SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE XCII.
by the executioner's hook/ 1 nor by the revolting
mutilation of the corpse which is
exposed to
the scorn of those who would witness the spectacle.
I ask no man to perform the last rites for me I
;
entrust my remains to none. Nature has made
provision that none shall go unburied. Time will
lay away one whom cruelty has cast forth." Those
were eloquent words which Maecenas uttered :
I want no tomb ; for Nature doth provide
For outcast bodies burial. 6
You would imagine that this was the saying of a
man of strict principles. He was indeed a man of
noble and robust native gifts, but in prosperity he
impaired these gifts by laxness. c Farewell.
-
The figure is taken from the Roman dress, one who
was "girt high" ^a?;v cinctiu- .
ready for vigorous walking,
being contrasted \viththeloosely-girdledperson
.
indolent or effeminate. On the character of Maecenas see
//>. cxiv. 4 if., xix. 9, cxx. 19. 4"!