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    Hercules Furens: 'And fates I conquered; and in scorn of death I have come back again. What else remains?''
    Hercules Furens: 'And fates I conquered; and in scorn of death I have come back again. What else remains?''
    Hercules Furens: 'And fates I conquered; and in scorn of death I have come back again. What else remains?''
    Ebook93 pages55 minutes

    Hercules Furens: 'And fates I conquered; and in scorn of death I have come back again. What else remains?''

    By Sêneca

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    Lucius Annaeus Seneca, more readily known as Seneca the Younger, was born at Córdoba in the Roman province of Baetica in Hispania in approx 4 BC.

    Seneca attests that he was taken to Rome at a young age and educated in literature, grammar, and rhetoric; the standard education of high-born Romans. He also received philosophical training.

    Much of his life is not well documented but accounts do lean towards a pattern of ill-health at times. His breathing difficulties are thought to be the result of asthma and during his mid-twenties he contracted tuberculosis.

    He was sent to Egypt to live with his aunt, whose husband, Gaius Galerius, was Prefect of Egypt. In 31 AD he returned to Rome with her and, with her influence, was elected quaestor and with it the right to sit in the Roman Senate.

    Seneca's early career as a senator was successful and he was fulsomely praised for his oratory. A story related that emperor Caligula was so offended by Seneca's oratorical success that he ordered him to commit suicide. Seneca’s ill-health prevented that.

    In 41 AD, Claudius became emperor, and Seneca was promptly cited by the new empress Messalina of adultery with Julia Livilla, the sister of Caligula and Agrippina.

    After trial the Senate pronounced a death sentence, which Claudius then commuted to exile. Seneca was to now spend the next eight years in Corsica. From this period of exile survive two of his earliest works—both consolations.

    In 49 AD Agrippina married her uncle Claudius, and through her Seneca was recalled to Rome. Agrippina appointed him, as tutor to her son, the future emperor Nero.

    Nero's early rule, during which he followed the advice of Seneca and Burrus, was competent. However, within a few years both Seneca and Burrus had lost their influence.

    In 58 AD the senator Publius Suillius Rufus made a series of public attacks on him saying that, Seneca had acquired a personal fortune of three hundred million sestertii. In response, Seneca brought a series of prosecutions for corruption against him. Suillius was dispatched into exile.

    After Burrus's death in 62 AD, Seneca's influence further declined. He adopted a quiet lifestyle at his country estates, concentrating on his studies and seldom visiting Rome. It was during these final few years that he composed two of his greatest works: ‘Naturales Quaestiones’—an encyclopedia of the natural world; and his ‘Letters to Lucilius’—which document his philosophical thoughts.

    In AD 65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian plot to kill Nero. Nero ordered him to kill himself. Seneca followed tradition by opening several veins in order to bleed to death.

    It was a sad conclusion for a man who has been called the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and role of gratitude in human relationships.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStage Door
    Release dateMar 24, 2019
    ISBN9781787804715
    Hercules Furens: 'And fates I conquered; and in scorn of death I have come back again. What else remains?''
    Author

    Sêneca

    The writer and politician Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BCE–65 CE) was one of the most influential figures in the philosophical school of thought known as Stoicism. He was notoriously condemned to death by enforced suicide by the Emperor Nero.

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      Book preview

      Hercules Furens - Sêneca

      Hercules Furens by Seneca

      A translation by Frank Justus Miller

      Lucius Annaeus Seneca, more readily known as Seneca the Younger, was born at Córdoba in the Roman province of Baetica in Hispania in approx 4 BC.

      Seneca attests that he was taken to Rome at a young age and educated in literature, grammar, and rhetoric; the standard education of high-born Romans. He also received philosophical training.

      Much of his life is not well documented but accounts do lean towards a pattern of ill-health at times.  His breathing difficulties are thought to be the result of asthma and during his mid-twenties he contracted tuberculosis.

      He was sent to Egypt to live with his aunt, whose husband, Gaius Galerius, was Prefect of Egypt. In 31 AD he returned to Rome with her and, with her influence, was elected quaestor and with it the right to sit in the Roman Senate.

      Seneca's early career as a senator was successful and he was fulsomely praised for his oratory. A story related that emperor Caligula was so offended by Seneca's oratorical success that he ordered him to commit suicide. Seneca’s ill-health prevented that.

