Affari di coscienza, tra Seneca e Cicerone: a proposito dell’Epistola 97 a Lucilio

Abstract

In Letter 97, aiming to prove that the corruption of mores is not a matter of a corrupted age but the fault of corrupted men, Seneca mentions the scandal of the Bona Dea rites and the ensuing trial in which P. Clodius bribed the jurors. These crimes, he argues, were committed in one and the same age, indeed in the very age and presence of Cato the Younger, the Stoic champion of virtus. By directly quoting a passage from Cicero’s letters to Atticus (Att. 1.16.5) Seneca appears to show a concern with documentary truth. But there is more to it than this. For, beyond the evidence of the direct quotation, Cicero’s letter is also widely echoed in an allusive way in Seneca’s, suggesting a larger metaliterary exploration of the limits of epistolarity and its relationship to other genres such as oratory and mime. In addition to the primary argument that Seneca’s focus on, the Bona Dea Scandal involves a complex relationship to the Ciceronian model and the historical episode, this study also further attends to the second part of Letter 97, and examines Seneca’s deeper reflection on the core concept of conscientia in relation to Epicurus and other passages in Seneca.