PREFACE BY FRID. ERNESTI RUHKOPF

TO THE

MORAL EPISTLES

OF L. ANNAEUS SENECA.

If, in the epistles that we rejoice have been transmitted to us from Greek or Roman antiquity, there are those to be found that are worthy of great honor, I believe there is no one who would deny that the place of prominence must be assigned to those which are attributed to Seneca. For whether you look to the amendment of the soul, which you might obtain therefrom by reading and following them accurately, or whether you prefer to treat of the refinement and cultivation of the intellect, you will find no other ancient epistolographer whom you would rank second to Seneca in excellence. Such is the dignity and gravity of the subjects he undertook to set forth, suited to any clime and to any class of men, for they always reflect the philosopher or the friend, and rarely or never the Roman citizen. We see that the greatest care is taken to ensure that the mind of the reader, drawn back from the intricacies of opinions and vices, is led into the straight path of virtue—and what great virtue it is!—and that, instructed by true, great, and most useful maxims and precepts, he learns to prove himself worthy of God. He admonishes the reader with such force and severity regarding the dignity of man, his divine origin, and the purpose and goal of philosophy, that one could not easily conceive of anything more effective than these epistles.