the medea of euripides and seneca- a comparison by mary enrico frisch loyola university chicago

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Master's Teses Teses and Dissertations

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Te Medea of Euripides and Seneca: AComparison

Mary Enrico FrischLoyola University Chicago

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Copyright 1941 Mary Enrico Frisch

Recommended CitationFrisch, Mary Enrico, "Te Medea of Euripides and Seneca: A Comparison" (1941).Master's Teses. Paper 180.hp://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/180
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THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES AND SENECA: A COMPARISON

by

Sister Mary Enrico Frisch, S.S.N.D.

A Thesis submitted 1n part ia l~ u l ~ i l l m e n t o ~ the requirements ~ o r

the degree o ~ Master o ~ ArtsLoyola University

August, 1941

If..-


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CHAPTER

I

II

III

IV

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Survey o ~ Opinion.

Broad Similari t ies in M o t i ~ andSentiment.Broad Similari t ies in the Plot

o ~ the Medea o ~ Euripides andthe Medea o ~ Seneca.Parallels in Phraseology.Characters and Their Attitudeto the Gods.

Bibliographya. R e ~ e r e n c e s ~ o r the Medea

o ~ Euripides.b. R e ~ e r e n c e s ~ o r the Medea

o ~ Seneca.c. General Works.

PAGE

1

6

30

51

73

91

95

98


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THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES AND SENECA: A COMPARISON

Chapter IINTRODUCTION: SURVEY OF OPINION

I t is not a new theory that Seneca used the plays o ~ Euripides as models for his Latin tragedies, particularly his Medea,Hippolytus, Hercules Furens, Troades and the Phoenissae. Yetthe most cursory comparison shows a wide gulf , not only in pointof time, but also in alterations executed in plot treatment andcharacter delineations. A point of even greater differentiationis the matter of presentation. Seneca's plays were not acted;they were reci ted. l Yet in spite of the ~ a c t that the "burdenwas placed upon the language" and so became rhetorical declamat ions, Seneca, nevertheless, " ~ o l l o w e d the path along which Euripides led. n2

These differences wil l perhaps be better understood i fviewed at f i r s t historical ly. Both Euripides and Seneca l ivedin turbulent times.

1. Moulton, R. G., The Roman Revival of Tragedr in The Ancient ClassicalDrama, P 203a 1 The Roman plars are clearlr not intended for acting, and noarranged for the stage Such dissociation from the stage is a disturbing force of the f i rs t magnitude.2. Back, Charles, Medea, a Tragedr of Seneca, P iv: 1 A comparison of theprincipal Greek tragic poets on the one hand, and Seneca on the other, will,i t is believed convince everyone that there is not so broad and deep a chasmbetween them as is commonlr supposed--all perfection on one side, and failureon the other,--but that there is in the three tragic poets of Greece a development perceptible, succeeded by a decline of which the best tragedies ofSeneca are but a continuation, and by no means a distant one.


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2The Athens of Euripides had passed through a pol i t i ca l re -

action. She had just performed "magnificent exploits againstPersia" which had aroused anew Athenian patriotism and gave i texpression in ar t , drama, painting, sculpture and architecture.But th is impulse was not long l ived. With the PeloponnesianWar, decadence set in and Athens began to descend from herheight of achievement. Yet she continued !2 great in pol i -t ics and l i terature; but the wound inf l ic ted by the sudden- -hange l e f t i t s scar on men's souls and bred a definite cynicismto which Euripides often alludes in his works.

Careful as Augustus had been to respect the old customs ofthe Roman Republic, repeated conquests made by the Romans duringthe f i r s t century, tended only to "undermine the old republicanform of government and substi tute an imperial monarchy which be-came a mili tary despotism." There was no longer the freedom ofaction and of speech of the Ciceronian Forum. Poli t ics weredangerous, and the government "produced despots rather than phi losophical statesmen." As in the days of Augustus, Rome contin-ued to draw a l l ta lent to i t se l f and l i terary act ivi t ies con-verged on the pract ical business of l i f e . And so we find thatthe stateman and the l i t te ra teur of the Neronian court realizedthe harmlessness of the mythological legends, even though theywere warped by repeated use, and used them as a safe avenue forhis philosophical tenets. The Roman mind, never as imaginativeand poetical as the Greek, lacked the abi l i ty and power to un-mask and hence these le ends in the ir hands are devoid of the


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verve and ~ o r t a l i t y of the ir Greek predecessors.This his tor ical summary will perhaps suffice to point out

the causes for the marked differences in the two tragedies underconsideration.3

The question of authorship of Seneca's tragedies has been amuch mooted one. I t wil l not be necessary to take up this pointat length since the "Senecan question" is s t i l l an open one, andthe controversy stands. A number of views are held: Seneca thetragedian and Seneca the philosopher are two dis t inct p e r s o n a g e ~Lucan, the nephew of Seneca is the author of the plays; they arethe production of several authors; and, f inal ly , they have beenwritten by one who assumed the name of Seneca.4 Quinti l ian 'sInst i tu t io Oratoria gives us direct testimony on the authentic-i ty of the Medea:

"Interrogamus aut invidiae grat ia , utMedea apud Senecam, Quas pet i terras jubes?"5

3. Chapman, John Jay, ed.a Greek Genius and other Essays, Euripides and GreekGenius, by Professor Gilbert Murray, Chapter VII, P 126: consider whereinRome differed from Greece. The l i fe of the Romans was a patchwork, like ourown. Their religion was formal, their art ~ p o r t e d , their l i terature ~ i t a -tive; their a ~ s were practical, their interests unimaginative. All socialneeds were controlled by political considerations.4. Beck, Charles, Medea, a Tragedy of Seneca, from the Introductions p.vi-ix:1In the course of these remarks, allusion has several times been made to theopinion, that these ten tragedies are productions of several authors. Even amoderate knowledge of the language and a superficial perusal of the pl&JSwill suggest this view, and a more careful investigation will tend to conftrmi t , and reduce i t into a more definite shape.Saintsbury, George, in the History of Criticism and Literary Taste, Vol.Ip. 245,But I have never,as a critic,been able to believe Seneca wrote them.5."Quas peti terras jubes occurs in the second scene, of the third act ofMedea of Seneca, 1. 453.


