xlii PHYSICAL SCIENCE 



The authors, whom Seneca calls chroniclers, and particu- 

 larly Epigenes, are in one passage quite fiercely attacked 

 (289). In justice to Seneca it must be said that he is 

 hardly more polite toward himself. The words on p. 154, 

 2, rendered, " I can give my own word, etc.," read liter- 

 ally, " I'm a liar if water does not meet us, etc." Perhaps, 

 therefore, it is only a manner of speaking. In the early 

 days of public education in Britain a Government report 

 recorded as a proof of moral progress the substitution in 

 some parts of the country of " I beg your pardon " for 

 " You're a liar ! " The child seems to have here re-lived 

 the history of the race. 



Seneca had a wide outlook, too, and a splendid scien- 

 tific faith. With prophetic eye he sees the day when an 

 astronomer will arise to demonstrate the nature and orbit 

 of Comets 1 (299) ; he is content to let posterity have a 

 share of the credit ! Nor is his humility less than his 

 confidence. His lessons may still usefully be taken 

 home ; we imagine we have pierced to nature's inmost 

 sanctum, yet we are still loitering round her outer court 

 (306); let us not despise the day of small things, the investi- 

 gation of nature's marvels requires generations of workers 

 and ages of work ; there will come a day when all will 

 be revealed, when posterity will smile at our feeble and 

 clumsy efforts and wonder how we missed such obvious 

 truths (298). The ancients must be treated leniently ; it 

 was a large contribution to discovery to have conceived 

 the hope of its possibility (231). Seneca maintained and 

 promoted this belief in ultimate success. He displays 

 throughout the same alert, buoyant, enthusiastic confid- 

 ence, together with patient, reverent search for truth in 

 nature and truth about God. 



Seneca nowhere gives us a reasoned connected exposi- 

 tion of the views entertained by him regarding the Universe 

 as a whole or the relation of its parts. Only " by parcels " 

 and inference can we glean them from scattered remarks 

 and comments that he makes in the course of his work. 



1 The fulfilment, or at least the beginning of the fulfilment, of this predic- 

 tion may be dated from Newton in 1680. 



