The moralist and philosopher was a delicate, ailing child, and throughout his life he suffered from ill-health, which was increased by his severe studies, and possibly by his asceticism. Seneca was one of the first strenuous advocates of the vegetarian diet and ‘the simple life.’ It is said that he subsisted upon the plainest fare and practised rigorous self-denial. There is much that is admirable in the character of Seneca, but there are also traits that appear extremely incompatible with his constant insistence upon right conduct and purity of life. The genius of Seneca was soon recognised by the rulers in Cordova, and his fame reached Rome, whither he went, and where he was received with the respect that his deep learning merited. His career was, however, checked by his unfortunate intrigue with Julia, the married sister of the Emperor Caligula. As a punishment for his adultery he was sent to Corsica, where he lived in banishment for eight years. During this long spell of solitude Seneca mused and studied, and found the period of exile one of fruitfulness to the mind. Yet when he was recalled to Rome, at the intercession of Agrippina, the philosopher exhibited a keen desire for wealth, which is scarcely reconcilable with his affirmations concerning the life of simplicity and self-denial. In order to make money, he did not hesitate to lend sums at an exorbitant interest. He became a courtier, and was the confidential tutor of Nero; but at the height of his fortune he conspired against the emperor. His condonation of Nero’s murder of his mother was an elaborate piece of casuistry, devised for no other reason than the desire to retain the royal patronage. In this and in other episodes, the career of Seneca bewilders us, and provides matter for reflection upon the inconsistency of human nature and the fallibility of even the greatest ethicists. The last pages in the life of the philosopher are sad. He was condemned to death as a traitor, and he had married a young wife. When he heard that the guards were on their way to arrest him, Seneca resolved to open one of his veins and to bleed to death. His loyal and loving wife begged to share his fate, and at her request he cut one of her veins. But Seneca was old, seventy years of age, and his blood flowed so slowly that he could not die. In his desperation he drank a cup of hemlock, hoping to poison himself, and by that means put an end to his anguish. Yet even the hemlock potion failed. Asphyxiation in a heated chamber at last brought death to the aged sage, and by timely attention the life of his young wife was saved.