Letter 47: On Master and Slave

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Letter 47 is one of the most remarkable documents in ancient philosophy. In it, Seneca addresses the institution of slavery an institution so fundamental to Roman society that it was almost invisible to moral reflection. Seneca does not call for the abolition of slavery, but he does something almost as radical: he insists that slaves are human beings, deserving of respect, kindness, and justice.

They are slaves. But they are also men. They are slaves. But they are also companions. They are slaves. But they are also friends. They are slaves. But they are also fellow human beings. They are slaves. But they live under the same sky, breathe the same air, live and die as we do. — Seneca, Letter 47

The letter is written in a series of sharp, staccato repetitions that drive the point home. Seneca is not arguing abstractly; he is confronting the casual cruelty of Roman slave-owners who treated their slaves as tools or animals. He describes the way slaves are forced to stand silently while their masters eat, the casual beatings, the humiliation.

The Stoic Foundation

Seneca's argument is grounded in the Stoic doctrine of oikeiosis the natural expansion of concern from self to family to community to all humanity. If every human being shares in the same rational nature, then no human being is by nature a slave. Slavery is a matter of convention, not nature. The wise person, Seneca insists, must recognise the humanity of the slave and treat them accordingly.

This does not mean Seneca is a modern egalitarian. He does not argue that the institution of slavery should be abolished. But he does argue that the master should treat his slaves with kindness, dine with them, and recognise their dignity. The letter is a remarkable example of Stoicism's capacity to challenge, even within the limits of its historical context, the cruelties of the society in which it was practiced.

The True Slavery

Seneca also turns the metaphor of slavery inward. The most important slavery, he argues, is not the legal institution but the slavery of the passions. The man who is ruled by anger, lust, greed, or fear is a slave, no matter how free he may be in law. Show me who is not a slave. One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to ambition, and all are slaves to hope and fear.

It is a mistake to think that slavery penetrates the whole being. The better part of a man is exempt. The body is subject to a master, but the mind is independent, and is so free and untamed that even this prison of the body, in which it is confined, cannot restrain it. — Seneca, Letter 47

Continue to Letter 65: On the First Cause or return to Letters to Lucilius: An Overview.