A dilemma that any of us is much less likely to be presented with (although you never do know) is how to reconcile your reasoned Stoic philosophy with the horrors of living in Rome and, for example, being party to the gore of the events in the arenas.
Putting gladiators in the arena is unethical even by the standards of some of the most unhinged rulers. So how does going along to watch them be slaughtered tally with being a holier-than-thou vegetarian?
Seneca has an answer for everything and appears to use his experiences to enrich his philosophy. He asks, how you can live your Stoic life and be brave under different circumstances? One of the models he uses is the gladiator in the arena: if the gladiator can die bravely then so – with all that stoic philosophy – can you... goes the theory.
While he may be a hypocrite in some respects, Seneca does try to introduce Stoic principles to the court world while he’s Nero’s tutor-slash-chief-adviser.
“How well did that go?” you might ask. Well, Nero’s sexual excesses became more extreme, he had his mother Agrippina assassinated, and then made Seneca kill himself. A mixed result.
In 65 AD soldiers present themselves at Seneca’s door and tell him to take his own life. Like a good Stoic, he follows the orders, taking hemlock like Socrates. It’s a protracted death and, while some think he meets it calmly and bravely, giving philosophical advice to his friends gathered around him, others (well, mostly Mary Beard) call it “a celebrity death”.
For all his hypocrisy, Seneca is self-aware. In his Dialogues he writes: “I know I’m not living the life that I’m preaching, but I’m trying.” Huge change has been effected across the millennia, but this idea – of not hitting your target but continuing to give it your best shot – hasn’t altered. Perhaps this is the closest to virtue any of us will ever get.
