Letter CXVIII Seneca
Letters from a Stoic
There is no vice that at the start is not modest
But afterwards the trouble spreads more quickly- widely;
Every emotion at the start is weak
Afterward it rouses itself and gains strength by progress
It is more easy to forestall it
Than to forego it!
All emotions flow as if it were from a natural source
From within! As a natural spring
Nature has intermingled pleasure with necessity
Not in order that we seek pleasure
But in order that the addition of pleasure
Makes the indispensable means of existence
Attractive to our eyes;
Should it claim rights of it's own
It is luxury!!!
Let us therefore resist these faults
Demanding entrance
For it's easier to deny them admittance
Than to make them depart!
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