Thus, Seneca served for a long time as one of only a few sources for Stoic philosophy. Lost are all of his speeches, including those he penned for Nero. Seneca’s health suffered, and he went to recuperate in Egypt, where his aunt lived with her husband, the prefect, Gaius Galerius. At least in the case of the perfect moral agent, these actions—that is, of someone who is not angry—would be fully guided by correct reasoning. As a Stoic, he is committed to the idea that emotional experiences involve false judgments. After the accession of Claudius as emperor in 41, Seneca was for a while prominent in the court as a member of the party of Agrippina and Julia Livilla, Claudius's nieces. Corrections? In On Anger, for example, Seneca advises that an angry person look in the mirror. Paperback $31.64 $ 31. To a great extent, Seneca’s philosophical texts reflect this preference: straightforward exposition is rare in his works. He was friend and tutor to Nero. One can, for example, see the intermingling of aims in the opening passages of On Mercy, where Seneca praises Nero’s virtues. Elsewhere, Seneca advises that the person who is grieving consider the difference an audience makes. In distinguishing the first, involuntary, movement of anger from anger itself, Seneca seems to be responding (or reporting his source’s response) to an objection to the Stoic view. His commitment to the school can be seen most clearly in his frequent return to a number of core Stoic positions—particularly the positions defended in Stoic moral philosophy. As one commentator notes, anger guides the action in all of Seneca’s plays (Wilson, 2010). He has little interest, as Cicero did, in demonstrating that Latin could accommodate the Greek technical vocabulary. Lucius Annaeus Seneca Roman statesman and philosopher who was an advisor to Nero; his nine extant tragedies are modeled on Greek tragedies (circa 4 BC - 65 AD) Update this biography » Complete biography of Lucius Annaeus Seneca » The more one understands the nature of things, the more one understands what is in one’s power and what is not. Ordered to commit suicide, he met death with fortitude and composure. The letter begins with some advice to Lucilius. His explanation attempts to show that anger is voluntary despite the fact that one cannot entirely control the way things appear. Albert Ellis, for example, who developed rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), was heavily influenced by Stoic views of the emotions, and especially by Seneca. Descartes, for example, used Seneca’s On the Happy Life as the basis for the ethical view he develops in his correspondence with Princess Elizabeth. This theme is common in Latin literature: famous phrases like “tempus fugit” (from Vergil) and “carpe diem” (Horace) illustrate this. This relationship itself eventually soured, and Seneca, under orders from Nero, committed suicide in 65 C.E. Seneca’s reply to this charge can be found in the passages from Letter 33 and On Leisure above. Two notable exceptions to this pattern are the Epicurean Lucretius’ epic poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), and the philosophical works of Marcus Tullius Cicero. A biography aimed at reconciling the apparently incompatible versions of Seneca—the wealthy man who praises poverty, the philosopher who is so engaged in politics, and so forth. While there is agreement now that our Seneca authored the tragedies, the relation between these works and his philosophical treatises is less agreed upon. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. Philosophical Substance and Literary Talent, Anger, Grief, and the Therapy of Emotions. A fost fiul lui Seneca cel Bătrân (55 î.Hr.-41d.Hr. He was Rome’s leading intellectual figure in the mid-1st century ce and was virtual ruler with his friends of the Roman world between 54 and 62, during the first phase of the emperor Nero’s reign. In the Medea, Medea’s anger at Jason leads her to murder her own children. He was the son of a famous rhetorician, known in history as Seneca the Elder. Lucius Annaeus Seneca. By the time Gaius (Calligula) Caesar died in 41 C.E., Seneca (now roughly 45 years old) had not yet advanced to the rank of Praetor, a rank for which he would have been eligible many years earlier. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. The Apocolocyntosis, a scathing attack on Claudius, has clear political and public aims (though little of philosophical interest). The efforts of Lucretius and Cicero to bring philosophy to Latin and to prove that Latin is sufficient for the task (a regular theme in Cicero’s works) largely failed. and no later than 1 B.C.E. e. 4 körül – Róma, Kr. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucius-Annaeus-Seneca-Roman-philosopher-and-statesman, Public Broadcasting Service - The Roman Empire - Biography of Seneca, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of Seneca, Theatre Database - Biography of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Seneca the Younger - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Anger, Mercy, Revenge (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) by Lucius Annaeus Seneca , Robert A. Kaster, et al. Seneca’s discussion of this offers no new philosophical insight. This may correspond, in some cases, with an elevated heart rate, a sinking feeling in one’s stomach, or the like. No emotional response is appropriate. According to the Stoic view, the cosmos is a mind writ large, in the sense that the movements and developments in nature at the cosmic level are the result of guiding intelligence. Lucius Annaeus Seneca was born in Cordoba during the reign of Augustus. A political skit, witty and unscrupulous, it has as its theme the deification—or “pumpkinification”—of the emperor. The murder of Claudius in 54 pushed Seneca and Burrus to the top. In Letter 33, Seneca chastises him for this and discontinues the practice of ending his letters with maxims. 4 BC died AD 65. At one end of the spectrum, some ancient sources regarded the author of the tragedies to be a different Seneca altogether. In 65 Seneca’s enemies denounced him as having been a party to the conspiracy of Piso to murder Nero. Seneca concedes that in the actual world, as it is now, that is true, but points out that circumstances can change. Seneca’s exile ended with the help of Agrippina the Younger, now wife of Claudius, in 49 C.E. Instrumental in guiding the Roman Empire under emperor Nero, Seneca influenced him from a young age with his Stoic principles. Seneca appears to have been comfortable writing in many genres. Yet his peace comes at the price of seclusion and for the wrong reasons. He was a tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. Instead, philosophical discussions are more localized, sometimes occupying the space of one letter, other times spanning a group of three or four. The De ira (On Anger) deals at length with the passion, its consequences, and control. This was no doubt partly due to the forged correspondence (long thought to be genuine) between Seneca and the apostle Paul. De beneficiis (On Favours) is a diffuse treatment of benefits as seen by giver and recipient. 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