Messages from Exile

Seneca's Letters are magnificent masterpieces of Stoic philosophy, written some 2000 years ago during the philosopher's political retirement, fearing the emperor's wrath in the final years of his life, which indeed ended with his execution by Nero at the age of seventy. Between the covers of the book is a moral portrait of the ancient Roman world through Seneca's eyes, appearing in a personal format as an intimate discourse between the philosopher and his friend. This portrait is often surprising, particularly regarding Seneca's religious convictions about the one God, his blending of paganism and monotheism outside the framework of Christianity, and also his anachronistic ethical stance on the treatment of slaves in his era. The letters are a condensation of Stoic moral philosophy, addressing concepts of wealth and extravagance and their impact on the individual and society, poverty and the fear of it, power and tyrants, friendship and betrayal, a happy life and melancholy, and knowledge and ethics.