SENECA Lucius Annaeus(c. 4 BC - 65 AD) - an outstanding ancient Roman philosopher, representative of late Stoicism, writer, playwright, prominent statesman of his time. He was the ideologist of the Senate opposition to the manifestations of the despotism of the first Roman emperors. Under Claudius, he was sent into exile in Corsica, where he spent about eight years. Then he was the tutor of the future emperor Nero, during whose reign he reached the heights of power and wealth. In the 60s, he lost influence, the department was removed, and in 65, accused of involvement in the failed conspiracy of Piso, he committed suicide on Nero's orders.

The philosophical views of Seneca are closely related to ethics. They combine the ideas of Stoicism with elements of other teachings that affirm the ideal image of a sage who overcomes human passions, strives for spiritual perfection, and by his example teaches people to resist the difficulties of life. Seneca's favorite theme is the desire for independence from external circumstances and following the wise obedience to fate. This was most clearly manifested in his "Letters to Lucilius", which, starting from the Renaissance, were highly valued by moral philosophers and had a noticeable influence on the development of European humanitarian thought of the Renaissance and classicism (XVI-XVIII centuries).

Letter I

• (1) So do, my Lucilius! Reclaim yourself for yourself, save and save the time that was previously taken from you or stolen, which wasted in vain. See for yourself that I am writing the truth: some of our time is taken by force, some is stolen, some is wasted. But the most shameful loss of all is our own negligence. Take a closer look: after all, we spend the largest part of our lives on bad deeds, a considerable part on idleness, and all our lives on the wrong things. (2) Will you show me someone who would value time, who would know what a day is worth, who would understand that he is dying every hour? That is our misfortune, that we see death ahead; and most of it is behind us, - after all, how many years of life have passed, all belong to death. So, my Lucilius, do as you write to me: do not miss an hour. If you hold today in your hands, you will be less dependent on tomorrow. It's not that as long as you put it off, your whole life will rush by. (3) Everything with us, Lucilius, is someone else's, only our time. Only time, elusive and fluid, was given to us by nature, but whoever wants it takes it away. Mortals, on the other hand, are stupid: having received something insignificant, cheap and surely easily reimbursable, they allow themselves to be charged; but those who have been spared time do not consider themselves debtors, although even those who know gratitude will not return the only time.
• (4) Perhaps you will ask how I act if I dare to teach you? I confess frankly: as a spendthrift, meticulous in calculations, I know how much I have squandered. I cannot say that I am not losing anything, but how much I am losing, and why, and how, I will say and name the reasons for my poverty. The situation with me is the same as with the majority of those who, not through their own vice, have come to poverty; Pse forgive me, no one helps. (5) So what? In my opinion, he is not poor for whom even the smallest remainder is sufficient. But you better take care of your property now: after all, it's time to start! As our ancestors believed, it’s too late to be thrifty when it’s left on the bottom. And besides, not only little, but the worst remains there. Be healthy.

Letter II. Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) And what you wrote to me, and what I heard, inspires me with considerable hope in your account. You do not wander, you do not disturb yourself by changing places. After all, such throwing is a sign of a sick soul. I think the first proof of peace of mind is the ability to live settled and remain with oneself. (2) But look: is not the reading of many writers and the most varied books akin to vagrancy and restlessness? One must stay long with one or another of the great minds, feeding the soul with them, if you want to extract something that would remain in it. Who is everywhere is nowhere. Those who spend their lives wandering end up with many hospitables, but no friends. The same will certainly happen to those who do not get used to any of the great minds, but run through everything in a hurry and hastily. (3) Food is of no use and nothing to the body if it is vomited up as soon as it is swallowed. Nothing is more harmful to health than the frequent change of medicines. The wound will not heal if you try different drugs on it. The plant will not get stronger if it is often transplanted. Even the most useful does not benefit on the fly. In many books only scatter us. Therefore, if you cannot read everything that you have, have as much as you can read - and that's enough. (4) "But," you say, "sometimes I want to open this book, sometimes another." - Tasting from a variety of dishes is a sign of satiety, while an excessive variety of dishes does not nourish, but spoils the stomach. Therefore, always read recognized writers, and if you sometimes decide to be distracted by something else, return to what you have left behind. Every day, store something against poverty, against death, against any other misfortune, and after running through a lot, choose one thing that you can digest today. (5) I myself do this: out of many things I read, I remember one thing. Today, this is what I came across at Epicurus (after all, I often go over to a foreign camp, not as a defector, but as a scout): (6) "Merry poverty," he says, "is an honest thing." But what kind of poverty is this if it is cheerful? Poor is not the one who has little, but the one who wants to have more. Does it really matter to him how much he has in chests and bins, how much he grazes and how much he gets per hundred, if he covets someone else's and considers what is not acquired, but what still needs to be acquired? What is the limit of wealth, you ask? The lowest is to have what you need, the highest is to have as much as you have enough. Be healthy.

