244 //-106 to //-107
spmt. When he received news of a shipwreck and heard that all his
possessions had been lost with the ship, Zeno, the head of our school,
said "fortune bids me to follow philosophy bearing a lighter load".
Seneca, Letters on Ethics 121.1-24 [11-107]
- I can see that you will quarrel when I have expounded for you
today's theme, which we have already spent quite some time with; yet
again you will cry out, "what does this have to do with ethics?" Exclaim
away, until I can, first, give you the names of others to quarrel with,
Posidonius and Archidemus ... - Meanwhile let me examine some questions which seem to be a bit
too far removed [from your practical concerns]. We were asking whether
all animals had an awareness of their own constitution. The best evidence
that this is so was that they move their limbs in a fitting and efficient
manner, as though they had been trained to do so; each animal has a
nimble mastery of his various parts. A craftsman handles his tools with
ease; a helmsman controls the rudder with skill; and a painter can very
quickly apply the many and varied colours which he sets out on his
palette for the purpose of capturing a likeness, and moves back and forth
between the hot wax and the canvas with a ready hand and eye. In the
same way an animal is expeditious in the use of himself. 6. We often
admire skilled dancers because their hands are capable of expressing all
kinds of objects and emotions and their gestures are responsive to the
rapidly uttered words. What art gives to these men, nature provides to
the animals. They do this as soon as they are born; they come into this
world with this knowledge; they are born with a sound training. - "And so," he says, "animals move their parts in a fitting manner
because if they moved them any differently they would feel pain. Thus,
on your theory, they are forced [to act as they do] and it is fear which
leads them to correct action, not choice." This is false; for things which
are driven by necessity are slow; nimbleness belongs to those who move
of their own free will. Far from it being fear of pain which drives them
to this [behaviour], they even strive for their natural motions when pain
discourages them. 8. Consider a baby who is practicing standing up and
learning how to walk; as soon as he begins to try his strength he falls
and, in tears, gets up again and again until despite the pain he trains
himself to the [function] demanded by his nature. Some animals, who
have hard shells, can be turned over on their backs and they will strain
and push with their feet and twist themselves for a long time, until they
get back in their [proper] posture. Yet the turtle feels no pain when
on his back; he is uneasy, nevertheless, because he desires his natural