Apocolocyntosis

An imperial arrival unsettles heaven when Claudius appears before the Roman gods and expects a place among them. The narrator promises an impartial account, then immediately makes fun of his own claims to reliable testimony. Mercury, the Fates, Jupiter and Hercules enter a story that turns the emperor's death into an occasion for political mockery. Its shifts between prose and verse let lofty poetic language rub against blunt jokes and everyday speech.

The gods conduct their discussion like a public assembly, with rules of debate, rival proposals and private efforts to secure support. Claudius's claim to divine honours exposes the gap between ceremonial praise and the complaints voiced about his rule. W. H. D. Rouse's English translation accompanies an introduction that notes the uncertainty of the traditional attribution to Seneca. Readers interested in Roman satire can follow how mythological figures become participants in arguments about authority, status and flattery.