Episode 84 – Seneca: The Stoic in the Court of a Tyrant

This episode explores the deeply conflicted life of Seneca the Younger, a Stoic philosopher who served as the chief advisor to the tyrannical Emperor Nero. Seneca’s career was a turbulent journey, beginning with an eight-year exile to Corsica under Emperor Claudius, a period where he honed his Stoic philosophy as a means of survival. He was recalled to Rome by Agrippina the Younger to become the tutor to her young son, Nero, and upon Nero's ascension, Seneca effectively governed the empire for five relatively stable years, known as the Quinquennium Neronis. During this time, he amassed an immense fortune, creating a stark contradiction between his Stoic teachings on detachment and his life of incredible wealth and power.

The relationship with Nero was a constant balancing act, as Seneca tried to restrain the young emperor's impulses and guide him towards a more traditional, responsible form of rule. However, as Nero grew more erratic and cruel, Seneca's influence waned, and he found himself complicit in, or at least justifying, some of Nero's worst actions, such as the murder of his mother, Agrippina. Seneca attempted to retire and offer his fortune to Nero, but the emperor refused, leaving Seneca trapped in a gilded cage where his life depended on the whims of a tyrant. This tension highlights the Stoic concept of the "progressor," one who is not a perfect sage but is striving for virtue amidst difficult compromises.

Ultimately, Seneca was implicated in the Pisonian Conspiracy to assassinate Nero and was ordered to commit suicide in 65 CE. According to the historian Tacitus, his death was a final, drawn-out performance of Stoic principles, facing his end with calm resolve and acceptance of fate, cementing his legacy as a philosopher who lived and died in the brutal reality of Roman power.