Stoic Philosophy of Seneca Essays and LettersThe philosophy of Seneca has extended in influence from first-century Rome to the essays of Montaigne, to Elizabethan tragedy, to the theology of Calvin and the doctrines of the French Revolution. In The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca, representative selections from Seneca's writings offer the reader an excellent introduction to the range of his work. The selections are drawn from the essays, or dialogues, and the "Consolations;" from the treatises, of which "On Clemency," addressed to the young Nero, is included here; and from the Letters to Lucilius, which have to do not only with philosophical subjects but also with Seneca's personal experiences, such as journeys and visits. Moses Hadas has selected letters and essays which reveal Seneca's major philosophical themes—the relationship of the individual to society and to the gods; the meaning of pain and misfortune; man's attitudes to change, time, and death; and the nature of the highest good and of the happy life. In his Introduction, Professor Hadas discusses Seneca's life and work, tracing the history of his reputation; comments on Seneca's style; and outlines the origins and tenets of Stoicism. |
Contents
Holidays | 178 |
Travel | 182 |
Maxims | 185 |
God in Man | 188 |
Slaves | 191 |
How Many Causes? | 196 |
Suicide | 202 |
The Sole Good | 208 |
| 75 | |
Consolation to Helvia | 107 |
On Clemency | 137 |
Letters | 167 |
Friendship | 168 |
Moderation | 170 |
Crowds | 172 |
Old Age | 175 |
Scipios Villa | 216 |
The Subjects of Philosophy | 220 |
Philosophy and Progress | 226 |
The Happy Life | 239 |
Immortality | 248 |
Reason and the True Good | 256 |
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Common terms and phrases
admiration Aegialus Aeneid Aristotle Augustus bath beasts belongs better blood body Caligula Cato cause choose Cicero Cinna clemency consolation Corinthian bronzes course crowd cruelty danger death Democritus divine dumb animals Epicureans Epicurus evil exile eyes father fear follow Fortune friends Georgics give gods greater Greek grief hand happy Hercules hold honorable human immortal invented Julia Livilla keep king leisure live look Lucilius luxury man's master ment mind mortal nature never object oikoumene Panaetius perfect philosophy Plato pleasure Pompey Posidonius possess poverty praise prince punishment realize reason riches Roman sage scorn senate Seneca serene slaves Socrates soul spirit Stoic Stoicism sure things Thirty Tyrants thought tion torment true truth turn tyrant Vergil vices virtue whole wisdom wish wound wretched
Popular passages
Page 16 - One could wish that, while he relied on 130 his own intelligence, he had allowed himself to be guided by the taste of others. For if he had only despised all unnatural expressions and had not been so passionately fond of all that was incorrect, if he had not felt such affection for all that was his own, and had not impaired the solidity of his matter by striving after epigrammatic brevity, he would have won the approval of the learned instead of the 131 puerorum amore comprobaretur.
Page 92 - Even for studies, where expenditure is most honourable, it is justifiable only so long as it is kept within bounds. What is the use of having countless books and libraries, whose...
Page 202 - Living is not the good, but living well. The wise man therefore lives as long as he should, not as long as he can. He will observe where he is to live, with whom, how, and what he is to do. He will always think of life in terms of quality, not quantity.
Page 16 - One could wish that, while he relied on his own intelligence, he had allowed himself to be guided by the taste of others. For if he had only despised all unnatural expressions and had not been so passionately fond of all that was incorrect, if he had not felt such affection for all that was his own and had not impaired the solidity of his matter by striving after epigrammatic brevity, he would have won the approval of the learned instead of the enthusiasm of boys. But, even as it is, he deserves...
Page 44 - Scorn death, which either ends you or transfers you. Scorn Fortune ; I have given her no weapon with which she may strike your soul. Above all, I have taken pains that nothing should keep you here against your will ; the way out lies open. If you do not choose to fight, you may run away. Therefore of all things that I have deemed necessary for you, I have made nothing easier than dying.
Page 16 - ... level. But he pleased them for his faults alone, and each individual sought to imitate such of those faults as lay within his capacity to reproduce : and then brought reproach on his master by boasting that he spoke in the genuine Senecan manner. Seneca had many excellent qualities, a quick and...
Page 42 - What, then, is the part of a good man ? To offer himself to Fate. It is a great consolation that it is together with the universe we are swept along ; whatever it is that has ordained us so to live, so to die, by the same necessity it binds also the gods. One unchangeable course bears along the affairs of men and gods alike.
Page 20 - Great stripped the individual of the insulated shelter of his little city-state and forced him to come to terms with and find a place in an enormously expanded polity.
Page 22 - Above all, Alexander inspired Zeno's vision of a world in which all men should be members one of another, citizens of one State without distinction of race or institutions, subject only to and in harmony with the Common Law immanent in the Universe, and united in one social life not by compulsion but only by their own willing consent, or (as he put it) by Love.
Page 192 - ... who note their masters' tastes with delicate skill, who know what special flavours will sharpen their appetite, what will please their eyes, what new combinations will rouse their cloyed stomachs, what food will excite their loathing through sheer satiety, and what will stir them to hunger on that particular day. With slaves like these the master cannot bear to dine; he would think it beneath his dignity to associate with his slave at the same table! Heaven forfend!