The Empire of the Self This page intentionally left blank The Empire of the Self Self- Command and Po liti cal Speech in Seneca and Petronius Christopher Star The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore © 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2012 Printed in the United States of America on acid-f ree paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryl and 21218-4 363 www .press .jhu .edu Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Star, Christopher. The empire of the self : self- command and pol iti cal speech in Seneca and Petronius / Christopher Star. pages cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1 - 4214- 0674-9 (hardback : alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-1 - 4214- 0726- 5 (electronic) — ISBN 1-4 214-0 674- 8 (hardback : alkaline paper) — ISBN 1-4 214- 0726-4 (electronic) 1. Politics in literature. 2. Latin literature—H istory and criticism. 3. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.– 65 A.D.— Criticism and interpretation. 4. Petronius Arbiter. Satyricon. I. Title. PA6029.P64S73 2012 870.9'001—dc23 2012006338 A catal og record for this book is available from the British Library. Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information, please contact Special Sales at 410- 516-6 936 or specialsales@ press.jhu.edu. The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post-c onsumer waste, whenever possible. Contents Ack now ledg ments vii Introduction 1 part i: Soul-S haping Speech 1 Senecan Philosophy and the Psychology of Command 23 2 Self-A ddress in Senecan Tragedy 62 3 Self-A ddress in the Satyricon 84 part ii. Soul-R evealing Speech 4 Pol iti cal Speech in De clementia 117 5 Soul, Speech, and Politics in the Apocolocyntosis and the Satyricon 140 6 Writing, Body, and Money 171 Epilogue 209 Notes 215 Bibliography 277 Index 295 This page intentionally left blank Ac know ledgm ents Redde quod debes, “pay back what you owe,” write both Seneca and Petronius. I cannot hope to repay the friends, colleagues, and institutions that have aided me in completing this book. This expression of gratitude will have to stand as small recompense for the debts I have incurred. My forays into self-a ddress in Seneca and Petronius began with my dissertation at the University of Chicago under the guidance of Shadi Bartsch, Martha Nussbaum, and David Wray. Since then those three have continued to support my work in a variety of ways. Susanna Braund and Niall Slater have also provided a great deal of en- couragement and assistance for several years now. Work on this book was supported by a generous grant from the Loeb Clas- sical Library Foundation. My thanks go to Richard Thomas and the other members of the foundation. My sabbatical was spent as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Thanks to John Duffy, chair of the Department of the Classics, and the other members of the department for allowing me to visit for the year. Portions of this book w ere presented to audiences at Boston University, Dartmouth, Emory, Harvard, Temple, and Yale. I am grateful to all who have provided suggestions and encouragement, including Victor Bers, Pramit Chaudhuri, Margaret Graver, Wolfgang Haase, Jeffery Henderson, Albert Henrichs, Robin Mitchell-B oyask, Victor Nuovo, Michael Reeve, Steve Scully, Nancy Sherman, Steve Strange, Peter White, and Jack Zupko. Further support was provided by a grant from Middlebury College to em- ploy a research assistant at a crucial stage in the book’s development. I am grateful to James Ralph, dean of faculty development and research, for award- ing the grant and to Margaret Clark for fi lling that role so admirably. My col- leagues in the Department of Classics at Middlebury College, Jane Chaplin, Randall Ganiban, Pavlos Sfyroeras, and Marc Witkin, welcomed me into the fold and encouraged me to develop new courses that helped to foster and ex- plore several of the ideas contained in this book. viii Ac knowl edg ments My editor, Matthew McAdam, is to be thanked for taking immediate inter- est in this book and for his guidance and support throughout the publication pro cess. He and the staff at the Johns Hopkins University Press w ere remark- ably effi cient and helpful in seeing it through production. The anonymous reader for the Press provided numerous suggestions and critiques that greatly aided my fi nal revisions. Joanne Allen was a skilled and careful copyeditor. An earlier version of chapter 2 was published as “Commanding Constantia in Senecan Tragedy” in Transactions of the American Philological Association 136, no. 1 (2006): 207–4 4, copyright © 2006 The American Philological Association, used with permission from The Johns Hopkins University Press. On a more personal note, my greatest debt of gratitude is to my family, both the Stars and the Robertses. I owe an incalculable debt to my wife, Sarah, who always was willing to leave her own important work to come to my aid and listen to my ideas. This book is dedicated to her. The Empire of the Self