Book excerpt: THE FIRST OF THREE SLIM VOLUMES Roger L'Estrange, staunch royalist, author and pamphleteer, one-time inmate of Newgate Prison, one-time exile, one-time Member of Parliament, takes up the teaching of the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca, rearranging and paraphrasing the original Latin to shape a unique and engaging work of his own. Stoic philosophy guides us through all hazards, and arms us against all difficulties. Those who develop a good character in accordance with Stoic principles learn to live well and face adversities and setbacks with an unshakable equanimity. This slim volume is the first of three parts of Roger L'Estrange's Seneca of a Happy Life, being itself an extract from a much larger whole, Seneca's Morals, first published in 1678.