Do you? Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast brought to

you with the support of King's College London and the Lever Hume Trust, online at

W.W. history of philosophy.net. Today's episode, Anger Management, Seneca.

Gnaeus Kulte. anger management, Seneca. Genayas Calpurnius Pizo was a powerful man. He was born into the senatorial class of Roman society, and in the year 7 BC served as consul with his friend the future

Emperor Tiberius.

He also had a really bad temper.

Two soldiers under his command were given leave and one returned without the other.

Pizo leapt to the conclusion that the missing man had been murdered by the one who returned

and ordered his execution.

A censurean was tasked to carry out the grim deed, but at the last moment the absent soldier

turned up and the execution was halted. When Pizo learned of this he was not

relieved but furious. His rash judgment had been exposed, his order

countermanded without his authority. He announced that there would now be three executions.

The first soldier would still die as planned, as would the Centurion for failing to kill him,

and also the soldier who was late in returning since the later, he could have found some good advice on curbing that temper in the works of Seneca.

Seneca was born in Roman controlled Spain between 4 and 1 BC, not long after Pizos Consul ship and right in the middle of the long rule of Augustus Caesar. Seneca came too late to meet such figures as Cato, Julius Caesar, and Cicero, but he tells stories about them in his works.

In the writings of Seneca, we can see that the Roman aristocracy was still digesting

the seismic shift from a republic controlled by the Senate,

to an empire controlled by a single man.

First Augustus, then his successor Emperors, Tiberius, Kalegula, Claudius, and of course, Nero.

Nero is of particular importance for our story because Seneca served as an advisor to the young emperor.

One of his philosophical works, On Mercy, stands as a written record of his attempts to

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