This consolation letter was written during Seneca's exile on Corsica (41–49 CE) to console Polybius, a freedman and secretary to Emperor Claudius, on the death of his brother. It combines genuine philosophical comfort with appeals to Polybius' relationship to the emperor.
The letter addresses grief, the universality of death, and the consolation to be found in meaningful work and philosophical reflection.
"Every pleasure quickly leaves us — it flows on and passes by and is gone almost before it comes."
— Of Consolation — To Polybius, 10