In his sixth letter to Lucilius, Seneca mentions the Stoic notion of progress to his friend:
"You cannot imagine how much progress I see myself making every day. 'What remedies are these that have done so much for you?' you say. 'Send them to me too!' Indeed, I am longing to shower you with all of them. What gives me pleasure in learning something is that I can teach it. Nothing will ever please me, not even what is remarkably beneficial, if I have learned it for myself only. If wisdom were given to me with this proviso, that I should keep it shut up in myself and never express it to anyone else, I should refuse it: no good is enjoyable to possess without a companion. So I will send you the books themselves; and I will annotate them too, so that you need not expend much effort hunting through them for the profitable bits, but can get right away to the things that I endorse and am impressed with."
Seneca discusses progress toward wisdom further in Letter 75, noting that there are three categories of persons making progress. Some Stoics say that the first group of progressors have eliminated their mental infirmities but not their emotions. The second type have put aside the worst of the emotions, but have not yet achieved tranquility and are liable to backsliding. The third kind of progressors has gone beyond many serious faults (like greed, lust, and desire) but not all faults (like anger, ambition, and fear). Seneca tells Lucilius that he believes they both have made it, or will make it, into the third species. The Stoic goal is to become a wise person, or sage; such people are not troubled by anxiety, not defiled by pleasure, and fear neither the gods nor death. However, few humans have ever achieved this status (a notable example of a sage, for the ancient Stoics, was the Athenian philosopher Socrates).
An interesting parallel (at least to me) can be drawn with the Theravada Buddhism of the Pali Canon. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Buddha's disciples can be divided into four classes. The "stream-enterer" has eliminated doubt and certain other fetters. The "once-returner" has not eliminated additional fetters, but has weakened hatred and delusion and lust. The "non-returner" has eliminated lust and ill will. The goal of the Theravada Buddhist is to become an "arahant" who has eliminated the desire for existence -- along with conceit, restlessness, and ignorance -- and will not undergo any future rebirths in any realms.
Whether or not Seneca believed in reincarnation or immortality is a subject for a future post.
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Bhikkhu Bodhi, In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon (Boston,Wisdom Publications, 2005), pages 373-384.
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 6, 3-5 , pages 33-34; see also Letter 75, 8-18, pages 237-239.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
4/5: Living According To Nature
As noted in my 12/30/17 post, in his fourth letter to Lucilius, Seneca quotes Epicurus' maxim that "Poverty is great wealth when it adjusts to nature's law". In Letter 5, Seneca goes on to flesh out his view of the Stoic concept of nature for Lucilius in good-humored (or perhaps sarcastic) fashion:
"Our aim is to live in accordance with nature, is it not? This is contrary to nature: tormenting one's body, swearing off simple matters of grooming, affecting a squalid appearance, partaking of foods that are not merely inexpensive but rancid and coarse. A hankering after delicacies is a sign of self-indulgence; by the same token, avoidance of those comforts that are quite ordinary and easy to obtain is an indication of insanity. Philosophy demands self-restraint, not self-abnegation -- and even self-restraint can comb its hair. The limit I suggest is this: our habits should mingle the ideal with the ordinary in due proportion, our way of life should be one that everyone can admire without finding it unrecognizable."
Here Seneca seems to be making an argument in favor of moderation ("... our habits should mingle the ideal with the ordinary in due proportion ...") which is the founding principle of this blog. The passage also brings to mind Aristotle's doctrine of the mean, discussed in my post of 10/19/17. As readers may recall, in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defined virtues as the mean between excess and deficiency. Regarding temperance, for example, he said it was destroyed by excess (licentiousness) and deficiency (insensibility) but preserved by the mean.
In closing, it is worth noting that Seneca authored a separate treatise called "Natural Questions" -- also included in the University of Chicago's recent series of translations of his complete works into English -- which I hope to read some day.
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Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Penguin Classics, London, 2004; original translation by Thomson, revised by Tredennick, introduction by Barnes), Book II, page 34, pages 40-49; see also Appendix 1.
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 5, 4-5, page 32.
