ABSTRACT
In Ep. 90 Seneca tackles the theme of human progress and, more specifically, the relation between human progress and technological development. Both Seneca and Posidonius frame the Golden Age as a time when power was exerted by kings. Various scholars have posited different solutions for the presence of this second description of the Golden Age in Ep. 90, which is, once again, in clear contrast with the first description, the one containing significant elements of agreement with Posidonius. Since the very beginning of the principate, some of the most celebrated Roman poets had reworked the myth of the Golden Age to fit the propaganda needs of the new regime. Nero’s fixation on gold was but one manifestation of his desire to be deified. Indeed, a colossus representing the emperor as Helios/Apollo stood in the palace’s vestibule. Anaphoric negations are canonically employed to describe the Golden Age against the backdrop of the present times.
