History, Philosophy, and the Annals.

The chapter analyses the role of philosophical elements in Ennius' works - primarily, but not only, the Annales. In particular, it focuses on two recurring motifs, namely, the doctrine of the four elements and the concept of metempsychosis. It aims to demonstrate that the poet’s treatments of natural philosophy, life, and death in his diverse writings stood in a dynamic relationship with one another and that the presence of discourses about the nature of the world, the gods, and the soul was significant to his literary narrative of Roman history.