"Our aim is to live in accordance with nature, is it not? This is contrary to nature: tormenting one's body, swearing off simple matters of grooming, affecting a squalid appearance, partaking of foods that are not merely inexpensive but rancid and coarse. A hankering after delicacies is a sign of self-indulgence; by the same token, avoidance of those comforts that are quite ordinary and easy to obtain is an indication of insanity. Philosophy demands self-restraint, not self-abnegation -- and even self-restraint can comb its hair. The limit I suggest is this: our habits should mingle the ideal with the ordinary in due proportion, our way of life should be one that everyone can admire without finding it unrecognizable."
Here Seneca seems to be making an argument in favor of moderation ("... our habits should mingle the ideal with the ordinary in due proportion ...") which is the founding principle of this blog. The passage also brings to mind Aristotle's doctrine of the mean, discussed in my post of 10/19/17. As readers may recall, in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defined virtues as the mean between excess and deficiency. Regarding temperance, for example, he said it was destroyed by excess (licentiousness) and deficiency (insensibility) but preserved by the mean.
In closing, it is worth noting that Seneca authored a separate treatise called "Natural Questions" -- also included in the University of Chicago's recent series of translations of his complete works into English -- which I hope to read some day.
_______________
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Penguin Classics, London, 2004; original translation by Thomson, revised by Tredennick, introduction by Barnes), Book II, page 34, pages 40-49; see also Appendix 1.
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 5, 4-5, page 32.
Monday, January 8, 2018
3: Seneca Was SO Judgmental
Many of Seneca's letters to Lucilius discuss friendship. For instance, in Letter 3, Seneca expresses his concern to Lucilius that the latter has made friends with a person who he did not trust completely. However, according to Seneca:
"Consider every question with a friend; but first, consider the friend. After you make a friend, you should trust him -- but before you make a friend, you should make a judgment. People who love someone and then judge that person are mixing up their responsibilities: they should judge first, then love, as Theophrastus advised. Take time to consider whether or not to receive a person into your friendship; but once you have decided to do so, receive him with all your heart, and speak with him as candidly as with yourself."
Rightly or wrongly, judging another person -- the quality of being judgmental -- is no longer favored in the modern West. To cite but one example, consider the North American fitness chain that advertises itself as a "judgement-free zone" and informs potential members that "the world judges; we don't." However, I think there may be a mean between Seneca's "judge first" policy and the "never judge" motto of the fitness chain.
The Stoic thinker Epictetus was born about 10 years before Seneca's death in 65 AD/CE. Epictetus, who was a slave before he became a teacher of philosophy, expressed a more flexible view of the faculty of judgment in his Discourses:
"The raw material of the good man is his mind -- his goal being to respond to impressions the way nature intended. As a general rule, nature designed the mind to assent to what is true, dissent from what is false[,] and suspend judgement in doubtful cases."
Following Epictetus, I would argue that the better course is to give a potential friend the benefit of the doubt -- that is, to suspend judgment -- until all the evidence is in, before admitting him or her into your friendship, rather than making what might be a hasty decision about such an important matter.
In closing, and before I forget, Happy New Year!
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References:
Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, translated and edited by Robert Dobbin (Penguin Classics, London, 2008), Discourses, Book III, 1-2, page 146.
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 3, 2, page 28.
"Consider every question with a friend; but first, consider the friend. After you make a friend, you should trust him -- but before you make a friend, you should make a judgment. People who love someone and then judge that person are mixing up their responsibilities: they should judge first, then love, as Theophrastus advised. Take time to consider whether or not to receive a person into your friendship; but once you have decided to do so, receive him with all your heart, and speak with him as candidly as with yourself."
Rightly or wrongly, judging another person -- the quality of being judgmental -- is no longer favored in the modern West. To cite but one example, consider the North American fitness chain that advertises itself as a "judgement-free zone" and informs potential members that "the world judges; we don't." However, I think there may be a mean between Seneca's "judge first" policy and the "never judge" motto of the fitness chain.
