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SENEGA's USE of STOIC THEMES, with an INDEX of IDEAS to BOOKS I-VII of the SPISTULAE MORALES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial F

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SENEGA's USE of STOIC THEMES, with an INDEX of IDEAS to BOOKS I-VII of the SPISTULAE MORALES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial F SENEGA'S USE OF STOIC THEMES, WITH AN INDEX OF IDEAS TO BOOKS I-VII OF THE SPISTULAE MORALES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State U.uiversity By GEORGE ROBERT HOLSINGER, JR., B.S. in Ed., M.A. The Ohio State University 195>2 Approved by Adviser i ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to acknowledge with grateful appreciation the invaluable assistance given in the preparation of this dis­ sertation by Dr. Kenneth M. Abbott of the Department of Classical Languages, the Ohio State University. I desire also to offer thanks to my wife, Yvonne, for her constant assistance and encouragement. 9S17G8 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction • iii Seneca as Stoic ................................... .. 1 Seneca as a Literary M a n • 7 Seneca's Use of Stoic Themes .......... 13 Index of Ideas ....... 60 English -* Latin Index ••.••.................... 295 Terms in Special Classifications ......... 309 Bibliography ..................... 312 Autobiography ................................ 315 iii INTRODUCTION It should be mentioned at the outset that this dissertation is but the first section of a proposed work which will encompass the entire body of Senecan writing in an Index of Ideas, which proposed work in turn will be directly connected with a detailed study of the influences of Roman Stoicism upon the thought of the writers of the early Christian Church, among them St, Augustine, St, Jerome, and Tertullian. This particular point has not been thoroughly studied in the past. It is hoped that the Index of Ideas which comprises the main part of the dissertation will be of use to scholars who have inte­ rested themselves in various phases of the Roman Empire, its thought patterns, and its practices* In the index section, the scholar who is concerned with Roman Stoicism and its development will find classified the thoughts of Seneca on various aspects of Stoicism, and, incidentally, on the relative merits of certain of the Stoic philosophers* The person who is concerned with Roman private life of the period will find in the index citations locating Senecan opinion on the gladiatorial games, on the Roman banquet, and on the Roman way of keeping the holidays. The scholar who is interested in the history of Roman literature will find cited the statements of Seneca on the lyric poets, on the style of various Latin writers, on the qualities of a good prose style,etc. The man interested in the effect of Roman Stoicism upon the fathers of the early Christian Church will find indexed here the thoughts of Seneca on the existence of God, on mono­ theism, on the efficacy of prayer, and on the effect of sin upon the This index is intended principally as an index to the ideas, views, and subjects of Seneca* It is,of course, selective and cites only those sections of the letters in which an idea or subject is actually discussed or defined. E.g., this index does not include citations of every use of the Latin word voluptas , but will refer the reader only to those passages where some discussion or definition of the idea of voluptas is to be found. The index is not intended as a substitute for the Index Verborum to the works of Seneca which is now in preparation, and the scholar who is interested in the Latin usage of Seneca and his phraseology -will rely in many cases on that index for his infor­ mation. In this index, all of the ideas, subjects, proper names, and place names discussed in the first seven books of the Epistulae Morales are classified alphabetically according to Latin title (e.g. voluntas, paupertas, gladiator,Caesar,etc.), and under each such classification are found the citations referring to the particular section of the individual letter in which mention of this classification is found. Latin classification headings have been used, so that the index can more readily be used by foreign scholars not familiar with the con­ notations of certain English words. After the main body of the index, there has been provided an additional English index arranged alpha­ betically, so that the reader can have a complete control check of the topic in question. A listing of words in five special classifications (medicine; law and public life; sports; military life; business) has V been included also for the convenience of readers interested in special fields of endeavor* In addition to -the sections mentioned above, three preliminary sections are included* The first, concerned with Seneca as a Stoic, attempts to show Seneca's place in relation to the history of late Homan Stoicism* The second deals with Seneca as a literary man, and