¹ For a more specific illustration see Reynolds, L. D., The Medieval Tradition of Seneca's Letters (1965), pp. 4–6Google Scholar; Trillitzsch, W., ‘Erasmus und Seneca’, Philol. cix (1965), 270–283.Google Scholar

² ‘It is a mistake when a letter-writer is a man of action with too much to tell. He is then in danger of becoming exciting. The best letter-writers never excite: they entertain, amuse, interest, excite never. A humorous observer of life, of strong affections, and possessed of sufficient egotism to desire to keep his friends acquainted with his thoughts, adventures, moods, and achievements, is, when he is without responsibilities or harassing demands on his time, in the ideal position to write such letters as become literature' (E. V. Lucas, William Cowper's Letters, World's Classics ed.).