On the Shortness of Life
E274039
On the Shortness of Life is a philosophical essay by the Roman Stoic Seneca that argues our lives feel short not by nature but because we waste much of the time available to us.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On the Shortness of Life canonical | 5 |
| De Brevitate Vitae | 1 |
| De brevitate vitae | 1 |
| The short sum of life | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2536172 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On the Shortness of Life Context triple: [Seneca the Younger, notableWork, On the Shortness of Life]
-
A.
Of Human Life
Of Human Life is the English title of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, which addresses the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage, sexuality, and artificial contraception.
-
B.
The Retired Man’s Meditations
The Retired Man’s Meditations is a 17th-century religious and political treatise by English statesman and Puritan mystic Henry Vane the Younger, reflecting his contemplative theology and republican ideals.
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C.
On the Fates of Famous Men
On the Fates of Famous Men is a 14th-century Latin prose work by Giovanni Boccaccio that compiles moralizing biographies illustrating the rise and fall of notable historical and mythological figures.
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D.
Of Vicissitude of Things
"Of Vicissitude of Things" is a philosophical essay by Francis Bacon reflecting on the inevitability of change and the cyclical nature of human affairs and history.
-
E.
On Living: A Postscript
"On Living: A Postscript" is an additional reflective piece by Stephen King that extends and deepens the autobiographical and craft-focused insights of his book "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft."
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On the Shortness of Life Target entity description: On the Shortness of Life is a philosophical essay by the Roman Stoic Seneca that argues our lives feel short not by nature but because we waste much of the time available to us.
-
A.
Of Human Life
Of Human Life is the English title of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, which addresses the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage, sexuality, and artificial contraception.
-
B.
The Retired Man’s Meditations
The Retired Man’s Meditations is a 17th-century religious and political treatise by English statesman and Puritan mystic Henry Vane the Younger, reflecting his contemplative theology and republican ideals.
-
C.
On the Fates of Famous Men
On the Fates of Famous Men is a 14th-century Latin prose work by Giovanni Boccaccio that compiles moralizing biographies illustrating the rise and fall of notable historical and mythological figures.
-
D.
Of Vicissitude of Things
"Of Vicissitude of Things" is a philosophical essay by Francis Bacon reflecting on the inevitability of change and the cyclical nature of human affairs and history.
-
E.
On Living: A Postscript
"On Living: A Postscript" is an additional reflective piece by Stephen King that extends and deepens the autobiographical and craft-focused insights of his book "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft."
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
moral essay
ⓘ
philosophical essay ⓘ |
| addressedTo |
Paulinus
ⓘ
linked to:
Paulinus of Nola
|
| approximateDateOfComposition | 1st century AD ⓘ |
| argument |
life is long enough if time is used wisely
ⓘ
life seems short because people squander their time ⓘ only the present moment truly belongs to us ⓘ people guard their property more carefully than their time ⓘ philosophy teaches how to live and use time well ⓘ preoccupation with external affairs steals time from life ⓘ pursuit of luxury and honors leads to wasted life ⓘ study of philosophy makes one truly free ⓘ the wise person lives fully in any span of years ⓘ |
| author | Seneca the Younger ⓘ |
| circulation |
widely read in the Middle Ages
ⓘ
widely read in the Renaissance ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
Ancient Rome
ⓘ
linked to:
Roman Antiquity
|
| ethicalPosition |
philosophical reflection is the best use of time
ⓘ
time wasted is a moral failing ⓘ |
| genre | Stoic philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
Renaissance humanists
ⓘ
later Christian moral writers ⓘ modern self-help literature ⓘ |
| influencedBy | earlier Stoic thought ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| literaryForm | prose ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | Silver Age of Latin literature ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
brevity of human life
ⓘ
proper use of time ⓘ value of philosophy ⓘ waste of time ⓘ |
| modernStatus |
classic of Stoic literature
ⓘ
frequently translated into modern languages ⓘ |
| originalTitle | De Brevitate Vitae ⓘ |
| philosophicalSchool | Stoicism ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Letters to Lucilius
ⓘ
On Tranquility of Mind ⓘ
linked to:
On the Tranquility of Mind
On the Happy Life ⓘ |
| teaches |
to devote time to philosophy and inner life
ⓘ
to treat time as a precious resource ⓘ to withdraw from futile social ambitions ⓘ |
| topic |
ethics
ⓘ
human mortality ⓘ philosophical life ⓘ practical wisdom ⓘ self-discipline ⓘ time management ⓘ |
| workByAuthor | Seneca philosophical essays ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: On the Shortness of Life Description of subject: On the Shortness of Life is a philosophical essay by the Roman Stoic Seneca that argues our lives feel short not by nature but because we waste much of the time available to us.
Referenced by (8)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: On the Shortness of Life
subject linked to:
poem "Vitae Summa Brevis" by Ernest Dowson
linked to: On the Shortness of Life
linked to: On the Shortness of Life