it includes a discussion of the estimation of Seneca as a literary figure by his contemporary critics, a personal evaluation of his style, and a brief outline of the standard method of literary construction used in the Epistulae* The third; is a discussion of Seneca's use of certain representative Stoic themes in his literary technique* These chapters are included to enhance the usefulness of the main body of the index for those persons interested in Seneca primarily as a literary figure of the Homan Empire, or as an exponent of Roman Stoicism, and to show whether and in what particular ways Seneca differs from or adds to Stoic theory* The basic texts of the Epistulae Morales used for the purposes of this dissertation are Otto Hense's second edition of the letters and Richard M. Gummere's edition in the Loeb Classical Library* vi SIGIiA. Epicurus Ep. epiatula aut epistulae L. Lucilius S. Seneca 1 SENECA’S USE OF STOIC THEMES,WITH AN INDEX OF IDEAS TO BOOKS I-VII OF THE EPISTULAE MORALES SENECA AS STOIC In the period of the late Roman Stoa, to -which Lucius Annaeus Seneca belongs, philosophers were increasingly concerned with the everyday problems of men, rather than with philosophical problems of a purely theoretical nature* To the late Roman Stoics, questions of an ethical nature were much more absorbing than those questions whose answers lay in the realm of mere intellectual exercise* The Stoic philosophy of the period was one of precept, rather than of philosophical concept* R*H. Barrow-*- aptly states the character of late Roman Stoicism when he writes: Stoicism, and particularly Roman Stoicism, paid little attention to a basic philosophy and built up a large body of precept. Though reference was made to one or two fundamental postulates, what really carried author­ ity was the example or the teaching of the Stoic "wise man11 or sage (sapiens), the man who possessed the Stoic insight into the canons of moral behavior, 'What will the ’'sage" do in such and such circumstances?' is the Stoic criterion, whereas the earlier Greek question was 'How am I to discover by an intellectual process what is right and therefore what is right in this parti­ cular case?5 The important thing for the Stoics was that man should learn to live according to nature. Nature was in fact the power which ordained that all things should exist as they do exist. Nature was not always ■^Barrow, R,H,, The Romans, Penguin Books,Ltd,,Harmondsworth* Middlesex, 191,?. p. 1 6 2 --------- 2 called natura by the Roman Stoics, but also ratio or fa turn, or providentia, and sometimes even Deus , at which point Stoicism became pantheistic* As Stoicism developed, natura came to mean that particular nature of man -which distinguished him from the animals,i.e., the use of ratio* The Stoics believed that through philosophia man could rise above all the tribulations forced upon him by for tuna, and thus could avoid most of the problems of man­ kind* I shall not say a great deal here about the Stoic belief in regard to death, to virtue, to happiness, or to the other areas of Stoic belief which are treated more fully in the sections on the Stoic themes* We can observe here, however, that on many of these questions Stoicism was not consistent, this it seems being the danger of a philosophy of precepts* The most important of the philosophers of the Stoic school in the first century, A.D. were L. Annaeus Cornutus, C. Musonius Rufus, Seneca, and,towards the end of the century, Epictetus. In the second century late Stoicism's most important figure was M. Aurelius* Efy the third century the school had almost disappeared from the scene. The doctrine of Stoicism, however, was not confined to the circle of professional philosophers, but spread through the ranks of the common man. The philosophy also had a marked influence on Neo—Platonism and on the philosophy of the early Church Fathers, in particular St. Je­ rome, St. Augustine, and Tertullian* (This dissertation, as has been noted in the Introduction, is intended to be part of the basis for a 3 proposed further study of the relationship of Roman Stoicism to Christianity.) Seneca and his philosophy have been the subject of much scholar­ ly discussion. A great deal of time has been devoted by various authors to the subject of the inconsistencies ■which appear as we compare his philosophy and his private life* I shall be concerned in these brief remarks with the philosophical thought of Seneca, and shall not be concerned with a total estimate of him as a man, or with the influence of Stoicism upon the conduct of his public and private affairs* Let us now go on to consider Seneca as a philosopher of the late Roman Stoa* Gummere^ claims that Seneca is '‘unique in his interpretation of this Stoic philosophy, because to so marked a degree he admits into it the theories of other schools.” We find Seneca speaking frequently of Epicurus and quoting freely from him, especially in the first thirty-three of the Epistulae.
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