أجاممنون

by Seneca, عبد المعطي شعراوي (مترجم), رجب الحلواني (إخراج)

Seneca's tragedy Agamemnon is a brilliantly rhetorical piece, written for the study rather than the stage. In this edition Professor Tarrant provides a much needed critical text. In his introduction he discusses the sources, dating, structure and mode of production of Agamemnon and Senecan drama in general, and includes a detailed survey of the manuscript tradition. His commentary is the fullest yet published on a Senecan play and attempts both to interpret the text and to define the originality of Senecan drama by placing it in its proper literary context; it contains material illustrating Seneca's relationship to earlier Greek and Roman drama, Augustan poetry (Ovid's in particular), and the rhetoric of declamation. This edition will be welcomed by classical scholars and students of Latin poetry, and may also prove valuable to those interested in Seneca's influence on later European drama.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Mythology, Drama, Ancient, Greek Mythology, Roman

Audiobook

First published January 1, 65

About the author

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca or Seneca the Younger); ca. 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero, who later forced him to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to have him assassinated.

Reviews

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 3 out of 5]

AGAMENÓN, de Séneca

"¡Ay, qué dulce desgracia tienen los mortales: el amor obstinado por la vida, cuando tienen a mano la huida de los males y a los que sufren"

Esta obra de Séneca tiene el mismo nombre y casi argumento de "Agamenón" de Esquilo que forma parte de su trilogía de la Orestiada. Trata del regreso del héroe a su tierra natal luego de la cruenta guerra con Troya a cargo de su esposa Clitemnestra.
Hay varios puntos sin embargo en el que hay diferencias importantes. En el principio aparece la sombra de Tiestes, cosa que le da mucho sentido y explicación a lo que vendrá. Cabe decir que Séneca escribió un "Tiestes" de muy buena factura además. En esta primera escena Tiestes cuenta la maldición que echó sobre el linaje de Atreo antes de morir debido a que su hermano Atreo le causó enormes desgracias y cómo espera cobrar venganza.
En cuanto a Clitemnestra ella parece dudar de la decisión que había tomado, incluso esto es un poco dramático. Esquilo en cambio Clitemenestra y Egisto actúan tan normalmente que uno no se da cuenta de nada hasta el desenlace que llega bien calculado.
Es una obra en realidad bastante partida, muchos personajes aparecen en un acto para luego no aparecer más. Agamenón mismo que le da título a esta obra tiene un papel muy pequeño.
Al final es la presencia de Electra quien ayuda a Orestes y se encuentra con Estrofio (el padre de Pílades) quien ayuda a ocultar al niño luego de ocurrida la tragedia. En Esquilo en cambio Orestes ya había sido enviado a pedido del propio Estrofio anticipando un atentado contra él al no estar presente Agamenón.

"Todo lo moderado tiene más larga vida:
dichoso aquel que, siendo del montón,
tranquilo con su suerte,
se ciñe al litoral con un viento seguro"

Aparte de estos cambios, que no son nada disonantes con la historia principal, Séneca aporta su filosofía como lo vano de estar en el poder o en lo más alto cuando la seguridad está en lo simple. También hay buenas descripciones de lugares por los cuales pasaron los griegos. Euríbates es el encargado de narrar las peripecias de los griegos luego de tomar Troya y aquí hay una descripción muy detallada mucho más que en Esquilo de las desgracias de todos incluyendo la de Ayax Oileo. Por su parte Casandra ya no aparece como la esclava en parte sumisa sino más bien una un poco burlona como en Eurípides.

"¡Qué verguenza y qué pesar! ¡Una hija de Tindáreo, descendencia del cielo, ha parido una víctima lustral para la escuadra doria!"

[Simon Goldenson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Latin literature really shat the bed with Seneca

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A revenge tragedy. I like the storm over the ships returning from Troy.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seneca's version of Aeschylus' Agamemnon is a so-called closet drama to be read rather than performed. This at first is off-putting in that there are more speeches than dialogues.

Seneca has a certain amount of sympathy for Clytemnestra. She has good reason to be enraged with Agamemnon who quite literally sacrificed their daughter to speed the Greek fleet on to Troy, who abandoned her for ten years, who took up with captive Trojan women and indeed brings home with him a Trojan mistress. Still, she wonders if she should forgive all that to honor their marriage vows.

CLYTEMNESTRA Love for my husband conquers and turns me back. Return we thither whence ‘twere well never to have come away. E’en now let us reseek purity and truth, for never too late is trod the path to honesty; whose repents his sin is well-nigh innocent.

To that her lover retorts:

AEGISTHUS Whither art borne, mad one? Dost believe or hope that Agamemnon is still true to his marriage vows?

No, she does not believe that. Her fury knows no bounds. She entangles Agamemnon in a gown she has sewn herself and when Aegisthus' knife fails to kill him, she steps in and beheads Agamemnon herself with an Amazonian axe. Her fury extends beyond the pale to her children whom she also sets out to murder. Aegisthus cools her fury and saves the lives of the children.

