201224 What I learned in my studies this morning

Today's Tao:

From Seneca, Part 2:

During his exile to Corsica, he spent time thinking about death. 

"Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's books each day . . . The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time."

We are dying every day and no day, once dead, can be revived. 

Then, at 53, he was recalled to Rome by Agrippina, new wife of Claudius and mother of Nero, to be the future emperor's tutor. 

His job was to teach politics, rhetoric, law, and all the things the boy would need to know to be emperor. Unlike Cato with Caesar or Cicero with Caesar and Mark Antony, Seneca had no option to directly oppose the empire. Instead, he tried to form Nero into a less loathsome character. 

After five years of this, Agrippina had Claudius murdered when Nero was 16. Seneca wrote a book about Clemency for the young emperor, a novel idea in ancient Rome. So novel, there was no Greek word for it. 

His counsel fell on rocky ground. When he came fully into his power, Nero killed his brother Britannicus, his mother Agrippina, and eventually every male in the Julio-Claudian line. 

Beyond murder, he had other hobbies such as chariot racing, acting, and singing. 

Though fearful of his young tyrant, he was also quite well off, materially. He had literal millions, all stained with blood either from Nero or from colonies in Britain which were quelled by Roman legions. 

He tried to retire in 62 AD. That didn't go as he'd hoped. In 64, the great fire burned Rome. Nero blamed Christians and murdered thousands, including Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul). 

When he finally did retire, he wrote letters and books by the hundreds. On this, he found philosophy again. Coming upon realizations of the bad that he'd done to Rome in serving Nero. 

He ended his life by his own hand at the order of Nero. 

An interesting note:

(Lives of the Stoics, pp. 191-205)

From The Daily Stoic: 

Nice things are nice — fine wine, cool cars, fancy tech — but they are temporary. At the end of your life, they account for nothing. Emjoy, but don't covet or obsess. 

From Eric Hoffer, Part III, Factors Promoting Self-Sacrifice, Make-Believe:

Things which are not

Unfamiliarity breeds contempt . . . for self-preservation.

People are not prone to self-sacrifice when they are happy with the present. If they are comfortable and competent, capable of managing practical issues, they make great businessmen, but poor leaders for the movement.

"Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs." 

(The True Believer, XIII-54)