Seneca: Moral and Political Essays

The writings of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, tutor and political advisor to the young emperor Nero, are among our most important sources for Stoic philosophy. This volume offers, in clear and forceful contemporary translations, four of Seneca's most interesting 'Moral Essays': On Anger, On Mercy, On the Private Life and the first four books of On Favours. They provide an attractive insight into the social and moral outlook of a Stoic thinker at the centre of power in the Roman empire of the mid first century AD. A General Introduction on Seneca's life and work explains the fundamental ideas in the philosophy that informs the essays. Individual introductions place the works in their specific historical and intellectual contexts. Biographical Notes, based on up-to-date scholarship, provide the information necessary for a full understanding of the texts. To assist the student further, section headings have been inserted into the translations to mark the principal transitions in the argument and reveal the organization of these writings.