Seneca, the favourite classic of the early fathers of the church and of the Middle Ages, whom Jerome, Tertullian, and Augustine speak of as "Seneca noster," who was believed to have corresponded with St. Paul, and upon whom [Footnote: On the "De Clementia," an odd subject for the man who burned Servetus alive for differing with him.] Calvin wrote a commentary, seems almost forgotten in modern times. Perhaps some of his popularity may have been due to his being (...) supposed to be the author of those tragedies which the world has long ceased to read, but which delighted a period that preferred Euripides to Aeschylus: while casuists must have found congenial matter in an author whose fantastic cases of conscience are often worthy of Sanchez or Escobar. Yet Seneca's morality is always pure, and from him we gain, albeit at second hand, an insight into the doctrines of the Greek philosophers, Zeno, Epicurus, Chrysippus, &c., whose precepts and system of religious thought had in cultivated Roman society taken the place of the old worship of Jupiter and Quirinus. Since Lodge's edition (fol. 1614), no complete translation of Seneca has been published in England, though Sir Roger L'Estrange wrote paraphrases of several Dialogues, which seem to have been enormously popular, running through more than sixteen editions. I think we may conjecture that Shakespeare had seen Lodge's translation, from several allusions to philosophy, to that impossible conception "the wise man," and especially from a passage in "All's Well that ends Well," which seems to breathe the very spirit of "De Beneficiis.". (shrink)

Es difícil pensar tanto la vida moral como la vida comunitaria fuera dela tensión entre los Otros y el sí-mismo. Por una parte, de cara a la cohesión dela sociedad y a que la persona singular encuentre su dimensión comunitaria, sehace necesaria una suerte de vida transparente, sin secretos, a fuer de honesta.Sin embargo, por otra parte, cuando el entorno social es moralmente cuestionable,se hace imprescindible una paideía privada que permita la orientación moral delsujeto personal, por más que ello le (...) reporte soledad e incomprensión por parte desus conciudadanos, debiendo, entonces, construir un espacio de privacidad. (shrink)

t. I. Consolation à Marcia. Consolation à Helvia. Consolation à Polye. La colère.--t. II. La providence. Petites pièces de vers. La brièveté de la vie. Fantaisie sur la mort de Claude. La clémence. Le Bonheur. La constance du sage. La tranquillité de l'ame. La retraite.--t. III. La bienfaisance.--t. IV. Recherches sur la nature.

Addressing classicists, philosophers, students, and general readers alike, this volume emphasizes the unity of Seneca's work and his originality as a translator of Stoic ideas in the literary forms of imperial Rome. It features a vitalizing diversity of contributors from different generations, disciplines, and research cultures. Several prominent Seneca scholars publishing in other languages are for the first time made accessible to anglophone readers. (See also the attached file with ToC and Introduction).

The manuscript tradition of Seneca'sDialoguesconsists of one eleventhcentury manuscript, Ambrosianus C 90 inf., which is the main source for the text, and a ruck of later manuscripts of lesser and disputed worth. There are over a hundred of these, far more than has been supposed.

1. 4. 9. Fugite delicias, fugite enervantem felicitatem, qua animi permadescunt et, nisi aliquid intervenit quod humanae sortis admoneat, †velut perpetua ebrietate sopitif†. Although it is possible to produce a tolerable sentence by deleting et after permadescunt, it is generally agreed that a verb is missing in the last clause. Koch suggested sopiti, Gertz sopiti (...) manent Hermes, vivunt Schultess, languent Viansino. One would hesitate to add to the growing clutter of suggestions, did not one of Seneca's favourite verbs seem to meet all requirements, namely marcent. Cf. ben. 4. 6. 3 ‘quies in qua putrescis ac marces’; 4. 13. 1 ‘vobis voluptas est… securitatem sopitis simillimam adpetere e t … animi marcentis oblectare torporem’; dial. 1. 3. 10 ‘hunc voluptatibus marcidumet felicitate nimia laborantem’; 9. 2. 6; 10. 2. 2; epist. 74. 1; 89. 18 et al. (shrink)

Différents textes de Margaret Fuller et Elizabeth Cady Stanton, deux féministes américaines parfois oubliées de l’historiographie au profit notamment de Susan B. Anthony (dont le nom reste associé à l’amendement qui a accordé, aux États-Unis, le droit de vote aux femmes) ont récemment fait l’objet de traductions en français et d’une édition critique éclairante. Si la lecture parallèle de leurs textes fait apparaître des traits communs entre les deux militantes, parcours et convictions présent...

