Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Dall’azione politica alla cura di sé: la trasformazione del concetto di spes in Cicerone e Seneca

2025-09-08T16:53:28+00:00

This paper examines the evolution of the concept of spes in Roman philosophy by comparing its political significance in Cicero with its ethical dimension in Seneca. In this transition, hope detaches from the civic sphere of the Republic to take on, in the form of bona spes, a central role in the individual’s moral progress under the Empire.

Ira funesta. Metafore e personificazioni nel De ira di Seneca

2025-05-30T18:22:54+00:00

Considering the frequency of the term ira (“anger”) in the singular nominative form in Seneca’s De ira, this work proposes to classify the compound sentences in which ira functions as the syntactic subject according to their themes, and to reflect on the metaphors Seneca employs. This study seeks to balance an approach informed by Cognitive Linguistics with Seneca’s Stoic philosophy and the social and cultural milieu in which De ira was written. The proposed criterion for classification is the degree of agency Seneca attributes to ira: compound sentences in which ira displays a lower degree of agency employ sum and passive verb forms, whereas those in which ira exhibits a higher degree of agency use verbs related to movement and ownership, or even present ira as ordering or directly performing certain actions. It was possible to observe a connection between the degree of agency Seneca attributes to ira and the evolution of anger from a manageable emotion to an uncontrollable impulse, as described in the theory of passions in three motus in the second book of De ira.

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

2025-06-03T05:04:52+00:00

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.

A More Orderly Nature: Stoic Meteorology and Tides in Seneca’s De Providentia

2025-05-18T08:17:53+00:00

This paper argues that Seneca’s praeteritio on the kosmos at the opening of De providentia suggests that much of the disorder that we detect in the world is a product of our own spatially and temporally limited perspective. To demonstrate this point, Seneca focuses on meteorological phenomena, arguing that even seemingly chaotic occurrences, like earthquakes, obey some order. By drawing an analogy between these events and tidal activity, Seneca suggests that the temporal logic underpinning these phenomena has simply eluded us, and provides valuable insights into the significance of tides for the development of Stoic meteorology.

La geografia di Seneca: toponimi nelle Questioni Naturali

2025-04-24T10:07:18+00:00

This study examines the toponyms in Seneca’s Naturales Quaestiones as a means to explore the role of geography within the work - an aspect that has not yet received sustained analysis. It is grounded in a comprehensive survey of all toponyms, followed by an in-depth assessment of distribution, frequency, and usefulness for interpreting the work through the political context of Seneca’s time and biography. A key point is the author’s reticence to reference Italy and Rome. The first section address the Italian peninsula and the provinces; a case study centered on Egypt follows, given the region’s historical significance.

So Many Names Will Perish: Demise and Modes of Thought in Seneca’s Natural Questions

2024-07-20T06:57:59+00:00

In the Natural Questions, Seneca both imparts and combats anxiety about death: the reader’s, his own, and even that of philosophy. As a culminating memento mori in Q. Nat. 3 he rewrites Ovid’s flood narrative as the Stoic cataclysm. Following Stoic cyclical theory, however, Seneca claims that humankind will be reborn, implying a potential exceeding of death. By tracing Seneca’s numerous hints about postmortem continuity we gain insights into the specific blend of natural investigation, ethical philosophy, and literature in the Q. Nat. Through their combinations and mutual corrections Seneca constructs his own afterlife.

Aeneas Furens? Aeneas Furens? The reception of Herculean Aeneas in Seneca’s Hercules

2025-08-09T14:14:18+00:00

Virgil goes out of his way to blur – to problematise – the simple dichotomy between Olympian hero [Hercules] and chthonic monster [Cacus]: the hero of reason falls prey to a fiery fury that seems the more proper quality of the fire-breathing monster Cacus. The hero of civilization and future god falls below the level of humanity into a semi-bestial passion.

Reflections on the Justice and Ethics of War in Act II of Seneca’s Troades

2025-05-18T08:21:49+00:00

In contrast to his established persona in the previous literature, in Seneca’s Troades Agamemnon embodies traits of a wise person who has learned from his past. In his fierce debate with Pyrrhus in the second scene of Act II, he argues against the sacrifice of Polyxena to the dead Achilles and supports a merciful treatment of the defeated Trojans. His thoughts could be read in parallel with texts exploring the concept of a leader who possesses clementia (cf. Seneca’s De clementia), recall Vergil’s parcere subiectis et debellare superbos (Aen. 6.853) and engage in relevant discussions on the justice and ethics of war such as those in Cicero’s De officiis. Thus, in his arguments it is possible to reconstruct aspects of a just war theory that focuses on the ius post bellum. The decision of the gods, who do not espouse Agamemnon’s suggestion, could be interpreted according to Seneca’s broader poetic and philosophical beliefs regarding the liberating choice of death, and not as a condemnation of the view that the defeated should be treated leniently.