Harry M. Hine

G. W. M. Harrison (ed.), Seneca in Performance . London: Duckworth, with The Classical Press of Wales, 2000. Pp. xi + 260. ISBN 0-7156-2931-X. £40.00.

The plays of Seneca the Younger, minister and philosopher under Nero, are today increasingly studied, appreciated - and performed. Here, in a collection of papers from an international cast, scholars explore both established questions, such as the playwrights subtleties of characterisation, his relation to contemporary Roman spectacle and art - and the problems arising in translating him to modern text or stage.The plays of Seneca the Younger, minister and philosopher under Nero, are today increasingly studied, appreciated - and performed. Here, in a collection of papers from an international cast, scholars explore both established questions, such as the playwrights subtleties of characterisation, his relation to contemporary Roman spectacle and art - and the problems arising in translating him to modern text or stage.

The Manuscript Tradition of Seneca's Natural Questions

A. The Problem: Since A. Gerckes fundamental work, there has been no complete reappraisal of the manuscript tradition of the Natural Questions , yet a reappraisal is long overdue. Gercke divided the manuscripts into two branches, Δ and Φ but this division has been seriously undermined from two quarters. First, H. W. Garrod questioned the status which Gercke assigned to Δ, arguing, quite rightly, that in every case where Δ has the truth against Φ, Δs reading can reasonably be attributed to conjecture, which is known to be rife in Δ Certainly nothing is proved about Δs integrity by the passages which Gercke adduced, such as the following (Δs reading first):3