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Seneca: Tragedies II: Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, Hercules on Oeta, Octavia (Loeb Classical Library) annotated Edition

by Seneca (Author), John G. Fitch (Translator)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 5 ratings
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Seneca is a figure of first importance in both Roman politics and literature: a leading adviser to Nero who attempted to restrain the emperor's megalomania; a prolific moral philosopher; and the author of verse tragedies that strongly influenced Shakespeare and other Renaissance dramatists. This volume completes the Loeb Classical Library's new two-volume edition of Seneca's tragedies. John Fitch's annotated translation, which faces Latin text, conveys the force of Seneca's dramatic language and the lyric quality of his choral odes.

Seneca's plots are based on mythical episodes, in keeping with classical tradition. But the political realities of imperial Rome are also reflected here, in an obsessive concern with power and dominion over others. The "Octavia" is our sole surviving example of a Roman historical play; set at Nero's court, it was probably written by an admirer of Seneca as statesman and dramatist.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0674996100
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0674996106
  3. Edition
    annotated
  4. Publisher
    Harvard University Press
  5. Publication date
    June 30, 2004
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    4.5 x 1.25 x 6.5 inches
  8. Print length
    672 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This second volume of the new Loeb tragedies (the first volume, also by John Fitch, appeared in 2002) is very much in the new style and admirably suited to the new standard. Fitch has long been a major player in Senecan studies, and the vast range of his experience is here put at the service of all comers. They will be very glad of it. The translations are deft, accurate, and extremely readable, while the introductions to each play are significant essays in their own right. Bibliographies are well and fairly compiled, so that even their privileging of work in English seems unexceptionable. Classicists working with Seneca will want to have this edition at hand, while readers with little or no Latin will also soon discover that this is the edition of Seneca to use. (Sander M. Goldberg University of Toronto Quarterly)

About the Author

John G. Fitch is Professor Emeritus of Greek and Roman Studies, University of Victoria.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; annotated edition (June 30, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 672 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674996100
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674996106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.5 x 1.25 x 6.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
5 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

