FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182  
183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   >>   >|  
ives no direct information about it. According to this theory his host was Vitrasius Pollio, prefect of Egypt. While in Egypt, Seneca was attacked by illness, and escaped death by his aunt's care. Cf. _ad Helv._ 19, 2, 'Illius pio maternoque nutricio per longum tempus aeger convalui.' Seneca accompanied Vitrasius when he resigned his office and returned with his wife to Italy A.D. 32 (Dio, lviii. 19, 6). They suffered shipwreck, and Vitrasius perished. _Ad Helv._ 19, 4, 'Sed si prudentiam perfectissimae feminae novi, non patietur te nihil profuturo maerore consumi et exemplum tibi suum, cuius ego etiam spectator fui, narrabit. Carissimum virum amiserat, avunculum nostrum, cui virgo nupserat, in ipsa quidem navigatione: tulit tamen eodem tempore et luctum et metum evictisque tempestatibus corpus eius naufraga evexit.' This theory is supported by the fact that Seneca wrote a work 'de ritu (al., situ) et sacris Aegyptiorum' (Serv. _ad Aen._ vi. 154). Through his aunt's influence Seneca obtained the quaestorship. _Ad Helv._ 19, 2, 'Illa pro quaestura mea gratiam suam extendit, et quae ne sermonis quidem aut clarae salutationis sustinuit audaciam, pro me vicit indulgentia verecundiam.' Seneca's quaestorship must have been after the death of his aunt's husband, in A.D. 32, as the above passage shows, and before the death of Tiberius in A.D. 37, as it was with Tiberius that his aunt's influence lay, on account of her husband's services. After his quaestorship Seneca appears to have married (cf. _de ira_, iii. 36, 3, etc.). His wife must have died before A.D. 57, as in that year Seneca married Pompeia Paulina; cf. Dio, lxi. 10, 3, +gamon epiphanestaton egeme+. By his first wife he had three sons (_ad Helv._ 2, 5). While senator, Seneca incurred the jealousy of Caligula, and in A.D. 39 narrowly escaped death. Dio, lix. 19, 7, +ho de de Senekas ... diephthare par' oligon, met' adikesas ti, mete doxas, hoti diken tina en to synedrio parontos autou kalos eipe+. For Seneca's attacks on Caligula cf. _ad Helv._ 10, 4; _Apocol._ 15, etc. Sueton. _Cal._ 53, 'Peroraturus "stricturum se lucubrationis suae telum" minabatur; lenius comtiusque scribendi genus adeo contemnens, ut Senecam, tum maxime placentem, "commissiones meras" componere, et "harenam esse sine calce" diceret.' In A.D. 41 Seneca was banished to Corsica, through the agency of Messalina, on the charge of adultery with Iulia Livilla, sister of Caligula, bu
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182  
183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Seneca
 

Caligula

 

quaestorship

 
Vitrasius
 
influence
 
theory
 

quidem

 

married

 

escaped

 

Tiberius


husband
 
oligon
 

epiphanestaton

 

jealousy

 

incurred

 

narrowly

 

Senekas

 

senator

 

diephthare

 

direct


account
 

services

 

information

 
passage
 

appears

 
Pompeia
 
Paulina
 

commissiones

 

componere

 

harenam


placentem

 

maxime

 
contemnens
 
Senecam
 

diceret

 
adultery
 

charge

 

Livilla

 

sister

 

Messalina


agency

 

banished

 
Corsica
 

scribendi

 
parontos
 
synedrio
 

attacks

 

Apocol

 
lucubrationis
 

minabatur