Dialogues and Letters
Page 16
drinking 56, 58, 60, 65
Drusus, Livius 64
Duilius, Gaius 74
earthly things, insignificance of 6, 11, 12, 17, 47, 77, 108–9
earthquakes xxii–xxiii, 112–13
eavesdropping 51
eclecticism, Seneca’s xiii–xv
education: learning how to live and die 65–6, 77, 82; in rhetoric 88; Seneca’s vii, xiii; teaching as public service 36; women’s 24
Egnatius Rufus, Marcus 63
Egypt 27–8, 109
elections 80
elephants 74–5
empire, Roman 38, 63, 109
emulation, literary xx, 96
encroachment on one’s time by others 41, 60–61, 62, 66, 67, 68, 82
endurance, heroic xix, 87–9
England xix
envy 46–7
Ephorus 41
Epictetus xiii
Epicurus and Epicureanism xii, xv, 76, 90–91, 98
epidemic disease 41–2
epigrams, Seneca’s x, xi
Epistulae Morales see letters (Epistulae Morales)
Erasmus, Desiderius xviii
essentials, identification of xx, 88, 89–90, 102–3
ethics, Seneca’s xiv–xvi
Ethiopia 109
Etna, Mount 95–6, 97
Etruscans 9
euthymia (Greek, ‘tranquillity’) 33
Evander 10
exempla xi; courageous women 23; fame and virtue 97–8; fortitude in adversity xxi, 19–20, 49–50, 55–6, 87–9; longing for retirement 62–5; preoccupation 80; stock 88
exercise, physical 57–8
exile 3–28, 87–8, 90; change of place xxii, 7–14, 19; circumstances of Seneca’s viii, xxi–xxii, 8, 21, 28; consolation genre xxi–xxii, 3–28; Corsica as Seneca’s place of xiii, xxii, 8 10–11, 12; disgrace xxii, 7, 19–20; poverty xxii, 7, 14–19 Rutilius’ 55, 87–8, 98; Scipio Africanus Maior’s 80; Seneca not wretched in xxii, 5–20; as servitude 46; virtue in 11–12, 13–14
expectancy 68, 78–9, 87
eyesight 97
Fabianus, Papirius xiii, 69, 75
failings, acceptance of human xxi 54–5
fallow land 57, 66
fame 97–9
family as consolation xxii, 25–8
fate, law of 107
fear: contagious 101; of death 19, 67, 71, 90, 91–2, 108; of earthquakes 112–13; irrational xix, 88, 93–4; philosophy helps dispel xx, 100–102; reducing fearful situations to essentials 89–90, 94; wasting present in fears for future 79, 87
fickleness 33–6, 52, 60
fire 94, 112
flexibility 52
florilegia xviii
food 14–16, 30, 41, 44, 102–3
fortitude in adversity xv, xxi, 4, 45–50, 52–4; exempla xxi, 19–20, 49–50, 55–6, 87–9
Fortune: avoiding tempting 51–2; captivity by 46; cruelty 21; fight against 6–7, 38, 44; good things as lent by 47–8;
inconstancy 79; wise men as above 6–7, 64
France xvi
freedmen, rich 43
freedom of wise man 6–7, 13, 47, 64
friendship 41–2, 66
frugality 30
funerals 27, 28, 52, 83
furniture, fine 17
future time 68, 69, 78–9, 87
gain, disreputable 71
Gaius (Caligula), Emperor 14–15, 49, 52–4, 81
Galerius, Gaius (prefect of Egypt) 27, 28; wife (Seneca’s aunt) vii, 26–8
Gallio (Lucius Junius Novatus, Seneca’s brother) 5, 25
Garnier, Robert xvi
Gauls 9, 109
Genius (guardian spirit) 100
Germans 9, 109
gladiators 48
goals, personal 40–41, 46, 50, 60, 61–2
God xiv, 107
gods: favour of 100, 102; guardian 100; have no possessions 43, 104; philosophy and 107;
wantonness 78
gold 108
goods, external: as loan 47–8; see also earthly things; wealth
gourmets 14–16
governors’ wives 27–8
Gracchus, Tiberius and Gaius Sempronius 23, 64
Greece and the Greeks 9, 10, 73–4, 79
Greece, Greater 9
greed xv, 14–16, 16–17, 19, 28, 60, 108
grief 3–5, 22, 23, 24, 55
guardianship 66; divine 100
Gyara 8
habit 46
Haemus, Mount 109
hairstyles 72
harbours 112
Harmodius 39
