Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

De Providentia
turn to her her gift. At the very foot of the altar and
amid the solemnities of those who are offering sacri
fices for the preservation of life, learn to know death.
The huge bodies of bulls drop from the effects of a
little wound, and beasts of enormous strength are
felled by
a blow from a human hand; with a little
piece of iron the jointures
of the vertabrae are
severed, and when the ligature that binds the head
and neck is cut asunder, the huge mass falls dead to
the ground.
8. The breath does not lurk in some secret hiding
place, nor must it necessarily be sought out with
the sword; there is no need of piercing the vitals
with a deep wound; death is close at hand. I have
not designated any particular place
for the fatal
thrust, it may enter anywhere. What is called death,
that time in which the spirit leaves the body, is so
brief that its fleetness cannot be perceived. Whether
it be a noose that strangles you, or water that suffo
cates you. or a fall upon the hard earth that dashea
the life out of you. or tire drawn in with the breath
that cuts off its return whatever it be, its effect is
speedy. Are you not ashamed to fear so long what
may be done so quickly?*
NOTES.
A few notes have been added to the translation.
They bear chiefly on obscure allusions in Seneca s
treatise, as the necessary biographical data may be
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