Stoicism and Skepticism: when Seneca mentions Cicero — Part II

[image: Seneca (left) and Cicero (right)]

Cicero and Seneca are two of the giants of Ancient Roman philosophy, the first one an exponent of the New Academy, the second one a Stoic. Both, however, where to some extent eclectic, prone to think in their own terms, not just slavishly following their predecessors. So Cicero, despite his Skepticism, was very sympathetic to Stoic philosophy. And Seneca often borrowed from Epicureanism, wandering in that philosophy’s camp “not as a deserter, but as a scout.”

My fascination with these two figures is the reason for this two-part series examining what Seneca, who lived after Cicero, had to say about his illustrious predecessor and philosophical rival. Last time we have looked at how Cicero is presented in several of Seneca’s Letters. This time we’ll turn to Seneca’s other writings.

“Marcus Cicero, long flung among men like Catiline and Clodius and Pompey and Crassus, some open enemies, others doubtful friends, as he is tossed to and fro along with the state and seeks to keep it from destruction, to be at last swept away, unable as he was to be restful in prosperity or patient in adversity — how many times does he curse that very consulship of his, which he had lauded without end, though not without reason! How tearful the words he uses in a letter written to Atticus, when Pompey the elder had been conquered, and the son was still trying to restore his shattered arms in Spain! ‘Do you ask,’ he said, ‘what I am doing here? I am lingering in my Tusculan villa half a prisoner.’ He then proceeds to other statements, in which he bewails his former life and complains of the present and despairs of the future. Cicero said that he was ‘half a prisoner.’ But, in very truth, never will the wise man resort to so lowly a term, never will he be half a prisoner — he who always possesses an undiminished and stable liberty, being free and his own master and towering over all others. For what can possibly be above him who is above Fortune?” (On the Shortness of Life, V)

This makes up a full section of On the Shortness of Life, in which Seneca both praises and criticizes Cicero, while at the same time reminding the reader of the highlights of Cicero’s life and career. The crucial bit comes when Cicero complains that he has retired to his villa in Tusculum where he regards himself as “half…