Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Moral letters to Lucilius (№ 413692)

Where the enemy can be expected from all sides, the army marches in a square formation, ready for battle. In the same way, he says, the sage should act: he must deploy the system of his virtues in all directions, so that the defense is ready, no matter where the danger arises, and the guards would obey every signal of the chief without the slightest fuss.