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Kingery sums up the question as ~ o l l o w s :"The opinion now prevails that the 'Octavia'i s not Lucius Seneca's and that the other nineare his , with the possible exception o ~ the'Agamemnon' and the 'Hercules Oetaeus. 11 6

4

Perhaps the greatest l ink between the two tragedies is the i"comruon interest in speculative philosophy and in l ive humanity."Both were moralists and moderns; both employed similar s ty l i s t icdevices; both were past masters in depicting dramatic si tuat ionsboth used elaborate descriptive and declamatory passages; bothplays abound in epigrams and sententious dialogues; in long rhe-tor ica l exaggeration; in bombastic speeches, frequently in theform of monologues; and in r e ~ l e c t i v e philosophic diatribes usedby both Chorus and characters . Seneca "not only adopted, buteven enlarged upon the many innovations" in t ragic a r t , seriousdepartures credited to Euripides.7 Both received l i t t l e mention

6. Kingery, Hugh Macmaster, Three Tragedies of Seneca, p. 13, continues: ofexternal evidence in support of this conclusion we have the mention of Senecaas a poet by Quintilian, Pliny and Tacitus, the citation of Medea as his byQuintilian, the ascription of four other tragedies o him by well-knownwriters in the early centuries nd the negative fact that we have noproof of the existence of a separate Seneca tragicus. Of internal evidencewe have the occasional reference to contemporary events in which Seneca wasdeeply interested; the close parallel in philosophical principles and generaltone of thought between the tragedies and the prose works which are indisput&bly his; and the identity of l i terary style.7. Rogers, B. B. translation of The Frogs Vol. IX, P 438 in the HarvardClassics says: "'The Frogs' was produced the year after the death of Euripi-des and laments the decay of Greek tragedy which Aristophanes attributed toEuripides. Here, as elsewhere, he stands for tradition against innovation ofa ll kinds, whether in politics, religion or art . The hostility to Euripides, s a result of his attitude of conservatism."


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5!rom the ir contemporaries, yet both have been imitated through-out the ages.8 Seneca's "histor ical !unction was to be a l inkbetween the incipient modern drama and Hellenism, which couldnot be direct ly accessible, or indeed, in te l l ig ib le , so long asGreek study was in i t s infancy. 11 9

This study then is an attempt to further establ ish the probabi l i ty , and to lay a sounder basis for the bel ief , that theanalogies which the Latin tragedy bears i t s Greek prototype can-not be considered as happening by mere chance as propert ies common to tragedy in general, but tend to reveal Seneca's indebted-ness to his Greek predecessor.

a. Chapman, 1. B., Euripides for Today in The Living Age, Vol. 313, P 220-222says: Imitated by the writers in every land to which Greek culture has penetrated, the play i tself s t i l l maintains i ts primal vigor upon the stage to-day, depicting as i t does with unparalleled power the eternal tragedy of thewoman scorned.9. Duff, 1. Wight, A Literary History of Rome in the Silver Age, P 270.Hamilton, Edith, The Roman Way, P 241 comments: 1 If l i terature is made upof the best, Seneca is unimportant for Latin literature, but the kind of dramhe was the f i rs t to write has kept i ts popularity unimpaired down to today,and i f great influence makes a great l i terary figure, he stands close to thef i rs t rank.


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Chapter I ISIMILARITIES IN MOTIF AND SENTIMENT

Aristotle says of tragedy:"Tragedy i s an imitation not only of acomplete action, but of events te r r ible andpi t i fu l . A perfect tragedy shouldbe arranged on the simple not complicatedplan. I t should, moreover, imitate actionswhich excite pity and fear , th is being thedist inct ive mark of tragic imitationA well-constructed plot should, therefore, besingle, rather than double as some maintain.

The change of rortune should not be from badto good, but , reversely, from good to bad. I tshould come about as the resul t not of vice,but of some great error or f ra i l ty . They are in error who censure Euripides justbecause he follows this principle in his plays,many of which end unhappily. I t i s , as we havesaid, the r ight ending. The best proof is thaton the stage and in dramatic competition, suchplays, i f they are well-represented, are mostt ragic in the ir effect ; and Euripides, faultyas he is in the general management of his subjec t , yet is fe l t to be the most tragic ofpoets ." l

6

I t can by no means be inferred from th i s appraisal of Eur ipides 's work that Aristotle was wholly in accord with Euripides 's change of form and change of sp i r i t . What Aristotle doesmean when he refers to Euripides as "the most tragic of poets"

1. Aristotle 's Poetics ix. 11. p. 37; xi i . 2. p. 41; xi i i . 4. p. 43; xi i i . 6.p. 43-44, in Aristotle 's Theory of Poetry and Jine Art with a Critical Textand a Translation of the Poetics by Samuel H. Butcher.Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, x. 1. 68. P 39, speaking of Euripidessays: lthough admirable in every kind of emotional appeal, he iseasily supreme in the power to excite pity.n Loeb Classical Library, Englishtranslation by H. m. Butler.


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7is that the third o the tragic writers conformed t6 the re -quirements o the ending of the tragedy, since Euripides had a"preference or sad endings." "Nothing is here :for tears" canno longer be applied to the l as t o the t ragedians. Like hisp r e d e c e s s o r ~ the 11Latin disciple" carried out to an even greaterdegree the injunction of Aristotle for a sad ending. But, unl ike E u r i p i d e s ~ pathos plays l i t t l e or pract ical ly no part inhis playa. Stoic philosophy forbids th is , "for i t is diff icul tto pity those who feel no pity for themselves." In almost everyc i r c u m s t a n c e ~ he makes successful attempts to out-r ival his precursor in scenes of horror . In both plays the two children arekil led by M e d e a ~ but Seneca fa i l s to follow the advice Horacegives in the Ars Poetica:

11ne pueros coram populo Medea t rucidet ."Medea mounts the height of the balcony and slays the children ofJason in the very sight of the ir fa ther . In Euripides she hasat leas t the good grace to do the blood curdling act behind thescenes. From the opening l ines of Seneca's p l a y ~ Medea th reat -ens horror upon horror and the f ina l catastrophe is the culminat ion of horror.2

2. Lucas, Frank L., Seneca and mlizabethan Tragedy, The Tragedies of Seneca,Chapter I I I , P 57-58, says The reason for this change is to be soughtnot only in the greater natural brutality of the Roman mind; i f only to makeup for the unreality of this ultra-academic drama the author tr ies to be vivid by being lurid, to stimulate the jaded imagination of his public byscreaming atrocity.