The text quoted above each note is that of the edition of Seneca's tragedies by Otto Zwierlein , OCT 1986; numerous passages are discussed in his Kritischer Kommentar zu den Tragüdien Senecas , Stuttgart, 1986; various textual suggestions were made in a correspondence with Zw. by B. Axelson . Other works on Seneca's tragedies, referred to by the scholar's name only, are: Text and translation: F. J. Miller, Loeb, 1917; L. Herrmann, Budé, 1924–6. Text with commentary: R. J. (...) Tarrant, Agamemnon , and Thyestes ; J. G. Fitch, Hercules Furens . Text with commentary and translation: Elaine Fantham, Troades ; A. J.Boyle, Phaedra. (shrink)

Many fragments and testimonies in Usener’s collection, Epicurea, come from ancient Christian sources. This essay explores Patristic interest in Epicureanism, which is often critical, and sometimes imprecise or distorted, but tangible. It shows how the fading away of the availability and use of good sources on Epicureanism, along with the disappearance of the Epicurean school itself, brought about a progressive impoverishment and hostility among Christian authors with respect to Epicurus and Epicureanism. A comparison between the representation of Epicureanism in Acts (...) or Clement, or still in Nazianzen or Ambrose, on one side, and, on the other, authors like Jerome or even Isidore of Seville is telling. Not only did appreciation for at least some sides of Epicureanism (clearly present in the author of Acts, Clement, Bardaisan, and Nazianzen) disappear, but even anti-Epicurean polemic became more and more stereotyped, crass hedonism and atheism being its main focuses, with scarce ground in Epicurean theory in both cases. The distortions surrounding the charge of hedonism were still clear to Nazianzen; as for the falsity of the charge of atheism, which was alive already in pre-Christian philosophical debate, the certainly Hellenized author of Acts was arguably aware of it, as is suggested by Paul’s Areopagus speech, which is here carefully analysed. It is suggested that both Paul’s Athenian speech in Acts and Seneca may have referred to the same tenets of Epicurean theology. (shrink)

Seneca’s philosophy dedicates a special attention to passions, regarded as the main obstacle to attaining wisdom, and in particular to anger, considered the most dreadful of them all. Scholars have usually interpreted his treaty On anger as a private handbook of ethics containing advice about how to become wise. However, this article explores a different approach to the text, placing it in the context of Seneca’s discussion about the virtue of courage. Thus, in Seneca’s thought anger appears (...) as a social issue that affects both political communities and isolated individuals. (shrink)

Bibliography focusing on L. Annaeus Seneca as a philosopher. Sorry about the image, which, of course, doesn't depict Seneca. We didn't select it.

The article begins by noting that the first mention of the Correspondence between Seneca and Paul appears in De viris illustribus of Jerome. After a summary of the status quaestionis, it examines the context of the De viris, particularly the information on Seneca. Then the article presents an analysis of some aspects of the Correspondence in order to highlight the harmony between the views of the Correspondence and the ideas of Jerome, especially the considerations on the inadequacy of (...) the language of the Pauline letters. After finding other reasons of convergence, we formulate a hypothesis about the origin of the Correspondence. (shrink)

I explore some of the ways that assumptions about the nature of substance shape metaphysical debates about the structure of Reality. Assumptions about the priority of substance play a role in an argument for monism, are embedded in certain pluralist metaphysical treatments of laws of nature, and are central to discussions of substantivalism and relationalism. I will then argue that we should reject such assumptions and collapse the categorical distinction between substance and property.