The Stoic thinker Epictetus was born about 10 years before Seneca's death in 65 AD/CE. Epictetus, who was a slave before he became a teacher of philosophy, expressed a more flexible view of the faculty of judgment in his Discourses:
"The raw material of the good man is his mind -- his goal being to respond to impressions the way nature intended. As a general rule, nature designed the mind to assent to what is true, dissent from what is false[,] and suspend judgement in doubtful cases."
Following Epictetus, I would argue that the better course is to give a potential friend the benefit of the doubt -- that is, to suspend judgment -- until all the evidence is in, before admitting him or her into your friendship, rather than making what might be a hasty decision about such an important matter.
In closing, and before I forget, Happy New Year!
_______________
References:
Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, translated and edited by Robert Dobbin (Penguin Classics, London, 2008), Discourses, Book III, 1-2, page 146.
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 3, 2, page 28.
Saturday, December 30, 2017
2: Virtue Or Pleasure?
In my most recent post on Seneca's first letter, I observed how the quality of his writing makes him a pleasure to read. But in the second letter to Lucilius, Seneca advises his friend to be mindful in reading selections, urging him to focus on quality versus quantity:
"Be careful, though, about your reading in many authors and every type of book. It may be that there is something wayward and unstable in it. You must stay with a limited number of writers and be fed by them if you mean to derive anything that will dwell reliably with you. One who is everywhere is nowhere."
For whatever it's worth, I have found this to be true in my own experience.
Interestingly, Seneca closes the second letter with a quote from Epicurus ("Cheerful poverty is an honorable thing"). Among other reasons, this is interesting because Seneca was a self-proclaimed Stoic, whereas Epicurus was the founder of a rival school of philosophy that bears his name. For the Stoics, according to Seneca, virtue -- defined as perfected reason -- was the sole good. The Stoic school of philosophy was founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the third century BC/BCE.
Also in that century (and also in Athens) Epicurus of Samos founded the school of philosophy that bears his name. According to Epicurus, "pleasure ... is our primary native good". Although Epicurus argued for "a simple rather than a lavish way of life", even in his own time, critics accused him of promoting hedonism; however, he attempted to clarify that:
"The pleasant life is not the product of one drinking party after another or of sexual intercourse ... or of the sea food and other delicacies afforded by a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is the result of sober thinking ... ."
It is noteworthy that -- while the Stoics and Epicureans disagreed about the nature of the greatest good -- this did not prevent Seneca from citing Epicurus when they were in agreement. The quote above on poverty seems to be favorable, as does Seneca's quotation of Epicurus in Letter 4 ("Poverty is great wealth when it adjusts to nature's law"). In fact, near the end of Letter 2, Seneca jokes with Lucilius that he crosses into the Epicurean camp as a spy rather than as a deserter.
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"Be careful, though, about your reading in many authors and every type of book. It may be that there is something wayward and unstable in it. You must stay with a limited number of writers and be fed by them if you mean to derive anything that will dwell reliably with you. One who is everywhere is nowhere."
For whatever it's worth, I have found this to be true in my own experience.
Interestingly, Seneca closes the second letter with a quote from Epicurus ("Cheerful poverty is an honorable thing"). Among other reasons, this is interesting because Seneca was a self-proclaimed Stoic, whereas Epicurus was the founder of a rival school of philosophy that bears his name. For the Stoics, according to Seneca, virtue -- defined as perfected reason -- was the sole good. The Stoic school of philosophy was founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the third century BC/BCE.
Also in that century (and also in Athens) Epicurus of Samos founded the school of philosophy that bears his name. According to Epicurus, "pleasure ... is our primary native good". Although Epicurus argued for "a simple rather than a lavish way of life", even in his own time, critics accused him of promoting hedonism; however, he attempted to clarify that:
"The pleasant life is not the product of one drinking party after another or of sexual intercourse ... or of the sea food and other delicacies afforded by a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is the result of sober thinking ... ."
