Lennart Hakanson died suddenly in June 1987, immediately after completing his fundamental critical edition of the Elder Seneca's Controversiae and Suasoriae. In his preface, Hakanson referred to an ongoing commentary on those works, which was never published because of his death. This volume presents Hakanson's commentary on the first book of Seneca's Controversiae - the only part that the scholar left in an advanced stage of preparation.