L’interpretazione delle Charites (Gratiae) in Cornuto e in Seneca

Cornutus believes the original myths transmitted by the primeval tradition to contain profound truths, which can be reconstructed through the analysis of all sources, such as the visual arts, religious ceremonies and literary works, by which they came down to us. As a consequence, his allegorical exegesis is not applied directly to the poetical texts, which, though they cannot be ignored as testimonies, have defiled the original wisdom transmitted by myths through unwarranted changes and additions. His interpretation of the Charites myth (chap. 15–16) has a counterpart in Seneca, Ben., I, 3, 2 – 4, 6. The letter polemicizes with Chrysippus’ interpretation, which had been accepted by Hecaton too. Seneca’s contacts with Cornutus prove that the latter was drawing precisely on Chrysippus. But whereas for Cornutus poetry, though it had arbitrarily altered the myths, still contained some residual traces of the primeval truth, Seneca, though not ruling out the presence of truth and wisdom in the original myths, totally rejects this hermeneutical approach, in as much as poets and artists are only concerned with their own artistic ends