Physical science in the time of Nero : being a translation of the Quaestiones…
"Physical Science in the Time of Nero: being a translation of the Quaestiones Naturales of Seneca" by John Clarke is a translation with scholarly commentary written in the early 20th century. It presents an English rendering of Seneca’s ancient treatise on natural philosophy, with an interpretive introduction and scientific notes, explaining Roman-era ideas about meteorology, astronomy, geology, and their long influence on medieval thought. The opening of the book sets out Clarke’s
aim to provide English readers with a fresh, accessible translation, noting that earlier English renderings were outdated, and arguing that Seneca’s treatise was the classical world’s final major statement on physical speculation and a key scientific authority through the Middle Ages. It acknowledges help from several contemporaries, especially Sir Archibald Geikie, whose notes relate Seneca’s topics to modern science, and it outlines the seven-book contents on meteors and halos, thunder and lightning, waters and the Nile, snow and hail, winds, earthquakes, and comets. The introduction then sketches Seneca’s life—his education, exile, rise as Nero’s tutor and statesman, moral struggles at court, and Stoic death—followed by a survey of his writings and the place, date, and aims of the Quaestiones Naturales. It discusses the work’s composite state, probable chronology, and uneven arrangement, explains Seneca’s method of blending ethical lessons with physical inquiry, and briefly reviews key sources and predecessors such as Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Plutarch. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Preface -- Introduction -- Book I. [Meteors, halo, rainbow, mock sun, etc.] -- Book II. [The nature of air. Thunder and lightning] -- Book III. On forms of water -- Book IV. Containing a discussion of snow, hail and rain. [The Nile] -- Book V. Treating of winds and movement of the atmosphere -- Book VI. Treating of earthquakes -- Book VII. Treating of comets -- Notes by Sir A. Geikie -- Translator's notes on "air", quotations, and Gercke's readings.
Credits
Thiers Halliwell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Reading Level
Reading ease score: 67.8 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