It is noteworthy that -- while the Stoics and Epicureans disagreed about the nature of the greatest good -- this did not prevent Seneca from citing Epicurus when they were in agreement. The quote above on poverty seems to be favorable, as does Seneca's quotation of Epicurus in Letter 4 ("Poverty is great wealth when it adjusts to nature's law"). In fact, near the end of Letter 2, Seneca jokes with Lucilius that he crosses into the Epicurean camp as a spy rather than as a deserter.
_______________
References:
Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus at 129, page 158, from The Art of Happiness, Translated with Commentary by George K. Strodach and Forward by Daniel Klein (Penguin Classics, London, 2012); see also 131 at page 159 and 132 at page 160.
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 2, 2 and 5, pages 26 and 27; see Letter 76, 10 and 21, pages 241 and 243; see also Letter 4, 10, page 30.
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 2, 2 and 5, pages 26 and 27; see Letter 76, 10 and 21, pages 241 and 243; see also Letter 4, 10, page 30.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
1: Seneca (Was) On Time
As mentioned in my previous blog post, I am embarking on a series of posts on Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman politician/dramatist/philosopher who lived in the first century AD/CE. Readers of this blog will recall that two of my prior posts pertained to Seneca: one on anger, based on his treatise of the same name (11/9/17); the other on insults, based on his essay On the Constancy of the Wise Person (12/2/17).
My project has been made easier by a series of new translations of Seneca's works published by the University of Chicago Press. Included in the series is an excellent translation of Seneca's Letters on Ethics to Lucilius, by Margaret Graver and A.A. Long. Gaius Lucilius Iunior -- to whom the Letters are addressed -- was a younger friend of Seneca's who (like him) was a writer who also served in government. Although each of the 124 individual letters begins with a salutation to Lucilius, Seneca clearly intended that they reach a larger audience.
I believe that what makes a thinker from the past relevant today (among other factors) is whether or not what he or she had to say is still applicable to modern concerns. In recent years, "Mindfulness" has become a popular topic -- just enter the word in your favorite Internet search engine -- spawning books and magazines and websites. Originally an ancient Buddhist teaching, mindfulness in its modern incarnation focuses on paying close attention to, and living in, the present moment. Along these lines, note the following from Seneca's first letter to Lucilius:
"And so, dear Lucilius, do what your letter says you are doing: embrace every hour. If you lay hands on today, you will find you are less dependent on tomorrow. While you delay, life speeds by. Everything we have belongs to others, Lucilius; time alone is ours. Nature has put us in possession of this one thing, this fleeting, slippery thing -- and anyone who wants to can dispossess us. Such is the foolishness of mortal beings: when they borrow the smallest, cheapest items, such as can easily be replaced, they acknowledge the debt, but no one considers himself indebted for taking up our time. Yet this is the one loan that even those who are grateful cannot repay. "
"And so, dear Lucilius, do what your letter says you are doing: embrace every hour. If you lay hands on today, you will find you are less dependent on tomorrow. While you delay, life speeds by. Everything we have belongs to others, Lucilius; time alone is ours. Nature has put us in possession of this one thing, this fleeting, slippery thing -- and anyone who wants to can dispossess us. Such is the foolishness of mortal beings: when they borrow the smallest, cheapest items, such as can easily be replaced, they acknowledge the debt, but no one considers himself indebted for taking up our time. Yet this is the one loan that even those who are grateful cannot repay. "
As this passage shows, another thing that makes Seneca worth reading today -- 2,000 years after his death -- is the quality of his writing.
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_______________
References:
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 1, 2-3, page 25; see also pages 1-3.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Philosophers And Bathroom Attendants
Just letting my regular readers know that, in the near future, I hope to start what is intended to be a series of blog posts on Seneca's Letters. But this post -- which also discusses a passage from an ancient thinker -- will be more personal than my usual offerings.
