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But Seneca had another literary task to perform on the death of Claudius before the satire. The emperor being dead, usage required that his successor should do honour to his memory. Accordingly Seneca prepared a funeral oration for Nero, which regarded Claudius as a new divinity, and which, according to Tacitus, it was impossible to hear without laughing, so gross were its praises of the numerous virtues of the deceased emperor. *

His warmest admirers are forced to admit that he committed more than one fatal error; that in more than one instance he pursued a course that flatly contradicted those moral precepts, the essential importance of which he took so much pains to impress on others. It is beyond question that he struggled hard to restrain the vicious propensities of Nero; and he was equally anxious to curb the ambition of his mother, Agrippina. His advice to both was undoubtedly good; at the same time he was far too ready to gratify the worst wishes of each. This is but too evident from the testimony of Tacitus, who had no disposition to misrepresent Seneca. Indeed, the philosopher himself does not deny that there was a vast difference between his preaching and his practice. "I am not a sage," he was wont to say, nor shall I ever be one. is not of myself I speak when I write, but of virtue; and when I bring the vices of individuals to trial, I will commence with my own. As soon as I can, I will live as it is proper to live." +

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The first year of Nero's rule was highly creditable to pupil and tutor. All classes had begun to regard the young emperor as destined to restore the ancient greatness of Rome. Seneca had written several works for the express purpose of teaching his pupil to govern with moderation and clemency; he also wrote an oration for him, which gave universal satisfaction. It was delivered by the new emperor on his first appearance in the senate; there was nothing good which a great people had a right to expect from their sovereign which it did not promise in the blandest and most condescending language. Such was the effect of this harangue, according to Dio Cassius, that it was ordered by a unanimous vote of the senate to be engraven on a pillar of solid silver, and to be publicly read every year when the consuls entered on their office.

It is easy to understand that the success of this oration gave Seneca a great ascendency over Nero, and he re

*Tacitus, Annales, xiii., 3.

De Vita Beata 'ch. xviii.

solved to maintain it without much scruple as to the means. Well aware of the licentious habits of the young emperor, he thought he could not please him better, or more effectually curb his lawless passions, than by procuring him a beautiful mistress. With this view he engaged the services of his friend, Annæus Serenus, who managed the task confided to him in a manner highly satisfactory both to Nero and Seneca. But the indignation of Agrippina at finding another preferred to herself knew no bounds; she reproached Seneca in the presence of the emperor. But if she had any ascendency over her son ever afterward, it was but of brief duration. The former patroness of the philosopher was now his worst enemy; and, if we are to judge from the course of events, her hatred was reciprocated by Seneca.

So stung was Agrippina with jealousy, that she had the rashness to threaten Nero with annulling what she had done in his favour, and nominating Britannicus as the lawful heir of Claudius. This proved the death-warrant of the unfortunate Britannicus, who, in a few days after, was poisoned at his table. It may be that Seneca could not have prevented the horrible fratricide; but what is unaccountable is, that so severe a moralist could continue to reside at a court which was disgraced almost daily with the worst species of vice and crime. If we believe his contemporaries, he had strong inducements to retain his ascendency over Nero as long as possible. He is accused of being inordinately fond of money and riches, notwithstanding his fine precepts in favour of poverty; and that he acquired enormous wealth is beyond question. Still he continued to be popular, until one of his enemies denounced him publicly. That P. Suillius, who accused him, was himself a transgressor, and was, doubtless, influenced by vindictive motives, did not save the philosopher from public odium when that person asked him, "By what wisdom, by what precepts of philosophy, he had, during a four years' intimacy with an emperor, amassed a fortune of three hundred million sestertii? at Rome he was a hunter after testamentary gifts-an ensnarer of those who were childless, &c.' These were

serious charges against the philosopher-prime-minister. No doubt they were exaggerated at worst, but Seneca did not evince much wisdom in the manner in which he

* Qua sapentia, quibus philosophorum præceptis, intra quadriennium regiæ amicitiæ ter millies sestertium paravisset? Roma testamenta et orbos velut indagine ejus capi.-Tacitus, Annales, xiii., 42.

sought to vindicate himself. He immediately had his accuser arrested and sent into exile; the son of Lucillius, wishing to share the captivity of his father, declared himself an accomplice in his crime, but he was not suffered to accompany him. From this day forth Seneca was falling in public estimation, although there were many still who believed that it was impossible for him to be guilty of the conduct attributed to him. This state of feeling, however, did not last long; the circumstances attending the death of Agrippina were such that all regarded Seneca as implicated in her assassination. It is probable that he could not have saved her, but he could at least have protested against the murder; if his protest was not attended to, he could have withdrawn, although not without incurring much danger.

