Philosophical Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Vol. 4

He considers all adverse things to be exercises. Moreover, who—if he is a man and upright toward honorable things—is not desirous of just labor and ready for duties involving danger? To whom, if he is industrious, is leisure not a punishment? We see athletes, who are concerned with their strength, contending with the strongest possible opponents, and demanding from those by whom they are prepared for the contest that they use all their strength against them. They allow themselves to be struck and troubled; and, if they do not find individuals who are their equals, they are pitted against several at once. Virtue withers without an adversary; then it appears how great it is, how much it is worth, and how much it can accomplish, when patience shows what it can do. You may know that the same must be done by good men, that they should not dread hard and difficult things, nor complain about fate 1: whatever happens, they should take it in good part 2, and turn it to good. It is not what you endure, but how you endure it, that matters 3. Do you not see how differently fathers, and how differently mothers, show indulgence? Fathers order their children to be roused to pursue their studies early, they do not allow them to be idle even on holidays, and they extract sweat—and sometimes tears—from them: but mothers want to cherish them in their laps, to keep them in the shade; they want them never to weep, never to be saddened, never to labor. God has a fatherly 4 mind toward good men, and He loves them strongly: and He says,

"Let them be harassed by works, by sorrows, and by losses, so that they may collect true