On the Shortness of Life
Seneca's On the Shortness of Life is a long essay written around 49 CE to his older friend Paulinus, the Roman grain commissioner, arguing that life is not short but that men waste it. The essay moves through portraits of Roman senators and businessmen who have given their lives to status, money, and obligation, then asks the reader to audit their own days the same way. The Penguin Great Ideas edition pairs the title piece with On Tranquility of Mind and On the Happy Life. Together the three essays compress the Stoic ethics that fills Marcus's Meditations into 50 pages of polished, rhetorical prose.
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The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A 50-page Roman Stoic essay by Seneca arguing that life is not short, men waste it, paired with two shorter essays on tranquility and the happy life.
Yes. On the Shortness of Life (De Brevitate Vitae) was written by Seneca around 49 AD and is in the public domain. Free editions of older translations are available legally through Project Gutenberg.
Either works as an entry point. On the Shortness of Life is much shorter (around 30 pages) and works as a single-essay introduction to Seneca. Letters from a Stoic is a full collection that goes deeper.
On the Shortness of Life was written by Seneca, published in 2016 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
On the Shortness of Life is 42 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, On the Shortness of Life takes most readers under an hour to finish.
On the Shortness of Life is a standalone novel by Seneca, not part of a series.
On the Shortness of Life is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.