Notes on Moral Letters to Lucilius Vol. 1 by Seneca

From Taleb's recommendation in Antifragile, I read Moral Letters to Lucilius - Letters from a Stoic by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. (Maybe I thought he said it was "overrated." :-) )

Seneca was a philosopher born in 4BC who moved to Rome and tutored emperor Nero (hence his relevance to Taleb's pseudo-realistic plot). He spent many years of exile in Corsica and corresponded with Lucilius, a Roman knight.

The content of his letters proved to be less about the specific and more about general philosophy, and these letters are sort of a mini-handbook for life. I was impressed to see him talk about a number of quite "advanced" topics that were ahead of his time period, such as his plea for the equality of the sexes, the sanctity of marriage, and the humane, almost equal treatment of slaves.

I found myself agreeing to a lot of his points, especially about not wasting time and about envisioning (and living out) one's worst fears in order to realize that they aren't that bad. We can be aware of risks and dangers, but we should not be ruled by worry for all the things that may one day happen. I liked his plea for rationality and individualism, and I can see all the ways his philosophy inspired and gave a foundation for many of Taleb's points.

Below are my notes on the book, which is divided into 65 of his letters to Lucilius.

1 on saving time
All we have is time
Do not waste it and live each moment for purpose

2 discursiveness in reading
Well ordered mind can remain in one place and linger in its own company
Cannot shift so much between authors or countries
Want friends not acquaintances
Read standard authors
Digest each thoroughly
Contented poverty is an honorable estate
Proper limits of wealth: first to have necessary then to have enough

3 on true and false friendship
True friendship when can trust another man like self
Don't misuse the word
Treat men as loyal so they will be

Letter four on the terrors of death
No man can have a peaceful life who only thinks about lengthening it
There's nothing to be dreaded about death
Need to know how to die
No good thing renders happiness unless can reconcile with its loss
Encourage and toughen spirits against mishaps
He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich
Possessions make us threadbare

5 on the philosophers mean
Avoid perverted forms of self display to draw comment
Philosophy gives sympathy for all men
Live according to nature
Do not torture body
Philosophy calls for plain living but not for penance
Cease to hope and you will cease to fear
Fear follows hope
A mind that is in suspense about the future
Should adapt ourselves to the present instead of sending our thoughts along to the future
Beasts avoid the dangers in front of their eyes and once they're past them they cease to care
But our memory recalls dangers and our foresight anticipates them

Letter six: on sharing knowledge
No good thing is pleasant to possess without friends to share it
Begin to be a friend to yourself

Letter 7: on crowds
Horrors of roman death games
Withdraw into yourself and only be around those who can make you a better man
One man means to me as much as a multitude and a multitude means to me as much as one man
I write this not for the many but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for each other
Scorn the applause of the audience

Eight: on the philosophers seclusion
Withdraw from men and work for later generations
Treat body rigorously so it is not disobedient to the mind
Eat and drink just to relieve hunger
If u enjoy real freedom then must be slave to philosophy
Gifts of chance are not to be regarded as our possessions

9: on philosophy and friendship
Wise man is self sufficient but desires friends
Can do without them but desires not to
Desires friends for practicing friendship
Natural context and not his own needs draws ppl to friends
Easier to conquer tribe than one man

10: on living to oneself
Pray for sound mind and health

11: on the blush of modesty
Shyness and public speaking
Choose a master to help regulate character

12: on old age
When man has been able to say I have lived then every day is extra gift
Best ideas are common property
Many quotations from Epicurus

13: on groundless fears
There are more things that can frighten us than can crush us
Don't be unhappy until the bad stuff happens
We are in the habit of imagining sorrow
Look forward to better things
Stop getting ready to live all the time

14: on the reasons for withdrawing from the world
We should not live for the body but we cannot live without it
We fear want, sickness, troubles from the stronger
Have nothing others can snatch from you
Avoid hatred jealousy and scorn
The Wise man regards the reason behind his actions but not the results which are in fortunes hands
He who enjoys riches least enjoys riches most

15: brawn and brains
Must study philosophy to be well
Limit the flesh
Do short exercises to tire body quickly
Some weights and jumping
Come back quickly to exercising mind daily
Mind can take break

16: philosophy the guide of life
If you live according to nature you'll never be poor
If you live according to opinion you'll never be rich

17; philosophy and riches
Poverty is contented in fulfilling pressing needs
Live simply
Start studying philosophy now instead of first acquiring living
Study while acquiring
Learn to endure hunger
The acquisition of riches is a change of troubles and not an end
Ends letters with a "gift": quotes from Epicurus (who advocated pleasure??)
Malady goes with the man's mind not the riches

