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79-639: Seneca ’s three consolatory works, De Consolatione ad Marciam , De Consolatione ad Polybium , and De Consolatione ad Helviam Matrem , were all constructed in the Consolatio Literary Tradition , dating back to the fifth century BC. The Consolations are part of Seneca’s Treatises, commonly called Dialogues , or Dialogi. These works clearly contain essential principles of Seneca’s Stoic teachings. Although they are personal addresses of Seneca, these works are written more like essays than personal letters of consolation. Furthermore, although each essay

158-514: A 13th-century hagiographical account of famous saints that was widely read, included an account of Seneca's death scene, and erroneously presented Nero as a witness to Seneca's suicide. Dante placed Seneca (alongside Cicero ) among the "great spirits" in the First Circle of Hell , or Limbo . Boccaccio , who in 1370 came across the works of Tacitus whilst browsing the library at Montecassino , wrote an account of Seneca's suicide hinting that it

237-529: A basis for reform-minded education in Seneca's ideas she used to propose a mode of modern education that avoids both narrow traditionalism and total rejection of tradition. Elsewhere Seneca has been noted as the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and role of gratitude in human relationships. Seneca is a character in Monteverdi 's 1642 opera L'incoronazione di Poppea ( The Coronation of Poppea ), which

316-518: A broader essay on grief and bereavement. In fact, the reader doesn't ever find out the name of Polybius’ deceased brother. One scholar claims that the De Consolatione ad Polybium is an attempt by Seneca to contrive his return from exile. (Rudich) This letter to Polybius clearly tries to gain his favor, and as well as flatter the Emperor Claudius, ironically seeking to draw empathy for himself in

395-483: A codicil of his will, even when in the height of his wealth and power he was thinking of life's close." This may give the impression of a favorable portrait of Seneca, but Tacitus's treatment of him is at best ambivalent. Alongside Seneca's apparent fortitude in the face of death, for example, one can also view his actions as rather histrionic and performative; and when Tacitus tells us that he left his family an imago suae vitae ( Annales 15.62), "an image of his life", he

474-569: A copy of a letter Seneca wrote to his friend Marullus, following the death of his "little son." Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( / ˈ s ɛ n ɪ k ə / SEN -ik-ə ; c.  4 BC – AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca , was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome , a statesman, dramatist , and in one work, satirist , from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature . Seneca

553-448: A death sentence on Seneca, which Claudius commuted to exile, and Seneca spent the next eight years on the island of Corsica . Two of Seneca's earliest surviving works date from the period of his exile—both consolations . In his Consolation to Helvia , his mother, Seneca comforts her as a bereaved mother for losing her son to exile. Seneca incidentally mentions the death of his only son, a few weeks before his exile. Later in life Seneca

632-445: A fairly orthodox Stoic, albeit a free-minded one. His works discuss both ethical theory and practical advice, and Seneca stresses that both parts are distinct but interdependent. His Letters to Lucilius showcase Seneca's search for ethical perfection. Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for the wounds of life. The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must be uprooted, or moderated according to reason. He discusses

711-411: A highly distorted, misconstrued view. Such is the view left to us of Seneca, if we were to rely upon Suillius alone." More recent work is changing the dominant perception of Seneca as a mere conduit for pre-existing ideas, showing originality in Seneca's contribution to the history of ideas . Examination of Seneca's life and thought in relation to contemporary education and to the psychology of emotions

790-410: A history ( editis annalibus ). Tacitus wrote of him: "Surely I am not making speeches to incite the people to civil war, as though Brutus and Cassius were armed and on the fields at Philippi? Or is it not the case that they, despite being dead for seventy years, exercise through literature a hold over a part of our memory, in the same way that they are known to us through their statues, which not even

