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Anger, Mercy, Revenge
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Seneca—whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emerson—to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities.
Anger, Mercy, Revenge comprises three key writings: the moral essays On Anger and On Clemency—which were penned as advice for the then young emperor, Nero—and the Apocolocyntosis, a brilliant satire lampooning the end of the reign of Claudius. Friend and tutor, as well as philosopher, Seneca welcomed the age of Nero in tones alternately serious, poetic, and comic—making Anger, Mercy, Revenge a work just as complicated, astute, and ambitious as its author.
247 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 65
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615 people want to read
About the author
Seneca
2,702 books3,853 followersLucius 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.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 18, 2021
Anger is good on restraining unhealthy emotions. Mercy is a Stoic’s advice to princes. Revenge is a flat satire.
July 3, 2019
With a title like this, how can someone not read Anger, Mercy and Revenge? A wonderful translation of Seneca's two treatises on Anger and Mercy as well as his short satire, the Apotheosis of Claudius.
The introduction to the series is interesting, placing Seneca in context as well as introducing the reader to Stoicism, the philosophy Seneca is most associated with. It can get technical (near the end there's a somewhat strange tangent about the literary value of Seneca's tragedies, which was a source of inspiration for Elizabethans such as Shakespeare) even though none of the works in this volume is a tragedy. The introduction also seems like the work of many minds, at one point asserting that Seneca was innocent of being part of the Pisonian conspiracy while later asserting that he was involved.
The treatise on Anger is well translated (in that it is easy to understand and communicates interesting ideas) as well as substantively wonderful. Seneca argues that anger has no place among the virtues. Especially when punishing wrong-doers, a person should be calm and rational, punishing the wrong-doer for their own good, or the good of the community. Anger tends to distort this judgement, and cannot be useful for even retribution. Seneca argues that anger is ugly, and leads to cruelty, and that it warps justice and it does not aid it. To Seneca, even if anger spurs corrections of injustice, as a passion it dies too quickly calmly see the project through. The angry person is beast-like, a sort of temporary madness. Seneca describes an angry person as someone who throws themselves off a cliff, and is willing to die in order to inflict pain. Seneca argues, even if anger at injustice was a good thing, it would simply drive a wise person insane, since there are so many injustices in the world. Seneca goes on lengthy descriptions of how anger leads to meaningless destruction, often because anger begets anger.
Seneca argues that anger is an emotion that can be controlled and warded off. He gives examples of fathers who have to smile as their children are butchered, to avoid the butchering of more of their children. His practical advice is to raise children well, and not let them become too bratty by pampering them. He advises us to remember our own flaws before judging others, giving the benefit of the doubt to others, to laugh at insults, and to realize when we are angry at someone who we are projecting ourselves onto. Seneca reminds us that great men in the past faced insults and carried them gracefully. Finally, least it all fails, Seneca reminds us that without taking any revenge, we will all die, so why bother being using our time planning our intricate plots when the object of our anger will die without us moving a finger? Instead, he argues, we should enjoy our lives in humane harmony, since we're all on the same proverbial boat.
The second treatise, on Mercy is significantly shorter and incomplete. Seneca writes the treatise as a panegyric to Nero (and possibly with the senatorial crowd as an audience), purportedly praising Nero for already having the quality of mercy when in reality trying to teach him. Sadly, the lesson probably did not stick. Seneca argues that there are prudential reasons to be merciful for a prince, since the people will love a ruler who is merciful. There is a fascinating allegory about bees as well, Seneca argues that the "king bee" does not have stinger, and draws this analogy for why a prince should be merciful. Seneca argues that it is more powerful for a prince to give life than to take it away. Interestingly, Seneca argues that mercy is not the same as pity. Pity is an emotional response to give someone less then their just deserts, while mercy is the rational decision to extract less than what is due. For Seneca, mercy is different from pity since it is a rational and deliberate response. Seneca argues the opposite of mercy is cruelty, which extracts more punishment than one deserves.
