Philosophical Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Vol. 2

[excerpted], has ceased to be among the living; he burns with such great love for editing Seneca more accurately, and therefore for recovering both these aids and any others that might be lurking elsewhere, that by devoting all his effort to this, he is currently striving to ensure that we are condemned in our prayers [i.e., that our wishes are granted]. Moreover, the most illustrious Heyne—whom I formerly revered as my most beloved teacher in the place of a dearest parent—having been addressed by me in writing, has deigned to promise his study and labor toward the advancement of these undertakings of ours.

» Thus, with matters flowing prosperously and according to our desire, I was unexpectedly led to the very welcome hope that, with this edition of the works of Seneca adorned by these decorations and freed from the squalor which had been added by ancient booksellers, I might, by whatever effort of my own, strive to restore them to that state of emendation which is worthy both of the noble author of these Works and of the light of the times we enjoy. It would perhaps have been better to be equipped with these aids from the beginning of my work, but since that could not be, one must be content with this Cato. Therefore, I thought it better to reserve this entire collection, the hope for the expansion of which I foster, for the sixth volume, yet in such a way that it may be permitted to use it occasionally while revising Seneca’s Natural Questions: I would have used this same liberty in the Epigrams customarily attributed to Seneca and in the Game on the Death of Claudius, had the fascicles of Fessler’s variant readings pertaining to these booklets not been lacking. »

Now, regarding the order which we have followed in arranging the books. Since their arrangement varies in almost every edition (for nothing is certain concerning the age in which most were written), we, using the same liberty as previous editors, have attempted some changes. We have preserved the sequence of time, as far as it could be known, yet in such a way that we did not separate books between which there existed some similarity of subject matter.