Plain
Seneca — The Senator

I wouldn't call those men idle either — the ones who have servants carry them around in chairs and litters. They wait for their scheduled exercise time as if they're not allowed to skip it. Someone else has to remind them when to bathe, when to swim, when to eat. They become so weak and pampered that they can't even tell if they're hungry without help.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 12 51 of 87
Freedom & Control Knowing Yourself
Seneca — The Senator Original

Nor should I count those men idle who have themselves carried hither and thither in sedans and litters, and who look forward to their regular hour for taking this exercise as though they were not allowed to omit it: men who are reminded by some one else when to bathe, when to swim, when to dine: they actually reach such a pitch of languid effeminacy as not to be able to find out for themselves whether they are hungry.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 12 51 of 87
Seneca — The Senator

And their banquets? I swear, I can't call these leisure time when I see how anxiously they arrange their silverware. They fuss over how their servants' uniforms are tied. They hold their breath watching the cook prepare the wild boar. When the signal comes, slave boys sprint to their tasks. Birds must be carved to exact specifications. Miserable young servants carefully clean up when drunk guests spit. Through all this, these hosts want people to think they have good taste and live grandly. Their obsession with appearances follows them everywhere — they can't even eat or drink without worrying about how it looks.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 12 50 of 87
What Matters Most Human Nature
Seneca — The Senator Original

As for their banquets, by Hercules, I cannot reckon them among their unoccupied times when I see with what anxious care they set out their plate, how laboriously they arrange the girdles of their waiters' tunics, how breathlessly they watch to see how the cook dishes up the wild boar, with what speed, when the signal is given, the slave-boys run to perform their duties, how skilfully birds are carved into pieces of the right size, how painstakingly wretched youths wipe up the spittings of drunken men. By these means men seek credit for taste and grandeur, and their vices follow them so far into their privacy that they can neither eat nor drink without a view to effect.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 12 50 of 87
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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