Laughing Is No Laughing Matter
Seneca ends his preface to the seventh book of the Controversiae with the statement Video, quid velitis: sententias potius audire quam iocos (‘I can see what you want‚ to hear epigrams, not jokes’). However, laughter can be heard throughout Seneca’s text, not in the declamations themselves, the topics of which are rarely ever funny, but in the world of the declaimers where it is used as a very effective instrument of control: any breaking of the rules—whether aesthetic or ethical in nature—is punished by a burst of laughter or a harsh joke at the rule-breaker’s expense. By outlining instances in this category, this chapter demonstrates the seriousness with which laughter within the declamatory arena ought to be taken.