SEEKERS AFTER GOD

BY THE

REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S.,

CANON OF WESTMINSTER.

CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTORY.
• CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY AND EARLY YEARS OF SENECA.
• CHAPTER II. THE EDUCATION OF SENECA.
• CHAPTER III. THE STATE OF ROMAN SOCIETY.
• CHAPTER IV. POLITICAL CONDITION OF ROME UNDER TIBERIUS AND CAIUS.
• CHAPTER V. THE REIGN OF CAIUS.
• CHAPTER VI. THE REIGN OF CLAUDIUS, AND THE BANISHMENT OF SENECA.
• CHAPTER VII. SENECA IN EXILE.
• CHAPTER VIII. SENECA'S PHILOSOPHY GIVES WAY.
• CHAPTER IX. SENECA'S RECALL FROM EXILE.
• CHAPTER X. AGRIPPINA, THE MOTHER OF NERO.
• CHAPTER XI. NERO AND HIS TUTOR.
• CHAPTER XII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
• CHAPTER XIII. THE DEATH OF SENECA.
• CHAPTER XIV. SENECA AND ST. PAUL.
• CHAPTER XV. SENECA'S RESEMBLANCES TO SCRIPTURE.

• CHAPTER I. THE LIFE OF EPICTETUS, AND HOW HE REGARDED IT.
• CHAPTER II. LIFE AND VIEWS OF EPICTETUS (continued).
• CHAPTER III. LIFE AND VIEWS OF EPICTETUS (continued.)
• CHAPTER IV. THE "MANUAL" AND "FRAGMENTS" OF EPICTETUS.
• CHAPTER V. THE DISCOURSES OF EPICTETUS.

• CHAPTER I. THE EDUCATION OF AN EMPEROR.
• CHAPTER II. THE LIFE AND THOUGHTS OF MARCUS AURELIUS.
• CHAPTER III. THE LIFE AND THOUGHTS OF MARCUS AURELIUS (continued).
• CHAPTER IV. THE "MEDITATIONS" OF MARCUS AURELIUS.

SENECA.

INTRODUCTORY.

On the banks of the Baetis--the modern Guadalquiver,--and under thewoods that crown the southern slopes of the Sierra Morena, lies thebeautiful and famous city of Cordova. It had been selected by Marcellusas the site of a Roman colony; and so many Romans and Spaniards of highrank chose it for their residence, that it obtained from Augustus thehonourable surname of the "Patrician Colony." Spain, during this periodof the Empire, exercised no small influence upon the literature andpolitics of Rome. No less than three great Emperors--Trajan, Hadrian,and Theodosius,--were natives of Spain. Columella, the writer onagriculture, was born at Cadiz; Quintilian, the great writer on theeducation of an orator, was born at Calahorra; the poet Martial was anative of Bilbilis; but Cordova could boast the yet higher honour ofhaving given birth to the Senecas, an honour which won for it theepithet of "The Eloquent." A ruin is shown to modern travellers whichis popularly called the House of Seneca, and the fact is at least aproof that the city still retains some memory of its illustrious sons.

Marcus Annaeus Seneca, the father of the philosopher, was by rank aRoman knight. What causes had led him or his family to settle in Spainwe do not know, and the names Annaeus and Seneca are alike obscure. Ithas been vaguely conjectured that both names may involve an allusion tothe longevity of some of the founders of the family, for Annaeus seemsto be connected with annus, a year, and Seneca with senex, an oldman. The common English composite plant ragwort is called senecio from