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Tacitus on Nero's answer to Seneca

62 CE, Rome. His own words.

Where and when

62 CERome

1,964 years ago

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Tacitus

, RomeHis own words

In plain words, ours

The emperor hugged and kissed him, being born and trained to hide hatred behind flattery. Seneca thanked him, which is how talks with a tyrant end.

To these words the emperor added embraces and kisses; for he was formed by nature and trained by habit to veil his hatred under delusive flattery. Seneca thanked him, the usual end of an interview with a despot.

Tacitus, Annals 14.56Translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1876)Read the full passage (Tacitus, Annals 14.56, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Rome, 62 CE. Nero's old tutor Seneca has asked to give back the wealth Nero gave him. As Tacitus tells it, Nero refuses in a speech and asks Seneca to keep guiding him. Afterwards Seneca keeps away from crowds and is seldom seen in Rome.

Checked claim by claim against: Nero orders his old tutor Seneca to die, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: Nero orders his old tutor Seneca to die

Seneca's calm Stoic suicide later became the subject of numerous paintings.

Based on Wikipedia: Seneca the Younger

His stoic and calm suicide has become the subject of numerous paintings.

Wikipedia, Seneca the Younger (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-03. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. c. 50 BCEabout 111 years earlier Cato warns the Senate about Caesar, in Plutarch Also about tyrants and the Thirty
  2. 44 BCE, written later105 years earlier Cicero on Cato's choice to die Also about tyrants and the Thirty
  3. c. 60–61 CEabout 2 years earlier Boudica leads a British revolt against Rome Same years
  4. 62 CEThis momentTacitus on Nero's answer to Seneca
  5. 62 CESame year Nero answers Seneca, as Tacitus tells it Same passageAlso in Rome
  6. 62 CESame year Seneca offers Nero his wealth, per Tacitus Same passageAlso in Rome
  7. 64 CE2 years later The Great Fire burns much of Rome Same years
  8. set in 64 CE2 years later Nero watches the fire, as Suetonius tells it Also in Rome
  9. set in 64 CE2 years later Tacitus on Nero blaming the Christians More from Tacitus
  10. set in 64 CE2 years later Tacitus on the Great Fire of Rome More from Tacitus
  11. set in 64 CE2 years later Tacitus on the rumour that Nero sang of Troy More from Tacitus
  12. 65 CE3 years later Nero orders his old tutor Seneca to die The event behind it

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

But perhaps you count yourself inferior to Vitellius, thrice a consul, and me to Claudius. Such wealth as long thrift has procured for Volusius, my bounty, you think, cannot fully make up to you. Why not rather, if the frailty of my youth goes in any respect astray, call me back and guide yet more zealously with your help the manhood which you have instructed? It will not be your moderation, if you restore me your wealth, not your love of quiet, if you forsake your emperor, but my avarice, the fear of my cruelty, which will be in all men's mouths. Even if your self-control were praised to the utmost, still it would not be seemly in a wise man to get glory for himself in the very act of bringing disgrace on his friend."

The quote: To these words the emperor added embraces and kisses; for he was formed by nature and trained by habit to veil his hatred under delusive flattery. Seneca thanked him, the usual end of an interview with a despot.

But he entirely altered the practices of his former greatness; he kept the crowds of his visitors at a distance, avoided trains of followers, seldom appeared in Rome, as though weak health or philosophical studies detained him at home. When Seneca had fallen, it was easy to shake the position of Fænius Rufus by making Agrippina's friendship a charge against him.

Tacitus, Annals 14.56–57Translated by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (1876)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
62 CE. Seneca says Nero has been emperor eight years (Nero came to power in 54 CE), so 62 CE. Tacitus wrote c. 115–120 CE.
Whose words
His own words.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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