The philosopher Seneca is often misjudged because the statements he makes about friendship can be perceived as extreme. To be more specific, he is misjudged for his statements about grieving friends who have died. For example, in his essay “On Grief for Lost Friends”, Seneca says “you should stop grieving as soon as possible” (127). This statement is strongly worded and comes off extremely harsh, especially if the person reading this essay is grieving. It is easy to overlook Seneca’s more intuitive and sensitive ideas such as, “To me, the thought of my dead friends is sweet and appealing. For I have had them as if I should one day lose them; I have lost them as if I have them still” (126). This quote shows that Seneca does value his friendships with his dead friends even though the memories are painful. Seneca reveals that remembering his dead friends is sweet and this statement shows that he is sentimental when it comes to his lost friends.
“On Grief for Lost Friends” Seneca addresses the statement “No man reverts with pleasure to any subject which he will not be able to reflect upon without pain” (126). He disagrees with this statement by referencing what his teacher and…show more content… The rigidness of the word replace affects how the reader regards Seneca’s previous arguments. If Seneca had used a weaker word than replace, his statement wouldn’t have been so astounding. Referencing his statement about pleasure and pain, Seneca used strong words and successfully conveyed his opinion. This statement shows how Seneca values friendship and is a sentimental man. Serenus was an intimate friend of Seneca and many of his essays mentioned him. This proves that although it is painful for Seneca to think off Serenus, it obviously had some pleasure because he is featured in some of his
