Classwork Essay

Stoicism is the ability to endure pain and hardship  while retaining the ability to contain one's emotions; Seneca, at his death, was the perfect example of a stoic.

Seneca, at his death, was a great example of how a stoic acts and shows his or her emotions. First of all, Seneca did not freak out or get emotional that he was going to die, but rather he was very calm and accepted it. " Upon this the tribune asserted that he saw no signs of fear, and perceived no sadness in his words or in his looks. He was accordingly ordered to go back and to announce sentence of death." This quote is saying that any normal person would be scared if they were going to die soon and they would be very upset and sad. Seneca acted as the complete opposite as the normal person and he did what most people would not do. He controlled his emotions so that he would not express his feelings inside himself and was calm under all the pressure. He took in all the pain that he was feeling as soon as he knew he was going to die and did not express any of the pain he was feeling inside. He did not try to get to mad about this event and he promised not to show his real feelings; that is what make a great stoic.

Seneca was also a great example of a stoic at his death, but this time for a different reason. He found out that his wife was going to kill herself after she knew he was going to die, and Seneca reacted like a great stoic would. "I have shown you ways of smoothing life; you prefer the glory of dying. I will not grudge you such a noble example. Let the fortitude of so courageous an end be alike in both of us, but let there be more in your decease to win fame." This is a perfect example of how Seneca cared about others more than himself but still did not react with great emotions. Seneca had always loved his wife and when he found out about her death, he did not react the same as most people would. He was not bothered at all about the fact that his loving wife was going to commit suicide but instead gave her advice. This shows that Seneca cared more about others and how they were feeling instead of his own self. He did not try to persuade his wife to do another reasonable action because that is what great stoics would do in that sort of circumstance. This is another reason how Seneca did not react with anger and rage but rather with calmness and coolness under the pressure.

Seneca did not react like most people would when faced with death. He accepted it into his life and thought of it as another stage in his life. " Seneca, quite unmoved, asked for tablets on which to inscribe his will." This quote shows that Seneca was not affected by the fact that he was going to die very soon. It said he was "unmoved", which means Seneca was not very emotional about his death and did not have strong feelings about it. Death is probably the worst thing that will come into Seneca's life , but all he wants to do is inscribe his will into stone tablets.