Seneca Moral essays
Seneca: The seven wonders of the world, and any even…
The seven wonders of the world, and any even greater wonders which the ambition of later ages has constructed, will be seen some day levelled with the ground. So it is: nothing lasts for ever, few things even last for long: all are susceptible of decay in one way or another.
The passage follows a public-domain translation of Seneca’s moral essays. The reading beside it is ours.
Even the most impressive things are on a timer. Buildings, brands, careers, nations, and the devices we line up to buy will all eventually be outdated, altered, or gone. That is not a gloomy fact reserved for ruins and museums. It is the condition of everything we admire right now. Seneca does not use impermanence to make beauty meaningless. He uses it to make our attachment wiser. If your house, title, body, or reputation can change, do not build your identity entirely on keeping it unchanged. Enjoy what you have without pretending it has signed a permanent contract with you. The same applies to hard seasons: they too are unstable. Today, notice one thing you are treating as guaranteed and one difficulty you are treating as endless. Neither judgment is reliable. Build your life around character, because it is the one possession you can keep practicing amid change.
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