Meditations XI.26

In the writings of the Ephesians⁷⁷ was laid down the advice to have constantly in remembrance some one of the ancients who lived virtuously.

• 77.Seneca’s Epistles 11 attributes the precept to the Epicureans: aliquis vir bonus nobis eligendus est ac semper ante oculos habendus ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus et omnia illo vidente faciamus. Hoc Epicurus praecepit. See, however, Plutarch’s Table Talk vii. 5, near the end.

  Seneca’s Latin, in translation: “we must choose some good man and keep him always before our eyes, so that we may live as though he were watching and do everything as though he saw. This Epicurus taught.”