Sublime

Seneca himself in a self-justificatory account of his life under both Caligula and Claudius. He insists that his survival of Caligula’s reign was the result of his patience and loyalty, which led him to bide his time, not submitting to the allure of suicide but instead waiting things out, for the sake of his devotion to his friends:

César avait raison de préférer la première place dans un village à la seconde à Rome. Non par ambition, ou par vaine gloire, mais parce que l'homme placé en second n'a le choix qu'entre les dangers de l'obéissance, ceux de la révolte, et ceux, plus graves, du compromis. Je n'étais même pas le second dans Rome. Sur le point de partir pour une expédi

In Seneca’s own generation there were other Stoics in the Roman government who stood up strongly against Nero and in favor of Republican principles: the most important of these was Thrasea, to whom we shall return.

So that no man would have grounds to feel superior to another, Lycurgus divided the country into 9000 equal plots of land. To each family, he gave one plot. Further, he decreed that the men no longer be called “citizens” but “peers” or “equals.” So that no man might compete with another or put on airs over wealth, Lycurgus outlawed money. A coin su

Platon entreprend de nous montrer que l'honneur de ce soldat de la vertu engageait aussi la philosophie elle-même. Pour Socrate, en effet, la vertu n'est rien sans la poursuite du savoir et le désir insatiable de connaître, ce que désigne précisément le terme grec philosophía3. Il n'y a pas de courage, pas de tempérance ni de justice sans amour du

Certainly Stoics were known to counsel retirement from politics (a theme in Seneca’s own life as he sought Nero’s permission for retirement, unsuccessfully), and they were thought to believe that upheaval is worse than lawless tyranny. Plutarch reports that Brutus (a Platonist) questioned potential coconspirators in the assassination of Julius Caes

Plato’s The Republic

Men of Athens, this reputation of mine has come of a certain sort of wisdom which I possess. If you ask me what kind of wisdom, I reply, wisdom such as