Editing Seneca the Younger (section)

==Legacy==
===As a proto-Christian saint===
[[File:Plato Seneca Aristotle medieval.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Plato]], Seneca, and [[Aristotle]] in a medieval manuscript illustration (c. 1325–35)]]

Seneca's writings were well known in the later Roman period, and [[Quintilian]], writing thirty years after Seneca's death, remarked on the popularity of his works amongst the youth.<ref name="lars54a"/> While he found much to admire, Quintillian criticized Seneca for what he regarded as a degenerate literary style—a criticism echoed by [[Aulus Gellius]] in the middle of the 2nd century.<ref name="lars54a">{{Harvnb|Laarmann|2013|p=54}} citing Quintilian, ''Institutio Oratoria'', x.1.126f; Aulus Gellius, ''Noctes Atticae'', xii. 2.</ref>

The early Christian Church was very favourably disposed towards Seneca and his writings, and the church leader [[Tertullian]] possessively referred to him as "our Seneca".<ref>Moses Hadas. ''The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca'', 1958. 1.</ref> By the 4th century an [[Correspondence of Paul and Seneca|apocryphal correspondence]] with [[Paul the Apostle]] had been created linking Seneca into the Christian tradition.<ref name="lars54">{{Harvnb|Laarmann|2013|p=54}}</ref> The letters are mentioned by [[Jerome]] who also included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, and Seneca is similarly mentioned by [[Augustine]].<ref name="lars54"/> In the 6th century [[Martin of Braga]] synthesized Seneca's thought into a couple of treatises that became popular in their own right.<ref name="lars55">{{Harvnb|Laarmann|2013|p=55}}</ref> Otherwise, Seneca was mainly known through a large number of quotes and extracts in the ''[[florilegium|florilegia]]'', which were popular throughout the medieval period.<ref name="lars55"/> When his writings were read in the later Middle Ages, it was mostly his ''[[Letters to Lucilius]]''—the longer essays and plays being relatively unknown.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2014|p=218}}</ref>

Medieval writers and works continued to link him to Christianity because of his alleged association with Paul.<ref name="wilko219">{{Harvnb|Wilson|2014|p=219}}</ref> The ''[[Golden Legend]]'', a 13th-century [[hagiography|hagiographical]] account of famous saints that was widely read, included an account of Seneca's death scene, and erroneously presented Nero as a witness to Seneca's suicide.<ref name="wilko219"/> [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] placed Seneca (alongside [[Cicero]]) among the "great spirits" in the [[Inferno (Dante)#First Circle (Limbo)|First Circle of Hell]], or [[Limbo]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Ker|2009|p=197}} citing Dante, ''Inf.'', 4.141</ref> [[Boccaccio]], who in 1370 came across the works of Tacitus whilst browsing the library at [[Montecassino]], wrote an account of Seneca's suicide hinting that it was a kind of disguised baptism, or a ''de facto'' baptism in spirit.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ker|2009|pp=221–222}}</ref> Some, such as [[Albertino Mussato]] and [[Giovanni Colonna (cardinal, 1295–1348)|Giovanni Colonna]], went even further and concluded that Seneca must have been a Christian convert.<ref>{{Harvnb|Laarmann|2013|p=59}}</ref>

===Disputed quotations===
Various other antique and medieval texts purport to be by Seneca, ''e.g.'', ''De remediis fortuitorum'', but with unconfirmed authorship, they have sometimes been referred-to as "Pseudo-Seneca".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bml.firenze.sbn.it/Seneca/eng/pseudo_seneca_contenuto.html|title=Pseudo-Seneca|website=www.bml.firenze.sbn.it}}</ref>  At least some of these seem to preserve and adapt genuine Senecan content, for example, Saint [[Martin of Braga]]'s (d. c. 580) ''Formula vitae honestae'', or ''De differentiis quatuor virtutum vitae honestae'' ("Rules for an Honest Life", or "On the Four Cardinal Virtues").  Early manuscripts preserve Martin's preface, where he makes it clear that this was his adaptation, but in later copies this was omitted, and the work was later thought fully Seneca's work.<ref>István Pieter Bejczy, ''The Cardinal Virtues in the Middle Ages: A Study in Moral Thought from the Fourth to the Fourteenth Century'', Brill, 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VgPRu0CJ_sQC&pg=PA55 pp. 55–56].</ref>

===An improving reputation===
[[File:Seneca.JPG|thumb|upright|The "[[Pseudo-Seneca]]", a Roman bust found at [[Herculaneum]], one of a series of similar sculptures known since the Renaissance, once identified as Seneca. Now commonly identified as [[Hesiod]]]]

