When your heroes disappoint
I first came across Seneca when I read Letters from a Stoic more than a decade ago. Ever since, Letters has been on my shelf as a book that reminds me about living and being better.
But as I make my way towards the end of Seneca: A Life by Emily Wilson (which I first wrote about here), that youthful part of me that saw Seneca as an intellectual hero has been entirely disappointed. In Wilson's unpacking of Letters, she reveals Seneca uses the text to assuage his guilt and cultivate a wise image for himself. What I was saw as a useful guide now feels like an old man's final attempt at crafting his legacy.
The question I now have is this: is it still meaningful to take from the ideas of someone who really didn't live up to his philosophical posturing? (Even Marcus Aurelius's Meditations feels more sincere given that it was never meant to be published.)
A bitter taste indeed.