Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

26 SENECAin short sentences that fixed themselves in thememory by their precision and completeness.Caligula who, vain about everything, wasespecially vain of his oratorical powers, affectedto despise the style of Seneca which he describedin an oft-quoted phrase as 'sand without lime/ ^The tyrant really possessed some genuine talentfor invective— when angry his words camereadily, he moved restlessly from place to placeas he spoke, and his loud voice could be heardfrom a distance. He had also much skill inpersuasion, and in his saner moments a winningmanner that was almost irresistible.^ It washis custom to make speeches before the Senate atthe trials of great offenders, on which occasionsthe equestrian order was summoned by proclamationto attend the sittings, and the fate of theprisoner was often decided by the opportunitieswhich an attack on the one hand or a defenceon the other respectively offered to the imperialrhetoric.^The ornamental manner of Seneca, studdedwith detached epigrams, contrasted strongly withthe torrential eloquence of the emperor and onone occasion nearly cost him his life. He hadspoken in the Senate in the emperor's presencewith such eloquence and success that Caligula'sjealousy was aroused, and the orator would havepaid the extreme penalty for his triumph had notone of the imperial mistresses persuaded her loverthat Seneca was in a rapid consumption and must* 'Arenam sine calce'*(Suet., Cal. 53).^Joseplius, Ant. xix. 2.Suet., Cal. 53.