Letters from a Stoic: Volume II

by Seneca

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”
- Seneca.

Letters from a Stoic is a timeless guide to living the good life. The moral epistles were written by Seneca at the end of his life, during his retirement, after he had worked for the Emperor Nero for fifteen years. They are addressed to Lucilius, the then procurator of Sicily, although he is known only through Seneca's writings. Whether or not Seneca and Lucilius actually corresponded, or whether in fact Seneca created the work as a form of fiction, is not clear from the historical record.

This is the second volume of the Letters, Epistles LXVI-XCII.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction, Essays, Social, History, Self Help

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 64

About the author

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca or Seneca the Younger); ca. 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero, who later forced him to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to have him assassinated.

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alături de epistolele autentice ale lui Seneca, a circulat o vreme o aşa-numită corespondenţă dintre filosof şi sfîntul Pavel.

S-au păstrat paisprezece scrisori: opt atribuite lui Seneca şi şase lui Pavel. Cel dintîi care atestă existenţa acestor scrisori apocrife în corpus-ul epistolar al filosofului este sfîntul Ieronim (340-420), în De viris illustribus. O a doua mărturie aparţine sfîntului Augustin.

Autenticitatea acestor scrisori pseudo-epigrafe a fost pusă în cauză foarte tîrziu. În volumul al doilea din Scrisori către Lucilius există o anexă cu întreaga corepondenţă apocrifă.
Voi reproduce o epistolă pseudoepigrafă, atribuită de falsificator sfîntului Pavel (Paulus):

„Lui Annaeus Seneca îi transmite salutări Paulus.
De cîte ori ascult scrisorile tale, mi te închipui alături şi mi se pare că tu eşti mereu împreună cu noi.
De îndată ce vei veni, vom începe să ne vedem adeseori.
Îţi doresc să fii sănătos (Bene te valere opto)”.

Scrisorile au fost confecţionate, cu mare probabilitate, în secolul al IV-lea. În decursul Evului Mediu, epistolarul a fost privit ca autentic. Din cîte am observat, există şi astăzi savanţi care încearcă să probeze autenticitatea lui...

[Manny]

This side of Seneca is not as well-known as it should be. Thank you, Goodreads Recommendation Engine!

[Peter J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant work. I want to go back to college and slap the dean for letting me graduate without reading this.

[Sergio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Después de un magistral primer tomo (más o menos las primeras 70 cartas son para leer y releer) me he quedado muy sorprendido con la segunda parte. Parece, o que fuera otra persona quien escribe, o que Séneca quisiera llegar a un "cupo" determinado de cartas habiéndosele terminado el fuelle. Un poco extraño, en todo caso.

[Susan Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seneca's letters have been mind-blowing for me. There are hardly any other books in which I have marked so many excellent passages. They say the ancient stoics would carry a coin bearing the face of Zeno, the founder of their school of philosophy. I say give me a coin with Seneca's face to keep in my pocket! Little wonder he was so popular with Christian theologians, medieval or Byzantine. The parallels are stunning and revelatory.

[Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic !

Loeb are the only ones who publish all of Senecas Letters and Essays therefor they are always the way to go!
Plus no endless introduction by someone trying to impart his outlook on stoic philosophy.

[Pepijn van Duijn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Epistles 1-65 is beter

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost every day before work, I would get the audiobook going to chase away the silence. Mind you, Librivox has this for free in the public domain.

This is the second third of the lettres to Lucilius. It’s been 7 years since the first third, and I liked that one a bit better. The key takeaways is that Seneca is better at immagining how a virtuous man may live than at argumenting against the philosophy of others.

[Ed Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seneca’s Letters

The stoic philosopher Seneca was a prolific writer, and this collection of letters on stoicism and life philosophy are a good read some 2000 plus years later. Reading Seneca will continue to give the reader introspection, reflection and perspective on their lives, what they can control, and how they interact with the world around them.

[Bett Correa-Bollhoefer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first volume better, but theres plenty of good things in here.

[Matias Salimbene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much needed lessons from one of the great stoics. Still relevant, and beautifully written thoughts. I loved Seneca.

[Asentior · Rating 4 out of 5]

Din păcate, ediția este plina de greșeli de tot felul. :(

[Gilson Carone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sêneca, brilhante como sempre.

[nix _love_x · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️🫂

[CRafael Martínez-Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro de cabecera.

[Leopold Benedict · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part Two of Seneca's famous letters to Lucilius. According to Seneca one should live a life in accordance with nature. The nature of a human is his reason, because his ability to reason sets him apart from all animals. When one devotes his life to philosophy and reason one will achieve the ultimate goal - a virtuous life.

[Torrey Peace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to get through the audiobook between repetition and also trying to decode some of what was being said.

[Hanna ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't continue this book without thinking of my brother who passed away a week ago, it's too difficult. I might just pick this up again sometime in the future, when the wound has healed.

[Michael J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stoicism works perfectly as an "operating system" to handle the daily struggles we're all likely to encounter. In his attempt to impart wisdom to his colleague Lucilius, Seneca imparts some lessons on how to pursue virtue and what actually constitutes the good life