Think on Death Always
An asthma attack bad enough to be called practising how to die. What held Seneca was a question: what is death? Non-existence, which he already knows, because it was his condition before birth. We do not fear the darkness before we were lit. The lamp extinguished is not worse off than before it was lit. On either side of the painful interval, peace. Praise the man who is not distressed to die and still takes pleasure in living. There is no virtue in going when you are thrust out, though even then one can go as if willing. The wise man escapes necessity by willing what necessity demands.
Key Insight
Courage is not a wish to be done. It is remaining able to enjoy the interval without requiring the interval to be endless. Pre-birth is the analogy that drains the gothic from the dark. You have already been dead. The fear is of a place you have already occupied without complaint.
“Nothing seems to me more troublesome than this. And naturally so; for anything else may be called illness; but this is a sort of continued 'last gasp.'”Explore full theme analysis
