5. Naturales Quaestiones in seven Books, addressed to Lucilius. Book ii. was written after A.D. 57, as in ii. 9, 2 an amphitheatre is mentioned which was built by Nero in that year. The work was finished before the end of A.D. 64, for in Book vii. there is no mention among other prodigies of the comet which appeared again at the end of that year.
6. Epistulae morales ad Lucilium. These were addressed to Lucilius Iunior, the author of ‘Aetna’ (see [p. 277]). There are extant one hundred and twenty four letters, in twenty Books, but some Books have been lost, as Gell. xii. 2, 3 quotes from Book xxii. Books i.-iii. were probably published by Seneca, the rest after his death, generally in chronological order.
The following poetical works are extant:
1. Epigrams.—Nine on his exile are given in the editions; probably only Nos. 1, 2, and 7 are genuine.
2. Tragedies.—Some of these may have been composed during Seneca’s exile in Corsica. See ad Helv. 20 (quoted [p. 243]). The metrical treatment is strict, especially in the senarii. Anapaestic, glyconic, sapphic lines, etc., are used in the choral odes. There are only three actors, except in the spurious Octavia. The plays are: (1) Hercules Furens and (2) Troades or Hecuba, founded on Euripides. (3) Phoenissae or Thebais. The two parts do not correspond. In ll. 1-362, Oedipus and Antigone are on their way to Cithaeron; from l. 363 to the end we find Iocasta and Antigone in Thebes while it is besieged by the Seven. (4) Medea, founded on Euripides. Ovid has also been imitated; so ll. 56 sqq. from Ovid, Heroides, 12, 137. (5) Phaedra or Hippolytus. (6) Oedipus, after Sophocles. (7) Agamemnon, after Aeschylus. (8) Thyestes. (9) Hercules Oetaeus, of which the second part, at least, is spurious. (10) Octavia, a praetexta, describing the death of Octavia, Nero’s wife (A.D. 62). Seneca himself appears in it. It cannot be by Seneca, as Nero’s downfall (A.D. 68) is mentioned in ll. 628-36.
The following works are lost or exist only in fragments:
i. Poems of a light nature (Pliny, Ep. v. 3). 2. De motu terrarum, afterwards incorporated in N.Q. vi. (see N.Q. vi. 4, 2). 3. De lapidum natura. 4. De piscium natura. 5. De ritu et sacris Aegyptiorum (see [p. 242]). 6. De situ Indiae. 7. De forma mundi. 8. Exhortationes. 9. De officiis. 10. De immatura morte. 11. De superstitione dialogus. 12. De matrimonio. 13. De amicitia. 14. De vita patris, along with an edition of his works. 15. Speeches by himself or by Nero. 16. Epistulae (a) ad Novatum, probably written from Corsica, (b) ad Caesonium Maximum. 17. A book in praise of Messalina, afterwards withdrawn (see [p. 243]). 18. Moralis philosophiae libri (see Ep. 106, 2). 19. De remediis fortuitorum, addressed to Gallio. A synopsis with additions is extant. 20. De paupertate. 21. De formula honestae vitae, probably founded on one of Seneca’s works. 22. Notae (see Sueton. pp. 135-6 R.).
The following are spurious works:
1. ‘Epistulae Senecae, Neronis imperatoris magistri, ad Paulum Apostolum et Pauli Apostoli ad Senecam.’ These letters, fourteen in all, are accepted as genuine by Jerome, de vir. illustr. 12. ‘Seneca ... quem non ponerem in catalogo sanctorum, nisi me epistulae illae provocarent, quae leguntur a plurimis, Pauli ad Senecam et Senecae ad Paulum.’
2. A work extant under the title of Sententiae Rufi has been wrongly thought to correspond to Seneca’s dying words mentioned in Tac. Ann. xv. 63.