Beware the crowd again. Seneca, Epistles 2.14.7-11

What is philosophy for? Seneca thinks it offers an alternative to politics, a discourse that is not founded upon adversarial confrontation (which was normal in Roman oratory, in situations where private and public goods were debated). But that does not mean that philosophers cease to be human, for him. They must still deal with fear—their own, and that of others (especially the mob of strangers so prominent in Rome). And as they do, they find themselves negotiating with three things: hatred, envy, and contempt.

Demus itaque operam, abstineamus offensis. Interdum populus est quem timere debeamus; interdum, si ea civitatis disciplina est ut plurima per senatum transigantur, gratiosi in eo viri; interdum singuli quibus potestas populi et in populum data est. Hos omnes amicos habere operosum est, satis est inimicos non habere. Itaque sapiens numquam potentium iras provocabit, immo declinabit (†), non aliter quam in navigando procellam. Cum peteres Siciliam, traiecisti fretum. Temerarius gubernator contempsit austri minas, ille est enim qui Siculum pelagus exasperet et in vertices cogat; non sinistrum petit litus sed id a quo (*) propior Charybdis maria convolvit. At ille cautior peritos locorum rogat quis aestus sit, quae signa dent nubes; longe ab illa regione verticibus infami cursum tenet. Idem facit sapiens: nocituram potentiam vitat, hoc primum cavens, ne vitare videatur; pars enim securitatis et in hoc est, non ex professo eam petere, quia quae quis fugit damnat.

Circumspiciendum ergo nobis est quomodo a vulgo tuti esse possimus. Primum nihil idem concupiscamus: rixa est inter competitores. Deinde nihil habeamus quod cum magno emolumento insidiantis eripi possit; quam minimum sit in corpore tuo spoliorum. Nemo ad humanum sanguinem propter ipsum venit, aut admodum pauci; plures computant quam oderunt. Nudum latro transmittit; etiam in obsessa via pauperi pax est. Tria deinde ex praecepto veteri praestanda sunt ut vitentur: odium, invidia, contemptus. Quomodo hoc fiat sapientia sola monstrabit; difficile enim temperamentum est, verendumque ne in contemptum nos invidiae timor transferat, ne dum calcare nolumus videamur posse calcari. Multis timendi attulit causas timeri posse. Undique nos reducamus: non minus contemni quam suspici nocet. Ad philosophiam ergo confugiendum est; hae litterae, non dico apud bonos sed apud mediocriter malos infularum loco sunt. Nam forensis eloquentia et quaecumque alia populum movet adversarios habet: haec quieta et sui negotii contemni non potest, cui ab omnibus artibus etiam apud pessimos honor est. Numquam in tantum convalescet nequitia, numquam sic contra virtutes coniurabitur, ut non philosophiae nomen venerabile et sacrum maneat.

Let us go to work, then, and avoid occasions for injury. Sometimes, we must fear conquest by the people. Other times, when the discipline of the state is such that most matters are conducted in the senate, men with favor in that assembly become objects of fear. And there are other moments yet, when we must fear certain singular individuals, to whom the people grant whatever power they have. It is too much work to have all these folk as friends; we are content not to have them as enemies. Thus the wise man will never provoke anger in the powerful, preferring to steer away from conflicts, just as a seasoned ship's captain would do when navigating through a storm. When you sailed for Sicily, you crossed the strait separating her from Italy. Your careless pilot despised the threat posed by the south wind, the one that blows hard over the open sea, driving ships into whirlpools. He did not seek the left-hand shore, preferring to take his chances on the one that puts vessels closer to the swirling tides of Charybdis (‡). A more cautious operator asks those with experience of the place where the tides lie, what signals the clouds give; he holds his course far from the zone infamous for whirlpools. The wise man behaves exactly the same way: he avoids opportunity for injury, taking care first that his avoidance not be obvious. Part of his security lies in this: the fact that he does not openly chase safety, since she damns any who flee.

We must consider, then, how we can protect ourselves from the mob. In the first place, we should not desire anything it wants: strife arises between rivals who seek the same prize. Let us also avoid having anything which could be seized with great advantage by ambushers. Keep only minimal valuables about your person. Nobody sheds human blood for its own sake, or at any rate only a few are so savage; more murders arise from calculation than hatred. A thief passes by folk with nothing; thus, even in a crowded road the poor have peace. An ancient precept marks three things for us to avoid: hatred, envy, contempt. Only wisdom will show us how. The right approach is hard, requiring caution, lest our fear of envy make us objects of contempt: we may seem ready for trampling if we are not willing to trample; and on the other hand, many find that becoming frightful to others makes them fear more for themselves. We should plot our course everywhere between extremes: being despised is as harmful to us as being feared. Our refuge here must be philosophy: literature like this letter, shared with company I call only moderately bad, not good. Such literature offers bandages to heal us. For public speaking, and whatever else moves the people, necessarily confronts us with adversaries, but philosophy cannot be condemned when she proves quiet, as she holds honor from all the arts, even in the worst company. Never shall villainy be so strong, nor the virtues so weak, that philosophy lose her good and holy name.

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(†) Some MSS insert a negative into this phrase: immo nec declinabit. I prefer the reading without it.

(*) I have taken id a quo from Hense & Thomas, but I am tempted to follow the MSS: ita quo.

(‡) Even today, sailors in the straits of Messina who do not hug the Italian bank (left as you enter from the north) will find their vessels tugged by a sucking whirlpool, which their ancient predecessors identified as evidence of a large monster eager to feed upon them.