Seneca would not bereave her of fo much glory: fuch befides was his fondness for her, that he was loth to leave one beloved by himself above all things, expofed to infults and injuries: "I had laid before thee, said he, the delights and "folacements of living: thou preferreft the renown of dying: I fhall not envy "thee the honour of the example. Between us let us equally fhare the fortitude "of an end fo brave; but greater will be the fplendour of thy particular fall." Presently after this converfation they had the veins of their arms opened, at the fame inftant: Seneca was aged *, his body cold, and extenuated by feeble diet; fo that the iffues of his blood were exceeding flow: hence he ordered to be cut the veins of his legs, and thofe about the joints of his knees. As he was fuccumbing under grievous agonies, he perfuaded her to retire, left his own fufferings might vanquish the refolution of his wife, or he himself by beholding her pangs, lapfe into weakness and impatience: and his eloquence flowing even to the last moment of his life, he called for his fcribes, and to them dictated many things t.

Towards Paulina, Nero bore no perfonal hate, and, to avoid feeding the public abhorrence of his cruelty, ordered her death to be prevented. Hence, at the perfuafion of the foldiers, her domestic flaves and freedmen bound up her arms, and staid the blood: but whether with her own concurrence is uncertain. However, fhe added to her life but a few years, ever retaining for the memory of her husband a reverence worthy of all praife. Seneca, the while, affected with the tedious protraction of life, and the flow advance of death, applied to his old friend and physician, Statius Annæus, for a dofe of poifon, fuch as they gave at Athens to condemned criminals. This he fwallowed, but in vain, for already his limbs were chilled, and his juices ftagnated, and impenetrable to the rapidity of poifon. He therefore had recourse to a hot bath, from whence he besprinkled fome of his flaves, adding, that, Of this liquor he made a libation to Jupiter the Deliverer. From thence he was conveyed into a flove, and fuffocated with the steam. His corpfe was burnt without any funeral folemnity, as he had enjoined in his will; when in the plenitude of his opulence and authority, he had provided for his decease and obfequies..

There was a rumour that Subrius Flavius, in a fecret confultation with the centurions (and even with the privacy of Seneca) had determined, that as foon

Suppofed about 63, from what the Emperor fays to him-Thy age moreover ftill retains foundness. and vigour, is fill capable of managing thy revenues with fufficiency, and of enjoying them with pleaSure.

This is great (as Lipfius obferves) in Seneca, to confult in his last moments the good of posterity; and to treat his friends and family with a lecture on morality and virtue.

as by the aid of Pifo Nero was flain, Pifo too was to have been dispatched, and the empire transferred to Seneca, as one that well deferved it for his integrity and virtue.

An Extract from Lipfius, Manud. I. 18. relating to Seneca, and his Writings in general.

GIVE me leave to observe, what I have learned from experience, that they cannot but love Seneca, who fincerely love and esteem virtue: for this is what he has beautifully fet off, and effectually maintained in all his writings. There are, or have been, many works of the fame Author, political, rhetorical, phyfical; but his ethics are particularly eminent, which I wifh had come down to us pure and entire: but his book of Exhortations, and the peculiar treatise of Morals, are loft, with others of the like kind: yet fufficient for his everlasting honour are those that are ftill extant, among which we may reckon his Epiftles, even in their prefent condition, baving fuffered fo much from tranfcribers, conjecturers, and

critics.

In general, (Speaking of the original) his words are felect, proper, and fignificant his frequent allufions and metaphors every where entertaining, while they inculcate the matter in hand, and ftill point at fomewhat more: there is care without affectation, drefs without foppery, and expreffions purely natural, without being forced or finical. Even in brevity appears a happy copiousness; the words flow, but not rapidly; like a river, not a torrent; ftrong without rage, without o'erflowing full. In fhort, as good trees, whofe excellency confifts in producing fruit, as well as leaves and bloffoms; fo Seneca, whom for improvement we may well read and admire, delights us also, and joins beauty with ftrength.

As to his Matter, (till in general) how noble and fublime! useful and falutary! All his writings, even where not profeffedly, breathe generous virtue. How frequently, and how ftrenuously does he affert the being of a God; the fountain of all good; his providence, and care of us mortals; his power, wisdom, justice, and the like attributes! How often does he recommend fubmiffion in all b 2

quiet

quiet and peaceableness to the will of God, and fate; (i. e. the everlasting order of things, from the beginning, which he fometimes calls God!) The affections and paffions from whence originate all evils, how acutely does he defcribe, how feverely reprehend, and closely contract them! Fear, hope, mirth, grief, how does he moderate, extenuate, or take away! while he feverely falls upon ambition, avarice, luft, luxury, and every kind of vice! Nay he treats them with fo much acrimony, as paffionately to fhew, he holds them in the utmost deteftation and abhorrence! Taken up entirely with the admiration and recommendation of virtue, he fpurns and rejects all external things, and tramples upon the fpecious but deceitful fplendour of fortune.