      In 41 AD, Claudius became emperor, and Seneca was promptly cited by the new empress Messalina of adultery with Julia Livilla, the sister of Caligula and Agrippina.

      After trial the Senate pronounced a death sentence, which Claudius then commuted to exile. Seneca was to now spend the next eight years in Corsica. From this period of exile survive two of his earliest works—both consolations.

      In 49 AD Agrippina married her uncle Claudius, and through her Seneca was recalled to Rome. Agrippina appointed him, as tutor to her son, the future emperor Nero. 

      Nero's early rule, during which he followed the advice of Seneca and Burrus, was competent. However, within a few years both Seneca and Burrus had lost their influence.

      In 58 AD the senator Publius Suillius Rufus made a series of public attacks on him saying that, Seneca had acquired a personal fortune of three hundred million sestertii. In response, Seneca brought a series of prosecutions for corruption against him. Suillius was dispatched into exile.

      After Burrus's death in 62 AD, Seneca's influence further declined. He adopted a quiet lifestyle at his country estates, concentrating on his studies and seldom visiting Rome. It was during these final few years that he composed two of his greatest works: ‘Naturales Quaestiones’—an encyclopedia of the natural world; and his ‘Letters to Lucilius’—which document his philosophical thoughts.

      In AD 65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian plot to kill Nero. Nero ordered him to kill himself. Seneca followed tradition by opening several veins in order to bleed to death.

      It was a sad conclusion for a man who has been called the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and role of gratitude in human relationships.

      Index of Contents

      HERCULES FURENS

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      THE SCENE

      ACT I

      ACT II

      ACT III

      ACT IV

      ACT V

      THE INFLUENCE OF THE TRAGEDIES OF SENECA UPON EARLY ENGLISH DRAMA

      SENECA – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

      SENECA – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

      HERCULES FURENS

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      Hercules, Son of Jupiter and Alcmena, but the reputed son of Amphitryon.

      Juno, Sister and wife of Jupiter, and queen of heaven.

      Amphitryon, Husband of Alcmena.

      Theseus, King of Athens and friend of Hercules.

      Lycus, The usurping king of Thebes, who has, prior to the opening of the play, slain king Creon in battle.

      Megara, Wife of Hercules and daughter of Creon.

      Chorus of Thebans.

      THE SCENE: In the princely palace of Hercules at Thebes, on the day of the return of the hero from the lower world.

      The jealous wrath of Juno, working through Eurystheus, has imposed twelve mighty and destructive tasks on Hercules, her hated stepson. But these, even to the last and worst, the bringing of Cerberus to the upper world, he has triumphantly accomplished. Abandoning her plan of crushing him by toils like these, she will turn his hand against himself, and so accomplish his destruction. Upon the day of his return from hell, she brings a madness on him, and so precipitates the tragedy which forms the action of the play.

      ACT I

      JUNO [In soliloquy]

      Lo I, the sister of the Thunderer

      (For, save this name alone, I've nothing more),

      Have left my lord, so often false to me,

      Have left, in widowhood, the realms of heaven,

      And, banished from the sky, have given place

      Unto my hated rivals. Now must earth

      Be my abode, while they in heaven reign.

      Behold, the Bear, far in the frozen north,

      Is set on high to guide the Argive ships;

      Behold, in southern skies, where days grow long

      Beneath the warmth of spring, the Bull shines bright,

      Who once the Tyrian Europa bore.

      There gleam the wandering Atlantides,

      A fearful band for ships and sea alike;

      And yonder fierce Orion with his sword

      The very gods affrights; his stars, as well,

      The golden Perseus boasts; while Leda's sons

      With shining banners glitter in the sky;

      And they, Latona's children, for whose birth

      The floating land stood firm. And not alone

      Have Bacchus and his mother gained the heavens;

      But, that the infamy may be complete,

      The skies must needs the Cretan maiden's crown

      Endure. But these are ancient wrongs I tell:

      One wild and baneful land alone is full

      Of shameless mistresses—the Theban land,

      Which all too oft has me a stepdame made.

      And though Alcmena scale the heights of heaven,

      And hold my place, victorious over me;

      And though her son his promised star obtain

      (Whose hateful getting cost the world a day,

      Since Phoebus, bidden to hold his shining car

      In Ocean hid, with tardy light shone forth

      From eastern seas): still

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