869-523: A less than "Stoic" lifestyle. While banished to Corsica, he wrote a plea for restoration rather incompatible with his advocacy of a simple life and the acceptance of fate. In his Apocolocyntosis he ridiculed the behaviors and policies of Claudius, and flattered Nero—such as proclaiming that Nero would live longer and be wiser than the legendary Nestor . The claims of Publius Suillius Rufus that Seneca acquired some "three hundred million sesterces " through Nero's favor are highly partisan, but they reflect

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948-522: A letter justifying the murder to the Senate. In AD 58 the senator Publius Suillius Rufus made a series of public attacks on Seneca. These attacks, reported by Tacitus and Cassius Dio , included charges that, in a mere four years of service to Nero, Seneca had acquired a vast personal fortune of three hundred million sestertii by charging high interest on loans throughout Italy and the provinces. Suillius' attacks included claims of sexual corruption, with

1027-454: A letter offering solace, he notably lacks empathy toward Marcia's individual grief and loss. Marcia actively mourned the death of her son Metilius for over three years. In De Consolatione ad Marciam , Seneca attempts to convince her that the fate of her son, while tragic, should not have been a surprise. She knew many other mothers who had lost their sons; why should she expect her own son to survive her? The acknowledgement, even expectation, of

1106-495: A mock encomium , inverting the portrayal of Nero and Seneca that appears in Tacitus. In this work Cardano portrayed Seneca as a crook of the worst kind, an empty rhetorician who was only thinking to grab money and power, after having poisoned the mind of the young emperor. Cardano stated that Seneca well deserved death. Among the historians who have sought to reappraise Seneca is the scholar Anna Lydia Motto , who in 1966 argued that

1185-420: A personal letter. Seneca was most likely motivated to write this letter of consolation to Marcia in order to gain her favor; Marcia was the daughter of a prominent historian, Aulus Cremutius Cordus , and her family's enormous wealth and influence most likely inspired Seneca to write this letter of consolation. Through the essay he sticks to philosophical abstractions concerning Stoic precepts of life and death. For

1264-427: A quick death. He also took poison, which was not fatal. After dictating his last words to a scribe, and with a circle of friends attending him in his home, he immersed himself in a warm bath, which he expected would speed blood flow and ease his pain. Tacitus wrote, "He was then carried into a bath, with the steam of which he was suffocated, and he was burnt without any of the usual funeral rites. So he had directed in

1343-410: A suggestion that Seneca had slept with Agrippina. Tacitus, though, reports that Suillius was highly prejudiced: he had been a favorite of Claudius, and had been an embezzler and informant. In response, Seneca brought a series of prosecutions for corruption against Suillius: half of his estate was confiscated and he was sent into exile. However, the attacks reflect a criticism of Seneca that was made at

1422-446: A writer and teacher of rhetoric in Rome. Seneca's mother, Helvia, was from a prominent Baetician family. Seneca was the second of three brothers; the others were Lucius Annaeus Novatus (later known as Junius Gallio), and Annaeus Mela, the father of the poet Lucan . Miriam Griffin says in her biography of Seneca that "the evidence for Seneca's life before his exile in 41 is so slight, and

1501-442: A writer, Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays , which are all tragedies . His prose works include 12 essays and 124 letters dealing with moral issues. These writings constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for ancient Stoicism . As a tragedian, he is best known for plays such as his Medea , Thyestes , and Phaedra . Seneca had an immense influence on later generations—during

1580-521: Is a powerful, albeit rather oppressive, force. Many scholars have thought, following the ideas of the 19th-century German scholar Friedrich Leo , that Seneca's tragedies were written for recitation only. Other scholars think that they were written for performance and that it is possible that actual performance took place in Seneca's lifetime. Ultimately, this issue cannot be resolved on the basis of our existing knowledge. The tragedies of Seneca have been successfully staged in modern times. The dating of

1659-506: Is also highly regarded, and was praised along with Phaedra by T. S. Eliot . Works attributed to Seneca include 12 philosophical essays, 124 letters dealing with moral issues, nine tragedies , and a satire , the attribution of which is disputed. His authorship of Hercules on Oeta has also been questioned. Fabulae crepidatae (tragedies with Greek subjects): Fabula praetexta (tragedy in Roman setting): Traditionally given in

