Roman Philosophy

by

Gretchen Reydams-Schils

Introduction

In the ancient world, the term “philosophy” meant primarily “Greek philosophy.” Philosophy was invented and developed in ancient Greece (including Athens, Ionia, and Sicily and Southern Italy), and arrived at Rome relatively late, where it met some initial resistance. The story of Roman philosophy is of the gradual adoption and adaptation of Greek philosophical doctrines by Roman authors. The following bibliography focuses on Roman philosophy from the 1st century BCE to the end of the 2nd century CE, the formative period before the Latin tradition became infused with Christianity. The designation “Roman philosophy” does not include Greek philosophy in the Roman era, not even those philosophers such as Panaetius and Posidonius who came in relatively close contact with Roman culture. From this vantage point, it is a bit of a stretch to include Epictetus; but his teacher, Musonius Rufus, belongs with the Roman tradition, and Epictetus’s work is essential for a correct understanding of Marcus Aurelius. Not all of the authors wrote or taught in Latin. Most of the Roman Stoics, in fact, and including the emperor Marcus Aurelius, wrote or taught in Greek. Editions and translations have not been included in the bibliographies for texts that are widely available and easily accessible. The exceptions have been noted.

General Overviews

Morford 2002 gives the most compact general introduction (see also Maurach 2006). The two Philosophia Togata volumes (Griffin and Barnes 1989–1997) contain seminal articles that have redefined research in Anglo-American circles. Colish 1990 looks specifically at the tradition of Stoicism, Gersh 1986 at Platonism, and both go beyond the time period of this bibliography. Gill 2006 and Long 2006 (a collection of previously published essays by the author) illuminate the continuity between the Hellenistic and the Roman period. Grimal 1992 is a foundational collection of essays on the creation of a philosophical vocabulary in the Latin tradition. Sorabji and Sharples (see Republic) contains the papers of a conference on both Greek and Roman philosophy in this period.

• Colish, M. 1990. The Stoic tradition from Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. Vol. 1, Stoicism in classical Latin literature. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

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  This first volume of a two-volume work contains assessments of the presence of Stoicism in Cicero, the satirists (Horace, Persius, and Juvenal), the epic poets (Virgil, Lucan, Statius, and Silius Italicus), historians, Manilius, scholiasts, grammarians, the rhetorical tradition, Aulus Gellius, and Roman law.

• Gersh, S. 1986. Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: The Latin tradition. 2 vols. Notre Dame, IN: Univ. of Notre Dame Press.

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  The first volume assesses the Platonism in Cicero and Seneca’s works, as well as the so-called Middle Platonist authors Aulus Gellius and Apuleius.

• Gill, C. 2006. The structured self in Hellenistic and Roman thought. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

  DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198152682.001.0001E-mail Citation »

  A study of the notion of “self” in Epicureanism and Stoicism, positing psychophysical holism and naturalism, combined with key “Socratic” tenets, against the background of Plato and the Platonist tradition. Its final chapter deals also with Virgil’s Aeneid, Senecan tragedy, and Plutarch’s Lives.

• Griffin, M., and J. Barnes, eds. 1989–1997. Philosophia togata 2 vols. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

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  The first volume (1989) contains papers on Posidonius, Antiochus of Ascalon, Cicero, and the issue of philosophical allegiance, as well as more historical and literary contributions. The second volume (1997) contains papers on Andronicus of Rhodes as alleged editor of Aristotle’s works, Cicero, the anonymous commentary on Plato’s Theaetetus, Varro, Plutarch, Favorinus, Porphyry, and Celsus.

• Grimal, P., ed. 1992. La langue latine, langue de la philosophie. Rome: École Française de Rome.

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  This collection of essays presents foundational work on how Latin was construed to express and transmit philosophical notions, also in literature and works of rhetoric.

• Long, A. A. 2006. From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman philosophy. Oxford: Clarendon.

  DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279128.001.0001E-mail Citation »

  This collection contains papers on Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and Epictetus. For the latter, see also Long 2002 (cited under Epictetus).

• Maurach, G. 2006. Geschichte der römischen Philosophie. 3d ed. Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

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  This general introduction also covers the period before the 1st century CE, and includes Horace, Augustine, and Boethius.

• Morford, M. 2002. The Roman philosophers from the time of Cato the Censor to the death of Marcus Aurelius. London and New York: Routledge.

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  Provides a good starting point for the study of Roman philosophy.