Seneca: The Philosopher Ordered to Kill Himself

Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger often known as Seneca, supposedly born between 4 BC- 65 AD, is one of the most widely read philosophers of Stoicism; a philosophy grounded in virtue, reason, and more importantly self-restraint. Seneca wrote two tragedy plays; Medea and Thyestes, which are said to have had greatly influenced William Shakespeare. His other famous works include Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Letters from a Stoic) which is a collection of 124 letters offering practical advice on managing grief, wealth, anger, and success, and De Brevitate Vitae (On the Shortness of Life) which is a highly popular essay arguing that life is wasted by human distraction rendering life short.Whether Nero was sadistically mad tyrant who loved torturing people or that is an exaggerated image of his flaws to flatter the political regimes that succeeded him, is a question of research (Beard.M. 2021).

Anways, moving on... Many of Seneca's quotes regarding his intellectual pessimism have proven enticing for generations of pessimistic realities, capturing what is philosophically needed to survive the worst such realities could throw at them. Seneca was asked to tutor Nero, who in this story was a sadistically mad tyrant, and even killed his own mother. Seneca's whole life had been quite tragic; Emperor Caligula almost had Seneca executed, Emperor Claudius banished him to the rocky and wild island of Corsica for eight years, and then of course forced to being a tutor to Nero was just another addition to his pile of tragic journey called life. To survive this situation, where he feared death or torture at command of Nero, he devised strategic pessimism; premeditatio malorum (literally; The Premeditation of Evils) that is a practice of negative visualization. He famously advised his friend Lucilius: "Rehearse them in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwrek." arguing that only the disasters and mishappenings that are unexpected have power to crush us and if we constantly anticipate catastrophe, we rob the fate of its power to surprise us. So, eventually, one day Nero commanded Seneca to commit suicide with a knife he was handed over, and the emperor wanted to see the expressions of his family witnessing this self-killing.

It's said that when his wife, Paulina and his friends began to break down and weep. Seneca calmly rebuked them and said:

"Where are the precepts of philosophy? Where is that reason which for so many years we have cultivated against impending evils? Who was ignorant of Nero's cruelty?"

He used a dagger to cut the veins and arteries in his arms, wrists, and legs. He didn't die quickly, his suicide turned into a long, agonizing ordeal recorded in vivid detail by the historian Tacitus in The AnnalsThe Intellectual Pessimism
Let's unpack premeditatio malorum, that is, the negative visualization which is strategic approach to survive pessimistic realities. Let's understand this by everyday examples, suppose, student A expects an score of 80 in his exam and student B expects 60 while both students in the end get 70; consequently, student A would be saddened though student B would be overjoyed for he expected the worst. Optimism is a modern invention and an opiate that rockets you high above the stars just to have you hit the ground harder.

Hurting is the result of high hopes and expectations being shattered. But imagine if someone had worse expectations. What would they have to lose? If something good happens, they would be overjoyed, and if the worst happens, there is no surprise!Motivational speakers are often dealers of this opiate of high expectations, selling youngsters into believing that, in their individual rather than collective capacity, they have a clear path to success. Just set the goals, keep a schedule, and do this or that! You can imagine it as analogous to telling someone whose street is all cluttered with leaking drains that others with boots long enough have crossed the path without even getting stained, and that they could do the same instead of thinking about cleaning the street in the first place. Just as motivational speakers completely ignore systemic inequalities, such as unequal education, unequal healthcare, and unequal socioeconomic conditions, which is like placing a child one mile behind the starting point and claiming fairness in the name of the same finish line. The finish line does not matter when the starting point is unequal. An equal right to life is a myth when healthcare is commodified. Imagine a working-class man provided with a public defender with a historic winning ratio of 10%, and a well-to-do man with a private attorney with a historic 90% winning ratio. Who is most likely to win?

That is, when reality is pessimistic, premeditatio malorum is merely a strategy to scope such horrific realities, while hope merely blinds us.

reference:
Beard, M. (2021). 10 questions about the emperor Nero… and some curious answers. In The British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/10-questions-about-emperor-nero-and-some-curious-answers