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What Would Stoics Do

Seneca · c. 4 BCE – 65 CE

On Anger 1.20 ¶3 — Seneca

Translation by Aubrey Stewart (1889)

Seneca, On Anger 1.20 ¶3

How great was his madness! He must have believed either that he could not be hurt even by Jupiter himself, or that he could hurt even Jupiter itself. I imagine that this saying of his had no small weight in nerving the minds of the conspirators for their task: for it seemed to be the height of endurance to bear one who could not bear Jupiter.
— Seneca, On Anger 1.20 ¶3 · tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889)Read in context →

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Seneca, On Anger 1.20 ¶3, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889)

https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-anger/1.20.3

Seneca, Dialogues, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887–1889). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences

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In plain English

AI-written notes

A remark on the emperor Caligula: his challenge to Jupiter showed sheer madness, and it probably steeled the men who plotted against him, since it seemed too much to put up with a man who could not put up with a god.

Older wording

“conspirators”
— people secretly plotting together

Themes and situations

  • Anger
  • Pride and humility

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