cio exstinguerentur, promeret; adlatumque hausit frustra, frigidus
iam artus, et cluso corpore adversum vim veneni. Postremo stagnum
calidae aquae introiit, respergens proximos servorum, addita voce,
libare se liquorem illum Iovi liberatori. Exin balneo inlatus, et
vapore eius exanimatus, sine ullo funeris sollemni crematur.'

There was a rumour that some of the conspirators intended to make
Seneca emperor.

Tac. _Ann._ xv. 65, 'Fama fuit Subrium Flavum cum centurionibus
occulto consilio, neque tamen ignorante Seneca, destinavisse, ut post
occisum opera Pisonis Neronem Piso quoque interficeretur,
tradereturque imperium Senecae, quasi insontibus claritudine virtutum
ad summum fastigium delecto.'

(2) WORKS.

The following prose works are extant:

1. _Dialogorum libri_ xii.

(1) _ad Lucilium: quare aliqua incommoda bonis viris accidant cum
providentia sit; sive de providentia_. This was probably a late work.

(2) _ad Serenum: nec iniuriam nec contumeliam accipere sapientem; sive
de constantia sapientis_: written in the first years of Nero's reign.

(3-5) _ad Novatum de ira libri_ iii., probably written in the first
year of Claudius' reign.

(6) _ad Marciam de consolatione_: written to console Marcia, the
daughter of Cremutius Cordus, for the death of her son Metilius. The
work may have been written in A.D. 41, as Caligula's name is
studiously avoided.

(7) _ad Gallionem de vita beata_. This book, addressed to Seneca's
brother Gallio (Novatus), was probably written shortly after A.D. 58,
and justifies his having wealth though a philosopher.

(8) _ad Serenum de otio_. This work, like the next, was addressed to
Annaeus Serenus, and was written probably about A.D. 62. Only a part
of it is extant. The book discusses whether a wise man should engage
in state affairs.

(9) _ad Serenum de tranquillitate animi_, probably written soon after
Seneca's recall.

(10) _ad Paulinum de brevitate vitae_. For the date cf. 13, 8, 'Sullam
ultimum Romanorum protulisse pomoerium.' Now, Claudius extended the
pomoerium in A.D. 50, so this must have been written in A.D. 49, as
the book was brought out after Seneca's return from exile.

(11) _ad Polybium de consolatione_. This book was addressed in A.D. 43
or 44 to Polybius, a favourite of Claudius, on the occasion of his
brother's death. The date is fixed by the reference to Claudius'
expedition to Britain in 12, 2-3. Cf. par. 3, 'Non desinam totiens tibi
offerre Caesarem. Ill