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1738-400: Is based on the pseudo-Senecan play, Octavia . Aulus Cremutius Cordus Aulus Cremutius Cordus (died 25 AD ) was a Roman historian . There are very few remaining fragments of his work, principally covering the civil war and the reign of Augustus . In AD 25 he was forced by Sejanus , who was praetorian prefect under Tiberius , to take his life after being accused violating

1817-675: Is dated roughly 42/43 AD. In the text, Seneca tells his mother he does not feel grief, therefore she should not mourn his absence. He refers to his exile merely as a ‘change of place’ and reassures her his exile did not bring him feelings of disgrace. Seneca comments on his mother's strong character as a virtue that will allow her to bear his absence. Seneca's seemingly positive outlook on his own exile follows his Stoic philosophy teachings that one should not be upset by uncontrollable events. This quote from De Consolatione ad Helviam , shows Seneca's presentation of his life as tolerable, and even spiritually enjoyable: I am joyous and cheerful, as if under

1896-526: Is mainly limited to using him as a source of ethical maxims. Likewise Seneca shows some interest in Platonist metaphysics, but never with any clear commitment. His moral essays are based on Stoic doctrines. Stoicism was a popular philosophy in this period, and many upper-class Romans found in it a guiding ethical framework for political involvement. It was once popular to regard Seneca as being very eclectic in his Stoicism, but modern scholarship views him as

1975-471: Is most widely accepted that the tonal switch in De Consolatione ad Polybium was nothing more than Seneca's desperate attempt to escape exile and return from Corsica. (Rudich) De Consolatione ad Marciam ("On Consolation to Marcia") is a work by Seneca written around 40 AD. Like Seneca's other consolatory works, this consolation is constructed in the Consolatio tradition, and takes the form of an essay versus

2054-546: Is particular in its address of consolation, the tone of these works is notably detached. Seneca seems more preoccupied with presenting facts of the universe and the human condition instead of offering solace. This detachment may be a result of Seneca’s attempt to gain favor and contrive a return from exile through these Consolatio works, instead of merely offering a friendly hand of comfort. In De Consolatione ad Helviam Matrem , Seneca writes his mother to console her on his recent exile to Corsica. In this work, Seneca employs many of

2133-473: Is possibly being ambiguous: in Roman culture, the imago was a kind of mask that commemorated the great ancestors of noble families, but at the same time, it may also suggest duplicity, superficiality, and pretense. As "a major philosophical figure of the Roman Imperial Period ", Seneca's lasting contribution to philosophy has been to the school of Stoicism . His writing is highly accessible and

2212-697: Is revealing the relevance of his thought. For example, Martha Nussbaum in her discussion of desire and emotion includes Seneca among the Stoics who offered important insights and perspectives on emotions and their role in our lives. Specifically devoting a chapter to his treatment of anger and its management, she shows Seneca's appreciation of the damaging role of uncontrolled anger, and its pathological connections. Nussbaum later extended her examination to Seneca's contribution to political philosophy showing considerable subtlety and richness in his thoughts about politics, education, and notions of global citizenship—and finding

2291-527: The lex maiestas . Cordus was accused of treason by Satrius Secundus for having eulogized Brutus and spoken of Cassius as the last of the Romans . The Senate ordered the burning of his writings. Seneca the Younger , however, tells us that he most likely incurred Sejanus' displeasure for criticising him, because Sejanus had commissioned a statue of himself. We also know from this source—a letter to Cordus' daughter Marcia—that he starved himself to death. She

2370-572: The Renaissance , printed editions and translations of his works became common, including an edition by Erasmus and a commentary by John Calvin . John of Salisbury , Erasmus and others celebrated his works. French essayist Montaigne , who gave a spirited defense of Seneca and Plutarch in his Essays , was himself considered by Pasquier a "French Seneca". Similarly, Thomas Fuller praised Joseph Hall as "our English Seneca". Many who considered his ideas not particularly original still argued that he