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8Characterist ics f i r s t found in Euripides and foreign to an

cient tragedy led Aristotle to add: "and Euripides, faulty ashe is in the general management of his subject , andcaused Aristophanes to banter and caust ical ly cr i t ic ize theyoungest and l as t of the t ragic writers:

"Your kings in ta t ters and rags you dressed,and brought them on, a beggarly show To moveforsooth, our pity and ruth. 11 3"Moreover, to prate , to harangue, to debate,is now the ambition of a l l in the s ta te .Each exercise-ground is in consequence founddeserted and emptyJ to evi l reputeYour lessons have brought our youngsters, andtaught our sai lors to challenge, discuss and re-futeThe orders they get from the ir captains, andyet , when I was al ive , I protest that the knavesknew nothing at a l l , save for rat ions to cal land to sing 1Rhyppapae as they pulled throughthe waves.lf4

Seneca would have been open to the same cri t ic ism, since hel ike his precursor in tragedy, sacrif iced the dramatic elementand made i t wholly subservient to description, set t ing, oratoryand rhetoric .

Drama, to be such, must conform to certain rules and standards, must have certa in earmarks. There must be a declamatoryelement present for emphasis; descriptive passages for elucidat ion and effect ; aphorisms, epigrams, and sententious remarkspunctured with philosophy to f i t in with the pattern of current

3. Aristophanes, op. ci t . , P 472.4. Ibid., p. 473.


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9debate. Both writers had a l l these, but in comparison there isin the one a " ~ i n e s s e , r e ~ i n e m e n t and purity" wholly lacking inthe other.

Macaulay says: "The sure sign o ~ the general decline o ~ anart is the frequent occurrence, not o ~ deformity, but o ~ misplaced beauty. In general tragedy is corrupted by eloquence."This then is the general: crit icism hurled at Euripides and ~ o u rhundred years la te r at his imitator . Both were rhetoricians andsacrif iced "propriety ~ o r rhetor ical display." And i t is thispoint that wil l be compared ~ r o m the ~ i r s t . This is what Aristophanes chides him r.or when he says:

"Hah1 sayest thou so, child o ~ the garden queen!And this to me, thou chattery-babble-collector ,Thou pauper-creating rags-and-patches-sti tcher?Thou shalt abye i t dearly!"5"Chattery-babble -collector" can hardly be applied to Euripides.His characters do argue l ike Athenian pleaders, but they do notbabble. They are l i fe l ike characters pleading the i r point, andi t is this pleading and arguing that makes them more l i fe l ike ."I t is the true rhetoric o ~ persuasion." Never do they loosetheir ident i ty. And i t is here that Seneca's rhetoric d i r ~ e r s

~ r o m Euripides 's . Seneca's characters plead and argue in thesame way--puppet ~ a s h i o n - - n o matter who the character is . Eachspeech is turned into a declamation, and weighted with mythology

5. Aristophanes, op. oit . , p. 464.


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10and philosophy, no matter who may be making the speech, or whatmay be the si tuat ion.6

Stichomuthia, or 11 line-:f 'or-line repartee", another Euripidean brain child, gives Seneca opportunity to become rhetorical ,and time and again these passages become e p i g r ~ a t i c and caust ic . More so than Euripides, Seneca's repartee i s , however,"polished and sharpened to thrust and parry l ike a rapier , tostab l ike a s t i l e t to ."

J'ason:Medea:J'ason:Medea:J'ason:Medea:J'ason:Medea:J'ason:Medea:

EuripidesThou too hast grief. Thy Nurse:pain is fierce as mine.I love the pain, so thoushalt laugh no more.Oh, what a womb of sin my Medea:children boreZSons, did ye perish for your Medea:father 's shame?How? I t was not my hand that J'ason:murdered them.'Twas thy false wooings, twas Medea:thy trampling pride.Thou hast said i t l For thy J'asonalust of love they died.And love to women a slightthing should be? Medea:To women purel--All thy vilel i fe to thee: J'ason:Think of thy torment. They aredead, they are dee.dl

SenecaThe Colchians arethy husband's vowsfailed; Of a l l thysessions not a jotYet I am left .7

thy foes;havevast posis lef t .

Thou wouldst remove thehated wanton once thy wife.Dost thou reproach me witha guilty love?Yea, that, and murder too,and treachery.But name me now, I f so thoucanst, the crimes that Ihave done.Thy crimes whatever I havedone.'lhy then, in truth, thyguilt must a ll be mine, i fa l l thy crimes are mine.

6. Godley, A. D., Senecan Tragedy in mnglish Literature and the Classics, ad.by G. s. Gordon, P 234, says: 1 As he works on the lines of Greek tragedf,following in the main the plot laid down by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, we find him always doing the same thing--giving a situation, trying tosay the most bril l iant , the most erudite, the most generally striking thingsabout i t . 7. Miller, Frank J'ustus, The Tragedies of Seneca, P 87, 1. 164-165.


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EuripidesJasona No; quick, great God; quickcurses round thy headlMedeaa The Gods know who began thiswork of woe.Jason: Thy heart and al l i ts loathliness they know.Medea: Loathe on. But, Oh,thy voice. I t hurts me sore.Jason: Aye, &Dd thine me. Wouldsthear me then no more?Medeaa How? Show me but the way.'Tis this I crave.Jason: Give me the dead to weep,and make their grave.8Medea: There is no other wa,.--Ipardon thee thy l i t t leness,who art not wronged like me.Leaders Thou canst not ki l l the fruitthy body borelMedea: Yes: i f the man I hate painedthe more.Leader& And thou made miserable, mostmiserable?Medea& Oh, le t i t comel All words of

good or i l l Are wasted now.9

Medea:

Jason&Medea:JasonaMedeaa

Nurse aMedeaaNurse aMedeaaNurse aMedeaaNurse:Medea aNurseaMedeaaNurse aMedea a

11Seneca

They are. They are a llthine; for who by sin advantage gains, Commits thesin.lO1What wouldst thou have medo?For me? I 'd have thee darethe law.The royal power doth compassme.A greater than the king ishere; Medea. Set us frontto front and le t us strive;And of the royal strife le tJason be the prize. l lThe king must be revered.My father was a king.Dost thou not fear?Not though the earth produced the foe.Thou'lt perish.So I wish i t .rleelI'm done with f l ight. Whyshould Medea flee?Thy childrenlWhose, thou knowst.And dost thou s t i l l delay?I go but vengeance f i rs t . l2

Long speeches and grave sententious s a y i n g s ~ labelled withphilosophic t a g s ~ abound in both authors:

8. Murray, Gilbert, The Medea ofEuripides, p. 75-77, 1. 1442-58.9. Ibid., P 47, 1. 851-855.10. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,P 97, 1. 497-502.11. Ibid., p. 98, 1. 515-18.12. Ibid., P 87-88, 1. 168-173.


