Episode 8: Seneca and The Consolation of Helvia
Episode 8: Seneca and The Consolation of Helvia
How would you feel if your whole life changed in an instant? Maybe you or a close family member or dear friend were sent to prison? Or maybe something a little more permanent let’s say someone dear to you passed away. How would you handle the distance between yourself and those whom you hold close to your heart?
Intro
Howdy and welcome to episode 8 of The Plutarch Project Podcast. I’m your favorite pollyanna and host Josh Nieubuurt. Today we are continuing off of last podcast talking about Seneca. In the last episode we discussed Seneca`s letter to Paulinas, “On the Shortness of Life.” Today we will be talking about another letter he sent, this time to his mother. In his work, “Consolation to Helvia,” (note we used a copy from the library. The open source provided isn’t exactly the same) Seneca addresses his exile and the grief his mother must have found herself in after finding out of his fate. Before we get to the work itself let’s take a gander at the history leading to his exile.
Rise to Fortune
Sometime around 37 AD Seneca was elected to be quaestor-and I looked this up but I’m still not 100 percent on what his actual duties were in this position. If you’re out there listening and you can enlighten us, please shoot us a message or leave a comment. Being elected to this position also gave him a seat in the Roman Senate. He grew to be known for his oratory skill. He was such a good speaker that the emperor Gaius Julius Caesar- probably more well known as Caligula -despised his abilities. Seneca was ordered to commit suicide. He survived this sentence due to the onset of a sickness that nearly killed him. Caligula thought that he would shortly die anyway and getting the senate behind him seemed like a waste of time.
Could you imagine sitting in on that senate hearing? “So uh Seneca. we’d like to first say you’ve been doing a great job. Really convincing arguments, the people seem to really like you. With that said we’re going to need to you to kill yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course it’s Caligula’s idea. But super job, otherwise.” Neither of these two gents liked each other and it seems that they lay on opposite sides of the philosophical paradigm of the time. Seneca would survive his illness and he was never sentenced to kill himself.
Exile
Caligula was later assassinated and Seneca lived to see a few more bounteous days. Claudius, Caligula’s uncle, became emperor in 38 AD. His success in the senate was soon overshadowed by scandal. Seneca was accused by the new empress Messalina of adultery with Julia Livilla, sister to Caligula and Agrippina. Many scholars think that this alleged adultery probably didn’t happen and rather it was an underhanded move by people in power to get rid of Julia Livilla. The senate sentenced Seneca to death and Julia Livilla to exile. Cladius altered the punishment and sent Seneca to live on the island of Corsica in exile instead. Seneca would spend the next 8 years of his life on this island. During his time here he wrote two consolations. Today we discuss the one addressed to his mother, Helvia. While going through this keep in mind the steep fall Seneca had just endured in his public life. Also bear in mind that in his private life one of his children had also passed away mere weeks earlier.
Consolation of Helvia
Seneca begins the work stating, “Dearest mother, I have often had the urge to console you and often restrained it.” He explains his reasoning for waiting stating, “There were, on the other hand, considerations which delayed my purpose. I realized that your grief should not be intruded upon while it was fresh and agonizing, in case the consolations themselves should rouse and inflame it: for an illness too nothing is more harmful than premature treatment” (pg34). It had been some time since he had last seen his mother and the arrival of this letter. He was hoping that by giving her a little time to adjust to his absence and his condition that he could better console her and allow her to see his point of view more clearly than she would be able to while gripped by sorrow. Before his exile she had visited him for an extended period of time. After she departed-two days to be exact- he was sentenced and sent into exile.
Seneca discusses how he hopes to alleviate her grief and sorrow writing,[quote] “I’ll first support it and offer it a lot of encouragement: I shall expose and reopen all the wounds which have already healed” [unquote] Say what? “Yo, uh- Seneca, my man- you already said your mom is sad. Why would you want to open up all the other things she has felt grief for before? That sounds a bit counterintuitive.”
Seneca addresses this stating, [quote] “I shall offer to the mind all its sorrows, all its mourning garments: this will not be a gentle prescription for healing, but cautery with the knife.”[unquote]. Seneca hopes by putting everything on the table he will be able to wipe it all away with some super cleaning rag of philosophy. But WAIT THERE’S MORE! It’s not only the grief she must be feeling about her grandchild’s death and her son’s exile. No, no, no he’s going to go all through her history and put it ALL on the table.
