Quotations
Seneca is fond of illustrating his subject by passages from the poets. His favourites are Virgil and Ovid, and only once does he quote Lucretius, whose work was much more analogous to his own. The quotations are apparently from memory and betray occasional inaccuracies, as even the best memories will.
The following is a list of the references:—
| Book I. | Pref., 8 (p. 6). Virg. Aen. iv. 404. |
| i. 4 (10). Virg. Aen. v. 528. | |
| iii, 4 (17). Ovid, Metamorp. vi. 65. 7. | |
| v. 6 (25). Nero in an unknown poem: one or two other tags of that versatile tyrant have been preserved. | |
| vi. 1 (28). Virg. Georg. i. 380. 1. | |
| xi. 2 (35). Virg. Georg. ii. 95. 6. | |
| xiv. 2 (38). Virg. Georg. i. 367. (cf. VII. xx. 1). | |
| xvii. 5 (45). Virg. Eclog. ii. 25. 6. | |
| Book II. | i. 2 (51). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 55. |
| xliv. 1 (91). Ovid, Metamorp. iii. 305–7. | |
| Book III. | Pref., 3 (109). Origin unknown: a somewhat similar sentiment occurs in Aetna, 24. |
| i. 1 (114). Ovid, Metamorp. iii. 407. | |
| i. 1 (114). Virg. Aen. i. 245. 6. | |
| i. 1 (114). Lucilius, to whom the Q.N. was addressed. If he was the author of Aetna, as seems not improbable, he may have written other poems on Sicilian topography. | |
| xx. 2 (133). Ovid, Metamorp. xv. 313. 4 (cf. Ibid. xi. 3 sqq.). | |
| xx. 4 (134). Ovid, Metamorp. xv. 321. | |
| xx. 5 (134). Ovid, Metamorp. xv. 330. 1. | |
| xxvi. 3 (142). Ovid, Metamorp. xv. 273–6. | |
| xxvi. 5 (142). Virg. Eclog. x. 4. 5. | |
| xxvii. 12 (147). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 292. | |
| xxvii. 12 (147). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 304. | |
| xxvii. 13 (148). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 285. 290. | |
| xxviii. 2 (148). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 272. | |
| Book IV. | Pref., 17 (165). Virg. Aen. iv. 373. |
| Pref., 17 (165). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 241. 2. | |
| ii. 2 (168). Tib. Eleg. I. vii. 26. | |
| iii. 3 (178). Ovid, Ars Amat. i. 475. 6. | |
| iii. 3 (178). Lucret. De Rerum Nat. i. 313. | |
| iv. 2 (179). Virg. Georg. i. 313. | |
| Book V. | i. 1 (193). Virg. Eclog. ii. 26. |
| xiv. 1 (206). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 388. | |
| xvi. 1 (208). Ovid, Metamorp. i. 61–6. | |
| xvi. 2 (209). Virg. Aen. i. 85. | |
| Book VI. | ii. 1 (225). Virg. Aen. ii. 354. |
| ii. 8 (227). Both quotation and author are doubtful: another reading attributes the poem to A. Gellius. | |
| xiii. 5 (241). Virg. Aen. vi. 256. | |
| xvii. 1 (246). Virg. Aen. viii. 728. | |
| xviii. 1 (247). Virg. Aen. i. 55. 6. | |
| xviii. 3 (248). Virg. Aen. i. 53. 4. | |
| xxii. 3 (253). Virg. Aen. viii. 525. | |
| xxvi. 2 (258). Virg. Aen. iii. 77. | |
| xxix. 3 (262). Virg. Aen. iii. 414–9. | |
| Book VII. | x. 1 (282). Ovid, Metamorp. ii. 71. |
| xx. 1 (292). Virg. Georg. i. 367 (cf. I. xiv. 2). | |
| xx. 3 (293). Virg. Aen. ix. 20. 1. | |
| xxv. 1 (298). Virg. Georg. i. 137. | |
| xxviii. 1 (302). Virg. Georg. i. 392. | |
| xxviii. 1 (302). Virg. Georg. i. 362. |