The Life of a Roman Philosopher

In 65 a d, nero accused seneca of conspiring to assassinate him and ordered Seneca to commit suicide. This fatal command was not incidentally, seneca's first experience of the harsh realities of roman politics. In forty one a d, in the reign of claudius, he had been exiled to corsica,. A philosophical work of consolation addressed to seneca's mother, helvia, advises her on how to cope with this setback. He largely turns his back on the logical and metaphysical questions that fascinated the much earlier chrysippus. And focuses relentlessly on the questio of how to live.