Letters on Ethics

Seneca wrote these letters near the end of his life, in retirement, after more than ten years working for the Emperor Nero. They are addressed to Lucilius Junior, then procurator of Sicily, and read like a diary of philosophical meditations. Themes include contempt of death, steadiness of mind and virtue as the supreme good. Georgi Gospodinov keeps the letters by his bed for rereading, one a night.