Stoic Metaphysics at Rome

Abstract

Abstract Probably the shortest, and certainly one of the most intriguing, of the numerous fragments of ancient philosophy to turn up in modern times is Poxy 3649.1 All that the sands of Egypt have preserved of this second– third-century ad scroll is its end title: What the content of Cornutus’ On properties book II was can be a matter of little more than speculation. This is a pity, because the topic was almost certainly metaphysical, and metaphysics is by no means a familiar aspect of the Stoicism that has come down to us from the Roman period. Cornets himself, on the other hand, is a well-documented figure from the imperial Stoa, even if his one surviving work, the allegorizing Survey of the Greek Theological Tradition, is far less often studied, discussed, or cited than the predominantly ethical writings of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, or even those of the less well-known Musonius Rufus. Born in Libya, teacher at Rome of the poets Lucan and Persius (the latter of whom bequeathed to him his complete collection of the works of Chrysippus), and exiled by Nero in the 60s ad, Cornets published extensively in both Greek and Latin.

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