CL,
Perhaps you're missing the broadest point.
I'm not referring merely to the broadest point of anything Seneca said.

I'm referring to the broadest point of human cognition.

Beyond simple arithmetic (an abstraction for a start), there aren't as many absolute truths as some might wish to believe.

First of all, they didn't have digital voice recorders back then, so whatever scribe noted this output from Seneca may have taken some license.

And I doubt Seneca spoke with Cockney accent; something may have been lost, or gained in translation.

And finally, if Seneca said this about a population of 1,000 humans, and
333 of the believers were commoners, &
333 of the disbelievers were wise, &
333 of the rulers used religion as an instrument of manipulation,
but only one person out of that thousand population didn't:
that would prove Seneca wrong.

BUT!

That doesn't mean it's not useful insight, none the less.
General rules are useful, even when they have exceptions. The month of February has 28 days, except in Leap Years, when it has 29.

Whether the "quotation" is the most accurate translation of what Seneca actually said, or not, I'll probably never know.

But it's still useful insight: religion can be believed, or disbelieved, or used. Do you disagree with that CL?
"Ideas are not for believing. Ideas are for using." psychologist Joy Browne

"when the bigots of this world have been privileged for as long as they have, to them equality feels like discrimination." shiftless2