Letters from a Stoic (Penguin Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Seneca
Creator: Robin Campbell
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $4.70
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 18261
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0140442103
Dewey Decimal Number: 188
EAN: 9780140442106
ASIN: 0140442103
Publication Date: July 30, 1969
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Product Description
A philosophy that saw self-possession as the key to an existence lived 'in accordance with nature', Stoicism called for the restraint of animal instincts and the severing of emotional ties. These beliefs were formulated by the Athenian followers of Zeno in the fourth century BC, but it was in Seneca (c. 4 BC - AD 65) that the Stoics found their most eloquent advocate. Stoicism, as expressed in the Letters, helped ease pagan Rome's transition to Christianity, for it upholds upright ethical ideals and extols virtuous living, as well as expressing disgust for the harsh treatment of slaves and the inhumane slaughters witnessed in the Roman arenas. Seneca's major contribution to a seemingly unsympathetic creed was to transform it into a powerfully moving and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 A Five Star Book! June 11, 2008
J. caban (chicago)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is all wisdom, from a mentor to a student/friend. It is written in such an eloquent style that it is almost poetic. It is a classic book inwhich I come back to over and over again. Get lost in the wisdom.
 A very important author February 1, 2008
Nick Maas (Staunton, VA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Seneca was probably not the most original thinker of the Stoic school. His writing style was also not the most agreeable to many. However, Seneca has had a profound influence on many, many later writers. Pliny the Younger, St. Augustine, and Ralph Waldo Emerson all quote, and borrow from Seneca. With Marcus Aurelius, Seneca is one of the most accessible of the Stoics. He is also an invaluable source of information about Stoicism's rivals, Epicurus and his followers. This particular volume is also filled with very helpful notes, and it is a good place to start a journey with the stoics.
Seneca - Letters August 3, 2007
C. Bennett (San Diego, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an enjoyable read. Ancient self-help for every man, not a dense philosophical treatise. Also, many opportunities to take a glimpse into the daily life of an ancient Roman; not so different from us, eh?
An excellent translation July 25, 2007
Jeremy Lyman Adams (Lake Oswego, Oregon)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The letters in this book are full of nuggets of wisdom and quotable passages. Seneca isn't my favorite Stoic philosopher but this book is one of the easiest to read translations of an ancient text I have ever come across. It was worth adding to me library.
Stoicism - - a modern philosophy February 25, 2006
Martin H. Dickinson (Washington, D.C.)
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
Stoicism has been much misunderstood, and the adjective "stoic," which loosely can be taken to mean bearing up under duress, is partly correct but does not do justice to one of the world's great philosophies. This Penguin volume presents a great selection from the letters of Seneca, which hits all the high points of the philosophy and captures Seneca's remarkable personality, which has made him a hit with the cognoscenti for 2,000 years. Few perhaps realize that the Stoics postulated a great commonwealth governed by law, or that they idealized democracy. Seneca mentions Solon the lawgiver as the creator of democracy and refers numerous times to the Roman Stoic saint, Cato, who strove mightily (and unsuccessfully) to preserve the Roman Republic. br / br /Seneca, like other Stoics, has a doctrine of nature that is remarkably close to that of Emerson or modern American environmentalists. The wise man (sapiens) will never be bored when contemplating the simple things of nature. The natural beauty of the countryside and the healthful action of the waves can have a calming effect (although there's a memorable passage in which a storm causes terrible sea sickness). He also believed in the simple and strenuous life and the avoidance of luxury and decadence, and there are numerous passages in these letters to his disciple, Lucilius, which decry the ostentatious, self indulgent practices of his contemporaries. These are sentiments and ideas adopted by many in the modern world, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Seneca has no patience for philosophy as a word game or a practice of engaging in hair-splitting arguments for their own sake. He rather sees it as a practice or way of life that all those who seek the good should investigate and adopt. While the Stoics believed in democracy and republicanism, their doctrine of freedom is different from the modern idea of Liberty. Freedom was the ability to endure and pursue the good even under tyranny. While that may be admirable, modern commentators on liberty (such as Isaiah Berlin) have pointed out that defining down the range of one's actions is not a satisfactory solution to the problem of the absence of liberty in society or the world. br / br /No stranger to power himself, Seneca virtually ruled Rome as tutor of the boy Nero--and yet he adopts a quite believable stance of simplicity and humility. It's a good bet these letters will still be found absorbing by readers for another 2,000 years.
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