Annaeus Serenus
Annaeus Serenus († perhaps 62/63) was a close, younger friend and probably also a distant relative of the Roman politician and philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca († 65). He belonged to the knighthood .
Serenus was entrusted with the office of praefectus vigilum under the Roman emperor Nero , that is, he was the head of the Roman fire brigade , which kept watch all over the city at night and ensured that fires that frequently broke out in Rome were quickly put out . The fire stations were equipped with rope ladders, fire hooks and other extinguishing equipment and were trained to climb from wall to wall. These operational units, which were founded by Emperor Augustus 6 AD, included around seven cohorts (each with 1,000 men). At first they were recruited exclusively from freedmen and therefore enjoyed less respect than the regular army. The troops, which were organized militarily, received accommodation in the city and were paid from the state treasury. Police and judicial powers were also connected with the office of praefectus vigilum .
Under Emperor Claudius - as the historian Tacitus mentions - Decrius Calpurnianus was still chief of the fire watch. He was executed for involvement in an attempted coup in AD 48. Laelianus held the office until 54, when he was transferred to Armenia. The British historian Miriam Griffin suspects that Serenus received the office of praefectus vigilum after 54 and died before 62, before Tigellinus held this office. He may have benefited from an advocacy from his friend Seneca.
As can be seen from Seneca's memoirs and letters, Serenus suffered from life doubts and considered retiring from public life. He therefore also sought his friend's philosophical advice. Seneca's treatise On Peace of Mind ( De tranquillitate animi ) begins with a letter from Annaeus Serenus to Seneca, which shows how much Serenus was drawn to a simple life in moderation, and at the same time how much he was irritated by it hectic pursuit of government positions of honor and a life of luxury that he watched around him. While Serenus was initially close to Epicurean lines of thought, under the influence of Seneca he approached the philosophy of the Stoa and decided to remain at the imperial court. Seneca dedicated the writings De constantia sapientis and De tranquillitate animi to his friend and perhaps (because the name has been deleted from the Ambrosianus index ) De otio .
As Tacitus reports, Serenus played a helpful role in the love affair between the young Emperor Nero and the Freedmen's Nudes by sending secret gifts to the Emperor's favorite, who suffered under the surveillance of his mother Agrippina .
According to the writer Pliny , Serenus was murdered with a meal of poisoned mushrooms (probably around AD 62/63). Seneca claims to have "cried immeasurably" for his friend's death.
swell
- Cassius Dio: Roman History
- Pliny: Historia naturalis
- Seneca: De constantia sapientis ; De tranquillitate animi ; De otio ; Ad Lucilium
- Suetonius: Augustus
- Tacitus: annals
literature
- Anthony A. Barrett: Agrippina: Mother of Nero. Batsford 1996, Appendix VIII: The Patronage of Seneca and Burrus in 54-9.
- Yasmina Benferhat: Serenus (A. Annaeus). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 6, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-271-08989-2 , pp. 211-212
Remarks
- ^ Suetonius, Augustus , 30.
- ↑ Cassius Dio 54.4; 55, 8; 55.26 and 59.2.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annals 11:35.
- ^ Cassius Dio 61, 6.
- ↑ Miriam T. Griffin: Nero - the End of a Dynasty. Routledge, p. 79.
- ↑ See Anthony A. Barrett: Agrippina: Mother of Nero. Batsford, 1996, Appendix VIII: The Patronage of Seneca and Burrus in 54-9, p. 241.
- ↑ Tacitus, Annals 13:13.
- ^ Pliny, Historia Naturalis 22.96 .
- ↑ Seneca, Ad Lucilium 63:14.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Annaeus Serenus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Serenus, Annaeus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Friend and relative of Seneca |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1st century |
| DATE OF DEATH | unsure: 63 |
| Place of death | Rome |