Reddit reviews Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

The "Tao of Seneca" just uses the public domain Richard Mott Gummere translation, which can be found for free on Wikisource, along with the rest of Seneca's writings.

A YouTuber who goes by the name The Rugged Pyrrhus has recorded all of the letters using the Gummere translation, and I think he does a better job than what I've heard of the "Tao of Seneca" audiobook.

In general, I think it's always good to have multiple translations in order to compare. The Wikisource version includes Gummere's footnotes, which can be helpful, so I would reference that one. Unlike the Penguin edition, Wikisource also has all of Seneca's letters. The only modern translation that I know of that has all of the letters is Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) translated by Margaret Graver, but I don't own it and can't comment on the quality (other than what the Amazon reviews say).

So you are probably fine with Penguin and Wikisource, but if you want a modern translation of all the letters, Margaret Graver's book might be the one to buy.

Edit: If you don't care about having a modern translation of all the letters and you enjoy Seneca, perhaps look into getting Dialogues and Essays (Oxford World's Classics), which you can supplement with the public domain Wikisource translations for comparison. Unlike the Oxford World Classics edition, the Margaret Graver book has all of Seneca's essays, but it is a bit more expensive.

My friend,

Try not to be too hard on yourself. Most of us are only good while things go our way, and start to fall apart to different degrees when things don't go our way. You also cannot change what has happened in the past. The Stoics would say you need focus on what you can control now, in the present, to do what is truly best for you.

To put things in perspective, I have also had my own personal fight with cancer, albeit a different one. I was diagnosed with testicular cancer last November, at age 27. Thankfully during that time, I was able to draw upon a lot of what I learned from the Stoics to help me during my own surgery and follow up treatments, it was still a difficult time though.

I can tell you that during my ordeal, reading through my copy of Meditations and Seneca's Letters helped a great deal. If you are looking for a Modern intro to Stoicism before going into the classic texts (which are very readable and inspirational, but don't give you the full theory) I would suggest How to be a Stoic as a good introduction to the topic.

One of the cornerstones of Stoic theory is the Dichotomy of Control. This idea basically asks you, ultimately, what in your life do you control? Do you control how much money you have? Not really, the depends a lot on what other people are willing to pay you, what skills you have, what country you live in,etc...Do you control if you have a ton of friends, and if people like you a lot? Again, not really. You could be the nicest person in the world, but somebody could still not like you for some reason, since that judgement is up to them, not you. What about your body? Certainly your body is under your control? Well, as you and I have become somewhat more aware, no, your body really isn't under your control. You can get into an accident, get sick due to no fault of your own, etc...What about our thoughts? Not quite, lots of times, seemingly random thoughts come to us, general ideas and impressions. So what do we control then? Our reasoned choice. We have the ability to make reasoned choices. When a thought comes into my head, I can reason through it and decided whether to act on it or not. That is where our power lies. In focusing on making the best possible choices with what we have, on making wise choices.

I found that focusing on that was very liberating. I couldn't control that I had cancer, that was a fact. But I could control what I did with that fact. How I worked with it and reacted to it. And honestly, some times I handled it well, and other times I handled it poorly. We are all imperfect, but we can improve.

If you have questions about anything or just want to talk, feel free to PM me, I'll be around.

I'll leave you with a passage from Meditations that I read through and kept in mind during the day of my own cancer surgery:

> So henceforth, in the face of every difficulty that leads you to feel distress, remember to apply this principle: this is no misfortune, but to bear it with a noble spirit is good fortune. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.49

Personally, I liked the Hays translation of Meditations better than others, the translation is more up-to-date with modern English. I did not read meditations like I would read a novel. I used it as a daily reflections book, I would read a few passages at the beginning of the day and process it throughout my day. Some of it is very dry, yes, but there are some real gems in there. It's just a matter of finding them (I marked them with stars in the margins!)

Another recommendation is Letters on Ethics: To Lucillius

It depends on the translation. There's a few channels that have and are currently doing this. If you can offer a different modern translation, I'm down.

 

I recommend this [translation] (https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Ethics-Lucilius-Complete-Annaeus/dp/022652843X/ref=asc_df_022652843X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312087807240&hvpos=1o17&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7822581149721559485&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1014208&hvtargid=pla-417121298601&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61316180119&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312087807240&hvpos=1o17&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7822581149721559485&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1014208&hvtargid=pla-417121298601). This version has all 124 letters.

Paperback version of Graver and Long's book is coming out in November.