Editing Seneca the Younger (section)

==Philosophy==

[[File:SènecaQuestionibusNaturalibus.jpg|thumb|right|First page of the ''Naturales Quaestiones'', made for the Aragonese court]]
As "a major philosophical figure of the [[Roman philosophy|Roman]] [[Roman Empire|Imperial Period]]",<ref>{{Citation|last=Vogt|first=Katja|title=Seneca|date=2016|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/seneca/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Winter 2016|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref> Seneca's lasting contribution to philosophy has been to the school of [[Stoicism]]. His writing is highly accessible<ref>{{Harvnb|Gill|1999|pp=49–50}}</ref><ref name="gill37"/> and was the subject of attention from the Renaissance onwards by writers such as [[Michel de Montaigne]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Stoic Philosophy of Seneca|isbn = 0393004597|last1 = Seneca|first1 = Lucius Annaeus|year = 1968| publisher=W. W. Norton & Company }}</ref>

Seneca wrote a number of books on Stoicism, mostly on ethics, with one work (''[[Naturales quaestiones|Naturales Quaestiones]]'') on the physical world.<ref name="gill34">{{Harvnb|Gill|1999|p=34}}</ref>  Seneca built on the writings of many of the earlier Stoics: he often mentions [[Zeno of Citium|Zeno]], [[Cleanthes]], and [[Chrysippus]];<ref>{{Harvnb|Sellars|2013|p=103}}</ref> and frequently cites [[Posidonius]], with whom Seneca shared an interest in natural phenomena.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sellars|2013|p=105}}</ref>  He frequently quotes [[Epicurus]], especially in his ''[[Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium|Letters]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sellars|2013|p=106}}</ref> His interest in Epicurus is mainly limited to using him as a source of ethical maxims.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sellars|2013|p=107}}</ref> Likewise Seneca shows some interest in [[Platonism|Platonist]] metaphysics, but never with any clear commitment.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sellars|2013|p=108}}</ref> His moral essays are based on Stoic doctrines.<ref name="gill37">{{Harvnb|Gill|1999|p=37}}</ref> Stoicism was a popular philosophy in this period, and many upper-class Romans found in it a guiding ethical framework for political involvement.<ref name="gill34"/>  It was once popular to regard Seneca as being very [[Eclectic philosophy|eclectic]] in his Stoicism,<ref>"His philosophy, so far as he adopted a system, was the stoical, but it was rather an eclecticism of stoicism than pure stoicism" {{Cite DGRBM|author=GL|title=Seneca, L. Annaeus|volume=3|page=782|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RR5SAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA782|short=}}</ref> but modern scholarship views him as a fairly orthodox Stoic, albeit a free-minded one.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sellars|2013|p=109}}</ref>

[[File:Seneca Epistulae Morales I.1. On the Use of Time.webm|thumb|left|Seneca's first letter to Lucilius, discussing the value of time, in Latin with English subtitles.]]His works discuss both ethical theory and practical advice, and Seneca stresses that both parts are distinct but interdependent.<ref name="gill43">{{Harvnb|Gill|1999|p=43}}</ref> His ''[[Letters to Lucilius]]'' showcase Seneca's search for ethical perfection.<ref name="gill43"/> Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for the wounds of life.<ref name="colly14">{{Harvnb|Colish|1985|p=14}}</ref>  The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must be uprooted,<ref name="asmi15"/> or moderated according to reason.<ref name="colly49">{{Harvnb|Colish|1985|p=49}}</ref>  He discusses the relative merits of the contemplative life and the active life,<ref name="colly14"/> and he considers it important to confront one's own mortality and be able to face death.<ref name="asmi15"/><ref name="colly49"/>  One must be willing to practice poverty and use wealth properly,<ref name="asmi16"/> and he writes about favours, clemency, the importance of friendship, and the need to benefit others.<ref name="asmi16"/><ref name="colly14"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Colish|1985|p=41}}</ref>  The universe is governed for the best by a rational providence,<ref name="asmi16">{{Harvnb|Asmis|Bartsch|Nussbaum|2012|p=xvi}}</ref> and this must be reconciled with acceptance of adversity.<ref name="asmi15">{{Harvnb|Asmis|Bartsch|Nussbaum|2012|p=xv}}</ref>