Nullam sapientem nec iniuriam accipere nec contumeliam posse (Sen. Dial. 2.2.1)

The paper examines the presence of the concept of resilience in the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a leading figure of the Julio-Claudian era and protagonist of Nero's quinquennium aureum, but later forced to retire from political activity. Tacitus (Ann. 15.60–65) criticises the frailty he displayed in the last moments of his life, quite different from the ethical and ethological precepts he had offered to his readers. In an attempt to understand the reasons for this apparent aporia, the texts of the Cordovan are analysed alongside parallel sources and in the light of modern critical literature, in order to draw an overall picture supported by solid textual analysis.