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":142},["ShallowReactive",2],{"stoic-author-seneca":3,"stoic-editions-work-on-leisure":69,"stoic-sections-work-206":104,"stoic-content-552-2694":137},{"id":4,"name":5,"shortName":6,"urlSlug":7,"birthYear":8,"deathYear":9,"nationality":10,"summary":11,"moreInfoUrl":12,"works":13},208,"Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger","Seneca","seneca",-4,65,"ES","Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger",[14,19,24,28,32,36,40,44,48,52,57,61,65],{"id":15,"name":16,"urlSlug":17,"editionCount":18},195,"On Benefits","on-benefits",4,{"id":20,"name":21,"urlSlug":22,"editionCount":23},199,"On the Happy Life","on-the-happy-life",2,{"id":25,"name":26,"urlSlug":27,"editionCount":23},201,"On the Firmness of a Wise Man","on-the-firmness-of-a-wise-man",{"id":4,"name":29,"urlSlug":30,"editionCount":31},"Moral Letters to Lucilius","letters",1,{"id":33,"name":34,"urlSlug":35,"editionCount":23},205,"On Consolation - To Helvia","on-consolation-to-helvia",{"id":37,"name":38,"urlSlug":39,"editionCount":23},204,"On Consolation - To Marcia","on-consolation-to-marcia",{"id":41,"name":42,"urlSlug":43,"editionCount":31},206,"On Leisure","on-leisure",{"id":45,"name":46,"urlSlug":47,"editionCount":23},200,"On Peace of Mind","on-peace-of-mind",{"id":49,"name":50,"urlSlug":51,"editionCount":23},203,"On Consolation - To Polybius","on-consolation-to-polybius",{"id":53,"name":54,"urlSlug":55,"editionCount":56},202,"On the Shortness of Life","on-the-shortness-of-life",3,{"id":58,"name":59,"urlSlug":60,"editionCount":23},198,"On Clemency","on-clemency",{"id":62,"name":63,"urlSlug":64,"editionCount":31},197,"On Anger","on-anger",{"id":66,"name":67,"urlSlug":68,"editionCount":23},196,"On Providence","on-providence",[70],{"id":71,"name":72,"year":73,"language":74,"sources":75,"contributor":82,"publication":82,"publicationCountry":83,"publicDomainNote":84,"qualityFlags":92,"author":97,"work":103},552,"Of Leisure","1889","eng",[76,79],{"url":77,"type":78},"https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64576/64576-0.txt","text",{"url":80,"type":81},"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Of_Leisure","html",null,"GB",{"eu":85,"us":89},{"reason":86,"status":87,"pd_year":88},"life+70","pd",1989,{"reason":90,"status":91,"pd_year":82},"not published in the US (published in UK)","na",{"issues":93,"bonuses":94},[],[95,96],"linked_footnotes","html_format",{"id":98,"name":99,"shortName":100,"urlSlug":101,"deathYear":102},210,"Aubrey Stewart","Stewart","stewart",1918,{"id":41,"name":42,"urlSlug":43},[105,109,113,117,121,125,129,133],{"id":106,"workId":41,"label":107,"sortOrder":108},2694,"1.01",529,{"id":110,"workId":41,"label":111,"sortOrder":112},2695,"1.02",530,{"id":114,"workId":41,"label":115,"sortOrder":116},2696,"1.03",531,{"id":118,"workId":41,"label":119,"sortOrder":120},2697,"1.04",532,{"id":122,"workId":41,"label":123,"sortOrder":124},2698,"1.05",533,{"id":126,"workId":41,"label":127,"sortOrder":128},2699,"1.06",534,{"id":130,"workId":41,"label":131,"sortOrder":132},2700,"1.07",535,{"id":134,"workId":41,"label":135,"sortOrder":136},2701,"1.08",536,{"id":138,"sectionId":106,"editionId":71,"sectionLabel":107,"sectionSortOrder":108,"content":139,"contentFormat":81,"notes":140,"notesFormat":141,"title":82},19189,"\u003Cp>. . . . why do they with great unanimity recommend vices to us? even though we attempt nothing else that would do us good, yet retirement in itself will be beneficial to us: we shall be better men when taken singly—and if so, what an advantage it will be to retire into the society of the best of men, and to choose some example by which we may guide our lives! This cannot be done without leisure: with leisure we can carry out that which we have once for all decided to be best, when there is no one to interfere with us and with the help of the mob pervert our as yet feeble judgment: with leisure only can life, which we distract by aiming at the most incompatible objects, flow on in a single gentle stream. Indeed, the worst of our various ills is that we change our very vices, and so we have not even the advantage of dealing with a well-known form of evil: we take pleasure first in one and then in another, and are, besides, troubled by the fact that our opinions are not only wrong, but lightly formed; we toss as it were on waves, and clutch at one thing after another: we let go what we just now sought for, and strive to recover what we have let go. We oscillate between desire and remorse, for we depend entirely upon the opinions of others, and it is that which many people praise and seek after, not that which deserves to be praised and sought after, which we consider to be best. Nor do we take any heed of whether our road be good or bad in itself, but we value it by the number of footprints upon it, among which there are none of any who have returned. You will say to me, \"Seneca, what are you doing? do you desert your party? I am sure that our Stoic philosophers say we must be in motion up to the very end of our life, we will never cease to labour for the general good, to help individual people, and when stricken in years to afford assistance even to our enemies. We are the sect that gives no discharge for any number of years' service, and in the words of the most eloquent of poets:— \n\u003C/p>\n\u003Cdl>\u003Cdd>\u003Cdl>\u003Cdd>\u003Cdl>\u003Cdd>'We wear the helmet when our locks are grey.'\u003Csup data-footnote-reference=\"1\">1\u003C/sup>\u003C/dd>\u003C/dl>\u003C/dd>\u003C/dl>\u003C/dd>\u003C/dl>\n\u003Cp>We are they who are so far from indulging in any leisure until we die, that if circumstances permit it, we do not allow ourselves to be at leisure even when we are dying. Why do you preach the maxims of Epicurus in the very headquarters of Zeno? nay, if you are ashamed of your party, why do you not go openly altogether over to the enemy rather than betray your own side?\" I will answer this question straightway: What more can you wish than that I should imitate my leaders? What then follows? I shall go whither they lead me, not whither they send me.\n\u003C/p>","[{\"id\": 1, \"content\": \"Virg. \\\"\\u00c6n.\\\" ix. 612. Compare Sir Walter Scott, \\\"Lay of the Last Minstrel,\\\" canto iv.:\\u2014 \u003Cdl>\u003Cdd>\u003Cdl>\u003Cdd>\u003Cdl>\u003Cdd>\\\"And still, in age, he spurned at rest,\u003C/dd> \u003Cdd>And still his brows the helmet pressed,\u003C/dd> \u003Cdd>Albeit the blanched looks below\u003C/dd> \u003Cdd>Were white as Dinlay's spotless snow,\\\" &c.\u003C/dd>\u003C/dl>\u003C/dd>\u003C/dl>\u003C/dd>\u003C/dl>\"}]","json",1775663961101]