Seneca Letters: A Selection

(Paperback)

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Description

This is the OCR-endorsed publication from Bloomsbury for the Latin A-Level (Group 2) prescription of Seneca's Letters, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary for Letters 51, 53 and 57, with a detailed introduction that also covers the prescribed text to be read in English. The most enduringly popular of his works, the Letters are an ideal introduction to both the personal philosophy and the vibrant Latin of Seneca. He writes with wit and modesty to his friend Lucilius about his own, daily struggle to live up to the ideals of Stoicism. Over the course of this selection he covers a great variety of topics including the Stoics perennial conflict with Fortune, the corrupting influence of a bad environment and the irrational nature of most fear. Composed not long before his own suicide, the Letters also provide an important insight into Senecas views on death and immortality.

Reviews

[Maunder's] thirty page introduction includes a masterly summary of Senecas life and the challenges of negotiating the unpredictabilities of public life in the early Empire while seeking to maintain some sort of personal integrity ... As one who at A level over fifty years ago was taught to the exam, I wish that such a mind-opening and encouraging book as this had been available then. * Classics for All *

Author Bio

Eliot Maunder teaches Classics at North London Collegiate School, UK, and is a marker for OCR GCSE Latin.