This excellent eBook edition of Seneca's Apocolocyntosis contains the authoritative translation of W.H.D. Rouse, complete with footnotes.
The Apocolocyntosis by Seneca is a satire aimed at the Roman Emperor Claudius. Together with Petronius's Satyricon, it holds the distinction of being the only surviving satire of the Menippean genre of classical antiquity.
The title itself is a play upon words, with the term "apotheosis", connoting the process in which dead Roman emperors were recognized as Gods and deified.
Intended as a comedy, the play chronicles the death of the Emperor Claudius, and his rise toward the heavens. However, the Gods cast judgment that he should instead descend to Hades - a sentence which Claudius contests, by appealing to the God Hercules. Thereafter begins a drama in the divine court, wherein Claudius deeds are held up and examined by several figures in the Greek Pantheon. Unfortunately, the speeches of each of the Gods sitting at court have been lost to time, although the plot of the Apocolocyntosis survives.
Seneca himself felt wronged by Claudius, who had forcibly exiled him to the island of Corsica. There he conceived of this satire as a means of both revenge and of proving an important political point: that apotheosis as a custom had become overused and politicised, its original aim of venerating Emperor's good deeds diluted and sullied with a succession of less-than-able Emperors of Rome passing through office. Despite these obvious misgivings, the text still flatters the reigning Emperor Nero, complimenting the ruler's wisdom and wishing him long life.