18 festivals and fasting
Stop toga
One may holiday without extravagance
Train body and soul for crisis before it comes
Set aside certain days to have the scantiest of fare
Begin having business relations with poverty

19: worldliness and retirement
Reflect with whom eating more than what

20: practicing what u preach
See if ur dress and ur house inconsistent
Persist and do not jump tracks
Wisdom is always desiring the same things and always refusing the same things
Poverty will keep for u ur true and tried friends
He is truly great who can be poor amid riches

21: renown my writings will give u
His name will last
Do not add to his honors/pleasures but subtract from his desires

22; futility of halfway measures
Do not attempt anything until suitable time

23: true joy from philosophy
Do nut find joy in useless things
Learn to feel real joy
Rejoice only in that which comes from ur own store
They live ill who are only beginning to live
Must be able to live as if already had complete life

24: despising death
Don't anticipate trouble by worrying about future
Assume all trouble will happen and then estimate all fear and realize not significant
Death is the last but not the only death

25: on reformation
Prefer to lack success than lack faith to try something difficult
Live life in spiritual company of great man like Epicurus
Only time to withdraw into solitude is when in crowd

26: old age and death
Getting ready to pass judgment on self
Body getting tired but mind still sharp
Think on death
No slavery for one who can die

27: the good which abides
Admitting to lucilius his innermost thoughts
Cannot buy or borrow a sound mind

28: travel as cure for discontent
Thoughts follow u wherever u go
U flee along with self
Let aside burdens of mind
The person u are matters more than where u r
See entire world as ur country
Knowledge of sin is beginning of salvation

29: critical condition of morcelinus
Do not advise men who are not ready
Never cater to crowd for what I know they do not approve and what they approve I do not know

30 on conquering the conqueror
Equality of death
Think on death to not fear it

31 siren songs
Stop up ears
Do not toil for no reasons
Good is the knowledge of things

32 progress
Be unknown to most ppl

33 futility of learning maxims
Don't chase after choice extracts
Full texts as important and great 
Make extracts not memorize others'
One thing to remember and another to know
Investigate and don't just follow

34 promising pupil
Proud of lucilius

35 friendship of kindred minds
Friendship vs love

36 value of retirement
Young man must store up
Old man must use

37 allegiance to virtue
Reason as ruler
Not impulse

38: quiet conversation

39 noble aspirations

40: proper style of philosophers discourse
Real trace of absent friend
Speech should be composed
Eloquence flows gently and slowly
Ease rather than speed

41 on the gd within us
Man as reasoning animal
Live in accordance with his own nature

42 on values
See how much we must pay in non cash for various things
Often pay of ourselves
He that owns himself loses nothing

43 relativity of fame
Don't regard yourself based on how others see u or gossip

44 philosophy and pedigrees
Promotion based on work and noble mind
Rejecting no one

45 sophistical argumentation
Exercises wit to no person
Useless word plays

46 a new book by lucilius
Eloquent book
Reading twice

47 man and slave
Really equal
All men treated same by fortune
Good to dine with slaves
Slaves talk about their master
See in slave a freeborn man just as u can be seen as a slave
Treat your inferiors as u would ur betters
Let Slave talk and live with u
Good material stands want of an artist
All men slaves to fear

48 quibbling as bad for philosopher
Prefer frankness and simplicity

49 shortness of life
Infinitely swift is passage of time
All in memory
Point of time infinitesimal
Don't waste time on superfluous things
Silliness of dialectic poets
Good in life does not depend on length but on fullness
Nature gave us reason
Truth is simple; don't over complicate language

50 our blindness and its cure
Nobody sees them self as blind
But the blind ask for guides
Learning virtue means unlearning vice
Virtue is according to nature

51 morals
Avoid resort town
Choose austere living place

52 choosing our teachers
Learn from ancients
Watch acts not words of teacher

53 faults of the spirit
Study philosophy

54 asthma and death
Death just nonexistence and had that before life and was not uncomfortable
Condition before birth is death

55 villa
Carried by ppl for better health on beach

56 quiet and study
Heard noises from bathing house below him
Words distract more than noises
Force mind to concentrate

57 trials of travel

58 on being
Words become molded with age
Substance and life
Genus
Dividing existing things
Plato idea
Pattern
Form

59 pleasure and joy
Accept no flattery from others

60 harmful prayers
Support ourselves instead
He really lives who makes himself useful

61 meeting death cheerfully
Live every day as if it were a full life
Ready to depart
Dying well
Make ready for death like making ready for life

62 good company

63 grief for lost friends
Good to weep but not to excess
Greedily enjoy friends now
Time heals
Reflect on own mortality and that of loved ones

64 philosophers task
Ancients discovered cures for body and spirit

65 first cause
Cause/Reason and matter make everything
Beginnings of all things
Everything made of matter and gd

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