The last part "On Revenge" is not actually a treatise on revenge but a satirical take on Claudius. Seneca is no fan of Claudius, who exiled him and was not on the closest of terms even when recalled. Seneca writes a satire of the deification of Claudius, filled with joy at his passing, and the promise of Nero (that hope was sorely misplaced in hindsight), a not very Stoic reaction. The piece is short but funny, mixing high handed Greek literature with scatological humor (Claudius dies "I think I've s--t myself, and Seneca goes on to say, he certainly s--t on everything else). At the gates of Olympus, Hercules does not recognize Claudius, thinking him some kind of monster that he has not fought yet. When Claudius is condemned by Augustus's speech to the underworld (Augustus is upset at Claudius executing so many of his descendants) he passes by celebrations of his death, thinking that sarcastic mourning was real (the only ones truly upset are trial lawyers, at the business that Claudius created by disregarding legal scholars and sitting as judge). Claudius's freedman is scared of the Cerberus, who looks nothing like his poodle. Eventually Claudius is sentenced to be a law clerk for Caligula's freedman, a just punishment in Seneca's mind.
Overall, a great collection, masterfully translated. Interesting for both historical reasons (both because of Seneca's role in Rome, as well as the many anecdotes he puts in to prove his point) and for the moral lessons that he tries to impart. Timeless.
The introduction to the series is interesting, placing Seneca in context as well as introducing the reader to Stoicism, the philosophy Seneca is most associated with. It can get technical (near the end there's a somewhat strange tangent about the literary value of Seneca's tragedies, which was a source of inspiration for Elizabethans such as Shakespeare) even though none of the works in this volume is a tragedy. The introduction also seems like the work of many minds, at one point asserting that Seneca was innocent of being part of the Pisonian conspiracy while later asserting that he was involved.
The treatise on Anger is well translated (in that it is easy to understand and communicates interesting ideas) as well as substantively wonderful. Seneca argues that anger has no place among the virtues. Especially when punishing wrong-doers, a person should be calm and rational, punishing the wrong-doer for their own good, or the good of the community. Anger tends to distort this judgement, and cannot be useful for even retribution. Seneca argues that anger is ugly, and leads to cruelty, and that it warps justice and it does not aid it. To Seneca, even if anger spurs corrections of injustice, as a passion it dies too quickly calmly see the project through. The angry person is beast-like, a sort of temporary madness. Seneca describes an angry person as someone who throws themselves off a cliff, and is willing to die in order to inflict pain. Seneca argues, even if anger at injustice was a good thing, it would simply drive a wise person insane, since there are so many injustices in the world. Seneca goes on lengthy descriptions of how anger leads to meaningless destruction, often because anger begets anger.
Seneca argues that anger is an emotion that can be controlled and warded off. He gives examples of fathers who have to smile as their children are butchered, to avoid the butchering of more of their children. His practical advice is to raise children well, and not let them become too bratty by pampering them. He advises us to remember our own flaws before judging others, giving the benefit of the doubt to others, to laugh at insults, and to realize when we are angry at someone who we are projecting ourselves onto. Seneca reminds us that great men in the past faced insults and carried them gracefully. Finally, least it all fails, Seneca reminds us that without taking any revenge, we will all die, so why bother being using our time planning our intricate plots when the object of our anger will die without us moving a finger? Instead, he argues, we should enjoy our lives in humane harmony, since we're all on the same proverbial boat.
The second treatise, on Mercy is significantly shorter and incomplete. Seneca writes the treatise as a panegyric to Nero (and possibly with the senatorial crowd as an audience), purportedly praising Nero for already having the quality of mercy when in reality trying to teach him. Sadly, the lesson probably did not stick. Seneca argues that there are prudential reasons to be merciful for a prince, since the people will love a ruler who is merciful. There is a fascinating allegory about bees as well, Seneca argues that the "king bee" does not have stinger, and draws this analogy for why a prince should be merciful. Seneca argues that it is more powerful for a prince to give life than to take it away. Interestingly, Seneca argues that mercy is not the same as pity. Pity is an emotional response to give someone less then their just deserts, while mercy is the rational decision to extract less than what is due. For Seneca, mercy is different from pity since it is a rational and deliberate response. Seneca argues the opposite of mercy is cruelty, which extracts more punishment than one deserves.
