Surely, it cannot be a merely accidental coincidence that a Greek at Delphi, a Roman in his adopted city, a Jew in Alexandria, and another Jew in Palestine, who had been converted to Christianity and had adopted the profession of a traveling evangelist, should at the same time, yet almost or quite independently of each other, maintain the doctrine of a divine Providence or preach a gospel that recognized it as a fundamental dogma. The treatise of Philo, though no longer extant in the original Greek, is more extensive than the tracts here brought together. The three united in a single volume would make a remarkable trinity in the history of human thought. The feeling was evidently widespread, both consciously and unconsciously, that God had never before been so near to men, though but a few had learned that the Word had become flesh and dwelt among them, full of grace and truth. C. W. S. _Athens, O., Thanksgiving Day, 1898._ CONTENTS. PREFACE 5 LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS USED OR CONSULTED ON SENECA 10 SENECA: HIS CHARACTER AND ENVIRONMENT 11 LIST OF SENECA’S EXTANT WORKS 60 SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SENECA 63 CONCERNING PROVIDENCE 78 NOTES 104 PLUTARCH AND THE GREECE OF HIS AGE 108 LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS USED OR CONSULTED IN THE STUDY OF PLUTARCH 160 CONCERNING THE DELAY OF THE DEITY IN PUNISHING THE WICKED 162 NOTES 214 APPENDIX. LIST OF PLUTARCH’S WORKS 218 THE PRINCIPAL WORKS USED OR CONSULTED ON SENECA. The following are the principal works used or consulted in preparing the matter relating to Seneca: _Oeuvres complètes de Senèque. Par Charpentier et Lemaistre. 4 tomes. Paris, 1885._ _Oeuvres complètes de Senèque. Publiées sous la direction de M. Nisard. Paris, 1877._ _L. Annaeus Seneca des Philosophen Werke übersetzt von Pauly und Moser. Stuttgard, 1828-32._ _Christliche Klänge aus den griechischen und römischen Klassikern. Von R. Schneider. Leipzig, 1877._ _Lucius Annaeus Seneca und das Christenthum. Von Michael Baumgarten. Rostock, 1895._ _La Religion romaine. Par Gaston Boissier, 2 tomes. Paris. 1892._ _History of the Romans under the Empire. By Charles Merivale. 7 vols. New York, 1863-5._ _L. Annaei Senecae opera quae supersunt. Ed. Frid. Haase. Voll. I, II, III. Lipsiae, 1871-62-53._