Clytemnestra changes in a moment from a penitent seeking reconciliation to a monster. All was fated by the curse on the House of Atreus.

My rating of this play increased considerably on a second read with the translator's notes by my side.

[وائل المنعم · Rating 1 out of 5]

أول مسرحية أقرها لسينيكا ومن الواضح الفارق الكبير بينها وبين مسرحيات كتاب المسرح الاغريق، فهي اشبه بتراجع في مستوى فن المسرحية، لا يمكن اطلاق الحكم من مسرحية واحدة ولكن فارق الجودة كبير بينها وبين اقل مسرحيات يوربيديوس أو اسخيليوس ناهيك عن سوفوكليس.

[Fernando Ferreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rápido, nervoso, intenso. São essas as características que Sêneca consegue imprimir com o seu estilo próprio à conhecida tragédia de Agamêmnon - o rei de Argos que, vencedor da guerra de Tróia, é traiçoeiramente assassinado em seu retorno por sua mulher, Clitemnestra, em conluio com seu amante, Egisto.

Bem se vê a razão de Sêneca ser uma das principais influências - talvez a maior - do Barroco: os agudos contrastes de emoções, da fraqueza mais humilde à fúria mais insana; as paixões indômitas que fazem terra arrasada dos débeis - mas verdadeiros - apelos da razão e do bom senso; o orgulho ferido que se levanta sem pudores mesmo diante dos mais sacros deveres da piedade filial.

Em suma, Sêneca força um contraste muito vivo de virtude/vício, emoção/razão, para mostrar como as paixões recônditas da alma humana, sacudido o jugo sereno da razão, são capazes de arrastar toda uma família à mais rematada desgraça.

Fica aí implícita a lição do mestre estóico: o ideal da ataraxia, da impassibilidade, do autocontrole, absolutamente necessários para evitar justamente que, dada a circunstância propícia, as cegas paixões tomem de assalto o timão da alma e ponham o barco a pique.

Uma grande obra, um clássico.

[JV]

Comparar as peças de Ésquilo e Sêneca, tendo como objeto o mesmo pano de fundo mítico, é atravessar toda a civilização greco-romana. São obras praticamente incompatíveis. Não obstante, a geração anterior de poetas conseguiu, com Horácio, Catullus, e Virgílio(Bucólicas e Geórgicas) - pelo menos - reviver e absorver muito da cultura grega original. Sob essa perspectiva histórica, cristalizou-se a opinião de que as peças de Sêneca seriam versões ineptas das peças gregas. Sêneca teria falhado em fazer o que Horácio, por exemplo, fez pela lírica grega.

Buscando outro panorama, José Eduardo dos Santos Lohner, num brilhante estudo comparativo, mostra que Sêneca usa de seus antecessores latinos para afirmar-se e a escola estoica. Metros, loci e vocabulários tirados de Horácio, Virgílio e Ovídio, bem como a vasta experiência oratória de Sêneca, se unem para oferecer ao público romano o melhor espetáculo possível. O uso extensivo de Sententiae (provérbios) é a maior prova disso. Prova também de heterodoxia, que igualmente se acha na mistura de metros de outros gêneros.

Excelente leitura, cativante na descrição da tempestade, instrutiva no diagnóstico da doença de Clitemnestra e terrível como há de ser uma tragédia. É estranho ser eu quem tive de upar esse livro para o goodreads!

[Yasmeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

*من مشهد بين إلكترا و إيجستوس*
-هل تمنحنى الموت ؟
=إن رفضتى أوامرى فسوف لا أمنحك اياه ؛ فالحاكم الخائب هو من يعاقب بالموت.
- هل هناك ما هو أسوأ من الموت ؟
= نعم هناك .. الحياة إن كنتِ ترغبين ف الموت .
...
انا نفسى بقا ف كتاب يربطلى بين كل شخصيات التراچيديات القديمة الأزل دى، هروح أدور و ياريت ألاقى 😂🏃

[CivilWar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, unfortunately Seneca's take on Agamemnon's triumphant return immediately followed by his murder by Clitemnestra doesn't work so well.

Clitemnestra is here, far less furious and more vacillating than she is in Aeschylus' classic rendition, which would work well to humanize her more, maybe, but here she also is infinitely crueler to Elektra and Orestes, whom she clearly plans to murder, whereas in Aeschylus it was more ambiguous: wanting to stoically return to be the "faithful wife" to a "deserving husband" while being willing to be so cruel to her children after the deed is done only muddles her character in both ways, it makes her less engaging and attractive as a certain feminine type, the scheming queen who is at once court plotter and Amazon, and as a sympathetic victim of circumstance since it is harder to feel sorry for this Clitemnestra when she's so brutal to her children.

Likewise, I am not that fond of Kassandra being the one to announce Agamemnon's death, and to describe it, through her visions: it is unique, but, frankly, I think an onstage death would be far better here, and it is something that Seneca already wrote.

