title: Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
author: James Romm
description: Was Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger an exemplar of Stoic virtue who, pulled into politics in the service of Emperor Nero, did his best to modulate the young despots cruelty? Or was he a shrewd manipulator whose ethical treatises were just a cynical attempt to restore a reputation sullied by his complicity in Neros cruel and decadent court? Tacitus, who wrote a lot about Seneca, seems to have had trouble making up his mind. Romm suggests that we might bring together these conflicting portraits by understanding Seneca as a serious thinker who suffered from passivity and obsequiousness, and had the misfortune to live at a time when intellectual activity had become particularly dangerous. Senecas elegant humanistic vision (which would influence, among other things, Roman Catholic church doctrine), therefore, was not fraudulent, but aspirational, and somewhat tragic: ideals articulated by a flawed man who was all too aware of his inability to live up to them. Vividly describing the intensity of political life in the Nero years, and paying particular attention to the Roman fascination with suicide, Romms narrative is gripping, erudite, and occasionally quite grim. --Brendan Driscoll
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  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK  
  PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
  
  
  Copyright © 2014 by James Romm
  
  
  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a
  division of Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of
  Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random House companies.
  
  
  [www.aaknopf.com](http://www.aaknopf.com)
  
  
  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random
  House LLC.
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Romm, James S.  
  Dying every day : Seneca at the court of Nero / by James Romm. — First
  Edition.  
  pages cm  
  Includes bibliographical references.  
  ISBN 978-0-307-59687-1 (hardcover)  
  ISBN 978-0-385-35172-0 (eBook)  
  1\. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.–65 A.D.  
  2\. Statesmen—Rome—Biography. 3. Philosophers— Rome—Biography. 4. Nero,
  Emperor of Rome, 37–68.  
  5\. Rome—History—Nero, 54–68