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EuripidesNurse: i t t le they reck of Nurse:their mother's woes, for thesoul of the young is nofriend to sorrow.l3Nurse: Undone, i t seems are we, ifto old woes fresh ones we add,ere we have drained the for-mer to the dregs.l4Att.: Old t ies give way to new.l5Nurse: Strange are the tempers of

Medea:

princes, and may be because Nurse:they seldom have to obey,and mostly lord i t over others,change they their moods withdifficulty. 'Tis better then Nurse:to have been trained to liveon equal terms.l6

Nurse: Moderation wins the dayf i rs t as a better word for

Medea:men to use, and likewise i t Medea:is far the best course forthem to pursue; but greatnessthat doth o1erreach i tself , Medea:brings no blessing to mortalmen; but pays a penalty ofgreater ruin whenever fortuneis wroth with a family.l7

Nursea ut no man hath founda way to allay hated grief bymusic.l8Medea:

12Seneca

The man who heavy blowscan bear Insolence, bidings t i l l his time with patientsoul, Full oft his vengeancgains. 'Tis hidden wraththat ha.rms; But hate pro-claimed oft loses half i tspower to harm.l9aut fortune fears thebrave, the faint of hearto 1 erwhelms.201The man who hopes fornaught at least has naughtto fear.2l11Tis well to yield tofate 's deoree.22Though fate may strip meof all , myself am left .23Unrighteous sovereigntyhas paver long endured.241Who judges and denies hisear to either side, Thoughright his judgment, s t i l lis himself unjust.25Trust not in kingly realms,since fickle chance maystrew Their treasures to thewinds.e26

13. Coleridge, Ed. P., The Plays of 19. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,Euripides, p. 34, 1. 47. p. 87, 1. 152.14. Ibid., p. 35, l . 76. 20. Ibid., P 87, l . 158.15. Ibid., P 35, 1. 78. 21. Ibid., p. 87, 1. 163.16. Ibid., P 36, l . 113-117. 22. Ibid., P 88, l . 175.17. Ibid. , p. 36, 1. 119. 23. Ibid., P 88, l . 176.1a. Ibid., P 38, l . 190. 24. Ibid., p. aa, l . 196.25. Ibid., P 89, l . 200.26. Ibid., P 89, l . 222.


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EuripidesJasona How unruly a pest is aharsh temper.w27Jason: Many an evil doth exilebring in i ts train withit.w28Medea: uy love was stronger thanmy prudence.29Medea: Whoso hath skil l to fencewith words in an unjustcause, incurs the heaviestpenalty.w30Jason: Never te t happiness appearin sorrows guise, nor whenthy fortune smiles pretendshe frowns.w3lMedeac A vil lain's gif t can bringno blessing.w32

13Seneca.

Medea: My troubled soul can neverknow a time of rest , Untili t see a l l things o' erwhelmin common doom. All must godown with mel 'Tis sweetsuch death to die.n34NUrse: oh, think what perils thoumust meet i f thou persistlNo one with s&fety ma.y defya. sceptered kingl35Jason: o heartless fate, i f frownsor smiles bedeck thy brow,

How often are thy cures farworse than the disease theyseek to cure. w36

The central idea of the Medea is spoken sententiously andboth Euripides and Seneca "adduce man's proneness to act onthe i r desires in spite of a l l deterrents."Medea, Go, leave me; I cannot bearto longer look upon ye; ~sorrow wins the day.w33

27. Coleridge, Ed. p., op. ci t . , p. 45,1. 452f.28. Ibid., P 45, l . 466f.29. Ibid., P 46, l . 484!.30. Ibid., p. 48, 1. 579f.31. Ibid., P 49, l . 603ff.32. Ibid., P 49, 1. 618ff.33. Ibid., P 62, 1. 1078ff.

Medea.: How hard the task to turnthe soul from wrath whenonce to wrath inclined.37Mede&a yes, now I see the final

deed of crime, and thou ~soul must face it.n38

34. Miller, Frank .rustus, op. ci t . ,P 95, 1. 428.35. Ibid., p. 95, 1. 430.36. Ibid., p. 95, l . 433.37. Ibid., P 89, 1. 203.38. Ibid., P 111, 1. 923.


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14Descriptive passages, portraying places, objects, persons

real or otherwise, abound in both Euripides and Seneca as ameans for ttrhetorical ornamentation."

EuripidesAt the opening of the play theNurse describes Medea's condition,her overwrought emotions and uncontrolled passions.39In the First Episode, Scene one,Medea gives a preview of the stateof affairs and the final outcome ofher nursed passion.40Creon, upon meeting Medea, describes her mental and physicalstate.41Again, in the Third Scene of theFirst Episode, Medea reiterates herplan, and muses in retrospect.42She continues musing and describes

her younger self in the home of herroyal parent. She makes this description in the presence of Jason.43Jason retorts descriptively, stating minutely the advantages Medea hasderived by coming to Athens.44

39. Murray, Gilbert, op. c i t . , P 3-4,l . l-55.40. Ibid., p. 14-16, l . 199-261.41. Ibid., P 17, l . 267f.42. Ibid., P 22-24, l . 373-424.43. Ibid., P 27-29, l . 4Sl,.M5.44. Ibid., P 29-31, l . 547-611.

