 The young Lipsius began his philological study of Seneca, like that of Tacitus, during his stay in Rome in 1569. It was Marc-Antoine Muret who first stimulated his interest in Seneca and Roman Stoicism, giving rise to a life-long obsession which would alternate between philology and philosophy. Lipsius’s philosophical interest in Roman Stoicism led to the publication of his highly successful Senecan dialogue, set in the midst of the violent religious and political struggles of the Netherlands, De constantia in publicis malis (“On Constancy in Times of Public Calamity”, 1583/4). This was his earliest attempt to combine Stoicism and Christianity in order to create a new philosophy which would help individuals to live through the difficult period of civil and religious wars which were tearing Northern Europe apart.