Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 1 bc - 65 ad)

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman statesman and Stoic philosopher, is the earliest Stoic of whose writings any have survived intact. Seneca wrote, in Latin, tragedies and a wide range of philosophical works. His philosophical and literary work was carried out in the intervals of an active political career. He is most important for his ethics and psychology, although natural philosophy was not neglected. Unlike many Stoics he showed little interest in logic or dialectic. His most influential work was on the psychology of the passions, the nature of the human will and techniques of moral education; he also wrote extensively on social and political issues from a distinctively Stoic perspective.

Seneca was born into a wealthy family of the equestrian class at Cordoba in Spain. His father, the Elder Seneca, saw to it that his son was educated at Rome, where he rose to become a senator. Exiled and recalled by the emperor Claudius, Seneca became the teacher and advisor of the emperor Nero. His influence on Nero was considerable until 62 AD; Seneca eventually withdrew from active politics, but nevertheless was compelled to commit suicide in 65 AD for his presumed support of a conspiracy against Nero.

Seneca's Stoicism was affected by his early adherence to the Sextian school of philosophy, which emphasised asceticism and moral training. His Stoic education was thorough, and his works reveal the influence of Panaetius, Hecaton and Posidonius as well as the early heads of the school. He rethought many aspects of Stoic philosophy and continued the work of Cicero in developing a Latin philosophical vocabulary. His prose writings display a balance between his personal contribution and inherited school doctrine. He was a part of contemporary literary culture, famous for his distinctive rhetorical prose style and as the author of justly admired tragedies. The relationship between his philosophical convictions and the tragedies is controversial, as is the question of the impact of his philosophical convictions on his political activity.

Many of Seneca's works are lost, including a biography of his father, speeches, letters and a late treatise entitled Moral Philosophy. His surviving prose works include three consolatory works, To Marcia, To Polyhius and To Helvia (his mother). Most of his treatises on ethics were dedicated to close friends or family members, although On Mercy was addressed to Nero. Also of political note is a viciously witty satire on the dead emperor Claudius, the Pumpkinification. Late in his career Seneca wrote a lengthy work on physics, the Natural Questions.

Seneca is important for the history of Stoicism because he is the earliest professed Stoic any of whose works survive in complete form. It is not his aim to report on the history of the school, and his evidence for its early period must be used with care. His treatises confirm and elaborate on what is known about early Stoicism from other sources, but divergences and changes of emphasis are not uncommon. Seneca's philosophical works have been persistently influential, first on Latin Church Fathers and again in the Renaissance; Montaigne's Essays owe much to Seneca's Letters.