LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA, statesman, philosopher, advocate and man of letters, was born at Cordoba in Spain around 4 B.C. Despite his relatively undistinguished background and ever-recurrent ill health, he rose rapidly to prominence at Rome, pursuing the double career in the courts and political life for which he had been trained. Top 10 Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quotes at BrainyQuote. Share the best quotes by Lucius Annaeus Seneca with your friends and family. 'We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.' - Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

Seneca is a major philosophical figure of the Roman Imperial Period.As a Stoic philosopher writing in Latin, Seneca makes a lastingcontribution to Stoicism. He occupies a central place in theliterature on Stoicism at the time, and shapes the understanding ofStoic thought that later generations were to have. Seneca’sphilosophical works played a large role in the revival of Stoic ideasin the Renaissance. Until today, many readers approach Stoicphilosophy through Seneca, rather than through the more fragmentaryevidence that we have for earlier Stoics. Seneca’s writings arestunningly diverse in their generic range. More than that, Senecadevelops further and shapes several philosophical genres, mostimportant, the letter and so-called “consolations”; hisessay On Mercy is considered the first example of what cameto be known as the “mirror of the prince” literature.After several centuries of relative neglect, Seneca’s philosophyhas been rediscovered in the last few decades, in what might be calleda second revival of Senecan thought.

In part, this renewed interest isthe result of a general reappraisal of Roman culture. It is alsofuelled by major progress that has been made in our understanding ofGreek Hellenistic philosophy, and by recent developments incontemporary ethics, such as a renewed interest in the theory ofemotions, roles and relationships, and the fellowship of all humanbeings. And finally, some influential scholars have found, in the wakeof Foucault’s reading of Seneca, that Seneca speaks to somedistinctively modern concerns.

,Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65), fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca ( ), was a, statesman, and—in one work— from the.Seneca was born in in, and raised in, where he was trained in. His father was, his elder brother was, and his nephew was the poet.

In AD 41, Seneca was exiled to the island of by the emperor, but was allowed to return in 49 to become a tutor to. When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca became his advisor and, together with the praetorian prefect, 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 to Nero, in which he was likely to have been innocent. His stoic and calm has become the subject of numerous paintings.As a writer Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for, which are all. His prose works include a dozen essays and dealing with moral issues. These writings constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for ancient. As a tragedian, he is best known for plays such as his,.

Imagine fashion designer 3d. Seneca's influence on later generations is immense—during 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.' Part of a on. Contents.Life Early life, family and adulthood Seneca was born in in the Roman province of in.

His father was, a Spanish-born who had gained fame as 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 (later known as Junius Gallio), and Annaeus Mela, the father of the poet.

Says in her biography of Seneca that 'the evidence for Seneca's life before his exile in 41 is so slight, and 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.

First page of the Naturales Quaestiones, made for the Catalan-Aragonese courtAs 'a major philosophical figure of the ', Seneca’s lasting contribution to philosophy has been to the school of.His writing is highly accessible and was the subject of attention from the Renaissance onwards by writers such as. He has been described as “a towering and controversial figure of antiquity” and “the world’s most interesting Stoic”.Seneca wrote a number of books on Stoicism, mostly on ethics, with one work ( ) on the physical world.Seneca built on the writings of many of the earlier Stoics: he often mentions, and; and frequently cites, with whom Seneca shared an interest in natural phenomena.He frequently quotes, especially in his.

His interest in Epicurus is mainly limited to using him as a source of ethical maxims. Likewise Seneca shows some interest in 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 in his Stoicism, but modern scholarship views him as 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. Illustration of the suicide of Seneca and the attempted suicide of his wifeTen 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, 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 is a powerful, albeit rather oppressive, force.Many scholars have thought, following the ideas of the 19th-century German scholar, 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 had taken 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 the tragedies is highly problematic in the absence of any ancient references. A parody of a lament from appears in the, which implies a date before 54 AD for that play. A relative chronology has been suggested on metrical grounds but scholars remain divided. The plays are not all based on the Greek pattern; they have a five-act form and differ in many respects from extant, and while the influence of on some of these works is considerable, so is the influence of and.Seneca's plays were widely read in and and strongly influenced in that time, such as ( and other playwrights), France ( and ), and the Netherlands.

