Lucius Annæus Seneca was born at Cordova, only eight years before Christ. His father was an eminent writer on rhetoric, some of whose productions are still extant. The son was delicate in health, but nothing could repress his love of research. He first studied the Peripatetic philosophy under Papirius Fabian, and afterwards, as far as a master who professed to despise all learning could teach, he learned the follies of the Cynics from Demetrius. By his father's request, Seneca then entered upon public life, and became a pleader at the bar. In this walk he so far distinguished himself as finally to become a distinguished favorite in the court of Claudius. But in consequence of some difficulty respecting Julia, the daughter of Germanicus, he fell into disgrace, and was banished to the island of Corsica. It is said that Agrippina, the mother of Nero, interceded in his behalf, and Seneca was recalled. On returning to Rome, he first became the tutor of Nero, and subsequently his minister. The wretched pupil, in the exercise of imperial suspicion, as false probably as it was murderous, caused his teacher and friend to be destroyed. From the exhausted and emaciated state of his frame, the death of Seneca is reported to have been a painful one. In the presence of his wife and other friends, he opened the veins of his arms and legs; and, as the process was too slow, he ordered a draught of poison to be administered to him. Still lingering, he desired to be laid in a warm bath, and as he entered, he sprinkled the standers by, saying, "I offer this libation to Jupiter the deliverer." His vital blood then gushed forth, and he speedily expired.