Lucius Annaeus Seneca

It’s not the End of the World: Exile and Apocalypse in Seneca Moral Epistles 9.16

2023-07-05T15:26:56+00:00

This paper investigates the analogy Seneca makes between the life of the sage when forced into solitude through exile or incarceration and the contemplative state of Jupiter after the ekpyrosis and before the rebirth of the cosmos. I argue that this passage is innovative and important for several reasons. Rather than using the end of the world to accept death as Seneca does in other texts, in this letter Jupiter’s solitude after the world conflagration is employed as a model for how to live well and self-sufficiently while being alone. Jupiter’s solitary contemplation takes place in a period outside of the regular workings of nature, an idea that is not found in other Stoic texts. This vision of Jupiter as the contemplative last being in the cosmos anticipates the modern apocalyptic trope of ‘The Last Man.’

Il gapping verbale nelle Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

2022-03-15T06:50:02+00:00

Il gapping verbale prevede l’eliminazione di un verbo in comune a due congiunti che sono messi in relazione tra di loro e che hanno una struttura sintattica simmetrica, sì, ma costruita con elementi diversi, generalmente in opposizione. Si è voluto osservare il fenomeno all’interno del corpus delle Epistulae senecane, al fine di analizzarne la frequenza e la semantica dei passi in cui ricorre: i dati che sono stati ricavati ripercorrendo l’intero corpus epistolare senecano saranno utili a delineare ulteriori caratteristiche relative allo stile dell’autore.

La “Buona morte” in scena. Due casi di εὐθανασία a confronto: Augusto (Suet. Aug. 98-99) e Tullio Marcellino (Sen. epist. 77)

2023-06-28T14:26:59+00:00

This article analyses the analogies between two εὐθανασία scenes: that of Augustus (Suet. Aug. 98-99) and that of Tullius Marcellinus (Sen. epist. 77). I argue that the official version of Augustus’ death, as it emerges from Suetonius, is the paradigm lying behind Seneca’s depiction of Marcellinus’ suicide. Despite killing himself, Lucilius’ friend stages an exitus facilis, i.e. an εὐθανασία, which shares many traits with the death of Augustus (peacefulness, pleasure, lack of pain, nobleness, life as a comedy and death as the final act). Through the exemplum of Marcellinus, Seneca offers a death paradigm which is both “august” and private (i.e. apolitical), in opposition to the trendy Stoic political suicide.

Libertas y ejemplaridad en Sen. Ep. 80

2023-01-25T17:43:54+00:00

Self-vindication is an issue of paramount importance in Seneca’s Epistulae. Particularly, Ep.80’s incipit presents Seneca as an exemplum of how the animus can set itself free from the limits imposed by the outside world. However, this paper argues that the emphasis this letter poses on theatre and unmasking seems to point to the fact that discourse can be turned into a mask that hides the inner difficulties to reach mental libertas. Since this letter mentions the personata felicitas of the delicati (§8), it could be stated that Seneca’s exemplum shows his readers the risk for libertas of becoming personata, and thus of concealing the contradictions of those who have not been able yet to achieve interior freedom.

Seneca’s Reception of Cleanthes’ Poetology in Epistulae Morales 107 and 108 in the Light of a New Edition of Philodemus’ On Music 4

2023-09-05T14:50:47+00:00

Based on the 2007 edition of Philodemus’ On Music 4 by Daniel Delattre, this paper presents a close reading of the Epicurean’s polemic against Stoic views on poetry, notably a fragment of Cleanthes (SVF 1.486), in order to show how Seneca positions himself within that debate and how he enriches it when discussing the function of aesthetically shaped philosophical discourse in Ep. 108. He adapts the Epicurean critique by adding the factor of audience intention but, like Cleanthes, conceives of aesthetically shaped language as a tool to direct attention to what is evidently good and thus motivate right action. This pragmatic function of poetry, to cause both strong impulse generating impressions and assent to them, is illustrated with the example of two prayers by Cleanthes (SVF 1.527 and 537), which Seneca incorporates in Ep. 107, the letter preceding the reception of Cleanthes’ poetological remark at Ep. 108.10 (SVF 1.487).

Ethical Intellectualism in Seneca and the Roman Stoics: A Philosophical Trajectory From Plato’s Socrates to Patristic Philosophy

2023-12-28T19:40:41+00:00

This article explores the meaning and role of ethical intellectualism in Seneca (in connection with his gnoseology and ethics) and, contextually, other Roman Stoics (Musonius, Persius, Hierocles, and Epictetus), against the background of ethical intellectualism in Plato’s Socrates, Plato himself, and ancient Stoicism. Some glimpses will be offered into the reception of ethical intellectualism in Patristic thought. The essay traces the chain of thought of this key theory in ancient philosophy, with attention to Stoicism and particularly Seneca, through to Patristic philosophy (especially here, scholars contrast ethical intellectualism with voluntarism, but not always on the basis of a careful assessment).

