Abstract
The Consolatio ad Polybium, written by Seneca during his exile in Corsica and addressed to Polybius, an imperial freedman of Claudius, has been interpreted by modern historiography from two perspectives. On the one hand, its literary structure is analyzed, taking the consolatio as a literary genre in Antiquity. On the other hand, historical approaches to this work try to understand how the philosopher presents the Emperor Claudius according to a Stoic reflection on imperial power. Although both types of studies are relevant, the purpose of this article is the very image of Polybius drawn by Seneca. The argument is that this image relates to a particular Stoic view of slavery, in which the freedman is portrayed as inextricably tied to his servile past.
Keywords:
Stoicism; Seneca; slavery