Anger, Mercy, Revenge

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Seneca – whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emerson – to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities.

"Anger, Mercy, Revenge" comprises three key writings: the moral essays "On Anger" and "On Clemency" – which were penned as advice for the then young emperor, Nero – and the "Apocolocyntosis", a brilliant satire lampooning the end of the reign of Claudius. Friend and tutor, as well as philosopher, Seneca welcomed the age of Nero in tones alternately serious, poetic, and comic – making "Anger, Mercy, Revenge" a work just as complicated, astute, and ambitious as its author.

Reviews

"The translations strike that difficult balance between fidelity to the original and natural English idiom. Latinless readers will not be confused, philosophically minded readers will appreciate the citations, and classicists will find in the notes the discussion and arguments they may want to clarify the original... An admirable effort to bring Seneca to a wider audience" – Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"The translations are faithful and lively... Although the translators take Seneca seriously as a moralizing philosopher, their introductions and annotations – though attentive to the literary and rhetorical qualities Seneca's writing displays – are not technical in terms of philosophy. Accordingly, they will be accessible to any intelligent reader" – Choice

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