Letters from a Stoic · Part 2, Hard days · Idea 5 of 12

Rehearse the Lean Days

Seneca on living poor for a few days to shrink the fear of it. From Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, about 62 to 65 AD.

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A painting for Rehearse the Lean Days

Where it comes from.

It was December in Rome, probably in 62 AD, the month of the Saturnalia. For days the city feasted. Men traded the toga for party clothes, gifts went round, and masters waited on their slaves at table.

Seneca, retired from Nero’s court, wrote to his friend Lucilius. Should a wise man join the party, he asked, or keep apart?

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The idea in short

In a December letter, written as Rome feasted for the Saturnalia, Seneca told his friend Lucilius to set aside a few days for the cheapest food, a hard bed and rough clothes, and to ask if this was what he had feared. Soldiers drill in peacetime, he said, and Epicurus tested himself on less than a penny.

Practice the hard times while the good times last. Practical advice: live on a lean budget for one week, and notice how much of the fear was only fear.

Likely, on the evidence · checked against 5 sources

Make it yours.

Make it your step

Pick three days this month to live on a plain, cheap menu.

Ask your council

“I’m scared of losing my income. How do I find out what I could really live without?”

Sources.

  1. Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 18: On festivals and fasting, translated by Richard M. Gummere (Loeb, vol. 1), Seneca (Wikisource), 1917The text
  2. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, Wikipedia, 2026
  3. Seneca, Katja Vogt, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2024
  4. Saturnalia, Wikipedia, 2026
  5. Saturnalia, Mark Cartwright, World History Encyclopedia, 2016

Letters from a Stoic, in 12 ideas.

  1. 1
    Everywhere Is NowhereSeneca on reading a few books deeply
  2. 2
    You Pack Yourself TooSeneca on why a trip can’t cure a restless mind
  3. 3
    The Crowd Comes Home With YouSeneca on how the company you keep changes you
  4. 4
    You Can’t Hire WisdomSeneca on why no one can be wise for you
  5. 5
    Rehearse the Lean DaysSeneca on living poor for a few days to shrink the fear of it
  6. 6
    One Night Is All It TakesSeneca on expecting sudden change so it cannot ambush you
  7. 7
    Walk, Don’t Be DraggedSeneca on going willingly where life will take you anyway
  8. 8
    Let the Memory Turn SweetSeneca on grieving a friend and remembering them with gladness
  9. 9
    Choose Slowly, Then TrustSeneca on judging a friend before you trust them
  10. 10
    To Be Loved, LoveSeneca on how to make friends and why to want them
  11. 11
    Keep a Witness in MindSeneca on living as if a good person were watching
  12. 12
    How You Treat Those Who ServeSeneca on treating the people below you as people
PreviousYou Can’t Hire Wisdom
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Read the rest in Counsel.

Rehearse the Lean Days and the other 11 ideas of Letters from a Stoic, a minute at a time.

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Every idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.

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