''Naturales quaestiones'' (''Natural Questions'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

work of

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...

written by

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

around 65 AD. It is not a systematic encyclopedia like the ''

Naturalis Historia The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...

'' of

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

, though with Pliny's work it represents one of the few Roman works dedicated to investigating the natural world. Seneca's investigation takes place mainly through the consideration of the views of other thinkers, both Greek and Roman, though it is not without original thought. One of the most unusual features of the work is Seneca's articulation of the natural philosophy with moralising episodes that seem to have little to do with the investigation. Much of the recent scholarship on the ''Naturales Quaestiones'' has been dedicated to explaining this feature of the work. It is often suggested that the purpose of this combination of

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and philosophical 'physics' is to demonstrate the close connection between these two parts of philosophy, in line with the thought of

Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...

Date

The earliest date (''

terminus post quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

'') for writing is AD 60, and it is generally thought to have been written around 62 to 64 AD.

The ''Naturales Quaestiones'' is addressed to

Lucilius Junior Lucilius Junior (fl. 1st century), was the procurator of Sicily during the reign of Nero, a friend and correspondent of Seneca, and the possible author of ''Aetna'', a poem that survives in a corrupt state. Life The information about Lucilius come ...

:George Long"> The work originally had eight books, but the book on the Nile (book 4a) is missing the second part, whereas the book concerning Hail and Snow (book 4b) is missing the first half. These two books have been joined by tradition to become book 4. The contents of these seven books are as follows:George Long"/> #

meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...

halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

mock sun A sun dog (or sundog) or mock sun, also called a parhelion (plural parhelia) in meteorology, is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to one or both sides of the Sun. Two sun dogs often flank the Sun within a 22° ...

s, etc. #

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

and

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

. (theory of thunderstorms ) #

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

; this book also contains the description of the Roman

heat exchanger A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contac ...

s, which were called "dracones", or "miliaria"; and a description of the

deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Comm ...

. #the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

(4a) ;

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, and

ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

(4b). (theory of hail ) #

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

s. #

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s and the sources of the

. #

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

s. The original order of the books is a matter of scholarly disagreement.Limburg, F. J. G., 2007, Doctoral thesis, p. 10-11. Leiden University
/ref> M von Albrecht
A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius : with Special Regard to Its Influence on World Literature (p.1193)
Editor GL Schmeling (BRILL, 1997) etrieved 2015-3-17/ref> Several scholars consider an original order, as used by Harry M. Hine, being Book 3 (firstly), then Book 4a, 4b, Books 5-7 then Books 1, and finally Book 2.

Themes

The work is a study on questions of physics and

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

. It is one of the few Roman works which deals with scientific matters. It is not a systematic work, but a collection of facts of nature from various writers, Greek and Roman, many of which are curiosities. Moral remarks are scattered through the work; and indeed the design of the whole appears to be to find a foundation for

in the knowledge of nature.George Long"/> There is an incontrovertible intertwinement of an ethical concern with the questions of nature (''physics'') in the work.Limburg, F. J. G., 2007, Doctoral thesis, p. 1-2. Leiden University
/ref>

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting that th ...

from early in their history considered the ''telos'' (goal) of their efforts to be ''kata physin'' (according to nature). Thus for Seneca, virtue in a human was dependent on behaving in a natural way. The highest good or virtue is to live "according to one's own nature" (''secundum naturam suam vivere'' in ''Ep''. 41:9, ''Ep''. 121:3); referring to both nature in general and one's own innate nature. Seneca had been the imperial advisor during the early part of Nero's reign before falling out of favour, and Seneca compliments Nero four times in ''Naturales quaestiones''. A more indirect allusion to his former role can be found in book 2 when during a discussion of lightning bolts (Book 2.43), Seneca breaks off to urge rulers to always take counsel from their advisors. Seneca thought that promoting an active interest in science to Nero would be beneficial to the emperor's morality. Contemplation of nature for Seneca "unchains the mind" enabling a person to transcend evil, and by experiencing the totality (''totum'') of nature, develop a consciousness and being more compatible with direct experience of God, by elevating one's moral nature. God is in all things natural (is ''intramundane''), for Seneca: Achieving an existence in keeping with the correct manner of living (that is being ethical) depends on a person fulfilling that existence in accordance with the principles of the natural law or '' ius naturae'' (p. 258 ) of the divine universal order (Seneca - ''Ep'' 76.23 as shown at p. 84-5 ), inherent in the totality of nature. To make one in ''agreement with nature'' (όμολογουμένως τή φύσει).

Later history

The known history of the text begins in the 12th century.

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

once owned a copy of the work, which had previously belonged to the 15th century humanist

Rodolphus Agricola Rodolphus Agricola ( la, Rudolphus Agricola Phrisius; August 28, 1443, or February 17, 1444 – October 27, 1485) was a pre-Erasmian humanist of the Northern Low Countries, famous for his knowledge of Latin and Greek. He was an educator, musici ...

. The first edition (''editio princeps'') was published in Venice in 1490. English language editions include that published in 1972-73 by the

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

References

External links

*
''Naturales Quaestiones'' web texts
*
Physical science in the time of Nero; being a translation of the Quaestiones naturales of Seneca
', (1910). Translated by John Clarke, with notes by

Archibald Geikie Sir Archibald Geikie (28 December 183510 November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer. Early life Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband James Stuart Geikie, a musician and music critic. T ...

, at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. {{Authority control 1st-century Latin books Latin encyclopedias Latin prose texts Works by Seneca the Younger Encyclopedias in classical antiquity

Date

Contents

Themes

Later history

See also

References

Further reading

External links