SenecaThe Nurse describes elaboratelyMedea's preparation for the magicrites.45Medea describes the Moon goddessof her vision during the incantationoeremony.46:there is description of the persons, people and events during theincantation ceremony.47Medea describes the effect hermagic art produces.48Medea's pr83er and hideous offering she is making to Hecate is described at length.49The places to which Medea contemplates fl ight after her finaldeed of vengeance is completed areminutely described.50The mountains and rivers fromwhich the potent drugs come aredescribed.51

45. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,p. 103, l . 670-739.46. Ibid., P 107, l . 7S7-792.47. Ibid., P 105-lOS, l . 740-S49.4S. Ibid., P lOS, l . Sl6-Sl9.49. Ibid., P lOS, l . S3l-S45.50. Ibid., P 96, 1. 451-457.51. Ibid., P 105, 1. 720-727.


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15Descriptions which are primarily emotional occur with

greater frequency in Seneca. Numerous descriptions of "revolting horror" are found in Seneca, whose power for blood curdlingaccounts far exceed and out-r ival the power of any master oftragedy who preceded him.

Multiple are the descriptions. But perhaps no one standsout more graphically and more poignantly than the Messenger'sdescription in Euripides of the subtlety of the graded stepsthat led to Creusa's inhuman death, and the death of Creon:the ut ter destruction of the royal house.52

To the ancients, a curse 11 presupposes the supernatural aswell as a prayer." Euripides makes dramatic use of curses, oatand imprecations. And Seneca, writing for an audience upon whomthe "supernatural element connected with imprecations had s t i l la hold upon the popular imaginationn, ~ o l l o w e d closely andre -l igiously his model, employing the oath and curse freely. Medea's proud and daring spir i t is made more proud and daring andeven more bold in supplication by prayers and passionate oathsand curses.

EuripidesMedea: o zeusl le t not the authorof these my troubles escapethee.53

SenecaMedeaa ye crime-avenging furies,come and loose Your horridlocks with serpent coils

52. Murray, Gilbert, op. ci t . , P 64-68, 1. 1202yl313.53. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . , p. 42, 1. 331.


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muripidesMedea: Great Themis, and husbandof Themis, behold what I amsuffering now, though I didbind that accursed one, myhusband, by strong oaths tome.54Aegeus: By earth I swear, by thesun-gods holy beam and bya ll the host of heaven.a55Jason:

Medea:Jason:Jason:

Jason:

Nurse:

Perish, vile sorceress,murderess of thy babes&56curse you and your fathertoo, ye children damned.57curses on thee& 58on me the gods have hurledthe curse that dogged thysteps.a59The curse of our sonsavenging spiri t and of Jus-t ice, that calls for blood,be on theeza60While Medea, his haplesswife, thus scorned, appealsto the oaths he swore, re-calls the strong pledge hisright hand gave, and bidsheaven be witness.61

54. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . ,p. 37, 1. 163-165.55. Ibid., P 54, 1. 752f.56. Ibid., p. 70, 1. 1344-45.57. Ibid., P 36, 1. 107-108.58. Ibid., P 69, 1. 1331.59. Ibid., P 69, 1. 1335-36.60. Murray, Gilbert, op. ci t . ,p. 71, 1. 1389.61. Ibid., P 33, 1. 17ff.

16Seneca

Medea: entwined, and grasp withbloody hands the smokingtorch; be near as once Yestood in dread a r r ~ besidemy wedding couch.t62

Medeaa Upon this new-made bridedestruction send, and deathUpon the king, and a l l theroyal line.a63Medea:

Jason:

Medeaa

But he, My husband, may helive to meet some heavierdoom; This curse I imprecate upon his head; may hethrough distant lands; inwant, in exile wander,scorned and houseless.a64o sacred justice, i f inheaven thou dwellest, Bewitness now, that for mJchildren's sake I act.t65Now Jove, throughout thyheavens le t the thundersroll l Thy mighty arm inwrath make barel Thy dart-ing flames of vengeanceloose, and shake the loftyfirmament With rendingstorms1 At random hurl thyvengeful bolts, Selectingneither me nor Jason with

62. Miller, Frank Justus, op. cit . ,P 83, 1. 13.63. Ibid., P 83, 1. 17.64. Ibid. , P 83, 1. 18.65. Ibid. , P 95, 1. 440-41.


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1'1Seneca

Medea: thy aim; That thus whoeverfal ls may periSh with thebrand of guil t upon him;for thy hurtling darts cantake No erring flight.68Medeaa Now le t my life-blood flow1And le t ~ hands be used todraw the deadly sword, Andlearn to shed belowedblood.69Jason: But, witness heaven, wherethou art gone no gods can

bez7oIn describing feelings there is in Seneca l i t t le variety.

Scenes of horror abound and apart from the general theme, references to death are multiple.

EuripidesChorus: Death cometh though noman pray, Ungarlanded,unadored.66Chorusa But a ll the darkness andthe wrong Quick deaths anddim heartaching thingsWould no man ease them witha song or music of a thousand strings?67Chorus: Woman, what mak'st thouhere, Thou from beyond the

66. Murray, Gilbert, op. cit . , p. 11,1. 155f.67. Ibid. , P 13, 1. l86f.

SenecaMedeaa I supplicate the silentthrong, and you, the godsOf death's sad r i tes . Of

g l o o ~ Pluto, and the blackabyss of death Girt by thebanks of Tartarus&71Chorus: but his head down Hebrus'grieving stream was borne.The well-remembered Styx he

reached, And Tartarus,whence ne'er again he wouldreturn.72

68. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,P 99, l . 531.69. Ibid. , P 107, 1. 807.70. Ibid., P 114, l . 1028.71. Ibid. , P 105, l . 740ff.72. Ibid. , P 102, 1. 63ff.


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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~Euripides

chorus: gate where dim Symplegadesclash in The dark blue seas,The shores where death dothwait?73Chorus: A mother slew her babes indays of yore, one, only one,from dawn to Eventide. Ino,god-maddened, whom the Queenof Heaven set frenzied, flying to the dark.74

18seneca

Choruss Blind is the rage of passion's f i re , Will not begoverned, brooks no reins,And scoffs at death;77

Figures of speech play a large part in the rhetorical planof Seneca's dramas. Smiley, in his art icle "Seneca, and theStoic Theory of Style" says that his use of simile, metaphorand personif'ication i s , however, ttnot more frequent than Homer'suse of the same figures. 11

muripidesSimUes

Nurses She lends as deaf an ear tohis friends' warning as i fshe were a rook or oceanbillow.75Nurses She glares upon her servantswith the look of a lionesswith cubs, whenso anyone draws

nigh to speak to her.76

73. Murray, Gilbert, op. ci t . , p. 70,l . l347ff.74. Ibid., P 71, l . l362ff.75. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . , p. 34,1. 29.76. Ibid., p. 38, 1. 184.

