Philosophical Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Vol. 2

Declamations: which he distinguished by prefaces or interlocutions: and even by this, he sufficiently showed his own elegant and agreeable talent. He had a wife, Elbia or Helvia, also a Spaniard or from Spain, a woman of great spirit and intellect, as her son described her well enough (in his Consolation to her). The father came to Rome in the times of Augustus; and his wife soon followed with their children, including this our Seneca himself, while still a tender youth. For a long time he lived there in favor and fame, and made his fortune: and I believe he lived until the final years of Tiberius. I am led to this by the mention of the Sejanian conspiracy in his books, and other things that look to this. I pass over this and move to the son, concerning whom I have set out to speak.

CHAPTER II.

He was born in Corduba, and as a boy was taken from there to Rome: this he indicates himself, where he praises his aunt: "By her hands I was carried to the city; by her pious and motherly care, having been ill for a long time, I recovered." (Consol. ad Helv. ch. 17). If he was carried by hands, he must have been at a boyish age: and you see that he was then languishing, and was revived by her work and care. I conclude that this happened in the fifteenth year, or thereabouts, before the death of Augustus; an argument drawn from Seneca's adolescence in the age of Tiberius, to be spoken of shortly. Therefore, the father did not migrate to Rome long before. He had two brothers and no sisters; from his words to his mother: "You have buried your dearest husband, from whom you were the mother of three children." (Ad Helv. ch. 2). These three, moreover, were M. Annaeus Novatus, L. Annaeus Seneca, and L. Annaeus Mela; born in the order in which I have recited them. This is clear from the inscriptions of the Controversiae, where they are listed thus, even if only by their cognomens. The eldest of the brothers soon changed his name and passed into that of Junius Gallio, having been adopted by him. This Gallio is named several times by the elder Seneca in his Declamations, and is called "ours" by him: whether from a common fatherland, Spain, or from the friendship which existed with him. Was there also a relationship or kinship? I do not know, but I suspect it because of this adoption. This is the Gallio who is surnamed Father by Quintilian, and likewise by Tacitus in the sixth book of his Annals. But this our

Note: Noster