Classical Civilisation A-Level: Love and Relationships - Seneca Critics

De Fato

[Stoic sages are] as rare as a phoenix

Fisher

we can have no more certainty that Seneca actually followed his own moral teaching than we can have about any person from antiquity

Gloyn

they defined love as a wish to create a friendship... based on... moral and physical attractiveness - so not inherently heterosexual, or indeed inherently sexual at all

Mitchell

the relationships they speak of seem an absence of ill will, rather than any positive form of friendship

Kreitner

true friendship could only be experienced by someone who is completely detached from dependence on the outside

Kreitner (2)

sexual intercourse is the very antithesis of reason

Gloyn (2)

early Stoics seem to have been very comfortable with same-sex love, provided... that it came from a mutual appreciation of each other's virtue

Motto

he and the later stoics stressed the regulation of emotions rather than their denial. Seneca maintains that (love) is honourable, that it should be practiced, and that it should be shared as often as possible