[3.7.1] Adversus hoc…vides: The use of the second person, vides, causes the reader to question the veracity of the previous chapter, which may have been convincing in its geographical and hydrological scope and general argument about rivers originating from rain. Such direct address with the verb videre can be seen elsewhere in the NQ, usually referring to actual sight (3.16.4: crede infra quidquid vides supra; 3.30.2) and cf. 3.pr.10 animo omne vidisse for the importance of sight in the NQ. Although this is his only use of adversus hoc in the NQ, Seneca often uses it to address contrary views in his other prose works (cf. Ep. 85.31, Ep. 87.12, Ben. 6.13.4, Dial. 8.6.1).
ego tibi vinearum diligens fossor: A strong assertion (ego) of Seneca’s to Lucilius (tibi) or the reader of the text. Seneca utilizes ego at rhetorically impassioned moments of the NQ (6.2.5, 6.32.8), when making personal claims (5.5.1, 7.22.1) or to assert first-hand experience (6.8.3). Seneca had an impressive reputation as a vitner in the ancient world, cf. Col. 3.3.3, Pliny Nat. 14.51, cf. Griffin 1976: 289-91. Seneca writes of visiting one of his vineyards at Ep. 104.6. This “proof” of rainfall’s inability to penetrate deep into the earth is founded on Seneca’s own “experiment”, cf. Roby 2014: 162 for more on this passage as part of Seneca’s “laboratory science”. Seneca’s own agricultural experience helps in his self-presentation “as a critical respondent who is no passive transmitter of inherited theory” (Williams 2012: 18).
nullam pluviam: At Ep. 86.20-21, Seneca writes of transplanting an aged vine and how to use cistern water “to have rainfall under our own power” (pluviam in nostra potestate, 86.21). Such know-how allows him to criticize Vergil’s Georgics in that letter (86.17).
ultra decem in altitudinem pedes: Note how Seneca’s specific mention of ten Roman feet (1 Roman foot = c. 296 mm. or 0.971 ft.) here would lead one to believe his proof. The correct understanding of human, natural, and divine measurements is important throughout the NQ and altitudo often appears in such passages (cf. 4b.11.1-5), as well as more specific measurements (2.26.6).
madefaciat: Seneca will repeat the verb madefacere when discussing the flood at NQ 3.27.9 and earthquakes at 6.20.3.
primam crustam consumitur: This appears to be the first use of crusta of the surface-layer of the earth. Seneca uses it elsewhere of a thin veneer of decorative stone: Alexandrina Marmora Numidicis crustis distincta sunt (Ep. 86.6). Forms of consumere were used with ethical import at 3.pr.2 and 3.pr.5.
in inferiora descendit: This phrase will be used later in the NQ to describe thunder and lightning: ex aethere aliqua vis in inferiora descendat. The collocation in inferiora occurs numerous times in the NQ (2.58.2, 6.9.1, 6.13.3). It is important for the wise man to not be content with externals and to “descend into the secrets of the gods” (nec contentum exteriore eius aspectu introspicere et in deorum secreta descendere, 6.5.2).
[3.7.2] quomodo ergo: A turn of phrase that Seneca coins and subsequently appears in pseudo-Quintilian (Decl. 247.5, 313.6, 343.2) and Servius (e.g. A. 1.299, A. 1.306). It is used to introduce an emphatic question, cf. Ep. 9.12, 37.3, 118.13. It is common in the NQ, cf. 2.25.1, 3.11.5, 5.8.1 and aids Seneca’s conversational or “diatribe” style.
imber suggerere potest amnibus vires: Seneca’s suggerere (sub+gerere) suggests that the rainfall supplies strength to rivers from below (sub). Statius picks up the phrase suggerere+vires from Seneca (Theb. 7.699-700, 8.373). Lucan describes the Nile’s flood in a similar manner (nunc omnes unum vires collectus in amnem, 10.309). Of course, it is common knowledge that rainfall increases the level of rivers and streams (e.g. Lucr. 1.285-9, Hor. C. 4.2.5-6), but Seneca does not believe such precipitation is enough to be the source of rivers.
qui summam humum tinguit?: Restating the idea found in intra primam crustam consumitur, but with a phrase that evokes the impossibility of such rainfall actually aiding the power of rivers.
pars maior eius: In addition to the fact that the rain that falls on earth does not penetrate far underground, a majority of rainfall is carried to the sea via the rivers. Strabo 1.20.30 cites Homer as evidence that rivers are “heaven-fed” and has a rudimentary idea of the hydrological cycle, cf. Campbell 2012: 4-7, 74. Hine 1996: 45 posits the supplement as a marker of a change of speaker, cf. NQ 3.10.2, but I do not see enough of a contrasting idea to support such an interruption here. Winterbottom 1998 also believes these are not the words of an interlocutor.
