Profiles,\u00a0Stoic Philosophers Profiles, and More<\/p>\n
Author Nassim Taleb likes\u00a0to tell the story\u00a0of Thales of Miletus, an ancient Greek philosopher, who, as Nassim jokes, was \u201ctired of his buddies joking that \u2018those who can, do, others philosophize.\u2019\u201d And apparently Thales took that to heart\u2014after some smart moves he made a vast sum of money which allowed him to confirm that his pursuit of philosophy was genuine. To show that it wasn\u2019t a case of him denouncing wealth as \u2018sour grapes\u2019 out of inability to succeed.<\/p>\n
And Seneca was another philosopher for whom the issue of wealth and riches took central stage\u2014how can a so-called Stoic philosopher at one point be one of the richest people in the Roman Empire? This paradox alone makes Seneca one of the most fascinating figures from antiquity and worthy of our study. But as we\u2019ll explore below, this is only one of the many thought-provoking aspects of his life.<\/p>\n
He was born in southern Spain over 2,000 years ago and educated in Rome. He was the son of\u00a0Seneca the Elder, a well-known Roman writer as well as later in his life uncle to\u00a0the poet Lucan. Seneca pursued a career in politics and became a high-ranking financial clerk. During this period he also wrote tragedies as well as his\u00a0Consolation to Marcia<\/em>, which is part of his\u00a0works on consolation.<\/p>\n His life took a sharp turn in 41 A.D. once Claudius became the emperor as he exiled Seneca to the island of Corsica on the premises of supposed adultery with Julia Livilla, the emperor\u2019s niece and Caligula\u2019s sister. During his exile, he wrote\u00a0a letter to his mother\u00a0consoling\u00a0her<\/em>\u00a0during his exile. Eight years later, in another twist, Agrippina, mother of future emperor Nero and wife of Claudius secured permission for Seneca to return and for him to become her son\u2019s tutor and adviser. Nero later became one of the most notorious and tyrannical emperors in the history of the Roman Empire raising even more questions about Seneca\u2019s character. Not surprisingly, Seneca\u2019s wealth came largely while in service to Nero. It is fitting to mention at this point that Seneca\u2019s death, in 65 A.D., came by the orders of Nero himself (who thought Seneca was part of a plot against him which purpose was to assassinate Nero and replace him with Gaius Piso).<\/p>\n Throughout all those turbulent periods Stoicism remained a constant in his life. Seneca\u2019s exposure to the philosophy\u00a0came from Attalus, a Stoic philosopher who was Seneca\u2019s early teacher. Seneca was also\u00a0an admirer of Cato, whose name appears regularly in his writing. Nonetheless, Seneca didn\u2019t confine himself only to Stoicism\u2014he borrowed liberally from other schools, as we see him citing\u00a0Epicurus\u00a0in several instances. After his death Seneca was an influence on notable figures such as Erasmus, Francis Bacon, Pascal, Montaigne down to modern days as we are seeing a revived interest in him. Two notable examples amidst many include bestselling author and former trader Nassim Taleb who has dedicated an entire chapter to Seneca\u00a0in his last book\u00a0as well as writer and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss who\u00a0published an audiobook\u00a0of Seneca and has often referred to Seneca on his popular blog.<\/p>\n And the strong interest in him is of course not surprising. Seneca not only wrote on philosophy but used it in the way it\u2019s meant to be used: to handle and navigate through the upsides and downsides of fortune. And those he knew extremely well\u2014varying from massive wealth to exile to handling with dignity the suicide order from his own pupil Nero.<\/p>\n There are lessons in there for all of us, no matter what we are currently facing.<\/p>\n Before we do so, the question remains. How does one make sense of such a life? The philosopher who was beyond wealthy, a tutor to one of the most terrible emperors in the history of the Roman Empire yet his moral writings would urge us to be better people. In\u00a0an article in\u00a0The New Yorker<\/em>, Elizabeth Kolbert writes that while some, like the critic Robert Hughes, have labeled Seneca as \u201ca hypocrite almost without equal in the ancient world,\u201d more recent scholars offer a more nuanced view. \u201cIt is possible,\u201d she writes, \u201cin their view, to see Seneca as a hypocrite\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0as a force of moral restraint.\u201d It is important to note here that Seneca was self-aware to understand this. As he wrote, \u201cI am not a wise man and I never will be.\u201d<\/p>\n He understood well enough that he was imperfect and was forced to walk incredibly difficult paths. His life was one of riches, power, ambition, politics\u2014but also one\u2014to the best of his extent\u2014of philosophy, introspection and self-awareness.<\/p>\n One thing that stands out from Seneca is that he is one of the most enjoyable and readable of all ancient philosophers. Part of it was due to the fact that his most notable works came in the form of letters. We have two main recommendations for you to grab:<\/p>\n On the Shortness of Life<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0This collection of three short letters might be the best introduction to Seneca. The main one,\u00a0On the Shortness of Life<\/em>, is a stringent reminder about the non-renewability of our most important resource: our time. One of his most famous quotes comes from this writing and is worth reflecting upon:\u00a0\u201cWe are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not Ill-supplied but wasteful of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Letters from a Stoic<\/em>\u00a0From the looks of it, Seneca was a trusted friend who gave great advice to his friends. Now we can read those letters and they can guide us through problems with grief, wealth, anger, poverty, success, failure, education and so many other things. If you prefer audio books, you should instead listen\u00a0to the collection\u00a0\u201cThe Tao of Seneca\u201d recently produced by Tim Ferriss.