Naturales quaestiones

Naturales quaestiones is a Latin encyclopedia of the natural world written by Seneca around 65 AD. It is much shorter than the Naturalis Historia produced by Pliny the Elder some ten years later. It is one of the few Roman works which deals with scientific matters, although is not a systematic work, but a collection of facts of nature from various writers, Greek and Roman. Moral remarks are scattered through the work; and the intent of the encyclopedia appears to be to discover a foundation for ethics in the knowledge of nature.

The terminus post quem for writing is 60 AD, generally thought to have been written around 62 to 64 AD.

The Naturales Quaestiones is addressed to Lucilius Junior:

The work originally had eight books, but the book on the Nile (book 4a) is missing the second part, whereas the book concerning Hail and Snow (book 4b) is missing the first half. These two books have been joined by tradition to become book 4.

The contents of these seven books are as follows:

The original order of the books is a matter of scholarly disagreement (c.f. Limburg p. 10-11 & M von Albrecht). Several scholars consider an order, which is for example proposed by HM Hines (c.f. Tracey p. 249), being Book 3 (firstly), then Book 4a, 4b, Books 5-7 then Books 1, and finally Book 2, to be the true order.

The work, according to J Sellars, is a study on questions of physics and meteorology. It is one of the few Roman works which deals with scientific matters. It is not a systematic work, but a collection of facts of nature from various writers, Greek and Roman, many of which are curiosities. Moral remarks are scattered through the work; and indeed the design of the whole appears to be to find a foundation for ethics in the knowledge of nature. GD Williams (et al) recognises the incontrovertible intertwinement of an ethical concern with the questions of nature (physics) in the work (see also Limburg p. 1 -2).

For Seneca, behaving with morality was the ultimate aim of life, so the very possibility of virtue in a human was dependent on a person behaving in a way accordant to nature. The highest good or virtue: secundum naturam suam vivere in Ep 41:9, Ep 121:3 (c.f. - p. 84 for English translation); naturam here refers to both nature in general and one's own innate nature.

In Naturales quaestiones Seneca refers to the name of Nero (on four occasions - c.f. - p. 246) in whose reign Seneca belonged.Specifically in regards to this, Tracey identifies in his work (p. 251), an example of a moral message within the study, lightening bolts (Book 2.43), on the subject of the moral conduct of an absolute monarch. Seneca thought an effort of promoting an active interest in science to Nero, would be beneficial to the emperor's morality (p. 249 - here also quoting H Hine 2006).

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