per fluminum alveos in mare aufertur: All rivers run to the sea. Vergil especially likes to pair alveus with flumen or amnis (G. 1.203, A. 7.33, 9.31-2). Seneca in exile complained of the lack of navigable rivers on Corsica (non magnis nec navigabilibus fluminum alveis inrigatur, Dial. 12.9.1). The language resonates with the idea of rivers leaving their banks in flood (NQ 3.27.8) or having to return to their banks post-flood (Ovid Met. 1.343-4).
sorbeat terra: Possibly echoing Ovid Ars 2.352: terraque caelestes arida sorbet aquas. Seneca will repeat this language at the conclusion of the flood narrative: iterum aquas terra sorbebit (NQ 3.30.7).
nec id servat: Even this small amount of water is not stored in the earth, depending on the aridity of the soil.
absumit in se quidquid infusum est: Seneca varies the verb, returning to the root found in consumitur at 3.7.1 supra. Note the repetition of in se at the conclusion of section 3.7.2.
satiata: Not paired with arida elsewhere, but Seneca’s language of the saturation of the earth can be paralleled with the way he writes about greed elsewhere, cf. Dial. 12.11.3: non magis quam ullus sufficiet umor ad satiandum eum cuius desiderium non ex inopia sed ex aestu ardentium viscerum oritur.
si quid supra desiderium cecidit, excludit: The earth does naturally what mankind needs to learn (Ben. 2.30.2, Ep. 17.4, 119.12, NQ 2.5.2).
primis imbribus: Not used before Seneca, but see Ovid Met. 13.889-90 about the transformation of Acis’ blood into a stream: fitque color primo turbati fluminis imbre / purgaturque mora. Elsewhere in the NQ, Seneca admits that rains and snowmelt will increase the volume of rivers (4a.2.19).
totos in se terra sitiens trahit: There is no initial run-off into rivers because the parched earth absorbs the water. While Cato writes of the “thirsty earth” (terra sitiat, Agr. 151.4), it is not a common phrase. Seneca’s use of in se+trahere is paralleled at Ep. 38.2 about the way a good mind can assimilate precepts: idonea mens rapiat illa et in se trahat, and at Ep. 81.29: nihil habent ista magnificum, quo mentes in se nostras trahant, praeter hoc, quod mirari illa consuevimus.
[3.7.3] quid quod quaedam: This stammering alliteration introduces a further argument and hints that it is an obvious contradiction to rainfall as source.
flumina erumpunt saxis et montibus: Famous rivers such as the Tiber originated from rocky springs, high in the mountains, which speaks against rainfall as their source. The Tiber has two springs that are originate on Mount Fumaiolo (over 4,000 feet high. At Ep. 41.3 Seneca writes how such sources are venerated: magnorum fluminum capita veneramur; subita ex abdito vasti amnis eruptio aras habet. Seneca may be thinking of Vergil’s description of the Enipeus river, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus, G. 4.367. Cf. NQ 3.29.6 for rivers leaping forth from under mountains and eroding them during the flood. The wording may be an attempt to improve upon Vergil’s saxosis montibus, G. 2.111. For erumpere + the ablative, without the preposition e/ex- see NQ 5.13.3: fere omnia pericula venti erupti nubibus produnt.
conferent pluviae: Rains will not supplement rivers that originate in mountainous rocky crags.
per nudas rupes deferuntur: At Ben. 4.9.1, Seneca likewise pairs these two verbs with the same root (conferre/deferre) in order to stress how certain benefits can be given, but other cannot. Here we see that the rain is unable to contribute to the rivers and that the water simply slips away over the barren cliffs, possible evoking Prop. 4.1.7 (Tarpeiusque pater nuda de rupe tonabat). One of the most famous miraculous waters in antiquity, the river Styx, seems to originate from a spring (Mavroneri) that is situated in a cliff wall in Arcadia.
adice quod: The second person imperative construction is common in Seneca’s prose (e.g. Dial. 1.5.1, 2.17.4) and can be found later in the NQ at e.g. 3.30.3, 4a.2.24, 5.3.2.
putei: Frontinus Aq. 4 writes of the use of wells in Rome before the aqueducts, and Columella 1.5.1, 11.3.8 give advice on how and when to build wells. They are ubiquitous throughout the ancient world. Hodge 1992: 51-8 discusses wells in detail, including those found in very dry areas (siccissimis locis) such as the North Sahara at a depth of 60 meters and at Cairo of 93 meters. One of the most common mirabilia concerning water involves wells whose water temperature varies at different times of the day or year (Lucr. 6.840-7, Cic. N.D. 2.25, NQ 4a.2.27, 6.13.3).
in altum acti ultra ducentorum aut trecentorum pedum spatium: Note how the increased depth of the well compared to Seneca’s earlier viticultural digging (ultra decem in altitudinem pedes, 3.7.1) is reflected in an increase in word number, size, and conspicuous homoeoteleuton and chiasmus (-um, -orum, -orum, -um). Hodge 1992: 54 comments on deep wells, “the governing factor was probably not the engineering difficulty in sinking a well to that depth, but the practical problems of lifting the water so far to the top once the well was in operation”.