SenecaSimiles

Chorus: When in her train of courtly maidens she mingles-Like the bright sunshinepaling the starry splendor,or the ful l moonlightquenching the Pleiads' bri llianoe, So does she shine,a ll peerless, of fair onesthe fairest.78

77. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,p. 101, l . 59lff.78. Ibid., P 85, l . 94.


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EuripidesSimiles

Jason: Needs must I now, i t seems,turn orator, and, like agood helmsman on a ship withclose-reefed sails weatherthat wearisome tongue ofthine.79

MetaphorsNurse: Beware her savage moods,the fe l l temper of herreckless heart.80Nurse a That cry is but the her-ald of the gathering

79. Colerdige, Ed. P., op. ci t . ,p. 47, l . 527.ao. Ibid., p. 36, 1. 103.

~ 9SenecaSimiles

Nurse a As some wild Bacchanalwhose fury's raging fireThe god inflames, now roamsdistraught on Pindus snowsAnd now on lofty Nysa's rugged slopes; so she Now herenow there, with frenziedstep is hurried on, Her facrevealing every mark ofstricken woe, With flushingcheek and sighs deep drawn,wild cries and tears, And a;.laughter worse than tears.Medea: As when conflicting windscontend in stubborn strife;and waves, to stormy wavesopposed, the sea invade,and to their lowest sandsthe briny waters boil; Withsuch a storm mf heart istossed.82

Jasona Hate, like a shield Shebears, and in her face ispictured a ll her woe.83Metaphors

Jasona My very spring of l i fe , Mysore heart 's comfort, andmy joy are these my sons.8Nursea 1Thy heart a l l passion-tossed, I pray thee,

B+ Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,P 94, l . 384.82. Ibid., P 111, 1. 939.83.,Ibid., P 96, 1. 449.84. Ibid., P 95, 1. 427.


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Nurse aMedea:

muripidesMetaphors

storm-cloud whose lightningwill soon flash.85ror my enemies are bearingdown on me full sai l , norhave I any landing-place tocome at in my trouble.w86

Chorus: Never, o, never, lady mine,discharge at me from thygolden brow a shaft invincible, in passion's venomdipped.87

Nurse:Nurse:

Jason:

Medea:

PersonificationPerdition catch himl88Greatness that doth o'erreach i tself , brings noblessing to mortal man; but

p ~ s a penalty of greaterruin whenever fortune iswroth with a family.w89Never le t happiness appearin sorrow's guise, n o ~ , whenthy fortune smiles, pretendshe frowns.90Fortune smiles upon thybride.91

85. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. cit . ,p. 36, l . 105.86. Ibid. , P 40, l . 278.87. Ibid. , p. 50, 1. 630.88. Ibid. , p. :35, 1. 82.89. Ibid., p. :36, l . 127.90. Ibid., p. 49, l . 601.91. Ibid., P 59, l . 966.

20Seneca

MetaphorsNurse: mistress, soothe, and calmthy troubled soul.92Jason: But what resistance can wemake, If war with doublevisage rears her horridfront.93

Medeas

Nurse:

Medea:

Nurse:

PersonificationThen passion, gird thyselfPut on thy strength, andfor the issue now prepare.t94No star of hope points outthe way from these ourwoes.95Nay, nay, le t fortune,when she will, my doom decree.96When will the foaming waveof fury spend i tselft97

92. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,P 95, l . 427.93. Ibid. , P 98, l . 525.94. Ibid. , P 84, l . 57.95. Ibid. , P 87, 1. 162.96. Ibid., p. 90, l . 1242.97 Ibid., p. 94, l . :393.


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EuripidesPersonification

chorus: When in excess and past a lll ~ i t s Love doth come, hebrings not glory or reputeto men.98

Medea: on me may chastity, heaven'sfairest gif t , look with afavoring eye.99Medea: assion, that causeof direst woes to mortal man,hath triumphed oer my sober

thoughts.lOO

21Seneca

PersonificationMedea: My princely gift to Greeceis orpheus, that sweet bard,

Who can the trees in willibondage draw, and melt thecrag's hard heart.l02Jason: o heartless fate, i f frownsor smiles bedeck thy brow,How often are thy cures farworse than the disease theyseek to cure.l03Medeaa o changeful fortune, thoumy throne Hast reft a w ~ ,and given me exile in i t sstead. Trust not in kinglyreal.Ias, since fickle chance

m ~ strew Their treasures tothe winds.l04

Other figures of speech found in both authors follow:Irony

Medea: zeus, why hast thou grantedunto man clear signs to knowthe sham in gold, while onman's brow no brand is stampedwhereby to gauge the vill iansheart?lOlMedeaa A glad welcome, I trow would

they give me in their home,

98. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . ,p. 50, 1. 62!1.99. Ibid., P 50, 1. 632.100. Ibid., P 62, l . 1075.101. Ibid., p. 46, l . 521.

IronyMedeaa But gifts which sin hasbought twere shame $otak:e.l05Medea: Go now, and take thesemaids for wives, thou faith-less onea Abandon and be-tray the mother of thy

sons.l06

102. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,p. 89, l . 2:30.10:3. Ibid., P 95, l . 14:33.104. Ibid., p. 89, 1. 220.105. Ibid., p. 98, l . 504.106. Ibid., p. 113, l . 1007.