The last part "On Revenge" is not actually a treatise on revenge but a satirical take on Claudius. Seneca is no fan of Claudius, who exiled him and was not on the closest of terms even when recalled. Seneca writes a satire of the deification of Claudius, filled with joy at his passing, and the promise of Nero (that hope was sorely misplaced in hindsight), a not very Stoic reaction. The piece is short but funny, mixing high handed Greek literature with scatological humor (Claudius dies "I think I've s--t myself, and Seneca goes on to say, he certainly s--t on everything else). At the gates of Olympus, Hercules does not recognize Claudius, thinking him some kind of monster that he has not fought yet. When Claudius is condemned by Augustus's speech to the underworld (Augustus is upset at Claudius executing so many of his descendants) he passes by celebrations of his death, thinking that sarcastic mourning was real (the only ones truly upset are trial lawyers, at the business that Claudius created by disregarding legal scholars and sitting as judge). Claudius's freedman is scared of the Cerberus, who looks nothing like his poodle. Eventually Claudius is sentenced to be a law clerk for Caligula's freedman, a just punishment in Seneca's mind.
Overall, a great collection, masterfully translated. Interesting for both historical reasons (both because of Seneca's role in Rome, as well as the many anecdotes he puts in to prove his point) and for the moral lessons that he tries to impart. Timeless.
March 7, 2022
On anger was definitely the highlight, but Nussbaum's intro to "pumpkinification of Claudius the god" was fascinating
November 28, 2023
stoic philosophy: self-help style!
June 22, 2022
The Thoughts and Notes on Anger, Mercy, Revenge...Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
~Buddha
Stoicism is one of the world’s most influential philosophical movements.
The goal of Stoic philosophy, like that of other philosophical schools of the Hellenistic era, was to give the pupil a flourishing life free from the forms of distress and moral failure that the Stoics
thought ubiquitous in their societies.
Unlike some of their competitor schools, however, they emphasized the need to study all parts of their threefold system—logic, physics, and ethics—in order to understand the universe and its interconnections.
Stoic physics held that the universe is a rationally ordered whole and that everything that happens in it happens for the best of reasons.
Stoics' belief: Everything happens of necessity!
Stoic ethics begins with the idea of the infinite worth of the rational capacity in every human being.
Realizing that chance events lie beyond our control, the Stoic will find it unnecessary to experience grief, anger, fear, or even hope: all of these are characteristic of a mind that waits in suspense, awestruck by things indifferent. We can have a life that genuinely involves joy (of the right sort) if we appreciate that the most precious thing of all, and the only genuinely precious thing, lies
within our control at all times.
Seneca identifies himself as a Stoic.
Seneca is concerned above all with applying Stoic ethical principles to his life and to the lives of others like him. The question that dominates his philosophical writings is how an individual can
achieve a good life. In his eyes, the quest for virtue and happiness is a heroic endeavor that places the successful person above the assaults of fortune and on a level with god.
To this end, Seneca transforms the sage into an inspirational figure who can motivate others to become like him through his gentle humanity and joyful tranquility.
Key topics are how to reconcile adversity with providence, how to free oneself from passions (particularly anger and grief), how to face death, how to disengage oneself from political involvement, how to practice poverty and use wealth, and how to benefit others.
Seneca invites the reader to withdraw into this inner self, so as to both meditate on one’s particular
condition and take flight in the contemplation of God.
Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
~Aristotle
ANGER...
Anger is a failure of the mind.
Reason grants both parties time for a hearing and then seeks an adjournment for its own sake so that it has time to search out the truth.
Anger’s in a hurry.
Reason wants its judgment to be fair; anger wants its judgment to appear fair.
Reason keeps its eye solely on the matter under consideration; anger is moved by empty and irrelevant imaginings.
To keep from becoming angry with individuals you must forgive all at once: the human race should be granted a pardon.
If you become angry with young men and old men because they do wrong, then be angry with infants: they’re going to do wrong. Surely no one becomes angry with children of an age incapable of drawing distinctions, do they? Being human is a greater excuse, and more just, than being a child.
I don’t come to give you nonsensical advice.
The way to the best human life is easy: just make a start, with good auspices and with the gods themselves lending a hand.
It’s much more difficult to do the things you’re doing.
