Naturales Quaestiones

(forthcoming publication)
The aim of this article is to show how statistical analysis can improve our knowledge of the language and style of the second book of Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia (astronomy). After a brief summary of previous studies on Pliny the Elder’s language and style, we introduce L.A.S.L.A. statistical tools and methods. In the second part we apply these tools to compare syntactically Naturalis Historia II and Seneca’s Naturales Quaestiones VII, in order to highlight the main differences in the structure of the sentence, as well as pragmatic features which emerge on a statistical ground. In the last section, we proceed with a factorial correspondence analysis on a corpus of Latin texts, to show which texts are associated with Naturalis Historia II.

Tezimizin temel amacı Seneca’nın Naturales Quaestiones adlı eserindeki doğa ve ahlak anlayışını değerlendirmek ve filozofun, bağlı bulunduğu Stoa düşüncesindeki genel eğilime uygun olarak insanları ahlakî gelişim amacıyla doğayı incelemeye çağırdığını göstermektir. Bu kapsamda ilkin Stoacı bilgi anlayışı çerçevesinde Naturales Quaestiones’teki doğa ve bilgi problemi incelenmiş olup, Seneca’nın, kutsal kabul ettiği doğanın bilgisini nasıl ahlakî çıkarımlara bağladığı ve hangi amaçlarla insanları doğayı tanımaya çağırdığı ele alınmıştır. Tezimizin bu ilk bölümünde Naturales Quaestiones’teki doğa araştırması üzerine yazmanın ve göksel bilginin önemine, Seneca’nın insanların bu bilgiye erişememelerinin nedeni olarak gördüğü alışkanlık engeline, doğa bilgisinin uzun sürede tamamlanacağı düşüncesine ve Seneca’nın Roma’da felsefe ve doğa araştırmalarına olan ilgisizlikten şikâyetine değinilmiştir. Daha sonra, ikinci bölümde ilkin Seneca’nın genel tanrıbilim anlayışı üzerinde durulmuş olup Naturales Quaestiones’te ortaya konan doğanın yaratıcı ve yönetici kimliği, kader, doğa olayları arasındaki tutarlı birliktelik ve kehanet konusuyla birlikte Tanrı’nın evrendeki her şeyin nedeni olduğu düşüncesi işlenmiştir. Üçüncü ve son bölümde ise Seneca’nın genel ahlak anlayışı yanında Naturales Quaestiones’te sergilenen ahlak idealleri yani talihi küçümseme ve ölüm korkusunu yenme hedefi ele alınıp, yine eserdeki, ideal bilgenin zihnî yükselişine engel teşkil ettiği için kaçınması gereken ahlakî kusur örneklerinden sapkınlık, gösteriş ve açgözlülükten bahsedilmiştir. Neticede Seneca’nın insanları doğa araştırmasıyla, doğadaki gizli tanrısallığı ve kusursuz düzeni anlamaya çağırdığı dile getirilmiştir.

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The main goal of our thesis is to examine the concept of nature and ethics in Seneca’s Naturales Quaestiones and to show that the philosopher called people to inquiry the nature for moral development, in pursuant of general tendency in Stoic discipline under that he was. Firstly in this respect, while taking into consideration of Stoic concept of knowledge, the problem of nature and knowledge in Naturales Questiones is analysed and its discussed how Seneca assigned the natural science, as a sacred for him, to moral inferences and by which aims called people to know the nature. In this first part, the importance of writing on inquiry of nature, and heavenly knowledge, and consuetude that Seneca commentated as barrier for this knowledge, and idea of that would be perfected in heaps of time, and Seneca’s complaint about unconcernedness of people, for philosophy and natural inquiries at Rome, are mentioned. Then, in second part, firstly general theology of Seneca is discussed, then creative and administrative identity of nature that are presented in Naturales Quaestiones, fate, and idea of consistency among natural phenomena and God as a cause of everything, with subject of divination, are analysed. In third and last part, as well as the outlines of Senecan ethics, ideals, namely aim of contempting fortune and annihilating fear of death that are presented in Naturales Quaestiones, and obscenity, luxury and avarice, as examples of ethic vice, from that ideal wise has to avoid because of it’s barrier for his mental rising, are mentioned. Consequently, it’s reasoned that Seneca called people to know the concealed divine and to understand the perfect order of things in nature.

Libertus Fromondus wrote a commentary on Seneca's NQ, and a treatise on meteorology, filled with quotations from the ancients (most of alla Aristotle, Pliny, and Seneca). The comparison between these works shows a perfect correspondence of methodology, and that the author had an accurate knowledge not only of ancient sources, but also of contemporary scientific works (i.g. those of Galilei and his pupils). The same Fromondus critics Descartes' essay on meteorology, published as an attachement to the Discours sur la méthode: the two scholars exchanged letters on this topic. If we compare their works, we can note on one side some structural similarities, on the other side a methodolgy which is radically innovative in Descartes,  while Fromondus appears to be too depending on the past, and so on a loser position.

Within his Nylotic excursus of NQ Book IVa, Seneca describes a spectacular fight between crocodiles and dolphins. What is the real meaning of the author’s anthropomorphic cut of the account? What kind of ‘zoo-poetic’ profile is at work here? What is the possible impact on the treatise’s dedicatee?

