What is Reddit's opinion of Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca)?

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I’d like to recommend Letters on Ethics to Lucilius by Seneca as well (This is the U Chicago Press translation which includes all 124 letters plus a great introduction and a lot of footnotes so you’d be hard-pressed to misinterpret anything).

Here is a more modern, and understandable, translation: Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long

> “Still, it is to come.” First, find out whether there is firm evidence that trouble is on the way. For all too often we worry about what we merely suspect. Rumor plays tricks on us—rumor, that “brings down the battle,” but brings down the individual even more. Yes, dear Lucilius, we are too quick to give way to opinion. We do not demand evidence of the things that frighten us, or check them out carefully; we quail, and take to our heels, like the army that breaks camp because of a dust cloud kicked up by a herd of cattle, or like people who are terrified by some item of anonymous gossip.” > —Seneca, Letter 13.8

The “Rumor brings down the battle” part is a proverb by Livy quoted by Seneca.

I have been really, really happy with my hardcover copy of Graver's modern translation of the Letters. The book and dust cover are beautiful (which IMO is more important for the reading experience than many people let on), and it has a thorough introduction. It's from a five-volume series of Seneca's works. Pretty pricey to get them all, but the set is the only copy of Seneca I'll ever need (until I learn Latin, I guess). I'm buying one volume at a time.

The U Chicago Press translation, Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius, is the most modern, most complete, and, honestly, best translation of all 124 of Seneca's Letters.

Here's a comparison:

Gummere (1917/1920/1925 and the one linked above): > And somehow or other it is the idle report that disturbs us most. For truth has its own definite boundaries, but that which arises from uncertainty is delivered over to guesswork and the irresponsible license of a frightened mind. That is why no fear is so ruinous and so uncontrollable as panic fear. For other fears are groundless, but this fear is witless. > Let us, then, look carefully into the matter. It is likely that some troubles will befall us; but it is not a present fact. How often has the unexpected happened! How often has the expected never come to pass! And even though it is ordained to be, what does it avail to run out to meet your suffering? You will suffer soon enough, when it arrives; so look forward meanwhile to better things. What shall you gain by doing this? Time. There will be many happenings meanwhile which will serve to postpone, or end, or pass on to another person, the trials which are near or even in your very presence. A fire has opened the way to flight. Men have been let down softly by a catastrophe. Sometimes the sword has been checked even at the victim's throat. Men have survived their own executioners. Even bad fortune is fickle. Perhaps it will come, perhaps not; in the meantime it is not. So look forward to better things. > --Seneca, Letter 13.09-13.11

Graver and Long (2015):

> In a way, empty causes produce even more trepidation. Real dangers have an inherent limit; anything that arises from uncertainty, though, is given over to conjecture and to unrestrained anxiety. Hence our most pernicious, our most uncontrollable fears are the crazy ones. Our other fears are unreasonable; these are unreasoning. So let us look carefully at the facts. > Some evil is probable for the future; it is not proven right off. How many unexpected things have come to pass! How many of our expectations never happen at all! Even if it is to come, what good does it do to anticipate your grief? You will grieve soon enough, when it comes; in the meantime, allow yourself something better. What do you gain by that? Time. > Many things will happen that may avert the approaching danger, even if it is nearly at hand, or make it cease, or direct it toward someone else. The fire leaves an escape route; the collapsing building sets some people down gently; the sword is right at the throat, and then drawn back; the one condemned to death survives his executioner. Even bad fortune can be fickle. Perhaps it will happen, perhaps it won’t; certainly it is not happening now. So keep the better things in view. > --Seneca, Letter 13.09-13.11

 

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https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Ethics-Lucilius-Complete-Annaeus/dp/022626517X

I'd recommend these specific translations instead

• Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius by Seneca translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long solely because it is the only modern translation with all 124 letters and because it's very, very easy to understand (Gummere is the only other translation with all 124 letters. It was also published in the early 1900s and it shows).
• Discourses, Fragments, and Handbook by Epictetus translated by Robin Hard and Christopher Gill for the same reason: only modern translation with all the Discourses, the Fragments, and the Handbook.

I would also recommend you check the FAQ

Letters on Ethics to Lucilius by Seneca. Seneca’s just my favorite Stoic philosopher in general and his works have impacted me like no other.

This recent translation has all of Seneca's letters. This older translation in the public domain also has all the letters.