After Seneca (5 BC-65 AD), the Roman philosopher and statesman, had fallen out of favor with his former pupil, Nero, word reached him that the emperor wished him dead. With admirable stoicism the old man mused that it was no more than one might have expected from someone who had already killed his mother and brother. With his villa surrounded by Nero’s soldiers, Seneca prepared to die. He embraced his wife Paulina and urged her not to give way to grief. She determined that they should die together as proof of their love for one another. Consequently both had the veins in their arms opened. Unfortunately, probably due to Seneca’s sluggish circulation, his blood merely trickled from the open vessels. He asked that the blood vessels in his legs be opened. He also requested that Paulina be moved to another room to spare her witnessing his suffering. In another attempt to accelerate his end, Seneca swallowed a cup of hemlock, the poison that had dispatched Socrates nearly 500 years before. With the philosopher\u00a0in extremis<\/em>, his slaves and attendants had recourse to a bath of hot water to quicken the loss of blood. Finally he died and, according to his wishes, was cremated. Nero, who had no use for martyrs, ordered that Paulina’s wounds be dressed and the blood loss staunched.<\/p>\n
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