Though Seneca was not without many detractors,[5] his worth as a man is attested by many proofs. His young wife Paulina desired to share his fate, and opened her veins along with her husband. By Nero’s orders she was saved, but she continued to the end of her life to bear in her unnatural pallor the marks of her devotion. Tacitus, writing at a distance of thirty or forty years, describes the character of Seneca in terms of commendation and esteem. No doubt the historian had himself borne the yoke of the savage Domitian, and knew what life under a tyrant meant. But withal he was too acute an observer and too impartial a critic to be blinded by any mere sentimental sympathy. He understood and appreciated Seneca, to whose genuine worth his testimony is the most enduring tribute. [5] Dio Cassius is often very caustic in his criticisms, but even he recognises Seneca’s sterling merit and services to the state. The age of Seneca, whose “life almost coincides with the Julio-Claudian tyranny,” has been made to re-live for us in Professor Dill’s _Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius_, which ought to be studied by those who desire to understand more of Seneca as statesman, philosopher, and man.[6] In addition to a short account and criticism of the _Quaestiones Naturales_ (pp. 300 _et sqq._), the chapter (Book III. ch. i. pp. 289–333) on “The Philosophic Director” is particularly illuminating. The following tribute from it may fittingly close our brief sketch:-- [6] Mr. Henderson’s _The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero_ should also be studied. “The man who approaches Seneca thinking only of scandals gleaned from Tacitus and Dio Cassius, and frozen by a criticism which cannot feel the power of genius, spiritual imagination, and a profound moral experience, behind a rhetoric sometimes forced and extravagant, had better leave him alone. The Christianity of the twentieth century might well hail with delight the advent of such a preacher, and would certainly forget all the accusations of prurient gossip in the accession of an immense and fascinating spiritual force. The man with any historical imagination must be struck with amazement that such spiritual detachment, such lofty moral ideals, so pure an enthusiasm for the salvation of souls, should emerge from a palace reeking with all the crimes of the haunted races of Greek legend” (_op. cit._ p. 295). II. WRITINGS Seneca was a voluminous writer. Most of his works partake more or less of a philosophical character. In a class by themselves may be placed the ten tragedies, together with some verses, attributed to him. The titles, _Medea_, _Hercules Furens_, _Hippolytus_, _Agamemnon_, etc., suggest the Greek subjects as well as the plays of the same names by Euripides and Aeschylus. The treatment of the themes is all Seneca’s own. Moral maxims abound; the plays are homiletic and were never designed to be acted.