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SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

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THE EPISTLES OF <strong>SENECA</strong><br />

argumenta eius excussit, post haec quemadmodum<br />

discernerentur vitae aut vocis ambigua, in utraque<br />

enim falsa veris inmixta sunt.<br />

30 Non abduxit, inquam, se, ut Posidonio videtur, ab<br />

istis artibus sapiens, sed ad illas omnino non venit.<br />

Nihil enim dignum inventu iudicasset, quod non erat<br />

dignum perpetuo usu iudicaturus. Ponenda non<br />

sumeret.<br />

"<br />

31 Anacharsis/' inquit, "invenit rotam figuli, cuius<br />

circuitu vasa formantur." Deinde quia apud Homerum<br />

invenitur figuli rota, malunt l videri versus falsos esse<br />

quam fabulam. Ego nee Anacharsim auctorem huius<br />

rei fuisse contendo et, si fuit, sapiens quidem hoc<br />

invenit, sed non tamquam sapiens, sicut multa<br />

sapientes faciunt, qua homines sunt, non qua sapientes.<br />

Puta velocissimum esse sapientem cursu omnes<br />

;<br />

anteibit, qua velox est, non qua sapiens. Cuperem<br />

Posidonio aliquem vitrearium ostendere, qui spiritu<br />

vitrum in habitus plurimos format, qui vix diligenti<br />

manu effingerentur. Haec inventa sunt, postquam<br />

snpientiam 2 invenire desimus.<br />

1<br />

malunt MSS. ; mavult several editors.<br />

8<br />

sapientiam Buecheler ; sapientem BA.<br />

a Seneca, himself one <strong>of</strong> the keenest scientific observers<br />

in history (witness the Nat. Quaest., Epp. Ivii., Ixxix., etc.),<br />

is pushing his argument very far in this letter. His message<br />

is clear enough<br />

; but the modern combination <strong>of</strong> natural<br />

science, psychology, and philosophy shows that Posidonius<br />

had some justification for his theories. Cf. also Lucretius,<br />

v. 1105-7 ff.<br />

6<br />

This Scythian prince and friend <strong>of</strong> Solon, who visited<br />

Athens in the sixth century B.C., is also said to have invented<br />

the bellows and the anchor. Cf., however, Iliad xviii. 600 f.<br />

wj 6're rts rpox^v ap/j-evov Iv TraXd/j-rjiaw e^oyueyos and Leafs comment " Kfpa/Jievs<br />

The<br />

TretpTjcrerat, : potter's wheel was<br />

418

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