Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Seneca: His Character and Environment
upon the most prominent feature of the Roman char
acter, but the phenomenon is so important, con
tributes so much to a proper estimate of the career of
Seneca
,
and goes so far toward reconciling the ap
parent or real inconsistencies between his life and his
doctrines, between his words and his deeds, that it is
necessary to dwell upon the point at greater length.
The Romans were, above everything else, men of the
world; men who laid the greatest possible stress on
practical activity in the service of the state; men who
were wholly out of their sphere when this outlet for
their energies was closed to them.
to many individuals who lived entirely,
Greece gave birth
or at least
chiefly, in the realm of their thoughts; or as Jean
Paul says of the Germans, the air was their domain.
The precincts of abstract speculation lay in a region
never entered by a Roman. A few trod the outer
courts under the guidance of Greeks, but not one
ever penetrated farther. The Romans had no liter
ature of their own, no music, no pictorial or plastic
arts, no architecture. Though so long under the in
tellectual tutelage of Greece, their taste was not re
fined, nor was a genuine love of culture inherent in
the nation. It saw no use for these things because
they were not practical; could not be employed in the
service of the government. The occasional efforts of
the emperors and of some of
the leading
families to
elevate the national taste produced but meager
results. Such being the case, what was there for the
average Roman to do when he had become rich, or