Quintus Sextius

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Quintus Sextius was a Roman philosopher and founder of a school of philosophy. He lived in the 1st century BC. Chr.

life and work

Sextius is also called Quintus Sextius the Elder (or the father) because he had a son of the same name, with whom he is sometimes confused. According to a late source, the late antique chronicle of the church father Hieronymus , Sextius reached his akmḗ (the age of 40 years perceived as the high point of life) in the year 1 AD. However, this cannot be true and is probably based on confusion with the son, because the father was grown up in Caesar's time . He turned down an offer from Caesar to join the Senate and pursue a senatorial career, preferring to devote himself to philosophy. Seneca gives the reason that Sextius was aware of the volatility of political successes. Even Plutarch tells of this decision and noted, moreover, Sextius was advised of his life as a philosopher in such a serious internal crisis in the early days that he was thinking of taking his own life. He went to Athens to study. He later emerged as a philosophical writer, using the Greek language. Seneca describes him as an "astute man who philosophizes in Greek terms but according to Roman customs". His works have not been preserved.

Sextius founded the philosophical school of the "Sextier" ( Sextii ), which was continued by his son, but at the time of Seneca, as he regretfully stated, had already expired. He was close to the Stoa and integrated Pythagorean ideas into his teaching. His moral attitude is stoic, but he made it a point to state that he was not a stoic. His saying, handed down by Seneca, corresponds to a stoic way of thinking that Jupiter , the supreme deity of the Romans, can do no more than a good man. As a remedy for anger, he recommended looking at one's own reflection in an angry state. Individual elements of his teaching, such as the rejection of the meat diet, point to Pythagorean influence. Sotion , the teacher of Seneca, Aulus Cornelius Celsus , the grammarian Lucius Crassicius and the orator and philosopher Papirius Fabianus , whom Seneca admired, belonged to the school of the sextiers .

Seneca reports that Quintus Sextius used to practice the Pythagorean tradition of evening recapitulation of the day and self-inquiry. Cicero already knew this custom. The questions that Sextius asked himself every day were: “Which of your (character) ailments have you healed today? What vice did you withstand? In what way have you (got) better? ”Seneca followed this example, which he knew thanks to his teacher Sotion.

Identity of Sextius Niger

Pliny and Dioscurides used a Greek script Perì hýlēs iatrikḗs ("On medical matter"), the author of which is named a Sextius Niger. In 1889 , Max Wellmann showed in an in-depth investigation that the similarities between these two authors can be explained by using a common source and that this is the work of Sextius Niger . Sextius Niger is usually identified with Quintus Sextius - either the father or the son of the same name - although the cognomen Niger is not attested for either of the two . Wellmann was convinced that Niger could only be about the son; this assumption was also accepted in later research, but is not considered to be certain.

literature

  • Omar Di Paola: The Philosophical Thought of the School of the Sextii . In: Epekeina Vol. 4, No. 1–2, 2014, pp. 327–339
  • Leonardo Ferrero: Storia del pitagorismo nel mondo romano. Dalle origini alla fine della repubblica . 2nd edition, Edizioni Victrix, Forlì 2008, ISBN 978-88-88646-26-8 , pp. 326-341
  • Richard Goulet: Sextius (Quintus) père. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 6, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-271-08989-2 , pp. 254-257
  • Italo Lana: Sextiorum nova et Romani roboris secta . In: Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica NS Vol. 31, 1953, pp. 1-26 and 209-234
  • Gregor Maurach : History of Roman Philosophy. An introduction. 3rd, revised edition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-19129-3 , pp. 79-83

Remarks

  1. ↑ Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 98.13.
  2. ^ Plutarch, De profectibus in virtute 5 (Mor. 77D-E).
  3. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 18,274.
  4. ↑ Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 59.7: virum acrem Graecis verbis, Romanis moribus philosophantem .
  5. ↑ Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 64.2.
  6. ↑ Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 73, 12: Solebat Sextius dicere Iovem plus non posse quam bonum virum.
  7. ↑ Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 108, 17 ff .; De ira 3,36,1.
  8. ↑ Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 49.2.
  9. ↑ Quintilian , Institutio oratoria 10,1,124.
  10. ↑ Miriam Griffin : Seneca, a philosopher in politics , Oxford 1976, pp. 38-40.
  11. ↑ Seneca, De ira 36: 1-3. See Charles H. Kahn: Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans , Indianapolis 2001, p. 92 f.
  12. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 12-16, 20-30, 32-34.
  13. ^ Max Wellmann: Sextius Niger. A source study on Dioscurides. In: Hermes 24, 1889, pp. 530-569 ( online ).
  14. ^ Max Wellmann: Sextius Niger. A source study on Dioscurides. In: Hermes 24, 1889, pp. 530-569, here: 546; also Italo Lana: Sextiorum nova et Romani roboris secta . In: Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica NS Vol. 31, 1953, pp. 1–26 and 209–234, here: p. 8 and note 4 and Miriam Griffin: Seneca, a philosopher in politics , Oxford 1976, p 41.
personal data
SURNAME Quintus Sextius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sextius, Quintus; Niger, Quintus Sextius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC BC or 1st century