Letter VI. Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

• (1) I understand, Lucilius, that I am not only changing for the better, but also becoming a different person. I do not want to say that there is nothing left to remake in me, and I do not hope so. How can there no longer be something that needs to be corrected, reduced or raised? After all, if the soul sees its shortcomings, which it did not know before, this indicates that it has turned to the best. Some patients should also be congratulated for feeling sick.
• (2) I want this change that is taking place so quickly in me to be transmitted to you: then I would have even stronger faith in our friendship - true friendship, which neither hope, nor fear, nor self-interest can break, such as is kept until death, for which they are going to die. (3) I will name you many who are deprived not of friends, but of friendship itself. This cannot be the case with those whose souls are united by a common will and a thirst for honesty. How else? After all, they know that then they have everything in common, especially adversity.

You can't imagine how much every day, as I notice, moves me forward. - (4) "But if you have found anything and learned its benefits from experience, share it with me!" you say. “Why, I myself want to pour everything into you, and having learned something, I rejoice only because I can teach. And no knowledge, even the most sublime and beneficial, but only for me alone, will not give me pleasure. If they gave me wisdom, but with one condition: that I keep it to myself and not share it, I would refuse it. Any benefit is not to our joy if we possess it alone.

(5) I will also send you books, and so that you do not waste your time looking for useful things, I will make notes by which you will immediately find everything that I approve and admire. But more good than words would bring you the living voice of the sages and life next to them. It is better to come and see everything on the spot, firstly, because people trust their eyes more than their ears, and secondly, because the path of instructions is long, the path of examples is short and convincing. (6) Hc would have become Cleanthes' exact likeness of Zeno, had he only heard him. But he shared his life with him, saw the hidden, watched whether Zenon lives in accordance with his rules. And Plato, and Aristotle, and the whole host of wise men, who then dispersed in different directions, learned more from the mores of Socrates than from his words. Metrodorus and Hermarchus, and Polnen made great people not by the lessons of Epicurus, but by living with him. However, I call you not only for the sake of the benefit that you will receive, but also for the sake of the one that you will bring; together we give more to each other. (7) By the way, I have a daily gift for me. That's what I liked today at Hekaton: "You ask, what have I achieved? Became my own friend!" He achieved a lot, because now he will never be alone. And know: such a person will be a friend to everyone. Be healthy.

Letter XXXIV . Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(I) I rejoice and rejoice, and, shaking off my old age, I inflame like a young man when, from your deeds and letters, I understand how much you have surpassed yourself (because you have long left the crowd behind). If the farmer is pleased with the first fruit of the tree he has grown, if the shepherd is pleased with the growth of the flock, if everyone looks at his pet as if he considers his youth his own - what do you think those who have nurtured a natural gift in another should experience when they suddenly see ripened what was tender under their sculpting hands? (2) I claim you: you are my creation. As soon as I noticed your inclinations, I took up you, encouraged you, gave spurs and didn’t let you go slowly, every now and then I urged you on, and now I’m doing the same, but I encourage the one who runs and encourages me. (3) You ask what else I need. - Now-το and the most important thing will go. It is commonly said that the beginning is half the battle; the same applies to our soul: the desire to become virtuous is halfway to virtue. But you know who I'll call virtuous? A perfect and independent man, whom no force, no need can spoil. (4) This is what I see in you, if you are persistent in your efforts, if you act in such a way that between your deeds and words there is not only a contradiction, but also a discrepancy, if both are of the same coinage. Your soul is not yet on the right path if your actions do not agree with each other. Be healthy!

