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Seneca to Lucilius: 76, on wisdom and old age
I am, of course, getting older. By the minute. This is not only inevitable, it is a good thing. As my father used to say, the alternative to getting old is not a palatable one…
But am I also getting wiser? That, I’m afraid, is up for others to decide, though it is certainly what I strive for. It has been, especially, my explicit goal ever since I got into studying and practicing the Hellenistic philosophies, beginning with Stoicism and now with Skepticism.
Which brings me to a crucial question: what, exactly, is the relationship between wisdom and age? That is the topic of one of my favorite letters by Seneca to his friend Lucilius, number 76. Near the beginning we read:
“You should keep learning as long as you are ignorant, even to the end of your life.” (LXXVI.3)
Well, it is pretty much guaranteed that I will be ignorant until the end of my life, so the above almost goes without saying. “Almost” because some people seem to think that just by staying alive and getting older they become wiser. No such thing. Wisdom is the result of an active quest, not something you passively acquire with the simple passing of time. What is needed is a critical attitude of self-reflection, following the famous Delphic commandment: “Know thyself.” Indeed, Seneca makes precisely this point immediately thereafter:
“Wisdom comes haphazard to no one. Money will come of its own accord; titles will be given to you; influence and authority will perhaps be thrust upon you; but virtue will not fall upon you by chance.” (LXXVI.6)
But why should we strive for wisdom, or virtue — which, in the case of the Stoics and several other Socratic schools, amounts to the same thing — instead of more mundane objectives, like money and fame? Because:
“You do not doubt whether [virtue] is a good; you merely doubt whether it is the sole good. If someone possesses all other things, such as health, riches, pedigree, a crowded reception-hall, but is confessedly bad, you will disapprove of them. Likewise, if someone possesses none of the things which I have mentioned, and lacks money, or an escort of clients, or rank and a line of grandfathers and great-grandfathers, but is confessedly good, you will approve of them. Hence, this is a…