2449-461: The "...spineless schoolmaster Quintilian [who] grudgingly admitted that 'the bold utterances of Cremutius also have their admirers and deserve their fame, but he went on to assure readers that 'the passages that brought him to his ruin have been expurgated.'" Cramer also suggests that it was not unlikely for one of Quintilian's students to have been Tacitus, who later said: The Fathers ordered his books to be burned...but some copies survived, hidden at

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2528-489: The "arms" of his aunt (his mother's stepsister) at a young age, probably when he was about five years old. His father resided for much of his life in the city. Seneca was taught the usual subjects of literature, grammar, and rhetoric, as part of the standard education of high-born Romans. While still young he received philosophical training from Attalus the Stoic , and from Sotion and Papirius Fabianus , both of whom belonged to

2607-574: The 6th century Martin of Braga synthesized Seneca's thought into a couple of treatises that became popular in their own right. Otherwise, Seneca was mainly known through a large number of quotes and extracts in the florilegia , which were popular throughout the medieval period. When his writings were read in the later Middle Ages, it was mostly his Letters to Lucilius —the longer essays and plays being relatively unknown. Medieval writers and works continued to link him to Christianity because of his alleged association with Paul. The Golden Legend ,

2686-705: The Four Cardinal Virtues"). Early manuscripts preserve Martin's preface, where he makes it clear that this was his adaptation, but in later copies this was omitted, and the work was later thought fully Seneca's work. Seneca remains one of the few popular Roman philosophers from the period. He appears not only in Dante , but also in Chaucer and to a large degree in Petrarch , who adopted his style in his own essays and who quotes him more than any other authority except Virgil . In

2765-700: The Renaissance he was "a sage admired and venerated as an oracle of moral, even of Christian edification; a master of literary style and a model [for] dramatic art." Seneca was born in Córdoba in the Roman province of Baetica in Hispania . His branch of the Annaea gens consisted of Italic colonists, of Umbrian or Paelignian origins. His father was Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder , a Spanish-born Roman knight who had gained fame as

2844-501: The aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy , a plot to kill Nero. Although it is unlikely that Seneca was part of the conspiracy, Nero ordered him to kill himself. Seneca followed tradition by severing several veins in order to bleed to death , and his wife Pompeia Paulina attempted to share his fate. Cassius Dio, who wished to emphasize the relentlessness of Nero, focused on how Seneca had attended to his last-minute letters, and how his death

2923-423: The best of circumstances. And indeed, now they are the best, since my spirit, devoid of all other preoccupations, has room for its own activities, and either delights in easier studies or rises up eager for the truth, to the consideration of its own nature as well as that of the universe… Seneca wrote De Consolatione ad Polybium approximately 43/44 AD, during his years in exile. Scholars often refer to this work as

3002-405: The cause of irresponsibility of the emperor. One by-product of his new position was that Seneca was appointed suffect consul in 56. Seneca's influence was said to have been especially strong in the first year. Seneca composed Nero's accession speeches in which he promised to restore proper legal procedure and authority to the Senate. He also composed the eulogy for Claudius that Nero delivered at

3081-407: The death of her son. Vasily Rudich believes that "...the extent to which Seneca goes in his glorification of Cremutius Cordus is unbelievable." He also brings to attention the fact that "Seneca avoids any direct allusion to Cordus's alleged Republican sympathies, whatever their true character may have been." According to Rebecca Langlands , Cordus's story "...is a tale which vividly demonstrates

3160-451: The definitive representation of the part of Seneca's life he spent in exile. This Consolatio addresses Polybius , Emperor Claudius ’ Literary Secretary, to console him on the death of his brother. The essay contains Seneca’s Stoic philosophy, with particular attention to the inescapable reality of death. Although the essay is about a very personal matter, the essay itself doesn’t seem particularly empathetic to Polybius’ unique case, but rather

