PHYSICAL SCIENCE 



and returning to his first love, Stoicism. Here he per- 

 fected his study, and probably elaborated most of those 

 doctrines with which his writings abound. In Cruttwell's 

 words, he " struck out the mild and catholic form " of the 

 Stoic philosophy " which has made his teaching, with all 

 its imperfections, the purest and noblest of antiquity " 

 (pp. at. 379). To this period, too, belong some of what 

 may be called his earlier works, already showing remark- 

 able power. 



His exile had been compassed by the notorious 

 Messalina, the third wife of Claudius. On her fall 

 Claudius married, as his fourth wife, his niece, the still 

 more notorious Agrippina, 1 daughter of Germanicus 

 Caesar and sister of Caligula and of Julia. One of 

 Agrippina's first acts was to have Seneca recalled and 

 appointed tutor to the young Nero, her son by a former 

 marriage and now heir-apparent to the throne. This was 

 in 48, when Nero was but eleven years of age, and hence- 

 forth to the end of his life Seneca's fortunes are closely 

 associated with those of Nero, " a name to all succeeding 

 ages curst" To be tutor to a prince means much if the 

 pupil is docile. If he prove headstrong and at the same 

 time vicious, as Nero speedily did, the choice of the tutor 

 is an unenviable one, either to follow his pupil and palliate 

 his conduct, or else to resist at the risk of position and 

 influence and, it may be eventually, of life. With Seneca 

 at first all went well. The prince was amenable, the 

 tuition seemed to bear good fruit. The teacher was 

 faithful to his charge, and loyal to the prince's mother, 

 Agrippina, to whom he owed his office and influence. 

 Mother and son were still in accord. To the philosopher 

 there was no conflict of duty, no necessity for the choice 

 of one of two evils. 



In 54 the vacillating Claudius was poisoned by 

 Agrippina, and Nero succeeded to the throne. For a time 

 the government was virtually in the hands of Seneca and 

 of Burrus, also an excellent man, commander of the 



1 This lady must not be confounded with her mother, who bore the same 



