Seneca: Apocolocyntosis

191 Pages·1984·10.251 MB·English

by  P. T. Eden (editor), Lucius Annaeus Seneca

CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
SENECA
APOCOLOCYNTOSIS
EPITED BX F.T. EDEN
CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
GENERAL EDITORS
E. J. KENNEY
Emeritus Kennedy Professor of Latin, University of Cambridge
AND
P. E. EASTERLING
Professor of Greek, University College London

SENECA
APOCOLOCYNTOSIS
EDITED BY
P.T. EDEN
University of London
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cB2 2nv, UK
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http://www.cambridge.org
© Cambridge University Press 1984
First published 1984
Reprinted 1990, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2002
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Library of Congress catalogue card number: 83-14344
Bntish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65
Apocolocyntosis. - (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)
I. Tide II. Eden, PT.
872°.01 PA6661-A9
ISBN 0 521 24617 2 hardback
ISBN 0 521 28836 3 paperback
AO
CONTENTS
Preface IX
Abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
1 The title I
2 The date of composition 4
3 The author 6
4 The function 8
5 Concluston to sections 1—4 12
6 Menippean satire and the literary background 13
(A) Menippean satire 13
(B) Lucilius 16
(C) Side-influences 17
7 Testimonia and the transmission of the text 17
(A) Antiguity 17
(B) The Middle Ages and Renatssance 19
(C) The nineteenth and twentieth centuries: scientific criticism 22
8 The manuscripts 23
9 Stemma codicum 25
Sigla and note on orthography 26
L. ANNAEI SENECAE DIVI CLAVDII
AIIOKOAOK Y NTQEIZ: text and facing translation 27
Commentary 62
Appendix: Claudius and Roman citizenship 152
Bibliographies 156
(A) An alphabetical list of named contributors to the textual criticism
of the work 156
vi CONTENTS
(B) Edittons, commentartes and studies of the work
(C) Claudius and hts reign
(D) General
Indexes
(1) Proper names
(2) Words and phrases
(3) General
Bei einem solchen in jedem Wort zugespitzten Meisterwerk soll man
nicht ruhen, bis das volle und gesicherte Verstandnis jedes Worts er-
reicht ist.
RICHARD HEINZE, Hermes 61 (1926) 49

PREFACE
The text of this edition is based on my own collation of all the manu-
scripts, and my first thanks are due to all the librarians, too numerous to
name individually, who made their resources available to me. Most
manuscripts were examined :n sifu, and I was grateful to receive some
funds for the travelling involved from the Central Research Fund and
the Irwin Fund of the University of London; the Institut de Recherche
et d'Histoire des Textes assisted me in obtaining microfilms or photo-
stats of some of the remainder. In a number of places the text presents
grave difficulties, and an obelus, which properly signifies a considered
suspension of judgement, might seem to be called for. But skewered
nonsense baffles all but the professional scholar, and since he is only one
of the categories of reader I had in mind, I have always preferred to
print the conjecture which seemed the best available. In such cruces and
problems of text and interpretation as have defied the ingenuity and
acumen of so many scholars forso long, I cannot hope that all of my own
suggestions will gain acceptance. I do most cordially invite any reader of
this book (for perspicacity is not exclusive to any single age-group) to
write to me with suggested improvements.
The apparatus criticus designedly provides more information than is
necessary to recover the archetype. It establishes fully the character and
relationship not only of the primary but also of the secondary manu-
scripts. Should any undiscovered manuscript come to light, it will be the
work of minutes, not years, to assign it to its rightful place on the family
tree.
Translation is an art sometimes fascinating, often frustrating, always
approximative. Tradutlore traditore. The English version I have provided
is intended only to supplement the commentary in helping the reader to
understand the meaning and appreciate the flavour of the original, and
so to dispense with any translation.
The commentary could easily, though not quite effortlessly, have
been three times its present size. But I was delighted to accept the
restrictions imposed by this series. It would be wrong to assume that I do
not know or value contributions to the study of this work which are not
specifically mentioned. Anyone who wishes to find his way through the
highways and byways of the relevant scholarshipis most ably assisted for
IX