ABSTRACT
Vergil’s works comprise the most popular source of quotations in Seneca’s prose works. In Seneca’s philosophical writings the intertextual engagement with Vergil (and the Augustan poets more generally) is both explicit and accompanied by analysis more or less detailed. Intertextuality is a particularly effective way to employ irony, and in order to understand how this works one may turn to the work of another much-cited contemporary theorist of irony, Wayne Booth. The six cases discussed above comprise selective expressions of ironic reception of Vergil’s Aeneid in Seneca’s philosophical epistles. The Aeneid epitomizes the distinctive cultural identity of the Augustan Age, which became paradigmatic not only for the generations immediately following, but for Western culture across time. Vergil’s speech on account of its universal appeal and meticulous subjection to study is a premier ground to test the limits of Seneca’s ironic commentary on the ambiguities of philosophical speech.
