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

by Seneca, Frank Justus Miller (Translator)

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.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Mythology, Drama, Fiction, Tragedy, Roman

74 pages, Kindle Edition

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

[Bookish Dervish · Rating 3 out of 5]

عرفت هرقل من خلال رسوم متحركة شاهدتها في طفولتي ثم تتابعت لقائاتي به و بمآثره عبر كتب و برامج ليس آخرها
من سير الأبطال والعظماء القدماء و كذلك حلقة عن هرقل من منصة Ted ed.
ها نحن هنا معه في مسرحية بقلم سينيكا نراه يتفاعل مع فاجعة مقتل أبناءه بعد عودته من العالم السفلي..
الترجمة ممتازة و لا تشوبها شائبة و الحواشي المثبتة في آخر الكتاب مفيدة في الإحاطة بشخصيات المسرحية و خلفيتها المعتمدة على الأساطير........

[Phantoomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

La descrizione della follia è poesia pura

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Me apostaré allí y para que los dardos salgan disparados por un arco certero, yo los lanzaré con mi mano; yo gobernaré sus armas cuando ya esté loco; por fin voy a ayudar a Hércules en una lucha…"

La acción empieza con un parodos de Juno hablando del odio que guarda a Hércules por las infidelidades de su esposo y los males que le vendrán al protagonista de esta obra. Esto para algunos es curioso debido a que la diosa luego no juega ningún rol. Todos los que conocen la leyenda saben que Hércules fue movido por una fuerza superior a realizar los actos terribles que suceden en esta obra.
En el plano terrenal se nos da a conocer que Megara, la esposa de Hércules ha perdido a su padre Creonte, quien era rey de Tebas, a manos del cruel Lico. Éste envalentonado porque Hércules se ha ido al Hades y no ha vuelto toma el trono de la ciudad.

"No crecen alegres los prados con su verde semblante ni la mies ya crecida ondea al suave Zéfiro, no hay una arboleda que tenga sus ramas cargadas de frutas: la estéril desolación del suelo de las profundidades lo convierte en un yermo y una repugnante tierra se muestra inerte en su eterna postración; es el triste final de las cosas y el confín del mundo."

Luego Hércules regresa después de un tiempo con su amigo Teseo. Éste es un momento muy importante e interesante pues se da la descripción del inframundo por Teseo. Ahí se nota el estilo depurado de Séneca y las escenas que ofrece sobre la vista de la mansión de Plutón. Resalta la valentía y grandiosidad de Hércules, que hasta el mismo inframundo atemoriza y el autor aprovecha para lanzar ataques y reprimendas a los gobernantes abusivos los cuales según él tendrán su merecido castigo con Plutón. Subraya la importancia de los gobiernos de no mancarse de sangre y de impartir justicia sin atropello a los ciudadanos.
Finalmente, se dan los acontecimientos trágicos. Las descripciones muy buenas aunque un poco cortas y el epílogo conciliador como era esperable. Lo que más me gustó fueron las alocuciones de Juno y de Teseo sobre el infierno. Ya las acciones también son violentas aunque en general no me llegó a dar toda la tragedia un gran impacto.

"¿Dónde están las flechas? ¿Dónde el arco? ¿Quién estando yo vivo ha podido quitarme las armas? ¿Quién me ha robado tan terribles despojos y no ha sentido miedo de Hércules aunque fuese dormido? Me gustaría ver a mi vencedor, me gustaría. Adelante, nuevo héroe, a quien ha dado vida mi padre abandonando el cielo"

[Illiterate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hercules’ madness is excessive ambition & frenzied rage - a lack of reason. (So, the play fits Seneca’s philosophy better than Bolt suggests.)

