Anger, Mercy, Revenge (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) Paperback – November 20, 2012

This is a great book. It provides plenty of notes on the texts so you can understand the context of the texts.This contains three works : On Anger, On Clemency, and The Pumpkinification of ClaudiusSeneca is most known for being a avid stoic and the tutor of Nero. A basic understanding of Stoicism will really enhance your understanding of these texts which there is a little discussion of Stoicism in the intro.On Anger is a philosophical text on the pitfalls of anger. It was actually written for some male relation of Seneca, his nephew maybe? For this being a text translated from Latin, it is really easy to follow. In general, I find Senecan writings translate a lot nicer than other Roman authors. Seneca's basic argument relies on stoic principles to point out why you should never give into anger. Even, according to Seneca, if you see your mother being raped or your father killed, you should not give into anger. Overall, this work gives a real good look into the turmoil and treacherous environment ancient Rome was, especially in politics.On Clemency is just what it sounds like, a work about being clement. This work was written for Nero. However, never finished. It was started at the beginning of Nero's reign, then it is speculated Seneca stopped writing it when it became obvious Nero was not going to be a clement ruler. Once again, Seneca relies on stoic principles to make his argument for clemency. Since this was written for Nero, it is impossible to read it and not see how Nero fails. Though Seneca certainly works through his Stoic values in this work you can really see how he turns them to appeal to Nero's vanity. Such as repeatedly painting a ruler, i.e. Nero, as a God, such as making Rome to be a body, and Nero the head, such as making one of his largest points for clemency that it is most beneficial for the ruler to be clement.Lastly, the Pumpkinfication of Claudius, this is probably my favorite Latin text I've ever read! This deals with the deifying of Claudius, the previous ruler before Nero who was his step-father. Basically, when an emperor died, the senate would vote to make him a god. So this is a parody of Claudius' journey into godhood. Note, that Seneca was not a fan of Claudius at all since he was exiled by him. Basically, this work utterly cuts Claudius to shreds. Very humorously it criticizes Claudius for killing many of his relatives, just being an overall idiot, marrying his niece, loving etruscan culture, writing histories, and just so much more. Seriously, this is a great work and it is such a contrast to Seneca's philosophical works like On Anger and On Clemency, and even his tragedies that still take a serious note in Stoicism. If anything, you can enjoy the contrast in Seneca's writing to these other two.Overall, this was a collection of Senecan works that had nice introductions to help understand them better.

The translations are perfect, understandable and academic at the same time, true to the writings of Seneca. The University of Chicago Seneca series is the best set of translations of Seneca without a doubt. A worthy investment. The binding is high quality, so are the pages themselves.

While I can't speak to the quality of the translation per se, I can say that the prose is quite lucid and the essays compellingly readable. The introductions to each essay are very helpful in alerting the reader to some of the idiosyncracies of Seneca's Stoicism and pointing to a broader view of the subject as well. What's more, they effectively elucidate Seneca's arguments as they are devoid of obfuscatory "academic" stylings. Finally, the footnotes at the end of each essay are both fascinating and illuminating and they further convey the sense that fine scholarship and clear thinking went into this book. I enthusiastically recommend Anger, Mercy, Revenge for these reasons and - perhaps most importantly - its continuing relevance to contemporary life.

Ive been looking for Seneca's works and this book has all three! Very well made book that makes you want to keep it in prestine condition, just as it arrived.

This particular writing, prepared for the young Nero by his Mentor (Seneca) is not only a fascination read on the topic of Anger, Mercy, and Revenge from the time of first century Rome but was also studied and written about by scores of important individuals through history including Erasmus who challenged anyone to expound on this piece, which was then taken up by the Law Student John Calvin, (with his first publication of "de Clementia), in later years (after Calvin's conversion to Christianity in his introduction to his 'Institutes'), using these tactics which were foundational in the Stoic Writers, to try to placate the King of France during "the burnings" of 1536. This work was instrumental historically in many ways.

Such wisdom and practical application in the best translation I have encountered.

More great wisdom from Seneca. Helped me put my anger in prospective.

Only buy works of Seneca from this series. Better than any other translation, it's best features are the many footnotes which helps u understand what Seneca is alluding to. Many times Seneca will use examples only his contemporaries would understand, but with these footnotes, modern readers may also.