The ninth essay from Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
The work opens with Serenus asking Seneca for counsel, and this request for help takes the form of a medical consultation. Serenus explains that he feels agitated and in a state of unstable immobility, "As if I were on a boat that doesn't move forward and is tossed about." Seneca uses the dialogue to address an issue that cropped up many times in his life: the desire for a life of contemplation and the need for active political engagement. Seneca argues that the goal of a tranquil mind can be achieved by being flexible and seeking a middle way between the two extremes.
Translation by Aubrey Stewart and produced by Vox Stoica
Seneca's Essays Series:
1. Of providenceâaddressed to Lucilius
2. On the Firmness of the Wise Manâaddressed to Serenus
3-5. Of Anger (Books 1-3)âaddressed to his brother Novatus
6. Of Consolationâaddressed to Marcia
7. Of a Happy Lifeâaddressed to Gallio
8. Of Leisureâaddressed to Serenus
9. Of Tranquillity of Mindâaddressed to Serenus
10. On the Shortness of Lifeâaddressed to Paulinus
11. Of Consolationâaddressed to Polybius
12. Of Consolationâaddressed to Helvia