What’s more tranquil than peace of mind?
What’s more toilsome than anger?
What’s more relaxed than mercy?
What’s more taxing than cruelty?
Chastity has time free for itself, lust is ever busy.
In short, all virtues are easy to maintain, but cultivating vices carries a high price.
“A mind that lacks anger lacks energy.”
The wise man should be well-balanced, and for uncommonly brave action he should display
strength, not anger.
Anger has brought a father's grief, a husband's divorce, a magistrate's hatred, and a candidate's defeat.
It’s worse than luxury, which enjoys its own pleasure: anger enjoys another’s pain. It outdoes malice and envy, which want others to be made unhappy and take delight in strokes of bad luck: anger makes others unhappy and can’t wait for luck to harm the people it hates—it wants to harm them itself
When you’re angry, you should allow yourself nothing.
Why?
Because then you want to allow yourself everything.
Struggle with yourself: if to overcome anger, it cannot overcome you. You begin to overcome it if it’s kept concealed and not given an outlet. We should disguise its signs and keep it, to the extent possible, hidden and secret.
ON CLEMENCY...
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
A mind that is truly clemens will never know anger, not just for the formal Stoic reason that—clemency being a virtue, anger a vice—they could not coexist in the same mind, but because a clemens mind would not fall away from reason into the errors that make anger possible
This link between clemency and the avoidance of anger touches upon another important point—one that is often overlooked, indeed actually obscured, when it is said that clemency is an essentially hierarchical quality, displayed by a superior toward an inferior.
The clarity of mind that clemency brings to fairly requiting wrongs is a true human good, whatever the social levels on which the wrongs are committed and required.
The human mind is stubborn by nature, struggling against anything that opposes it or puts an obstacle in its way, and it follows on its own more readily than it is led; just as noble thoroughbred horses are better guided with a loose rein, so a willing innocence follows clemency with an impulse all its own, and the community thinks it worth preserving for its own good. This is the path on which we make more progress.
Cruelty is the least human sort of evil and unworthy of the gentle the mind of man; it’s a bestial sort of madness to take delight in bloody wounds, casting off one’s humanity to assume the character of some woodland creature
True happiness lies in granting well-being to many, in summoning them back to life from death, and in earning a civic garland through clemency.
Clemency is “the mind’s moderation when it has the power to take revenge,” or “mildness in a superior toward an inferior in determining punishment.”
Clemency exercises freedom of judgment: it makes its determinations not according to a set formula but according to what is fair and good; it is free to acquit and assess the value of a suit at the amount it wishes. It does all of these things, not as though it were doing less than what is just, but as though the determination it reaches is the justest.
But to forgive is to forgo punishing one whom you judge ought to be punished, and pardon
is the remission of a deserved punishment. Clemency accomplishes this first and foremost: it declares that those whom it lets go ought not to have suffered anything else. It is more complete than pardon, and more honorable.
"Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge."
~William Shakespeare
The Pumpkinifi cation of Claudius the God...
Stoicism teaches that our true freedom is mental; in no way could it depend on the death of a fool.
While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself.
~Douglas Horton
“An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.”
~M.K. Gandhi
June 13, 2024
The translations are solid, the footnotes are good (particularly if you are more broadly interested in Rome beyond just Stoicism), and I thought the introductions to each of the essays were helpful. There was a contradiction between two introductions regarding Seneca’s involvement in an assassination plot on Nero, but otherwise they were consistent and educational. Though I did feel they were a bit harsh on how repetitive or pointless Seneca is in On Anger, and alternately found them too complimentary of On Clemency. However, the intro to the play about Claudius was interesting particularly, as it began to delve into the differences between disgust and anger Stoically speaking, which I haven’t seen elsewhere so far.
For the writings, I thought On Anger was pretty strong. It made a lot of salient points that showed a remarkable level of insight which frankly I see lacking even today for all the supposed progress we’ve made around understanding the human mind. I’m glad I read it, I’ll probably reread it at some point.