English translations of Seneca's tragedies appeared in print in 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 's and continuing well into the. Thyestes is considered Seneca's masterpiece, and has been described by scholar Dana Gioia as 'one of the most influential plays ever written'.

Medea is also highly regarded, and was praised along with Phaedra. Works Works attributed to Seneca include a dozen philosophical essays, one hundred and twenty-four dealing with issues, nine, and a, the attribution of which is disputed. His authorship of Hercules on Oeta has also been questioned.Seneca's tragedies (tragedies with Greek subjects):. or Hercules furens ( The Madness of Hercules).

( The Trojan Women). ( The Phoenician Women). ( Hercules on Oeta): generally considered not written by Seneca. First rejected by.(tragedy in Roman setting):.: almost certainly not written by Seneca (at least in its final form) since it contains accurate prophecies of both his and Nero’s deaths. This play closely resembles Seneca's plays in style, but was probably written some time after Seneca's death (perhaps under Vespasian) by someone influenced by Seneca and aware of the events of his lifetime. Seneca, and in a medieval manuscript illustration (c. 1325–35)Seneca's writings were well known in the later Roman period, and, writing thirty years after Seneca's death, remarked on the popularity of his works amongst the youth.

While he found much to admire, Quintillian criticised Seneca for what he regarded as a degenerate literary style—a criticism echoed by in the middle of the 2nd century.The early Christian Church was very favorably disposed towards Seneca and his writings, and the church leader possessively referred to him as 'our Seneca'. By the 4th century an apocryphal correspondence with had been created linking Seneca into the Christian tradition. The letters are mentioned by who also included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, and Seneca is similarly mentioned.

In the 6th century synthesised 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, which were popular throughout the medieval period. When his writings were read in the later Middle Ages, it was mostly his —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, a 13th-century 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. Placed Seneca (alongside ) among the 'great spirits' in the, or., who in 1370 came across the works of Tacitus whilst browsing the library at, wrote an account of Seneca's suicide hinting that it was a kind of disguised baptism, or a de facto baptism in spirit.

Some, such as and, went even further and concluded that Seneca must have been a Christian convert. An improving reputation.

The ', a Roman bust found at, one of a series of similar sculptures known since the Renaissance, once identified as Seneca. Now commonly identified asSeneca remains one of the few popular Roman philosophers from the period. He appears not only in, but also in and to a large degree in, who adopted his style in his own essays and who quotes him more than any other authority except.

In the, printed editions and translations of his works became common, including an edition by and a commentary by., Erasmus and others celebrated his works. French essayist, who gave a spirited defense of Seneca and in his Essays, was himself considered by a 'French Seneca'. Similarly, praised as 'our English Seneca'.

Many who considered his ideas not particularly original, still argued that he was important in making the Greek philosophers presentable and intelligible. His suicide has also been a popular subject in art, from 's 1773 painting to the 1951 film.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, 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 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. The claims of that Seneca acquired some 'three hundred million ' through Nero's favor, are highly partisan, but they reflect 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 wrote an apology praising Nero in his Encomium Neronis, printed in Basel. This was likely intended as a mock, 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. Baroque marble imaginary portrait bust of Seneca, by an anonymous sculptor of the 17th century.Seneca is a character in 's 1642 opera ( The Coronation of Poppea), which is based on the pseudo-Senecan play,. In 's 1675 play Nero, Emperor of Rome, Seneca attempts to dissuade Nero from his egomaniacal plans, but is dragged off to prison, dying off-stage.

He appears in ' verse drama Nero, the second part of which (published 1894) culminates in Seneca's death. Seneca appears in a fairly minor role in 's 1896 novel and was played by in.

In Robert Graves' 1934 book, the sequel novel to, Seneca is portrayed as an unbearable sycophant. He is shown as a flatterer who converts to Stoicism solely to appease Claudius' own ideology.

The 'Pumpkinification' ( Apocolocyntosis) to Graves thus becomes an unbearable work of flattery to the loathsome Nero mocking a man that Seneca groveled to for years. The historical novel Chariot of the Soul by features Seneca as tutor of the young Togidubnus, son of King Verica of the Atrebates, during his ten-year stay in Rome.

See also.Notes.