The Whole Future Lies In Uncertainty

From Chapter 9 of De Brevitate Vitae (On the Shortness of Life), written around 49 AD. Here Seneca sharpens his argument against those who defer living to retirement, warning that the future is inherently unknowable. The imperative to "live immediately" anticipates the Stoic emphasis on the present moment that Marcus Aurelius would refine a century later: that the present is the only time we truly possess.