As noted in my 11/26/17 post, Epictetus spent the first part of his life as a Roman slave, but ultimately founded a prominent school of Stoic philosophy in Greece. Epictetus' Discourses, which were transcribed by his student Arrian, include the following passage in Book I, which is relevant to my current job search:
"For one person it is reasonable to be a bathroom attendant, because he only thinks about what punishment and privation lie in wait for him otherwise, and knows that if he accepts the assignment he will be spared that pain and hardship. Someone else not only finds such a job intolerable for him personally, but finds it intolerable that anyone should have to perform it. But ask me, 'Shall I be a bathroom attendant or not?' and I will tell you that earning a living is better than starving to death; so that if you measure your interests by these criteria, go ahead and do it. 'But it would be beneath my dignity.' Well, that is an additional factor that you bring to the question, not me. You are the one who knows yourself -- which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation, and therefore at what price you will sell yourself; because people sell themselves at different rates."
This passage is meaningful to me because I took early retirement about 5 months ago, after almost 29 years in state and local -- mostly local -- government. I am fortunate enough to be receiving a monthly pension, so my family is certainly not in any danger of starving. However, like many Americans, I do need to continue working for the next several years to help cover health insurance for my wife and me as well as university costs for our children. I graduated from law school just before starting my public sector career and have kept a law license current all these years. But I spent most of that career in management and public policy positions, so it has been years since I actively practiced. Thus, most private sector employers have little interest in hiring someone like me: a lawyer "of a certain age" with no clients. By the way, age may likewise be a factor in the length of time it is taking me to find a job, because I have friends and neighbors who are also in their 50's and who are also having trouble finding professional positions.
To be clear, I am not complaining, which is one of Epictetus' cardinal sins. I am in this situation because of my career decisions, not all of which (in retrospect) may have been prudent. However, the quandary I face is, will I have to end up taking what some people might consider to be a job "beneath my dignity" -- although I do not consider any job that is not illegal beneath my dignity -- or continue to hold out for a professional opportunity that may never materialize?
_______________
References:
Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, translated and edited by Robert Dobbin (Penguin Classics, London, 2008), Discourses, Book I, 2, 8-11, pages 8-9.
As noted in my 11/26/17 post, Epictetus spent the first part of his life as a Roman slave, but ultimately founded a prominent school of Stoic philosophy in Greece. Epictetus' Discourses, which were transcribed by his student Arrian, include the following passage in Book I, which is relevant to my current job search:
"For one person it is reasonable to be a bathroom attendant, because he only thinks about what punishment and privation lie in wait for him otherwise, and knows that if he accepts the assignment he will be spared that pain and hardship. Someone else not only finds such a job intolerable for him personally, but finds it intolerable that anyone should have to perform it. But ask me, 'Shall I be a bathroom attendant or not?' and I will tell you that earning a living is better than starving to death; so that if you measure your interests by these criteria, go ahead and do it. 'But it would be beneath my dignity.' Well, that is an additional factor that you bring to the question, not me. You are the one who knows yourself -- which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation, and therefore at what price you will sell yourself; because people sell themselves at different rates."
This passage is meaningful to me because I took early retirement about 5 months ago, after almost 29 years in state and local -- mostly local -- government. I am fortunate enough to be receiving a monthly pension, so my family is certainly not in any danger of starving. However, like many Americans, I do need to continue working for the next several years to help cover health insurance for my wife and me as well as university costs for our children. I graduated from law school just before starting my public sector career and have kept a law license current all these years. But I spent most of that career in management and public policy positions, so it has been years since I actively practiced. Thus, most private sector employers have little interest in hiring someone like me: a lawyer "of a certain age" with no clients. By the way, age may likewise be a factor in the length of time it is taking me to find a job, because I have friends and neighbors who are also in their 50's and who are also having trouble finding professional positions.
To be clear, I am not complaining, which is one of Epictetus' cardinal sins. I am in this situation because of my career decisions, not all of which (in retrospect) may have been prudent. However, the quandary I face is, will I have to end up taking what some people might consider to be a job "beneath my dignity" -- although I do not consider any job that is not illegal beneath my dignity -- or continue to hold out for a professional opportunity that may never materialize?
_______________
References:
Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, translated and edited by Robert Dobbin (Penguin Classics, London, 2008), Discourses, Book I, 2, 8-11, pages 8-9.
Saturday, December 2, 2017
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.
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.
_______________
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.
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