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)
Lucius Annaeus Seneca 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 restores 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. On Benefits, written between 56 and 64 CE, is a treatise addressed to Seneca’s close friend Aebutius Liberalis. The longest of Seneca’s works dealing with a single subject—how to give and receive benefits and how to express gratitude appropriately—On Benefits is the only complete work on what we now call “gift exchange” to survive from antiquity. Benefits were of great personal significance to Seneca, who remarked in one of his later letters that philosophy teaches, above all else, to owe and repay benefits well. (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 ...
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 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)
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 was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser 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 restores 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. Written near the end of Seneca’s life, Natural Questions is a work in which Seneca expounds and comments on the natural sciences of his day—rivers and earthquakes, wind and snow, meteors and comets—offering us a valuable look at the ancient scientific mind at work. The modern reader will find fascinating insights into ancient philosophical and scientific approaches to the physical world and also vivid evocations of the grandeur, beauty, and terror of nature. (shrink)
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.
A fascinating insight into one of the greatest minds of Ancient Rome, these works inspired writers and thinkers including Montaigne, Rousseau, and Bacon, and ...
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 ...
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)
A vibrant new translation of Seneca’s “On the Shortness of Life,” a pointed reminder to make the most of our time Who doesn’t worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay “On the (...) Shortness of Life”—a work that has more to teach us today than ever before. In How to Have a Life, James Romm presents a vibrant new translation of Seneca’s brilliant essay, plus two Senecan letters on the same theme, complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction. With devastating satiric wit, skillfully captured in this translation, Seneca lampoons the ways we squander our time and fail to realize how precious it is. We don’t allow people to steal our money, yet we allow them to plunder our time, or else we give it away ourselves in useless, idle pursuits. Seneca also describes how we can make better use of our brief days and years. In the process, he argues, we can make our lives longer, or even everlasting, because to live a real life is to attain a kind of immortality. A counterweight to the time-sucking distractions of the modern world, How to Have a Life offers priceless wisdom about making our time—and our lives—count. (shrink)
Throughout the centuries, Seneca has been admired as one of the greatest writers of antiquity. He has a way of expressing Stoic philosophy that makes it seem just as relevant to life today as it was two thousand years ago. Seneca taught that we should remain grounded in the present moment by being fully aware of the impermanence of life. In being clear-sighted and dealing with adversity head-on, it's possible to live a life of meaning and contentment in the here (...) and now, truly enjoying nature, art, friends and loved ones. The rise and rise in popularity of Stoic philosophy has made Seneca's letters bedside reading for many. This collectible, hard-back edition of Letters from a Stoic includes an insightful and original Introduction by psychotherapist and Stoicism expert Donald Robertson, author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (2019). (shrink)
This book is the first modern commentary on the second book of Seneca's Epistulae Morales. It contains a substantial introduction and a text and translation of the nine letters that constitute the second book of the Epistulae Morales.
Along with the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca's Letters from a Stoic is one of the major texts of Roman Stoic philosophy. Themes include the rational order of the universe, how to lead a simple life, the effects and benefits of misfortune, and the necessity of facing mortality.
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.
Senecas Briefe an seinen Freund Lucilius sind eine Einführung in die stoische Philosophie. Dabei strebt der Autor keine systematische Darstellung an; ihm geht es darum, Wege zur philosophischen Bewältigung konkreter Probleme des menschlichen Lebens aufzuzeigen. Themen wie Einsamkeit, Krankheit, der Tod berühren uns in gleicher Weise wie die Menschen vor 2000 Jahren. "Du entsinnst Dich doch noch, welche Freude Du empfandest, als Du die Toga des Knaben ab- und die des Mannes anlegtest und man Dich aufs Forum führte. Erwarte eine (...) noch größere, wenn Du knabenhaften Sinn ablegst und die Philosophie Dich unter die Männer aufnimmt.". (shrink)
