Was Seneca a Hypocrite?

Somehow it's ironic that Seneca - by far the person in the history of philosophy who most often has been accused of being a hypocrite - next to Socrates is the one who most persistently emphasises that he do not see himself as wise. I think most Stoic authors assumed it was obvious that they were not wise (except Epictetus, perhaps :-) but this quote makes it very clear where Seneca sees himself as talking to us from.

"How is it that you are advising me?” you say. “Have you already advised yourself? Have you got yourself straightened out? Is that why you have the time to correct others?” I am not such a hypocrite as to offer cures while I am sick myself. No, I am lying in the same ward, as it were, conversing with you about our common ailment and sharing remedies. So listen to me as if I were talking to myself: I am letting you into my private room and giving myself instructions while you are standing by."

- Seneca, Letters 27.1

J. M. W. Turner: Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, 1839

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Stoicism and Evil Governments

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Aristotle on happiness and external goods

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Socrates and the Stoics

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