heavens: change in 8–9; soul’s affinity with xiv, 8, 17, 97;
universality 12
Hellenistic influence xi
Helvia (Seneca’s mother): Consolation to see individual entry; family 25–8; life 4–5; virtues xxii, 21, 22–3
Hephaestion, Lycia 95–6
Hercules 55
Hippocrates of Cos 59
holidays 57, 64
Homer 18, 35, 73–4
honesty in self-appraisal 32, 33
hope 34, 44, 54
houses 12, 30, 44, 112
Hume, David xviii
humour, sense of 54–5
hypocrisy, charges of ix, xvii, 90
idleness 34, 50–51, 60, 71, 72–3, 89
imagery, Seneca’s xi; see also medical imagery; military imagery
immediacy 68–9
immigration to cities 7–8
immortality of soul xix, 17, 28, 53, 94
imprisonment 87, 88, 90
indecision, moral xxi, 29–58
India 9
indolence see idleness inertia 33–4
inflection, Latin xxiii
influence: detachment from 6–7; Seneca’s later xvi-xix; women’s 20, 27–8
inheritances 20–21, 66
inspiration 58
irresolution, moral xxi, 29–58
Isocrates 41
Ister, River 109
Italy: Greek colonies 9; medieval drama xvi; see also Rome Ixion 90
Jerome, St xvii
John of Salisbury xviii
Jonson, Ben xix
Jugurtha, king of Numidia 50
Julia (daughter of Augustus) 63
Julia Livilla viii, xxii
Julius Canus 52–4
Juno (guardian spirit) 100
Jupiter 78, 104
kings 49, 79
knowledge: dispels fear 101–2; indiscriminate xxi, 73–5
Kyd, Thomas xvi
Lactantius xvii
Latin language, translation of xxiii
law 60, 66–7, 71, 80
Law Tables 74
legacy-hunting 66
leisure and retirement: choice of public life or 30–31, 40, 41, 46, 62–5, 80; deferment 62, 83; Epicurean quietism 76; and tranquillity of mind 25, 36–7, 82; unfulfilled longing for 62–5; value 39, 80–82
Lepidus, Marcus Aemilius; plot against Augustus 63
lethargy 34, 57
letters: Greek philosophical xi–xii; see also letters (Epistulae Morales)
letters (Epistulae Morales) x, xi–xiii, xix–xx, 85–104; 24 xix, 87–92; 56 xii; 57 xix, 93–4; 79 xix–xx, 95–9; 110 xiii, xx, 100–104; spurious correspondence with St Paul xvii–xviii; popularity in posterity xii–xiii, xviii
Liber (god of wine) 58
libraries 45
life: learning to live 65–6, 82; living immediately 68–9; as loan 47, 48; making light of 46, 54–5; span 59
lightning 112
Ligurians 10
literary emulation xx, 96
Livy (Titus Livius) 45
Lodge, Thomas xviii
logos xiv
Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) ix, 25
Lucania 35
Lucilius (addres see of letters) xii
Lucretius Carus, Titus 35, 101
lust 19, 44, 65
luxury 14–16, 30, 35, 72–3, 102–3, 108
Lycia 95–6
Macedonians 9
&nbs
p; madness 58
Magna Graecia 9
Marcellus, Marcus Claudius (consul 51 Bc) 13–14
Marcus Aurelius, Emperor xiii
Marius, Gaius 11, 80
marriages, Seneca’s viii
Martin of Braga, St xviii
masks 88, 99
Massiliot Greeks 10
medical imagery and analogies 3, 4, 5, 32, 41–2, 63
Mela, Lucius(?) Annaeus (Seneca’s brother) 5, 25
Menenius Agrippa 18, 19
Menippean satire x
Mentana (Nomentum) 100
Messana 74
Metellus, Lucius Caecilius 75
Metellus Numidicus, Quintus Caecilius 87
Metrodorus of Lampsacus 98
Middle Ages xiii, xvi, xviii
migrations 9–11
Miletus 9
military imagery 6, 36–7, 44, 109, 112
military service 18, 37, 38, 57, 60
mimes 73
miserliness xv, 65
misfortunes: beneficial effects 4, 44, 100–101;
facing up to xix, 48–50, 51–2, 87–92;
repeated 19, 22, 46;
welcome occurences leading to 100–101;
see also fortitude in adversity
Mithridates, king of Armenia 50
