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What did the Romans know about their world? Quite a lot, as Daryn Lehoux makes clear in this fascinating and much-needed contribution to the history and philosophy of ancient science. Lehoux contends that even though many of the Romans’ views about the natural world have no place in modern science—the umbrella-footed monsters and dog-headed people that roamed the earth and the stars that foretold human destinies—their claims turn out not to be so radically different from our own.
Lehoux draws upon a wide range of sources from what is unquestionably the most prolific period of ancient science, from the first century BC to the second century AD. He begins with Cicero’s theologico-philosophical trilogy On the Nature of the Gods, On Divination, and On Fate, illustrating how Cicero’s engagement with nature is closely related to his concerns in politics, religion, and law. Lehoux then guides readers through highly technical works by Galen and Ptolemy, as well as the more philosophically oriented physics and cosmologies of Lucretius, Plutarch, and Seneca, all the while exploring the complex interrelationships between the objects of scientific inquiry and the norms, processes, and structures of that inquiry. This includes not only the tools and methods the Romans used to investigate nature, but also the Romans’ cultural, intellectual, political, and religious perspectives. Lehoux concludes by sketching a methodology that uses the historical material he has carefully explained to directly engage the philosophical questions of incommensurability, realism, and relativism.
By situating Roman arguments about the natural world in their larger philosophical, political, and rhetorical contexts, What Did the Romans Know? demonstrates that the Romans had sophisticated and novel approaches to nature, approaches that were empirically rigorous, philosophically rich, and epistemologically complex.
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what did the romans know?
what did the romans know? an inquiry into science and worldmaking
daryn lehoux
the university of chicago press chicago and london
daryn lehoux is professor of classics at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2012 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2012. Printed in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 isbn-13: 978-0-226-47114-3 (cloth) isbn-10: 0-226-47114-4 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lehoux, Daryn, 1968– What did the Romans know? : an inquiry into science and worldmaking / Daryn Lehoux. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-226-47114-3 (cloth : alkaline paper) isbn-10: 0-226-47114-4 (cloth : alkaline paper) 1. Science, Ancient. 2. Science—History. I. Title. q124.95.l44 2012 930.1—dc23 2011029349 o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
This book is dedicated to my daughters Zoë and Mari, one of whom, at the age of six, asked if there were any magnets in the house “that we don’t need anymore.” She’d heard me talking with colleagues and wanted to try something . . .
contents
Acknowledgments 1.
xi
The Web of Knowledge
1
A Roman World A Roman World Knowing Nature in the Roman Context Overview
2.
Nature, Gods, and Governance Divinity and Divination Roman Virtues Nature and the Legitimation of the Republic A Ciceronian Contradiction? Knowledge of Nature and Virtuous Action Fabulae versus Learned Observation Conclusion
3.
Law in Nature, Nature in Law Laws of Nature Natural Laws Human and Divine Governance Is a “Law of Nature” Even Possible in An