Sublime

The antics of the reclusive Tiberius in his swimming pool on the island of Capri, where boys (‘little fishes’) were reputedly employed to nibble at his genitals underwater, point to the exploitative sexuality of imperial power

Our Catiline?

And just as Shakespeare observed in Macbeth, “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague th’inventor,” Seneca’s collaboration with Nero ultimately ended with the student murdering the teacher.

“No one is crushed by Fortune, unless they are first deceived by her … those who aren’t pompous in good times, don’t have their bubbles burst with change. Against either circumstance, the stable person keeps their rational soul invincible, for it’s precisely in the good times they prove their strength against adversity.” —SENECA, ON CONSOLATION TO