one of the most finished of the numerous de- lineations in distemper of that consum- mate artist, and has fur- nished the ex- em plar for many inferior copies. T h e story has been s(j often repeat- ed, and is so fa- miliar, that it need not be re- iterated here ; but a suspicion Seneca. (From an antique bust.) remains that some of the touches of the painter's brush have no better justification than there was for the loose rumor reported by him that the conspirators had designed, if successful, to elevate Seneca to the throne of the Caesars.
H. Writinr/s The literary remains of Seneca are in
both prose and verse. The prose productions are moral essays, fragments of such essays, one hundred and twen- ty-four Letters to Lucilius (which are themselves es- says), the Ludus de Aforte Clandii (or A pocoloci/ntkosu), and seven books o( Natural Questions, or speculations in natural history. The A pocolori/nthosis is a medley of prose and verse, but its authorship is doubtful. Sene- ca's poetry consists of nine epigrams — the wail of the exile — and ten tragedies, one of which (the Octaria') cannot have been written by him, while it remains un- certain whether he wrote any of them. The merits and defects of Seneca's style may be gathered from the in- cidental remarks already made. It may suffice at this time to quote the just censure of the emperor Cains, "Arena sine calce," and to approve the equally brief
and accurate criticism of Quintilian," Abundat dulcibus vitiis." It is ahvaj's afl'ected, it is always jMiinted, it is always attractive, it is always radiant ; but it is a string of artificial gems, not of "Orient pearls at random strung," or of geiuiine diamonds.
There are some old fabrications ascribed to Seneca, which should not be left altogether unnoticed. One of these is the treatise De Formula llonestte VitcB, which was constantly cited as his in the Middle Ages, but is nowattributetl to Martinus Dumiensis, a Christian writ- er contemporaneous with Justinian. The other is the imaginary correspondence between Seneca and Paul, which was known to Jerome. These letters are indubi- tably spurious ; but an acquaintance between the jiagan moralist and the Christian missionary is not without probability, though it is without evidence. The belief in such acquaintance, and the favorable acceptance of the Letters by Jerome and Augustine, encouraged the fancy that Seneca had been converted to Christianity. More deserving of consideration than the possibility of . such intercourse is the close agreement between many passages in the writings of the IJoman philosopher and in the Fpistles of the apostle, and the singular conso- nance of the maxims of the Stoic rhetorician with the precepts of the evangelists and apostles. This signifi- cant concord has often been noticed, and recently, with especial care, b_v Dr. Lightfoot, the new bishop of Dur- ham. The parallelisms are most fretpient and most startling — of course in ethical rather than in theologi- cal matters. Almost equally suggestive is the fiict that the ethical productions of Seneca are much after the fashion of sermons and hortatory discourses — preaching a purer faith, a cleaner heart, and virtuous action in the midst of a corrupt and unbelieving generation. An ob- vious ex[)lanation is that which induced the suppositi- tious correspondence between Seneca and Paul. When this is rejected, it is easy to presume the diffusion of Christian doctrine by constant communications of all kinds between the several parts of the empire. It is certain that Christian influence was early discernible at Rome, and has been detected in the contemporaneous Roman law. There was a Christian commimitv in the palace at an early period. But this does not explain all. During the whole lifetime of Seneca there was an earnest and widely extended movement in the line of moral renovation, which was illustrated by the growth of Stoicism at Rome and the expansion of its doctrines, by the tenor of the writings of Philo-Jud»us, by Sibyl- line forgeries, and by the memorable career of Apollo- nius Tyaneus, which has been disguised and obscured by the fictions of his biographers. It does not conflict with a reverential interpretation of "the ways of (iod to man" to conjecture that the miseries of the civil wars which had spread from Calpe to the Euphrates, the con- sequent disintegration of society everywhere, and the general dissoluteness which those wars had engendered, produced, along with the decay of pagan belief, a rec- ognition of the need, a solicitude for the accomplish- ment, and attempts at the introduction, of a religious regeneration. Such a condition of the mind and heart of the nations would be a natural preparation for the reception and diflfusion of Christianity. Nor does it seem alien to the course of Providence, who never ef- fects great changes />e>- saltum, and to whom "a thou- sand years are but as a day."
III. Fhilosophy. — No distinct scheme of philosophy can claim Seneca as either its founder or its systematic expositor. He only enlarged the lines, adorned the precepts, and amplified the spirit of the philosophj' which he professed. He declared himself a Stoic, has always l)een so regarded, and is recognised as such by Zeller, Ueberweg, and the other historians of ancient philosophy. It is therefore neeilless to dwell upon his doctrines. They are tliose of the Stoics ((|. v.). But Seneca was much more and much less than a Stoic of the old and rigid school, and much of his favor in his own and in later limes may be attributed to the excess