32 pages • 1 hour read
SenecaA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Anaphora is a rhetorical device involving the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences. Seneca uses it periodically throughout his essay and it is preserved in instances of Costa’s translation, such as when he writes:
None of these will force you to die, but all will teach you how to die. None of them will exhaust your years, but each will contribute his years to yours. With none of these will conversation be dangerous, or his friendship fatal, or attendance on him expensive (24).
Here, Seneca underscores the benefits of immersing oneself in philosophy and surrounding oneself with philosophical friends. The repetition of “none of these” makes it emphatically clear that philosophers and philosophy on the whole are beneficial and important. The anaphora is a key component of Roman rhetoric and writing style and by using it, Seneca demonstrates his fine education and fluency in composition.
Asyndeton is a rhetorical device characterized by the omission of conjunctions (i.e., “and,” “but,” “or”) between words or phrases in a series. Seneca uses this device periodically throughout his essay to give his ideas more weight by not distracting the reader with conjunctions.
By Seneca
Ancient Rome
View Collection
Essays & Speeches
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Nature Versus Nurture
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Psychology
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection
Self-Help Books
View Collection
Spanish Literature
View Collection
The Future
View Collection
The Past
View Collection