Natural Questions
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Seneca – whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emerson – to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities.
Written near the end of Seneca's life, "Natural Questions" is a work in which Seneca expounds and comments on the natural sciences of his day – rivers and earthquakes, wind and snow, meteors and comets – offering us a valuable look at the ancient scientific mind at work. The modern reader will find fascinating insights into ancient philosophical and scientific approaches to the physical world, and also vivid evocations of the grandeur, beauty, and terror of nature.
Reviews
"Hine's translation is clear, elegant, and energetic, and the introduction and notes allow us to read the work within the contexts of ancient science, philosophy, culture, and literature. Most of all, by conveying both its intellectual urgency and its artfulness, this edition reveals the 'Natural Questions' to be among Seneca's most powerful writings and in the league of such masterworks as Lucretius's 'De rerum natura' and Virgil's 'Georgics'" – James Ker, University of Pennsylvania, author of "The Deaths of Seneca"
"From the rainbow in the heavens to the iridescent scales of a mullet dying at the gourmet's table, Seneca examines the face of God and its distorted human images to find, at the last, himself. One of the many virtues of Harry Hine's lively new translation of the 'Natural Questions' is the variation in its registers, encompassing satire, scientific argument, moral dialogue, and epic grandeur. Backed up by an extensive critical introduction, this volume makes an auspicious beginning to the series" – Cedric Littlewood, University of Victoria, Canada
