Seneca · c. 4 BCE – 65 CE
On a Happy Life 19 ¶1–2 — Seneca
Translation by Aubrey Stewart (1889)
Seneca, On a Happy Life 19 ¶1–2
They say that Diodorus, the Epicurean philosopher, who within these last few days put an end to his life with his own hand, did not act according to the precepts of Epicurus, in cutting his throat: some choose to regard this act as the result of madness, others of recklessness; he, meanwhile, happy and filled with the consciousness of his own goodness, has borne testimony to himself by his manner of departing from life, has commended the repose of a life spent at anchor in a safe harbour, and has said what you do not like to hear, because you too ought to do it. “I’ve lived, I’ve run the race which Fortune set me.”
Cite this passage
Seneca, On a Happy Life 19 ¶1–2, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-a-happy-life/19.1
Seneca, Dialogues, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887–1889). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA short note defending a philosopher who recently cut his own throat as not necessarily mad or reckless, but as having chosen to leave life calmly, quoting a line about having finished the race fortune set. It concerns suicide and offers no guidance for a modern reader.
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Freedom
- Virtue and character