3239-489: The emperor as the source of his ‘high station’ and as the giver of his, ‘pleasure of being able to perform duties.’ (Ball) Seneca then delves into a series of prayers of devotion and flattery, which invoke long life for the emperor. This switch is sudden, abrupt, and incongruent with Seneca's Stoic philosophy. (Rudrich) It appears almost desperate in its presentation. In fact, the tone is so recognizably changed, some scholars claim other authorship besides Seneca. (Ball) However, it

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3318-577: The emperor will recall him from exile. In 49 AD Agrippina married her uncle Claudius, and through her influence Seneca was recalled to Rome. Agrippina gained the praetorship for Seneca and appointed him tutor to her son, the future emperor Nero . From AD 54 to 62, Seneca acted as Nero's advisor, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus . Early in Nero's reign, his mother Agrippina exercised his authority to make decisions. Seneca and Burrus opposed this authoritarian matriarchy which had become

3397-420: The following order: Seneca's writings were well known in the later Roman period, and Quintilian , writing thirty years after Seneca's death, remarked on the popularity of his works amongst the youth. While he found much to admire, Quintillian criticized Seneca for what he regarded as a degenerate literary style—a criticism echoed by Aulus Gellius in the middle of the 2nd century. The early Christian Church

3476-432: The foolishness of those who imagine that today’s regime can extinguish the subsequent generation’s memory. A few years after Cordus's death, Seneca the Younger wrote Ad Marciam in order to console Marcia, Cordus's daughter, on the occasion of her son Metilius's death. Even though Ad Marciam is not primarily about Cordus, Seneca indicates that the works of Cordus had been re-published. Suetonius unequivocally asserts that

3555-401: The funeral. Seneca's satirical skit Apocolocyntosis , which lampoons the deification of Claudius and praises Nero, dates from the earliest period of Nero's reign. In AD 55, Seneca wrote On Clemency following Nero's murder of Britannicus , perhaps to assure the citizenry that the murder was the end, not the beginning of bloodshed. On Clemency is a work which, although it flatters Nero,

3634-535: The influence of Euripides on some of these works is considerable, so is the influence of Virgil and Ovid . Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval and Renaissance European universities and strongly influenced tragic drama in that time, such as Elizabethan England ( William Shakespeare and other playwrights), France ( Corneille and Racine ), and the Netherlands ( Joost van den Vondel ). English translations of Seneca's tragedies appeared in print in

3713-825: The inhabited world... in huge conflagration it will burn and scorch and burn all mortal things... stars will clash with stars and all the fiery matter of the world... will blaze up in a common conflagration. Then the souls of the Blessed, who have partaken of immortality, when it will seem best for god to create the universe anew… will be changed again into our former elements. Happy, Marcia, is your son who knows these mysteries! (Seneca, Ad Marciam de Consolatione ) Seneca contrasted two models of maternal grieving: that of Octavia Minor , sister of Augustus , who, on losing her only son Marcellus in his twenties, "set no bounds to her tears and moans"; with that of Livia , wife of Augustus, who on losing her son Drusus "as soon as she had placed him in

3792-459: The mid-16th century, with all ten published collectively in 1581. He is regarded as the source and inspiration for what is known as "Revenge Tragedy", starting with Thomas Kyd 's The Spanish Tragedy and continuing well into the Jacobean era . Thyestes is considered Seneca's masterpiece, and has been described by scholar Dana Gioia as "one of the most influential plays ever written". Medea

3871-491: The negative image has been based almost entirely on Suillius's account, while many others who might have lauded him have been lost. "We are therefore left with no contemporary record of Seneca's life, save for the desperate opinion of Publius Suillius. Think of the barren image we should have of Socrates , had the works of Plato and Xenophon not come down to us and were we wholly dependent upon Aristophanes ' description of this Athenian philosopher. To be sure, we should have

