Lucius Annaeus Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae [On the Shortness of Life]

Tommaso Gazzarri (Union College, New York)

Ed. by Sophia Papaioannou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool), Jula Wildberger (American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 49 - c. 55

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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De Brevitate Vitae

(“On the Shortness of Life” and DBV thereafter) is the ninth of Seneca’s twelve books that have been transmitted under the name of

dialogi

by the

Codex Ambrosianus

. This manuscript in Beneventan script was produced in Cassino after 1075 CE and derives from an

exemplar

of late antiquity, possibly also originating in southern Italy.

Dating

The addressee of DBV is mentioned right at the beginning of the dialogue (1.1) with the vocative Pauline. The man has been identified as the eques Pompeius Paulinus of Arles, father of Pompeia Paulina, Seneca’s wife (Tacitus, Ann. 15.60.4 and Seneca, Ep. 104.1.2), and of a younger Pompeius Paulinus who had served as consular legate in Lower Germany (Tacitus, Ann. 13.53.2 and Pliny, N.H. 33.143) and had also been part, as

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2594 words

Citation: Gazzarri, Tommaso. "De Brevitate Vitae". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 October 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35683, accessed 26 December 2024.]