torum Sententiae,
Divisiones, Colores Controversiarum et Suasoriarum_.

1. The _Controversiae_ were written at the request of his three sons,
but were intended for a wider circle of readers: i. praef. 10,
'Quaecumque a celeberrimis viris facunde dicta teneo, ne ad quemquam
privatim pertineant, populo dedicabo.' Seneca here gives a criticism
of the rhetoricians of his time, with specimens of the style of each:
i. praef. 1, 'Exigitis rem magis iucundam mihi quam facilem; iubetis
enim quid de his declamatoribus sentiam qui in aetatem meam inciderunt
indicare, et si qua memoriae meae nondum elapsa sunt ab illis dicta
colligere, ut quamvis notitiae vestrae subducti sint, tamen non
credatis tantum de illis, sed et iudicetis.' The specimens are given
from memory, and the arrangement is not systematic: i. praef. 4,
'Illud necesse est impetrem, ne me quasi certum aliquem ordinem
velitis sequi in contrahendis quae mihi occurrent.' Seneca treats only
of those rhetoricians whom his sons had not themselves heard: i.
praef. 4, 'Neque de his me interrogatis quos ipsi audistis, sed de his
qui ad vos usque non pervenerunt.' His hero is Cicero, since whose
time oratory has steadily degenerated: i. praef. 11, 'Illud ingenium
quod solum populus Romanus par imperio suo habuit'; _ibid._ 7, 'Omnia
ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt tunc nata sunt: in
deterius deinde cottidie data res est.'

Of the ten Books of _Controversiae_ only five have come down to us,
viz., i., ii., vii., ix., and x. The deficiency is to some extent
supplied by an abridgment (_Excerpta_) made in the fourth or fifth
century A.D., which adds thirty-nine themes to the thirty-five
contained in the surviving part of the original work. Each Book had a
separate preface. Those to v., vi., and viii. are entirely wanting;
for the prefaces to ii., iii., and iv. we are indebted to the
abridgment.

The _Controversiae_ were written when Seneca was an old man, and when
his two elder sons were preparing for public life, probably about A.D.
20: x. praef. 1, 'Sinite me ab istis iuvenilibus studiis ad senectutem
meam reverti'; ii. praef. 4 (to Mela), 'Fratribus tuis ambitiosa curae
sunt foroque se et honoribus parant.'

As to the date of publication, it has been argued[71] that they
appeared after the fall of Seianus and before the death of Mamercus
Scaurus, _i.e._, between A.D. 31 and 34. Probably, however, the
publication did not take place till after the death of Tiberi