INTRODUCTION 



was designed for publication, is not an ordinary corre- 

 spondence on the current affairs and interests of everyday 

 life like Cicero's Letters, but is philosophic in character ; 

 it covers a wide range of moral discussion and reflec- 

 tion, and is full of admirable maxims. Many of its 

 sentiments have become commonplaces ; their almost 

 hackneyed character detracts perhaps somewhat from our 

 appreciation of their intrinsic merit. On the other hand, 

 the spitefulness of the Apocolocyntosis, the servility of the 

 Consolation to Polybius, and the flattery of the Clemency, 

 which was addressed to Nero, show the reverse of Seneca's 

 character. Of the characteristics of his style, however, 

 and of his position in Roman literature one of command- 

 ing importance this is not the place to speak. His 

 works reflect truly enough both the iron and the miry 

 clay which entered into his mental and moral composition. 



III. "QUAESTIONES NATURALES " 



This work stands in a category by itself. It raises a 

 number of difficult problems, in which every reader of it, 

 whether classical scholar or not, is interested. 



The historical title, Natural Questions, is convenient, 

 though, without explanation, a little misleading. The 

 nearest rendering of the Latin form Quaestiones Naturales 

 is Physical Inquiries, or Investigations in the Domain of 

 Physics, or, as in the title, what we should now call 

 Physical Science. The terms Physics and Science had 

 a very different connotation in that age and in ours. 

 Plutarch, almost a younger contemporary of Seneca, 

 gravely discusses in a work with a similar title such 

 questions as Why shepherds give their sheep salt, Why 

 horses' hair is superior to mares' for casting-lines, and 

 even, Why a dog runs after a stone rather than after the 

 person who threw it ! The extent of such a title is 

 determined pretty much by the range of topics an author 

 decides to include. In Seneca's case, as it happens, 



