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Seneca

Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist and statesman, born in Corduba in Hispania, who served as tutor and then adviser to the emperor Nero. Ordered to…

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Also known as Seneca the Younger, Lucius Annaeus Seneca

c. 4 BCE – 65 CE · Corduba, Rome, Corsica

Traditions: Greek & Roman

Schools: Stoicism

Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist and statesman, born in Corduba in Hispania, who served as tutor and then adviser to the emperor Nero. Ordered to take his own life after the Pisonian conspiracy, he left essays and letters that remain the most widely read Latin presentation of Stoic ethics.

Key ideas

  • Time as the one possession truly our own
  • Anger as a passion to be prevented rather than moderated
  • Daily self-examination and the rehearsal of misfortune
  • Philosophy as a practice of living, not a display of learning

Major works

  • On Anger (De Ira, c. 41–49 CE)
  • On the Shortness of Life (De Brevitate Vitae, c. 49 CE)
  • On Clemency (De Clementia, c. 55–56 CE)
  • Moral Letters to Lucilius (c. 62–65 CE)

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