Imagine you could talk all the bad things that have happened to you. All the grief causing events throughout your entire life are placed into a big heap, covered in gasoline, and your best friend hands you a match that can burn it all away at once. This is what Seneca was hoping to offer his mother in this time of grief. Of course the embers will remain after it has all burned down but the physical presence of them will be gone forever. Would you set them up in flames or keep holding onto them?
Fortune favors no one
It’s at this point in the work that Seneca comments on an interesting phenomenon.He first mentions the people who hold on to their sorrows-especially those who have had mostly good fortune- for the entirety of their life.
He states, [quote] “so let those people go on weeping and wailing whose self-indulgent minds have been weakened by long prosperity, let them collapse at the threat of the most trivial injuries; but let those who have spent all their years suffering disasters endure the worst afflictions with a brave and resolute staunchness,”[unquote] and here is where he really hits home, [quote] “everlasting misfortune does have one blessing, that it ends up by toughening those whom it constantly afflicts” [unquote] (pg.35-36).
We’ve all seen those people whose lives have seemed to be blessed from their conception. Suddenly something happens, say they send an inappropriate photo to someone, lie about the numbers they’ve been auditing for a company that has been too good to be true, or go against the prevailing social norms-say they have a secret mistress or o a penchant for sexual deviance within a monogamous marriage- only to find themselves in the limelight weeping for forgiveness.
History has no shortlist for how many people this has happened to. Just by watching any contemporary news outlet you’re bound to come across these folks who take a steep fall from grace. Their faces are spread throughout society as an example of a good person gone bad, a bad person exposed, or as a mis example of how to live life- and they’re quite often crying “poor me! I’m so sorry…” humming their own funeral march. Seneca knew his mother would not be among these people so he also discusses another group.
History also doesn’t have a short list for the masses of nameless people whom fortune hasn’t favored. Yet, day after day these folks have-and continue- to forge on. hen fortune turns against them they’ll be saying, “Cie la vie, well that’s just the way life is!” and carrying on, moving ever onward despite the odds against them.
The latter group has become tougher through trials, while the folks in the first group may never recover. Seneca’s mother’s life- although she was part of the upper class- had its fair share of sorrows by the time of Seneca’s exile. I presume many of you folks out there have also had your own fair share of sorrows and smiles in the time you’ve lived thus far. Thanks for persevering and being here to listen today.
Misfortunes of Helvia
So seneca piles up all the ill fortune Marvia has had during her life. After he lays them all out on the table he writes, [quote] “Do I seem to have dealt boldly with you? I have kept away not one of your misfortunes from you, but piled them all up in front of you. I have done this courageously for I decided to conquer your grief, not to cheat it”[unquote] (pg. 37)
Put yourself in Seneca’s position. You just lost your job, probably a lot of your wealth, your family, and now your on an island exiled from the world that you knew. And yet you still have the heart and desire to ease the grief your dear mother is feeling on your behalf. Not only the grief she feels about your situation but also all the ill fortune she’s had throughout her life. Anyone else going to go give their kids a pep talk for when old age strikes them, or is that just me?
In regards to Seneca’s situation he does his best to assure that he is in no way really suffering due to his situation. He goes on at length using a pragmatic argument. He labels off his known world and how the inhabitants of these places are themselves rooted in exiles of various sorts. He writes, “You will hardly find a single country still inhabited by its original natives: everywhere the people are of mixed and imported stock.”(pg. 44) Even the foundation of Rome itself stemmed from the myth surrounded Romulus-the famed founder and first king of Rome. Seneca writes the due to his philosophical dispositions that he, [quote] “cannot even be made wretched.”[unquote].
