Key Arguments

• Seneca distinguishes between moral weakness and natural predisposition, predicting that the young man’s deep blush 'will remain with him even when he has built up his character and stripped it of all weakness – even when he has become a wise man,' indicating that some reactions persist despite full moral improvement.
• He asserts a general rule: 'For no amount of wisdom enables one to do away with physical or mental weaknesses that arise from natural causes; anything inborn or ingrained in one can by dint of practice be allayed, but not overcome,' explicitly limiting the scope of philosophical correction.
• He lists examples of such persistent reactions in even the bravest people: 'When they face a crowd of people some men, even ones with the stoutest of hearts, break into the sort of sweat one usually sees on persons in an overheated and exhausted state; some men experience a trembling at the knees when they are about to speak; some a chattering of the teeth, a stuttering tongue or stammering lips. These are things which neither training nor experience ever eliminates.'
• He attributes these phenomena to nature’s power over bodily constitution: 'Nature just wields her power and uses the particular weakness to make even the strongest conscious of her.'
• He treats blushing as a paradigm: 'One of these things I well know is a blush, which has a habit of suddenly reddening the faces of men of even the most dignified demeanour. It is of course more noticeable in the young, with their hotter blood and sensitive complexions; nevertheless seasoned men and ageing men alike are affected by it.'
• He explains that the cause is a bodily constitution ('certain people have good, ordinary blood and others just have an animated, lively sort of blood that comes to the face quickly') and not a 'mental infirmity', but rather 'the unfamiliarity of some situation or other' acting on a predisposed nature.
• He reinforces philosophy’s limits by insisting, 'No amount of wisdom, as I said before, ever banishes these things; otherwise – if she eradicated every weakness – wisdom would have dominion over the world of nature,' explicitly separating moral dominion from natural necessity.
• He concludes that 'One’s physical make-up and the attributes that were one’s lot at birth remain settled no matter how much or how long the personality may strive after perfect adjustment. One cannot ban these things any more than one can call them up.', portraying natural traits as fixed boundaries around moral effort.
• As further evidence, he notes that even skilled actors who can simulate many emotions cannot reproduce a blush: 'The tokens used to portray embarrassment by professional actors … are a hanging of the head, a dropping of the voice, a casting down of the eyes and keeping them fixed on the ground; a blush is something they can never manage to reproduce; it is something that will neither be summoned up nor be told to stay away.'
• He finally generalizes: 'Against these things philosophy holds out no remedy and avails one nothing; they are quite independent; they come unbidden, they go unbidden,' clearly delimiting philosophical therapy to the realm of character and judgment, not natural reactions.

Source Quotes

This I rather suspect will remain with him even when he has built up his character and stripped it of all weakness – even when he has become a wise man. For no amount of wisdom enables one to do away with physical or mental weaknesses that arise from natural causes; anything inborn or ingrained in one can by dint of practice be allayed, but not overcome. When they face a crowd of people some men, even ones with the stoutest of hearts, break into the sort of sweat one usually sees on persons in an overheated and exhausted state; some men experience a trembling at the knees when they are about to speak; some a chattering of the teeth, a stuttering tongue or stammering lips.

When they face a crowd of people some men, even ones with the stoutest of hearts, break into the sort of sweat one usually sees on persons in an overheated and exhausted state; some men experience a trembling at the knees when they are about to speak; some a chattering of the teeth, a stuttering tongue or stammering lips. These are things which neither training nor experience ever eliminates. Nature just wields her power and uses the particular weakness to make even the strongest conscious of her.

These are things which neither training nor experience ever eliminates. Nature just wields her power and uses the particular weakness to make even the strongest conscious of her. One of these things I well know is a blush, which has a habit of suddenly reddening the faces of men of even the most dignified demeanour.

When this happens it is not due to some mental infirmity, but to the unfamiliarity of some situation or other, which may not necessarily strike any alarm into inexperienced people but does produce a reaction in them if they are thus liable through having a natural, physical predisposition to it; certain people have good, ordinary blood and others just have an animated, lively sort of blood that comes to the face quickly. No amount of wisdom, as I said before, ever banishes these things; otherwise – if she eradicated every weakness – wisdom would have dominion over the world of nature. One’s physical make-up and the attributes that were one’s lot at birth remain settled no matter how much or how long the personality may strive after perfect adjustment.

No amount of wisdom, as I said before, ever banishes these things; otherwise – if she eradicated every weakness – wisdom would have dominion over the world of nature. One’s physical make-up and the attributes that were one’s lot at birth remain settled no matter how much or how long the personality may strive after perfect adjustment. One cannot ban these things any more than one can call them up.

One cannot ban these things any more than one can call them up. The tokens used to portray embarrassment by professional actors, those actors who portray emotion, simulate unhappiness and reproduce for us fear and apprehension, are a hanging of the head, a dropping of the voice, a casting down of the eyes and keeping them fixed on the ground; a blush is something they can never manage to reproduce; it is something that will neither be summoned up nor be told to stay away. Against these things philosophy holds out no remedy and avails one nothing; they are quite independent; they come unbidden, they go unbidden.

The tokens used to portray embarrassment by professional actors, those actors who portray emotion, simulate unhappiness and reproduce for us fear and apprehension, are a hanging of the head, a dropping of the voice, a casting down of the eyes and keeping them fixed on the ground; a blush is something they can never manage to reproduce; it is something that will neither be summoned up nor be told to stay away. Against these things philosophy holds out no remedy and avails one nothing; they are quite independent; they come unbidden, they go unbidden. My letter calls for a conclusion.

Key Concepts

• For no amount of wisdom enables one to do away with physical or mental weaknesses that arise from natural causes; anything inborn or ingrained in one can by dint of practice be allayed, but not overcome.
• These are things which neither training nor experience ever eliminates.
• Nature just wields her power and uses the particular weakness to make even the strongest conscious of her.
• No amount of wisdom, as I said before, ever banishes these things; otherwise – if she eradicated every weakness – wisdom would have dominion over the world of nature.
• One’s physical make-up and the attributes that were one’s lot at birth remain settled no matter how much or how long the personality may strive after perfect adjustment.
• a blush is something they can never manage to reproduce; it is something that will neither be summoned up nor be told to stay away.
• Against these things philosophy holds out no remedy and avails one nothing; they are quite independent; they come unbidden, they go unbidden.

Context

In the first part of Letter XI, after meeting Lucilius’ shy but gifted friend, Seneca uses the example of blushing and other involuntary reactions to argue that some natural, bodily-based weaknesses persist even in the wise person and remain outside philosophy’s corrective power.