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:muripides SenecaIrony Irony

whose father 's death I com- Medeaapassedz107 ~ I f now to homeless exilethou dost send me forth,Give back the countlesst r e a s u ~ s which I left fort h e e ~ n l l 4Jason a Then wouldst have lent meready aid, no doubt, in thisproposal, i f I had told theeof my marriage, seeing that Medeaa "He might at les.st havesought his wife with onelast word of comfort.wll5not even now canst thou re-strain thy souls hot fury.l08

Medea: May that prosperity, whoseend is woe, neer be mine,nor such wealth as would eversting my heart.wl09

Metonymy Metonymyuedeaa on a ll sides sorrow pens uedeac Who judges and denied hisear to either side Thoughright his judgment, s t i l lis he himself unjust.wll6

me in.wllONUrse: erily the man thatdoth incur her hate willhave no easy task to raise Medeaa Now lash thy soul with memory's scourge.nll7er her a song of triumph.alll

For my enemies are bearingdown upon me ful l sail . l l2Medeaa so I will wait yet a l i t t lewhile in case some tower ofdefense rise up for.me.ll3

107. Coleridge, Ed. p., op. ci t . ,p. 46, 1. 504.lOa. Ibid., p. 48, 1. 588.109. Ibid., P 49, 1. 599.uo. Ibid., P 43, 1. 365.111. Ibid., P 34, 1. 43.112. Ibid., P 40, 1. 278.113. Ibid., P 44, 1. 388.

creona Go, speed thy fl ight, thouthing of evil, fe l l and monstrouSI"ll8Medeac These treasures le t Medea'schildren bear as gifts to

Jason's bride.wll9

114. Miller, Frank JUstus, op. ci t . ,P 97, 1. 490.115. Ibid., p. 95, 1. 419.116. Ibid., p. 89, 1. 199.117 Ibid., p. 86, 1. 129.118. Ibid., p. 88, 1. 191.119. Ibid., p. 100, l . 575.


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23Fond of playing on words, anti thesis is never absent from

the works of these writers:llluripides SenecaAntithesis Antithesis

creon: J'or a cunning woman, and Medea: Lo, a l l the doors which I ,J'or thee, have opened wide,I 've closed upon myself.l2man likewise, is easier toguard against when quicktempered than when taci-turn.l20 Medea: Thou bidst me flee Butshowst no way or means offl ight.al26edea: Wherefore whoso is wisein his generation oughtnever to have his children Chorusa our Thessalian prince excels, In beauty of form andface, Even Bacchus, the sonof the fierce flaming one,Who yokes the wild t igersin place.l2'7

taught to be too clever;for besides the reputationthey get for idleness, theypurchase bit ter odium fromthe citizens.l2lMedea: For if thou shouldst import Chorus: Not by Alpheus sacredstream, Nor Boeotias' musi-cal water, Is there any

fair who can compare Withour lovely Corinthiandaughter.l28

new learning amongst dullards,thou will be thought a use-less t r i f ier , void of knowledge;while i f thy fame in the cityoertops that of the pretendersto cunning knowledge, thou wiltwin their dislike.l22 Medea: But fortune fears thebrave, the faint of heartoerwhelms.tl29edea: My love was stronger than myprudence.l23

Medea: oer men's minds gold holdsmore potent swa, than countlesswords.l24

120. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . ,p. 41, 1. 318.121. Ibid., P 41, l . 294.122. Ibid., p. 41, l . 29'7.123. Ibid., P 46, l . 484.124. Ibid., P 59, l . 965.

Medea: The man who hopes fornaught at least has naughtto fear.l30

125. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . ,P 96, l . 448. 126. Ibid., p. 96, 1. 460.12'7. Ibid., P 85, 1. 82.128. Ibid., P 85, 1. '78.129. Ibid., p. 8'7, l . 159.130. Ibid., p. 8'7, 1. 163.


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24

Euripides.Antithesis

Medeaa "'Tis no pro6f of courageor hardihood to confrontthy friends after injuringthem, but that worst ofa l l human diseases--lossof shame. 131

yedeaa o my mind, whosohath ski l l to fence withwords in an unjust cause,incurs the heaviest penalty; for such a one, confident that he can cast adecent vail of words o'erhis injustice, dares topractice i t ; and yet he isnot so very, clever afterall .l32

Seneca.Antithesis

Medea: If now thou judgest, hearme; if thou reign 1 st , cam-mand.al33Medeaa While, poised upon herheights, the central earthshall bear The heavens up;while seasons run theirendless round, And sandsunnumbered l ie ; while days,and nights, and sun, Andstars in due procession pas

while round the pole Theocean-fearing bears revolveand tumbling streams Flowd o w ~ w a r d to the sea.; mygrief shall never cease Toseek revenge and shall forever grow. What rage ofsavage beast can equalmine?l34

In the use of geographical n ~ e s , the Roman tragedy differsgreatly. The Greek tragedians made infrequent use of geographical names for the purpose of ornamentation. I t has been com-puted with inderatigable care and count that Seneca makes use ofmore than seven hundred proper n ~ e s or adjectives of persons,peoples, places, countries, c i t ies , mountains, and r ivers thathave mythological, historical or geographical reference. In theMedea alone there are two hundred seventy-seven. In comparison

131. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . ,P 45, 1. 447.132. Ibid., P 48, 1. 579.133. Millar, Frank Justus, op. ci t .P 88, 1. 196.134. Ibid., P 94, 1. 401.


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Euripides's Medea has only one hundred th i r ty-s ix such rarer -ences.

One point that has become somewhat or an obsession with Euripides finds l i t t l e of i t s counterpart in Seneca--the subjectof education. Seneca merely hints at Medea's abi l i t ies and powers. However, in her incantation ceremony her knowledge of sorcery and magic bewilders us.

muripidesMedeaa wherefore whoso is wise in

his generation ought never tohave his children taught tobe too clever; for besidesthe reputation they get foridleness, they purchase bit terodium from the citizens.l35Medea: or a cunning womanand man likewise, is easierto guard against when quick

tempered than when taciturnl36Medea: Thou hast cunning; and morethan this , we women, thoughby nature l i t t le apt for virtuous deeds, are most expertto fashion any misohief.l37

SenecaOreona Uniting in thy

person woman's ferti le wit,And man's effectivestrength.wl38Medeaa Twas b y ~ arts that theyThe monsters, fe l l by mutu

a l blows.l39

This turn in Euripides is an echo of the movement in thedirection of woman's surfrage, and an attempt at l iberat ion fromthe bondage by which woman had been held up to the time of thePeloponnesian

135. Coleridge,p. 41, 1. 296.136. Ibid., P137. Ibid., P

War.Ed. P., op.

42, l . 320.44, 1. 409.

ci t . , 138. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t .P 90-01, 1. 267.139. Ibid., P 96, 1. 470.


