"Venient annis secula seris,
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus,
Tethysque novos detegat orbes;
Nec sit terris ultima Thule."
Medea, Act II., ad finem, v. 375.
and he says that some commentator describes these lines as "a vaticination of the Spanish discovery of America." I believe, however, that Lord Bacon may claim the merit of having been the first to notice this vaticination. In his essay "Of Prophecies" he says:
"Seneca, the tragedian, hath these verses:—
'Venient annis
Sæcula seris, quibus Oceanus