Roman philosopher, statesman, and writer, born in Córdoba, S Spain, the son of Seneca (the Elder). Banished to Corsica (419) by Claudius, on a charge of adultery, he was recalled by Agrippina, who entrusted him with the education of her son, Nero. Made consul by Nero in 57, his high moral aims gradually incurred the emperor's displeasure, and he withdrew from public life. Drawn into conspiracy, he was condemned, and committed suicide in Rome. The publication of his Tenne Tragedies in 1581 was important in the evolution of Elizabethan drama, which took from them the five-act division, as well as the horrors and the rhetoric. He is most notable for his prose works on natural science, philosophy, and letters, marked by an epigrammatic style.
Biography
Born in Córdova, Hispania, Seneca was the second son of Helvia and Marcus (Lucius) Annaeus Seneca, a wealthy rhetorician known as Seneca the Elder. Seneca's older brother, Gallio, became proconsul at Achaia (where he encountered the apostle Paul about AD 52). Seneca was uncle to the poet Lucan by his younger brother Annaeus Mela. Due to his illness, Seneca stayed in Egypt from (25-31) for treatment. Around 37, he was nearly killed as a result of a conflict with the Emperor Caligula who only spared him because he believed the sickly Seneca would not live long anyway. In 41, Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, persuaded Claudius to have Seneca banished to Corsica on a charge of adultery with Julia Livilla.
In AD 49, Claudius' new wife Agrippina had Seneca recalled to Rome to tutor her son who was to become the emperor Nero.
For the first five years, Nero ruled wisely under the influence of Seneca and the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus. But, before long, Seneca and Burrus had lost their influence over Nero, and his reign became tyrannical. With the death of Burrus in 62, Seneca retired and devoted his time to more study and writing.
In 65, Seneca was accused of being involved in the Pisonian conspiracy, a plot to kill Nero. Without a trial, Seneca was ordered by Nero to commit suicide. Tacitus gives an account of the suicide of Seneca in his book, the Annals, in Book XV, Chapter/Number 60 through 64. Unfortunately for Seneca, who also chose to cut his wrists, his diet caused the blood to flow slowly, thus causing pain instead of a quick death. Tacitus wrote in his Annals of Imperial Rome that Seneca died from suffocation from the steam rising from the pool.
Works
Works attributed to Seneca include a satire, a meteorological essay, philosophical essays, 124 letters dealing with moral issues, and nine tragedies. Seneca's brand of Stoic philosophy emphasized practical steps by which the reader might confront life's problems.
Seneca's Tragedies
Many scholars have thought, following the ideas of the nineteenth century German scholar Leo, that Seneca's tragedies were written for recitation only. Other scholars think that they were written for performance and that it is possible that actual performance had taken place in Seneca's life time (George W.M.
The tragedies of Seneca have been successfully staged in modern times.
Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval and Renaissance European universities so they strongly influenced tragic drama in that time, such as Elizabethan England (Shakespeare and other playwrights), France (Corneille and Racine) and the Netherlands (Joost van den Vondel) .
Tragedies:
Hercules Furens (The Madness of Hercules) Troades (The Trojan Women) Medea Phoenissae (The Phoenician Women) Phaedra Agamemnon Thyestes Oedipus Hercules Oetaeus (Hercules on Oeta) and Octavia closely ressemble Seneca's plays in style, but are probably written by a follower. (62) De Otio (On leisure) (63) De Tranquillitate Animi (On tranquillity of mind) (64) De Providentia (On providence) (??) De Constantia Sapientiis (On the Firmness of the Wise Person) (??) De Vita Beata (On the happy life)Other
(54) Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii (The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius), a satirical work. {ALso has references to Nero as having a longer life than Nestor at the hands of the three fates-obvious flattery.} (56) De Clementia (On Clemency) - written to Nero on the need for clemency as a virtue in an emperor. (370?) Cujus etiam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistolae: These letters, allegedly between Seneca and St. Paul, were revered by early authorities, but currently are not believed to be authentic by most scholars.Seneca as a humanist saint
Medieval writers and works (such as the Golden Legend, which erroneously has Nero as a witness to his suicide) believed that Seneca had been converted to the Christian faith by Saint Paul, and early humanists regarded his fatal bath as a kind of disguised baptism.
Dante, nevertheless, placed Seneca in the First Circle of Hell, or Limbo, a place of perfect natural happiness where good non-Christians like the ancient philosophers had to stay for eternity, due to their lack of the justifying grace (given only by Christ) required to go to heaven.
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