At Leisure with Pliny the Younger: Sidonius's Second Book of the Epistulae as a Book of Otium
In his second book of letters, Sidonius continues the ancient discourse on how to spend one's leisure time. For Sidonius, daily life in his villa is important to his enjoyment of otium. In his letters 2.2. and 2.9, Sidonius first addresses the spatial, then the temporal sequence of an ideal day...
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| Published in: | Journal of late antiquity 2020-03, Vol.13 (1), p.94-116 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | In his second book of letters, Sidonius continues the ancient discourse on how to spend one's leisure time. For Sidonius, daily life in his villa is important to his enjoyment of otium. In his letters 2.2. and 2.9, Sidonius first addresses the spatial, then the temporal sequence of an ideal day in the otium of the villa. Other letters in the book also contribute to Sidonius's conception of otium, including the role of one's wife in studying and producing literature (Ep. 2.10), and involves coining new expressions within the semantic field of leisure (Ep. 2.10.3; 2.14.2). The close connection between otium and negotium is shown by the positioning of the second book and the intratextual connection of the letters in the first three books. As Pliny is one of the most important references for Sidonius's second book of letters, I will examine Sidonius's relation to his predecessor and their common discourse about Roman otium. |
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| ISSN: | 1939-6716 1942-1273 1942-1273 |