Ep. 108, 13-15, ‘Ego certe cum Attalum audirem in vitia, in errores, in mala vitae perorantem, saepe misertus sum generis humani et illum sublimem altioremque humano fastigio credidi ... Inde mihi quaedam permansere, Lucili. Magno enim in omnia inceptu veneram. Deinde ad civitatis vitam reductus ex bene coeptis pauca servavi: inde ostreis boletisque in omnem vitam renuntiatum est.’
Seneca speaks of his change of studies and occupations in Ep. 49, 2, ‘Modo apud Sotionem philosophum puer sedi. Modo causas agere coepi. Modo desii velle agere, modo desii posse.’
In A.D. 31 Seneca was probably still at Rome; cf. N.Q. i. 1, 3, ‘Vidimus [prodigium] eo tempore, quo de Seiano actum est.’ Lipsius’ inference[74] that Seneca made a voyage to Egypt about this time is probable, though Seneca himself gives no direct information about it. According to this theory his host was Vitrasius Pollio, prefect of Egypt. While in Egypt, Seneca was attacked by illness, and escaped death by his aunt’s care. Cf. ad Helv. 19, 2, ‘Illius pio maternoque nutricio per longum tempus aeger convalui.’ Seneca accompanied Vitrasius when he resigned his office and returned with his wife to Italy A.D. 32 (Dio, lviii. 19, 6). They suffered shipwreck, and Vitrasius perished.
Ad Helv. 19, 4, ‘Sed si prudentiam perfectissimae feminae novi, non patietur te nihil profuturo maerore consumi et exemplum tibi suum, cuius ego etiam spectator fui, narrabit. Carissimum virum amiserat, avunculum nostrum, cui virgo nupserat, in ipsa quidem navigatione: tulit tamen eodem tempore et luctum et metum evictisque tempestatibus corpus eius naufraga evexit.’
This theory is supported by the fact that Seneca wrote a work ‘de ritu (al., situ) et sacris Aegyptiorum’ (Serv. ad Aen. vi. 154).
Through his aunt’s influence Seneca obtained the quaestorship.
Ad Helv. 19, 2, ‘Illa pro quaestura mea gratiam suam extendit, et quae ne sermonis quidem aut clarae salutationis sustinuit audaciam, pro me vicit indulgentia verecundiam.’
Seneca’s quaestorship must have been after the death of his aunt’s husband, in A.D. 32, as the above passage shows, and before the death of Tiberius in A.D. 37, as it was with Tiberius that his aunt’s influence lay, on account of her husband’s services. After his quaestorship Seneca appears to have married (cf. de ira, iii. 36, 3, etc.). His wife must have died before A.D. 57, as in that year Seneca married Pompeia Paulina; cf. Dio, lxi. 10, 3, γάμον ἐπιφανέστατον ἔγημε. By his first wife he had three sons (ad Helv. 2, 5).
While senator, Seneca incurred the jealousy of Caligula, and in A.D. 39 narrowly escaped death.
Dio, lix. 19, 7, ὁ δὲ δὴ Σενέκας ... διεφθάρη παρ’ ὀλίγον, μήτ’ ἀδικήσας τι, μήτε δόξας, ὅτι δίκην τινὰ ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ παρόντος αὐτοῦ καλῶς εἴπε. For Seneca’s attacks on Caligula cf. ad Helv. 10, 4; Apocol. 15, etc.