L. ANNAEUS SENECA
TRANSLATED BY
AUBREY STEWART, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
LONDON — GEORGE BELLAND SONS, YORK STREET
COVENT GARDEN
1889
CHISWICK PRESS :—C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE
I can say little by way of preface to Seneca’s “MinorDialogues”which I have not already expressed in my preface to “De Beneficiis,”except that the “Minor Dialogues” seem to me to be composed ina gloomier key than either the “De Beneficiis” or “DeClementia,”and probably were written at a time when the author had alreadybegun to experience the ingratitude of his imperial pupil. Someof the Dialogues are dated from Corsica, Seneca’s place of exile,which he seems to have found peculiarly uncomfortable, althoughhe remarks that there are people who live there from choice.Nevertheless, mournful as they are in tone, these Dialogues havea certain value, because they teach us what was meant by Stoicphilosophy in the time of the Twelve Caesars. I have only toadd that the value of my work has been materially enhanced bythe kindness of the Rev. Professor J. E. B. Mayor, who has beengood enough to read and correct almost all the proof sheets ofthis volume.
AUBREY STEWART.
London, 1889.
PAGE | ||
---|---|---|
Of Providence | 1 | |
On the Firmness of the Wise Man | 22 | |
Of Anger. | I. | 48 |
" | II. | 76 |
" | III. | 115 |
Of Consolation. To Marcia | 162 | |
Of a Happy Life | 204 | |
Of Leisure | 240 | |
Of Peace of Mind | 250 | |
Of the Shortness of Life | 288 | |
Of Consolation. | To Helvia | 320 |
" | To Polybius | 353 |
Of Clemency. | I. | 380 |
" | II. | 415 |
I. You have asked me, Lucilius, why, if the world be ruled byprovidence, so many evils befall good men? The answer to thiswould be more conveniently given in the course of this work,after we have proved that providence governs the