Keep Up the Good Work

The third book of the Naturales quaestiones, in which Seneca explores the nature and causes of terrestrial waters, culminates in an account of a cosmic deluge that will ultimately devastate our world (QNat. 3.27–30). Within this epilogue, Seneca makes a double allusion to the Ovidian story of the cataclysm at Metamorphoses 1.262–312 and to the myth of Phaethon and the conflagration at Metamorphoses 1.747–2.400. This chapter explores anew the significance of Seneca’s intertextual dialogue with Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which Seneca approaches as a proto-scientific text. Seneca suggests that he himself is about to build on Ovid’s earlier “scientific” discoveries so as to elucidate more effectively, from a philosophical viewpoint, the causes and the consequences of the imminent deluge. The present analysis is focused on the specific way in which direct quotations and allusions are assimilated within Seneca’s philosophical argumentation. As it turns out, Seneca systematically demythologizes the Ovidian tales, integrates mythical time into cosmic time, and eventually turns both mythical and historical events into integral parts of his cosmic narrative. His aim is to formulate an effective Stoic praemeditatio futurorum malorum, that is, the best means of assisting Lucilius in conceiving of and preparing himself for the imminent catastrophe. Special emphasis is also placed upon Seneca’s response to Ovid’s Golden Age imagery, which is already burdened with negative Vergilian and Lucretian implications derived from their respective plague narratives.