Master or agent? Seneca, Epistles 2.14.17-18

Seneca here encourages Lucilius to use wealth rather than require it. If we require it, then we must minister to it instead of using it to minister to others. We become anxious rather than happy, and our seeming good fortune turns evil.

Nunc ad cotidianam stipem manum porrigis. Aurea te stipe implebo, et quia facta est auri mentio, accipe quemadmodum usus fructusque eius tibi esse gratior possit. Is maxime divitiis fruitur qui minime divitiis indiget. Ede inquis auctorem. Ut scias quam benigni simus, propositum est aliena laudare: Epicuri est aut Metrodori aut alicuius ex illa officina. Et quid interest quis dixerit? omnibus dixit. Qui eget divitiis timet pro illis; nemo autem sollicito bono fruitur. Adicere illis aliquid studet; dum de incremento cogitat, oblitus est usus. Rationes accipit, forum conterit, kalendarium versat: fit ex domino procurator. Vale.

Now you're reaching out a hand for your daily bit of book! I have a golden ration to fill your mind today, and since I mention gold, do take from me the wisdom whose use and enjoyment are more pleasing than any other currency: "He enjoys wealth most who requires it least." "Give us the author, too!" you say. That you may understand how kind I am, how generous, I have once again undertaken to praise foreign goods: the quote comes from Epicurus, or Metrodorus, or another philosopher of their school. But what does it matter who said it? He spoke to everyone. The person who needs wealth fears for it. Nobody enjoys a good thing about which he is anxious. Always he is seeking to add something to it. While he ponders the increase of his wealth, he has already forgotten to use it. He takes accounts, wears out the marketplace with his feet, and won't stop shuffling his calendar: he becomes an agent instead of a master. Farewell.