Letter LXII . Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) Those who want to show that a lot of things do not leave them time for free sciences lie. Such pretend to be busy, multiply things and take days from themselves. And I am free, Lucilius, free and belong to myself wherever I am. I do not give myself to affairs, but I give in for a while and do not look for reasons to waste a hundred in vain. Wherever I stop, I continue my thoughts and think in my soul about something that will save her. (2) Having betrayed myself to friends, I do not leave myself and remain for a long time not with those with whom time or civic obligations have brought me, but only with the best: to them I carry away with my soul, in whatever place, in whatever century they didn't live. (3) Demetrius, the best of people, is with me everywhere, and, moving away from those who shine with purple, I talk with him, half-dressed, and admire him. And how not to admire them? I see that he lacks nothing. Some may despise everything, no one can have everything. The shortest path to wealth is through contempt for wealth. Our Demetrius does not live as if he despised everything, but as if he ceded everything to the possession of others. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) So do, my Lucilius! Reclaim yourself for yourself, save and save the time that was previously taken from you or stolen, which wasted in vain. See for yourself that I am writing the truth: some of our time is taken by force, some is stolen, some is wasted. But the most shameful loss of all is our own negligence. Take a closer look: after all, we spend the largest part of our lives on bad deeds, a considerable part on idleness, and all our lives on the wrong things. (2) Will you show me someone who would value time, who would know what a day is worth, who would understand that he is dying every hour? That is our misfortune, that we see death ahead; and most of it is behind us, - after all, how many years of life have passed, all belong to death. So, my Lucilius, do as you write to me: do not miss an hour. If you hold today in your hands, you will be less dependent on tomorrow. It's not that as long as you put it off, your whole life will rush by. (3) Everything with us, Lucilius, is someone else's, only our time. Only time, elusive and fluid, was given to us by nature, but whoever wants it takes it away. Mortals, on the other hand, are stupid: having received something insignificant, cheap and surely easily reimbursable, they allow themselves to be charged; but those who have been spared time do not consider themselves debtors, although even those who know gratitude will not return the only time. (4) Perhaps you will ask how I act if I dare to teach you? I confess frankly: as a spendthrift, meticulous in calculations, I know how much I have squandered. I cannot say that I am not losing anything, but how much I am losing, and why, and how, I will say and name the reasons for my poverty. The situation with me is the same as with the majority of those who, not through their own vice, have come to poverty; everyone forgives me, no one helps. (5) So what? In my opinion, he is not poor for whom even the smallest remainder is sufficient. But you better take care of your property now: after all, it's time to start! As our ancestors believed, it’s too late to be thrifty when it’s left on the bottom. And besides, not only little, but also the worst remains there. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) And what you wrote to me, and what I heard, inspires me with considerable hope in your account. You do not wander, you do not disturb yourself by changing places. After all, such throwing is a sign of a sick soul. I think the first proof of peace of mind is the ability to live settled and remain with oneself. (2) But look: is not the reading of many writers and the most varied books akin to vagrancy and restlessness? One must stay long with one or another of the great minds, feeding the soul with them, if you want to extract something that would remain in it. Who is everywhere is nowhere. Those who spend their lives wandering end up with many hospitables, but no friends. The same will certainly happen to those who do not get used to any of the great minds, but run through everything in a hurry and hastily. (3) Food is of no use and nothing to the body if it is vomited up as soon as it is swallowed. Nothing is more harmful to health than the frequent change of medicines. The wound will not heal if you try different drugs on it. The plant will not get stronger if it is often transplanted. Even the most useful does not benefit on the fly. In many books only scatter us. Therefore, if you cannot read everything that you have, have as much as you can read - and that's enough. (4) “But,” you say, “sometimes I want to open this book, sometimes another.” - To taste many dishes is a sign of satiety, but an excessive variety of dishes does not nourish, but spoils the stomach. Therefore, always read recognized writers, and if you sometimes decide to be distracted by something else, return to what you have left behind. Every day, store something against poverty, against death, against any other misfortune, and after running through a lot, choose one thing that you can digest today. (5) I myself do this: out of many things I read, I remember one thing. Today, this is what I came across at Epicurus (after all, I often go over to a foreign camp, not as a defector, but as a scout): (6) "Merry poverty," he says, "is an honest thing." But what kind of poverty is this if it is cheerful? Poor is not the one who has little, but the one who wants to have more. Does it really matter to him how much he has in chests and bins, how much he grazes and how much he receives, and a hundred, if he covets someone else's and considers what is not acquired, but what still needs to be acquired? What is the limit of wealth, you ask? The lowest is to have what you need, the highest is to have as much as you have enough. Be healthy.

Seneca welcomes Lucilius!

(1) You write that you gave the letters to a friend to pass on to me, and then you warn me not to share everything that concerns you with him, because you yourself are not in the habit of doing so. It turns out that in one letter you both recognize and do not recognize him as your friend. All right, if you used this word as a commonplace and called him "friend" in the same way that we call all applicants for elections "valiant men", or as a counter if we cannot remember his name, we welcome the address "Mr." (2) But if you consider someone a friend and at the same time do not believe him as yourself, then you are mistaken and do not know what true friendship is. Try to figure everything out together with a friend, but first figure it out in yourself. Having made friends, trust, judge before you make friends. Those who, contrary to the instructions of Theophrastus, judge, having fallen in love, instead of loving, having made a judgment, they confuse what should be done earlier, what later. Think for a long time whether it is worth becoming a friend to this or that, but having made up your mind, accept your friend with all your heart and speak with him as boldly as with yourself. (3) Live in such a way that you yourself will not be forced to admit anything that cannot be trusted even to an enemy. but since there are things that are customary to keep secret, share only with a friend all your worries, all your thoughts. You will consider it true - true and you will do it. Often they teach deceit by the fact that they are afraid of deceit, and by suspicion they give the right to be treacherous. Why can't I say certain words in front of a friend? Why should I not think that in his presence I am the same as being alone with myself? (4) Some people tell the first person they meet about things that can only be told to a friend, and to everyone, if only he would listen, they spread everything that they have boiled. Others are afraid that those closest to them would know something about them; these, if they could, would not trust themselves, which is why they keep everything to themselves. It should not be done this way or that way: after all, it is a vice to believe everyone and not to believe anyone, only, I would say, the first vice is nobler, the second safer. (5) In the same way, those who are always restless and those who are always calm deserve censure. After all, a passion for vanity is a sign of a spirit that is not active, but restless in constant excitement, and the habit of considering every movement painful is a sign not of serenity, but of effeminacy and licentiousness. (6) Therefore, keep in your mind the words that I read from Pomponius: “Some are so huddled in darkness that they do not see clearly everything that is illuminated.” Everything should be combined: both the lover of peace needs to act, and the active one needs to be at peace. Ask nature for advice: she will tell you that she created both day and night. Be healthy.

