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The Latin reading blog: Tacitus Annales 62-64: on the suicide of Seneca,
My previous post prompted a facebook friend to comment that I would have a troubled mind too, it Nero would be my star pupil. It reminded me of the death of Seneca.
There are various accounts of the death of Seneca, but the one told by Tacitus is the most effective and most sympathetic, reminiscent of how Plato describes the death of Socrates. Nero accuses his former teacher Seneca of being involved in a plot to kill him. There is little reason to believe that Seneca was actually involved, but Nero, being mad and suspicious, ordered Seneca to commit suicide.  The Romans had a different look towards suicide than we: when the burden of life was greater than the benefits, then suicide was a rational decision. Now in this case it was different: Seneca was politely asked to end his life, but he already had long prepared for this moment. Stoic philosophy – as every other form of philosophy in Hellenism, I think – can be described as a therapeutic training to cope with life and so by training himself in equanimity, Seneca had a detached stand towards life. In some ways this detachment is reminiscent of Buddhism, but the idea of rebirth and karma was unknown in Stoic though. Stoic though was very much focussed on ethics and on the here and now and there was no concept of an individual afterlife. Many Stoic sources are lost and so the picture they had of the soul is fragmented, but the soul did not contain the personhood of an individual and some Stoics even denied the possibility of the survival of the soul after death.
Seneca was well prepared for his final hour: he had - as Tacitus tells us in c.65 – acquired a bottle of poison from a friend skilled in medicine. Actually it was the same kind of poison as had killed Socrates: hemlock.
This dramatic end of Seneca has been the inspiration for paintings and Monteverdi used this episode in his opera L’Incoronazione di Poppea (for which see the link below).
Soldiers have now arrived to tell Seneca to commit suicide. Some of his friends and his wife Paulina are with him.
[62] Ille interritus poscit testamenti tabulas; ac denegante centurione conversus ad amicos, quando meritis eorum referre gratiam prohiberetur, quod unum iam et tamen pulcherrimum habeat, imaginem vitae suae relinquere testatur, cuius si memores essent, bonarum artium famam fructum constantis amicitiae laturos. simul lacrimas eorum modo sermone, modo intentior in modum coercentis ad firmitudinem revocat, rogitans ubi praecepta sapientiae, ubi tot per annos meditata ratio adversum imminentia? cui enim ignaram fuisse saevitiam Neronis? neque aliud superesse post matrem fratremque interfectos, quam ut educatoris praeceptorisque necem adiceret.
As this is not a beginner’s text, I have refrained from giving the meaning of common words.
testamenti tabulas: Seneca wanted to change something in his will to thanks his friends for their services (meritis eorum referre gratiam)
relinquere testatur: `he left behind as testament’
bonarum artium famam `the fame of good skills’ (namely being students in philosophy)
fructum: predicate by famam (but the text is corrupt and famam is an emendation for the impossible tam of the manuscript)
intentior in modum coercentis: more severe by way of forcing
adversum imminentia: `against the imminent evil’
matrem fratremque interfectos: Nero was responsible for the death of his mother and brother
ut…necem adiceret: to add the death of. There is a touch of irony….
[63] Ubi haec atque talia velut in commune disseruit, complectitur uxorem, et paululum adversus praesentem fortitudinem mollitus rogat oratque temperaret dolori [neu] aeternum susciperet, sed in contemplatione vitae per virtutem actae desiderium mariti solaciis honestis toleraret. illa contra sibi quoque destinatam mortem adseverat manumque percussoris exposcit. tum Seneca gloriae eius non adversus, simul amore, ne sibi unice dilectam ad iniurias relinqueret, "vitae" inquit "delenimenta monstraveram tibi, tu mortis decus mavis: non invidebo exemplo. sit huius tam fortis exitus constantia penes utrosque par, claritudinis plus in tuo fine." post quae eodem ictu brachia ferro exsolvunt. Seneca, quoniam senile corpus et parco victu tenuatum lenta effugia sanguini praebebat, crurum quoque et poplitum venas abrumpit; saevisque cruciatibus defessus, ne dolore suo animum uxoris infringeret atque ipse visendo eius tormenta ad impatientiam delaberetur, suadet in aliud cubiculum abscedere. et novissimo quoque momento suppeditante eloquentia advocatis scriptoribus pleraque tradidit, quae in vulgus edita eius verbis invertere supersedeo.
