Seneca's influence with Nero
Certain assumptions are oftener affirmed than actively demonstrated. While reputation and esteem not infrequently serve as sufficient reason to defer, some ideas have existed for long enough to gain intellectual tenure through their longevity. And, so, a point may go unchallenged or unchanged for decades. But Seneca's role at the Palace and his relationship with Nero have remained ambiguously defined for over a century. Ren Waltz established the biographical template in which Seneca was studied for most of the twentieth century-the philosopher in politics model.1 In brief, this is the enduring view that Seneca, a lifelong Stoic, "wished to act politically as a philosopher" starting in the 30s; and that subsequent to his recall from exile, "he was an intellectual in the seat of power" who "set himself the difficult task-or the insoluble and sterile problem-of philosophizing his politics."2 Accounts over the next fifty years changed little from Waltz's apologetic interpretation, with most alternating attention between biographical and philological matters.3 Arnaldo Momigliano made the first considerable effort to engage the idea of Senecan political policy.4 Italo Lana later pursued that idea, but his work greatly dilutes conjectures about Seneca the politician with the usual musings on him as a philosopher.5 The politician was unable to escape the shadow of the philosopher. Nor did this change with the publication of Miriam Griffin's monograph, which maintained the model of Seneca's life used by previous biographers.6 The breakthrough in her work was the consideration of Seneca as a political figure within a socio-politically accurate framework; and its organization, split between Seneca in his own words and those of others, would shape how the historical man was envisioned. Contemplation of Seneca as a political agent has stagnated since then, with most being content to frame Seneca politicus in Griffin's words-or those of her mentor, found scattered across two familiar volumes
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