Seneca’s Epistles Reclassified

Abstract

Abstract Seneca’s Epistles have been particularly subject to theoretical re definition. This opening statement raises a problem of its own, for it suggests that there is a particular category or genre to which the Epistles incontrovertibly belong. Few, I think, would want to argue with the proposition that the Epistles are, at least ostensibly, epistles. Not only are they collected under that title, but each text opens with a greeting framed in accordance with the standard epistolary protocol (Seneca Lucilia suo salutem) and ends with the conventional formula of leave-taking employed in Roman correspondence (vale). Those who have sought to reclassify the epistles have not attempted to deny their epistolary form, for to do so is impossible. Rather, they have treated it as a purely artificial device which does not so much alert us to the true character of the texts as disguise it. Given, then, that the Epistles are at least formally epistles, it seems legitimate to enquire whether the reclassifications stand up to scrutiny. and whether they enhance or impede a better understanding of Seneca’s literary technique and philosophical position.

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