The history of this matricide is so well known to every intelligent person, that it would be superfluous to do more than allude to it here. There is no crime in all history that shows more baseness. In commenting on the connection of Seneca and his colleague, Burrhus, with it as accomplices, Tacitus remarks that one cannot say whether they were already in the secret. Both remained silent a long time, when the proposition was made to them. Finally, Seneca turned towards Burrhus and asked if the order had been given to the soldiers to kill Agrippina; Burrhus replied that the Prætorian guard would hesitate to meddle with the daughter of Germanicus. Anicetus, less scrupulous, undertook to commit the deed.* Nero fled to Naples, whence he addressed a letter to the senate, in which he enumerated several attempts of his mother to dethrone him and seize on the government; adding, that failing in her last attempt, she committed suicide, and that her doing so was a benefit to the State.

All who have investigated the subject attribute the authorship of this letter to Seneca; and it is impossible to deny the fact. "It was no longer against Nero the public murmured," says Tacitus," but against the barbarity of Seneca, who sought to justify such a crime."+ But he did not long survive it himself. Agrippina was not long dead when his colleague Burrhus also died, rather suddenly, the general impression being that he was poisoned by his master. This, combined with the public odium against himself, made Seneca wish to retire into private life; and he asked permission from Nero to do so, offering at the Ann., xiv., 11.

*Tac., Ann. xiv., 3.

same time to deliver up all his wealth. But the tyrant was not done with him yet. He replied very graciously, protesting that it was impossible for him to deprive himself of the counsel of such a friend. The philosopher was forced to yield, but thenceforward he absented himself as much as possible, under one pretext or another, and while absent he devoted himself to agriculture, subsisting chiefly on wild fruits, and drinking but the water which he took with his own hands from the brook.

Dio Cassius thinks that it was not exclusively for the sake of temperance and frugality that he pursued this course, but through fear; an opinion which is sustained by Tacitus, who twice remarks that Nero had attempted to poison Seneca, but failed.* But the conspiracy of Piso afforded the tyrant a pretext to dispose of him in another way; the philosopher having been accused of complicity in the attempt of Piso, Nero sent a tribune to his country residence with a troop of soldiers, ordering him to put himself to death. Tacitus gives a most touching account of his last moments. He tells us that the friends which surrounded Seneca burst into tears, and that without showing any sign of alarm, he tried to cheer them by the lessons of philosophy, remarking, that he who had murdered a brother and a mother could not be expected to spare his teacher.+

Whatever were the faults of Seneca, it is certain that he possessed the faculty of laying a strong hold on the affections of those around him. He was over sixty years of age when he married Paulina, a young, beautiful, and noble Roman lady; and no lady of any age could be more tenderly attached to her husband. Seeing her ready to sink down with grief, Seneca begged of her to bear this event with a little more patience for his sake, telling her that now the hour was come wherein he was to show, not by argument and discourse, but by effect, the fruit he had acquired by his studies, and that he really embraced his death not only without grief, but with joy. "Wherefore, my dearest," he added, "do not dishonour it with thy tears, that it may not seem as if thou lovest thyself more than my reputation; moderate thy grief, and comfort thyself in the knowledge thou hast had of me and my actions, leading the remainder of thy life in the same virtuous manner thou hast hitherto done." Paulina proved a true heroine; her name deserves to be

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ever remembered as an honour to her sex. Her reply to her dying husband is full of magnanimity and tenderness: "No, Seneca; I am not a woman to suffer you to go alone in such a necessity; I will not have you think that the virtuous examples of your life have not yet taught me how to die; and when can I ever do it better or more becomingly, or more to my own desire, than with you? and therefore assure yourself I will go along with you,"

Although well convinced of her affection and fidelity, her husband was surprised at her fortitude and courage. "Paulina, I have sufficiently instructed you in what would serve you happily to live; but I see you covet more the honour of dying. In truth, I will not grudge it you, as you are thus resolved; the constancy and resolution in our common end are the same; but the beauty and glory on your part are much greater."*

The historians inform us that both now agreed to have the veins of their arms opened at the same time by the surgeons. Tacitus says that those of Seneca were so much shrunken with age and abstinence, causing his blood to flow more slowly, that he ordered the veins of his thighs to be opened also; and lest the torments he endured should intimidate his wife, and also to relieve himself from the affliction of seeing her in so sad a condition, after having taken leave of her most affectionately, he entreated that she would suffer herself to be carried to her chamber, which she accordingly did. Finding that all the incisions made on him had only the effect of increasing his sufferings, he ordered his physician to give him a dose of hemlock; this also failed. Finally, he was put into a hot bath; then finding his end approach, he made an address to his friends; and his secretaries continued to write his words as long as he was able to speak. Nero, having been informed of what passed, sent orders in all haste to have the wounds of Paulina bound up; not that he cared for her death, or had any feeling for her more than for her husband; but as her relatives were among the most illustrious and most powerful in Rome, he feared lest her death might cause a revolt against him. Paulina, being already unconscious from loss of blood, could make no resistance; but, though she was prevented from dying, her complexion continued

*Vitæ delinimenta monstraveram tibi tu mortis decus mavis; non invidebo exemplo.-Tac., Ann., xv., 63.

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