Sublime

Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough.

“To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden.” —SENECA, HERCULES OETAEUS, 231–232

The more substantive criticism Augustine makes is that Stoic ethics depend on human pride. The Stoics, including Seneca, claimed that the wise man can be entirely free from vice and can live in a state of total tranquility, undisturbed by false emotions.

“Tantalus: The highest power is— Thyestes: No power, if you desire nothing.” —SENECA, THYESTES, 440

Suillius, however, made the best of his situation: he remained “uncowed” during the condemnation and lived out his life in exile at ease and surrounded by luxury—never making the mistake of trying to return to Rome.

Seneca presents his mind as capable at last of rising above all the limitations of political ambition and material desire:

"Contented poverty is an honourable estate."

both metaphorical and literal profit. Seneca inveighs against the notion that one should aim only for profit, or even at all for profit; yet he also suggests that gratitude is, at