Seneca

I was wondering what the effective difference would be between taking the word as fusuro versus lusuro; pouring/playing, if at all.

Additionally, what is the construction of decepere fidem? Just indirect discourse?

Why is disertus the perfect passive participle of dissero when the phrase is supposed to convey that he was a “man (who) speaks with Claudian tongue”? How does it work out and come to mean that?

I’m confused about the placement of fallax. Is this adjective agreeing with alea  or taking an adverbial sense to describe how the dice move through the fingers?

The first option yields a translation of “The deceptive dice run back through (his) very hands”.

The second option yields a translation of “The dice run back deceptive and stealthily through (his) very fingers”.

This adjective seems hard to place, especially when the adverb furto also appears in the phrase.

I have two questions about this final paragraph. The first is about a cognitionibus. How are we supposed to get ‘secretary for petitions’/’law clerk’ from this? The most specific definition I can find is something related to judicial inquiry. Are our book’s/Perseus’s translations just inferred from this?

My second question is about whether or not we  are supposed to read this as a happy ending for Claudius. I certainly wasn’t expecting one, but working in a law court, something he was known to like to do, seems like a much lesser punishment than fruitlessly chasing after dice for all eternity, even if it is a lowly position.

I’m interested in the conceptual meanings of alea ludere and how Claudius seems to focus too long on the dice.

First, is the dice game a form of laborem irritum? I think Seneca suggests that the dice rolling represents this useless activity that Claudius must do as punishment, but I’m not sure whether the dice are also an allegory for the way Claudius ran the empire: impulsively taking chances and doing whatever he pleased (particularly in terms of killing multiple people).

Second, does Seneca imply that Claudius is too stupid to understand the meaning of the dice? Is that why Claudius chases the flying dice and makes no progress, or is that merely the nature of his punishment? I think Seneca is trying to communicate Claudius’ inadequacies even in a game, but I’m not sure.

This is the second time the abbreviation equites R. has appeared in this text, but there is no explanation in the commentary.  I was just wondering – why is Roman abbreviated to “R.“? It seems bizarre as usually one letter abbreviations are reserved for names?

Is there any particular reason for using hic erat instead of hic erant? Since multiple people are being discussed, I would have expected the plural there. Although I guess in English as well we often use “there was” instead of “there were” even when talking about multiple objects.

Regarding duci iusserat, the best definition I found for duci was “to be led off for punishment.” Does this usually have the sense of being execution, as both our book and Perseus translate it as, or does it usually apply to broader forms of punishment and we’re inferring execution since that’s what happened to these people?

What is meant by the phrase In ius eamus, ego tibi hic sellas ostendam? Is Seneca talking about a literal court, or figuratively proving Cladius’ murder of his friends and his immorality?

Is there also a figurative meaning of sellas? If Pedo Pompeius  intends to show Cladius the magistrate’s seats, does he figuratively intend to show Claudius proof of his immorality in killing all his friends)?

I get the sense that “going to court” constitutes proving something to Claudius, but this may also have a literal meaning in the underworld.

I’m curious about the definition of decoris and its use with causa. 

I found definitions for decorus such as “ornamented”, “beautiful”, “that which is suitable”, “seemliness”, “propriety”. I get the sense that Claudius makes the pantomime lesser for the sake of propriety and not beauty. So I opted for the latter translations.

Then in the full translation, I’m trying to use “whom Claudius had made lesser for the reason/sake of propriety”. What does this mean – that Claudius made the pantomime less important for reasons of seemliness?

I know we talked in class about pantomimes as representing the lowest rung of entertainment. Is this “had made lesser” a stab at the lowliness of pantomimes?