3950-453: The plays seem to represent the antithesis of Seneca's Stoic beliefs. Up to the 16th century it was normal to distinguish between Seneca the moral philosopher and Seneca the dramatist as two separate people. Scholars have tried to spot certain Stoic themes: it is the uncontrolled passions that generate madness, ruination, and self-destruction. This has a cosmic as well as an ethical aspect, and fate

4029-504: The possibility that a text might be received in a way which the author had not intended or anticipated, and be received in a way which might have dire consequences for author and text." As Langlands seems to suggest, Cordus was thus a man deeply misunderstood as a writer intending to vilify the royal family of the time, by his seemingly seditious work. In his essay "Bookburning and Censorship in Ancient Rome", Frederick H. Cramer talks about

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4108-410: The potential interest of these years, for social history, as well as for biography, is so great that few writers on Seneca have resisted the temptation to eke out knowledge with imagination." Griffin also infers from the ancient sources that Seneca was born in either 8, 4, or 1 BC. She thinks he was born between 4 and 1 BC and was resident in Rome by AD 5. Seneca is said to have been taken to Rome in

4187-411: The praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus , provided competent government for the first five years of Nero's reign. Seneca's influence over Nero declined with time, and in 65 Seneca was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, of which he was probably innocent. His stoic and calm suicide has become the subject of numerous paintings. As

4266-498: The process: As many tears as are left to me by my own fortune I do not refuse to shed lamenting yours. For I will manage to find in my eyes, exhausted as they are by my private crying, some that still may pour out, if this will do you any good. In the text of De Consolatione ad Polybium , Seneca encourages Polybius to distract himself from grief with his busy work schedule. The tonal switch from consoling Polybius to flattery of Emperor Claudius occurs in chapter 12. (Ball) Seneca credits

4345-499: The reality that Seneca was both powerful and wealthy. Robin Campbell, a translator of Seneca's letters, writes that the "stock criticism of Seneca right down the centuries [has been]...the apparent contrast between his philosophical teachings and his practice." In 1562 Gerolamo Cardano wrote an apology praising Nero in his Encomium Neronis , printed in Basel. This was likely intended as

4424-655: The relative merits of the contemplative life and the active life, and he considers it important to confront one's own mortality and be able to face death. One must be willing to practice poverty and use wealth properly, and he writes about favours, clemency, the importance of friendship, and the need to benefit others. The universe is governed for the best by a rational providence, and this must be reconciled with acceptance of adversity. Ten plays are attributed to Seneca, of which most likely eight were written by him. The plays stand in stark contrast to his philosophical works. With their intense emotions, and grim overall tone,

4503-475: The rhetorical devices common to the Consolatio Tradition , while also incorporating his Stoic Philosophy. Seneca is the consoler and the one inflicting suffering in this work, and notes this paradox in the text. Seneca was charged with adultery with Julia Livilla , sister of Emperor Caligula in 41 AD. He was shortly after exiled to Corsica . Scholars have concluded that the De Consolatione ad Helviam

4582-481: The right to sit in the Roman Senate . Seneca's early career as a senator seems to have been successful and he was praised for his oratory. In his writings Seneca has nothing good to say about Caligula and frequently depicts him as a monster. Cassius Dio relates a story that Caligula was so offended by Seneca's oratorical success in the Senate that he ordered him to commit suicide. Seneca survived only because he

4661-576: The short-lived School of the Sextii , which combined Stoicism with Pythagoreanism . Sotion persuaded Seneca when he was a young man (in his early twenties) to become a vegetarian , which he practiced for around a year before his father urged him to desist because the practice was associated with "some foreign rites". Seneca often had breathing difficulties throughout his life, probably asthma , and at some point in his mid-twenties ( c.  AD 20 ) he appears to have been struck down with tuberculosis . He

4740-529: The time and continued through later ages. Seneca was undoubtedly extremely rich: he had properties at Baiae and Nomentum , an Alban villa, and Egyptian estates. Cassius Dio even reports that the Boudica uprising in Britannia was caused by Seneca forcing large loans on the indigenous British aristocracy in the aftermath of Claudius's conquest of Britain , and then calling them in suddenly and aggressively. Seneca

