“At multa incidunt tristia horrenda, dura toleratu.” Quia non poteram uos istis subducere, animos uestros aduersus omnia armaui: ferte fortiter. Hoc est quo deum antecedatis: ille extra patientiam malorum est, uos supra patientiam. Contemnite paupertatem: nemo tam pauper uiuit quam natus est. Contemnite dolorem: aut soluetur aut soluet. Contemnite mortem: quae uos aut finit aut transfert. Contemnite fortunam: nullum illi telum quo feriret animum dedi.
“But many sad, horrible, intolerable things happen”. Since I could not have taken these experiences away from you, I armed your souls against everything. Endure strongly. In this, you are ahead of a god: he is exempt from suffering, you rise above it. Disdain poverty: no one lives as poor as he was born. Disdain pain: either you’ll be released from it, or it will release you. Disdain death: either it ends you or it transfers you. Disdain fortune: I gave it no dart capable of hurting the soul.
Seneca, De providentia, 6,6