"I will keep constant watch over myself and- most usefully- will put each day up for review. For this is what makes us evil- that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend from the past."
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca (the younger)
It is a long-held stoic practice to take time at the end of each day and ask yourself the following questions:
What bad habit did I curb today?
How am I better?
Were my actions just?
and How can I improve?
If anyone had cause to constantly reflect upon his day and evaluate his performance, it was Seneca.
Seneca lived during a time when Rome was ruled by a succession of bloodthirsty emperors and devious senators.
Early in his career as a senator, Seneca was already known as a moral beacon and great orator.
This gained him fame with the people but also great enemies among those in power.
He narrowly escaped a death sentence under Caligula
only to later be given another death sentence by the senate,
this he also narrowly escaped and was instead exiled by Claudius.
When brought back to Rome as a tutor for Nero, he was determined to steer the future emperor in a better direction.
While the first five years of Nero's reign proved to be some of the most stable in generations, largely due to Seneca's influence, there were huge warning signs that even Seneca ignored.
This proved disastrous when Seneca's influence began to weaken. And what emerged was the Nero that history now remembers.
Seneca, after failing to escape the imperial orbit at least twice, continued his attempt to steer Nero in the right direction.
In this, he also failed.
In AD 65 as ordered by Nero, Seneca committed suicide.
These failures to influence the moral character of rulers
and change the fate of the empire weighed on Seneca.
Could he have done better?
History has shown that clear mistakes were made and warning signs were ignored.
As great as he was, Seneca was far from perfect. But he acknowledged that imperfection. He spent time each day looking for his shortcomings so that tomorrow he would not repeat today's mistakes.
As equally imperfect people,
it only makes sense to wonder...
what bad habits did we curb today?
How are we better?
Were our actions just?
And how can we improve?
navigating the daily barrage of life choices can be daunting. But at least we can be grateful the fate of an empire does not rest in our choices.
Or does it?
-JB
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