I was turning for comfort and relief to Seneca, as I often do, when he turned around and stabbed me in the eyeball with this triple-forked slam. He’s writing about his contemporaries who have screwed-up priorities. His contemporaries, but maybe also ours.
Quis est istorum qui non malit rem publicam turbari quam comam suam? qui non sollicitior sit de capitis sui decore quam de salute? qui non comptior esse malit quam honestior?
—Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae 12.3
“Who among these creeps wouldn’t prefer that the republic be in disarray, rather than his hair? Who of them wouldn’t be more concerned about how his scalp appears than about his health? Who of them wouldn’t prefer to be more well-groomed than more honest?”