Seneca had been preparing himself for this fall from grace for sometime. He writes, [quote]
“Never have I trusted fortune, even when she seemed to offer peace. All those blessings which she kindly bestowed on me–money, public office, influence– I relegated to a place whence she could claim them back without bothering me. I kept a wide gap between them and me, with the result that she has taken them away, not torn them away. No man has been shattered by the blows of Fortune unless he was first deceived by her favours” [unquote] (pg.39)
Seneca knew that life could easily give and take away any good fortune. He came into office and fame knowing that one day he could lose his position, lose his favour and influence, and find himself on death’s door or cast away to some island far away from home. By doing this he prepared himself from the great fall which so many people have found themselves victims of. Seneca continues writing, [quote] “But the man who is not puffed up in food times does not collapse either when they change. His fortitude is already tested and he maintains a mind unconquered in the face of either condition: for in the midst of prosperity he has tried his own strength against adversity”[unquote] (pg.39).
This reminds me of a contemporary figure who rather recently passed on-Stephen Hawking. In one of his more famous quotes he states, “My name is Stephen Hawking-physicist, cosmologist and something of a dreamer. Although I cannot move and have to speak through a computer in my mind, I am free. Free to explore the universe and ask the big questions.” Seneca-although relatively healthy shares a similar sentiment. Despite what most people would perceive as a great loss, he is still free. Free to explore his liberal studies aka the humanities, free to explore the land that he must inhabit, and free to ask the questions he wishes to find the answers to without the preoccupations of day-to-day public life.
Seneca notes on those who have found themselves in a similar situation, [quote] “For how little we have lost, when the two finest things of all will accompany us wherever we go, universal nature and our individual virtue.”[unquote] (pg.45). As we would say in contemporary times- wherever you go, there you are. Not matter where you go, no matter the situation you find yourself in, the most valuable things you have are always brought along with you.
Is Wealth Internal?
At this point of the letter Seneca begins comparing the immortal sources of wealth inside of all of us with common conceptions of wealth in the human world. He spends a lot of time focusing on the condition of people always wanting MORE. More money, more exotic foods, more power, and more influence. He notes-and it should be noted that this is a pretty standard trademark of the Stoics-life should be guided by the pursuit of ur own personal virtues, logic, and empathy. People shouldn’t fall prey to using the baffling power of fear or vice as life’s rudder. And if this philosophy of life is followed in earnest one’s position in the world-whether it be rich or poor, at home or in exile, favored or shunned by fortune-a person will live an amicable existence even in the face of misfortune.
Seneca focuses heavily on the disease of greed that he thought pervaded his time and place in the world. He contrasts poverty and greed stating,
[quote] “But there is no evil in poverty, as anyone knows who has not yet arrived at the lunatic state of greed and luxury, which ruin everything. For how little is needed to support a man! And who can lack this if he has no virtue at all? As far as I am concerned, I know that I have lost not wealth but distractions”[unquote] (pg48).
Let be clear here, though. Although Seneca was in exile he still did receive an allowance to help him survive. He wasn’t facing extreme poverty. Seneca does highlight an excellent point on greed, deeming it a lunatic state and raises the question, just how much of something is enough?
Looking at our world today I’m sure Seneca would be both awed and disgusted by the excess allowing for a greater level of luxury for common folks and the extremes it can be taken to on a global scale; all the while living alongside poverty of mind and body to varying extremes.
Asking some Big Questions
Seneca-in a bit of a long winded tangent- questions why mankind, with our limited physical size, goes to great trouble to acquire more and more. He writes,
“[quote] I want to say to them: why do you launch your ships? Why do you arm your bands against both beasts and men? Why do you tear around in such a panic? Why do you pile wealth upon wealth? You must really consider how small your bodies are. Is it not madness and the worst form of derangement to want so much though you can hold so little?”[ unquote] (pg.50) He also writes, [quote] “Nor is this true only of money or food: the same feature is found in every desire which arises not from a lack but from a vice. However much you heap up for it will not mark the end of greed, only a stage in it. So the man who restrains himself within the bounds set by nature will not notice poverty; the man who exceeds these bounds will be pursued by poverty however rich he is.”[unquote] (pg. 52)
What do you think? Why have we as a species continually pushed further and further to acquire more and more? Even in our personal lives-who among us wouldn’t want more money, power, delicious food, or power? Is this really a disease as Seneca writes? Is it something that is always chasing us? Is it really something that afflicts us in such a way that it keeps us from finding our own very real sense of meaning? Let us know what you think in the comments or via email.
