(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

This weekend picked up a translation of Seneca's letters to Lucilius. I wanted to learn more about the Stoics and their possible influence on Christian ethics. As philosophical literature it makes for remarkably light reading. A random selection:

To want to know more than is sufficient is a form of intemperance. Apart from which this kind of obsession with the liberal arts turns people into pedantic, irritating, tactless, self-satisfied bores, not learning what they need simply because they spend their time learning things they will never need. The scholar Didymus wrote four thousand works: I should feel sorry for him if he had merely read so many useless works. In these works he discusses such questions as Homer's origin, who was Aeneas' real mother, whether Anacreon's manner of life was more that of a lecher or that of a drunkard, whether Sappho slept with anyone who asked her, and other things that would be better unlearned if one actually knew them!

This makes me wonder, somewhat ironically, if Seneca would disapprove of people reading his letters so many years after his passing and even the passing of his world and way of life.