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Seneca and Burrus
It wasn't long before Agrippina promoted her son Nero in the imperial
household. She had already arranged for him to have excellent instructors, the famous
philosopher Seneca the Elder, and also the commander (Prefect) of the Praetorian
Guard, Burrus.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (5 A.D.-65 A.D.) was a poet and a writer, and one of the major literary
figures and foremost Stoic philosophers of the first century A.D. He was the son of
Seneca the Elder, born in Spain and taken to Rome as a youth. Caligula and the
Senate saw Seneca the younger as an incredibly gifted orator and writer. When
Claudius became emperor in 41 A.D. he exiled Seneca to Corsica, Spain (the
place of his birth). Seneca finally saw the end of his exile when Agrippina The
Younger, probably the most powerful person in Rome, called him back to Rome to
become a tutor for her son, Nero.
Sextus Afranius Burrus was prefect of the praetorian guard during the reigns of Claudius and Nero.
According to an inscription became from Gaul, and was recognized for his
military leadership. He served as a Tribune, and then as a procurator and private
bodyguard for the Empress Livia, and later for Tiberius and Claudius. It was
through Claudius that Burrus met Agrippina The Younger, who found him to be useful
and trustworthy, and in 51 A.D. she made him the sole prefect of the guard.
Burrus returned the favor by supporting Nero over Claudius’ son Britannicus, and Claudius died in 54 A.D. Burrus presented Nero to the
cohorts of the praetorians. Burrus also became an advisor to Nero along with
Seneca, and together they managed to preserve the Empire from Nero's
eccentricities and to break the hold that Nero's mother had on him.
