Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Hardship and Happiness by Elaine Fantham, Harry M. Hine, James Ker and Gareth Williams

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 503 departure for exile and return to Rome. According to Luke, the Ciceronian theology, a more civic one since based on the notion of pater patriae, would have important ramifications in the future ideologyof the Principate. Caesar’s ovatio of 44BC isinterpretedbyLukeinrelationtoCicero’sthought.Inhiswords,“Caesar’s response to Cicero was to return to a gentilician theology rooted in the regal period and to assert thatCicero’s vision ofthe Republic asa gatheringof senators, while compelling, had a history that allowed him to propose for himself a continuingroleinthatsenatorialgathering,asanofficiatorinRome”(138).But,if, ontheonehand,Caesar’sperformancehasbeenassociatedwithmonarchy,onthe other hand, Augustus has succeed in mobilizing the precedent theological tradition to present himself as the true savior of the Republic. To make this point clear,LukeoffersanilluminatingreadingoftheResGestaeasan“arrivaltext”,inthe sense that it “implicates its reader into a cultural process that unfolds in a series of arrivals culminating in the full restoration of the Republic, the birth of a new age, and the apex of Augustus’ personal career” (197). Augustus’ self-presentation emerges asa new Numa, a monarch, butan electedone. Luke’s book deserves to be read for its detailed narrative of the interconnections between the theologies of arrival performed from Marius to Augustus. He convincingly shows how each one has appropriated and reframed the previous ones to build the public image of important members of the elite. Lukethusapproachesasubjectonlybrieflytreated,forexample,byGeoffreySumi in his Ceremonyand Power: Performing Politics in Rome Between RepublicandEmpire (2005). Finally, the book will also interest those who study the political culture of the Principate. Emperors after Augustus also sought to forge imperial theologies to justifytheirrising to supremepower,and,indoingso,theymaintained alive the competitive political environment of the Republic. FÁBIO D.JOLY Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, joly.fabio@gmail.com * * * * * * Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Hardship and Happiness. Translated by ELAINE FANTHAM, HARRYM.HINE,JAMESKERANDGARETH WILLIAMS.ChicagoandLondon:The University of Chicago Press, 2014. Pp. xxix + 318. Hardcover, $55.00. ISBN 9780 -226-74832-0. BOOK REVIEWS 504 Hardship and Happiness represents the fourth of a planned eight volume series of Seneca’s complete works in translation edited by Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum. Earlier volumes include Natural Questions May 2010; Anger, Mercy, Revenge July2010; and On BenefitsApril 2011. This series brings together many preeminent anglophone scholars of Seneca aseditorsandtranslatorsandsucceedsinitsaimtoreachawideraudiencethrough readable, modern English translations and to provide guidance for students and scholars of various disciplines through the scholarly apparatus that accompanies each work. This apparatus offers useful contextual information to a novice reader ofSenecaandofRomanimperialhistorywithhistorical,literary,andphilosophical references. Some translations certainly benefit from the translator's expertise of thatparticularwork,asseenintheintroductionandnotes.Theminorcriticismsof this volume that follow fall more in the category of missed opportunities than of major technical or scholarly flaws. This volume contains translations to the majority of Seneca’s essays on ethical topics, or the Dialogi, in chronological order (Griffin 1976: 396-98)1 : Consolation toMarcia byHarryM. Hine, Consolation toHelvia by Gareth Williams, Consolation to Polybius by Harry M. Hine, On the Shortness of Life by Gareth Williams, On the constancy of the wise person by James Ker, On Tranquility of Mind byElaineFantham,OnleisurebyGarethWilliams,OntheHappyLifebyJamesKer, and On Providence by James Ker. Although the series does not include the Latin text, this volume updates the Loeb translation of John Basore from (1928, 1932, respectively) of the Moral Essays in a way that it could be usefully used alongside Reynolds’ OCT (or Williams 2003 text and commentary of De otio and De brevitate vitae) for scholars familiar with the Latin text. In general, the notes include references to the Latin text and variations,especiallywhen there isambiguityor difficulty in translation. As a possible textbook, this volume offers the most extensive collection of Seneca’s dialogues in English. Other modern English translations of Seneca's dialogues, John Davie with Oxford Classics (2007), C.D.N. Costa with Penguin (1997), and John M. Cooper and J. F. Procopé with Cambridge Texts (1995), include only select essays and excerpts. Cooper and Procopé’s collection only overlaps with this volume in its inclusion of De otio, but it is perhaps the most 1 Miriam Griffin. 1976. Seneca: A Philosopher in Politics. Cambridge BOOK REVIEWS 505 similar in that its introductions and notes aim to satisfy a scholarly readership...