Philosophical Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Vol. 2

OF THE NEW EDITOR

But since we have used Ruhkopf's edition primarily as the foundation of our own, we shall insert here some things from his prefaces, from which we shall be taught by him what aids he was assisted by.

"The task was to repeat the philosophical works of Seneca, so that first the text, as they call it, might become more correct, by diligently applying critical aids, both those which have been provided primarily by Gruter, Lipsius, and Gronovius, and those which might happen to lie hidden in critical books; for neither our resources nor our plan allowed us to wish to establish it as if it were to be published to the public for the first time; wherefore we promise not a recension, but a revision: secondly, that the difficulties arising from the language, the Stoic philosophy, etc., might be removed by accurate interpretation; in a word, that it might serve primarily for the uses of those who, although by no means unskilled in the fine arts, yet for whom the information that makes for a proper understanding of the author might not immediately occur or be at hand to the readers. Therefore, brief and suitable critical and exegetical admonitions were to be added, as it were, scholia, which, however, I did not want to be devoid of notations of the sources, as their own arguments and causes, so that if by chance there were readers who thought they should not be satisfied with the briefer explanation I had provided, a sufficiently large opportunity would be at hand where a fuller explanation of these matters could be sought...."