The Stoic: A biography of Seneca

by Francis Caldwell Holland

Overview

Fabulous wealth, literary fame, exile, an amazing come back to the height of political power and a tragic ending – the life of Lucius Annaeus Seneca - aka Seneca the Younger or simply Seneca – is one of the great untold stories of Ancient Rome. In The Stoic, Francis Holland presents a riveting portrait of the prolific but mysterious Roman statesman and philosopher whose works - especially Letters from a Stoic, Dialogues and On the Shortness of Life - remain popular and vital two thousand years later.

Modern followers of Stoicism, the immortal ancient philosophy so eloquently espoused by Seneca, will glean new insight into the influences and events that shaped the most famous Stoic's mind.

*Includes illustrations.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940157762261
Publisher:	Enhanced E-Books
Publication date:	12/21/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	108
Sales rank:	793,158
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, statesman, philosopher, advocate and man of letters, was born at Cordoba in Spain around 4 BC. He rose to prominence in Rome, pursuing a career in the courts and political life, for which he had been trained, while also acquiring celebrity as an author of tragedies and essays. Falling foul of successive emperors (Caligula in AD 39 and Claudius in AD 41), he spent eight years in exile, allegedly for an affair with Caligula’s sister. Recalled in AD 49, he was made praetor and was appointed tutor to the boy who was to become, in AD 54, the emperor Nero. On Nero’s succession, Seneca acted for some eight years as an unofficial chief minister. The early part of this reign was remembered as a period of sound government, for which the main credit seems due to Seneca. His control over Nero declined as enemies turned the emperor against him with representations that his popularity made him a danger, or with accusations of immorality or excessive wealth. Retiring from public life he devoted his last three years to philosophy and writing, particularly the Letters to Lucilius. In AD 65 following the discovery of a plot against the emperor, in which he was thought to be implicated, he and many others were compelled by Nero to commit suicide. His fame as an essayist and dramatist lasted until two or three centuries ago, when he passed into literary oblivion, from which the twentieth century has seen a considerable recovery.