Seneca,

The last section of your letter dealing with life and with on which conditions we might assent to end it was interesting to me today.  The Stoics get a lot of flak these days for their stance on suicide, which is almost always misinterpreted.

The qualifications seem reasonable:  mere pain or aging parts is not enough.  If the rational faculty is injured, or the human part of life gone, merely the movements of the body, it might be too late.  So, it is wise to meet the inevitable just before we might become incapable.

Thank you for the letter.

Vale.

Part of Michel Daw’s Reading Plan of Seneca’s Letters.