This volume offers clear and forceful contemporary translations of the most important of Seneca's 'Moral Essays': On Anger, On Mercy, On the Private Life and the first four books of On Favours. They give an attractive, full picture of the social and moral outlook of an ancient Stoic thinker intimately involved in the governance of the Roman empire in the mid first century of the Christian era. A general introduction describes Seneca's life and career and explains the fundamental ideas underlying (...) the Stoic moral, social and political philosophy that informs the essays. Individual introductions, footnotes and biographical notes place the essays in their historical and philosophical contexts, and further assistance to students is provided by section headings in the translations which organize the principal transitions in the argument and the more unfamiliar aspects of Seneca's writing. (shrink)
SENECA S LIFE Lucius ANNABUS SENECA was born at Cordoba, then the leading town in Roman Spain, at about the same time as Christ.1 His father, Marcus Annaeus ...
The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and advisor to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection helps restore Seneca—whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to (...) Ralph Waldo Emerson—to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities. Hardship and Happiness collects a range of essays intended to instruct, from consolations—works that offer comfort to someone who has suffered a personal loss—to pieces on how to achieve happiness or tranquility in the face of a difficult world. Expertly translated, the essays will be read and used by undergraduate philosophy students and experienced scholars alike. (shrink)
A fascinating insight into one of the greatest minds of Ancient Rome, these works inspired writers and thinkers including Montaigne, Rousseau, and Bacon, and ...
Stoic philosopher and tutor to the young emperor Nero, Seneca wrote moral essays - exercises in practical philosophy - on how to live in a troubled world. Strikingly applicable today, his thoughts on happiness and other subjects are here combined in a clear, modern translation with an introduction on Seneca's life and philosophy.
This is the largest selection of Stoic philosopher and tragedian Seneca's letters currently available. In them Seneca advises his friend Lucilius on how to do without what is superfluous, whether on the subject of happiness, riches, reputation, or the emotions. We learn too about Seneca's personal and political life in the time of Nero.
senecas Apokolokyntosis ist eine Parodie auf die Kaiserapotheose. Sie drückt damit auch die innere Distanz aufgeklärter Römer zu einem Zeitproblem aus, das durch die Vergöttlichung des Claudius neuerlich aktuell geworden war. Schon die Neubildung des Wortes "Apo-kolokyntosis", oft als "Verkürbissung" übersetzt, ist ein boshaftes Wortspiel, das Assoziationen an "Ver-gottung" hervorruft. Seneca hat die durch Claudius ausgesprochene Verbannung nach Corsica nie verwunden; entsprechend bissig geht er mit dem als behinderten Trottel dargestellten Kaiser um. Die Satire lebt von einer Vielfalt der Stilebenen; (...) ständig parodierend ist sie um Anleihen aus älterer Literatur bemüht. Dem Wechsel des Schauplatzes entspricht das bunt zusammengesetzte Personal: Gestalten der Götter- und Dämonenwelt, Heroen, aber auch verstorbene oder noch lebende Personen bevölkern die Szene. (shrink)
Timeless wisdom on death and dying from the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca "It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die," wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca. He counseled readers to "study death always," and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated (...) by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker and dazzling writer who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out. Seneca believed that life is only a journey toward death and that one must rehearse for death throughout life. Here, he tells us how to practice for death, how to die well, and how to understand the role of a good death in a good life. He stresses the universality of death, its importance as life's final rite of passage, and its ability to liberate us from pain, slavery, or political oppression. Featuring beautifully rendered new translations, How to Die also includes an enlightening introduction, notes, the original Latin texts, and an epilogue presenting Tacitus's description of Seneca's grim suicide. (shrink)
Seneca's letters to his friend Lucilius are powerful moral essays that also yield illuminating insight into Seneca's personal life and the truly turbulent times ...
Seneca is the earlist Stoic author for whom we ahve access to a large number of complete works, and these works were higly influential in later centuries.
Senecas philosophische Schriften führen bald lehrhaft, bald im Plauderton, bald pathetisch, bald ironisch an Probleme heran, die auch die Menschen des 21. Jahrhunderts bewegen: Einsamkeit, Krankheit, Tod... Und seine Ratschläge sind alltagstauglich, weil sie nicht dem Forderungskatalog eines der Welt entrückten Heiligen entstammen. Das Buch enthält die Schriften: Die Vorsehung, Die Unerschütterlichkeit des Weisen, Der Zorn, Trostschrift für Marcia, Das glückliche Leben, Die Zurückgezogenheit, Die Ruhe der Seele, Die Kürze des Lebens, Trostschrift für Polybius, Trostschrift für Mutter Helvia.
