What is wealth? Seneca, Epistulae 1.2.5-6

Exploring the mind of Epicurus with his friend Lucilius, Seneca discovers a prospect overlooking his own approach to wealth: you have to know when to stop acquiring. You can hear me read this passage <here>.

Hoc ipse quoque facio; ex pluribus quae legi aliquid apprehendo. Hodiernum hoc est quod apud Epicurum nanctus sum; soleo enim et in aliena castra transire, non tamquam transfuga, sed tamquam explorator. 'Honesta,' inquit, 'res est laeta paupertas.' Illa vero non est paupertas, si laeta est; non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est. Quid enim refert quantum illi in arca, quantum in horreis iaceat, quantum pascat aut feneret, si alieno imminet, si non acquisita sed acquirenda computat? Quis sit divitiarum modus quaeris? primus habere quod necesse est, proximus quod sat est. Vale.

I myself practice this method: each day I choose one thing from the many I have read. Today's reading is something I acquired from Epicurus. I like to wander through the camp of another man's mind, not because I intend to desert my own position for his, but  simply to explore. “Happy poverty is an honorable thing,” he says. But if it is happy, then it is not really poverty. The pauper is not one who has too little, but one who desires more. Does it really matter how much stuff lies in his strongbox or storehouses, how many flocks he pastures or lends out at interest, if he is intent upon what belongs to someone else, if he reckons in terms of what he must yet acquire rather than what he has already got? What is the proper method of acquiring riches, you ask? First to have what is necessary, then what is enough. Farewell!