Enchiridion of Seneca: A New Translation: The Stoic Enchiridion Series

By Seneca and Gerald Adams

I wish you will be your own master – Seneca

 

A practical adaptation of Seneca's teachings, translated for modern readers.

 

Seneca will teach you the art of living like a Stoic. His work has taught people for almost two thousand years. In the Enchiridion of Seneca, you will find his most valuable teaching and reflection about all aspects of life. Just like the Enchiridion of Epictetus, this Enchiridion brings concise and practical aphorisms about how to live life and how to deal with anything. Seneca focuses on practical solutions and how to be happy even when things are chaotic, and he will teach how to achieve these. The Enchiridion of Seneca is a concise and essential guide to Stoicism and the good life.

 

 

From the introduction:

The emperor of Rome, Nero, ordered a man to commit suicide. Seneca was his name. He was born around 4 BC in Cordoba, which was part of the Roman Empire. He went to Rome when he was young, but he became very sick and had to leave Rome for a long period. He studied philosophy a lot and wrote a lot, and gained some fame for it. He returned to Rome in 31 AD during great a political upheaval and was banished from Rome by the Emperor in 41 AD. In 49 AD, he was recalled to Rome to become an adviser and tutor to a young man named Nero. Nero became emperor and slowly went mad. He came to believe that Seneca was part of a conspiracy against him and ordered him to commit suicide. When he received the order, he complied and died.

Seneca wrote many works of philosophy. One of his works is the Letters from a Stoic. In this work, he tries to teach Stoicism. It is wonderfully educative and stylistic, but also very long. Taking inspiration from the Enchiridion of Epictetus, I have selected and translated Letters from a Stoic to create this book. The aim of the book is the same as all the other Enchiridions: to teach about Stoic ideas and to help apply those ideas. I hope Seneca's thoughts and my selection and translation serve you well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portia Press
• Release date: Dec 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9789083287973

Book preview

Introduction

Disaster struck the wealthy trader named Zeno of Citium in 304 BC. He was shipwrecked on the Mediterranean Sea. He lost almost everything. Yet, somehow he travelled to Athens and was introduced to the Cynic philosopher Crates. He studied with him and many other philosophers. And he quickly became dissatisfied with their philosophy. Out of frustration he created his own philosophy and started teaching it. He did this often on the porch of a building. The name for a porch in ancient Greek is Stoa Poikile. That is why people called his philosophy Stoicism.

Stoicism gained many followers in Athens, then in Greece and then in the Roman Empire. It survived Zeno for a long time, but eventually it too passed away. Yet, over the last 1500 years there have been continual revivals and we live in one today, because the ideas of the Stoics remain relevant to this day.

The emperor of Rome, Nero, ordered a man to commit suicide. Seneca was his name. He was born around 4 BC in Cordoba, which was part of the Roman Empire. He went to Rome when he was young, but he became very sick and had to leave Rome for a long period. He studied philosophy a lot and wrote a lot, and gained some fame for it. He returned to Rome in 31 AD during great a political upheaval and was banished from Rome by the Emperor in 41 AD. In 49 AD, he was recalled to Rome to become an adviser and tutor to a young man named Nero. Nero became emperor and slowly went mad. He came to believe that Seneca was part of a conspiracy against him and ordered him to commit suicide. When he received the order, he complied and died.

Seneca wrote many works of philosophy. One of his works is the Letters from a Stoic. In this work, he tries to teach Stoicism. It is wonderfully educative and stylistic, but also very long. Taking inspiration from the Enchiridion of Epictetus, I have selected and translated Letters from a Stoic to create this book. The aim of the book is the same as all the other Enchiridions: to teach about Stoic ideas