Donald Robertson

So his relationship with Alcibiades, like trying to get him to be a better ruler and stuff, is a bit like Seneca and his relationship with Nero. But Seneca, I mean... Some people will find this controversial, but although we think of Seneca as a Stoic philosopher, he was famous primarily as an author, not as a philosophy teacher. He probably didn't teach that much philosophy to Nero.

So his relationship with Alcibiades, like trying to get him to be a better ruler and stuff, is a bit like Seneca and his relationship with Nero. But Seneca, I mean... Some people will find this controversial, but although we think of Seneca as a Stoic philosopher, he was famous primarily as an author, not as a philosophy teacher. He probably didn't teach that much philosophy to Nero.

He mainly trained him in rhetoric. So in some regards, Seneca was more like a Latin sophist than a philosopher. The sophists often quoted philosophy, They made speeches out of it and things, but they didn't attempt to live in accord with it in the way that the Stoics or Socrates did. So Seneca is somewhere in between. It may be that towards the end of his life, he embraced philosophy more fully.

He mainly trained him in rhetoric. So in some regards, Seneca was more like a Latin sophist than a philosopher. The sophists often quoted philosophy, They made speeches out of it and things, but they didn't attempt to live in accord with it in the way that the Stoics or Socrates did. So Seneca is somewhere in between. It may be that towards the end of his life, he embraced philosophy more fully.

He mainly trained him in rhetoric. So in some regards, Seneca was more like a Latin sophist than a philosopher. The sophists often quoted philosophy, They made speeches out of it and things, but they didn't attempt to live in accord with it in the way that the Stoics or Socrates did. So Seneca is somewhere in between. It may be that towards the end of his life, he embraced philosophy more fully.

I think earlier in his life, philosophy was more something he used to become a famous author. He became famous by writing consolation letters, using Stoicism to people that had been bereaved, that were wealthy, influential people.

I think earlier in his life, philosophy was more something he used to become a famous author. He became famous by writing consolation letters, using Stoicism to people that had been bereaved, that were wealthy, influential people.

I think earlier in his life, philosophy was more something he used to become a famous author. He became famous by writing consolation letters, using Stoicism to people that had been bereaved, that were wealthy, influential people.

figures he was like a self-help guru to the rich and famous and roman society and that's how he ended up becoming an advisor to nero so he was a figure that really was compromised by that in a number of ways he was nero's right hand man nero was like a despot a dictator um

figures he was like a self-help guru to the rich and famous and roman society and that's how he ended up becoming an advisor to nero so he was a figure that really was compromised by that in a number of ways he was nero's right hand man nero was like a despot a dictator um

figures he was like a self-help guru to the rich and famous and roman society and that's how he ended up becoming an advisor to nero so he was a figure that really was compromised by that in a number of ways he was nero's right hand man nero was like a despot a dictator um

And he also wrote speeches defending Nero in the Senate and trying to, I mean, ridiculous, like saying that he was virtually a philosopher king and that his hands were unstained by blood and all this kind of stuff.

And he also wrote speeches defending Nero in the Senate and trying to, I mean, ridiculous, like saying that he was virtually a philosopher king and that his hands were unstained by blood and all this kind of stuff.

And he also wrote speeches defending Nero in the Senate and trying to, I mean, ridiculous, like saying that he was virtually a philosopher king and that his hands were unstained by blood and all this kind of stuff.

No, Socrates never sullied himself in that way. There's a guy, Marcus Aurelius' rhetoric teacher, we have his private letters, and Marcus is talking to him about Seneca. We don't see what Marcus wrote. Unfortunately, we only see Fronto's replies. Fronto can't stand Seneca, and he died a few generations earlier, but I think it's partly he doesn't like his writing style.

No, Socrates never sullied himself in that way. There's a guy, Marcus Aurelius' rhetoric teacher, we have his private letters, and Marcus is talking to him about Seneca. We don't see what Marcus wrote. Unfortunately, we only see Fronto's replies. Fronto can't stand Seneca, and he died a few generations earlier, but I think it's partly he doesn't like his writing style.

No, Socrates never sullied himself in that way. There's a guy, Marcus Aurelius' rhetoric teacher, we have his private letters, and Marcus is talking to him about Seneca. We don't see what Marcus wrote. Unfortunately, we only see Fronto's replies. Fronto can't stand Seneca, and he died a few generations earlier, but I think it's partly he doesn't like his writing style.

But he says looking for pearls of wisdom in Seneca's writings would be like someone grubbing around in the bottom of a sewer trying to dig a few silver coins out of the filth. Which is what the kids today call a sick burn. That's only something that another sophist could have come up with as an insult.

But he says looking for pearls of wisdom in Seneca's writings would be like someone grubbing around in the bottom of a sewer trying to dig a few silver coins out of the filth. Which is what the kids today call a sick burn. That's only something that another sophist could have come up with as an insult.

But he says looking for pearls of wisdom in Seneca's writings would be like someone grubbing around in the bottom of a sewer trying to dig a few silver coins out of the filth. Which is what the kids today call a sick burn. That's only something that another sophist could have come up with as an insult.