Finally, maybe most importantly, the chorus here is nearly pointless, and sings songs related to myths that are, AT BEST, tangentially related and worse not at all but in any case add... not very much to the play, and feel rather too much like filler.

All in all, not one of the best tragic offerings from Seneca.

[Thalia Andasol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I complained about this to my prof but the Boyle translation of this one was so annoying because one it was a pain to carry around to class, like so heavy and two I just hated how Boyle committed so hard to using archaic language to "elevate" the text. Like yes, Seneca is different from the Athenian tragedians because he's not writing for wide audience, but also he engages with that in a more intertextual manner and less in an "refined" language way. I just find that some classicist try too hard to make texts undesirable for a wide audience when often wide audiences were what the texts were intended for. But beyond that, this fits in with my independent study of Clytemnestra and I would have to admit it was one of the most forgettable versions we've read. And I say that as someone who defends Seneca when he probably doesn't deserve it: see my impassioned essay in favour of Seneca's Medea. But here it just felt so underdeveloped, like he weaves in the ghost of Thyestes but does practically nothing with him which could've been such a good way to emphasize the villainous motivations of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Additionally, even with Dracontius' Orestes I felt this similar level of "this could've been refined more" but with Dracontius I see that in the case that he overstuffs his narrative so his best points are made difficult to see, but here Seneca really doesn't have great points or even any points and that's so disappointing knowing he also wrote the Thyestes. But whatever I guess, I don't have to write an essay about this one.

[Marko Vasić · Rating 5 out of 5]

U odnosu na Eshilovog Agamemnona, Senekin je nešto eksplicitniji što se samog čina ubistva tiče. Klitemnestrini monolozi su svedeni, i prikazuje se više njena unutrašnja borba i oklevanje da li da počini to što je naumila ili ne. Na kraju prevladava strast i mržnja i Agamemnona ubija ne u kadi kao kod Eshila, već sputanog odorom koju mu je dala da obuče. Egist je sve vreme prisutan, za razliku od Eshilove tragedije i sve vreme zajedno kuju plan kako da uklone nepoželjnog heroja trojanskog rata. Mali Orest je takođe prisutan i tek pred izvršenje čina ga majka prepušta kralju Fokide na čuvanje. Jedino je osovina Kasandrine tragedije ista kod obojice (Seneke i Eshila) ali je kod Seneke, rekao bih, naglašenija i glasnija.

[Rosaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

الاقتباس هنا عند سنكا لا يعني تقيداً بالمصدر، بل استلهام حر للحدث وشخصياته بتأويل جديد لدوافع الأعمال، مع مبالغات شديدة في الأفعال نفسها، وتركيز كبير على أناشيد الجوقة واستنتاجاتها من الماضي ونبوءاتها للمستقبل. وعلى نقيض المسرحيين الإغريق كان سينيكا يترك لشخصياته حيزاً كبيراً للبوح الداخلي المتفجر، كي يبرز ما يعتمل في دخيلة النفس من مشاعر متضاربة ومنفعلة، فيوضح للمستمع خطر الانفعال إذا تجاوز حد الاعتدال وأفلت من زمام العقل. وقلما يعتمد سينيكا على الجدل السريع المتصاعد بين شخصيتين متناقضتين عقلاً وقلباً وقولاً، فهو لا يبغي فنيّة التأثير بقدر عمقه وتجذره في النفس والعقل، كي يوصل إلى المتلقي مفهومه عن الحكمة.

[Ahmad El-Saeed · Rating 3 out of 5]

في الحقيقة القصة لن تفهم إن لم يكن لديك معرفة مسبقة بقصة اجاممنون، ولكنها كافية لتستمتع بالاسطورة.

- إنها الان مجنونة، تحارب ضد الاله.



- هل تمنحنى الموت؟
= إن رفضتى أوامرى فسوف لا أمنحك اياه ؛ فالحاكم الخائب هو من يعاقب بالموت.
- هل هناك ما هو أسوأ من الموت؟
= نعم هناك .. الحياة إن كنتِ ترغبين ف الموت.

[Lucia Vitale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clitemnestra se debate en su interior si ha de matar a su marido o no. A diferencia de la obra de Esquilo, en Séneca los protagonistas constantemente dudan de las decisiones que deben tomar, y de las que han sido tomadas.
Electra juega un papel mayor en la obra, protegiendo a su hermano Orestes de la desgracia familiar.

[Linus Lythell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very hard to follow and many old words, but when the story reveals itself, my interest increased

[Antonia Chiruţa]

Too stupid to understand even half of this

[Elizabeth Amisu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the translation by Studley.

[Ulrike · Rating 3 out of 5]

kind of all over the place and wont be helping with my essay as much as i had hoped

[Rafael · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

[VerbaVelata · Rating 1 out of 5]

Penoso, bello solo quando muore Agamennone

[Toon Pepermans · Rating 2 out of 5]

the ending is way too rushed
2.5 stars