Lawsuits & Happiness

I had some down time at work today. I was browsing through Seneca's letters on the phone, and I thought this was relevant to previous posts about being in the midst of a legal process where the outcome is uncertain. I didn't intend these posts actually to have a defendant-centered perspective. That's just how the examples came to me in real life. For that matter, I didn't intend them as exclusive to legal process at all. I was thinking of any unfinished chain of events in which one finds oneself, the ultimate direction or resolution of which is uncertain or unknown. 

This is from Letter XXIV, On Despising Death:

You write me that you are anxious about the result of a lawsuit, with which an angry opponent is threatening you; and you expect me to advise you to picture to yourself a happier issue, and to rest in the allurements of hope. Why, indeed, is it necessary to summon trouble, – which must be endured soon enough when it has once arrived, or to anticipate trouble and ruin the present through fear of the future? It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time. But I shall conduct you to peace of mind by another route: if you would put off all worry, assume that what you fear may happen will certainly happen in any event; whatever the trouble may be, measure it in your own mind, and estimate the amount of your fear. You will thus understand that what you fear is either insignificant or short-lived. And you need not spend a long time in gathering illustrations which will strengthen you; every epoch has produced them. Let your thoughts travel into any era of Roman or foreign history, and there will throng before you notable examples of high achievement or of high endeavour. If you lose this case, can anything more severe happen to you than being sent into exile or led to prison? Is there a worse fate that any man may fear than being burned or being killed? Name such penalties one by one, and mention the men who have scorned them; one does not need to hunt for them, – it is simply a matter of selection. Sentence of conviction was borne by Rutilius as if the injustice of the decision were the only thing which annoyed him. Exile was endured by Metellus with courage, by Rutilius even with gladness; for the former consented to come back only because his country called him; the latter refused to return when Sulla summoned him, – and nobody in those days said "No" to Sulla! Socrates in prison discoursed, and declined to flee when certain persons gave him the opportunity; he remained there, in order to free mankind from the fear of two most grievous things, death and imprisonment..

Three points seem salient: (1) the questionable nature of hope; (2) 'negative premeditation'--i.e., imagining the worst that could happen and preparing for it; (3) the present moment as the place happiness can exist, that ought not be destroyed by worry about uncertain future events.