Monday, May 1, 2017

Scipio would move his triumphal and soldierly limbs to the sound of music

From On the happy life by Lucius Annaeus Seneca with a new introduction and commentary by Massimo Pigliucci.
Indeed, in his essay ‘On Tranquillity of Mind’, Seneca himself wrote:
Socrates did not blush to play with little boys, Cato used to refresh his mind with wine after he had wearied it with application to affairs of state, and Scipio would move his triumphal and soldierly limbs to the sound of music … It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze: sometimes we gain strength by driving in a carriage, by travel, by change of air, or by social meals and a more generous allowance of wine: at times we ought to drink even to intoxication, not so as to drown, but merely to dip ourselves in wine: for wine washes away troubles and dislodges them from the depths of the mind, and acts as a remedy to sorrow as it does to some diseases.

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