Author unknown. ↩
This thought, found in Letter XII, paragraph 2 and often elsewhere, is a favourite with Seneca. ↩
It is not likely that this Marcellinus is the same person as the Marcellinus of Letter XXIX, because of their different views on philosophy (Summers). But there is no definite evidence for or against. ↩
A Roman compliment; the Greeks would have used καλὸς κἀγαθός; cf. Horace, Epistles I 7. 46
Strenuus et fortis causisque Philippus agendis
Clarus.
For this frequent “banquet of life” simile see Letter XCVIII, paragraph 8 ipse vitae plenus est, etc. ↩
So that the steam might not escape. One thinks of Seneca’s last hours: Tacitus Annals XV 64 stagnum calidae aquae introiit … exin balneo inlatus et vapore eius exanimatus. ↩
For the same thought cf. Letter XLIX, paragraph 2 punctum est quod vivimus et adhuc puncto minus. ↩
Virgil, Aeneid, VI 376. ↩
See Plutarch, Moralia 234 b, for a similar act of the Spartan boy captured by King Antigonus. Hense (Rheinisches Museum für Philologie XLVII pp. 220 f.) thinks that this story may be taken from Bion, the third-century satirist and moral philosopher. ↩
About 5¾ gallons. ↩
Cf. Pliny, XIV 22 quin immo ut plus capiamus, sacco frangimus vires. Strained wine could be drunk in greater quantities without intoxication. ↩
Cf. Dio Cassius, XL 54, for the exiled Milo’s enjoyment of the mullets of Marseilles. ↩
Probably the strong tone of disapproval used in this paragraph is directed against the Roman in general rather than against the industrious Lucilius. It is characteristic of the diatribe. ↩
Seneca may be recalling the death of the Emperor Claudius. ↩
A traditional example of old age, mentioned by Martial and the elder Pliny. ↩
Compare the last words of the Emperor Augustus: amicos percontatus ecquid iis videretur mimum vitae commode transegisse (Suetonius Augustus 99). ↩
To such a degree that Seneca’s enemy Caligula refrained from executing him, on the ground that he would soon die. ↩
Cf. Letter XV, paragraph 3 f. ↩
I.e., men have become healthier after passing through serious illness. ↩
Cf. Epicurus, Frag. 446 Usener. ↩
Compare, from among many parallels, Letter XXIV, paragraph 6 (dolor) levis es, si ferre possum, brevis es, si ferre non possum. ↩
See also Letter XCV, paragraph 9. The word literally means “maggots,” “bots,” in horses or cattle. ↩
Virgil, Aeneid, I 203. ↩
Literally, perhaps, “the noble roles which you have played.” Summers compares Letter XIV, paragraph 6 ultimas partes Catonis—“the closing scenes of Cato’s life.” ↩
Cf. Letter XIV, paragraph 2 f. and the crucibus adfixi, flamma usti, etc., of Tacitus Annals XV 44. ↩
The lacus Lucrinus was a saltwater lagoon, near Baiae in Campania. ↩
I.e., to be looked at; there are better dainties on the table. ↩
Sanus is used (1) as signifying “sound in body” and (2) as the opposite of insanus. ↩
Perhaps a reminiscence of Lucretius I 74 omne immensum peragravit mente animoque. ↩
Seneca often quotes Posidonius, as does Cicero also. These words may have been taken from his Προτρεπτικά (or Λόγοι προτρεπτικοί), Exhortations, a work in which he maintained that men should make a close study of philosophy, in spite of the varying opinions of its expositors. ↩
Ellis suggests that the poem Aetna, of uncertain authorship, may have been written by Lucilius in response to this letter. His view is plausible, but not universally accepted. ↩
See Letter XIV, paragraph 3 and endnote 62. ↩
The modern Taormina. ↩
Another description of this region is given by Pliny, Natural History II 106, who says that the stones in the rivers were red-hot! The phenomenon is usually explained by supposing springs of burning naphtha. ↩
I.e., merely as an episode, instead of devoting a whole poem to the subject. ↩
Metamorphoses XV 340 ff. ↩
Aeneid, III 570 ff. ↩
The usual meaning of paria esse, or paria facere (a favourite phrase with Seneca—see for example Letter CI, paragraph 6), is “to square the account,” “balance even.” ↩
“Qualities desirable in themselves, but not essential for the possession of wisdom, the προηγμένα of the Stoics” (Summers). ↩
There is an unauthenticated story that the men of Abdera called in Hippocrates to treat his malady. ↩
Cf. Letter XXIV, paragraph 2 exilium … tulit Rutilius etiam libenter. ↩
Frag. 188 Usener. ↩
Frag. 43 Körte. ↩
Probably a contest in which the participants attached leaden weights to their hands in order to increase the force of the blows. ↩
Compare Pliny’s “den” (Epistulae II 17. 21): quae specularibus et velis obductis reductisve modo adicitur cubiculo modo aufertur. ↩
Compare the ideas expressed in Letter XV, paragraph 1 f. ↩
For this figure
