Stephen’s Reviews > Letters from a Stoic > Status Update

Seneca judges that liberal education prepares the way for students to acquire moral values, just as "grammar school" prepares the way for liberal education.

> Am I supposed to feel anxious when Saturn and Mercury are in opposition or Mercury sets in the evening in full view of Saturn, instead of coming to learn that bodies like these are equally propitious wherever they are, and incapable of change in any case.
Chad Seneca, holding to the Ptolemaic model (what alternatives at that time?) but rejecting astrology anyway.

> Am I supposed to feel anxious when Saturn and Mercury are in opposition or Mercury sets in the evening in full view of Saturn, instead of coming to learn that bodies like these are equally propitious wherever they are, and incapable of change in any case.
Chad Seneca, holding to the Ptolemaic model (what alternatives at that time?) but rejecting astrology anyway.

Seneca claims that pain is endurable because it becomes self-destroying (i.e. intense pain eventually kills the sensation). Is this true? It certainly seems like it could be in *some* cases.

"The men who pioneered the old routes are leaders, not our masters. Truth lies open to everyone."

Apparently there was a saying, even in Ancient Rome, that the winter holiday season "used to be a month but is now a year" - no department stores and marketing departments required!