d from Campania, and rested at a villa of his, four miles from
Rome: thither arrived the tribune toward evening, and beset the villa
with his men; and then, as he sat at table with Pauline his wife, and
two friends, delivered his orders from the emperor.

Seneca replied, "that Natalis had in truth been sent to him, and in
the name of Piso complained, that he was debarred from visiting him;
and that he had excused himself on the score of illness and his love
of retirement; but he had no motive to declare that he preferred the
safety of a private man to his own security; nor was his disposition
prone to flattery; as no man better knew than Nero, who had
experienced more frequent proofs of the freedom than the servility of
Seneca."

When this answer was by the tribune reported to Nero, in presence of
Poppaea[115] and Tigellinus, who composed the cabinet council, the
raging tyrant asked, whether Seneca meditated a voluntary death? the
tribune averred "that he had manifested no symptoms of fear; and
neither in his words nor looks did he detect any indication of
regret." He was therefore commanded to return, and tell him he was
doomed to die. Fabius Rusticus writes, "that the tribune did not
return by the road he went, but turning off went to Fenius, captain of
the guards, and stating to him the emperor's orders, asked whether he
should obey him; and was by him admonished to execute them"; thus
displaying that want of spirit which by some fatality prevailed
universally; for Silvanus too was one of the conspirators, and yet was
contributing to multiply the atrocities he had conspired to avenge. He
avoided, however, seeing and speaking to Seneca; but sent in a
centurion to apprize him of his final doom.

Seneca undismayed, called for tables to make his will; and, as this
was prohibited by the centurion, turning to his friends, he told them,
"that since he was debarred from requiting their services, he
bequeathed them that which alone was now left him, but which yet was
the fairest legacy he had to leave them--the example of his life: and
if they kept it in view, they would reap the fame due to honorable
acquirements and inviolable friendship." At the same time he
endeavored to repress their tears and restore their fortitude, now by
soothing language, and now in a more animated strain and in a tone of
rebuke, asking them, "where were the precepts of philosophy? where the
rules of conduct under impending evils, studied for so