Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic

2018 Reprint of 1925 Edition. This edition is a one volume republication of the Richard Mott Gummere translation of Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales AD Lucilium, originally published in three volumes by William Heinemann, London, 1917-25 and G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, in 1918 and reprinted in 1925. Included is the English language text only and not the Latin text. For several years of his turbulent life, Seneca was the guiding hand of the Roman Empire. His inspired reasoning derived mainly from the Stoic principles, which had originally been developed some centuries earlier in Athens. This edition of Seneca's letters shows him upholding the austere ethical ideals of Stoicism--the wisdom of the self-possessed person immune to overmastering emotions and life's setbacks--while valuing friendship and the courage of ordinary men and criticizing the harsh treatment of slaves and the cruelties in the gladiatorial arena. The humanity and wit revealed in Seneca's interpretation of Stoicism is a moving and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind.