2-930-458 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

La Mort de Sénèque, 1773. The Death of Seneca. The Roman philosopher Seneca, accused of having participated in a conspiracy against the Emperor Nero, was ordered to commit suicide. Seneca accepts the sentence and his wife, Pompeia Paulina, chooses to die with him. The spouses open their veins, but death is slow to come. Seneca then asks the servants to keep his wife away to prevent one from weakening at the sight of the sufferings of the other. A doctor cuts the philosopher's ankles so that the blood flows faster into a basin placed at his feet, and a slave presents a vial of poison on a plate. In the background, a centurion dispatched by Nero ensures the execution of the sentence. On the right, a disciple notes the last words of the Stoic philosopher, who gives, through his death, an example of the highest moral virtues in the face of tyranny. Pompeia will survive, spared by the emperor.