This consolation letter is addressed to a Roman noblewoman mourning the death of her son. Written around 40 CE, it is one of Seneca's earliest surviving works and one of the finest ancient consolation letters.
Seneca gently argues that prolonged grief dishonours the dead and harms the living. He places individual loss in the context of cosmic impermanence, urging Marcia to honour her son's memory through a return to life.
"What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears."
— Of Consolation — To Marcia, 11