Personality of Seneca

There are few people in history whose judgments about the personality would be so contradictory as about the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), the son of a rhetorician who bore the same name. Some scholars glorified Seneca as the wisest and most virtuous person in all of ancient Rome; Christian writers showed the greatest respect for him, drew edification from his writings for themselves; there was even a legend that he was familiar with apostle paul that he was a Christian. Other scholars called Lucius Annei Seneca a hypocrite, a charlatan who, preaching virtue in his writings, extolling moral blessings, arguing about the insignificance of material wealth, was in fact a usurer and oppressor, increasing his wealth by all means, flattering strong people catered to the prevailing vices. It was even said that he inspired his pupil Nero with those rules that later made this villain an abomination of the human race. Everyone agrees only that Seneca was the most famous person of his time, had an enormous influence on Roman literature, on the mental life of his contemporaries and descendants. According to the view of the ancient world, a person was first of all a citizen, the concepts of morality were completely subordinated to the interests of the state and the people. Lucius Annei Seneca took a higher, purely human point of view, taught morality common to all people, spoke to the corrupted society of the falling state about the ideal order of life, about divine providence. In this sense, those who call Seneca the harbinger of Christian concepts are right. The form of his works is a secondary matter, compared with the content. Former writers strove to produce in the reader a harmonious mood of the soul by artistic and aesthetic means, they acted on the heart through an aesthetic feeling. Seneca in his works adheres to the rule of speaking directly to the heart of the reader, cherishes only the content of his words, and not the form of their presentation. It cannot be said that his language is not eloquent, his style is not energetic. On the contrary, he writes in strong language, and his style often shines with spectacular expressions, bold antitheses. But he does not have a smooth, harmonic construction of periods; his tone is always the same; everywhere he has rhetorical embellishments; the train of thought is uneven, often capricious; light and shadows are produced in him only by artificial antitheses. His style reflects the anxiety and precariousness of his character. Lucius Annei Seneca was a very gifted person, who had a lively, rich imagination, a strong mind, and extensive knowledge. But he did not have such a firmness of character that in the midst of an immoral situation he steadfastly clings to truth and goodness, he did not have the strength to resist temptations, to remain true to his conviction. In religion and science, Seneca preferred Stoic philosophy, but fell into a spineless eclecticism, did not even shy away from epicureanism. So in life, loving virtue, he was yielding to vice; knowing what the true good consists in, he gave himself up to sensuality, groveled before dominating debauchery, flattered strong intriguers; wished well, but was weak, and with all his mind was pettyly ambitious. The moral teaching of Seneca is not based on fundamental truths, it consists of many casuistic rules regarding particular cases, indicating voluntary death as the last refuge from misfortunes. The style of his writings reflects the precariousness of his character.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca. antique bust

“Lucius Annei Seneca was a personality of an extraordinary mind,” says researcher Bernhardi, “he had a lot of new thoughts, he was excellent at acting on the soul, captivating with a variety of ideas that quickly follow one another, with the pathos of his inexhaustible declamation. It is difficult to come to a fair judgment about this man, in whom great talent was combined with soulless vanity, Spanish ardor combined with cold rhetoric. It is tricky to make out how much pretense was in him, how much enthusiasm. His beautiful, often lofty thoughts would be even more attractive if one could think that they are expressed sincerely, from a firm conviction. But Seneca was a true representative of his time, full of contradictions.

“Who glorified virtue more eloquently than him,” says Gerlach, “who scourged vice more mercilessly? Meanwhile, he succumbed to worldly seductions. Seneca deeply understood and excellently described the noble freedom of the sage, and meanwhile he coveted the favors of Nero and served as his adviser even in crimes. He revealed the innermost secrets of the human heart; for him only his own heart remained a mystery, in which irreconcilable desires were entangled. He, like a prophet, foresaw the future development of human concepts, but the present held him in fetters. Sublime thoughts filled his soul and lifted it into better world, and following these thoughts we find in Annei Seneca arguments of a completely worldly, even sensual direction. He understood the truth, but he had no will power. He enriched his mind with knowledge, but his soul was not enlightened by love for the good. Seneca felt the shame of the present, but could not rise above it. Devotion to a lofty moral ideal in words is an insufficient reward for the paucity of innate, spiritual nobility that manifests itself in his personality and life.

