The ninth article from Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The task starts with Serenus requesting Seneca for counsel, which obtain help takes the form of a medical assessment. Serenus clarifies that he feels agitated, and in a state of unstable immobility, ‘as easily were on the boat it doesn’t move forward and is tossed about.’ Seneca uses the dialogue to address an issue that cropped up many times in his life: the desire to have a existence of contemplation and the need for active politics engagement. Seneca about Essays Book 9: Of Tranquillity of Mind argues that the goal of a tranquil brain can be achieved by being versatile and looking for a middle method between the two extremes.

Translation by Aubrey Stewart and produced by Vox Stoica

Seneca’s Essays Series:

1) Of providence – addressed to Lucilius

2) Within the Firmness of the Wise Man – addressed to Serenus

3-5) Of Anger (Books 1-3) – addressed to his brother Novatus

6) Of Consolation – addressed to Marcia

7) Of the Happy Life – addressed to Gallio

8) Of Amusement – dealt with to Serenus

9) Of Tranquillity of Mind – addressed to Serenus

10) In the Shortness of Existence – dealt with to Paulinus

11) Of Consolation – addressed to Polybius

12) Of Consolation – addressed to Helvia