14: What Should The Wise Person Avoid?

     As noted in my post of 3/18/18 ("An Artist At Friend-Making"), I agree with much but not all of the advice that Seneca dispenses in his letters to Lucilius. Another example of a passage that troubles me is the following from the fourteenth letter:
          "Even so, let us avoid not only danger but also discomfort, as much as we can, and retreat into safety, constantly devising ways of keeping away the objects of fear. If I am not mistaken, those objects are of three kinds. We fear poverty; we fear disease; and we fear the violent deeds of those more powerful than ourselves. Among all these, the one that has most impact on us is the threat from another's power, for this arrives with a great deal of noise and activity.  ... Imagine here the jail, the cross, the rack, the hook ... the limbs torn apart by chariots driven in different directions ... and everything else that savagery has devised. ... Let us therefore make an effort to avoid giving offense. At one time it is the populace we have to fear; at another, if the state is ruled in such a way that the senate has charge of most matters, the men of most influence there; at another, individuals in whom is vested the power of the people and over the people. To have all these as friends would require much effort: it is enough if we do not have them as enemies. Thus the wise person will never provoke the anger of those in power, but will steer clear of it, just as one steers clear of a storm at sea. ... The wise person ... avoids the power that will do him harm, being cautious all along not to be seen avoiding it. For this too is part of safety, to be circumspect in pursuing it, since evasive action amounts to condemnation."
     This advice is puzzling for at least two reasons. First, in many of his letters, Seneca holds the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates out as a "role model" (to use a modern phrase) for others to emulate. However, Socrates spent most of his life interrogating fellow Athenians, many of whom were powerful politicians who did not appreciate his relentless questions. Eventually, Socrates was put on trial -- and convicted and sentenced to death -- for repeatedly provoking the anger of  those in power (although technically he was charged with corrupting the young and not believing in the gods of the city).
     Second, Seneca himself had a long and high-profile career in Roman public life, which was full of ups and downs. As old age approached, Seneca attempted to retire to his estates and focus on writing. But in one of the great ironies of classical western history, the Emperor Nero -- who Seneca was recalled from exile to tutor during the former's youth -- ended up sentencing his former teacher to death. Ultimately, Seneca was permitted to commit suicide and decided to take hemlock (the same poison that Socrates had consumed).
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References:
     Plato and Aristophanes, Four Texts on Socrates, Translated with Notes by Thomas G. West and Grace Starry West (Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1984), pages 16-24, discussing Plato's Apology of Socrates.      
     Seneca, Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by Margaret Graver and A.A. Long (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2015), Letter 14, 3-8, pages 56-57. 

What Insults Reveal About The Person Who Makes Them

     In my previous post, I noted that the Stoic philosopher Epictetus is one of the more interesting figures in Roman history. Another fascinating character is Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who I quoted in my 11/9/17 post on anger.
     We moderns like to think that we are the first complicated individuals in world history, but it would be difficult to find a more complicated person than Seneca. Seneca was born in what is now Corduba, Spain -- by then part of the Roman Empire -- to a prominent local family around 4 BC/BCE. He moved to Rome and pursued a career in politics; that career was full of ups and downs, including everything from service in the Roman Senate to banishment from Rome. The Stoic philosophy that Seneca espoused did not value externals like wealth, but he amassed a substantial fortune during his life. Seneca was also a prolific writer, authoring tragedies, philosophical treatises, and a collection of letters that is considered to be the precursor of the modern essay (Seneca was a major influence on Michel de Montaigne, who reinvented the essay in 16th Century France). After being recalled from exile, Seneca was appointed tutor to the young aristocrat who would later become the Emperor Nero. Seneca attempted to inculcate his pupil with Stoic virtues like clemency, but Nero developed into one of the worst tyrants in Roman history. In one of the great ironies of Western history -- given Seneca's public criticism of the tyranny of the Emperor Caligula -- Nero imposed the death sentence on his former tutor and adviser in 65 AD/CE (although Seneca was allowed to commit suicide like his hero Socrates).
     In happier times, Seneca authored a short treatise that has come to be known as On the Constancy of the Wise Person. In this work, based on Stoic principles, Seneca argued to his friend Annaeus Serenus that a sage could not be truly injured or insulted by anyone. James Ker's translation of the essay includes the following noteworthy passage:
          "Besides, the fact that the majority of insults are made by arrogant and insolent men who bear their good fortune poorly means that the wise person has something by which he can reject that inflated emotional reaction: magnanimity, the most beautiful of all the virtues."
     In recent days, Republican President Donald Trump gratuitously insulted Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren by repeating the derisive nickname "Pocahontas" during an event honoring Native American veterans of World War II. (Trump affixed this moniker to her during the 2016 presidential campaign, based on allegations that she incorrectly claimed Native ancestry). So instead of the media coverage focusing on the heroism of the Navajo veterans -- as noted by Warren in her response -- it focused on the President's racially insensitive insult. Rather than being magnanimous after his victory over opponents like Warren in the 2016 elections, Trump instead choose to make a gesture that can only be described as petty and beneath the dignity of his office.   
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References:
     Seneca, On the Constancy of the Wise Person, translated by James Ker, in Hardship and Happiness (University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2014), 11.1 at page 160; see also pages ix-xi.