End Tangent
Seneca finally jumps back onto track and begins to apply this tangent to his current situations. And let me be clear here I really think the following quote is on point. He writes, [quote] “Money in no way concerns the mind any more than it concerns the gods. All those things which are revered by minds untaught and enslaved to their bodies– marble, gold, silver, great round polished tables– are earthly burdens which a soul pure and conscious of its nature cannot love: for it is light and unencumbered, and destined to soar aloft whenever it is released from the body”[unquote]. Like many ancients, and many folks today, Seneca separates the body and the soul. It’s important to keep this in mind as we continue on with podcasts about the ancients.
Little while later he continues this train of thinking stating, [quote] “So the soul can never suffer exile, being free and akin to the gods and equal to all the universe and all time. For its thought encompasses the whole of heaven, and journeys into all past and future time. This wretched body, the chain and prison o f the soul, is tossed hither and thither; upon it punishment and pillage and disease wreak havoc: but the soul itself is holy and eternal, and it cannot be assailed with violence” [unquote](pg.53). Whew. Seneca putting down some real stoic vibes there, my man.
Modern Metaphor
For the time being let’s put this into a more contemporary metaphor. The body is kind of like a flask. Inside the delicious spirits-I’d like to think mine to be a little kentucky bourbon spirit- sloshes about from one place to another in the pocket of the universe. Things may get a bit bumpy now and again- say when that flask is snuck into a Britney Spears concert or something- But the spirits inside don’t get hurt- they are what they are despite outside circumstances. And if the flask happens to be upgraded to pure platinum, it makes no difference to the spirit inside. This is kind of how Seneca see’s his own exile and misfortunes of his life. Not just poverty, or sickness, but all misfortunes. He writes, “[quote] If you have the strength to tackle any one aspect of misfortune you can tackle all. When once virtue has toughened the mind it renders it invulnerable on every side. If greed, the most overmastering plague of the human race, has relaxed its grip, ambition will not stand in your way. If you regard your last day not as a punishment but as a law of nature, the breast from which you have banished the dread of death no fear will dare to enter.”[unquote] (pg. 55).
How to Heal
Much like in his work, “On the Shortness of Life” he recommends that his mother-and all of us who have been an audience to this letter-study the humanities-most prominently philosophy- in order to best understand our world and how to deal with the ever-turning wheel of fortune. Seneca asks his mother to continue fighting the good fight and to never give into the burden of never ending grief. He writes [quote] “But the harsher these circumstances are, the greater the courage you must summon up and the more fiercely you must fight, as with an enemy you know and have often defeated. You blood has not now flowed from an undamaged body: you have been struck exactly where the old scars are.” [unquote] (pg.59). Do you remember the scene Seneca painted us about cutting open all the old wounds and then cauterizing them? This is where he begin the cauterizing. Near the conclusion of this letter he has put just about everything bad that he knew had happened to his mother on the table. He then praises all of her virtues and reminds her of all the things she has done well. He finishes the work reminding her of all those still in her life to take comfort from-including Seneca’s siblings, his aunt, and his grandfather.He also mentions all the things other folks say she can be doing with her time-managing her estate, getting involved in some new hobby or trend- but remember Seneca didn’t believe in wasting life away in trivial pursuits. Like a doctor-probably not as good looking as the actors we see on TV today- he gives her a script for a prescription writing, “[quote]All those things help only for a short time; they do not cure grief but hinder it. Bit I would rather end it than distract it. And so I am leading you to that resource which must be the refuge of all who are flying from fortune, liberal studies. They will heal your wound, they will withdraw all your melancholy”[unquote] (pg.62) Thanks doc.
Final Image
Seneca leaves his mother-and us- with one final image in this letter. He writes, [quote] “So this is how you must think of me–happy and cheerful as if in the best of circumstances. For they are the best, since my mind, without any preoccupation, is free for its own tasks, now delighting in more trivial studies, now in its eagerness for the truth rising up to ponder its own nature and that of the universe.”[unquote] (pg.67). We here at the Plutarch Project Podcast hope this episode leaves you in the best of circumstances. Thanks for listening-Onward!
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