Seneca e l’esilio di Giulia maggiore. Tracce del libellus di Augusto in Ben. 6.32

2023-06-15T10:15:41+00:00

This article provides a close reading of Seneca’s De beneficiis 6.32. This passage tackles the story of the emperor Augustus exiling his only daughter Iulia maior by reading a libellus against her in the Senate. It is suggested that Seneca had the original text of the libellus at his disposal, since the passage contains elements which do not belong to his style, and details which we do not find in the historical sources of the event. This passage should be listed among the collection of statements referred to Augustus.

Seneca’s Platonism Revisited: Myth and the Sublime in Plato, Ovid, and Seneca (Q. Nat. 3)

2023-08-13T14:27:12+00:00

While there has been much discussion about the nature of Seneca’s reception of Plato mainly with regard to his Epistles, in this paper I focus on Seneca’s Natural Questions, a treatise in association with which the question of Seneca’s Platonic echoes reemerges. In what follows I intend to focus on the study of Natural Questions 3, in which the philosopher investigates the nature and causes of terrestrial waters. Since this book is commonly considered to be the first in the treatise, it bears programmatic value regarding Seneca’s natural philosophical project as a whole, in terms of his reply to the previous poetic natural philosophical tradition. In my discussion, I am building on my previous work, in which I explore the fact that Seneca’s Natural Questions 3 is heavily imbued with intertextual references to Ovid’s Metamorphoses. On the basis of Seneca’s intense intertextual relationship with Ovid as well as Ovid’s conceivable direct engagement with Plato in his Metamorphoses, I will consider an alternative way in which Seneca reaches back to Plato’s ideas, i.e. also through the Ovidian filter. In my argument, although I don’t downplay the fact that the reception of Plato in Rome was a particularly meandering process, I rather emphasize a supplementary intertextual aspect, which so far has remained unnoticed. Our narrow focus and connecting thread are going to be the notion of the conflagration and the myth of Phaethon. My discussion aspires to enrich our reading of Natural Questions 3, regarding Seneca’s ideas about the function of myth within a treatise on natural philosophy, the notion of the sublime and the intersection between poetry and prose as an integral part of his ethical project. Seneca replies not only to Ennius, Lucretius, Vergil and Ovid -as I have argued so far-, but also to Plato, claiming for himself a place
within the literary chain of philosophical or philosophizing authors writing on natural science with poetic credentials.

Seneca and Sicily’s Multa Mirabilia

2023-05-08T09:54:05+00:00

Seneca’s description of Sicily has not been explored in detail. Although from Seneca’s works emerges an interest in Sicily and the Aetna, Seneca avoids speaking of the province. At the core of this article is the analysis of the detailed description of Syracuse (Marc. 17.2-6) and Seneca’s reference to Sicily in Q. Nat. 4a praef., where the philosopher exhorts the procurator Lucilius to step back from the province, despite its multa mirabilia. Syracuse’s ambiguous appearance, already underlined by Bartsch (2007), will be the starting point for investigating Seneca’s treatment of Sicily.

Seneca e Strabone sulla Fonte Aretusa: una proposta di confronto

2023-08-25T12:29:29+00:00

Il presente contributo mira ad analizzare la funzionalità del lessico tecnico in Seneca e Strabone a partire dalla presenza di un aneddoto in comune, cioè il presunto collegamento sotterraneo fra la fonte Aretusa ed il fiume Alfeo (Elide). L’analoga costruzione retorica dei due passi è interessante, soprattutto se si tiene in conto che l’operato di Seneca è indipendente da quello di Strabone. Verrà analizzata la possibilità che vi sia stata una tradizione letteraria e scientifica in comune fra i due autori. Il caso di studio in analisi serve anche ad esaminare i diversi approcci dei i due autori alla materia poetica, vincolata alle diverse premesse a priori delle due opere in questione, la Geografia e le Ricerche sulla Natura. Per quanto riguarda la trattazione del mito della fonte, due divergono nelle conclusioni, nelle modalità di confutazione e nell’utilizzo della fonte poetica. Pertanto, questo caso può rappresentare un punto di partenza per gettare luce sui possibili legami fra le due opere, ipotizzando la presenza di Posidonio alla base di entrambi i resoconti.