The story of Pseudo-Seneca

The fascinating account of how we have seen a controversial philosopher through the centuries

Pseudo-Seneca at the National Roman Museum in Rome, photo by the Author.

If you are interested in Stoicism you have likely heard of the story of the so-called “Pseudo-Seneca,” but just in case, here it is. Stoicism had ceased to be an independent school of philosophy in the ancient world well before the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE. Some of the other schools lingered only a bit longer, until the Byzantine emperor Justinian I closed the last of them, the Academy in Athens, in 529.

But Stoicism went on to influence a number of figures, including prominent Christian theologians, throughout the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. A pivotal event in our story occurred in 1584, when the Neo-Stoic Justus Lipsius published De Constantia, an introduction to Stoic philosophy based mostly on Seneca. Justus had been persecuted during the Spanish domination of the Netherlands, and thought that Stoicism would be of comfort when facing tyranny and injustice. He almost single-handedly revived the philosophy and attempted an interesting, if not long lasting, reconciliation of it with Christianity.

Seneca was well known already in the 15th century, and increasingly considered a highly moral figure, a sort of secular saint of the new humanists (his fortunes in that…