Articles and Book Chapters by Francesca Romana Berno
Non è una virtù per uomini? Pudicitia in Seneca e nella prima età imperiale
Ethical Challenges. Sfide etiche nell'impero romano, 2025
Analisi della virtù della pudicitia tra la prima età imperiale e i primi Cristiani, con particola... more Analisi della virtù della pudicitia tra la prima età imperiale e i primi Cristiani, con particolare riferimento alle specificità di genere
The Classical Quarterly, 2025
This paper offers a new perspective on a well-known topic: Seneca's quotations from the Aeneid in... more This paper offers a new perspective on a well-known topic: Seneca's quotations from the Aeneid in his Moral Epistles. It takes as a starting point the commonly held view that Seneca uses Virgil, sometimes altering the text, sometimes decontextualizing it, to support his Stoic ideas, but without implying that this was originally in Virgil's mind. An analysis of both the content and the form of the quotations shows that Seneca uses them not only to convey Stoic ideas but also to provide a narrative. Regarding the content, Seneca avoids descriptive passages, preferring instead passages focussed on a few key concepts: virtue and fighting, god and fate, death. These are at the same time the main themes of the epic poem and those of the Moral Epistles. The distribution of the themes throughout the collection and the contextualization of the quoted Virgilian lines reveal a narrative behind Seneca's choices, which in the beginning aims at improving one's virtue and then proceeds, toward the end, to an acceptance of death. As the author of his Epistles, Seneca uses the quotations from the Aeneid to describe his coming to terms with death. This is further stressed by the frequency of dialogic exchanges among the quoted lines: given the overlap between the fictive dialogue of the letter (author/reader) and that of the quoted lines, there is an identification of the two epistolary characters with the epic ones, and this contributes to Seneca's self-portrayal as a master of philosophy and as an old man facing his approaching end.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 2024
This paper offers a close reading of Seneca's De otio 8, providing some evidence for the theory a... more This paper offers a close reading of Seneca's De otio 8, providing some evidence for the theory according to which it would represent the ending of the dialogue: it summons and deepens several motifs hinted at in the previous chapters; it alludes to the opening of Cicero's De re publica; it deals with the shipwreck metaphor, a seminal image in Seneca's prose works. Furthermore, the quoted historical examples-Socrates, Aristoteles and Hannibal, unjustly prosecuted by their own fellow citizens-may suggest a political reading of the passage, in the light of a self-defence.
Ovid Death and Transfiguration, 2023
A close reading of Janus' description in Ovid's Fasti 1 reveals a development in the prerogatives... more A close reading of Janus' description in Ovid's Fasti 1 reveals a development in the prerogatives of the god: initally considered as the preserver of peace, he is later replaced by Augustus in this role. This might explain the so-called inconsistency about the Gates of War.
From Chaos to Chaos. Janus in Fasti 1 and the Gates of War
Ovid, Death and Transfiguration, pp. 319-350, 2023
A close reading of Ovid's presentation of Janus in the Fasti reveals how the god's prerogative of... more A close reading of Ovid's presentation of Janus in the Fasti reveals how the god's prerogative of preserving peace, which is apparently strong in the opening of the book, becomes weak and feeble in the end, overcome by the power of Augustus. This might explain the alleged incosistency about the gates of Janus' temple in the poem.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 2022
Introduction to a collection of papers on the idea of love in Seneca's Epistles. Written with T. ... more Introduction to a collection of papers on the idea of love in Seneca's Epistles. Written with T. Gazzarri
Classico Contemporaneo 8, 2022
L'articolo analizza la dossografia esposta da Seneca a proposito del diluvio universale alla fine... more L'articolo analizza la dossografia esposta da Seneca a proposito del diluvio universale alla fine del terzo libro delle Naturales Quaestiones. Delle sei teorie proposte, ciascuna delle quali valorizza una causa specifica per il disastro naturale, solo due ricevono una certa attenzione: quella dello stesso Seneca, citata per ultima, e quella del suo maestro Papirio Fabiano, citata per prima. Fabiano, filosofo e già retore compagno di Ovidio alla scuola di Arellio Fusco, fu autore fra l'altro di un trattato scientifico che rappresenta una fonte di quello di Seneca. La sua ipotesi riportata nelle Quaestiones si caratterizza per l'afflato patetico e gli spunti mitologici, e contiene fra l'altro una celebre polemica letteraria diretta contro Ovidio e la sua narrazione del diluvio nel primo libro delle Metamorfosi, bollata come superficiale e inadatta al tema apocalittico. L'ipotesi di Seneca, ricca di riferimenti filosofici, si sostanzia di similitudini ispirate alla teoria organicistica e propone un concorso di tutti gli elementi alla distruzione del mondo. Dall'analisi emerge un intento emulativo di Seneca nei confronti del maestro, sia sul piano letterario che su quello scientifico: intento di cui la critica ad Ovidio costituisce una sorta di anticipazione.
Seneca
Tua vivit imago, vol. 3, a c. di F. Ursini, 2022
Hanbook chapter on Seneca's life, thought, and works, with selected and annotated passages.
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Articles and Book Chapters by Francesca Romana Berno