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Review
"A sharp introductory primer on Stoicism. . . . Very finely translated."---Brendan Boyle, Wall Street Journal"Seneca, the Roman emperor Nero's chief adviser, discussed death and how to prepare for it way back in the mid-1st century. . . . This new book, a synthesis of his writings on the subject . . . remains as timely today as ever."---Sarah Murdoch, Toronto Star"Romm's collection does a service in contributing to bringing the philosopher back, not only to his fellow Classicists, but to every one of us who cares enough to think about how to live and how to die. . . . Not quite a book to die for, but one to enhance life."---Marguerite Johnson, Australian Book Review"James Romm takes us up close to death with Seneca for his guide. Don't be afraid, be prepared--be very prepared."--Mary Beard, author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome"Beautifully translated by James Romm, Seneca speaks to us so directly about the fraught and difficult subject of death that we may find ourselves forgetting to breathe."--Francine Prose"This well-chosen collection of Seneca's writings on death demonstrates James Romm's gift for making the people and ideas of antiquity vivid for general readers. The introduction is graceful, the translations are accurate and readable, the annotations are nicely judged, and the epilogue featuring Tacitus's account of Seneca's suicide is indispensable."--Robert A. Kaster, Princeton University
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From the Back Cover
"James Romm takes us up close to death with Seneca for his guide. Don't be afraid, be prepared--be very prepared."--Mary Beard, author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome "Beautifully translated by James Romm, Seneca speaks to us so directly about the fraught and difficult subject of death that we may find ourselves forgetting to breathe."--Francine Prose "This well-chosen collection of Seneca's writings on death demonstrates James Romm's gift for making the people and ideas of antiquity vivid for general readers. The introduction is graceful, the translations are accurate and readable, the annotations are nicely judged, and the epilogue featuring Tacitus's account of Seneca's suicide is indispensable."--Robert A. Kaster, Princeton University
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Product details
Series: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 27, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780691175577
ISBN-13: 978-0691175577
ASIN: 0691175578
Product Dimensions:
4.8 x 0.8 x 7 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.5 out of 5 stars
14 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#42,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This is a book that we in the West need! It's a wonderful compilation of Seneca's various writings and mentions of death in his essays and letter. One of the reasons we -- especially in the United States and the modern Western world -- do not know how to live well and happily is that we fear death. We just don't know how to die! Seneca can teach us much about death and dying and he does so eloquently in his writings. This is a good companion to books from the Eastern philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism, the Tao, etc. when studying death. It is as important to have a good death as it is to have a good life -- and perhaps more so. When we know how to die, we will begin to learn to live fearlessly and with a lust for life. In fact HOW we die is much less important than how we've lived our lives. We need to put less emphasis on living longer and strive for a life of greater good.
Just got this and started reading the introduction. As we age I found studying death quite fascinating. A few times I discussed it with people with questionable moral behavior or who may abuse their power feel quite angry even talking about it. This is human in nature but I find it perplexing and glad I continue to avoid these people when I can. I wanted something tangible and real hence I bought the hardcover.When I look at death I always wonder why do we humans have an expiration date. Also certain groups have built in health problems and others do not which is built in to our genetic code. I also wonder about either this was random or maybe an alien species created us with these deficiencies for control. Either that or this is a holographic simulation and the truth will be revealed after death.The author Seneca in his time was living in fear because he was living in a time when two of the worse Roman dictators were in power which was Caligula and Nero. He like any other human made mistakes but stood by his convictions.Recently to cure myself I had to look at nature to cure pain either it be physical or gastrointestinal it was either a sap of a tree or resin which heals me. From all our man-made cures the results eat away our insides and the same synthetic cures and food makes us very sick. For thousands of years man had a systematic way to understand his role and death but as time goes by we forget what was sacred and true.This book is a short read and I hope to draw inspiration when I am in despair and sickness.Also tomorrow is my birthdate and this is a reminder and gift for myself.
