Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

they allTHE QUINQUENNIUM NERONIS 59came to be there assembled—'You sentus, murderer of allyour kin ' ; of his trial, followedby the condemnation to play at dice for ever witha bottomless box; and, finally, of his conveyanceto Caligula, who claimed him as his slave on theplea of having often been seen beating him onearth, and his eventual assignment as a clerkto Menander, Caligula's freedman. The piece,witty and amusing though it be and unique ofits kind in Latin literature, shows a lack ofgood feeling more characteristic of the timethan of Seneca, to whose reputation it can addnothing.The idleness, dissipation, and hatred of businesswhich distinguished the young emperor combinedwith his vanity and love of popularity to throwthe whole administration of affairs in the earlypart of his reign into the hands of Seneca andBurrhus. The single object of these two statesmenappears to have been the public good, and as aconsequence of this singleness of aim no shadowof misunderstanding from first to last marred theharmony— of their mutual relations a rare circumstance,as Tacitus remarks, in the history of publicmen. The virtues of the one supplementedthose of the other. Burrhus was known for theausterity of his life, the bluntness of his speech,and the severity of his military discipline ; Seneca,notwithstanding his stoicism, was a courtier and awit, he knew how to charm others without loss ofpersonal dignity, and was a master of eloquence.After the funeral ceremonies of Claudius hadbeen completed and the pretence of mourning