Mapping Seneca
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MAPPING SENECA: COGNITIVE CARTOGRAPHY AND MORAL IMAGINATION IN THE NATURAL QUESTIONS _______________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________________________ by KATY CHENOWETH Dr. Raymond Marks, Dissertation Supervisor DECEMBER 2017 © Copyright by Katy Chenoweth 2017 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the Associate Vice Chancellor of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, have examined the dissertation entitled MAPPING SENECA: COGNITIVE CARTOGRAPHY AND MORAL IMAGINATION IN THE NATURAL QUESTIONS presented by Katy Chenoweth, a candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy of Classical Studies, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Professor Raymond Marks Professor Daniel Hooley Professor Mark Palmer Professor David Schenker Professor Christopher Trinacty ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Raymond Marks for his continuous support of my research, for the motivation and patience. I am extremely grateful for his feedback and for the countless hours spent reading, re-reading, and editing my drafts. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my committee: Prof. Daniel Hooley, Prof. Mark Palmer, Prof. Christopher Trinacty, and Prof. David Schenker for their insightful comments and encouragement. My sincere thanks goes to Prof. Trinacty, who, in his Neronian seminar class, first introduced me to the Natural Questions, and helped cultivate my interest in all things Seneca. I am very appreciative of the numerous conversations that guided the research for this dissertation. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. iii INTRODUCTION: In Itinere ............................................................................. 1 I. Content and Structure ..................................................................... 1 II. The Natural Questions in Context .................................................. 6 i. Senecan Context .................................................................... 6 ii. Ancient Meteorological Context ........................................... 8 iii. Stoic Context ......................................................................... 9 iv. Sociopolitical Context .............................................................. 12 III. Existing Scholarship ..................................................................... 14 IV. My Approach: Theoretical Background and Definitions ............. 15 V. Scope of Dissertation .................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 1: Ex Humilitate Nostra ............................................................. 20 I. Epistemology: Sense Perception and Cognition ........................... 23 II. Sensory and Cognitive Mapping .................................................. 33 III. Sense Perception and Imperial Discourse .................................... 51 IV. Case Study .................................................................................... 59 V. Conclusion .................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 2: O Quam Ridiculi Sunt Mortalium Termini! ............................. 67 I. Destroying Boundaries ................................................................. 69 II. Violating Boundaries .................................................................... 81 III. Defying Time ................................................................................... 94 IV. Imperium Sine Fine .................................................................... 102 V. Conclusion .................................................................................. 108 CHAPTER 3: Modum Excedam ................................................................. 110 I. Fabulae ....................................................................................... 113 i. Mullet Man ........................................................................ 115 ii. Hostius Quadra .................................................................. 125 II. Historici ...................................................................................... 131 ii. Philip’s Mining Expedition ............................................... 133 iii. Alexander’s Worldview ....................................................... 139 III. Conclusion .................................................................................. 146 CONCLUSION: Hominis Meminisse ......................................................... 148 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................... 153 VITA ..................................................................................................................... 162 iii Mapping Seneca: Cognitive Cartography and Moral Imagination in the Natural Questions Katy Chenoweth Dr. Raymond Marks, Dissertation Supervisor ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on how Seneca creates a map of the world that defies human limitations and control, thereby instilling within the reader an understanding of self-knowledge. I argue that Seneca “maps” the world from two perspectives (sense perception and cognition) in order to instruct his reader about the faultiness of sense perception, which affects his perspective of himself and his place within the cosmos. Bound by the physical limitations of sense- perception, the reader struggles to shed his misperception and preconceived notions of the world and himself. As he progresses on his philosophical journey through the Natural Questions, he is carried away from the sordid, terrestrial realm where natural phenomena are easily accessible to perception (terrestrial waters, for example) to the imperceptible realms (celestial fires) where he must rely upon cognition. In the end, by mapping mankind within the world, Seneca is in effect defining what it means to be human. 1 INTRODUCTION: In Itinere Just as the title suggests, this dissertation is about mapping. I pose the question: How does Seneca’s use of cartographic language and imagery inform the reader about his place within the cosmos? Seneca creates two worldviews (sensory and cognitive) and uses one (cognitive) to break down the other (sensory), because cognitive mapping defies human limitations and control; and I argue that though he is mapping the world, he is actually mapping humanity. The reader gains self-knowledge as he progresses along his journey in the Natural Questions, and he learns that to be limited is to be human. I. Content and Structure The Natural Questions (Naturales Quaestiones, hereafter, NQ) is a peculiar work in that it lies outside the boundaries of what would be considered “scientific writing”; it is neither fully physical nor ethical, but this is the point of the NQ, as it integrates a variety of topics and genres.1 The work is an eclectic mash-up of genres: tragedy, satire, science, and philosophy. Written sometime towards the end of Seneca’s life, the NQ, in eight books, inquires into natural phenomena, but it digresses at times from scientific inquiry to describe satirical vignettes in which some sort of moral advice is interlaced. Seneca addresses the book to Lucilius who is identified with us, the readers. I do not discuss in this dissertation the manuscript tradition of the NQ; it is, however, important to discuss the issues associated with its ordering and its effects on my argument. The medieval manuscript tradition of the NQ prints the book in the following sequence: 1, 2, 3, 4a, 1 All translations are mine unless otherwise noted. 2 K. M. CHENOWETH 4b, 5, 6, and 7 (Hine 2014:1). This sequence follows the manuscript tradition (Hine 2014), despite discrepancies in this ordering. Another ordering (“Grandinem” order) starts with 4b and follows 5, 6, 7, 1, 2, 3, and 4a (Gross 1989). The ordering (3-7, 1-2) that I agree with and use in this dissertation is that put forth by Codoñer Merino (1979) and Hine (1981) and adds to the “force” of the NQ (Williams 2012:13).2 Although the books are pretty much self-contained, there are a few cross references to other books which scholars arguing for the traditional ordering have ignored or misinterpreted.3 This ordering maintains these references, while also offering a macrocosmic, unifying worldview of the entire work,4 which is is central to my analysis. In what follows I highlight a few key characteristics (as outlined in Limburg 2007) that support Codoñer Merino and Hine’s ordering before concluding with its implications on this dissertation. The prefatory characteristics5 of Book 3 (discussed below) add to the force of this unifying worldview, and support my argument that the NQ is a journey that needs a map. The language in the preface of Book 3 is that of a world traveler who will embark on a great and difficult task, a trope indicative of a preface to an entire work, not just a book chapter.6 Seneca claims magnarum rerum fundamenta ponam (§1 “how great is the task for which I am laying down the groundwork”). Limburg (2007:114-16) argues that fundamenta ponere (“to lay down 2 In his analysis of Codoñer Merino