models, literary xx, 96
modesty, female 23, 26
Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de xviii
monuments 77, 83
moon 12
moral purpose, lack of xxi, 29–58
mothers 4, 20–21;
Seneca’s see Helvia; step- 4
mourning, widows’ right to 22
Murena, Aulus Terentius Varro 63
Musonius Rufus, Gaius xxii
Mytilene 13
Naples–Puteoli tunnel 93–4
Natural Questions x, xiv, xxii–xxiii, 105–13;
on earthquakes 112–13;
on Nile Cataracts 110–11;
protreptic 107–9
Nature xiv–xv, 11–12, 15, 47, 48, 59
needs, basic bodily xx, 14, 15, 44, 56, 102–4
Nero, Emperor vii, viii–ix
Nile Cataracts xxii–xxiii, 110–11
Nomentum (Mentana) 100
Novatilla (Seneca’s niece) 25–6
novelty, delight in 8
obstinacy 52
occupatio see preoccupation
old age 62, 83
On the Shortness of Life xx–xxi, 59–83;
on preoccupation xx–xxi, 65, 68, 69, 70–71, 71–5, 78, 79–80; see also time, use of
On Tranquillity of Mind xxi, 29–58;
dialogue structure xxi;
exempla xxi, 49–50, 55–6;
tradition xxi, 33, 51; see also tranquillity
oratory 60; see also rhetoric
ostentation 44, 45, 55, 56, 66, 72, 83
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) 96
Padua (Patavium) 10
pain of torture 90
Panaetius xiv, xxi
Pantelleria (Cossura) 8
Parthians 14
passions see desires
past time 69–70, 76–7, 78
Patavium (Padua) 10
patronage see clientage
Paul, St xii;
spurious correspondence with Seneca xvi–xviii
Paulinus (praefectus annonae) 59, 80–81, 82
Persia 9, 79, 110
Petrarch xviii
Phasis, River 14
phenomena, natural xxii–xxiii, 110–13; see also individual types
philosophical background xiii–xvi
philosophical letter genre xi–xiii
philosophy xiii–xvi;
dispels groundless fears 100–102;
hypocrisy, charges of 90;
philosophical letter genre xi–xii;
on physical world xiii, xiv, 107;
protreptic xx, xxii, 100–104, 107–9;
Roman adaptation of Greek xiii, xiv;
Seneca not original thinker xiii, xvii;
Seneca’s eclecticism xiii–xv;
valuable use of time 75–8; see also Cynics;
Stoicism;
studies, liberal;
and individual philosophers
Phocians 10
Phoenicians 9
physical world: change in 8–9;
Natural Questions on xxii–xxiii, 110–13;
philosophy and xiii, xiv, 107;
study of 28, 82
Piso, Gaius Calpurnius;
conspiracy vii, viii
place, exile’s change of xxii, 7–14, 19
plague 112, 113
planets 8, 9, 12
Plato xi, xv, 18, 58, 88
Platonism xv
pleasure, anticipation of 78, 79
plebs, secession of 75
pneuma (fiery air) xiv
poetry 58, 78;
Seneca’s tragedies ix–x, xvi–xvii
‘pointed’ style of English prose xix
politics: preoccupation with 80;
and writings vii, ix; see also clientage; public life
Pollio, Gaius Asinius 57
pomerium 75
Pompeia Paulina viii
Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) 55, 74–5
Pompey (consul AD 14) 49
Pontus (Black Sea) 9
popular opinion 7
Porsina 88
pose, assumption of 56
Posidonius xiv
possessions, private 42–5; see also goods; wealth
posterity x, xii–xiii, xvi–xix, 98
poverty xxii, 7, 14–19, 42, 44, 90
praetorship, Seneca’s viii
pregnancy, attitudes to 22
preoccupation and the
preoccupied (occupati) xx–xxi, 71–5;
exempla 80;
exile freed from 28;
government by others’ preoccupations 82;
in power of Fortune 51;
precludes real tranquillity 60;
regrets of dying 70–71;
succession of new preoccupations 78, 79–80;
waste of time xx–xxi, 60, 65, 68, 69, 70–71, 71–5, 78, 79–80
preparedness for misfortune 48–50, 51–2
