Abstract

The “Apocolocyntosis” is characterized by a notably high amount of inconsistency and inaccuracy. Most of it is functional (although not strictly necessary) to the witticism of the moment, but sometimes must have slipped inadvertently out of Seneca’s pen. Its unparalleled quantity and variety in so short a work lead to consider it the result of a particularly rushed and neglectful writing: essentially an outburst of personal rancour, the pamphlet was meant for the fleeting and rather superficial amusement of the court circles, not to go down in history and draw scholarly attention. Striving for a satisfactory logic in this inconsistency, starting from the title, fails to understand this point.