Seneca remains one of the few popular Roman philosophers from the period. He appears not only in [[Dante]], but also in [[Chaucer]] and to a large degree in [[Petrarch]], who adopted his style in his own essays and who quotes him more than any other authority except [[Virgil]]. In the [[Renaissance]], printed editions and translations of his works became common, including an edition by [[Erasmus]] and a commentary by [[John Calvin]].<ref name="Gummere">Richard Mott Gummere, ''Seneca the philosopher, and his modern message'', p. 97.</ref> [[John of Salisbury]], Erasmus and others celebrated his works. French essayist [[Michel de Montaigne|Montaigne]], who gave a spirited defense of Seneca and [[Plutarch]] in his ''Essays'', was himself considered by [[Étienne Pasquier|Pasquier]] a "French Seneca".<ref>Gummere, ''Seneca the philosopher, and his modern message'', p. 106.</ref> Similarly, [[Thomas Fuller]] praised [[Joseph Hall (bishop)|Joseph Hall]] as "our English Seneca". Many who considered his ideas not particularly original still argued that he was important in making the Greek philosophers presentable and intelligible.<ref>Moses Hadas. ''The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca'', 1958. 3.</ref> His suicide has also been a popular subject in art, from [[Jacques-Louis David]]'s 1773 painting ''[[The Death of Seneca (David)|The Death of Seneca]]'' to the 1951 film ''[[Quo Vadis (1951 film)|Quo Vadis]]''.

Even with the admiration of an earlier group of intellectual stalwarts, Seneca has never been without his detractors. In his own time, he was accused of hypocrisy or, at least, a less than "Stoic" lifestyle. While banished to Corsica, he wrote a plea for restoration rather incompatible with his advocacy of a simple life and the acceptance of fate. In his ''[[Apocolocyntosis]]'' he ridiculed the behaviors and policies of Claudius, and flattered Nero—such as proclaiming that Nero would live longer and be wiser than the legendary [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]]. The claims of [[Publius Suillius Rufus]] that Seneca acquired some "three hundred million ''[[sesterces]]''" through Nero's favor are highly partisan, but they reflect the reality that Seneca was both powerful and wealthy.<ref name="campbell">{{Harvnb|Campbell|1969|p=11}}</ref> Robin Campbell, a translator of Seneca's letters, writes that the "stock criticism of Seneca right down the centuries [has been]...the apparent contrast between his philosophical teachings and his practice."<ref name="campbell"/>

In 1562 [[Gerolamo Cardano]] wrote an ''apology'' praising Nero in his ''Encomium Neronis'', printed in Basel.<ref>Available in English as Girolamo Cardano, ''Nero: an Exemplary Life'' Inkstone, 2012</ref> This was likely intended as a mock ''[[encomium]]'', inverting the portrayal of Nero and Seneca that appears in Tacitus.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Siraisi|first=Nancy G.|year=2007|title=History, Medicine, and the Traditions of Renaissance Learning|pages=157–158|publisher=University of Michigan Press}}</ref> In this work Cardano portrayed Seneca as a crook of the worst kind, an empty rhetorician who was only thinking to grab money and power, after having poisoned the mind of the young emperor. Cardano stated that Seneca well deserved death.

[[File:Seneka Starszy Sevilla.JPG|thumb|left|"Seneca", ancient hero of the modern Córdoba; this architectural roundel in Seville is based on the "[[Pseudo-Seneca]]" (''illustration above'')]]

Among the historians who have sought to reappraise Seneca is the scholar [[Anna Lydia Motto]], who in 1966 argued that the negative image has been based almost entirely on Suillius's account, while many others who might have lauded him have been lost.<ref>Lydia Motto, Anna Seneca on Trial: The Case of the Opulent Stoic ''The Classic Journal'', Vol. 61, No. 6 (1966) pp. 254–258</ref>
<blockquote>"We are therefore left with no contemporary record of Seneca's life, save for the desperate opinion of Publius Suillius. Think of the barren image we should have of [[Socrates]], had the works of [[Plato]] and [[Xenophon]] not come down to us and were we wholly dependent upon [[Aristophanes]]' description of this Athenian philosopher. To be sure, we should have a highly distorted, misconstrued view. Such is the view left to us of Seneca, if we were to rely upon Suillius alone."<ref>Lydia Motto, Anna Seneca on Trial: The Case of the Opulent Stoic ''The Classic Journal'', Vol. 61, No. 6 (1966) p. 257</ref> </blockquote>

More recent work is changing the dominant perception of Seneca as a mere conduit for pre-existing ideas, showing originality in Seneca's contribution to the [[history of ideas]]. Examination of Seneca's life and thought in relation to contemporary education and to the psychology of emotions is revealing the relevance of his thought. For example, [[Martha Nussbaum]] in her discussion of desire and emotion includes Seneca among the Stoics who offered important insights and perspectives on emotions and their role in our lives.<ref>Nussbaum, M. (1996). ''The Therapy of Desire''. Princeton University Press</ref> Specifically devoting a chapter to his treatment of anger and its management, she shows Seneca's appreciation of the damaging role of uncontrolled anger, and its pathological connections. Nussbaum later extended her examination to Seneca's contribution to [[political philosophy]]<ref>Nussbaum, M. (1999). ''Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education''. [[Harvard University Press]]{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=November 2021}}</ref> showing considerable subtlety and richness in his thoughts about politics, education, and notions of global citizenship—and finding a basis for reform-minded education in Seneca's ideas she used to propose a mode of modern education that avoids both narrow traditionalism and total rejection of tradition. Elsewhere Seneca has been noted as the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and role of gratitude in human relationships.<ref>Harpham, E. (2004). ''Gratitude in the History of Ideas'', 19–37 in M. A. Emmons and M. E. McCulloch, editors, ''The Psychology of Gratitude'', Oxford University Press.{{ISBN?}}</ref>