Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Seneca: His Character and Environment
of the capital. We need not wonder that Ovid, in
exile, was ready to submit with cheerful alacrity to
any moral indignity, and to humiliate himself in the
dust before his emperor, would he but permit him to
return to the city which his spirit had never left.
Seneca s conduct, when in banishment, was even less
to his credit than that of Ovid, inasmuch as he pro
fessed to be governed by far higher principles. He
thought he was a philosopher, yet when compelled to
live in Corsica where he had all his time to devote to
study and meditation, he was wretched in the ex
treme; belittled himself by the most degrading ex
hibition of servility; did not scruple to stoop
to the
most shameful falsehoods and the most disgusting
flattery in order to bring about his recall. His en
comium on solitude, and his aversion to crowds, if
they are anything more than mere theory,
are the
result of larger experience and of deeper insight into
the human heart. Yet it i.s
hardly open
to doubt
that lie could have gone into voluntary retirement at
any period of his life, except perhaps
near its close.
It has been said of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
that his mind was more Greek than Roman. While it
is true that he loved philosophy, and studied it
daily,
he did so in the belief that in this way he could the
better prepare his mind and heart to perform tinduties
which his exalted station imposed upon him.
He seems never to have seriously entertained the
thought that it was in his power at all times to lay
down his official burdens in order to follow his natu-
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