12/3/07 - Classical Literature - Seneca (4 BC/1 AD - 65 AD)

Seneca was born in Spain and educated in Rome in rhetoric and philosophy.

Life: Declamation, Philosophy, Tyranny

- Seneca's father: Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder and the declamation schools
- philosophical education: Stoicism
- Seneca's experience of politics and despotic power: Nero

Julio-Claudian dynasty: 14-37 AD, Tiberius; 37-41, Caligula; 41-54, Claudius; 54-68, Nero:
41: Seneca is banished to Corsica
49: Seneca returns and is appointed tutor to Aggrippina's son Nero
54: Nero's accession; Seneca becomes his political adviser and minister
55: Nero's (alleged) murder of his brother Britannicus
59: Nero's murder of his mother
62: Seneca asks to retire and offers to give his vast wealth back
64: Rome is devastated by fire; Christian persecution
65: Seneca is forced to commit suicide
68: Nero's suicide: "What an artist dies with me!"

For Stoics, the cosmos is ruled by a good God, who determines everything (i.e. fate), but also there is human freedom and choice. Happiness is important, so we have to be virtuous in order to be happy. Happiness entailed the soul and virtue, not success, wealth and health.