NOTES ON SENECA S &quot;QUAESTIONES 

 NATURALES&quot; 



By Sir ARCHIBALD GEIKIE, K.C.B., Pres.R.S. 



THE treatise of which the present volume is a translation 

 possesses a twofold interest. In the first place, it is prob 

 ably the last literary work of a man who filled a large 

 space in the Roman world of his day. After a varied 

 career as philosopher, barrister, politician, statesman, 

 courtier, and man of letters, he at last incurred the 

 implacable enmity of Nero, to whom he had been tutor. 

 Having in his youth paid some attention to physical 

 inquiries, he had then been led to prepare and publish 

 a book on earthquakes. But in subsequent years the 

 absorbing cares of State probably left him little leisure to 

 continue these studies, for which, however, he had retained 

 his taste. Hence, when in his last days he sought in 

 retirement to devote himself to philosophical pursuits, he 

 naturally turned to some of the physical problems that 

 had interested him in earlier life. The earthquake which 

 on 5th February A.D. 63 had done much damage to the 

 towns of Campania, revived his youthful enthusiasm for 

 the investigation of such phenomena, and may possibly 

 have suggested to him the preparation of another volume 

 dealing with this and other scientific matter. We know 

 at least from the book itself that he wrote a part, if not 

 the whole, of it after that date (221, 2 so), 1 and that he 

 took pains to collect information about the catastrophe. 



1 The numbers within parentheses throughout these Notes refer to the 

 pages of the Translation. 



309 