On Clemency I found to be complete trash, and I don’t bandy that about lightly. It’s just that it was a thinly veiled political tool clumsily wielded, which to top it off is incomplete. And I likewise had very little opinion of the play I’m sad to say. Leaving aside the problematic aspects from a Stoic point of view, I didn’t think it was very artfully done. I’ve read a lot of ancient plays and this was by far the worst one I’ve read so far. To be fair though, it does seem like Claudius sucked majorly and it would have been hard to have known him personally and not had a serious grudge.
As for the collection I have strange feelings about the play being included here. It alternately feels like it makes a mockery of everything that I read before it, or otherwise like it simply shows Seneca to be a flawed person working through the same stuff we all are. But I’d be lying if it didn’t make me feel less inclined to take him seriously, not because he struggled with anger, but because there’s feeling anger and then there’s actually writing and putting on a play spitting on someone’s grave. Of course, it may have been more complicated politically for him than that and I’ll never know, so I’m just going to try to take what works for me and leave what doesn’t.
In any case, if you want to read these works by him, I’d recommend this version. I’d say On Anger is definitely worth it.
For the writings, I thought On Anger was pretty strong. It made a lot of salient points that showed a remarkable level of insight which frankly I see lacking even today for all the supposed progress we’ve made around understanding the human mind. I’m glad I read it, I’ll probably reread it at some point.
On Clemency I found to be complete trash, and I don’t bandy that about lightly. It’s just that it was a thinly veiled political tool clumsily wielded, which to top it off is incomplete. And I likewise had very little opinion of the play I’m sad to say. Leaving aside the problematic aspects from a Stoic point of view, I didn’t think it was very artfully done. I’ve read a lot of ancient plays and this was by far the worst one I’ve read so far. To be fair though, it does seem like Claudius sucked majorly and it would have been hard to have known him personally and not had a serious grudge.
As for the collection I have strange feelings about the play being included here. It alternately feels like it makes a mockery of everything that I read before it, or otherwise like it simply shows Seneca to be a flawed person working through the same stuff we all are. But I’d be lying if it didn’t make me feel less inclined to take him seriously, not because he struggled with anger, but because there’s feeling anger and then there’s actually writing and putting on a play spitting on someone’s grave. Of course, it may have been more complicated politically for him than that and I’ll never know, so I’m just going to try to take what works for me and leave what doesn’t.
In any case, if you want to read these works by him, I’d recommend this version. I’d say On Anger is definitely worth it.
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April 8, 2016munger said you shouldn't feel envy for others - it's the only of the deadly sins that isn't fun. Anger isn't any fun without vengeance, and vengeance isn't much useful either...
July 6, 2012
Awesome. Can't wait to read the rest of this series.
June 15, 2021
An excellent new series of Seneca's translations (I write "new," but this dropped in 2010 or so, which is still "new to me"). The introductory essays and footnotes are top-notch, though the format is strange: why did "On Anger" and "On Clemency" receive endnotes, which entailed flipping back at each reference, while Martha Nussbaum's lesser chapter receive footnotes, which saved a good deal of time? Aside from fiftysomething old men drawn to stoicism by a combination of Admiral Stockdale, Ryan Holliday, and Jocko Wilink, most people reading these works today are nerdy obsessives like myself, failed classicists comparing Robert Kaster's top-notch translations to the side-by-side text found in their Loeb editions of Seneca's moral essays.
In terms of the content, "On Anger" delivers the goods: Seneca's treatment of the subject isn't so much systematic as sententious, but man, those bons mots and anecdotes pack a punch in his hands (especially in the original Latin, where they're often condensed into these little powerhouse apothegms and catchphrases). As far as anecdotes-per-page go, Plutarch puts Seneca to shame, but Seneca's packaging of the material is far superior (of course, I can't read Greek, so take that with a grain of salt).
"On Clemency" is a nifty little proto-Machiavellian work about the benefits of not so much forgiving the misdeeds of others as choosing to abstain from the cruelest punishments for those deeds -- all to prevent one's country or municipality from becoming a chaotic abattoir in which the kings fear the citizens and the citizens fear the slaves (Seneca offers a fun anecdote, not confirmed elsewhere in the classical literature, about a Senate proposal to make slaves wear special clothing being abandoned because the slaves would realize they outnumber the citizens). In other words, clemency can provide job security to the king, as opposed to creating a state of affairs in which, as under Nero's successor Claudius, parricides are constantly being tied up in sacks and tossed off cliffs, so frequently in fact that people have come to believe the crime of parricide is rampant throughout the country, when all that has happened is that one man's decision to enforce this punishment has increased.
