For a similar argument see Letter XII, paragraph 3 f. ↩
I.e., who have had to turn gladiators. ↩
I.e., a shroud for the funeral couch, lectus vitalis. ↩
This passage, which Buecheler corrected in several places, is omitted in the English, because Seneca has already translated it literally. M. was addressing his sister. ↩
I.e., men like Metrodorus. ↩
I.e., the Stoics. ↩
I.e., the Epicureans. ↩
I.e., grief should not be replaced by pleasure; otherwise grief will cease to exist. ↩
I.e., his style is like a river rather than a torrent. ↩
Concisura: from concido, to “cut into sections,” “distribute” (of water-pipes). ↩
Cf. Letter XVIII, paragraph 4, and Martial III 48:
Pauperis extruxit cellam, sed vendidit Olus
praedia; nunc cellam pauperis Olus habet.
Rich men sometimes fitted up in their palaces an imitation “poor man’s cabin” by way of contrast to their other rooms or as a gesture towards simple living; Seneca uses the phrase figuratively for certain devices in composition. ↩
Quintilian X 1. 113 says: multa in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur; et consilii et animi satis; a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest, ut videri possit saeculo prior. ↩
The wording here resembles strikingly that of the Elder Seneca, Controversiae II pr. 2 deerat illi (sc. Fabiano) oratorium robur et ille pugnatorius mucro. ↩
Virgil, Eclogue I 74. ↩
Perhaps a hint to Lucilius, who was at this time procurator in Sicily. ↩
Frag. 1, p. 35 Lunderstedt. ↩
Horace, his intimate friend, wrote Odes II 17 to cheer the despondent Maecenas; and Pliny (Natural History VII 54) mentions his fevers and his insomnia—perpetua febris. … Eidem triennio supremo nullo horae momento contigit somnus. ↩
Aeneid XII 646. ↩
Infelix lignum (or arbor) is the cross. ↩
Seneca, worn out by his political experiences, was at this time not less than sixty-seven years of age. ↩
Seneca is perhaps popularizing the Stoic combinations—παράθεσις (juxtaposition), μῖξις (mixture) or κρᾶσις (fusion), and σύγχυσις (chemical mixture). Cf. E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism, p. 169. ↩
I.e., the arguments of the Stoics. ↩
I.e., of the unus vir bonus, as contrasted with the many. ↩
I.e., the Stoics. ↩
Naevius, quoted by Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes IV 31 (of Hector):
laetus sum
laudari me abs te, pater, laudato viro.
A commonplace sentiment, found e.g., in Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes I 2. 4. ↩
Cf. Letter XL, paragraph 3 haec popularis (oratio) nihil habet veri. ↩
A metaphor from the arena: decretoria were real decisive weapons with which death was faced, as opposed to lusoria, “sham” weapons. Cf. Seneca, Letter CXVII, paragraph 14. ↩
The departure from life is compared to the release from the womb. There is also possibly a double meaning implied in the word venter. ↩
Virgil, Aeneid IV 3 f. ↩
Compare this with the Seventh letter. ↩
Pompeia Paulina, the second wife of Seneca; cf. Tacitus Annals XV 60. Though much younger than her husband, she was a model of devotion, and remained loyal to him through all the Neronian persecution. ↩
Elder brother of Seneca, whose name before his adoption by Lucius Iunius Gallio was Annaeus Novatus. He was governor of Achaia from AD July 1, 51 to July 1, 52. See Acts 18:11 ff., and Duff, Three Dialogues of Seneca, p. XLIII. ↩
Cf. Letter X, paragraph 1 “Mecum loquor.” “Cave, rogo, et diligenter adtende; cum homine malo loqueris.” ↩
Virgil, Aeneid III 282 f. ↩
Although Seneca was deeply interested in such matters, as is proved by Letter LXXIX, the Naturales Quaestiones, and an early work on the geography of Egypt. ↩
These men are patterns or interpreters of the virtues. The first-named three represent courage, justice, and self-restraint respectively. Socrates is the ideal wise man, Zeno, Chrysippus, and Posidonus are in turn the founder, the classifier, and the modernizer of Stoicism. ↩
Aeneid, VI 277. ↩
At first a sculptor, then an independent seeker after truth, whose wants were reduced to a minimum. Husband of the shrewish Xanthippe and father of the dull and worthless Lamprocles. Brave soldier at Potidaea, Delium, and Amphipolis. ↩
431–404 BC (the Peloponnesian War). ↩
See Plato’s Apology, 23 D. They had previously aimed at him a law forbidding the teaching of dialectic. ↩
399 BC. ↩
Triumvirs in 60 BC and rivals in acquiring unconstitutional power. ↩
54 BC. ↩
Perhaps a reference to his mission in Cyprus (58–56 BC), and his subsequent arraignment by Clodius. ↩
Virgil, Aeneid I 458. ↩
At Utica, in 46 BC. ↩
I.e., tact. ↩
Presumably (cf. Letter CVIII, paragraph
