Practical Wisdom in Ancient Rome: Public Action and Contemplative Life

Abstract

This chapter covers the main moments and authors of Roman thought in the field of practical wisdom. The contents of this proposal integrate a rich legacy within coexist, not without difficulties, two ways of understanding life. The sophisticated Hellenistic philosophy, which since the end of the Second Macedonian War and after the fall of Carthage got to become more and more present in the cultural scenes of the republican Rome; and the traditional Roman perspective, more pragmatic than reflexive, more agrarian than navigating, more realistic than idealistic. After analyzing both perspectives, we present the main proposals on practical wisdom during the republican period until the Principate: the traditionalist, from the hand of Cato the Censor; the epicurean, by Lucretius; the eclectic conciliation, developed by Cicero; and, finally, the Roman Stoicism, for which we will rely on the figure of Seneca, as one of his three top representatives and also for writing in Latin, unlike Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. We intend to offer not so much an exhaustive work, but rather a map that allows to recognize the main veins of Roman practical thought.