Part 35 (2/2)

In Seneca out of a total of 1,060 lines 330 are occupied by the lyric measures of the chorus, 230 by descriptions of omens and necromancy.

181. It is also to be noted that the nurse does not make use of this device till after Hippolytus has left the stage, although to be really effective her words should have been uttered while Hippolytus held Phaedra by the hair. The explanation is, I think, that the play was written for recitation, not for acting. Had the play been acted, the nurse's call for help and her accusation of Hippolytus could have been brought in while Hippolytus was struggling with Phaedra. But being written for recitation by a single person there was not room for the speech at the really critical moment, and therefore it was inserted afterwards--too late. See p. 73.

182. Similarly, Medea, being a sorceress, must be represented engaged in the practice of her art. Hence lurid descriptions of serpents, dark invocations, &c. (670-842).

183. Seneca never knows when to stop. Undue length characterizes declamations and lyrics alike.

184. As a whole the _Troades_ fails, although, the play being necessarily episodic, the deficiencies of plot are less remarkable. But compared with the exquisite _Troades_ of Euripides it is at once exaggerated and insipid.

185. Cp. Apul. _Met_. x. 3, where a step-mother in similar circ.u.mstances defends her pa.s.sion with the words, 'illius (sc. patris) enim recognoscens imaginem in tua facie merito te diligo.'

186. This speech is closely imitated by Racine in his _Phedre_.

187. 2: Cp. esp. 995-1006: the _agnosco fratrem_ of Thyestes is perhaps the most monstrous stroke of rhetoric in all Seneca. Better, but equally revolting, are ll. 1096-1112 from the same play.

188. For other examples of dialogue cp. esp. _Medea_, 159-76, 490-529 (perhaps the most effective dialogue in Seneca), _Thyestes_, 205-20; H.

F. 422-38. for which see p. 62.

189. _Pro M_. 61 'Fuit enim quidam summo ingenio vir, Zeno, cuius inventorum aemuli Stoici nominantur: huius sententia et praecepta huiusmodi: sapientem gratia nunquam moveri, nunquam cuiusquam delicto ignoscere; neminem misericordem esse nisi stultum et levem: viri non esse neque exorari neque placari: solos sapientes esse, si distortissimi sint, formosos, si mendicissimi, divites, si servitutem serviant reges.' &c. He goes on to put a number of cases where the Stoic rules break down.

190. Cp. Eurip. _Andr_. 453 sqq.

191. For still greater exaggeration cp. _Phoen_. 151 sqq,; _Oed_. 1020 sqq.

192. Cp. Sen. _Contr_. ii. 5; ix. 4.

193. Cp. Sen. _de Proc_. iv. 6 'calamitas virtutis occasio est'.

194. Cp. Sen. _Ep_. xcii. 30, 31 'magnus erat labor ire in caelum'.

195. Cp. Sen. _Ep_. xcii. 16 sqq.

196. _Ep_. cviii. 24.

197. Cp. _Macbeth_ ii. 2. 36, Macbeth does murder sleep, &c. For other Shakespearian parallels, cp. _Macbeth_, Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? _H.F._ 1261 'nemo pollute queat

animo mederi.'

_Macbeth_, I have lived long enough.... And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have. _H.F._ 1258 'Cur animam in ista luce detincam amplius

morerque nihil est; cuncta iam amisi bona,

mentem, arma, famam, coniugem, natos, ma.n.u.s.' J. Phil. vi. 70. Cunliffe, _Influence of Seneca on Elizabethan Tragedy_.

198. An exception might be made in favour of the beautiful simile describing Polyxena about to die, notable as giving one of the very few allusions to the beauty of sunset to be found in ancient literature (_Troad_. 1137):

ipsa deiectos gerit vultus pudore, sed tamen fulgent genae magisque solito splendet extremus decor, ut esse Phoebi dulcius lumen solet iamiam cadentis, astra c.u.m repetunt vices premiturque dubius nocte vicina dies.

Fine, too, are the lines describing the blind Oedipus (_Oed_. 971):

attollit caput cavisque l.u.s.trans...o...b..bus caeli plagas noctem experitur.

199. pp. 52 sqq., 59.

200. Cp. Eur. _H.F._ 438 sqq.

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