What Makes Seneca

Although not the most popular stoic philosopher of the Silver Age (14-177 C.E.), Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s works later received their well-deserved praise through rigorous translations and artistic renditions, including William Shakespeare’s tragic comedy, “All’s Well That Ends Well”. Born the second son to a nobleman in Cordoba, Seneca the young grew up with some of the best minds and was educated by the first philosophy school in Rome, the School of Sexii. Seneca is seen by many as a significant player in late stoicism, influencing Rome by criticising their values and belief system, like rejecting the ideas that being wealthy makes you happy, and that anger is sensible. “It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more.” - Seneca, Letters from a Stoic. Seneca was also a great influence on tragedy as an art-form in Rome, and still is a great influence to this day.
Stoics of the Silver Age, like Seneca, sought to curb this impulsive and dangerous behavior by arguing that anger was not inherent or justified, but the result of being unintelligent. In 54 C.E. one of Seneca’s pupils, Nero, gained the title Emperor, and Seneca found himself in a position of great power as a magistrate. This enabled Seneca to further push his stoic ideals, starting with the humane treatment of slaves and the reduction of unnecessary violence. Seneca continued on with this kind of work until 64 C.E., where unfortunately Nero ordered Seneca to commit suicide, which Seneca did with a stoic