The Book of Seneca 2 · Handed down at Rome, from his letters and essays
Much of what Seneca said accords with the axioms. Much of what he did did not. Chapter 5 is his own account of it. This book keeps what does not accord, and does not cover it over.
2.1The busiest men in the world are the ones who have least lived.
2.2Their days are full and their life is empty.
2.3One man spends his life keeping other men’s accounts and finds at the end that he never kept his own.
2.4Another keeps his ship in perfect repair and never once leaves the harbour.
2.5Ask him what he did today and he will name you twenty things.
2.6Ask him what he finished this year and he cannot answer.
2.7Busy is not diligent. Busy is refusing to stop and look. (cf. The Covenant 1.1)
2.8Because the moment you stop and look, the account falls due.
2.9Settling the account hurts. Being busy does not hurt.
2.10So many men stay busy until they die, in order not to settle it.
2.11I am not telling you to be idle. I am telling you to spend your days on what you chose.
2.12Between spending and being robbed there is one difference only: one you know about, the other you do not.