Lucius Annaeus Seneca is one of the most important authors in the
history of Philosophy. In 54 AD, Nero, who had just become Emperor of
Rome, appointed him as advisor, and in 56 AD he attained the consulship,
the highest position of political power in Rome. A good number of
philosophical treatises as well as six tragedies by Seneca are extant,
which have had an important impact in Western culture, even up to now.
As it is well-known, Seneca was forced by Emperor Nero in 65 AD to
commit suicide, after having unjustly been accused of involvement in an
attempt to kill him.
Nevertheless, Seneca, who lives in Rome since he was (probably) five
years old (from ca. 5 AD [maybe even earlier]), was himself – as it was
the case of his father (Seneca the Elder) and his mother (Helvia) – born
in Corduba, that is to say in the Roman province Baetica. In a certain
sense, Seneca’s philosophy is nothing but a, maybe failed, – attempt to
‘survive’ the dependencies characteristic of his Roman life: “For the
highest good”, he wrote, “does not look for instruments outside itself.
It is raised in one’s own home, and is complete all by itself. If you
seek any part of it from outside, it begins to be subject to fortune”
(Summum bonum extrinsecus instrumenta non quaerit. Domi colitur, ex se
totum est. Incipit fortunae esse subiectum, si quam partem sui foris
quaerit) (Epistulae IX, 15).
Written over the two to three years before his death in the spring of 65
AD, “Seneca’s Moral Epistles to Lucilius (Epistulae morales ad
Lucilium) are”, as Margaret Graver and A.A. Long point out in his recent
translation of the text, “their autor’s most significant philosophical
contribution”.