Philosophy as a way of life

28 Epicurus, Gnomologicum Vaticanum, §33, p. 1 46 Arrighetti.

29 Epicurus, Lt11er 10 Menoeceus, §§1 2+..S, p. 108 Arrighetti.

30 Horace, Odes, 3, 29, 42.

31 Without worries (sine sollicitudine), because h� knows that on that day he has received all that it was possible to have, and that there is nothing left to be desired.

32 Seneca, Letters lo Lucilius, 1 2, 9.

33 Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, 3, 16-- 1 7.

34 The most accessible text of this saying has been preserved by Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, 14, 138, 2. Cf. the commentary of A. Le Boulluec in Clement d'Alexandrie, Stromates, V, Paris 1 981 , p. 369.

JS L. Robin, Lucrece, Dt la Nature, Commentaire des livres III-JV, Paris 1926, repr. 1 962, p. I S i .

3 6 Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, III, 947-9.

37 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9, 6.

38 Ibid, 7, 29, 3; 3, 12, 1 .

39 The principal text may be found i n S VF 2 , S09 [ = Arius Didymus fr . 26 Dicls, in Stobaeus vol. 1, p. l OS, Sff. Wachsmuth]; for a commentary cf. P. Hadot, "Zur Vorgeschichte des Begritls Existenz," Arthivfiir Begriffigesch1&hte 13 ( 1969), pp.

1 1 8-19.

40 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6, 32, 3.

41 Ibid, 1 2, I , 1 -2.

42 Ibid, 1 2, 3, 3-4.

43 [Circumcidenda. Literally, to cut a circle off the bark of a tree, thereby pruning or even killing it. - Trans.]

44 Seneca, Letters to Lu,ilius, 18, 14.

45 Seneca, On Benefits, 1, 2, +-5.

46 Cicero, De finibru, 3, 1 4, 4S.

47 Plutarch, On Common Ctm,eptions, 8, 1 062a.

48 Marcus Aurelius, Meditalitms, 5, 2.

49 Ibid, 2, 5, 2: 7, (19.

"Only the Present is our Happiness "

237

SO Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, IOI, 10.

S I Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2, 1 4, 3.

S2 Seneca, On Benefits, 7, 3, 3.

S3 Plutarch, On Common Conceptions, 37, 1 078e.

S4 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6, 37.

SS Ibid, 10, S.

S6 Ibid, 10, 2 1 .

S7 Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, 66, 6.

S8 Goethe, Faust, 9382, 9418.

S9 Conversation with J.D. Falk, in F. von Biedermann, ed., Goethes Gespriiche, Leipzig 1 9 1 0, vol. 4, p. 469.

60 "An Grafen Paar," in Goelhes Siimtliche Werke (Cottasche Jubilaumsausgabe), Stuttgart 1 902, vol. 3, p. 1 3 .

61 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Egmont, Act 2.

62 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Lebensregel," in Sprikhe, 971T, in Goethes Werke, HA, vol. I, p. 3 19.

63 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Elegie, v. 9 1 1T, in Goelhes Werke, HA, vol. I, p. 384.

64 Goethe, Letter to Zelter of October 1 9, 1 829, in Goethes Briefe, vol. 4, p. 347.

6S Goethe, Letter to Sickler of April 28, 1 8 1 2, in ibid, vol. 3, p. 1 84.

66 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Vermiichtnis, in Goethes Werke, HA, vol. I, p. 370.

67 J.P. Eckermann, Gespriiche mit Goethe, Wiesbaden 19SS (conversation of November 3, 1 823), p. 61 .

68 Neoplatonism: H. Schmitz, Goethes Altesdenken, Bonn 19S9, pp. 1 S2ff. Pietism: W. Schadewelt, Goethestudien, Zurich 1 963, p. 44S.

69 Maximen und Reflexionen, 3 1 4 Hecker = Goethes Werke, HA, 7S2.

70 Goethe, Faust, 1 2 1 04.

71 "Eins und Alles," in Goe1hes Werke, HA, vol. I, p. 368.

72 "Sclige Sehnsucht,'' in Diwan, in Goethes WerJ:e, HA, vol. 2, p. 18.

73 Letter to August von Bernstorff of April 1 7, 1 823, in Goethes Briefe, vol. 4, p. 63 .

74 Book of Suleika, in the East-West Divan, in Goethes Werke, HA, vol. 2, p. 70.

7S "Testament,'' foe. di.

76 Faust, 1 1 296-303.

77 "Winckelmann,'' in Goethes Werke, HA, vol. 1 2, p. 98.

78 Cf. Maximen und Reflexionen 1 207 Hecker = Goethes Werke, HA vol. 1 2, 7 1 8.

79 Eckermann, Gespriiche (conversation of February 28, "183 1 ), p. 438.

80 Friedrich Nietzsche, Posthumous Fragments, Ende 1 886-Friljahr 1887, 7[38], in Friedrich Nietzsche, Siimtliche Werke, eds G. Colli and M. Montinari, I S vols, Berlin 1 980 (hereafter Colli/Montinari), vol. 1 2, pp. 307-8.

81 G. Friedmann, La Puissanee et la Sagesse, Paris 1970.

82 Plato, Alcibiades, 1 20d4; Apology, 36c.

83 Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations, 3, 4: Schopenhauer as Educator, 3, 4, vol. I, p. 373 Colli/Montinari.

9

The View from Above

No one has better expressed our longing for a view from above and flight of the soul than Goethe's Faust, as he went for his Easter promenade with Wagner and glimpsed the evening sunset:1

0 why does no wing lift me from the ground To strive after the sun for ever?

In an endless evening dusk, I'd see

The silent earth beneath my feet.

Each hill would be ablaze, each vale bestilled,

And silver brooks would flow in golden streams . . .

Before me day, behind the night

Heaven above and underneath the waves:

A lovely dream, until it disappears! . . .

Alas! To the Spirit's wings

No mortal wing can join so easily.