buddhawannabe
5.0 out of 5 stars Have you read "Thyestes"? If not, why not
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2013
Verified Purchase
"Thyestes" is the one masterpiece of classical drama that nobody's ever heard of, and it really is a masterpiece. Haven't read other translations, but this one is very good and the notes for the two Loeb volumes are fine. If you've read other Seneca plays and said "ho hum" as I did, don't give up on Seneca but read "Thyestes."
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Gene Brosius
5.0 out of 5 stars Oh Seneca, a favorite Stoic tragedian!
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2019
The second volume of Loeb's Tragedies by Seneca is just as dramatic and exciting as the first volume. Each tragedy is thrilling and entertaining. The first tragedy; Oedipus was based upon Sophocles "Oedipus the King." In this tragedy, Seneca uses a stoic doctrine where one is submissive to Fate and which presupposes that Fate is purposive and beneficient of a single divine Providence and Reason. He begins the play with a dramatic statement "...I cant place my trust even in myself, at this very moment Fate is preparing some device against me. There are no stars glittering in the clear night skies: a heavy black vapor blankets the earth . . . the crop is barren, and dies on its parched stalks." The second tragedy; Agamemnon, Seneca uses a sequence of events that have a causality effect for each of the characters, e.g., Thyestes, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus and Cassandra. He intertwines the battles of Trojans and Greeks within the play. The opening choral ode points to a theme of decay, moral degeneration and the vulnerability of greatness. On the third tragedy; Thyestes (it is a suspense Thriller), Seneca writes the story as a biography to the Pelop's heritage and legacy. Seneca's masterpiece in writing Thyestes is that it transcends time and location. The philosophical principal that a higher power will bring what is due. Fate will seek at those deemed necessary of vengeance. "You whom the ruler of earth and sea has granted great power over life and death. All power is under a weightier height. Rising day sees a man's pride, retreating day sees him brought low. Cloths mixes the two, forbidding Fortune to rest and spins each destiny around. God keeps our lives hastening, turning in a speeding whirlwind." This tragedy is one of the most thrilling and gruesome of all of Seneca's writings! On the fourth tragedy; On Hercules on Oeta, it is the longest tragedy that is written by Seneca which has survived antiquity. It is a "superdrama" in scope and its ability to portray Hercules as the "superhero" as legend has him. In the final act, after it is known whether Hercules has descended to Hades or risen to the stars, Seneca writes " Live, all with courage, and the cruel Fates will then not hand you over...when the final hour is imposed at the end of your days, glory will open a path to heaven." On the last tragedy; Octavia, it is the only to survive antiquity on a Roman historical subject. The writer uses his own plight and demise by Nero and interweaves it into the play. It is remarkable in this aspect. The story of Octavia is tragic in itself and Seneca as with other plays, illustrates her turmoil eloquently. Her plight is similar to Antigone's in Sophocles' play. The play begins with a wonderful metonymy of " Now dawn's brilliance sweeps the wandering stars from the sky; Titan arises the radiance-crowned and returns bright daylight to the world." Seneca, oh such a overlooked tragedian deserves our highest admiration for this metaphors and symbolism throughout all of the tragedies!
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Johannes Platonicus
4.0 out of 5 stars Stoicizing Drama for the Philosophic Soul
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2009
One of Rome's greatest philosophers was also one of Rome's greatest poets and dramatists. Seneca's versatility and proficiency as an author will become evident to the reader who examines the contrast between the informal and dignified prose of his Stoic Epistles and the stunning elegance of his verse in the pathos laden Tragedies. Now it is simply amazing that the stern-browed champion of Roman Stoicism would don the laurel and take up the tragedian's genre. Perhaps he sought to indoctrinate the stage-crazed Roman mob with the tenets of Stoicism, since he worked many stoic ideals into the Tragedies' themes? It seems likely that he rather subtly directed his program of moralization through the medium of public entertainment. Whatever the case may be, Seneca has handed us poetry and drama, in nearly ever ancient meter (except heroic meter), that rivals his Latin predecessors, Terrance and Plautus. And even though he used the Greek tragedies as a model (except `Octavia'), Seneca's originality emerges as he reworks those classic Grecian themes to fit his Latin audience, adorning them with a stoic twist. Yet Seneca's 'Octavia' is a composition all his own and is genuinely Roman and not Grecian. The `Octavia' is a historical drama and recounts episodes from the tumultuous and brutal reign of Nero, of court intrigue and the machinations of Nero's wives and concubines. The other tragedies--Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes and Hercules on Oeta--are all traditionally linked to popular Greek mythology and are household names today. Overall, Seneca asserts himself as an exemplary poet/play-write and his influence was felt from his time well into the modern era, inspiring such figures as Boethius (in `consolatio'), Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ben Johnson [Oxford Classical Dictionary, Seneca]. Overall, the enthusiast of the classic drama, the lover of Latin poetry, and the collector of ancient works can hardly go without these two volumes, which are here presented in a fresh, vibrant and lucid, English translation. The scholarly analyses and annotations that accompany the text will be welcoming and profitable to readers as well.
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Steve Constantelos
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating on a few levels
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2019
I've read the Ancient Greek tragedies and comedies, and a little Terence and Plautus, but had never thought about reading Seneca's tragedies, although I have always enjoyed the idea behind his satirical look at the deification of Claudius in The Apocolocyntosis.

The Agamemnon by Aeschylus is a favorite of mine, so I thought I'd read Seneca's, and boy am I glad I did. Seneca is not only a gifted thinker, but a gifted poet, presenting a wonderful alternative vision of Agamemnon's homecoming. The choruses, which vary in voice, are splendid, the scene-setting with the ghost of Thyestes gripping, Cassandra's visions exquisite, and back and forths between Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, Agamemnon and Cassandra, and Clytemnestra and Electra taut and absorbing. Plus I got to indulge in the fun of looking bck and forth between the English and original Latin, wishing I could translate so deftly. A few of the English words struck me as slightly antiquated in a new translation, but in an antique work, that is really no problem for me.
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