The Role of Tears in Character

Seneca asks: What would it say of our character if we felt for a time? Great sadness. Would the sage simply say, oh, but soup is nothing but a calming pleasure to a sick man and it will not change the end result, so why even bother? That sounds quite nihilistic to me, Seneca. If y is the guaranteed outcome, and x will do nothing to change that outcome, but x will make the journey to y more pleasant, what does foregoing x completely say about our character? And is that of the sage? Is that of good character? Is thatof virtue? I would say almost certainly not.