Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC - AD 65) was a Stoic philosopher, son of Annaeus Seneca, born at Cordova, and brought to Rome when a child. He practised as a pleader at the bar, studied philosophy, and became the tutor of Nero. He acquired great riches. He was charged with conspiracy by Nero as a pretext, it is believed, to procure his wealth, and ordered to kill himself, which he did by opening his veins till he bled to death, a slow process and an agonising, owing to his age. He was of the Stoic school in philosophy, and wrote a number of treatises bearing chiefly on morals.
Wisdom & Quotes
- Fire is the test of gold, adversity of strong men.
- On Providence
- If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.
- Epistles
- Tanta stultitia mortalium est. ( Lord, what fools these mortals be! )
- Epistles
- All art is but imitation of nature.
- Epistles
- The soul alone raises us to nobility.
- Epistles
- Nothing is ours except time.
- Epistles
- Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.
- Hercules Furens
- We ask the outcome of a war, not the cause.
- Hercules Furens
- He worships God who knows him.
- Letters to Lucilius
- Luck never made a man wise.
- Letters to Lucilius
- Nature does not bestow virtue, it is an art.
- Letters to Lucilius
- There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
- On Tranquillity of the Mind
- Nobody becomes guilty by fate.
- Oedipus
- A good mind is a lord of a kingdom.
- Thyestes
- What else is nature but God?
-De Beneficiis
- Vices can be learnt even without a teacher.
- Natural Questions
- Uncontrolled violence is a fault of youth.
- Troades