On Peace of Mind, Section 4 — In Plain English

Seneca — The Senator

Could you find anywhere a more miserable city than Athens when the thirty tyrants were tearing it apart? They killed thirteen hundred citizens — all the best men — and didn't stop there. Their cruelty only grew stronger with practice. This was a city that had the sacred Court of the Areopagus, a Senate, and a popular assembly as dignified as the Senate itself. Yet every day a gang of butchers met there, and the unfortunate Senate House was packed with tyrants. Here was a state with so many tyrants they could have formed a bodyguard for a single ruler. Surely it should have given up the fight. It seemed impossible for people even to imagine getting their freedom back. They couldn't see any way to fix such a mountain of evil. Where could that suffering state find enough brave men like Harmodius to kill so many tyrants?

Seneca — The Senator Original

Could you anywhere find a [more] miserable city than that of Athens when it was being torn to pieces by the thirty tyrants? they slew thirteen hundred citizens, all the best men, and did not leave off because they had done so, but their cruelty became stimulated by exercise. In the city which possessed that most reverend tribunal, the Court of the Areopagus, which possessed a Senate, and a popular assembly which was like a Senate, there met daily a wretched crew of butchers, and the unhappy Senate House was crowded with tyrants. A state, in which there were so many tyrants that they would have been enough to form a bodyguard for one, might surely have rested from the struggle; it seemed impossible for men's minds even to conceive hopes of recovering their liberty, nor could they see any room for a remedy for such a mass of evil: for whence could the unhappy state obtain all the Harmodiuses it would need to slay so many tyrants?

Seneca — The Senator

A good citizen's efforts are never wasted. He helps just by being heard and seen. His facial expressions matter. His gestures matter. His quiet determination matters. Even the way he walks matters. Some medicines help us through their smell, not just their taste or touch. Virtue works the same way. Even when it's hidden or far away, it spreads good around it. Virtue might move freely and enjoy its proper rights. Or it might only appear in public when allowed, forced to pull back during storms. It might be unemployed, silent, and stuck in a small space. Or it might be openly displayed. Whatever form virtue takes, it always does good. Do you think there's no value in someone who knows how to rest with dignity? The best plan is to mix leisure with work. When random obstacles or political situations prevent you from living an active life, you can still do this. You are never so cut off from everything that there's no room left for honorable action.

Seneca — The Senator Original

The services of a good citizen are never thrown away: he does good by being heard and seen, by his expression, his gestures, his silent determination, and his very walk. As some remedies benefit us by their smell as well as by their their taste and touch, so virtue even when concealed and at a distance sheds usefulness around. Whether she moves at her ease and enjoys her just rights, or can only appear abroad on sufferance and is forced to shorten sail to the tempest, whether it be unemployed, silent, and pent up in a narrow lodging, or openly displayed, in whatever guise she may appear, she always does good. What? do you think that the example of one who can rest nobly has no value? It is by far the best plan, therefore, to mingle leisure with business, whenever chance impediments or the state of public affairs forbid one's leading an active life: for one is never so cut off from all pursuits as to find no room left for honourable action.