4819-668: The time, but afterwards published. Laughable, indeed, are the delusions of those who fancy that by their exercise of their ephemeral power, posterity can be defrauded of information. On the contrary, through persecution the reputation of the persecuted talents grows stronger. Foreign despots and all those who have used the same barbarous methods have only succeeded in bringing disgrace upon themselves and glory to their victims. Cordus also appears in Ben Jonson 's Sejanus: His Fall . According to Martin Butler, "Jonson gives Cordus an eloquent defence of

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4898-432: The tomb, along with her son she laid away her sorrow, and grieved no more than was respectful to Caesar or fair Tiberius, seeing that they were alive." Several of Seneca's Moral Epistles are also consolations. Two of the consolations are addressed to Lucilius : Epistle 63 consoles him on the death of his friend Flaccus; Epistle 93 consoles him on the death of the philosopher Metronax. Epistle 99 consists largely of

4977-517: The tragedies is highly problematic in the absence of any ancient references. A parody of a lament from Hercules Furens appears in the Apocolocyntosis , which implies a date before AD 54 for that play. A relative chronology has been proposed on metrical grounds. The plays are not all based on the Greek pattern; they have a five-act form and differ in many respects from extant Attic drama , and while

5056-402: The victor abolished? Future generations give everyone their due honor; nor will there be lacking, even if I am condemned, people who will remember Cassius, Brutus – and even myself." Then he walked out of the Senate and starved himself to death. The Senate decreed that the aediles should burn his books. But they survived, hidden and then republished. For this reason one is more inclined to laugh at

5135-432: The works of Cremutius Cordus were put back into circulation during the reign of Gaius [Caligula]. Marcia seemed to have been actively involved in the re-publication of her father's works. When Seneca wrote Ad Marciam he mentioned that Metilius had died three years previously and Marcia was unable to seek solace even from her "beloved literature". Therefore, her contribution to the publication of her father's work pre-dates

5214-405: The worst of all possible outcomes is a tenet of Seneca's Stoic philosophy. While Seneca sympathised with Marcia, he reminded her that "we are born into a world of things which are all destined to die," and that if she could accept that no one is guaranteed a just life (that is, one in which sons always outlive their mothers), she could finally end her mourning and live the rest of her life in peace.

5293-643: Was a kind of disguised baptism, or a de facto baptism in spirit. Some, such as Albertino Mussato and Giovanni Colonna , went even further and concluded that Seneca must have been a Christian convert. Various other antique and medieval texts purport to be by Seneca, e.g. , De remediis fortuitorum , but with unconfirmed authorship, they have sometimes been referred-to as "Pseudo-Seneca". At least some of these seem to preserve and adapt genuine Senecan content, for example, Saint Martin of Braga 's (d. c. 580) Formula vitae honestae , or De differentiis quatuor virtutum vitae honestae ("Rules for an Honest Life", or "On

5372-457: Was also instrumental in saving his work, so that it could be published again under Caligula . Apart from Seneca, he is mentioned by Tacitus , Quintilian , Suetonius and Dio Cassius . Even though Cordus committed suicide, his work survived. The charge was, according to Tacitus, "a new charge for the first time heard" ( novo ac tunc primum audito crimine ). According to Mary R. McHugh, no one had been charged with maiestas (treason) for writing

5451-571: Was born in Colonia Patricia Corduba in Hispania , and was trained in rhetoric and philosophy in Rome . His father was Seneca the Elder , his elder brother was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus , and his nephew was the poet Lucan . In AD 41, Seneca was exiled to the island of Corsica under emperor Claudius , but was allowed to return in 49 to become a tutor to Nero . When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca became his advisor and, together with

