32 pages • 1 hour read
SenecaA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
When Seneca opens his letter to his friend Paulinus, he comments that “most human beings complain about the meanness of nature because life is brief” (1), introducing his main theme—The Impermanence of Time. There may be deliberate irony or comedy in the fact that this first sentence, on brevity, is in fact extremely long. Immediately flowing from this, Seneca introduces his main thesis: “it is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it” (1). Seneca believes that each human being has the capacity to correct this misconception and take hold of their life through their own agency. This notion of agency is an expression of Seneca’s Stoic philosophy, which encourages inner introspection and contemplation to achieve inner wisdom. The reliance on the self that Seneca promotes in counter to aspects of the presiding polytheistic belief system that dominated Roman culture at the time; the gods were revered and respected because of their influence over the human world. In assuring humans that their life is long enough if they alone use it well, Seneca reclaims for humans the power that divine forces such as Fate and the gods were thought to have over people’s lives.
By Seneca
Ancient Rome
View Collection
Essays & Speeches
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Nature Versus Nurture
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Psychology
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection
Self-Help Books
View Collection
Spanish Literature
View Collection
The Future
View Collection
The Past
View Collection