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MySpaceLucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger) (ca. 4 BC–AD 65) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature.Born in Córdoba, Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal), about 3 B.C.E., Seneca was the second son of Helvia and Marcus (Lucius) Annaeus Seneca, a wealthy rhetorician known as Seneca the Elder. Both his gens name (Annaeus) and the names of his notable relatives, (e.g., Lucan) indicate his family was originally of Southern Italian, Oscan extraction, most likely hailing from the confluence of modern Apulia, Calabria and Basilicata. Many Southern Italian families, once obtaining Roman citizenship, participated in the colonization of Roman Hispania.Seneca's older brother, Gallio, became proconsul at Achaia. Seneca was uncle to the poet Lucan by his younger brother Annaeus Mela.Tradition relates that he was a sickly child and that he was taken to Rome for schooling. He was trained in rhetoric and was introduced into Stoic philosophy by Attalos and Sotion. Due to his illness, Seneca stayed in Egypt (from 25-31) for treatment.After his return, he established a successful career as an advocate. Around 37, he was nearly killed as a result of a conflict with the Emperor Caligula who only spared him because he believed the sickly Seneca would not live long anyway. In 41, Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, persuaded Claudius to have Seneca banished to Corsica on a charge of adultery with Julia Livilla. He spent his exile in philosophical and natural study and wrote the Consolations.In AD 49, Claudius' new wife Agrippina had Seneca recalled to Rome to tutor her son who was to become the emperor Nero. On Claudius' death in 54, Agrippina secured the recognition of Nero as emperor over Claudius' son, Britannicus.Seneca acted as Nero's advisor for eight years from 54 to 62. Seneca's influence was said to be especially strong in the first year. Many historians consider Nero's early rule with Seneca and the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus to be quite competent. Over time, Seneca and Burrus lost their influence over Nero. With the death of Burrus in 62 and accusations of embezzlement, Seneca retired and devoted his time to more study and writing.In 65, Seneca was accused of being involved in the Pisonian conspiracy, a plot to kill Nero. Then, having escaped the assassination attempt, he went home to commit ritual suicide. Tacitus gives an account of the suicide of Seneca in his book, the Annals, in Book XV, Chapter/Number 60 through 64. His wife, Pompeia Paulina, intended to commit suicide after but was forbidden to do so by Nero. She attempted suicide by cutting her wrists, but the wounds were bound up, and she did not make a second attempt. Unfortunately for Seneca, who also chose to cut his wrists, his diet caused the blood to flow slowly, thus causing pain instead of a quick death. He took poison given to him by a friend, but it didn't work. He dictated to a scribe, and then jumped into a hot pool. He did not try to drown, but instead, it appears, tried to make the blood flow faster. Tacitus wrote in his Annals of Imperial Rome that Seneca died from suffocation from the steam rising from the pool.
(text taken by Wikipedia)
