Glossary
Key terms from this volume, plainly defined.
Acrisia A Greek word for a kind of mental disorder that is hard to pin down. Not sadness, not anger, but a persistent low-level unease. A feeling that something is off without being able to name what. Seneca addresses this directly in On Tranquility of Mind.
Ataraxia A Greek word for inner calm or freedom from disturbance. This is one of the things the Stoic is aiming at. Not happiness in the modern sense, but the steadiness of a mind that is no longer thrown around by external events. Seneca translates this and the related Greek word euthymia into his Latin tranquillitas animi, tranquility of mind.
De Brevitate Vitae The Latin title of the essay adapted in Part I, usually translated as On the Shortness of Life. Written around 49 AD to Seneca's friend Paulinus.
De Tranquillitate Animi The Latin title of the essay adapted in Part II, usually translated as On Tranquility of Mind. The addressee is Serenus.
De Vita Beata The Latin title of the essay adapted in Part III, usually translated as On the Happy Life. Addressed to Seneca's older brother Gallio.
Dialogues The name given to a collection of Seneca's moral essays, including all three works in this volume. Despite the name, most of them are not dialogues in the back-and-forth sense. They are essays addressed to specific people, as if in conversation.
Epicurus The Greek philosopher (341 BC to 270 BC) who founded Epicureanism. Seneca disagreed with much of his teaching, but treated him fairly. In Part III he distinguishes what Epicurus actually said from what his followers turned the teaching into.
Euthymia The Greek word Seneca uses for the mental state he is describing in De Tranquillitate Animi. He translates it as tranquillitas animi, tranquility of mind. Steady, unruffled, neither surging too high nor sinking too low.
Fortune Seneca uses this word to mean the force of circumstances, luck, and external events beyond our control. Fortune is not good or bad in itself. It gives and takes without regard for what we deserve. The Stoic learns to use what Fortune gives without depending on it.
Gallio Seneca's older brother and the addressee of De Vita Beata. A Roman politician who served as proconsul of Achaia in the time of the Apostle Paul and is mentioned by name in the New Testament book of Acts.
Good character Seneca's word for this is virtus, which is usually translated as virtue. We have used good character instead because virtue has lost its meaning for many modern readers. Good character means being the same person in every situation, doing what is right because it is who you are, not because someone is watching.
Occupati A Latin word meaning "the engrossed" or "the preoccupied." Seneca uses it throughout De Brevitate Vitae to describe people who are so absorbed in the business of life that they take no time for actual living.
Otium A Latin word that does not translate perfectly into English. It means something like free time or leisure, but in the sense of time given over to the things that matter most: thinking, writing, learning, living well. For Seneca, otium was the goal, not a reward for finishing your work.
Paulinus The person Seneca addresses in On the Shortness of Life. He was in charge of Rome's grain supply, one of the most demanding jobs in the empire. Seneca is essentially writing him a letter that says: your job is important, but it is eating your life. Get out.
Philosophy Seneca uses this word to mean something practical, not academic. To him, thinking carefully about how to live and actually doing it is what philosophy is. It is not a set of theories to learn. It is a practice to carry out every day.
Serenus The young friend Seneca addresses in On Tranquility of Mind. Serenus came to Seneca describing a feeling of vague restlessness without a clear cause. Seneca uses his question as the starting point for one of his most personal essays.
Stoa The covered walkway in Athens where Zeno of Citium taught starting around 300 BC. The name of the philosophy comes from the building. The Stoa Poikile, or Painted Porch, was a public place where anyone could stop to listen.
Stoicism The school of thought founded in Athens around 300 BC by Zeno of Citium. Seneca was a Roman Stoic, which means he took the Greek ideas and applied them to the very practical, very political world of the Roman Empire. His version of Stoicism is more personal and more literary than most Greek Stoic writing.
Summum Bonum The Latin phrase meaning "highest good." This is what Seneca spends much of De Vita Beata defining. For Stoics, the summum bonum is good character. Everything else is secondary.
Time For Seneca, the only thing that is fully yours. Fortune can take your money, your position, your reputation, even your body. Time is different. The hours you have already lived are yours forever. The hours you have not yet lived are not yet yours at all. Only the present is available to be spent.
Virtus The Latin word Seneca uses for what we call virtue or good character. It means being the kind of person who does what is right because of who they are, not because someone is watching. Virtus is the one thing the Stoic considers truly good.
Zeno of Citium The founder of Stoicism. A merchant who lost his fortune in a shipwreck, washed ashore in Athens, and spent the rest of his life studying philosophy. He later said the shipwreck was the best thing that ever happened to him. His story appears briefly in Part II, Section XIV.