A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

3. PompeiaPaulina, the wife of Annaeus Seneca the philosopher, whom he married rather late in life. She was probably the daughter of Pompeius Paulinus, who commanded in Gernany in the reign of Nero. She seems to have been attached to her husband, who speaks of her with affection, and mentions in particular the care which she took of his health (Senec. Ep. 104). She was with her husband at dinner when the centurion came from Nero to tell Seneca that he must die. The philosopher received the intelligence with calmness, embraced his wife, and bade her bear their separation with firmness; but as she begged that she might die with him, he yielded to her entreaties, and they opened their veins together. Nero, however, unwilling to incur a reputation for unnecessary cruelty, comanded her veins to be bound up. Her life was thus spared; and she lived a few years longer, but with a paleness which testified how near she had been to death. This is the account of Tacitus (Tac. Ann. 15.60_64), which differs somewhat from that in Dio Cassius (61.10, 62.25), who relates the event to the disparagement of Seneca.