Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca: Who They Were, What to Read

Most of what people read as Stoicism today comes from three men who lived in the Roman Empire during the first and second centuries CE: a statesman, a former slave and an emperor. The school's founders, Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus, taught in Athens centuries earlier, but as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes, the evidence we have for the earlier Stoics is far more fragmentary. That is why many readers first meet Stoicism through Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

Their lives could hardly have been more different, yet their core ideas line up closely. Here is who each one was, what he left behind, and where a busy parent might start reading.

Seneca (about 1 BCE to 65 CE): the advisor

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was born in Corduba, in Spain, and educated in rhetoric and philosophy in Rome. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia, he was exiled to Corsica in 41 CE, returned to Rome in 49, and served as tutor to the young Nero and then as one of his advisors after Nero became emperor in 54. Accused of taking part in a conspiracy against Nero, he was forced to take his own life in 65.

Seneca wrote in Latin, and he wrote a lot. His best-known works are the Moral Letters to Lucilius, 124 of which survive, divided into 20 books, according to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He also wrote essays such as On Anger and On Mercy, consolations for people in grief, including one to his own mother written from exile, a study of nature called Natural Questions, and tragedies for the stage. The letters belong to the last years of his life, roughly 62 to 65.

Seneca was a wealthy senator and openly willing to learn from rival schools. In Letter 2 he describes borrowing a thought from Epicurus: "I am wont to cross over even into the enemy's camp,—not as a deserter, but as a scout" (Moral Letters 2.5, in Richard Mott Gummere's translation). The Internet Encyclopedia calls him "one of the greatest and most controversial Stoic figures." It also argues that it is unfair to read his philosophy as simply self-serving, and points readers to nuanced modern biographies.

Epictetus (born in the 50s CE, died around 135): the teacher

Epictetus was born in Hierapolis, a Greek city in Asia Minor, and spent part of his life enslaved to Epaphroditus, an official at Nero's court. He studied with the Stoic teacher Musonius Rufus, eventually gained his freedom and began teaching in Rome. When the emperor Domitian expelled philosophers from Italy, around 89 to 93 CE (the Stanford Encyclopedia's entries give both dates), he moved to Nicopolis in northwest Greece, where he ran his own school until his death around 135. He walked with a limp. He never married, but late in life he adopted a child whose parents could not provide for it.

Epictetus wrote nothing himself. His student Arrian recorded his teaching in the Discourses, of which four books survive from an original eight or more. A brief abridgment of them, the Enchiridion, or Handbook, also survives. The Stanford Encyclopedia describes his voice as heartfelt and satirical by turns. One line every parent will recognize: "at a banquet do not say how a man ought to eat, but eat as you ought to eat" (Enchiridion 46, in George Long's translation). Live it before you preach it.

Marcus Aurelius (121 to 180 CE): the emperor

Marcus Aurelius was born in 121 CE. According to the Internet Encyclopedia, his early education was overseen by the emperor Hadrian, and he was adopted by the emperor Antoninus Pius in 138. He became emperor in 161, at first alongside Lucius Verus and then alone from 169, and much of his reign was spent on military campaigns. He also established four chairs of philosophy in Athens, one for each of the main schools. He died in 180.

His reputation as a philosopher rests on one book, which we call the Meditations. It takes the form of a personal notebook, probably written on campaign in central Europe around 171 to 175. Its Greek title, which may be a later addition, is ta eis heauton, meaning "to himself." Book One is a list of people Marcus felt grateful to and what each taught him.

How the three connect

The three form a loose chain. Musonius Rufus taught Epictetus. Epictetus's teaching then reached Marcus through one of his own Stoic teachers, Junius Rusticus. Marcus writes that he was "indebted to him for being acquainted with the discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out of his own collection" (Meditations 1.7, Long). Seneca belongs to an earlier generation, in Nero's Rome, and is not part of that chain.

They also differ in style. The Internet Encyclopedia describes Epictetus as rather strict, Seneca as more open to the "preferred indifferents" such as wealth and comfort, and Marcus as notably open-minded about theology. Reading all three gives you one philosophy in three voices.

Where to start reading

1. Epictetus's Enchiridion. It is short enough to read in an evening, and its first chapter on what is and is not in our power is the core of Stoic practice. One caution: the Stanford Encyclopedia notes that, as an abridgment, it can give a misleading impression of Epictetus's thinking at some points. When a line puzzles you, look up the Discourses.
2. Seneca's Moral Letters. Read one letter at a time; each is short and personal. Seneca himself advises against skimming everything: "You must linger among a limited number of master-thinkers, and digest their works," because "Everywhere means nowhere" (Moral Letters 2.2, Gummere).
3. Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. Dip in anywhere. Book One is a good start for parents, because it shows how much one person's character owed to family and teachers.

Free public-domain translations are available online: George Long's versions of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, Gummere's version of Seneca's letters, and Aubrey Stewart's version of Seneca's shorter dialogues. They use older English, with plenty of "thee" and "thou," so many readers prefer a modern translation. The Stanford Encyclopedia lists several complete English translations of Epictetus, including those by Robin Hard and Robin Waterfield.

For reading with kids, keep it small. With a teenager, read one chapter of the Enchiridion together and talk about whether you agree. With a younger child, paraphrase one idea at dinner and ask for an example from their day. The Kid Quiz on this site is a light way to check what has stuck.

Key takeaways

• Seneca (about 1 BCE to 65 CE) was a Roman statesman who wrote in Latin; start with his Moral Letters.
• Epictetus (born in the 50s CE, died around 135) was a formerly enslaved teacher whose words survive through his student Arrian; start with the Enchiridion.
• Marcus Aurelius (121 to 180 CE) was an emperor who wrote the Meditations to himself, in Greek.
• Marcus learned Epictetus's teaching through his teacher Rusticus; Seneca came a generation earlier.
• Read slowly and a little at a time, as Seneca advised.

Sources

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Seneca (rev. 2024)
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Epictetus (rev. 2025)
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Marcus Aurelius
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Seneca
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stoicism
• Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion (George Long, trans.)
• Marcus Aurelius, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (George Long, trans.)
• Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 2 (Richard Mott Gummere, trans.)