1 It is clear from chapters 18 and 19 that, when this essay
was written (in or about A.D. 49), Paulinus was praefectus annonae, the
official who superintended the grain supply of Rome, and was, therefore, a man of
importance. He was, believably, a near relative of Seneca's wife, Pompeia
Paulina, and is usually identified with the father of a certain Pompeius
Paulinus, who held high public posts under Nero (Pliny, Nat. Hist.
xxxiii. 143; Tacitus, Annals, xiii. 53. 2; xv.
2 The famous aphorism of Hippocrates of Cos: ὁ βίος βραχύς, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή.
3 An error for Theophrastus, as shown by Cicero, Tusc. Disp. iii. 69:
"Theophrastus autem moriens accusasse naturam dicitur, quod cervis et
cornicibus vitam diuturnam, quorum id nihil interesset, hominibus, quorum
maxime interfuisset, tam exiguam vitam dedisset; quorum si aetas potuisset esse
longinquior, futurum fuisse ut omnibus perfectis artibus omni doctrina hominum
vita erudiretur."
4 i.e., of man. Cf. Hesiod, Frag. 183 (Rzach):
’Εννέα τοι ζώει γενεὰς λακέρυζα κορώνη
ἀνδρῶν γηράντω· ἔλαφος δέ τε τετρακόρωνος.
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