La citazione da Democrito all’inizio del De tranquillitate animi di Plutarco

Abstract

Plutarch and Seneca, in their writings on tranquillity of mind quote only the first words, recommending a limited number of engagements, from the beginning of Democritus’ treatise on the same subject, but from John of Stobi we learn that he also urged to undertake actions in keeping both with our abilities and with our inclinations. By comparing Plutarch and Seneca we gather that their common source - Panaetius - in his writing on the same subject replaced the number of actions with their moral worth, while retaining Democritus’ two other criteria for attaining tranquillity of mind.