Seneca · On the usefulness of basic principles

Letters 95.73

How lamentably do those who covet glory fail to understand what glory is, or in what way it should be sought! On that day the Roman populace viewed the furniture of many men; it marvelled only at that of one! The gold and silver of all the others has been broken up and melted down times without number; but Tubero’s earthenware will endure throughout eternity. Farewell.

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 95.73, translated by Richard Mott Gummere