Marcia was a Roman woman renowned for her strength and courage. However, after the death of her son Metilius, she was devastated and clung to her grief. After three years of mourning, Seneca wrote this consolatory work, urging her to overcome, once and for all, the sorrow that threatened to ruin her socially and emotionally. To prevent life from becoming a perpetual funeral after the death of a loved one, and to keep the mind from succumbing to sadness -- the most corrosive of emotions, according to the Stoics -- Seneca offers in these pages a true philosophical therapy. It is a profound reflection on grief, memory, and the power of reason to continue living when life inflicts such pain.