"The Pumpkinification of Claudius the God," translated by Martha Nussbaum (the biggest-name contributor to this new series of Seneca translations, and likely the person who did the least work as a result), constitutes a fun throw-in piece - not showcasing Seneca's stoic bona fides, which he deviated from whenever the narrative or a witty aside demanded it, but instead highlighting his creativity and command of various literary styles and voices.
In terms of the content, "On Anger" delivers the goods: Seneca's treatment of the subject isn't so much systematic as sententious, but man, those bons mots and anecdotes pack a punch in his hands (especially in the original Latin, where they're often condensed into these little powerhouse apothegms and catchphrases). As far as anecdotes-per-page go, Plutarch puts Seneca to shame, but Seneca's packaging of the material is far superior (of course, I can't read Greek, so take that with a grain of salt).
"On Clemency" is a nifty little proto-Machiavellian work about the benefits of not so much forgiving the misdeeds of others as choosing to abstain from the cruelest punishments for those deeds -- all to prevent one's country or municipality from becoming a chaotic abattoir in which the kings fear the citizens and the citizens fear the slaves (Seneca offers a fun anecdote, not confirmed elsewhere in the classical literature, about a Senate proposal to make slaves wear special clothing being abandoned because the slaves would realize they outnumber the citizens). In other words, clemency can provide job security to the king, as opposed to creating a state of affairs in which, as under Nero's successor Claudius, parricides are constantly being tied up in sacks and tossed off cliffs, so frequently in fact that people have come to believe the crime of parricide is rampant throughout the country, when all that has happened is that one man's decision to enforce this punishment has increased.
"The Pumpkinification of Claudius the God," translated by Martha Nussbaum (the biggest-name contributor to this new series of Seneca translations, and likely the person who did the least work as a result), constitutes a fun throw-in piece - not showcasing Seneca's stoic bona fides, which he deviated from whenever the narrative or a witty aside demanded it, but instead highlighting his creativity and command of various literary styles and voices.
August 20, 2022
Wonderful collection of three essays by the Stoic philosopher Seneca: On Anger, On Clemency, and the Apocolocyntosis (or The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius). These are new translations of the highest quality, accompanied by informative introductions and plenty of notes to better understand the text (crucial especially in the case of The Pumpkinification). I have used this book as the basis for an intensive three-day workshop on Seneca's philosophy and the students enjoyed it immensely. Of the three, The Pumpkinification is certainly the most entertaining, being not a philosophical treatise but a fictional satire. On Clemency is arguably the least understood, as it is often interpreted as Seneca's attempt at ingratiating Nero at the onset of the latter's reign, but is in fact a pretty sternly (and, I would say, courageous) warning to the new emperor to behave well or else. As for On Anger, it is one of the most important Stoic texts ever, and still very useful today as a guide to anger management.
December 4, 2020
How does one rate Seneca? I can't say that I agreed with his argument that anger is "insanity" and a "pestilence" that "has been more costly for the human race" than any other. I throw my lot with the philosophers who consider anger a morally justifiable response, one which seeks to put the world back into moral balance. All would probably agree that to the extent that anger is all consuming, forcing one continually backward in time to the point of injury, it is both unhealthy and unhelpful. But anger that spurs to moral redress is useful. Anyway, this is a good edition of Seneca if you want to learn what the Stoics have to say about anger.
June 18, 2020
Yes it did what it wanted to do. Told me some trchniwues on how to mitigate anger and why it is dangerous. To be honest, I skimmed the last 120 pages.
June 28, 2020
Not Seneca's most convincing work, but still still an insightful one.
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October 4, 2022The "Gourdification" satire, translated by Nussbaum, is extraordinary—a perfect text for the day Trump dies. The rest of it I'll have to reread.
October 29, 2023
seneca bestie we DONT need to talk about atoms :0
December 17, 2023
Might be the best book I’ve ever read
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews