Tag Archives: seneca the elder

vota (3.6)

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Besides their vow of chastity, the Vestal virgins had a number of official duties. As John Murray writes in The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, they provided offerings to Vesta, assisted with rites at public festivals, purified the Temple of Vesta (cf. contactu suo polluit), and most importantly, maintained the everlasting fire of the city on the Temple’s altar. Unless she had the misfortune of death or persecution, each Vestal virgin served a term of thirty years.

This representation of the Vestal virgins in the Temple of Vesta is taken from Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). Where Philia lies should be the undying fire of Rome.

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stuprum (3.2)

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The unchastity of a Vestal virgin was a religious offence punishable by death. According to Plutarch, a Vestal virgin was first executed for incestus during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the mythical second king of Rome (Life of Numa Pompilius 10.4). Yet Domitian’s execution of three Vestals for incestus in 83 CE indicates that this practice was observed well into the time of the Roman Empire.

Rome’s longstanding fixation on the sexual purity of the Vestal virgins is rooted in their symbolic function as the total embodiment of the city and its people. Not only was their chastity held to be representative of the state’s moral character, but their bodies symbolized the inviolability of Rome’s walls and the strength of her society. It follows that in times of great violence, the Vestals were occasionally suspected of incestus and sentenced to death. Such was the fate of Oppia in 483 BCE (Livy 2.42.9-11), when Rome was at war with the Veii and the Volsci, and of Opimia and Floronia in 216 BCE (Livy 22.57.3), amid the throes of the Second Punic War.

For a more extensive discussion, refer to Holt N. Parker’s article on the sexual status of Rome’s Vestal virgins.

de iudicibus (3.2)

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Because the unchastity of a Vestal virgin was a crime against the gods, her case was judged by the pontifical college rather than the Comitia Curiata, which usually presided over criminal trials (Cic. Leg. 2, 9, 22). The collegium pontificum consisted of a rex sacrorum, multiple flamines, multiple pontifices minores, and a single governing pontifex maximus. A body of great power and prestige, the college exercised ultimate jurisdiction over all matters of religion. By performing public rituals, establishing rules for private worship, and administering religious law, it acted as an intermediary between the Romans and their gods.

Porcius Latro

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Porcius Latro (-4 CE)

A Roman from Spain, he was very close friends with Seneca the Elder from childhood; they studied together with a Spanish rhetor called Marullus (Cont. 1 pr 22). Unfortunately, we do not know whether the school was in Cordoba or in Rome, though as it had 200 students, Rome seems more likely than Spain. When Seneca came to Rome in 38-36 BCE he attended the declamations given by Latro; he describes him extensively at Controversiae 1 pr. 13–24, but does not say a great deal about his life. Latro was influential on Ovid (Controversiae 2. 2. 8) who apparently imitated some of his Sententiae, but not very successful in court. He committed suicide in 4 CE.

Seneca cites him a great deal: more in the ealier Controversiae than the later, but he is cited in each one. Quintilian (Instiutes of Oratory 10.5) praised him highly as did Pliny the Elder. Pliny adds the extra detail that his followers (Natural History 20.57) drank a sort of tea made from cumin to imitate his pallor.

Translation Aid – Seneca the Elder, Suasoriae VI.6

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Arelli Fusci Patris

nihil aliud intercidet quam corpus fragilitatis caducae; morbis obnoxium, casibus expositum, proscriptionibus obiectum

nihil: indeclinable neuter noun, either nominative subject or accusative object of verb. See “intercidet” below.

aliud: singular neuter adjective modifying “nihil”; either nominative subject or accusative object of verb. See “intercidet” below.

intercidet: 3rd person, singular, future, active, indicative verb. Either transitive or intransitive.

  • if transitive, intercidet=subject+verb, nihil =object; i.e.: “he will kill nothing” or “he will cut nothing to pieces”
  • if intransitive, nihil =subject, intercidet=verb; i.e.: “nothing will die”

quam: adverb, indeclinable. Used to indicate comparison; i.e.: “than”

  • when “quam” is used, the two things compared are put into the same case (A&G 407)
  • “alius” is sometimes followed by “quam” in formal prose (A&G 407d); i.e.: “nothing other than the body…”

corpus: singular neuter noun, matching “nihil” and “aliud” in case; either nominative or accusative, depending on whether “intercidet” is transitive or intransitive.

morbis obnoxium, casibus expositum, proscriptionibus obiectum: series of appositives. “obnoxium”, “expositum”, and “obiectum” all modify “corpus”, matching it in case, gender and number.

nec potes non videri nimis vixisse qui moreris rei publicae superstes

potes: 2nd person, singular, present, active, indicative verb; main verb of the sentence.

            – potes=subject+verb; i.e.: “you are able”

 

videri: passive present infinitive verb. “videri” in the passive can be understood as “to seem” rather than “to be seen”

qui moreris: relative clause

  • qui: nominative singular masculine relative pronoun, matching subject “you” contained in “potes”
  • moreris: 2nd person, singular, present, active, indicative. Appears passive because it is a deponent verb.

superstes: can be either: 2nd person, singular, present, active, subjunctive verb, “you shall stand over”; or nominative, masculine, singular, 3rd declension noun, “survivor” or “support”

  • if “superstes” is a subjunctive verb, rei publicae take dative indirect object with the compound verb “supersto” (A&G 370); i.e.: “you shall stand over the republic”
    • in this case, “rei publicae superstes” becomes a main clause separate from the rest of the sentence, with “superstes” acting as a main use subjunctive
  • if “superstes” is a 3rd declension noun, rei publicae goes with nominative noun “supetstes”; i.e.: “a survivor of the state” or “a support for/of the state”
    • in this case, “rei publicae superstes” becomes a noun phrase, acting as an appositive that modifies the implied subject “you” in the main verb “potes”

note: the definition we take for “superstes” affects our understanding of its case use:

  •  if we take superstes to mean “survivor”, then it may be considered an objective genitive. I.e.: “a survivor of the republic”, as in: “you (Cicero) survive the republic”. Here, “survive” functions in the sense “to out live (or stand over)”, suggesting that even though Cicero himself may die, his legacy will survive or outlive the republic. Although now we tend not to use “survive” in this sense in everyday speech, you can still find it in this form in obituaries, such as: “Jane Doe is survived by her children”
  • if we take superstes to mean “supporter”, then it may be considered a dative of reference. I.e.: “a supporter for/of the republic”.

Translation aid – Seneca Suasoria VI.5

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Arelli Fusci Patris

Ab armis ad arma discurritur; foris victores domi trucidamur, domi nostro sanguini intestinus hostis incubat; quis non hoc populi Romani statu Ciceronem ut non vivat cogi putat?

Armis/arma: literally ‘weapons’ but can be taken as metonymy for ‘battles’

Discurritur: an impersonal form used in poetry. It suggests a general activity, i.e. ‘there is a rushing about’. However, the 1st person plural verb in the next clause implies a personal reading, i.e. ‘we rush about’

Incubat: This figurative use may derive from OLD 1c ‘to rest or be placed (upon)’, 1d ‘to brood (over) or 2a ‘to have as one’s abode or lair’

Quis…putat: Reorder as quis non putat Ciceronem cogi ut non vivat, hoc statu populi Romani.

Hoc populi Romani statu: Ablative absolute with implied present participle of esse

Ut non vivat: Result clause