Brief biography of Seneca

Seneca moved to Rome in his youth, studied rhetoric and philosophy there, then devoted himself public service. He reached the rank of quaestor, but his career was cut short by an eight-year exile in Corsica. Seneca was exiled in the first year of the reign of Emperor Claudius. The reason for this was, as they say, the participation in debauchery of Julia, daughter of Germanicus (sister of Caligula). Agrippina, having become empress, returned him to Rome, appointed her son Nero as an educator; gave him a praetorship, then a consulate (in 58). He repaid her favors with flattery. Seneca tried to soften the violence and cruelty of his pupil, but that his worries were in vain, because Nero was already spoiled when he was entrusted to him. Lucius Annaeus Seneca knew how to combine life in a depraved court with his virtuous convictions, and if the news transmitted by the historian is true Dion, then he increased by usury the wealth given to him by the favors of the emperor. He had magnificent gardens and villas, he led the luxurious life of the Roman nobles. Seneca considered imperial power a necessity; said that the emperor is the soul of the state, that subjects should love the sovereign and be obedient; but he tried to keep the emperor from ferocity. Piso's conspiracy gave Nero a welcome excuse to get rid of the boring moralist. Seneca was accused of being involved in this malevolence. By order of the emperor, he cut his arteries and hastened his death by suffocating with the vapors of a hot bath. Seneca's wife Paulina wanted to follow his example, cut her arteries, but was saved from death: they managed to stop the blood, and she lived for several more years. Her face was forever extremely pale from blood loss.

Death of Seneca. Artist J. L. David, 1773

Seneca had great virtues, says Quintilian: quick and strong mind, great diligence, extensive knowledge (however, those assistants to whom he instructed to look for information sometimes deceived him). His literary activity was very versatile, he wrote speeches, poems, conversations, messages. In philosophy, he lacked solidity, but in his works he masterfully attacked vices, he had many excellent thoughts and good characteristics, only his style was bad and acted all the more harmful because his bad qualities were attractive.

Seneca "Moral Letters to Lucilius"

Many works of Seneca have come down to us. (See also the articles Seneca - a summary of the works, Tragedies of Seneca, Seneca "Oedipus" - a summary, Seneca "Medea" - a summary).

The collection of "Moral letters" (Epistolae morales) of Seneca to Lucilius, is an anthology of moral philosophy; The presentation is not strictly systematic. It is rich in subtle remarks about persons and facts. 124 letters have come down to us; they were written in 62 - 65 years. At the end of the collection, Seneca says that he wanted to explain to his young friend the superiority of man over other creatures: “It consists in a free, pure spirit, striving for God, towering above everything earthly, finding all blessings in itself. So what is your dignity? Intelligence. Develop it as much as you can." The collection was made public, probably after the death of Seneca. This work is filled with sublime aphorisms and reasoning about them, sometimes similar to sermons. Seneca constantly proves in the "Moral Letters" the superiority of virtue, a pure conscience, a pious life over wealth and earthly pleasures, says that true happiness consists in wisdom, in the renunciation of selfishness, in love for God and good people.

Philosophical treatises of Seneca

A series of philosophical and moral reasonings of Seneca on various issues of morality adjoins the Moral Letters. The unfinished treatise "On Mercy" (De clementia), dedicated to Nero and written in 56, explains how good mercy is in a sovereign and how it should be expressed in him. The treatise On Anger shows the evil consequences of this passion. In the treatise "On Good Deeds" with tedious thoroughness are listed and explained different types good deeds. Much more entertaining are the little discourses of Lucius Annaeus Seneca on some of the basic thoughts of Stoic morality, such as the discourse “On Providence”, which proves the need to recognize divine providence by the improvement of the universe and explains that a true sage may be subject to disasters, but never suffers misfortune, because he above all the accidents of life, and suicide, permissible according to the teachings of the Stoics, always gives him the opportunity to get rid of misfortune. Seneca's treatises "On peace of mind”, “On constancy”, “On the brevity of life”, “On happy life". The discourse "On Peace of Mind", dedicated to Seneca's friend, Anna Serenus, was written in 49. In the treatise On a Happy Life, Seneca proves that happiness is impossible without virtue, as if to justify himself, he adds that there are other goods, such as health and wealth, which, if not necessary, are useful for happiness. that should not despise wealth, should not only give it dominion over the soul. To the same group of philosophical treatises of Seneca belongs the passage "On the Muse of the Wise Man".

The best works of Seneca include two philosophical letters “In consolation” (De consulatione) by his mother Helvia and Marcia, daughter of the historian Cremucius Kord. The letter “For Consolation” to the freedman and favorite of Emperor Claudius has a completely different character.

