The Work of Nepotism
Seneca's impassioned defense of failsons (and faildaughters)
Given how easy it is to fail into maligning notorious "failsons" like Hunter Biden for benefiting from the clout of their famous families, ancient wisdom may provide a much-needed counter-narrative. In his extraordarily repetitive seven-book treatise On Benefits, Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (“Seneca”) offers a defense of nepotism that not only contextualizes but also rationalizes the practice for an educated audience. You might not buy it — the knee-jerk reaction among us humanzees is to swiftly denounce or disavow all instances of hypocrisy, nepotism, infidelity, bad dealing, &c.1 — but there’s certainly something to it.2
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