Thursday, June 12, 2025
Injury and Insult
Seneca, On Firmness 5.1-2 (tr. John W. Basore):
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Let us make a distinction, Serenus, if you like, between injury and insult. The former is by its nature more serious; the latter, a slighter matter — serious only to the thin-skinned — for men are not harmed, but angered by it. Yet such is the weakness and vanity of some men's minds, there are those who think that nothing is more bitter.
dividamus, si tibi videtur, Serene, iniuriam a contumelia. prior illa natura gravior est, haec levior et tantum delicatis gravis, qua non laeduntur homines sed offenduntur. tanta est tamen animorum dissolutio et vanitas, ut quidam nihil acerbius putent.
