Roman Reflections: Studies in Latin Philosophy

321 Pages·2015·3.21 MB·English

by  Gareth D. Williams

Roman Reflections

Roman Reflections
Studies in Latin Philosophy
Edited by Gareth D. Williams
and
Katharina Volk
1
1
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{ Contents }
Preface  vii
Contributors  ix
Introduction  1
Gareth D. Williams and Katharina Volk
Part I Orientation
1. Philosophy and philosophi: From Cicero to Apuleius  13
Harry Hine
Part II The Late Republic
2. Roman Pythagoras  33
Katharina Volk
3. Philosophy Is in the Streets  50
James E. G. Zetzel
4. To See and to Be Seen: On Vision and Perception in Lucretius
and Cicero  63
Tobias Reinhardt
5. Teaching Pericles: Cicero on the Study of Nature  91
Gretchen Reydams-Schils
Part III Seneca
6. Tyrants, Fire, and Dangerous Things  111
Andrew M. Riggsby
7. Precept(or) and Example in Seneca  129
Matthew Roller
8. True Greatness of Soul in Seneca’s De constantia sapientis  157
Yelena Baraz
9. Minding the Gap: Seneca, the Self, and the Sublime  172
Gareth D. Williams
vi Contents
10. The Emotional Intelligence of Epicureans: Doctrinalism
and Adaptation in Seneca’s Epistles  192
Margaret Graver
Part IV: Beyond Seneca
11. “You’re Playing You Now”: Helvidius Priscus as a Stoic Hero  213
Wolfgang-Rainer Mann
12. Platonizing Latin: Apuleius’s Phaedo  238
Richard Fletcher
13. Why Ancient Skeptics Don’t Doubt the Existence of the External
World: Augustine and the Beginnings of Modern Skepticism  260
Katja Maria Vogt
Works Cited  275
Index of Passages 295
General Index 302
Index of Latin Words 305
Index of Greek Words 306
{ Preface }
Is there a Latin philosophy?
In other words, did the Romans, when adopting and adapting philoso-
phy from the Greeks, succeed in creating their own mode of philosophical
reflection, a discourse and practice not simply translated from the Greek, but
unmistakably and unapologetically Roman? How was Roman philosophy
shaped by Roman history and institutions, concepts, and values? How did it
place itself within the history of Roman literature? And, finally, what differ-
ence did it make that it was (some exceptions aside) written in Latin?
It was with the purpose of exploring these and similar questions that, in
the spring of 2012, we invited an international group of scholars to participate
in a conference titled “Latin Philosophy” at Columbia University. The pres-
ent volume presents some of their answers. We are profoundly grateful to
all the authors for participating in this project, not only by presenting and
submitting their papers, but also by engaging in fruitful discussion with one
another. Our thanks go furthermore to Bob Kaster, who helped us formulate
the original concept for the conference, as well as to Brad Inwood, who was
a vigorous conference participant but decided not to include his paper in the
publication.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of Columbia’s Department of
Classics and of the Stanwood Cockey Lodge Foundation. Skylar Neil was an
excellent editorial assistant; we could not have done it without her. Finally, we
wish to thank Stefan Vranka and his team at Oxford University Press, as well
as the Press’s anonymous readers. They have given Latin Philosophy a home.
Gareth D. Williams
Katharina Volk
New York
September 2014

{ Contributors }
Yelena Baraz is Associate Professor of Classics at Princeton University. She
has a written a book on the political and cultural dimensions of Cicero’s
philosophical works and is currently working on a book about the Roman
concept of pride.
Richard Fletcher is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at Ohio
State University. He is the author of Apuleius’ Platonism: The Impersonation of
Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
Margaret Graver is Aaron Lawrence Professor of Classics at Dartmouth
College. In addition to her earlier work on Stoic moral psychology (Cicero
on the Emotions, 2002; Stoicism and Emotion, 2007), she has recently pro-
duced (with A. A. Long) a complete annotated translation of Seneca’s Letters
on Ethics. She is currently working on a monograph on Cicero’s reception of
Stoic ethics.
Harry Hine is Emeritus Professor in the School of Classics at the University
of St Andrews. He has edited Seneca’s Natural Questions, and has written on
Seneca and on Latin technical and scientific literature. He is currently work-
ing on the development of the language and style of Latin prose in the early
Empire.
Wolfgang-Rainer Mann is Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University.
He is the author of The Discovery of Things: Aristotle’s Categories and Their
Context (Princeton University Press, 2000); and he is currently working on a
book on dialectic and eristic in Plato’s dialogues.
Tobias Reinhardt is Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at Oxford University.
He has published on Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian among others and
is currently working on a commentary and a critical edition of Cicero’s
Academica.
Gretchen Reydams-Schils is Professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the
University of Notre Dame, and holds concurrent appointments in Philosophy
and Theology. She specializes in the traditions of Stoicism and Platonism, and
is currently working on a monograph about Calcidius’s fourth-century Latin
commentary on Plato’s Timaeus.