present time 68–9, 69–70, 87
pretence 56, 99
pride 47
priesthoods 46
procrastination 62, 68
Prometheus 91
prose works, Seneca’s later
reputation and influence xvii–xix;
style x–xi; see also individual entries
protreptic xx, xxii, 100–104, 107–9
Ptolemy XIV Philopator, king of Egypt 50
public life: choice of leisure or 30–31, 40, 41, 46, 62–5, 80;
detachment from 6–7;
under oppression 39–40;
public service xiv, 25, 36–40, 80;
risk of disgrace 49;
Seneca’s brother’s distinction in 25;
vanity 13;
waste of time 66, 71, 79–80, 82
Publilius Syrus 49
purpose, change of 33–6
Puteoli–Naples tunnel 93–4
Pyrenees 9, 109
Pythagoras 76
quaestorship, Seneca’s candidature 26
Quintilian xi, xvi
Quintius Cincinnatus, Lucius 80
races, imagery of 45
Racine, Jean xvi
realism in setting goals 40–41, 46, 50
reason xiv, 24
Regulus, Marcus Atilius 18, 19, 56
relaxation 56–8
relegatio viii
Remus 75
reputation, Seneca’s later xvi–xix
restlessness 8, 33–6, 78
retirement: Seneca’s viii; see also leisure and retirement
rhetoric x, 60, 65, 88
Rhine, River 109
rivalry in wisdom and virtue xx, 96–7
Rome: Aeneas’
foundation 10;
attrac
tion to restless 35;
Circus 45, 74–5;
corn supply 80–81, 82;
empire 10, 11, 38, 63, 109;
hut of Romulus 12;
immigrants 7–8;
pomerium 75;
Seneca’s childhood move to vii, 26
Romulus, hut of 12
Rousseau, Jean Jacques xviii
Rufus, Marcus Egnatius 63
Rutilia, mother of Cotta 23
Rutilius Rufus, Publius 55, 87–8, 98
Samnite Wars 15
sapientia, sapiens, see wisdom
Sarmatians 109
satire, Menippean x
Scaevola, Gaius Mucius 88
scepticism 76
Sciathus 8
Scipio, Quintus Metellus 89
Scipio Africanus Maior, Publius Cornelius 18–19, 56–7, 80
scorn, coping with 20
Scylla 95
Scythia 9
sea voyages 27, 28, 49, 67
Sejanus (Lucius Aelius Seianus) 49–50
self-appraisal xxi, 32, 33, 40–41
self-confidence 33, 47
self-consciousness 56
self-control 44, 76
self-indulgence 45, 72–3
self-reliance xv, 6, 44, 52
senate procedure 57
Seneca, Lucius (or Marcus) Annaeus, the Elder vii, 5, 24
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, the Younger: family vii, 5, 24, 25–8 and see also Helvia;
health vii–viii, 26;
life vii–ix;
style (prose) x–xi, xix, xxiii, (verse) xvi–xvii;
works ix–xiii and see individual entries for Apocolocyntosis;
dialogues and other treatises;
letters (Epistulae Morales);
Natural Questions;
spurious works attributed to Seneca;
tragedies, Seneca’s
sentence structure xxiii
sententiae (aphorisms) xi, xviii
sentry, image of 6
Serenus xxi, 29–32
Seriphus 8
Sextius, Quintus xiii
sexual desire 19, 44, 65
Shakespeare, William xvi
shame at own failures 34
shipwrecks 27, 28, 52
shock, irrational xix, 93–4
Shortness of Life, On the, see On the Shortness of Life
Sicily, Lucilius’ tour of xix–xx, 95–9
simplicity of life 15, 31–2, 56, 102–4
sincerity 99, 108
singing 72
Sisyphus 90–91
slaves 30, 43, 44, 72
sleep 57
social duties 71, 76; see also clientage
Socrates 39, 56, 76, 98;
death 19–20, 55, 88
solitude 56
Solon 58
Sotion xiii
soul: heavenly nature xiv, 8, 17, 97; immortality xix, 17, 28, 53, 94
Spain 109
Spaniards in Corsica 11
spurious works attributed to
Seneca xvii–xviii
stars 12
status, freedom from concern with 47
stepmothers 4
Stoicism ix, xiv, 94, 100;
Seneca’s eclectic xiii–xv
strength of character: from coping with grief 4;