Abstract

Gloria Vivenza

Cicero and Seneca in TMS

Smith’s debt to Cicero and Seneca is twofold. On the one hand, there are structural elements concerning the very foundations of ethics, or certain well-known arguments drawn from the classical authors. Smith, like many of his contemporaries, had no need to cite these sources.  On the other hand, there are explicit and occasional references, as well as casual mentions; these have formed the focus of this brief contribution. They are far from being an uniform, connected set, but they are equally interesting in so far as they reveal a personal taste of Smith’s, and can perhaps give us some idea as to how he would have used them in a normal conversation.