"It is philosophy that has the duty of protecting us...without it no one can lead a life free of fear or worry." For several years of his turbulent life, Seneca was the guiding hand of the Roman Empire. His inspired reasoning derived mainly from the Stoic principles, which had originally been developed some centuries earlier in Athens. This selection of Seneca's letters shows him upholding the austere ethical ideals of Stoicism—the wisdom of the self-possessed person immune to overmastering emotions and life’s setbacks—while valuing friendship and the courage of ordinary men, and criticizing the harsh treatment of slaves and the cruelties in the gladiatorial arena. The humanity and wit revealed in Seneca’s interpretation of Stoicism is a moving and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Letters from a Stoic (Penguin Classics)

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Reference

Penguin??Books

   Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and advisor to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Senecawhose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emersonto his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities.On Benefits, written between 56 and 64 CE, is a treatise addressed to Seneca’s close friend Aebutius Liberalis. The longest of Seneca’s works dealing with a single subjecthow to give and receive benefits and how to express gratitude appropriatelyOn Benefits is the only complete work on what we now call gift exchange” to survive from antiquity. Benefits were of great personal significance to Seneca, who remarked in one of his later letters that philosophy teaches, above all else, to owe and repay benefits well.

On Benefits (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

University of Chicago Press

Natural Questions (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

L. Annaei Senecae Ad Lucilium Epistolae Morales, Vol. 2: Ad Fidem Veterum Librorum in His Trium Msstorum Argentoratensium Recognovit Emendavit ... XC-CXXIV (Classic Reprint) (Latin Edition)

Forgotten Books

Excerpt from L. Annaei Senecae Pars Tertia, Vol. 3: Sive Opera Tragica Quæ Ad Parisinos Codices Nondum Collatos, Recensuit Novisque Commentariis Illustravit Cum Indice Peculiari Studiosa Professorum Societas in Academia ParisiensiDed... Roî,m Sepate,n° 7. E... et wurtz, lihnìra, rue uy. LE dm,ùnpìneurdo ﬂutìtnt,mlmoh, n° 4. Brunot - labbe,eh-nìre, guida..., un' 33. In. Rey et gbavier,iih-h, qui da Augustin, 55. N.vmxùan, libnìn,quidqufinn,n° s. Co...,q - idulqufmnf (9.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

L. Annaei Senecae Pars Tertia, Vol. 3: Sive Opera Tragica Quæ Ad Parisinos Codices Nondum Collatos, Recensuit Novisque Commentariis Illustravit Cum ... Parisiensi (Classic Reprint) (Latin Edition)

The philosophy of Seneca has extended in influence from first-century Rome to the essays of Montaigne, to Elizabethan tragedy, to the theology of Calvin and the doctrines of the French Revolution. In The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca, representative selections from Seneca's writings offer the reader an excellent introduction to the range of his work. The selections are drawn from the essays, or dialogues, and the "Consolations;" from the treatises, of which "On Clemency," addressed to the young Nero, is included here; and from the Letters to Lucilius, which have to do not only with philosophical subjects but also with Seneca's personal experiences, such as journeys and visits. Moses Hadas has selected letters and essays which reveal Seneca's major philosophical themes―the relationship of the individual to society and to the gods; the meaning of pain and misfortune; man's attitudes to change, time, and death; and the nature of the highest good and of the happy life. In his Introduction, Professor Hadas discusses Seneca's life and work, tracing the history of his reputation; comments on Seneca's style; and outlines the origins and tenets of Stoicism.

Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

W.W.Norton&Company

The historical tragedy Octavia focuses on Nero's divorce from the princess Octavia, Claudius' daughter by Valeria Messalina, and on the emperor's subsequent marriage to Poppaea Sabina. This book includes a full-length introduction, a new edition of the text based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts, and a detailed commentary dealing with textual, linguistic, and literary points. Spanning three days in June AD 62, the tragic action of the play ends with Octavia's deportation to the island of Pandateria, where she would be executed shortly afterwards.

Octavia: A Play Attributed to Seneca (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 41)

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

Cambridge University Press

The Description for this book, Seneca's Troades: A Literary Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary, will be forthcoming.

Seneca's Troades : A Literary Introduction With Text, Translation, and Commentary

Elaine Fantham

Princeton University Press

Two Faces of Oedipus: Sophocles' "Oedipus Tyrannus" and Seneca's "Oedipus"

Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus is the most famous of ancient tragedies and a literary masterpiece. It is not, however, the only classical dramatization of Oedipus' quest to discover his identity. Between four and five hundred years after Sophocles' play was first performed, Seneca composed a fine, but neglected and often disparaged Latin tragedy on the same subject, which, in some ways, comes closer to our common understanding of the Oedipus myth. Now, modern readers can compare the two versions, in new translations by Frederick Ahl.
Balancing poetry and clarity, yet staying scrupulously close to the original texts, Ahl's English versions are designed to be both read and performed, and are alert to the literary and historical complexities of each. In approaching Sophocles anew, Ahl is careful to preserve the richly allusive nature and rhetorical power of the Greek, including the intricate use of language that gives the original its brilliant force. For Ahl, Seneca's tragedy is vastly and intriguingly different from that of Sophocles, and a poetic masterpiece in its own right. Seneca takes us inside the mind of Oedipus in ways that Sophocles does not, making his inner conflicts a major part of the drama itself in his soliloquies and asides. 
Two Faces of Oedipus opens with a wide-ranging introduction that examines the conflicting traditions of Oedipus in Greek literature, the different theatrical worlds of Sophocles and Seneca, and how cultural and political differences between Athenian democracy and Roman imperial rule affect the nature and conditions under which the two tragedies were composed. This book brings two dramatic traditions into conversation while providing elegant, accurate, and exciting new versions of Sophocles' and Seneca's tragedies.

Two Faces of Oedipus: Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus and Seneca's Oedipus

SOPHOCLES

Cornell University Press

A new edition of the Latin text, with a facing English prose translation, of one of Rome's most notorious and ferocious plays.

Seneca: Medea (Aris & Phillips Classical Texts)

History & Criticism

Liverpool University Press

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