Committing to Stoicism doesn't mean you have to stop relying on wisdom from other sources. In the first 29 of his letters, Seneca signs off with a few lines pondering a quote by some other thinker, most often choosing Epicurus, the founder of one of Stoicism's main rivals. I found it a little strange at first, and then very charming, but it didn't really click for me why he did this until this week. It reminded of these passages.

From letter 2:

"The thought for to-day is one which I discovered in Epicurus; for I am won't to cross over even into the enemy's camp, – not as a deserter, but as a scout."

And from letter 12:

"'Epicurus,' you reply, 'uttered these words; what are you doing with another's property?' Any truth, I maintain, is my own property. And I shall continue to heap quotations from Epicurus upon you, so that all persons who swear by the words of another, and put a value upon the speaker and not upon the thing spoken, may understand that the best ideas are common property."

At almost every meetup this year people have brought up comparisons between Stoicism and the other philosophies of life that they have experience with. It's become one of my favorite parts of the discussions. It's fascinating to learn about the overlap and contrast between these different systems. An idea gains more credibility when it's independently discovered by people in different places, using different methods, and that seems true of some of the core tenets of Stoicism.

I think this must be a common thing that happens when people get together to practice Stoicism, even back in Seneca's day. The trick is commit to virtue in the way advised by the Stoics, but not so rigidly that you miss out on anything useful from other schools of thought. In our struggle against fortune, we need every weapon we can get. I think that's what Seneca's getting at.