In a letter to Helvia, written during his exile in 42, Seneca consoles and reassures his mother, upset by this disaster. The arguments cited by Seneca in this treatise have nothing new, but they are well stated, they contain many beautiful thoughts about the peace of mind that a clear conscience, intellectual pursuits, noble aspirations give a person, about the indifference with which the philosopher endures all worldly troubles; therefore this letter always had a reassuring and encouraging effect on saddened people. But a disgusting effect is produced by a letter in which Seneca consoles Polybius, a powerful freedman, saddened by the death of his brother. It was also written during the exile (in 43) and has come down to us in a corrupted form. Court rhetoric, spineless flattery to the vulgar favorite of the emperor Claudius and Claudius himself appears here in such an exaggerated way that the admirers of Seneca called this letter forged; it was probably not meant to be made public. Subserviently humiliating himself before the emperor who sent him and the exile, and before Polybius, Seneca dishonors philosophy and gives deplorable proof that his noble tirades did not come from the heart, but were only products of quick wit and talent.

Bust of Seneca. Sculptor M. Soldani Bentzi, turn of the 17th-18th centuries.

Incomparably better is the philosophical letter to Marcius, probably written shortly before the exile (in 41). It is rich in thoughts expressed vividly. The daughter of a staunch Stoic and Republican, who virtuously took his own life, experienced so much grief that Seneca found it necessary to speak to her in an energetic tone. He talks most of all about the fact that fate often strikes hard blows. the best people that earthly happiness is never complete, that early death during the reign of vices is a return to a better world, that it is gratifying, that in such times it is the only true salvation from persecution and suffering.

A witty, very caustic satire is attributed to Seneca, depicting the deceased emperor Claudius in the most contemptible form and written partly in prose, partly in verse. It is called Apokolokyntosis ("pumping", "turning into a pumpkin" - a word modeled on the word apotheosis, "deification", which was honored by other dead emperors). She tells that Claudius, "a man created by the gods in their anger", appears in the kingdom of the dead and, at the suggestion of Augustus, is expelled from the society of celestials, taken to that area of ​​​​the underworld where the condemned villains are; there, the friends he killed, his wife and servants greet him with curses. According to their complaint, the judge of the dead condemns him, who loved the game of dice ("forever playing unsuccessfully at dice"). Finally, Caligula demands that Claudius be given to him as his slave and gives him to his freedman Menander to serve as a dog.

Natural science works of Seneca

One of the most important works of Seneca - "Studies in Natural Science" - a treatise consisting of seven books (Quaestionum Naturalium libri VII). Seneca dedicated this work to Lucilius, to whom he addressed his Moral Letters. It is the most important work of Roman literature on physics and served as the main guide to its study in the Middle Ages. The presentation of information on natural science becomes for Seneca a means to prove the truth of the religious and moral convictions that he holds. Therefore, his exposition is constantly accompanied by moral notes. He makes an overview of celestial phenomena, especially electrical ones, talks about comets, water, air, earthquakes. His presentation is lively, but there is no calmness necessary for a naturalist, the style is rhetorical, everything is considered from a teleological point of view, and often Seneca reproaches people for not understanding the goals of fishing and acting contrary to them. At the end of the work, he complains about the indifference of his contemporaries to natural science and philosophy. The names of philosophers, he says, are less known than the names of pantomimes.

Forged Letters of Seneca to the Apostle Paul

There is a collection of letters from Lucius Annaeus Seneca to the Apostle Paul (eight letters) and from Paul to Seneca (six letters). These letters are forged, but the forgery itself testifies to the strong impression made by the writings of Seneca on Christians. He has many thoughts similar to the teachings of the Apostle Paul, therefore, even in relatively recent times, attempts were made to prove Paul's acquaintance with the writings of Seneca or, on the contrary, the borrowing of Paul's thoughts by Seneca . These attempts are completely wrong.

Introduction 3
Seneca A.L. Moral letters to Lucilius 5
Conclusion 13
References 14
Vocabulary 16
Diagram: Seneca's concept