inveniunt aquarum uberes venas: The author of the de Bello Alexandrino writes about how Caesar dug wells (puteis fossis) on the coast of Alexandria to discover aquae dulcis venas (8.1) and successfully found a source (inventa est, 9.1). Seneca writes about how the discovery of sources of warm water only leads to new luxury resorts: ubicumque scatebunt aquarum calentium venae, ibi nova deversoria luxuriae excitabuntur (Ep. 89.21). His warnings against destroying the environment there may be part of a larger Roman sensitivity to such practices, see Chiai 2018. See note on 3.15.1 for more on the use of vena for waters found in the earth.
in ea altitudine in quam pluvia non penetrat: A reference to his earlier discussion of the altitudinem (3.7.1) where rainfall descends.
scias illic non caelestem esse nec collecticium umorem: The “celestial” waters here indicate primarily rainfall (pluvia), but could include snow, hail, and even dew – the original topics of NQ 4b. Seneca adopts the adjective collecticium from Cicero Fam. 7.3.2 and also utilizes it at NQ 7.23.2: where there is a similar juxtaposition between consistent celestial fires (like planets and comets) and those that can gather (collecticius) fire from elsewhere. The use of collecticium recalls the “collected” waters of 3.3.1 and, possibly, Seneca initial desire in this work 3.pr.1: tam sparsa colligam.
quod dici solet, vivam aquam: Varro provides the first attestation of viva aqua, for him such water is the source of a fountain (L. 5.123.1) or stands for “running water” (R. 1.11.2, OLD 1d), which Ovid follows (F. 2.259). Servius clarifies that it stands for flowing water that is perennial (A. 2.719, cf. Seneca’s use of fluens aqua to describe rivers at 3.12.3 infra). It becomes a legal term in the Justinian Digest (43.22.1), cf. Bannon 2017: 61. Seneca’s use of the term here for the aquifer or water table (cf. Hodge 1992: 67-8) may harken back to Varro’s use in de Lingua Latina, but he also gives such “living water” a new spin by associating it with the life “blood” of the earth that flows through its veins.
[3.7.4] illo quoque argumento: illo here looks forward to quod, a common anticipatory structure in Senecan prose. Ker 2011: xlv writes how quoque “is always doing important work in Seneca” and here it further emphasizes that there is “even” another refutation of the false opinion asserted in 3.6.1-2.
refellitur: Used elsewhere as part of Seneca’s critical doxography, when refuting the ideas of others (NQ 1.3.9, 7.4.1, 7.8.1).
quidam fontes: Aristotle writes “most springs are in the neighborhood of mountains and high ground” (Mete. 350a5-6). The springs that fed the many of the aqueducts of Rome originate in the Apennine mountains (Aqua Marcia, Aqua Claudia, Anio Vetus, Anio Novus) and have almost sacred associations, cf. Frontinus 4.2 and Rodgers 2004: ad loc. Rivers such as the Adonis (whose source is a cliff-side grotto) and springs such as the Castalian in Delphi originate in mountainous regions. Lucretius writes the way that even small fountains can overflow the fields (fons inter dum campisque redundet, 5.603).
in summo montis cacumine redundant: Curtius writes of the river Marsyas, fons eius ex summo montis cacumine excurrens in subiectam petram magno strepitu aquarum cadit (3.3.1). The verb redundare will reappear at 3.26.5 (to prove that there are underground rivers) and 3.30.6 (of the flood).
apparet: The impersonal form (with acc. and inf.) also begins a sentence at NQ 6.25.4, Ep. 121.19, Ben. 3.2.1. This is Seneca’s final word on why rain can not be the cause of rivers.
susum agi aut ibi concipi: Seneca only uses susum two other times (Dial. 9.11.12, Ep. 91.19) as opposed to the more regular sursum (11 times). That such water could be forced upward against gravity or be born in the rocky heights both speak against its origin in rainfall. Pliny Nat. 2.166 mentions how this would occur ([aqua] spiritu acta et terrae pondere expressa siphonum modo emicat). Seneca elsewhere writes of waters under the earth in similar language: quis autem neget vastis illas receptaculis concipi et cessare multis inertes locis?, NQ 6.7.3 and, likewise, of the regions of the sky where comets may appear: ibi etiam concipi possint (NQ 7.30.2).
cum omnis pluvialis aqua decurrat: Causal cum clause to assert this truism, cf. Pliny Nat. 2.234: cum omnis aqua deorsum feratur and note the Greek proverb for something impossible is ἄνω ποταμῶν. Seneca elsewhere uses decurrere with aqua to indicate “flowing water” (NQ 6.7.1, Ep. 74.25), but here the de- prefix is important to reinforce the idea that rainfall falls downward, which comes to be part of Roman law, cf. Justinian’s Digest 39.3.1.10: si aqua naturaliter decurrat.
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