The sources of On the Shortness of Life
Where On the Shortness of Life names another work or author, the harvest records the passage that does it and the chapter that passage stands in. 11 citations across 1 chapter, drawn from 11 named sources; 3 of those sources stand in the library.
1 authority 2 neutral 4 refuted 4 endorsed Of the 11 citations in On the Shortness of Life, 4 argue against their source.
the sources most drawn on
3 of 3 sources-
Aristotle 1 refuted 1 citation
Seneca explicitly characterizes Aristotle's complaint as unbefitting a wise man, signaling disagreement, and the essay's subsequent argument (paragraphs 3-5) refutes the premise that life itself is too short.
Hence too the grievance of Aristotle, ill befitting a wise man, when he arraigns Nature:
on the shortness of life · cited so that its implicit criticism can be set up against Seneca's later refutation via the theme that life is long enough ¶ -
Hippocrates 1 citation
The physician's maxim is invoked as an authoritative opening statement supporting the essay's theme.
“Life is short, art is long.
on the shortness of life · establishes the treatise's opening authority for the theme of brevity of life ¶ -
letter to Atticus Marcus Cicero 1 neutral 1 citation
Seneca explicitly identifies and quotes from a specific letter of Cicero to Atticus as a textual source.
What mournful words he wrings out in a certain letter to Atticus, when the elder Pompey had now been defeated and the son was still trying to revive his shattered arms in Spain!
on the shortness of life · cited as documentary evidence of Cicero's despair over his loss of freedom ¶
named once
8 sourcesEach stands at a single passage. The chapter carries the anchors.
- on the shortness of life 8 sources
- Poetic tales of Jupiter · antiquarian dispute on the Iliad and Odyssey and Ulysses's rowers · letter to the Senate · oral report on Roman antiquarian firsts · unspecified oracle-like line on the brevity of true living · unspecified saying doubting the value of trivial studies · unspecified saying on fighting the passions · unspecified saying on the best day fleeing
the marks
- authority
- relied on as a source of legitimacy
- neutral
- identified or reported
- refuted
- argued against
- extended
- developed or continued
- endorsed
- agreed with
- roman
- the cited text is in the library and opens in the reader
- italic
- named by this text, not held by the library — the corpus's wanted list
- ¶
- the passage in this text that does the citing
- 7
- beside a chapter, the passages anchored there. A single citation can quote more than one passage, which is why a row carries two figures: the citations the harvest recorded, and the passages its chapters add up to.
Every count on this page is a link to the passages behind it. A name without a link is recorded but not yet paged. How the harvest reads.