Seneca the Younger

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger) (ca. 4 BC–AD 65) was a Roman philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work, humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature.

Biography

Born in Córdova, Hispania, Seneca was the second son of Helvia and Marcus (Lucius) Annaeus Seneca, a wealthy rhetorician known as Seneca the Elder. Seneca's older brother, Gallio, became proconsul at Achaia (where he encountered the apostle Paul about AD 52). Seneca was uncle to the poet Lucan, by his younger brother, Annaeus Mela.

“What need is there to cry over parts of life? The whole of it deserves tears…”

Tradition relates that he was a sickly child, and that he was taken to Rome for schooling. He was trained in rhetoric, and was introduced into the Stoic philosophy by Attalos and Sotion. Due to his illness, Seneca stayed in Egypt from (25-31) for treatment.

After his return, he established a successful career as an advocate, someone who spoke on someone elses behalf. Around 37 he was nearly killed, as a result of a conflict with the Emperor Caligula, who only spared him because he believed the sickly Seneca 'would not live long', anyhow. In 41, Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, persuaded Claudius to have Seneca banished to Corsica on a charge of adultery with Julia Livilla. He spent his exile in philosophical and natural study, and wrote the Consolations.

In 49AD, Claudius' new wife, Agrippina, had Seneca recalled to Rome to tutor her son, L. Domitius, who was to become the emperor Nero. On Claudius' death in 54, Agrippina secured the recognition of Nero as emperor over Claudius' son, Britannicus.

For the first five years, the quinquennium Neronis, Nero ruled wisely under the influence of Seneca and the praetorian prefect, Sextus Afranius Burrus. But, before long, Seneca and Burrus had lost their influence over Nero, and his reign became tyrannical. With the death of Burrus in 62, Seneca retired, and devoted his time to more study and writing.

In 65, Seneca was accused of being involved in a plot to murder Nero, the Pisonian conspiracy. Without a trial, Seneca was ordered by Nero to commit suicide. Tacitus gives an account of the suicide of Seneca. His wife, Pompeia Paulina, intended to commit suicide after Seneca's death but was forbidden to do so by Nero.

Works

Works attributed to Seneca include a satire, a meteorological essay, philosophical essays, 124 letters dealing with moral issues, and nine tragedies. One of the tragedies attributed to him, Octavia, is clearly not by him. He even appears as a character in the play. His authorship of another, Hercules on Oeta, is doubtful. Seneca's brand of Stoic philosophy emphasized practical steps by which the reader might confront life's problems. In particular he considered it important to confront the fact of one's own mortality. The discussion of how to approach death dominates many of his letters.

Seneca's Tragedies

In the beginning of the 20th century many scholars thought that Seneca's tragedies were written for recitation only (e.g. the German scholar Leo). Today there is general agreement that they were written for performance and that it is likely that actual performance has taken place in Seneca's life time. (George W.M. Harrison (ed.), Seneca in performance, London: Duckworth, 2000).

The tragedies of Seneca have also been successfully staged in modern times. The dating of the tragedies is highly problematic in the absence of any ancient references. A relative chronology has been suggested on metrical grounds but scholars remain divided. It is inconceivable that they were written in the same year. They are based on Greek tragedies and whilst the influence of Euripides on these works is considerable, so is the influence of Vergil and Ovid.

Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval and Renaissance European universities. So they strongly influenced tragic drama in that time, such as Elizabethan England (Shakespeare and other playwrights), France (Corneille and Racine) and the Netherlands (Joost van den Vondel) .

Tragedies:

Hercules Furens (The Madness of Hercules)
Troades (The Trojan Women)
Medea
Phoenissae (The Phoenician Women)
Phaedra
Agamemnon
Thyestes
Oedipus

Hercules Oetaeus (Hercules on Oeta) and Octavia closely ressemble Seneca's plays in style, but are probably written by a follower.

Dialogues

(40) Ad Marciam, De consolatione (To Marcia, On consolation)
(41) De Ira (On anger)
(42) Ad Helviam matrem, De consolatione (To Helvia, On consolation) - Letter to his mother consoling her in his absence during exile.
(44) De Consolatione ad Polybium (To Polybius, On consolation)
(49) De Brevitate Vitae (On the shortness of life) - Essay expounding that any length of life is sufficient if lived wisely.
(62) De Otio (On leisure)
(63) De Tranquillitate Animi (On tranquillity of mind)
(64) De Providentia (On providence)
(??) De Constantia Sapientiis (On the Firmness of the Wise Person)
(??) De Vita Beata (On the happy life)

Other

(54) Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii (The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius''), a satirical work.
(56) De Clementia (On Clemency) - written to Nero on the need for clemency as a virtue in an emperor.
(63) De Beneficiis (On Benefits) books
(63) Naturales quaestiones books of no great originality but offering an insight into ancient theories of cosmology, meteorology, and similar subjects.
(64) Epistulae morales ad Lucilium - collection of 124 letters dealing with moral issues written to Lucilius.
(370?) Cujus etiam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistolae: These letters, allegedly between Seneca and St. Paul, were revered by early authorities, but currently are not believed to be authentic by most scholars. [http://www.zenit.org/english/archive/9910/ZE991014.html#item4

Seneca as a humanist saint

Medieval writers and works (such as the Golden Legend, which erroneously has Nero as a witness to his suicide) believed that Seneca had been converted to the Christian faith by Saint Paul, and early humanists regarded his fatal bath as a kind of disguised baptism.

Dante, nevertheless, placed Seneca in the First Circle of Hell, or Limbo, a place of perfect natural happiness where good non-Christians like the ancient philosophers had to stay for eternity, due to their lack of the justifying grace required to go to heaven.

External links

Original texts of Seneca's works at 'The Latin Library' ^*

Moral essays (on Stoics.com)
John Cunnally, Nero, Seneca, and the Medallist of the Roman Emperors, Art Bulletin, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Jun., 1986) , pp. 314-317

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