Art, Seneca, Africa, Passion and Inspired Discipline
Chapter 2 of How Democracy Wins?
Seneca and Exile
Born in Spain, Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, aka Seneca, is depicted in?The?Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca:
Herm
Encyclopedia: It is an?ancient Roman?statue?from the first half of the third century AD. The?herm depicts the Greek philosopher?Socrates?on one side, and the Roman?Stoic?Seneca the Younger?on the other. It currently belongs to the?Antikensammlung Berlin, found in the?Altes Museum.[1]
Art
A?herma?(Ancient Greek:??ρμ??, pl.??ρμα??hermai),[1] commonly?herm?in English, is a sculpture with a head and perhaps a torso above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which?male genitals?may also be carved at the appropriate height. Hermae were so called either because the head of?Hermes?was most common or from their etymological connection with the Greek word??ρματα (érma, meaning blocks of stone), which originally had no reference to Hermes at all.[2] The form originated in?ancient Greece, and was adopted by the Romans (called mercuriae), and revived at the?Renaissance?in the form of?term figures?and?atlantes.
Corsican Exile
but was allowed to return in 49 to become a tutor to?Nero. When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca became his advisor and, together with the praetorian prefect?Sextus Afranius Burrus, provided competent government for the first five years of Nero's reign.?
Seneca's influence over Nero declined with time, and in 65 Seneca was?forced to take his own life?for alleged complicity in the?Pisonian conspiracy?to?assassinate?Nero.?
Pisonian Conspiracy
Piso was extremely well liked throughout Rome. Through his father he inherited connections with many distinguished families, and from his mother great wealth. Piso came from the ancient and noble house of the?Calpurnii[1] and he distributed his great wealth among many beneficiaries of all Roman social classes. Among a wide range of interests, Piso sang on the tragic stage, wrote poetry, played an expert game of?Latrunculi, and owned the villa Pisoni at?Baiae.[2]:
Piso was tall, good-looking, affable, and an excellent orator and advocate in the courts. Despite these facts Piso's overall integrity was questionable. According to?Tacitus, Piso used his eloquence to defend his fellow citizens and was generous and gracious in speech, but lacked earnestness and was overly ostentatious, while craving the sensual.[1] In AD 40, the?emperor Caligula?banished Piso from Rome after he took a fancy to Piso's wife,?Livia Orestilla.?
Caligula forced Piso's wife to leave him, and then accused Piso of adultery with her in order to establish cause for banishment.[3] Piso would return to Rome one year later, after Caligula's assassination.
Claudius recalled Piso to Rome, probably soon after his accession in AD 41. He was suffect consul in an unknown year.[4] Piso then became a powerful senator during the reign of?Emperor Nero and in AD 65 led a secret initiative to replace Emperor Nero that became known as the?Pisonian Conspiracy.
Piso leveraged senatorial anger with Nero to gain power. Already in AD 62, there had been talk among those of senatorial rank, in the nobility, and among the?equites?that Nero was ruining Rome.[5] By AD 65, the city had endured the?Great Fire of Rome, spurring groups of conspirators to come together under the leadership of Piso with the goal of killing Nero.
On 19 April, AD 65, the?freedman?Milichus?betrayed Piso's plot to kill the emperor[5] and the conspirators were all arrested. In all, 19 were put to death and 13 exiled,[5] reflecting the massive scope of the conspiracy. Piso was ordered to commit suicide and so killed himself. His properties including the Villa Pisoni in?Baiae?were confiscated to become imperial property.
Cherchez La Femme??
After the conspiracy was revealed to Nero by way of?Epicharis:?
Nero ordered Piso, the philosopher?Seneca, Seneca's nephew?Lucan, and the satirist?Petronius?to commit suicide.
领英推荐
Epilogue
Seneca concluded as did the prophet Isaiah before him, that a lack of vision inhibits the full realization of human aspirations.
Inspired Discipline
In the words of Peter Paul Rubens, the greatest artist of the Counter-Reformation,?"My passion comes from the heavens, not from earthly musings".?
Where there is no vision, the people perish.- Isaiah?
Update
PGIM elaborates on the factors that impede Africa’s economic transformation.?
PGIM: Over the next three decades, South Asia will see a 300 million net increase in working-age population and sub-Saharan Africa will see an increase more than twice as large.
Collectively, this growth implies that - even with the demographic headwinds in the rest of the world - the global labor force will have an additional 860 million workers in 2050 relative to today. However, demographics alone do not determine economic destiny.?A growing workforce driving economic prosperity requires high levels of human capital, an environment conducive to robust foreign and domestic investment, well-functioning and trusted institutions as well as stable political and regulatory regimes:
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
expressed faith in America’s ability to see the Light despite the headwinds:
"I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the"isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.”
as did Cordell Hull in a previous era of tumultuous conflict:
The combined wisdom and productivity of American leadership led to the demise of fascism and autocracy in all of its culturally nuanced forms…and will do so again. This victory is heralded in the Nobel Prize acceptance speeches of both George C. Marshall:
George Catlett Marshall (December 31, 1880-October 16, 1959), America’s foremost soldier during World War II, served as chief of staff from 1939 to 1945, building and directing (8 million) the largest military force in history. A diplomat, he acted as secretary of state from 1947 to 1949, formulating the "Marshall Plan", an unprecedented program of economic and military aid to foreign nations.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Also accepting the Nobel Peace Prize was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, an accomplished pianist:
Continued