652 Notices respecting New Book*. 



of Seneca was the latest statement on the subject of physical specu- 

 lation emanating from classical times. No translation has 

 appeared since (^or before) that of Thomas Lodge in 1614 ; and 

 although it may to some extent be true that further progress 

 has widened still further the breach between ancient and modern 

 times, and thus made translation more difficult, yet it is acknow- 

 ledged that Lodge's translation is inadequate and the present is an 

 attempt to render more satisfactorily into modern English the 

 equivalent of the arguments and beliefs of Seneca. 



When these ideas themselves are examined it must be acknow- 

 ledged that the sentence that comes uppermost in our mind is one 

 of Seneca's own : " We must, therefore, listen indulgently to the 

 ancients. No subject is perfected while it is but beginning." 

 Only a little way had been travelled along the path of discovery ; 

 and though, here and there throughout this book, occur definite 

 trains of reasoning which even now possess cogency, yet, most of the 

 arguments may be dismissed, often as irrelevant, generally as non- 

 probative of the assertions made. 



It is specially difficult to be certain in making a translation, 

 when the original is a deicl language, that the precise equivalent 

 of the original ideas is reproduced. Every word which may be 

 used in the translation has a connotation which in part at least 

 must be foreign to the author of the original. All we can say is 

 that the present translator has judiciously chosen his modern 

 equivalents. The translation reads well. We are very seldom 

 pulled up by anything which sounds impossible. One such case 

 may be cited, referring to the artificial production of rainbows. 

 " If you will at any time watch a fuller at work, you will observe 

 the same appearance : when he has filled his mouth with water 

 and spirts it lightly on the clothes stretched on pegs, the air thus 

 besprinkled exhibits plainly the various colours that shine in the 

 bow." We believe that this is a correct literal rendering but we 

 understand neither the use of the operation described in the cleansing 

 of clothes nor the skill necessary to make it yield effective bows. 

 We hazard the guess that the ' mouth ' is a technical term of lost 

 significance differing from its usual one. 



Amidst all this medley of perverse arguments and curious 

 theories we yet detect the spirit of one who could rise above the 

 sordid things of his courtly life and take the keenest interest in 

 physical enquiries. "Life would have been a useless gift were I 

 not admitted to the study of such theorems. What cause for 

 joy would it be to be set merely in the number of those who 



live ? Away with the priceless boon ! Life is not worth 



the heat and the sweat The full consummation of human 



felicity is attained when, all vice trampled under foot, the soul seeks 

 the heights and reaches the inner recesses of nature." 



