Tra moralismo diatribico e "sal niger" oraziano: per l’esegesi dell’epistola 119 di Seneca

This article proposes an examination of the letter 119 by Seneca. This text has to be considered as a proper “manifesto” of the ascetic vocation that marks Seneca’s last years. The aim of my analysis is to emphasise how the model of satirical Horace works as a poetic filter for Seneca’s reworking of the diatribic topics. Furthermore, a quote from the Satires (Sat. I 2, 27) is included in a rhetorical construction in which it seems to emerge an attempt to produce a stylistic imitation that is very close to the satirical model.