[3.12.1] Paulo repetamus hoc altius: In the following sections, Seneca stresses the elemental abundance of water as, ultimately, the source of rivers and springs. The opening encouragement “to probe this a little deeper” cleverly plays on the various levels of understanding (possibly the topics under discussion as well – terrena, sublimia, caelestia) and the fact that waters actually originate from a “deeper” level of the earth than rainwater run-off or its penetration into the topsoil (3.7.1, 3.11.6). Cicero takes advantage of this formula at Ver. 2.4.105, Clu. 66.2, Fam. 1.9.4, and Seneca will repeat it at NQ 2.2.2.
scies te non habere quod quaeras: Seneca has variations of this construction elsewhere in his prose works, Dial. 6.16.8: scies te habere plus quam solacia; Ben. 2.18.7: scies te non accipere, sed parere; Ben. 6.31.6: scies te fugari posse. Repetitions of quaerere here and in the following sentences would cause the reader to recall NQ 3.1.1: quaeramus ergo de terrestribus aquis, et investigemus qua ratione fiant. Seneca is restating the subject of inquiry and reevaluating the true object of inquiry. For the movement from the 1st person plural to the 2nd person singular, cf. Roby 2014: 171 “‘We’ see something – this is common experience, so the fictional world extends to include the reader….Then Seneca neatly obviates the necessity to actually go out and make this observation, by creating a vivid fictional version of it that you, his reader, can observe right here in the text”.
ad veram amnium originem accesseris: amnium is a necessary emendation from the manuscripts’ omnium. accesseris recalls Seneca’s task of writing this work (NQ 3.pr.3: ad rem seriam, gravem, immensam post meridianas horas accessimus). The addressee and Seneca become similar in their attempts to understand such topics (cf. uses of origo at NQ 3.9.3, 3.22.1 and 6.8.1). vera origo is uncommon, cf. Livy 34.62.11.
flumen nempe facit copia cursusque aquae perennis: facere here in response to the final clause of 3.11.6. For the contrast between a torrent and “unfailing water”, cf. Ov. Rem. 651-52. Seneca will remark upon inriguas perennibus aquis valles that travel will grant to the alter observer, cf. Ep. 104.15. See note on 3.8.1 supra for more on copia as relates to water. Seneca will pair copia and perennis as well to describe the abundant spiritus in the earth, NQ 6.16.3. This moment responds to Lucretius’ brief mention of springs, rivers, and the sea at 5.261-72 (note repetitions of perennis, decursus aquarum~cursusque aquae) and the use of perennis may have metapoetic implications via Lucretius’ Ennius…perenni, 1.117-18 (and cf. Livy 1.21.3 for a similar description of the grove of the Camenae).
ergo quaeris a me quomodo aqua fiat: If the original inquiry was into de terrestribus aquis, now Seneca has shrewdly changed the question to the origin of water itself, which allows him to restate his findings about the elements.
interrogabo invicem quomodo aër fiat aut terra: interrogare has juridical overtones (s.v. OLD 2) and colors the exchange. He has already stated how these elements can transform into one another at NQ 3.10.1-2. Each of these elements, as well as fire, are, necessarily, in abundant supply throughout the cosmos. His argumentative strategy here seems to rely on a reductio ad absurdum to a certain degree, but it is also a lively back-and-forth debate (see Hine 2010: 8-9 for Seneca’s use of debate to persuade the reader).
[3.12.2] in rerum natura elementa sunt quattuor: Dial. 4.19.1 also discusses the equal powers of the four elements (cf. Cic. Ac. 1.39, Pliny Nat. 2.10: nec de elementis video dubitari quattuor esse ea). The conditional statement indicates that if the interlocutor accepts that the four elements are the building blocks of the cosmos, it is absurd to ask about the source of rivers.
quarta enim pars naturae est: Seneca will use the phrase pars naturae later at NQ 6.30.2 when discussing earthquakes and muses on the power of the elements: vides et urbium fieri gentiumque discidium, cum pars naturae concita est at aliquo mare, ignem, spiritum impegit. Quorum mira ut ex toto vis est; quamvis enim parte saeviat, mundi tamen viribus saevit.
quid ergo miraris: Once again dismissing the sense of wonder associated with natural phenomena. See 3.4.1 supra.
rerum naturae tam magna portio: Recalling the scale imagery of 3.10.3 supra. Seneca will use magna portio elsewhere (Dial. 9.14.10, Ep. 105.7), and Pliny Nat. 36.201 speaks of improba rerum naturae portio about the power of fire.
aliquid ex se semper effundere: Lucretius writes similarly about rays of light that cause shadows: semper enim nova se radiorum lumina fundunt (4.375), and Manilius gives the epithet “always pouring” (fundentis semper) to the constellation Aquarius. The hissing sibilance of se semper was elsewhere found the describe Furor (in se semper armatus, Herc. F. 98) although here there may be some wordplay with the repetition of se and semper and the idea that water can always pour out something from itself.
[3.12.3] quomodo aër: Once again comparing the workings of water with that of air, cf. supra 3.10.2.
pars mundi: Cicero uses the same phrase to discuss Zeno’s idea of the elements at N.D. 2.27, and man’s place in the universe at N.D. 2.32. In the NQ, Seneca will reuse it to discuss earth (1.pr.3, 2.5.1), air again (2.4.1), and the “greatest part of the cosmos, god” (maxima pars mundi, deus, 7.30.4).
ventos et auras…rivos et flumina: The power implied in the terms is chiastic “winds and breezes” and “brooks and rivers,” while the homoioteleuton of ventos/rivos would seem to imply the opposite. This sentence ends in flumina, however to set up the following sentence and the repetitions of the participle fluens found there.
si ventus est fluens aër: A phrase Seneca will repeat at the opening of book 5 and make into the foundation of the discussion of wind and air in that book. Vitruvius had defined wind in similar terms (ventus autem est aeris fluens unda cum certa motus redundantia, 1.6.2). Continuing parallelism in the apodosis helps to highlight the correlation between ventus/flumen and aër/aqua.
satis et multum illi virium dedi: The antecedent of illi is aqua. Satis…multum…virium dedi is not common, but Horace has dedi satis superque poenarum (Epod. 17.19) and Seneca writes satis multum temporis sparsimus (Ep. 19.1). The power (vis) of water has already been stressed at 3.11.2 and 3.11.4 supra.
quod ab illo proficiscitur non posse deficere: “that which originates from an element is not able to run short”. Note the wordplay on proficisci (pro+facio) and deficere (de+facio).
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