velut in commune disseruit as if he spoke in public
paululum adversus praesentem fortitudinem mellitus: `a bit emotional contrary to his (thus far) shown calmness’
rogat oratque (uxori ut) temperaret dolori
tempero + dat.: to refrain from
aeternum: predicate with an understood dolorem
desiderium mariti solaciis honestis toleraret: that she should endure the longing for her husband with honourable consolations.
manumque percussoris:  and the hand (help) of an executioner (probably a physician to open her veins)
gloriae eius: namely to die together with him
sibi unice dilectam;: `uniquely loved by him’ Seneca had a great affection for his wife.
ad iniurias: as it was uncertain what would happen to her after his death
vitae delenimenta: the things that soothes life
penes utrosque par and the same for both of us
claritudo, onis (f): fame
brachia ferro exsolvunt: `they opened (the veins) of the arms’
lenta effugia: a slow escape
poples poplitis (m): ham, hollow of the knee
cruciatus –us (m): torture
impatentia: inability to bear any thing
novissimo momento: in the final moment
suppeditante eloquentia advocatis scriptoribus: a good example of Tacitus’ compressed style `eloquence being available, secretaries being summoned’
eius verbis invertere supersedeo: I think it needless to adapt his words’.  Speeches ware retold by historians in their own words, but as Tacitus presumed the knowledge of Seneca’s final words by his readers, he abstains from reformulating them.
[64] At Nero nullo in Paulinam proprio odio, ac ne glisceret invidia crudelitatis, [iubet] inhiberi mortem. hortantibus militibus servi libertique obligant brachia, premunt sanguinem, incertum an ignarae. nam, ut est vulgus ad deteriora promptum, non defuere qui crederent, donec implacabilem Neronem timuerit, famam sociatae cum marito mortis petivisse, deinde oblata mitiore spe blandimentis vitae evictam; cui addidit paucos postea annos, laudabili in maritum memoria et ore ac membris in eum pallorem albentibus, ut ostentui esset multum vitalis spiritus egestum.
Seneca interim, durante tractu et lentitudine mortis, Statium Annaeum, diu sibi amicitiae fide et arte medicinae probatum, orat provisum pridem venenum, quo damnati publico Atheniensium iudicio exstinguerentur, promeret; adlatumque hausit frustra, frigidus iam artus et cluso corpore adversum vim veneni. postremo stagnum calidae aquae introiit, respergens proximos servorum addita voce libare se liquorem illum Iovi liberatori. exim balneo inlatus et vapore eius exanimatus, sine ullo funeris sollemni crematur. ita codicillis praescripserat, cum etiam tum praedives et praepotens supremis suis consuleret.
glisco (3): to grow
invidia crudelitatis: as the cruelty of Nero was well-known by now, there seems little reason why a victim more would be that bad for his reputation. But Nero still thought of himself as the emperor loved by his people.
iubet: Nero must have ordered this in advance .(Mediaeval sources thought that Nero himself was present , as was St.Paul who converted Seneca in his final hour to Christianity.)
obligo: to bind up
incertum an ignarae: it is doubtfull of it was (the blood) of an unconscious (woman)
ad deteriora promptum: `ready to believe the worst’. Tacitus says that once Paulina was told that she needed not to fear the death penalty, she was happy to stay alive.
deinde oblata mitiore spe blandimentis vitae evictam (they believed) that she  was overcome by the pleasures of life (to live further), when a more soothing hope was presented (namely not being executed)
ore ac membris…. albentibus:` with face and figure growing bleak‘
ut ostentui esset multum vitalis spiritus egestum: litt. `to be till testimony (predicative dative) a great loss (egestus -us = egesia) of a vital spirit’ = `as a testimony of her great loss of vital energy’.
durante tractu et lentitudine mortis: tractus and lentitudo are almost synonyms `the slowness and sluggishness of death prolonging’.
Seneca… Statium Annaeum…orat provisum pridem venenum…(ut) promeret:
haurio hausi haustum: to draw out (note the change of tense:  obligant, premunt,  orat - hausit)
frigidus artus chilled regarding his limbs (acc. Graecus)
respergo  -spersi –spersum: to besprinkle
Iovi liberatori: Jupiter as liberator is rare amongst the Romans, but – o irony –  he is depicted on some coins of Nero. Still, as in Stoic thought suicide is the ultimate deed for a man to liberate himself, it was a proper gesture.
sine ullo funeris sollemni: so without a procession, musicians and a funeral laudation.
codicilii –orum: last will
supremis suis consuleret: he thought about his final moment
The death of Seneca from Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea:
The death of Seneca by Luca Giordano (1634-1705)
Posted by Leo Tepper at 08:20
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