Libertus Fromondus was a commentator of Seneca's NQ and also the author of a meteorological treatise, with plenty quotations of ancient and also contemporary authors. Fromondus argued with Descarts who had published a meteorological essay in appendix to his revolutionary Speech about Method. This epistolary polemic shows the differences between the old and the newborn sceintific method

This paper deals with apocalypse, intended as a revelation or prediction related to the end of the world, in Seneca's prose work. The descriptions and readings of this event appear to be quite different from each other. My analysis will follow two main directions. Firstly, I will show the human side of the question, focussing on the condition of the sage facing the universal ruin in the context of the macroscopic narrative structure of most passages, and on the differences between the Epicurean and the Stoic view on this point. Secondly, I will turn to the descriptions of the end of the world which we can find in the Naturales Quaestiones. I will argue that Seneca's choice of flood or conflagration as representations for the apocalypse are not haphazard, but may be motivated by a subtle political narrative, and thus linked to the Stoic struggle for taking part in the governing of the state. In particular, the end of book three represents a flood which probably alludes to Tiber's floods. [esp] El sabio y los apocalipsis. Diferentes fines del mundo en Séneca Resumen. Este artículo trata del apocalipsis, entendido como una revelación o predicción relacionada con el fin del mundo, en las obras en prosa de Séneca. Las descripciones y lecturas de este evento parecen ser bastante diferentes entre sí. Mi análisis seguirá dos direcciones principales. En primer lugar, mostraré el lado humano de la cuestión, centrándome en la condición del sabio frente a la ruina universal en el contexto de la estructura narrativa macroscópica de la mayoría de los pasajes, y en las diferencias entre el punto de vista epicúreo y el estoico en este punto. En segundo lugar, me referiré a las descripciones del fin del mundo que podemos encontrar en las Naturales Quaestiones. Argumentaré que la elección de Séneca de las representaciones de inundación o conflagración para el apocalipsis no es fortuita, sino que puede estar motivada por una sutil narrativa política y, por lo tanto, vinculada a la lucha estoica por tomar parte en el gobierno del Estado. En particular, el final del tercer libro representa una inundación que probablemente alude a las inundaciones del Tíber. Palabras clave: Séneca; inundación final; ekpyrosis; fin del mundo; incendio de Roma; inundación del Tíber.

This paper deals with apocalypse, intended as a revelation or prediction related to the end of the world, in Seneca’s prose work. The descriptions and readings of this event appear to be quite different from each other. My analysis will follow two main directions. Firstly, I will show the human side of the question, focussing on the condition of the sage facing the universal ruin in the context of the macroscopic narrative structure of most passages, and on the differences between the Epicurean and the Stoic view on this point. Secondly, I will turn to the descriptions of the end of the world which we can find in the Naturales Quaestiones. I will argue that Seneca’s choice of flood or conflagration as representations for the apocalypse are not haphazard, but may be motivated by a subtle political narrative, and thus linked to the Stoic struggle for taking part in the governing of the state. In particular, the end of book three represents a flood which probably alludes to Tiber’s flo...

Il contributo intende rimediare alla mancanza di ricerche sulla ricezione delle opere di Lucio Anneo Seneca negli scritti di Niccolò Machiavelli, lacuna rimarcata dall’assenza della voce “Seneca” nell’Enciclopedia machiavelliana. In primo luogo, si evidenzia come l’autore fiorentino sembri rievocare la teoria dell’ekpyrosis idrica di Naturales Quaestiones III, 27-30 in Discorsi II 5 assieme ad altre fonti classiche. Pur tenendo in considerazione la posizione di G. Sasso (De aeternitate mundi («Discorsi», II 5), in G. Sasso, Machiavelli e gli antichi e altri saggi, I, Milano-Napoli, Ricciardi, pp. 165-376), restio ad ammettere l’influenza di Seneca sul brano machiavelliano, sono poste in evidenza le analogie formali, retoriche e concettuali tra i passi in questione. Per avvalorare l’ipotesi che Machiavelli conoscesse il trattato scientifico del cordovese, sono poi delineate le dinamiche della circolazione manoscritta e a stampa dell’opera in ambienti prossimi all’autore fiorentino. L’indagine si sofferma quindi sulla presenza di echi al libro III delle Naturales Quaestiones in scritti quasi di certo noti a Machiavelli, come i Fiori e vita di filosafi e d’altri savi e d’imperadori e le opere di Dante Alighieri, Meister Eckhart, Luca Mannelli, Francesco Petrarca, Giovannni Boccaccio, Benvenuto da Imola, Matteo dell’Aquila, Niccolò Perotti, Angelo Poliziano, Leonardo da Vinci. Giungendo al XV secolo, si individua una concreta occasione di lettura del trattato senecano nella pubblicazione dell'opera a Firenze presso Giunta nel 1513, anno nel quale Machiavelli già frequentava gli umanisti degli Orti Oricellari, sempre interessati alle novità culturali. Nell’intento di restituire un ritratto di Machiavelli lettore di Seneca più esaustivo, si è infine conferito rilievo ad alcune consonanze di pensiero tra il cordovese e lo scrittore fiorentino, ravvisando parallelismi tra alcuni passi dei Dialogi e certi luoghi dei Discorsi e del Principe.