Additional information
| Daily lessons | 136 |
|---|---|
| Pages | 308 |
| Page size | 6 × 9 in |
| Format | Paperback |
| Translation | Richard Gummere, unmodernized |
| ISBN | 978-1-997718-77-2 |
12 chapters · 136 daily lessons · 308 pages
SenecaGreatest LettersExplained
136 passages from Seneca's letters to Lucilius, one lesson a day across 12 chapters. Each gets two pages: the passage itself, what he meant and how it bears on you now, and one thing to do before tonight.
Daily lessons
136
Pages
308
Page size
6 × 9 in
Format
Paperback
Translation
Richard Gummere, unmodernized
ISBN
978-1-997718-77-2
Quotes
$19.99
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01About this book
Seneca's letters, one passage and one task a day.
136 passages from Seneca's letters to Lucilius, one lesson a day across 12 chapters. Each gets two pages: the passage itself, what he meant and how it bears on you now, and one thing to do before tonight.
Seneca spent years near the center of Nero's court and paid for it in hours. Near the end he wrote to Lucilius, a friend in Sicily, about that cost, and about money, fear and ambition. This book takes 136 passages from 87 of those letters and gives each two pages: the passage, what it means today, and one practice.
The practices are small and checkable. On Day 1 you write out where your last twenty-four hours went, from your screen time and calendar rather than memory.
It does not treat him as a saint. He praised owning little while holding a fortune few Romans could match, and the pages say so.
Greatest Stoic Quotes of All Time spans the whole school in 152 short quotes, each with a brief reflection. This book is Seneca alone, two pages a passage plus a practice. Its companion, Marcus Aurelius Greatest Meditations Explained, does the same for the emperor's notebook.
What is included
136 passages from 87 letters, each with an interpretation and a practice, in 12 chapters, plus a note on his life.
Translation
Richard Gummere, unmodernized
ISBN
978-1-997718-77-2
01
The hours that already went by
Last week is spent, and nothing you read tonight brings it back. What is still yours is this evening and tomorrow.
Day 1 begins with an audit. Money gets counted to the cent while hours leave with no record at all, though only one of the two can ever be earned back.
The risk with any book of wisdom is that you agree with every page and change nothing. Here each lesson ends with a task you can check off tonight.
03
Contents
12 themes
136 passages. Two pages and one task each.
- 01 Time and Postponement
- 02 Death, and What It Takes
- 03 Fear and Anxiety
- 04 Wealth and Enough
- 05 Comfort and Hardship
- 06 Knowing Yourself
- 07 Learning and Philosophy
- 08 When No One Is Watching
- 09 Knowing and Doing
- 10 Freedom and Compulsion
- 11 Work and Ambition
- 12 Friendship and Other People
01
Who it's for
This book was written for the reader who
Feels busy and still behind
Days full of meetings, messages and errands, and the thing that matters keeps sliding to next month. Chapter one is about exactly that.
Has read the quotes and wants the argument
Short lines are easy to nod at. Here you get the passage in full context, what Seneca was actually arguing, and where he was wrong.
Learns by doing
Reading about courage is cheap. Every lesson ends with one small, checkable task, like a tally, a list or a message sent today.
If you recognize yourself here, start on Day 1.
01
How it reads
6 × 9 in
Two pages, then one thing to do.
Each lesson is laid out the same way, so you always know where the day's work starts.
-
01
The passage first
Gummere's 1917 to 1925 translation, unmodernized, with the number of the letter beneath it.
-
02
Then the argument
Plain prose on what Seneca was claiming, why it still bites, and where he falls short.
-
03
Then the task
One practice for today. You will know tonight whether you did it.
05Pairs well with
Read beside Seneca.
The Marcus Aurelius companion, and a Stoic quote book that spans the whole school.
06
As a gift
For someone starting over.
The dedication reads "For anyone who has run out of time and has to begin anyway." It suits a retirement, a graduation, a new job, or a bad year that is finally ending.
No price inside
The price is not printed on the book, so it can be handed over as it is.
Sent straight to them
Enter the recipient’s address at checkout and it goes direct, with no stop at your house first.
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01
Questions
Before you ask.
Do I need to know any philosophy?
No. Each passage is explained from scratch in ordinary English, and the book makes no assumptions about what you have read before.
Is the translation modernized?
No. The text is Richard Mott Gummere's, as he published it. Seven passages start partway into his sentence, and the copyright page says so.
Does the book defend everything Seneca said?
No. He was immensely rich and served Nero for years. Where he did not follow his own advice, the page says so.
How is it different from Greatest Stoic Quotes?
That book has 152 short quotes from many Stoics. This one is Seneca only, at two pages a passage, with a practice for each.
Dispatch
Ships within 48 hours of your order.
Returns
Send it back within 30 days for a full refund.
Guarantee
30-day money back, no explanation required.
12 chapters · 136 daily lessons · 308 pages
Count the hours that are left, starting tonight.
136 of Seneca's passages, each read honestly and paired with one practice. Start with Day 1 tonight.
$19.99