Seneca's dialogues--as his epistolary essays have traditionally
been known--offer an ideal path into the philosophical thought of
first-century Rome's most famous Stoic, whose compelled suicide in
65 CE (by order of his former pupil Emperor Nero) drew comparisons
to the death of Socrates. Notable for, among other things, their
portrait of a providential universe and defense of the life of
virtue, the nine dialogues included in this volume illustrate the
deeply intertwined cosmological and moral arguments of ancient
Rome's chief philosophical alternative to Epicureanism and Academic
Skepticism. Peter J. Anderson's new translation conveys the
distinctive character of Seneca's style, while striving for
accuracy and consistency in its renderings of key terms. His
Introduction discusses the dialogues as works of art and situates
them in the context of ancient Stoic philosophy as well as the
wider philosophical scene. Notes and a glossary are also included.