Meet Seneca: The Stoic in the Palace

The imperfect messenger

Seneca advised Nero, amassed a fortune preaching simplicity, and was ordered by his monstrous student to die. He knew the charge of hypocrisy and met it squarely: 'I am not a physician; I am a patient, describing the progress of my disease.' That honesty is why his letters still land.

Rehearsing the worst

His signature practice: premeditatio malorum — rehearse loss before it comes. Set aside days to eat plainly and ask, 'Is this what I feared?' Time is the one theft we ignore, he warned; people guard their money and squander their years.

Why they belong at your table

Seat him when principles must survive contact with money, ambition, and compromise. He lived that collision daily and took notes.