Hardship and Happiness (Ad Marciam De consolatione, Ad Helviam matrem De consolatione, De Consolatione ad Polybium, De Brevitate Vitæ, De Constantia Sapientis, De Tranquillitate Animi, De Otio, De Vita Beata, De Providentia)

by Seneca

Why is it strange if god puts noble spirits through hard tests? A lesson in virtue is never soft. Fortune flogs us and lacerates us: let us suffer. It is not cruelty but a trial, and the more often we come to it the more courageous we will be. The most robust part of the body is that which constant use has put into action. We ought to offer ourselves up to fortune so that by it we can be hardened against it. It will gradually make us equal to it: the frequency of our endangerment will give us scorn for dangers. (13) The reason why sailors have bodies hard enough to endure the sea, why farmers have callused hands, why soldiers’ arms are strong enough to wield weapons, and why runners have agile limbs is this: what is most robust in each is what he has exercised. The mind comes to scorn suffering by suffering.

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