Abstract
AbstractLuxuria is a major theme in Seneca’s prose works. Being linked with desire, which lies at the root of each and every vice according to Stoic philosophy, it combines most vices into one, and thus represents a sort of archenemy of philosophical life. Men subjected to luxuria live a life against nature, subverting every rule; they are enslaved by their stomach, the vilest of organs, and this shows that they have lost their human connotations to wear beast attitudes. Luxuria itself is often personified as a powerful woman, who dwells in Baiae, a famous vacation place in Campania. Her champions are degraded, notorious figures such as Marc Antony, Apicius, and Maecenas; her opponents are less famous, as Q. Aelius Tubero, a loser in politics, and Scipio Aemilianus, but only after his political defeat. Healing this vice is almost impossible, because temptations arise everywhere, and this vice, far from representing an annihilation of reason, uses it for its aims, showing inventive and creative skills. Indeed, people devoted to luxuria show much more commitment to their aims than those involved in philosophy.
Publisher
Oxford University PressOxford
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