praenomen Marcus, usually given, there is no
authority: in the best MSS. it is Lucius, possibly through confusion
with his son) was a native of Corduba: Mart. i. 62, 7,

'Duosque Senecas unicumque Lucanum
facunda loquitur Corduba.'

The date of his birth is probably about B.C. 55, for he was old enough
to have heard Cicero if the civil wars had not prevented him leaving
his native town: _Contr._ i. praef. 11, 'Omnes magni in eloquentia
nominis excepto Cicerone videor audisse: ne Ciceronem quidem aetas
mihi eripuerat, sed bellorum civilium furor, qui tunc orbem totum
pervagabatur, intra coloniam meam me continuit.'

He was of equestrian rank; cf. the speech of Seneca the younger, Tac.
_Ann._ xiv. 53, 'Egone, equestri et provinciali loco ortus, proceribus
civitatis adnumeror?'

Most of his life appears to have been spent in Rome, where alone he
could have acquired his vast knowledge of contemporary rhetoric.
Together with his countryman Porcius Latro, he attended the lectures
of the rhetorician Marullus: _Contr._ i. praef. 22, 'Hoc Latro meus
faciebat, ut sententias amaret. Cum condiscipuli essemus apud Marullum
rhetorem ...' Asinius Pollio he had heard at two different periods:
_Contr._ iv. praef. 3, 'audivi illum et viridem et postea iam senem.'

Seneca's wife was Helvia, whose noble character is described by her
son (_ad Helv._ 14, 3; 16, 3): by her he had three sons, M. Annaeus
Novatus, L. Annaeus Seneca, and M. Annaeus Mela.

He survived Tiberius; for (1) he alludes to events which happened
after his reign, (2) Sueton. _Tib._ 73, quotes from 'Seneca' an
account of the death of Tiberius, and we know that the elder Seneca
wrote history: that his son did likewise there is nothing to show.
Hence he was alive after A.D. 37. On the other hand, he was dead
before his son's exile in A.D. 43, for Sen. _ad Helv._ 2, 5, after
enumerating the calamities which had befallen his mother--among them
his father's death--concludes with the words 'raptum me audisti: hoc
adhuc defuerat tibi, lugere vivos.'

Seneca was a man of stern character: for his old-world views and
dislike of innovation cf. his son's words (_ad Helv._ 17, 3), 'Patris
mei antiquus rigor ... Virorum optimus, pater meus, maiorum
consuetudini deditus.' He disapproved of the higher education of
women, 'propter istas quae litteris non ad sapientiam utuntur, sed ad
luxuriam instruuntur.'

(2) WORKS.

The only extant works of Seneca are _Oratorum et Rhe