On the Shortness of Life

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, known as Seneca the Younger, was a distinguished Stoic philosopher, statesman, and playwright. Born around 4 BCE in Corduba, Hispania (modern day Córdoba, Spain) into an extremely wealthy family, his privileged upbringing and education in Rome and Egypt enabled the impressive trajectory of his career as a writer and political advisor.

“On the Shortness of Life,” shows how this rich educational foundation enabled Seneca engage critically with the philosophical inquiries of his time and to articulate profound insights into the human condition. His deep understanding of Stoicism, in particular, allowed him to draw from a well-established school of thought that emphasized the pursuit of virtue, self-discipline, and the rational management of one’s life. Further to this, his treatise shows a wide and deep understanding of theories and disciplines current in the Roman world: although primarily a Stoic, Seneca draws on Aristotelianism, Platonism and Epicureanism, showing that he is informed by wider philosophical ideas and able to engage intellectually with them when they are of use.

The didactic nature of “On the Shortness of Life” is reflective of Seneca’s role as tutor to the future emperor Nero. Probably written in 49 CE, when Seneca was returned from exile to become Nero’s tutor, the essay demonstrates Seneca’s ideas of teaching, learning and the dissemination of knowledge at a crucial turning-point in his own life.