[Crystal]

this was for my honors thesis lol but ooh she is so spicy !!!! competing with thyestes for best senecan tragedy do NOT @ me

[Xole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seneca’s Hercules reads more like a series of monologues than a play, and the translator has chosen to convert it into rhyming couplets, which gives it a rather Shakespearean style. The text is firmly in Juno’s camp, which is interesting - she’s so often portrayed as simply petty and jealous, but here she is motivated by a need to protect heaven from a man who’s grown powerful enough to take control of it, and who, having proven his worth on earth, is now looking to heaven for his next challenge.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot device Euripides used was far more convincing that the famed Hercules suddenly going mad. The prose is ok, Hercules final dialogue rings of Nitzchean tones. I suppose the theme of this book is the inability for conquest to establish a totalizing sphere of influence without suffering severe consequences.

[Liam Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant play, beautiful and gripping language.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genren gör det svårt för mig att uppskatta innehållet.

[I · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Cogi qui protest nescit mori."

[Fatimah AlZohairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

أحس تنفع تكون مسرحية موسيقية كورالية.

[anastasia~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chill the fuck

[Alexia · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’aime trop les mythes autour d’Hercule et vraiment Seneque j’ai des sentiments pour toi 👉👈

[Hegazy Mohamed · Rating 2 out of 5]

#حجازى_بدرالدين
#سيكولوچيست_حجازى_بدرالدين
هيركوليس مجنوناً
تأليف : سينيكا
ترجمة : د.هالة السعيد
مسرحية كتبها سينيكا ( 4 ق.م أو من 1م-65م)
ولد سنيكيا في قرطبة بجنوب إسبانيا فيما بين العامين 4 ق.م و 1 ميلادي لأسرة من طبقة الفرسان الرومانية .
خالته كانت متزوجة من والي مصر جايوس جاليريوس في الفترة ما بين 16 و 31 ميلادية و قضي فترة نشأ فيها بمصر قبل أن يذهب لروما ، تعلم الفلسفة الفيثاغورسية علي يد الفيلسوف سكستيوس و سوتيون السكندري و كذلك الفلسفة الرواقية علي يد الفيلسوف أطالوس.
كان شاعراً و فيلسوفاً و كاتب مسرحي ، و من أعماله النثرية :

عن العناية الإلهية
عن صمود الحكيم
عن الغضب
عزاء إلى ماركيا
عن الحياة السعيدة
عن وقت الفراغ
عن راحة البال
عن قصر الحياة
عزاء إلى بوليبيوس
عزاء إلى الأم هيلفيا

أما مسرحياته فهي :

هيركوليس مجنونا
الطرواديات
الفينيقيات
ميديا
فايدرا
أويديبوس ملكا
أجاممنون
ثيستيس
هيركوليس فوق جبل أويتا
أوكتافيا

أما مسرحية اليوم " هيركوليس مجنونا "_ فتتكون من أربعة فصول فتطرح العديد من المعاني الصالحة لكل زمان و مكان ، فهل هناك أعمال خارجة عن إرادة الإنسان تتحكم فيها قوي غيبية عليا ؟
_فهيركوليس الذي ناصر الضعفاء و واجه الظالمين و أنتصر عليهم ، هل أنتصر علي ذاته أم هزم أمام ذاته و قتل أعز من يملك .
فهل أراد.سينيكا أن يظهر الإنسان الناجح المنتصر في حياته العملية ، المهزوم المنبطح في حياته الأسرية التي شغلته عنها نجاحته و إنتصاراته ، فتسبب بضياعها بإرادته .
تمنياتي بقراءة ممتعة و متفكرش
تحياتي
حجازى بدر الدين

[Dmk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all Euripides' extant tragedies Hercules was one I liked least but for Seneca's version I had great expections since it seems like a subject fitting to him. And indeed he didn't dissapointed me.

He chose to use simpler structure – five different episodes (Hera's monoloque, trobles of Hercules childs, speech about Hades') separted by chorus' monoloque that slowly brings reader closer to final tragedy (like in Aeschylus' Agamemnon).

No, this is not an outstanding tragedy. But a good one.