By any measure, Seneca (?4-65AD) is one of the most important
figures in both Roman literature and ancient philosophy. He was the
most popular writer of his day, and his writings are voluminous and
diverse, ranging from satire to philosophical "consolations"
against grief, from metaphysical theory to moral and political
discussions of virtue and anger. He was also the author of
disturbing, violent tragedies, which present monstrous characters
in a world gone wrong. But Seneca was also deeply engaged with the
turbulent political events of his time. Exiled by the emperor
Claudius for supposed involvement in a sex scandal, he was
eventually brought back to Rome to become tutor and, later,
speech-writer and advisor to Nero. He was an important eyewitness
to one of the most interesting periods of Roman history, living
under the rule of five of the most famous--and infamous--emperors
(Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero), through the
Great Fire of Rome (64AD), and at a time of expansion and
consolidation of Roman imperial power throughout the Mediterranean
world, as well as various foreign and internal conflicts. Suspected
of plotting against Nero, Seneca was condemned and ultimately took
his own life in what became one of the most iconic suicides in
Western history.
The life and works of Seneca pose a number of fascinating
challenges. How can we reconcile his bloody, passionate tragedies
with his prose works advocating a life of Stoic tranquility?
Furthermore, how are we to reconcile Seneca the Stoic philosopher,
the man of principle, who advocated a life of calm and simplicity,
with Seneca the man of the moment, who amassed a vast personal
fortune in the service of an emperor seen by many, at the time and
afterwards, as an insane tyrant? In this vivid biography, Emily
Wilson presents Seneca as a man under enormous pressure, struggling
for compromise in a world of absolutism. Seneca: A Roman Life
thusoffers us, in fascinating ways, the portrait of a man with all
the fissures and cracks formed by the clash of the ideal and the
real: the gulf between political hopes and fears, and philosophical
ideals; the gap between what we want to be, and what we are.
General
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