"How to Die," compiled from various writings of the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca by the excellent James Romm, assembles Seneca’s thoughts on death. Seneca died during the reign of the emperor Nero, in A.D. 65, having been “encouraged†by him to commit suicide. The reason for the compiling and publication of this book, presumably, is to educate moderns about how to die. It also offers an interesting view into the philosophy of the late pagan Classical world, already dying itself, although Seneca didn’t know it. This book can doubtless educate moderns, but for us, different than our predecessors, it is either valuable or dangerous, or both, depending on who is reading it and with what aim.Stoicism is one of those philosophies, like Buddhism or Taoism, that shallow moderns like to mention favorably in passing, usually with an implicit criticism of backward religions like Christianity. Often such mentions are combined with a reference to the "Meditations" of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (died A.D. 180), who had a brief efflorescence in the public consciousness a few years ago when he was lucky enough to be depicted in the blockbuster movie "Gladiator." As with all philosophical systems before the modern era, a great many very smart people gave much thought to the philosophy, and while I know little about it, I know that Stoic thought is complex and far-reaching, and had substantial interaction with early Christian thinkers (including St. Paul, in Acts 17). This book, to be sure, does not purport to explain Stoicism, only the thought of one philosopher on one topic, over several decades of his life.Seneca, though he lived to nearly seventy years old, had multiple reasons to focus on death other than mere philosophy. He suffered from recurrent aggressive asthma, which regularly threatened to suffocate him, and he also appears to have suffered from tuberculosis. Having his breath potentially snuffed out at any time doubtless kept death near the front of his mind. Moreover, he lived and was politically active during the reigns of Caligula and Nero, where the life of any prominent man was not secure, and he was far from the only man forced to commit suicide in that era. Thus, it is not surprising that he recurred to the topic over the decades.His instructions are really of two types. Both sets of instructions fall under Seneca’s epigraph for the book, well-chosen by Romm, “He lives badly who does not know how to die well.†The first explains how one should think about dying. This is valuable, to some, at least. Although the modern tendency is to ignore death, and perhaps that’s always been the tendency of humanity, some choose to want to focus their minds, and Seneca offers a reasonable set of thoughts to them. The second type of instruction explains how one should actually go about dying, physically. Seneca is indifferent to the method, but for him the key is that, wherever possible, each person should choose for himself when and how to die. Dying well, then, to Seneca, consisted of the right mental frame with which to approach death, but also the choice when to die, which strongly indicated suicide for any person not granted a quick and unexpected death. This creates a problem for us moderns, because, taken from its pagan, elite context, and applied to the mass of individuals in today’s society, especially as a rationale for structuring society’s laws, this second instruction has baleful effects.As to how one should think about dying, Romm pulls Seneca’s own thoughts from his various writings. He groups Seneca’s thoughts into five subsets: “Prepare Yourselfâ€; “Have No Fearâ€; “Have No Regretsâ€; “Set Yourself Freeâ€; and “Become a Part of the Whole.†While there is some variability in the message, and even contradictions (though none fatal—ba dum!), he offers mostly repetitions of a few basic philosophical points. One is that death is no different than what we had experienced before birth—i.e., nothing, and if we did not fear that, why should we fear death? His argument isn’t very convincing, because it ignores two basic points, both springing from that life gives us the ability to consider the future. The facile one was expressed by Isaac Asimov: “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.†The deeper point was expressed by Hamlet: “To sleep, perchance to dream—aye, there’s the rub.†Seneca mostly says death is merely nothingness; sometimes he says we are dissolved in the universe and thereby live on; a few times he seems to endorse belief in a desirable, Christian-type afterlife (i.e., not in the traditional Hades—by this point, Greek and Roman philosophers had abandoned that framework). But I think few of those reading his writings or receiving his letters would have been much comforted by his core idea, that we are going back into the dark from whence we came. More compelling, by far, is the story the Venerable Bede tells of how Edwin, king of Northumbria, was convinced to convert from paganism by a counsellor who analogized the life of man to a sparrow, flying from cold darkness to cold darkness, but passing for a moment through the light, warmth and merriment of the mead hall, “Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing, therefore, this new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed.†Seneca, perhaps aware that his argument isn’t very compelling, tries to buttress it with even weaker arguments, like “If death holds any torment, then that torment must also have existed before we came forth into the light.†Maybe, but not necessarily, is the obvious answer, and so with his other arguments as well.A second point Seneca makes is that, in essence, fear is degrading, so stop it. This seems somewhat in opposition to his first point—if fear is supposed to disappear because there is no reason to fear, adding on that it’s degrading seems unnecessary, though certainly true in the abstract. My guess is that this is part of a larger Stoic framework, but I don’t know enough to be sure. A third point is that the length of life doesn’t matter, a point Seneca addresses at length in a letter to a grieving mother, with his argument being, basically, that we’re all negligible anyway, so what’s wrong with being a little more negligible? I’m pretty sure a grieving mother didn’t think much of this advice, unless she persuaded himself that Seneca knew better than her, a common failing of intelligent people in their relationship with self-proclaimed philosophers, though the ages. A variation on this argument, more compelling, that Seneca also makes is that mere life extension in the old is pointless in and of itself. (Seneca does suggest, though, that sticking around for others, such as his beloved and much younger wife, is a decent reason not to kill oneself.) As long as a person lives “until attaining wisdom,†he should be content (though this contradicts Seneca’s other point somewhat, that we’re all negligible). And Seneca’s fourth point is, in essence, that death is coming for you and for me, and we can’t avoid it, so we might as well not get too worked up about it. (My guess is this latter point, about not getting too worked up, probably encapsulates the Cliff’s Notes version of Stoicism as a whole.) That said, suicide is logical and often desirable; it can avoid a more painful