He survived Tiberius; for (1) he alludes to events which happened after his reign, (2) Sueton. _Tib._ 73, quotes from 'Seneca' an account of the death of Tiberius, and we know that the elder Seneca wrote history: that his son did likewise there is nothing to show. Hence he was alive after A.D. 37. On the other hand, he was dead before his son's exile in A.D. 43, for Sen. _ad Helv._ 2, 5, after enumerating the calamities which had befallen his mother--among them his father's death--concludes with the words 'raptum me audisti: hoc adhuc defuerat tibi, lugere vivos.' Seneca was a man of stern character: for his old-world views and dislike of innovation cf. his son's words (_ad Helv._ 17, 3), 'Patris mei antiquus rigor ... Virorum optimus, pater meus, maiorum consuetudini deditus.' He disapproved of the higher education of women, 'propter istas quae litteris non ad sapientiam utuntur, sed ad luxuriam instruuntur.' (2) WORKS. The only extant works of Seneca are _Oratorum et Rhetorum Sententiae, Divisiones, Colores Controversiarum et Suasoriarum_. 1. The _Controversiae_ were written at the request of his three sons, but were intended for a wider circle of readers: i. praef. 10, 'Quaecumque a celeberrimis viris facunde dicta teneo, ne ad quemquam privatim pertineant, populo dedicabo.' Seneca here gives a criticism of the rhetoricians of his time, with specimens of the style of each: i. praef. 1, 'Exigitis rem magis iucundam mihi quam facilem; iubetis enim quid de his declamatoribus sentiam qui in aetatem meam inciderunt indicare, et si qua memoriae meae nondum elapsa sunt ab illis dicta colligere, ut quamvis notitiae vestrae subducti sint, tamen non credatis tantum de illis, sed et iudicetis.' The specimens are given from memory, and the arrangement is not systematic: i. praef. 4, 'Illud necesse est impetrem, ne me quasi certum aliquem ordinem velitis sequi in contrahendis quae mihi occurrent.' Seneca treats only of those rhetoricians whom his sons had not themselves heard: i. praef. 4, 'Neque de his me interrogatis quos ipsi audistis, sed de his qui ad vos usque non pervenerunt.' His hero is Cicero, since whose time oratory has steadily degenerated: i. praef. 11, 'Illud ingenium quod solum populus Romanus par imperio suo habuit'; _ibid._ 7, 'Omnia ingenia quae lucem studiis nostris attulerunt tunc nata sunt: in deterius deinde cottidie data res est.' Of the ten Books of _Controversiae_ only five have come down to us, viz., i., ii., vii., ix., and x. The deficiency is to some extent supplied by an abridgment (_Excerpta_) made in the fourth or fifth century A.D., which adds thirty-nine themes to the thirty-five contained in the surviving part of the original work. Each Book had a separate preface. Those to v., vi., and viii. are entirely wanting; for the prefaces to ii., iii., and iv. we are indebted to the abridgment.