Review of “On Clemency” (ca. 55–56 CE)
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (writer).
Read in 2024.
This is overloaded with the irony of later events. Knowing how Nero would turn out in Seneca’s care, and knowing that this was probably written after Nero killed his 13-year-old rival, Britannicus, Seneca comes across as a sycophant desperately trying to convince himself and other senior statesmen that Nero could be moulded into a competent emperor.
References here: Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero (1895), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024).