For the benefit of the attentive reader, fo great vigour and warmth are every where difplayed, that the most idle cannot but be rouzed, and the most frigid warmed. Indeed we do not read his writings, but hear him fpeak. We fee not his pourtrait in his book, but his very perfon. Happy genius! We may apply to Seneca what he says of Sextius in Ep. 64. How full of energy and spirit, fuch as you fcarce find in all the tribes of philofophers! Some of their writings indeed have a great name, but in all other refpects are weak and languid in comparifon. They propofe, they debate, they cavil; they infpire us not with courage, and conftancy, because they have them not themselves. This man is alive, he exults, be is free, and fomewhat more than man. He fends me away full of conviction and confidence.

If fuch then were the admirable writings of Seneca, it is natural enough to enquire whether his life was confonant thereto. Report, I confess, will not allow him this however, but rather charges him with the reverfe. What then? it is the way of the world: the fame was objected to Zeno, to Epicurus, to Plato. We propose not Seneca as a perfect pattern in the conduct of life; but recommend to attention his wife instructions and learning: yet think at the fame time that many objections to him will admit a defence.

He followed the Court. And where is this forbidden the philofophers ?—it were to be wished, that fuch more frequently attended courts, and instructed them with their counfels. How happy would Rome have been, if Nero had continued to follow the advice of Seneca as he begun! For what could be more commendable than the earlier years of his life, while under the direction of Seneca?

But

But Seneca amaffed great wealth. How ftrangely are men divided in their cenfure! Some they accufe of wealth, others of poverty; in fome they find ambition, in others avarice! And who in his fenfes would condemn wisdom to perpetual poverty? The philofopher may poffefs great riches, provided they come not by wrong or robbery, and which may be difpofed of as honourably as they came. These then are the conditions by which riches are allowed the wife man: let them be fought, or come, honourably, and honourably expended. And was not this the cafe of Seneca? He received them from the munificence of a prince (mafter of all the world), as did many others with not half his merit: and fays another Seneca,

Quis influentis dona fortunæ abnuat?

Who e'er refus'd the flow of fortune's gifts?

And our Author, No wife man thinks himself unworthy the favours of fortune. He will not reject them, nor regret their departure, when they take wing: and where can fortune entrust them more fafely, than in the hands of those who are ready to refign them?

Behold our Author, and admire his coming to Nero, and faying, Order the auditors of thy revenue to undertake the direction of my fortune, and annex it to thine own; nor shall I by this plunge myfelf into indigence and poverty; but having only furrendered that invidious opulence, which expofes me to the offenfive blaze of fo much Splendour, I fhall redeem the time, which at prefent is fequefiered to the care of pompous feats and gardens, and apply it to the repofe and cultivation of my mind. Behold the philofopher who admitted wealth into his treasury, but not into his bofom. He poffeffeth riches as light and tranfitory things, without suffering them to be burthenfome to himself, or injurious to any one. It is manifeft to me (fays Lipfius) they were only lent to Seneca for the benefit of others. He gave them either to the good; or to those whom he thought he could make fo. He gave them to the most deferving; as being perfuaded, that he must give an account both of his receipts and disbursements. Public fame fpeaks of his liberality:

Nemo petit modicis quæmittebantur amicis

A Seneca,

Largiri

-quæ Pifo bona, et quæ Cotta folebat

The fame are mentioned together on the fame account by Martial,—Pifones,

Senecafque

Senecafque Memniofque. He bestowed very little upon himfelf, by the account he gives of his temperance and frugality, or rather aufterity, in his Epp. 107, 87, 84. And Tacitus exprefsly; Seneca, with a diet exceeding fimple, fupported an abftemious life, fatisfying the call of hunger by wild fruit from the wood, and of thirft by a draught from the brook.

Away then with that calumny in regard to wealth. He was rich, fays Lipfius, and yet poor; or not rich for himself but for others. Upon the whole, we would fain fuppofe his life to be good; and make no doubt it was fo in general; but for his writings, with which alone we are now concerned, they undoubtedly deferve this character; and are not only good in themselves, but tending to the good of mankind. There is a divine providence, and we acknowledge it in Seneca, whom God was pleased to give us as a teacher of strict morality and virtue, introductory, as it were, to the more fublime truths of the Gofpei. Tertullian therefore is often pleased to call him ours. Augustin speaks of his being converfant with the Apostles. Jerom would have had him reckoned in the number of faints. But we fhall conclude our remarks with the eulogium of Fronto, a celebrated orator, and the grandfon, fome fay, of Plutarch; Seneca bath fo exterminated all vice and error, that he seems to have restored the Golden Age; and by his labours to have recalled the gods from their long banishment, in their wonted care and converfe with mankind. May it prove fo; may the prefent age be gratefully fenfible of the providence of God in the further declaration of his will! May all the depravity be purged away; what is low and mean exalted; and all by faith and virtue raised again to an affiance with God; by the bleffing and affist. ance of the fame divine power!

An Extract from the Preface of Sir R. L'Eftrange, to what is called Seneca's Morals.

SOME few fragments however of thofe books of Seneca that are loft are yet preferved in the writings of eminent authors, and particularly Lactantius.

Seneca,