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This volume offers clear and forceful contemporary translations of the most important of Seneca's 'Moral Essays': On Anger, On Mercy, On the Private Life and the first four books of On Favours. They give an attractive, full picture of the social and moral outlook of an ancient Stoic thinker intimately involved in the governance of the Roman empire in the mid first century of the Christian era. A general introduction describes Seneca's life and career and explains the fundamental ideas underlying the Stoic moral, social and political philosophy that informs the essays. Individual introductions, footnotes and biographical notes place the essays in their historical and philosophical contexts, and further assistance to students is provided by section headings in the translations which organize the principal transitions in the argument and the more unfamiliar aspects of Seneca's writing.
The letters of Seneca are uniquely engaging among the works that have survived from antiquity. They offer an urgent guide to Stoic self-improvement but also cast light on Roman attitudes towards slavery, gladiatorial combat and suicide. This selection of letters conveys their range and variety, with a particular focus on letters from the earlier part of the collection. As well as a general introduction, it features a brief introductory essay on each letter, which draws out its themes and sets it in context. The commentary explains the more challenging aspects of Seneca's Latin. It also casts light on his engagement with Stoic (and Epicurean) ideas, on the historical context within which the letters were written and on their literary sophistication. This edition will be invaluable for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of Seneca's moral and intellectual development.
"The life and works of Seneca pose a number of fascinating challenges. For one thing, how can we reconcile the bloody, passionate tragedies, with the prose works advocating a life of Stoic tranquility? An even more challenging question is, how are we to reconcile Seneca the Stoic philosopher, the man of principle, who advocated a life of calm and simplicity, with Seneca the man of the moment, who amassed a vast personal fortune in the service of an emperor seen by many, at the time and afterwards, as an insane tyrant? In this biography, Emily Wilson will present Seneca as a man under enormous pressure, struggling for compromise in a world of absolutism. His work and his life both show, in fascinating ways, the fissures and cracks created by the clash of the ideal and the real: the gulf between political hopes and fears, and philosophical ideals; the gap between what we want to be, and what we are. The book will assume no prior knowledge either of ancient Roman society, Stoicism, Seneca's life or work, but will weave these features together into a lively narrative, while presenting new insights into an author whose reputation is currently experiencing a revival within the academy"--
In this volume we find Seneca at his best, and over the centuries countless readers have found his letters on ethics edifying. They range in subject from how to live a Stoic life and retain one's humanity in a cold, impersonal society to why slavery is wrong to the foibles of debauchery. Seneca makes his cases in a sensible, even witty, fashion, usually without a censorious tone. This may well prove the most important volume in the series.
This book traces the eventful life of Seneca, the Roman philosopher, dramatist, essayist and rhetorician of the first century CE, who came from Spain to Rome, spent his youth in Egypt, was exiled to Corsica under Claudius but recalled after eight years, and rose to dizzying heights of wealth, power and social influence under Nero, before falling from favour and being forced to kill himself. The book analyzes the relationship of Seneca's life story to his literary self-fashioning, and the tensions between the external worlds of politics, consumerism, and social success, with the Stoic ideals of asceticism, virtue and self-control.
This Companion examines the complete works of Seneca in context and establishes the importance of his legacy in Western thought.
A selection of translations, adaptations, and imitations by various authors from the 1550s to the 1990s.
As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato famously banned tragedians from his ideal community because he believed that their representations of vicious behavior could deform minds. Aristotle set out to answer Plato's objections, arguing that fiction offers a faithful image of the truth and that it promotes emotional health through the mechanism of catharsis. Aristotle's definition of tragedy actually had its greatest impact not on Greek tragedy itself but on later Latin literature, beginning with the tragedies of the Roman poet and Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 BC - AD 65). Scholarship over the last ...
As chief advisor to the emperor Nero, Lucius Annaeus Seneca was most influential in ancient Rome as a power behind the throne. His lasting fame derives from his writings on Stoic ideology, in which philosophy is a practical form of self-improvement rather than a matter of argument or wordplay. Seneca's letters to a young friend advise action rather than reflection, addressing the issues that confront every generation: how to achieve a good life; how to avoid corruption and self-indulgence; and how to live without fear of death. Written in an intimate, conversational style, the letters reflect the traditional Stoic focus on living in accordance with nature and accepting the world on its own terms. The philosopher emphasizes the Roman values of courage, self-control, and rationality, yet he remains remarkably modern in his tolerant and cosmopolitan attitude. Rich in epigrammatic wit, Seneca's interpretation of Stoicism constitutes a timeless and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind.
This is the first commentary to be written in English on Seneca's Phoenissae, an intriguing work on account of its unusual structure and state of incompletion. The substantial introduction deals, inter alia, with the question of the unity and purpose of the work; the absence of an ending and of choral lyrics; the philosophical, rhetorical, and political content; Seneca's treatment of the Theban legend. The commentary is primarily a literary analysis of the text, but textual, linguistic, metrical, and grammatical difficulties are also elucidated. With the resurgence of interest in Senecan drama in the last two decadese, this book is a valuable addition to English commentaries that appeared on most of the plays.