Kitap 12
2
That the judgment passed by Annaeus Seneca on Quintus Ennius and Marcus Cicero was trifling and futile.
2
SOME think of Annaeus Seneca as a writer of little value, whose works are not worth taking up, since his style seems commonplace and ordinary, while the matter and the thought are characterized, now by a foolish and empty vehemence, now by an empty and affected cleverness; and because his learning is common and plebeian, gaining neither charm nor distinction from familiarity with the earlier writers. Besides Caligula, who called Seneca's essays mere declamation exercises and his style sand without lime (Suet. Calig. liii), there were other critics of Seneca in his own day, as well as in the following Flavian epoch. Others, on the contrary, while not denying that his diction lacks elegance, declare that he is not without learning and a knowledge of the subjects which he treats, and that he censures the vices of the times with a seriousness and dignity which are not wanting in charm. I myself do not feel called upon to criticize and pass judgment upon his talents in general, or upon his writings as a whole; but I shall select for consideration the nature of the opinions which he has expressed about Marcus Cicero, Quintus Ennius and Publius Vergilius.