death; or it will “set you free,†from unpleasantness like slavery or torture, or simply from a decline, especially one where you can no longer take action because you are too weak.Many people reading this book today would find resonance in Seneca’s strong endorsement of each person determining for himself how and when he should die. This is, of course, a very pagan attitude, and the antithesis of the morals of the West since Christianity began to dictate private and public morality, thereby hugely improving the moral tone of society and eliminating as an acceptable option formerly unexceptional things like infanticide, abortion and sex slavery. While the Christian (and Jewish) belief in the inherent, God-given and God-mandated sanctity of life, with the tagline “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,†is internally coherent, so is the pagan approach to suicide, and Seneca lays it out well. The people with whom the pagan approach resonates, today, though, are not Stoics, much less Cato the Younger (who committed suicide by stabbing himself in the gut, and then tearing out his intestines when his friends sewed him up). Instead, they are the fashionable and not-very-deep thinkers who push “assisted suicide,†“legal euthanasia,†or whatever buzzword it’s going by nowadays.This is the natural consequence of the devaluation of human life that has taken place over the past fifty years, with baneful instances in many areas (not to mention the various horrors of earlier in the twentieth century). On the surface, though, suicide has more appeal and fewer obvious drawbacks than, say, demands for legalized abortion or, the same thing, infanticide. After all, if you insist on killing yourself, there is no argument you’re killing someone else (unless you pick a poor method), and if you take care of your obligations, no good argument that you are directly harming others. Stripped of the Christian framework, the ability to kill oneself in the face of a terminal illness or other perceived overwhelming need seems entirely logical, entirely in keeping with the advice of Seneca, and both brave and not degrading. And since stripping the Christian framework is what those who rule in the West are today all about, criminalizing suicide, or assisting in a suicide, seems illogical.But, as with most age-old moral rules that have been demolished in our time of glory, there is more of practical value in moral rules than meets the eye. It used to be a commonplace, which seems to have been forgotten, that suicide, and its assistance, is not criminalized to prevent suicide (though it does express a salutary moral opinion), but rather to prevent pressure from being brought to bear on those for whom their suicide would be convenient for others. This problem, though always known, is infinitely worse in the modern world, when most old people live much longer, and have more money tied up in themselves, and moreover often are in a condition, physical or psychological, where they are susceptible to arguments that their “quality of life†is low. Compounded with the ever-increasing cost of medical care, and the government’s tendency to dictate choices using cost-benefit analysis, the inevitable consequence of legalizing suicide is that suicide will be encouraged and will expand inexorably as expectation, then demand, from the old and sick, and be imposed involuntarily even on children. These are not guesses; all these things that can be seen in Europe already, though as with all such horrors, their existence is kept largely out of sight by a complicit press. Industrialized coerced suicide of the weak is a far cry from educated Roman elites committing suicide; it has much more in common with the cries of a little boy doused with Zyklon B, “Mama, it’s so dark! But Mama, I’ve been good! I’ve been good!â€And that’s not to mention that there is every argument to be made that when Christianity loses its power, to which legalizing suicide will contribute (part of why it is pushed by the enemies of Christianity), so will all the moral commands of Christianity, of which we have forgotten their origin. That said, more thinking about death does have a lot to recommend it. Modern people have not forgotten death, but they do their best never to think about it. We all know people who won’t even get life insurance to protect their families, because it makes them think about their own deaths. And when the time comes to die, most end up in a hospital having nasty things done to them so they can live a few more hours, or a few more days. Seneca would say that this is no way to live, and he would be right. Delete the endorsement of suicide and the bleak metaphysics, and Seneca would agree that when it’s time to go, it’s time to go, and whatever your metaphysics, to see the other side. Ignoring it, or painfully and slowly eroding your body with needles and tonics, isn’t going to change that. And it is, indeed, a disgrace to spend your life in fear.Thus, those tech types obsessed with life extension, whether by improved medical science or by supposedly imminent radical changes such as the Singularity, degrade themselves, for they are merely masking their overwhelming fear by promising themselves eternal life without the need for death. Oh, they cover it up with fine words about “curing death†and the supposed moral imperative to extend our lives, but there is no such imperative, and death will never be cured. Once you accept that, and if you can think accurately and cogently about suicide, this book is worth reading. And you can mention it instead of the "Meditations" at cocktail parties, thus putting yourself ahead of other pseudo-Stoics, in the estimation of your fellow party-goers.
I really got a lot out of this. The translation was easy to read and the notes very supportive. There was a lot of focus on suicide which I did not expect but then as I considered the time in which this was written it was simply not an uncommon path and therefore appropriate. Overall I have highlight after highlight in my notebook that I will come back to many times as this study continues for me.
This slim volume should be read by everyone. One does not have to be at death’s door to appreciate the wisdom given by Seneca. This is a book for the reader of all ages. Stoic though he was, he repeats like a mantra his advice, to be afraid of death is to be afraid of living and you only live life to the fullest when you are prepared to pass away honorably.This was true in Seneca’s time and is more so in these contemporary days. Our culture is youth oriented, and issues like aging, illness, and death are not only to be avoided but feared. Look at how many euphemisms we have for death or dying. We don’t want to look at the possibility and if the subject arises in conversation, you are branded a killjoy. (No pun intended.)Seneca is saying we should confront death and dying for what it is: the natural passage of all things, another chapter in a life, but beforehand, live life as you should confront death, with dignity. At times, he gives what resembles to be the advice given by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. How to Die contains wisdom for the ages.
Great for perspective over the ages.Life and death are timeless questions.
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Jumat, 20 Juni 2014
