mannerisms of style" (Vahlen, preface, p. v., ed. 1879, Jena).

Yet by the student of the history of Rome under the Caesars, Seneca
is not to be neglected, because, whatever may be thought of the
intrinsic merit of his speculations, he represents, more perhaps
even than Tacitus, the intellectual characteristics of his age, and
the tone of society in Rome--nor could we well spare the gossiping
stories which we find imbedded in his graver dissertations. The
following extract from Dean Merivale's "History of the Romans under
the Empire" will show the estimate of him which has been formed by
that accomplished writer:--

"At Rome, we, have no reason, to suppose that Christianity was only
the refuge of the afflicted and miserable; rather, if we may lay
any stress on the documents above referred to, it was first
embraced by persons in a certain grade of comfort and
respectability; by persons approaching to what we should call the
MIDDLE CLASSES in their condition, their education, and their moral
views. Of this class Seneca himself was the idol, the oracle; he
was, so to speak, the favourite preacher of the more intelligent
and humane disciples of nature and virtue. Now the writings of
Seneca show, in their way, a real anxiety among this class to raise
the moral tone of mankind around them; a spirit of reform, a zeal
for the conversion of souls, which, though it never rose, indeed,
under the teaching of the philosophers, to boiling heat, still
simmered with genial warmth on the surface of society. Far
different as was their social standing-point, far different as were
the foundations and the presumed sanctions of their teaching
respectively, Seneca and St. Paul were both moral reformers; both,
be it said with reverence, were fellow-workers in the cause of