Key Arguments

• He connects physical restlessness (“tear from place to place and unsettle yourself with one move after another”) with psychological disorder: “Restlessness of that sort is symptomatic of a sick mind.”
• He offers a positive criterion: “Nothing … is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.”
• The implication is that a stable, self-sufficient inner life removes the need for constant external change and movement.

Source Quotes

J from what you tell me and from what I hear, I feel that you show great promise. You do not tear from place to place and unsettle yourself with one move after another. Restlessness of that sort is symptomatic of a sick mind.

You do not tear from place to place and unsettle yourself with one move after another. Restlessness of that sort is symptomatic of a sick mind. Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.

Restlessness of that sort is symptomatic of a sick mind. Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company. Be careful, however, that there is no element of discursiveness and desultoriness about this reading you refer to, this reading of many different authors and books of every description.

Key Concepts

• You do not tear from place to place and unsettle yourself with one move after another.
• Restlessness of that sort is symptomatic of a sick mind.
• Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.

Context

Seneca opens Letter II by praising Lucilius for not being physically and mentally restless, using this as a springboard to discuss signs of a healthy mind.