Seneca
c. 4 BCE – 65 CE · Córdoba; Rome
A Roman Stoic, statesman and playwright whose letters on time, anger and death remain some of the most readable philosophy ever written.
Key ideas
Seneca wrote practical philosophy. His letters to his friend Lucilius treat Stoicism as a daily discipline: rehearse misfortune in advance so it loses its power, judge things by whether they are in your control, and stop wasting the one thing that is truly yours, your time. His essay On the Shortness of Life argues that life is long enough if you know how to use it.
He shares the core of Stoicism: virtue is the only true good, and wealth, health and reputation are preferred indifferents. He was also unusually open about his own failures to live up to it, which gives his writing a confessional tone.
“Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time.”
Seneca, Moral Letters 1, trans. Richard M. Gummere (1917)
Life, briefly
Born in Córdoba in Roman Spain, Seneca became a leading orator and writer in Rome, was exiled to Corsica under Claudius, and was recalled to tutor the young Nero. When Nero became emperor, Seneca was for some years one of the most powerful men in Rome, and grew very rich, which critics then and since have set against his praise of simplicity.
In 65 CE Nero accused him of involvement in a conspiracy and ordered him to take his own life, which he did.
Major works
- Moral Letters to Lucilius
- On the Shortness of Life
- On Anger
- On Tranquillity of Mind
- Natural Questions
- tragedies including Medea and Thyestes
Schools of thought
Appears in
Further reading
- EncyclopediaStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Seneca
- WikipediaSeneca the Younger