What Has Octavia Ever Done to Seneca? Reconsidering Seneca’s exempla in Consolatio ad Marciam

Abstract

This article examines Seneca the Younger’s critique of Octavia Minor’s unceasing grief in his Consolatio ad Marciam, a rarity amongst the usually more sympathetic portrayals in other ancient sources. The study reconsiders the rhetorical, political, and didactic motives behind Seneca’s critique. Through comparison with historiographical and poetic sources, including the pseudo-Ovidian Consolatio ad Liviam, it reassesses the singularity and possible invention of Seneca’s account within the Julio-Claudian narrative as a cautionary, didactic exemplum with political and diplomatic implications.