XL
How Seneca, that noble man,
Succumbed beneath his pupil’s ban;
Set in a bath to die was he,
By Nero’s savage cruelty.
The death of Seneca
“The sentence given, no stop or stay
Made Nero, mocked he all delay;
And Seneca was straightway set
Within a bath, and leeches let
The blood from out his veins, till dead
He lay—his glorious spirit fled.
No pretext Nero had for this
Most treacherous crime, save that amiss
He took it that, since childhood’s days,
He had been taught his cap to raise
In humbleness and reverence when
He met his tutor. Cried he then:
‘Fit is it I should bow my face
Either in house or public place
To any man?
As emperor
No longer will I bend before
Another, whosoe’er he be,
Tutor or sire, ’tis one to me.’
Sithence he felt it as a brand
Of tutelage that he should stand6600
Uncovered, as the custom bade
That he from tender years had had,
