'exploratores in horto' : investigating Epicurean ethical ideas in the literature of the Neronian period

This thesis analyses the engagement with Epicurean ethical thinking and Epicurean ethical imagery apparent within three key texts of the Neronian period: Lucan's Bellum Civile, Petronius' Satyricon, and Seneca's Epistulae Morales. Specifically, this thesis will explore how and where these moments of interactions with the Epicurean Garden take place and how these interactions can be said to impact the narratives of each of these texts. This examination of the impact on the narratives also allows the thesis to explore whether these ethical ideas are isolated or whether they form part of an/the ongoing character and narrative development. I will provide evidence to the conclusion that the impact of Epicurean ethics should be understood as having a strong influence on the development of characters and narratives. Assessing the narrative impact may seem, at first glance, to be a difficult task with a philosophical text such as Seneca's Epistulae Morales, but this study will explore how Seneca uses Epicureanism as a tool to help his Stoic neophyte to progress and develop his character. It is also the case that Epicureanism plays a key role in assessing how best to read a work such as the Epistulae Morales. As part of this investigation into the use of Epicurean ethics within these texts, this study will also assess whether certain Epicurean ethical principles are utilised more than others. Epicurean ideas and imagery connected to key philosophical concepts such as death and happiness are two examples of principles which have predominance in the authors' interactions with the Garden. The reasons for this predominance are varied, but I argue that these two concepts, the Epicurean idea of death as nothing and the key to happiness being pleasure, are perhaps the most clearly defined and most recognisably Epicurean. Lucan, Petronius, and Seneca, by choosing these well-established concepts, are engaging with readers who already understand and have these principles ingrained in their minds. A broader theme explored as part of this investigation is the extent to which these interactions with Epicureanism can be said to be advocating and/or reforming philosophical thought during this period. This study will demonstrate that the Garden still retains some level of influence in this period and that it is still an important feature of Imperial literature and philosophy. Stoicism was the apparent dominant philosophical school during the Neronian period and yet, with key Epicurean concepts becoming prominent features of their works, these authors and their texts must surely have influenced how the Garden was viewed, both positively and negatively, by their audience.