When philosophers wear mourning! We know the noble Roman Seneca, the Stoic and author of ethical writings, who awaits his death with a transcendent gaze. But there is another Seneca - the unscrupulous politician and teacher of tyranny, who serves as Nero's closest advisor. James Romm tells his story in this gripping book about the everyday dying at the emperor's court. Will Seneca, as the educator of the young Nero, succeed in shaping his pupil into the first Roman "philosopher-king"? Nero is more inclined towards music, women, and extravagant feasts. Hardly has he taken power in 54 AD when a spiral of insecurity, distrust, and megalomania begins to unfold. With a keen eye for the twists of Nero's tyrannical rule, Romm depicts the horror that soon spreads in Rome. There, not only supposed rivals die.