Notes on Seneca and Later Stoicism
1. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 4 BCE - 65 CE) came from Corduba (Cordova) in southern Spain. Through the patronage of Claudius' fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger, he was appointed tutor to her son, Domitius Nero, and when Nero became emperor (in 54) Seneca became his principal political adviser. Unable to check Nero's willfulness or to oppose the murder of his mother (in 59) Seneca lost his power at the court, and after 62 he lived virtually as a private citizen. He may have been implicated in the Pisonian Conspiracy of 65, the primary aim of which was to replace Nero. Seneca was condemned to death and committed suicide by opening his veins in a hot bath, a scene recorded in theatrical detail by Tacitus (in Annals 15. 62-63) and repeatedly painted and engraved by the seventeenth century artist, Peter Paul Rubens.
Seneca is the most important prose writer of the mid-first century CE. His Dialogues are philosophical treatises setting forth a less austere kind of Stoicism than that of the earlier Stoics, one that was compatible with the comfortable circumstances of his readers and with his own great wealth. He accepted the traditional Stoic ideals of Virtue and Reason as the basis of the good life, which should be lived "according to Nature" and as simply as possible. He encouraged participation in politics and public life, but advised withdrawal and even retirement if political activity led to compromise with Stoic ethical principles. All these doctrines can be seen in the De Tranquillitate ("On Tranquillity of Mind"), in which Seneca advises his friend, Serenus, on how to face life with calmness of mind. The term "Dialogue" is not to be taken literally. While the Dialogues of Plato were indeed conversations, Seneca's Dialogues are philosophical treatises in which Stoic doctrine is set forth in a non-threatening and informal way, just as one might talk to a friend about serious matters.
In his last years Seneca wrote a series of 123 Epistles to Lucilius, each of which is a philosophical essay on a more or less well-defined theme setting forth his Stoic doctrines, as can be seen from the extracts from letters 41, 75, and 107. Letter 47, on the proper treatment of slaves, is an example of his comparatively advanced humanity, and his analogy of physical slavery to a human master with moral slavery to the emotions and vices is typical of his methods of teaching. Yet we may legitimately ask whether Seneca questioned the institution of slavery, even while he counselled greater humanity towards slaves.
2. Seneca was also the author of the only surviving body of Roman tragic drama. Eight tragedies on Greek mythological themes survive, along with a spurious tragedy on the death of Hercules (Hercules Oetaeus) and the unique fabula praetexta (play in Roman dress), Octavia, which deals with the sufferings of Nero's wife and step-sister, Octavia (daughter of Claudius and Messalina). Senecan tragedy is passionate and of deep psychological interest. The story of the Thyestes had been dealt with by the Augustan poet, Varius (a friend of Vergil), whose [lost] play was performed during the celebrations for the triumph of Augustus in 29 BCE. Seneca's Atreus, the play's dominating character, is a powerful study in vengeance, madness and lust for power. The Phaedra deals with the same myth as the Hippolytus of Euripides, and its psychological portrait of the heroine is complex and powerful. Note that in Seneca's play, unlike Euripides' Hippolytus, Phaedra makes her declaration of love directly to Hippolytus.
The Senecan tragedies have been immensely influential, especially in sixteenth and seventeenth century France and England, the worlds of Shakespeare and Jonson, and of Corneille and Racine.
3. Epictetus (ca. 55-120 CE) was a freedman, and his experience as a slave gives immediacy to his teaching on Stoic liberty. Banished from Rome by Domitian, he taught in the Epirus (roughly modern Albania). His writings (in Greek) consist of a Handbook (Encheiridion), or summary of his doctrine, and four books of Discourses, which were published by his student, Arrian (mid-second century). The opening chapter of the Handbook contains one of his important original contributions to Stoicism, the distinction between things that are in our control and those that are not. Like Seneca, he drew the analogy between moral and physical freedom, as can be seen from the extract from the Discourses.
4. Epictetus was much admired by the Roman emperor (161-180), Marcus Aurelius, whose diary with the title To Himself, known usually by the title Meditations -- written in Greek -- contains his reflections on Stoic doctrine as it affected a man with enormous public responsibilities who tried to be a virtuous individual. Note his emphasis (inherited from Cicero and Seneca) on the universal citizenship of the Stoic (see 6.44 on p. 55). Marcus is the last of the Stoic authors, but important features of Stoic ethics survived in Christian ethical doctrine. (Note that Marcus had only contempt for the Christians. In his reign, the Christian apologist, Justin Martyr, was executed in 165.)