![]() ![]() He accumulated huge amounts of wealth and property in the service of Nero: we are told by the Greek historian Cassius Dio that he acquired more than 300m sestertii, a sum that put him easily in the top 0.1%. He came from a comfortable family background, although he was not in absolutely the top tier of the class system (being equestrian rather than senatorial in rank). Seneca was obsessed with money and its discontents. He was forced to kill himself at the age of about 60, in 65AD, under suspicion of conspiring against the emperor. Seneca was originally from Spain but he spent much of his life in Rome, except for a long convalescent sojourn in Egypt, and some years in exile on Corsica in the wake of a sex scandal. He lived in the same period as Jesus, though he lasted longer before falling out with the authorities. ![]() ![]() The Roman Stoic philosopher, essayist, celebrity and dramatist Seneca was tutor, speech-writer and adviser to the emperor Nero, and he was also, not coincidentally, one of the very richest people of his age. What is it like to be in the wealthiest tier of society, either in ancient Rome or today? How do such people justify their own position of privilege, either to others or to themselves? In our society, the super-rich are generally not prolific writers, so we get only limited and mediated access to their state of mind. ![]()
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