De Constantia

De Constantia in publicis malis (On constancy in times of public evil) was a philosophical dialogue published by Justus Lipsius in two books in 1583.

The book, modelled after the dialogues of Seneca, was pivotal in establishing an accommodation of Stoicism and Christianity which became known as Neostoicism.

[1] In an age of religious disputes and persecutions Lipsius intended the book to be both a consolation and a solution to the calamities which he and his contemporaries were enduring.

[2] The result is a handbook for practical living, and as such is focused more on moral rules than rigorous philosophical argument.

[1] Between the 16th and the 18th centuries, it went through more than eighty editions, of which over forty were in the original Latin and the rest were translations into vernacular European languages.