But Paulina declared that she would die with him, and Seneca, not opposing the deed which would win her such permanent glory, and at the same time unwilling to leave her to future wrongs, yielded to her wish.

The veins of their arms were opened by the same blow; but the blood of Seneca, impoverished by old age and temperate living, flowed so slowly that it was necessary also to open the veins of his legs.

This mode of death, chosen by the Romans as comparatively painless, is in fact under certain circumstances most agonizing.

Worn out by these cruel tortures, and unwilling to weaken his wife's fortitude by so dreadful a spectacle, glad at the same time to spare himself the sight of _her_ sufferings, he persuaded her to go to another room.

Even then his eloquence did not fail.