Seneca: Letters from a Stoic (Titles of the Letters)
The current version of this text can be found on my private website: https://www.miede.de/viv/lettersfromastoic/
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius (“Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium”) are a standard text of Stoic literature and highly recommended, for example by multi-talent Tim Ferriss.
A well-known translation and selection of letters is Robin Campbell’s (Pengiun Classics), containing 42 letters. While these letters are numbered, their titles are missing, unfortunately.
For those interested, this brief article will provide arabic and roman numbers for the letters, as well as their title. May this be helpful for your reading of this great book.
2 II On discursiveness in reading
3 III On true and false friendship
5 V On the philosopher’s mean
6 VI On sharing knowledge
7 VII On crowds
8 VIII On the philosopher’s seclusion
9 IX On philosophy and friendship
11 XI On the blush of modesty
12 XII On old age
15 XV On brawn and brains
16 XVI On philosophy, the guide of life
18 XVIII On festivals and fasting
26 XXVI On old age and death
27 XXVII On the good which abides
28 XXVIII On travel as a cure for discontent
33 XXXIII On the futility of learning maxims
38 XXXVIII On quiet conversation
40 XL On the proper style for a philosopher’s discourse
41 XLI On the god within us
46 XLVI On a new book by Lucilius
47 XLVII On master and slave
48 XLVIII On quibbling as unworthy of the philosopher
53 LIII On the faults of the spirit
54 LIV On asthma and death
55 LV On Vatia’s villa
56 LVI On quiet and study
63 LXIII On grief for lost friends
65 LXV On the first cause
77 LXXVII On taking one’s own life
78 LXXVIII On the healing power of the mind
83 LXXXIII On drunkenness
86 LXXXVI On Scipio’s villa
88 LXXXVIII On liberal and vocational studies
90 XC On the part played by philosophy in the progress of man
91 XCI On the lesson to be drawn from the burning of Lyons
104 CIV On care of health and peace of mind
105 CV On facing the world with confidence
107 CVII On obedience to the universal will
108 CVIII On the approaches to philosophy
114 CXIV On style as a mirror of character
122 CXXII On darkness as a veil for wickedness
123 CXXIII On the conflict between pleasure and virtue
A free version of all the letters can be found on Wikisource.
As a book, there is a complete collection: “Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic”, translated by Richard Mott Gummere (Dover Thrift Editions).
