Excellent is his advice on the choice of books and of reading:--
“Be careful that the reading of many authors, and of every sort of books, does not induce a certain vagueness and uncertainty of mind. We ought to linger over and nourish our minds with, writers of assured genius and worth, if we wish to extract something which may usefully remain fixed in the mind. A multitude of books distracts the mind. Read always, then, books of approved merit. If ever you have a wish to go for a time to other kinds of books, yet always return to the former.”[36]--(_Ep._ ii.)
In his 88th Letter Seneca well exposes the folly of a learning which begins and ends in _mere words_, which has no real bearing on the conduct of life and the instruction of the _moral_ faculties:--
“In testing the value of books and writers, let us see whether or no they teach _virtue_.... You inquire minutely about the wanderings of Ulysses rather than work for the prevention of error in your own case. We have no leisure to hear exactly how and where he was tossed about between Italy and Sicily.... The tempests of the soul are ever tossing us, and evildoing urges us into all the miseries of Ulysses.... Oh marvellously excellent education! By it you can measure circles and squares, and all the distances of the stars. There is nothing that is not within the reach of your geometry. Since you are so able a mechanician, measure the human mind. Tell me how great it is, how small it is (_pusillus_). You know what a straight line is. What does it profit you, if you know not what is straight (_rectum_) in life.”[37] What then? Are liberal studies of no avail? For other things much; for virtue nothing.... They do not lead the mind to virtue--they only clear the way.
“Humanity forbids us to be arrogant towards our fellows; forbids us to be grasping; shows itself kind and courteous to all, in word, deed, and thought; thinks no evil of another, but rather loves its own highest good, chiefly because it will be of good to another. Do liberal studies [always] inculcate these maxims? No more than they do simplicity of character and moderation; no more than they do frugality and economy of living; no more than they do mercy, which is as sparing of another’s blood as it is of its own, and recognises that man is not to use the services of his fellows unnecessarily or prodigally.