Scrinium Classical Antiquity

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  • The Octavia. Introduction, Text, and Commentary. Paul Haupt, Bern / Stuttgart, 1978. 132p. Sewn. Carton cover. Edges a little bit rust stained. Series: Noctes Romanae, 16. (Rare). ‘After these criticisms have had to be made, it is a pleasure to turn to the most interesting and enlightening feature of the book - a feature which actually seems to result in part from Whitman’s firmly held belief (…) in Seneca’s authorship. Simply because she is so completely persuades that in this play we are seeing the tragedy of Nero’s reign ‘through the eyes of Seneca’, she seems to succeed in bringing out the deep political and moral seriousness of the ‘Octavia’, and its potential value as a historical witness, more clearly than any other commentator known to this reviewer. The numerous and quite extensive notes which deal with the historical allusions in the’Octavia’, and with the historiographical problems which arise from them, stand out from the rest of the commentary for their lucidity and their evident originality; and the same may be said of her perceptive remarks on the characterization of the historical figures who appear in the play. (…) But on the whole Whitman has made an important contribution toward a just historical and moral evaluation of the ‘Octavia’; and it is one which will in fact hold good almost equally whether the author of the play was Seneca himself or (…) a close associate or pupil of his.’ (C.J. HERINGTON in The American Journal of Philology, 1980, p.508). € 55.00 (Antiquarian) ISBN: 9783258027524

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