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re still curious, we\u2019d recommend taking a look at\u00a0Seneca\u2019s plays,\u00a0Dying Every Day<\/em>, a great biography on Seneca as well as grabbing\u00a0Antifragile<\/em>\u00a0mentioned above, which has a fascinating chapter dedicated to him. Those with scholarly inclinations might find\u00a0the academic paper \u201cSeneca on Trial\u201d\u00a0worthy if they wish to go more in depth.<\/p>\n Seneca, in his letters to Lucilius, urges him to choose a role model to provide a standard to live by. This is of course idea that is not unique to Stoicism by any means but Seneca succinctly puts why it is a necessary step in our pursuit of the good life. The person of our choosing can provide us with principles that can help us navigate even the most difficult and treacherous circumstances as well as standards against which we can judge our behavior on a day-to-day basis. As Seneca wrote,<\/p>\n \u201cSo choose yourself a Cato\u2013or, if Cato seems too severe for you, a Laelius, a man whose character is not quite so strict. Choose someone whose way of life as well as words, and whose very face as mirroring the character that lies behind it, have won your approval. Be always pointing him out to yourself either as your guardian or as your model. There is a need, in my view, for someone as a standard against which our characters can measure themselves. Without a ruler to do it against you won\u2019t make crooked straight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Let\u2019s return to the paradox about philosophy and riches. A way to think about Seneca\u2019s wealth as discussed by Nassim Taleb is the following: Seneca only wanted the upside of wealth but was always ready to use it and never dependent on it. He was a master of it, not its slave. All the upside, none of the downside. We need to constantly reexamine if we are so trapped by the gifts of good fortune that we are scared to lose and therefore turning it into our master. As Seneca wrote in\u00a0On The Happy Life<\/em>\u00a0discussing his riches:<\/p>\n \u201cFor the wise man does not consider himself unworthy of any gifts from Fortune\u2019s hands: he does not love wealth but he would rather have it; he does not admit into his heart but into his home; and what wealth is his he does not reject but keeps, wishing it to supply greater scope for him to practice his virtue.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As he summed up his attitude of being a master and not a slave of good fortune:\u00a0\u201cFor the wise man regards wealth as a slave, the fool as a master.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Seneca understood well\u00a0how our ego\u00a0can impede us from learning and progress. In today\u2019s culture of inflating everyone\u2019s self-esteem we get used to only hearing praise. Little by little we start buying it more and more. To paraphrase\u00a0what a journalist wrote\u00a0about tyrannical leaders, when you keep hearing that you are a superman, you start to believe it. Seneca warned Lucilius against such indulgence:<\/p>\n \u201cThe chief obstacle is that we are quick to be satisfied with ourselves. If we find someone to call us good men, cautious and principled, we acknowledge him. We are not content with a moderate eulogy, but accept as our due whatever flattery has shamelessly heaped upon us. We agree with those who call us best and wisest, although we know they often utter many falsehoods: we indulge ourselves so greatly that we want to be praised for a virtue which is the opposite of our behavior. A man hears himself called \u2018most merciful\u2019 while he is inflicting torture.. So it follows that we don\u2019t want to change because we believe we are already excellent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cThink your way through difficulties: harsh conditions can be softened, restricted ones can be widened, and heavy ones can weigh less on those who know how to bear them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLet all your activity be directed to some object, let it have some end in view.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOften a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe say that nothing happens to the wise man against his expectation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBelieve me it is better to understand the balance-sheet of one\u2019s own life than of the corn trade.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not Ill-supplied but wasteful of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Who Is Seneca? Inside The Mind of The World’s Most Interesting Stoic Profiles,\u00a0Stoic Philosophers Profiles, and More Introduction Author Nassim Taleb likes\u00a0to tell the story\u00a0of Thales of Miletus, an ancient Greek philosopher, who, as Nassim jokes, was \u201ctired of his buddies joking that \u2018those who can, do, others philosophize.\u2019\u201d And apparently Thales took that to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stoicism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Rubens_Seneca.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8922,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions\/8922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmascience.com\/pma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Notable Works & Suggested Readings<\/h3>\n
3 Exercises & Lessons From Seneca<\/h3>\n
1. Find an Anchor<\/h4>\n
2. Never Be a Slave of Your Wealth<\/h4>\n
3. Fight Your Ego<\/h4>\n
Seneca Quotes<\/h2>\n