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SENECA. Hardship and Happiness. Translated by Elaine Fantham, Harry M. Hine, James Ker, and Gareth D. Williams. In The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, edited by Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014. xxix + 318 pp. Cloth, $55.00-This is the fourth in a set from the University of Chicago Press that purports to be a "fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations [of Seneca] in eight accessible volumes." Previous entries include Seneca's sole scientific work, Natural Questions (2010), Anger, Mercy, Revenge (2010), and On Benefits (2011). Since the release of the present work, the fifth, Lectures on Ethics (2015), has also appeared.
Those unfamiliar with Seneca (4 B.C.E.-65 C.E.) will find the introductory essay-which prefaces this and the other volumes-to be a brief yet thorough guide. A wealthy Spaniard by birth, Seneca received a stellar oratorical education at Rome. His genius for administration and political survival catapulted him to the post of Nero's tutor and shadow philosopher-king during the tranquil quinquennium. Later, as a member of the failed conspiracy to supplant the enfant terrible with C. Calpumius Piso or Seneca himself, he enjoyed a front-row seat to the legendary JulioClaudian dysfunctions. Seneca's life, like Socrates', ended dramatically: he slit his own...