Golden Age lost and philosophy's brave new world: ontology in Seneca's Epistulae 33, 90, 86 and 84

© 2010 Stevie SchaferThis thesis investigates the nature of Senecan ontology by looking closely at metaphorical language, quotation and intertextual engagements in Seneca's Epistulae 33, 90, 86 and 84. Senecan ontology is deeply embedded in language and articulated through metaphor, narrative and intertextual engagement with both literary and philosophical traditions. An important aspect of this investigation is developing an improved view of Senecan hermeneutics, in particular how Seneca reads and how Seneca’s readers might read him. This thesis focuses on ontology as how human beings are in the world they inhabit, that is, their mode of being. The general outline of human ontology in the Epistulae under investigation is that human-kind has fallen from a previous age which was seemingly ‘better’. It looks at the fall from the Golden Age as well as intertextual engagement with works such as Virgil’s Georgics. The important point to take away is that the fall from the Golden Age and the diseases which plague the human condition are the necessary preconditions for philosophy. Death plays an important part in Senecan ontology as human beings are creatures born to die. Senecan ontology, moreover, does necessarily differ between the tragedies and the prose. As this thesis shows in chapters 2 to 4, the Medea and the Oedipus not only conform to partial visions of Senecan ontology, but help to develop it. This demonstrates just how intertextually engaged Seneca’s Epistulae are not only with his tragedies, but with other authors and works. The Senecan world is an interconnected one, not just in terms of texts but also in terms of physics. The focus on the importance of works such as Virgil’s Georgics helps see the theme of the Golden Age and the fall in Seneca’s Epistulae and the way the Epistulae are influenced by the previous literary tradition, not just the philosophical tradition