Seneca · c. 4 BCE – 65 CE
On Benefits 6.24 — Seneca
Translation by Aubrey Stewart (1887)
Seneca, On Benefits 6.24
Do you not see how parents force children during their infancy to undergo what is useful for their health? Though the children cry and struggle, they swathe them and bind their limbs straight lest premature liberty should make them grow crooked, afterwards instill into them a liberal education, threatening those who are unwilling to learn, and finally, if spirited young men do not conduct themselves frugally, modestly, and respectably, they compel them to do so. Force and harsh measures are used even to youths who have grown up and are their own masters, if they, either from fear or from insolence, refuse to take what is good for them. Thus the greatest benefits that we receive, we receive either without knowing it, or against our will, from our parents.
Cite this passage
Seneca, On Benefits 6.24, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-benefits/6.24
Seneca, Dialogues, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887–1889). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesParents give their children some of the greatest gifts without being thanked or even understood, such as straight limbs, schooling and discipline, often over the child's protests. Care that is unwelcome at the time can still be real kindness, which may help a grown child resenting strict parents and a parent whose efforts feel unappreciated.
Older wording
- “swathe”
- — wrap tightly in bandages, as a baby is swaddled
- “liberal education”
- — the broad schooling fit for a free citizen
Themes and situations
- Family and love
- Gratitude
- Self-discipline and habit
- Parenting
- Family conflict
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