Introduction

Lucius Annei Seneca was born in Spain, in Cordub, at the turn of two historical eras. He had a huge political success in Rome. Condemned to death by Nero, he committed suicide in 65 AD, accepting death with the firmness and fortitude worthy of a Stoic. Numerous of his works have come down to us, among which are works called Dialogues, Moral Letters to Lucilius (124 letters in 20 books), tragedies, where his ethics are embodied: Medea, Phaedra, Oedipus, " Agamemnon" "Frantic Hercules", "Fiestes".
Seneca often looks like an adherent of the pantheistic dogma of the Stoya: God is immanent in the world as Providence, He is the inner Mind that forms matter, He is Nature, He is Destiny. Where Seneca is truly original is in the sense of the divine with an emphasis on the spiritual, and even the personal. The situation is similar in psychology. Seneca emphasizes the dualism of soul and body with accents close to Plato's Phaedo. The body is burdensome, it is a prison, chains that bind the soul. The soul, as truly human, must be freed from the body in order to be cleansed. Obviously, this does not fit in with the Stoic idea that the soul is a body, a pneumatic substance, a subtle breath. To tell the truth, in an intuitive way, Seneca leads beyond the limits of stoic materialism, however, not being able to find a new ontological basis, he leaves his guesses hanging in the air.
On the basis of psychological analysis, where Seneca is indeed a master, he discovers the concept of "conscience" (conscientia) as the spiritual force and moral foundation of man, placing it in the first place with a decisiveness unprecedented before him, neither in Greek nor in Roman philosophy. Conscience is the comprehension of good and evil, intuition is primary and irreplaceable.
Nobody can run away from conscience, because a person is a being, unable to hide in himself, unable to fit in himself. A criminal can get away from the pursuit of the law, but it is impossible to get away from the inexorable judge-sorcerer, bites of conscience.
The Stoics traditionally adhered to the fact that moral action is determined by the "disposition of the soul", and this latter was interpreted in the spirit of the intellectualism of all Greek ethics, as something that is born in knowledge, and only the sage reaches high levels. Seneca goes further and talks about volition, voluntas, and, for the first time in the history of the classics, about volition that is different from the cognitive, independent ability of the soul. This discovery of Seneca was not without the help of the Latin language: in fact, in the Greek language there is no term that can be adequately correlated with the Latin "voluntas" (will). Be that as it may, but Seneca failed to theoretically substantiate this discovery.
Another point distinguishes Seneca from the ancient Stoics: the emphasis on the concepts of sin and guilt, which deprive the human image of purity. Man is sinful because he cannot be otherwise. Such a statement by Seneca is strongly antithetical to the ancient Stoics, who dogmatically prescribed perfection to the sage. But if someone is sinless, says Seneca, he is not a man; and the sage, remaining a man, is a sinner.
Seneca, perhaps more than other Stoics, is a determined opponent of the institution of slavery and social differences. True value and true nobility do not depend on birth, but on virtue, and virtue is available to everyone: it requires a person "in the naked."
noble birth and social slavery- a game of chance, everyone can find among their ancestors both slaves and masters; but, in the final analysis, all men are equal. The only justified sense of nobility lies in true spirituality, which is won, but not inherited, in the relentless effort for self-determination. Here is the norm of behavior that Seneca considers acceptable: "Treat your subordinates as you would like to be treated by those who are higher and stronger than you." It is clear that this maxim sounds evangelical.
As for relations between people in general, Seneca sees the true foundation for them - brotherhood and love. "Nature makes us all brothers, made of the same elements, appointed to the same goals. She puts in us a feeling of love, making us sociable, gives life the law of equality and justice, and according to her ideal laws, there is nothing more It is better to be offended than to offend. It makes us ready to help and do good. Let us keep in our hearts and on our lips the words: "I am a man, and nothing human is alien to me. Let us always remember that we were born for society, and our society is like a stone arch, which does not fall only because the stones, leaning one on the other, support each other, and they, in turn, firmly hold the arch.

