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Date
2012
Authors
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Publisher
Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk
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Abstract
In Natural Question 1 Seneca presents the survey of the rainbow theories and declares himself in favour of the
mirror theory drawn from Posidonius. He pronounces the rainbow to be the reflection of the sun in a moist,
hollow cloud. This reflection is distorted due to the defectiveness of the natural mirror which is the above
mentioned cloud. The scientific argument in Natural Question 1 is closed by the tale about Hostius Quadra,
a sexual deviant who sees pleasures in watching his bodily acts in magnifying mirrors. The link between the
scientific discourse and the Hostius episode is supplied by the theme of the rainbow or precisely the mirror and
its wrong application by humans. Thus Seneca refers the catoptrical inquiry in the nature to the debate over the
moral condition of the Roman society.
Description
In primo libro Naturalium Quaestionum imprimis, quemadmodum arcus fiat, a Seneca quaeritur.
Omnis inquisitio, quae ad arcum pertineat, in partes tres dividi posse videtur. Primum, quae
ab aliis proposita sunt, exponit, deinde collocutoribus falsis introductis superiora proposita refellit,
denique magna cum subtiliate Posidonii opinionem, cui assentitur, exprimit. Illud dubium nulli
esse posse censet, quin arcus speculari ratione fiat. Qui visus igitur non ob aliam causam in caelo
fit, quam quia roscida concavaque nubes, cui forma pilae sectae est, speculi ratione imaginem solis
reddit. Inter argumenta a scriptore ponitur arcus excitari non posse nisi contra solem. Praeterea
arcus numquam dimidio circulo maior est, eoque minor quo altior sol est. Colores autem, quibus
arcus depingitur, sole efficiuntur, sed cavendum ne illi, quibus species coloris sit, veri habeantur.
Quam ob rem philosophus arcum caducam fugacemque effigiem et sine re similitudinem iudicat,
quod in arcu nihil corporis certi subest, imago autem, quam in caelo videmus, fallacia speculi est.
Seneca tractatis speculis naturalibus, quibus phaenomena admirari possumus, paulum a proposito
aberrat, ut de Hostio Quadra, speculorum amatore, fabellam narret. Iste admissarius coitibus spectandis
in speculis, quae reddentia imagines longe maiores fecerat, delectatus est. Sed quamvis
uterque admirabiliter instrumentum inquisitionis speculum fecerit, Hostius tamen omnibus partibus
ab philosopho differt. Quo sequitur, ut speculo, beneficio a natura dato, non solum qui et se
ipsos et phaenomena cognituri sint, sed etiam qui voluptatibus diffluant utantur. Postremis verbis
scriptor acerbe affirmat vitia hominum in processu esse, quod nequitas undique diffundat. Seneca
ergo ad hominum mores etiam inquisitionem naturalium quaestionum refert.
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Keywords
rainbow, mirror, reflection of the sun, Posidonius, Hostius Quadra, catoptrics, atmospheric phenomena, gender transgression, moral degradation, illusory image
Citation
Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium, 2012, nr XXII/2, s. 75-90
ISBN
978-83-7654-139-6