Toegankelijk, tijdloos, waarachtig en noodzakelijk.
Ook Michel de Montaigne grijpt dikwijls terug naar "De Brieven aan Lucilius" en citeert er veelvuldig uit. Zo kwamen ze op mijn pad en nam ik ze gulzig tot mij. Van eeuwigheidswaarde. ( )

While reading the letters of Seneca to Lucilius (we know nothing of him) you could often well imagine that they were written yesterday. Seneca is a Stoic but a very practical one. The letters are made up of advice by the great man to a friend. It is about how to live happily and honestly and how to die graciously. His own death, so movingly described by Tacitus, shows us that his lessons were not merely words.
Seneca’s letters are very personal and he speaks from his own experience. He does not hide his own weaknesses and it makes his letters all the more valuable. Not everything is at the same level, but the highlights make it a wonderful book.
I read the magnificent Dutch translation by Vincent Hunink. ( )