Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Seneca: His Character and Environment
omitted such biographical data as may be found in
any encyclopedia, and have confined myself chiefly
to n study of the society in which Seneca moved,
and to a consideration of some of the leading char
acteristics of the age in which lie lived. Every man
should be judged by
his times, for no man is unin
fluenced by them. It is only men of the strongest
character that rise far above the manners and
thoughts of their contemporaries. Seneca was not
one of these. Though endowed with a penetrating
intellect and strong moral convictions he sometimes
yielded to temptations against the protest
of his
better judgment. He compelled his intellect to
sanction or at least to excuse conduct that he felt to
be unworthy of the philosophy he professed and
taught. Yet after making
all due allowance for his
shortcomings. I am persuaded that one cannot
long study his writings and his career without
reach
ing the conviction that among the great men of
Rome none towered above him in moral grandeur
and but few surpassed him in intellectual stature.
If I may be allowed to express a personal opinion
I do not hesitate to affirm that in the first thousand
years of its history no more interesting and attrac
tive character lived and died in the City
Seven Hills than the philosopher Seneca.
of the
The following is a list of Seneca s extant works:
De Providentia, (On Providence).
De Constantia Sapient is, (On the Constancy of the Sage).
De Ira, (On Anger).
De Vita beata. (On a happy life).
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