Seneca – Letters from a Stoic

Titles of the Letters

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 (Penguin Classics), containing 42 letters. While these letters are numbered, their titles are missing, unfortunately.

For those interested, this brief list 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).