Seneca. Hardship and Happiness
2016; Philosophy Education Society Inc.; Volume: 69; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2154-1302
Autores Tópico(s)Classical Antiquity Studies
ResumoSENECA. Hardship and Happiness. Translated by Elaine Fantham, Harry M. Hine, James Ker, and Gareth D. Williams. In The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, edited by Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014. xxix + 318 pp. Cloth, $55.00--This is the fourth in a set from the University of Chicago Press that purports to be a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations [of Seneca] in eight accessible volumes. Previous entries include Seneca's sole scientific work, Natural Questions (2010), Anger, Mercy, Revenge (2010), and On Benefits (2011). Since the release of the present work, the fifth, Lectures on Ethics (2015), has also appeared. Those unfamiliar with Seneca (4 B.C.E.-65 C.E.) will find the introductory essay--which prefaces this and the other volumes--to be a brief yet thorough guide. A wealthy Spaniard by birth, Seneca received a stellar oratorical education at Rome. His genius for administration and political survival catapulted him to the post of Nero's tutor and shadow philosopher-king during the tranquil quinquennium. Later, as a member of the failed conspiracy to supplant the enfant terrible with C. Calpurnius Piso or Seneca himself, he enjoyed a front-row seat to the legendary Julio-Claudian dysfunctions. Seneca's life, like Socrates', ended dramatically: he slit his own veins in a warm tub, choosing suicide over the confiscation of his heirs' property that was de iure for exiled enemies. While Seneca's life ebbed away prematurely, fortunately for students of Stoicism the body of his philosophy has gone from strength to strength. The nine essays of varying length which constitute this volume are introduced individually by their distinguished translators. A very short list for Further Reading is also included for each, and a series of brief endnotes immediately follows. These, ranging from as few as twenty-two pages for the shortest treatise, On Leisure, to ninety-six pages for the more substantial Consolation to Marcia, explain points from the text that are philosophically difficult or historically unfamiliar. Note sixty-four to the Consolation to Helvetia, for example, identifies for us the sister in the text as Apparently Helvia's stepsister ... [t]he wife of Gaius Galerius, prefect of Egypt 16-31 CE. Thanks to the authors' erudition and careful editing, these notes are of quite even quality. The translations themselves, as in previous volumes, are a significant improvement over what has been available in English of the previous century. Though John Basore's Loeb series has owned the market for nearly eighty years, it is genuinely surprising, given Seneca's great popularity, how few options are available in English. …
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