Justus Lipsius published De Constantia in 1583 during the violence and uncertainty of the Dutch Revolt. The work adapted Stoic thought for Christians facing civil war, exile and political instability. It became one of the most influential books of Neo-Stoicism.

Neo-Stoic language shaped seventeenth-century poetry of endurance, retirement and public duty. Lipsius gave writers a vocabulary for grief, self-command and moral steadiness in a world of religious conflict.