Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Imago animi sermo est. Oscurità e perspicuità nella teoria senecana dello stile

Carlo Delle Donne — 2024-12-27

Il contributo cerca di mettere in luce l’importanza che le nozioni di oscurità e perspicuità espressive rivestono nella riflessione senecana sulla corretta maniera di scrivere la filosofia. Inoltre, si ipotizza come, nello sviluppare una propria teoria dello stile filosofico, che contemperi oscurità e perspicuità eccessive, Seneca mostri una profonda consapevolezza del dibattito interscolastico di età ellenistica, che aveva visto gli Stoici tacciati, molto spesso, proprio di oscurità espressiva.

Stuffed and Preserved: The Paradox of Overeating in Seneca’s Epistulae Morales

Robert Santucci — 2024-12-27

This article argues that the Epistulae Morales dramatizes overeating as a problem that Seneca develops throughout the letters. The overeater stuffs their belly with food, dies, and finally becomes a sort of food. This progression signals that issues of food and eating thus bear on Roman social commitments in addition to their expected philosophical significance, since in the pursuit of stuffing the belly the overeater reneges on their social obligations.

Introduzione. Letture del De otio di Seneca

Francesca Romana Berno — 2024-12-27

Alla riscoperta del De otio: una nota sulle lacune e una sul dedicatario, con recensio completa dei manoscritti (De vita beata e De otio)

Ermanno Malaspina — 2024-12-27

This article begins by outlining the history of the critical text of Seneca’s De otio, then focusing on the problem of the initial and final gaps (only the first one is certain in our opinion) and on the name of the addressee. The hypothesis is put forward that the De otio may also conceal the elaboration of a text originally circulating in the form of a letter. As for the addressee, forgotten nineteenth-century statements are recovered which prove that the index of A presented the name of Annaeus Serenus. The paper then gives an overview of all traceable manuscripts containing both De vita beata and De otio, with a codicological description briefly summarising the physical characteristics and the history of each, and, if already attested, the relationships with other witnesses. Finally, a table facilitates the identification of the manuscripts examined.

Seneca De otio 2. The Pursuit of Otium and the Vestals’ Exemplary Life

Tommaso Gazzarri — 2024-12-27

In the second chapter of Ot., Seneca endeavors to reassure his reader that he is not abandoning the core precepts of the Stoic school. To do so, he proposes a structured analysis of his stance, which — he announces — is going to be divided in two parts. This paper analyzes the illustrations and rhetorical organization of these subdivisions. It delves into Seneca’s literary and philosophical models to then offer a new reading of the closing image whereby Seneca associates the ideal of otium cum dignitate with the final duties of an old Vestal.

De otio, Chapter 3

Juliette Dross — 2024-12-27

In chapter 3 of De otio, Seneca shows that the wise man can or even should devote himself to otium at any age. To do so, he brings together Stoic and Epicurean political doctrines around otium in a way that is both original and paradoxical, showing that otium is not only a possible choice for the Stoic philosopher, but often the only valuable choice. Far from being an idle retreat from the world, this otium is fully active and ultimately represents a higher form of political engagement. Redefined as a commune negotium, otium becomes the supreme philosophical activity, serving oneself, the others and humanity as a whole.

Lettura di Seneca, De otio 4

Nicola Lanzarone — 2024-12-27

This paper deals with chapter 4 of Seneca’s De otio. Since the latter contains a catalogue of philosophical themes, my paper is mainly focused on this literary topos, which is contextualized in Seneca’s philosophical production and in Greek and Latin literary tradition.

Kontemplation und Kosmologie in De otio 5

Bardo Maria Gauly — 2024-12-27

In the fifth chapter of his treatise De otio Seneca tries to establish that not only political action but contemplation as well meets the Stoic notion of what man should seek to do. Our reading of the text adresses three subjects: 1. Possible references to contemporary politics: The chapter does not suggest an autobiographical interpretation; nevertheless, it can be read to refer to current discourses (e.g. the limits of knowledge). 2. Cosmology as subject of contemplation: Neither in De otio nor in Seneca’s other works the position of cosmology within philosophy is clearly circumscribed. Sometimes cosmology is thought to be preparing and supporting moral progress, sometimes it is said to be of an autonomous value. 3. Philosophy for posterity: In De otio and other Senecan treatises, it is especially cosmological reasoning that is bound to be of use for generations to come and to ponder possible future progress of knowledge.

Wie die vita contemplativa zur überlegenen vita activa werden kann: Seneca, De otio 6

Claudia Wiener — 2024-12-27

The basic structure of chapter 6 is formed by several logical conclusions. Seneca uses syllogisms to prove that the otium of the wise is the superior vita activa. Seneca questions seemingly clear ideas of concepts (as vita activa versus vita contemplativa) and thus achieves semantic expansion. Zeno is used as a role model to defend this type of vita contemplativa the Stoic school founders chose even though the recommended political activity. The apparent contradiction of praecepta and practiced way of life is also thematised in De tranquillitate animi. A comparison of the two essays shows that the therapeutic approach in De tranquillitate animi prompts Seneca to make an addressee-related recommendation, while in the discursive essay De otio he examines and confirms or differentiates generally valid statements on the wise man’s right to otium, which can then be applied to his own choice of life.

De otio 7

Gareth D. Williams — 2024-12-27

In De otio 7 Seneca draws on the familiar philosophical idea of the three modes of life – centered, respectively, on pleasure, contemplation, and action1 – in order to argue for the Stoic compatibility between the contemplative and active existences. If he can successfully reconcile the contemplative and active modes of life in ch. 7, Seneca will significantly advance his larger argument in De otio for the Stoic’s justified retirement from the active life either at the end of a career of public service or even before that career begins (2.1-2); for if philosophical contemplation counts as a form of “active” service that benefits the community, the retired life of the mind remains actively and socially beneficial at any stage of one’s existence. In sum, the Stoic commitment to the active life does not end with retirement; rather, what changes is the pathway by which that non-negotiable τέλος is reached.

La navigazione impossibile. Lettura di Seneca, De otio 8

Francesca Romana Berno — 2024-12-27

This paper offers a close reading of Seneca’s De otio 8, providing some evidence for the theory according to which it would represent the ending of the dialogue: it summons and deepens several motifs hinted at in the previous chapters; it alludes to the opening of Cicero’s De re publica; it deals with the shipwreck metaphor, a seminal image in Seneca’s prose works. Furthermore, the quoted historical examples – Socrates, Aristoteles and Hannibal, unjustly prosecuted by their own fellow citizens – may suggest a political reading of the passage, in the light of a self-defence.