Seneca A.L. Moral letters to Lucilius

As is known, the correspondence between Seneca and Lucilius began in the year 60 and lasted until the end of the philosopher's life (65). At first, the correspondence was lively, and while Seneca was studying Epicurus, he managed to write about thirty letters to his friend and student. These first letters are shorter than the subsequent ones; each of them consists of an aphorism read from some of the Epicurean philosophers, but in spirit worthy of being called general philosophical. These aphorisms Seneca calls Lucilia's "daily gifts" and jokes, saying that he spoiled his correspondent, so that one should not come to him except with a gift. Subsequent letters are longer, more abstract and have the character of small philosophical studies. In the most last letters disappointment, fatigue and pessimism begin to be heard, reaching in the one hundred third and one hundred and fifth letters (there were 124 in total) to such sharp tones of misanthropy that Schopenhauer himself could envy them.
As for the content of the work, it is a whole course of moral philosophy. Particularly detailed are those of its questions that are considered the most important among the Stoics. So, in the letters a lot is said about poverty, about free will, about the struggle with the vicissitudes of fate, about the immortality of the soul, about friendship, but everything is said in more detail and most of all about death, about how one should meet one's own death and how to relate to the death of loved ones. of people.
These pages of letters to Lucilius are all the more precious because the philosopher subsequently proved by his own death that his sermon was not empty words, but a sincere conviction of the heart, consciously put into practice. Seneca is a real teacher of death.
There is no suffering in death, the philosopher teaches. “The reason for the fear of death lies not in death itself, but in the dying person. There is nothing more painful in death than after death. But it’s just as crazy to be afraid of what you won’t experience as of what you won’t feel. what makes you stop feeling?" (letter 30). “Death is coming: you could be afraid of it if it stayed with you. But it will inevitably either not come, or it will happen” (letter 4). "There is no suffering in death: after all, it is necessary that there be a subject who experiences it" (letter 36).
Death should not be terrible, because we already know it: "Already because you were born, you must die" (letter 4). "We experienced death before our birth: after all, death is non-existence; what it is, we already know. After us it will be the same as it was before us. If there is any torment in death, obviously it was already before "we came into the world. But then we did not feel any suffering. I will say this: is it not absurd to think that the lamp is worse after it is extinguished than before it is lit. We also kindle and go out. During this period of time we we experience some suffering. Outside it, on both sides, there should be complete peace. The whole mistake is that we think that death will only follow life, while it preceded it "(letter 54).
Death is inevitable, and therefore we should not be afraid of it: “We are not afraid of death, but of the thought of death, therefore we are always equally far from death. authorities?" (letter 30). “Often we have to die, and we don’t want to; we die and still don’t want to. Of course, everyone knows that someday we will have to die, but when the hour of death comes, they hide from it, tremble and cry. But isn’t it absurd to cry about that you did not live a thousand years ago? And it is equally absurd to weep that you will not live a thousand years later. After all, it is one and the same thing. It was not and will not be" (letter 77). “We are dissatisfied with fate, but what is more fair: that we obey the laws of nature or that it obeys us? And if so, does it matter when you die, since you must die anyway. but enough to live" (Letter 93).
Death is a just phenomenon: “It is unreasonable to be sad, firstly, because sadness will not help anything; secondly, it is unfair to complain about what has now happened to one, but awaits all others; thirdly, it is absurd to be sad when and he who now mourns will soon follow those who mourn" (letter 99).
Death is not annihilation, but only a modification: "Everything ends, nothing perishes. And death, which we so fear and hate, only modifies life, and does not take it away. The day will come when we will come out into the light again, and who knows, perhaps many would not want this if they had not forgotten about their former life! (letter 36).
Death is deliverance from life's hardships: "It makes no difference when to die - sooner or later. Whoever lives is in the power of fate; whoever is not afraid of death has escaped its power" (letter 70). "Freedom is so close, and yet there are slaves! Know that if you do not want, you will have to die. So make yours what is in someone else's power" (letter 77). "The greatest blessing of life is that there is death. It is important to live well, and not long. Often even all the good is not to live long (letter 101). "He who has died does not feel suffering" (letter 99). "If pay attention to sorrows, then life is a debt even for a child; if for transience, it is short even for an old man. "" Whoever ends the path of life early is happy, for life is not good or evil in itself, but only an arena for good and evil" (letter 99).
There is nothing in life that would bind to it: “What makes you live? Pleasures? But you are fed up with them. You have tried everything in life. to dine later? life, because we send them well and skillfully. How? You do not know that one of the duties imposed by life is death. Moreover, you will not leave any of your duties: for their number is indefinite. It is all the same, when you end your life, if only to end it well" (letter 77). “In order to look more indifferently at life and death, think every day about how many people cling to life in exactly the same way as they cling to prickly thorns drowning in the fast current of a river. they don't know how to die" (letter 4).
Seneca, like other philosophers of the Stoic school, teaching to despise death, advised in other cases to resort to suicide. In the letters to Lucilius there are a number of examples of courageous suicide, historical or urban incidents from contemporary Seneca. Seneca admires the tenacity with which the suicides pursued their goal. But the story of Seneca about the suicide of a certain Marcellinus, who decided on it as a result of an incurable, although not dangerous illness, is especially characteristic. “Having divided his property among friends and rewarding slaves, Marcellinus died without resorting to either a sword or poison: for three days he did not eat anything and ordered a tent to be pitched in his bedroom. There he put a bath and sat in it for a long time, everything adding warm water, and in this way, little by little, completely exhausted his strength, moreover, as he himself said, not without a certain pleasure, like that which gives a slight dizziness when the soul leaves the body.
These letters are really the result of a lively exchange of thoughts with a friend through correspondence, and not just a special literary form of writing. The answers to the questions raised by Lucilius are convincing of this, in some places there are reproaches for delaying the answer or excuses for their own slowness, sometimes minor domestic incidents are told, Seneca's trips to villas or cities are mentioned. But what is very remarkable is that the content of the letters is always of an abstract-philosophical nature. In our letters we inform our friends about domestic affairs, about city rumors, we pass on gossip; there is nothing of the kind in the letters of Seneca. He wrote to the procurator of Sicily, a provincial, from Rome, almost from the palace, sometimes immediately after his meeting with Nero. And yet there is almost no mention of the emperor, not a word is mentioned anywhere about administrative news and rumors. Seneca went into philosophy with all his heart. All other affairs seemed to him a boring duty, an unnecessary burden in life. He became disillusioned with his political activities: at the end of his court life, he often had to act not only against his will, but also against his conscience. Since that time, he saw his true purpose in philosophy. Annei Serena, who reproached Seneca for cooling off state affairs, Seneca wrote: "Epicurus teaches that the sage can engage in public affairs if their importance requires it; Zeno finds that the sage should deal with them, unless there are particularly important obstacles to this; but both Zeno and Chrysippus had much more services to mankind, living aloof from affairs, than if they were engaged in military affairs or government. In many letters to Lucilius, Seneca proves that philosophy should be put above all else, and in one of them he declares that he is now busy with the most important matter: he deals with the affairs of all posterity, preserving for him the ideals of moral philosophy.