5530-495: Was hastened by soldiers. A generation after the Julio-Claudian emperors, Tacitus wrote an account of the suicide, which, in view of his republican sympathies, is perhaps somewhat romanticized. According to this account, Nero ordered Seneca's wife saved. Her wounds were bound up and she made no further attempt to kill herself. As for Seneca himself, his age and diet were blamed for slow loss of blood and extended pain rather than

5609-407: Was important in making the Greek philosophers presentable and intelligible. His suicide has also been a popular subject in art, from Jacques-Louis David 's 1773 painting The Death of Seneca to the 1951 film Quo Vadis . Even with the admiration of an earlier group of intellectual stalwarts, Seneca has never been without his detractors. In his own time, he was accused of hypocrisy or, at least,

5688-404: Was increasingly absent from the court. He adopted a quiet lifestyle on his country estates, concentrating on his studies and seldom visiting Rome. It was during these final few years that he composed two of his greatest works: Naturales quaestiones —an encyclopedia of the natural world; and his Letters to Lucilius —which document his philosophical thoughts. In AD 65, Seneca was caught up in

5767-410: Was intended to show the correct (Stoic) path of virtue for a ruler. Tacitus and Dio suggest that Nero's early rule, during which he listened to Seneca and Burrus, was quite competent. However, the ancient sources suggest that, over time, Seneca and Burrus lost their influence over the emperor. In 59 they had reluctantly agreed to Agrippina's murder, and afterward Tacitus reports that Seneca had to write

5846-409: Was married to a woman younger than himself, Pompeia Paulina . It has been thought that the infant son may have been from an earlier marriage, but the evidence is "tenuous". Seneca's other work of this period, his Consolation to Polybius , one of Claudius' freedmen, focused on consoling Polybius on the death of his brother. It is noted for its flattery of Claudius, and Seneca expresses his hope that

5925-624: Was sensitive to such accusations: his De Vita Beata ("On the Happy Life") dates from around this time and includes a defense of wealth along Stoic lines, arguing that properly gaining and spending wealth is appropriate behavior for a philosopher. After Burrus's death in 62, Seneca's influence declined rapidly; as Tacitus puts it (Ann. 14.52.1), mors Burri infregit Senecae potentiam ("the death of Burrus broke Seneca's power"). Tacitus reports that Seneca tried to retire twice, in 62 and AD 64, but Nero refused him on both occasions. Nevertheless, Seneca

6004-415: Was sent to Egypt to live with his aunt (the same aunt who had brought him to Rome), whose husband Gaius Galerius had become Prefect of Egypt . She nursed him through a period of ill health that lasted up to ten years. In 31 AD he returned to Rome with his aunt, his uncle dying en route in a shipwreck. His aunt's influence helped Seneca be elected quaestor (probably after AD 37 ), which also earned him

6083-570: Was seriously ill and Caligula was told that he would soon die anyway. Seneca explains his own survival as due to his patience and his devotion to his friends: "I wanted to avoid the impression that all I could do for loyalty was die." In AD 41, Claudius became emperor, and Seneca was accused by the new empress Messalina of adultery with Julia Livilla , sister to Caligula and Agrippina . The affair has been doubted by some historians, since Messalina had clear political motives for getting rid of Julia Livilla and her supporters. The Senate pronounced

6162-586: Was the subject of attention from the Renaissance onwards by writers such as Michel de Montaigne . Seneca wrote a number of books on Stoicism, mostly on ethics, with one work ( Naturales Quaestiones ) on the physical world. Seneca built on the writings of many of the earlier Stoics: he often mentions Zeno , Cleanthes , and Chrysippus ; and frequently cites Posidonius , with whom Seneca shared an interest in natural phenomena. He frequently quotes Epicurus , especially in his Letters . His interest in Epicurus

6241-534: Was very favourably disposed towards Seneca and his writings, and the church leader Tertullian possessively referred to him as "our Seneca". By the 4th century an apocryphal correspondence with Paul the Apostle had been created linking Seneca into the Christian tradition. The letters are mentioned by Jerome who also included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, and Seneca is similarly mentioned by Augustine . In

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