Key Arguments

• After defining true philosophy, Seneca explicitly denies that such philosophy 'was in existence in that primitive era in which technical skills were still unknown and useful knowledge was acquired through actual practical experience', arguing that this sophisticated, reflective discipline is historically later.
• He also denies that philosophy dates from the earlier 'happy' age when nature’s bounties were freely available to all before avarice and luxury fractured human partnership into plunder, implying that a condition of happiness and simplicity does not entail the presence of philosophical wisdom.
• He emphasizes that the people of that age 'were not philosophers, even if they acted as philosophers are supposed to act', thus distinguishing virtuous or natural behavior from the conscious, doctrinal status of being a philosopher.
• He elevates the title 'wise man' as 'reserved for the highest of all achievements', reinforcing that it marks a rare, perfected state not automatically conferred by living in favorable conditions.
• He underscores that 'nature does not give a man virtue: the process of becoming a good man is an art', making virtue something acquired through training and insight rather than a spontaneous gift of environment or innate character.
• At the same time, he grants their exceptional stature, calling them 'men of exalted spirit, only one step removed, so to speak, from the gods' and suggesting that an ideally designing godlike legislator would recreate their social system – reinforcing that admirable conduct can precede formal philosophy, but is not identical with it.

Source Quotes

The philosophy I speak of is not the one which takes the citizen out of public life and the gods out of the world we live in, and hands morality over to pleasure, but the philosophy which thinks nothing good unless it is honourable, which is incapable of being enticed astray by the rewards of men or fortune, and the very pricelessness of which lies in the fact that it cannot be bought at any price. And I do not believe that this philosophy was in existence in that primitive era in which technical skills were still unknown and useful knowledge was acquired through actual practical experience, or that it dates from an age that was happy, an age in which the bounties of nature were freely available for the use of all without discrimination, before avarice and luxury split human beings up and got them to abandon partnership for plunder. The men of that era were not philosophers, even if they acted as philosophers are supposed to act.

And I do not believe that this philosophy was in existence in that primitive era in which technical skills were still unknown and useful knowledge was acquired through actual practical experience, or that it dates from an age that was happy, an age in which the bounties of nature were freely available for the use of all without discrimination, before avarice and luxury split human beings up and got them to abandon partnership for plunder. The men of that era were not philosophers, even if they acted as philosophers are supposed to act. No other state of man could cause anyone greater admiration; if God were to allow a man to fashion the things of this earth and allot its peoples their social customs, that man would not be satisfied with any other system than the one which tradition says existed in those people’s time, among whom No farmers tilled ploughed fields; merely to mark The line of boundaries dividing land Between its owners was a sin; men shared Their findings, and the earth herself then gave All things more freely unsolicited.

This was a home in conformity with nature, a home in which one enjoyed living, and which occasioned neither fear of it nor fears for it, whereas nowadays our own homes count for a large part of our feeling of insecurity. But however wonderful and guileless the life they led, they were not wise men; this is a title that has come to be reserved for the highest of all achievements. All the same, I should be the last to deny that they were men of exalted spirit, only one step removed, so to speak, from the gods.

But however wonderful and guileless the life they led, they were not wise men; this is a title that has come to be reserved for the highest of all achievements. All the same, I should be the last to deny that they were men of exalted spirit, only one step removed, so to speak, from the gods. There can be no doubt that before this earth was worn out it produced a better type of offspring.

All the same, I should be the last to deny that they were men of exalted spirit, only one step removed, so to speak, from the gods. There can be no doubt that before this earth was worn out it produced a better type of offspring. But though they all possessed a character more robust than that of today, and one with a greater aptitude for hard work, it is equally true that their personalities fell short of genuine perfection.

But though they all possessed a character more robust than that of today, and one with a greater aptitude for hard work, it is equally true that their personalities fell short of genuine perfection. For nature does not give a man virtue: the process of becoming a good man is an art. Certainly they did not go in search of gold or silver or the various crystalline stones to be found in the nethermost dregs of the earth.

Key Concepts

• And I do not believe that this philosophy was in existence in that primitive era in which technical skills were still unknown and useful knowledge was acquired through actual practical experience, or that it dates from an age that was happy, an age in which the bounties of nature were freely available for the use of all without discrimination, before avarice and luxury split human beings up and got them to abandon partnership for plunder.
• The men of that era were not philosophers, even if they acted as philosophers are supposed to act.
• But however wonderful and guileless the life they led, they were not wise men; this is a title that has come to be reserved for the highest of all achievements.
• All the same, I should be the last to deny that they were men of exalted spirit, only one step removed, so to speak, from the gods.
• There can be no doubt that before this earth was worn out it produced a better type of offspring.
• For nature does not give a man virtue: the process of becoming a good man is an art.

Context

Later in Letter XC, after elaborating the functions of philosophy, Seneca turns to the question whether such philosophy existed in the earliest, happiest stage of human society and argues that, although early humans lived in an exemplary, natural way, they lacked the reflective art of virtue that characterizes the philosophical sage.