seneca and paul 321
who intends to learn a language, Paul—who wished to learn Latin—could
have sought out available occasions to practice the language. Thus, he
endeavoured to write in Latin to seneca, who, according to the pseudepi-
graphic correspondence, helped him with a handbook.
Linguistic Considerations
however, scholars at the beginning of the past century, such as Pascal and
harnack, maintained that this correspondence was originally composed
in greek.6 The former supposed that Jerome—one of the most impor-
tant ancient sources concerning our pseudepigraphon—read a greek ver-
sion of it that was richer than that which has reached us. what we read
today, according to Pascal, is a mere abridgment of the original greek
correspondence in bad Latin. according to this scholar, it was the original
greek, and not the Latin translation, that induced Jerome to list seneca
in catalogo sanctorum.7 Pascal, in fact, interpreted sancti as “saints” and
thought that Jerome simply could not include seneca among the chris-
tians only on the basis of the preserved letters, which indeed do not imply
seneca’s conversion to christianity. This tale of seneca’s conversion is a
proto-humanistic legend,8 unknown to the original correspondence as
well as to the Patristic authors. Letter XiV is the only letter in the pseude-
pigraphon that suggests that seneca “converted” to christianity. how-
ever, as i shall mention, it is not part of the original correspondence and
was added much later. The legend of seneca’s conversion was probably
inspired by this very letter, which depicts him as auctor Christi Iesu at
court. The first documented traces of that legend are to be found in the
late middle ages,9 in giovanni colonna around 1332, rolando da Piazzola,
6 see ilaria ramelli, “aspetti linguistici dell’epistolario seneca-san Paolo,” in antonio P.
martina (ed.), Seneca e i Cristiani (aevum antiquum 13; milan: Vita e Pensiero 2000),
123–27; 2005.
7 “in conclusione presentiamo l’ipotesi che queste lettere così scarne e misere, che noi
possediamo, non sieno [sic] che traduzioni dal greco, fatte in secoli barbarici, di alcuni
estratti della raccolta che era dinnanzi a gerolamo”: so carlo Pascal, “La falsa corrispon-
denza fra seneca e Paolo,” in his Letteratura latina medioevale (catania: battiato, 1909),
123–40; adolf harnack, Geschichte des altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius (Leipzig: hin-
richs, 1958), 1.2:763–65.
8 see ramelli, “note sull’epistolario,” 225–37.
9 see arnaldo momigliano, “note sulla leggenda del cristianesimo di seneca,” in his
Contributo alla storia degli studî classici (storia e Letteratura raccolta di studi e Testi 47;
rome: edizioni di storia e Letteratura, 1955), 13–32; ezio Franceschini, “un giudizio del gar-
zoni sul presunto cristianesimo di seneca,” Aevum 26 (1952): 78–79; giuseppe billanovich,
“il seneca tragico di Pomposa,” in giuseppe billanovich (ed.), Pomposia monasterium