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26Commenting on Seneca's style, Tacitus observes that i t "hi t

of'f the tas te of his contemporaries, and epitomised the tenden-cies of his day." Quinti l ian, the cr i t i c par excellence, is un-doubtedly thinking of Seneca's prose, and is making his deduc-tions from a rhetor ical point of view. But jus t as Seneca'sstoic philosophy in his prose carr ies over to his philosophy inhiS t ragedies, so does his prose style dif fer very l i t t l e fromthat of his plays. Quinti l ian says:

"Seneca had many excellent qual i t ies , aquick and fer t i le intell igence with greatindustry and wide knowledge, though as re -gards the l as t quali ty he was often ledinto error by those whom he had entrustedwith the task of invest igat ing certain sub-jects in his behalf . He dealt with almostevery department of knowledge. .Inphilosophy he showed a lack of cr i t i ca l pow-e r , but was none the less quite admirable inhis denunciation of vice ut his styleis for the most part corrupt and exceedinglydangerous, for the very reason that i t s vicesare so many and at t rac t ive ."But even as i t i s , he deserves to be readby those whose powers have been formed andfirmly moulded on the standards of severertas te , i f only because he wil l exercise thei rcr i t i ca l facul t ies in distinguishing betweenh is merits and his defects ."l40

To Seneca, the lengthy periods of Cicero and the Golden Ageare anathema. His redeeming feature is the short pithy sentenceBut Caligula cal ls these "sand without l ime." But then one need

140. Quinti1ie.n x . i . 125131. The Loeb Classical Library. English trans-lation by H. E. Butler .


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not worry about Caligula 's condemnation. Seneca rollowed thedictum or the Stoic theory or s tyle : "to speak well i s to speakthe t ruth ." He believed that anything to be "ideal , whetherspeech or conduct must be in harmony with nature." El io t , inhiS interes t ing essay on "Seneca in Elizabethan Transi t ions",says of both Euripides 's and Seneca's s ty le :

"The beauty of a Greek phrase in Greektragedy is the shadow or a greater beauty-the beauty of thought and emotion.urn the tragedies of Seneca the center ofvalue i s shir ted rrom what the personagesays to the way in which he says i t . "Eliot continues in the same s t ra in and adds that "an essent ia lpoint to make about Seneca is the consistency or his writ ing,i ts maintenance on one level , below which he seldom fa l l s andabove which he never mounts."

Apart from the rhetorical side of the development of thet ragedies, i t i s di f f icu l t to compare our two writers as tostyle peculiari t ies since a period of four hundred years separated them. Differences do obtain part icular ly in the medium oflanguage, metres, and general development. The ethical problemplayed the f i r s t part in the development of Euripides 's plays,and t h i s , cr i t i cs maintain, "was the source of almost a l l hisl i te rary faults ." Quinti l ian 's cr i t ic ism i s again the cri t icismof the rhetor . Speaking of both Sophocles and Euripides he says

" h ~ y dif fer in s tyle , but i t ismuch disputed as to which should be awardedthe supremacy. .But th is much i s certa in and incontrovertible, tha t Euripideswil l be found of greater service to those


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who are training themselves for pleadingin court. For his language as acloser aff ini ty to oratory, while he isful l of str iking rerlexions, in which, in -deed, in thei r special sphere, he r ivalsthe philosophers themselves, and ror defense and attack may be compared with anyorator that has won renown in the courts."l41

28

Both Euripides and Seneca were sophists , and thei r " t rea t -ment or tragedy has been said to be pathological." Both made aspecial study in the i r dramas of the passions of women, againstwhich "the voice of reason is ut ter ly powerless." Both put intothe mouths of the i r characters a l l the questions which wereing through the minds of the i r fellowmen in the ir own days. Thenaturalness brought them nearer to common every day l i fe . Theirromanticism drew them to other extremes. But for that very reason both were modern in the ir own way; both were r ea l i s t s . Neither one was in exact accord with his predecessors in drama.

Because the Latin language is less f lexible than the Greekwe find Seneca employing fewer metres than did his Greek masters. l42 Consequently the prosody of the former is more simple.

141. Quintilian, op. ci t . , x. 1 . 67-68, P 39.142. Leo, Frederick, Die Composition der Chorlieder Senecas, Rheinisches Mu-seum f6r Philologie, Vol. 52, P 518: on Horaz nimmt er die Mehrzahl der Versformem hardber, aber aus dam griechischen oder griechisch-r8-mischen Drama seiner Zeit die Liedformen.Richter, Gustav, Die Composition dar Chorlieder in den Trag!dien desSeneca. Rheinisches Museum fAr Philologie, Vol. 19, p. 360: seneca hatsich in sainan Chorliadern nur weniger Metra badient; abgasehen von denAnaplsten, die von dar gegenwartigen Untersuchung ausgeschlossen sind,namentlich des elfsilbigen Sapphicus, des kleinern Asclepiadens und des Glyconeus. FAr alle diese Metra gi l t ihm die strange Form, wie sie durch Horatius fest esetzt war als unbedi te Norm.


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29.cri t ics attr ibute to Seneca, in the execution of the metresgreat power and ski l l , part icularly the iambic portions of hisverses. Ovid lad the way in his Medea, and whipped into almostperfect shape the t ragic iambic as he had improved the hexameterand pentameter metres.

Like most intel lectuals both dramatists ware ahead of thei rtimes, and were unpopular in their own day and with their con-temporaries. This perhaps accounts for the posthumous fame ac-corded to each.

G. s. Gordon in "English Literature and the Classics" makesthis statement: "Seneca suffers much from being necessarilycompared with the great dramas between which he forms a l ink:le t him at leas t get credit for being the l ink."


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30Chapter I I I

BROAD SIMILARITIES IN PLOT

The story o Medea belongs to the Argo lagend and was a fa -vorite with the Romans. I t dates to an age remote in antiquity.Neophron and Ennius wrote a tragedy on the subject; Accius alsowrote a Medea; Ovid himself treated the subject in the onlytragedy accredited to him.l Seneca's nephew Lucan is the authorof a Medea. Coming closer to our times, we find the subject ad-mirably treated by Racine, Corneille, and Longpierre. No storywas perhaps better known to the Romans, and none more oftenquoted.2

As said above, the story of Medea dates to the barbaric ageand represents a savage maiden gifted with superhuman powers inmagic and sorcery. A Greek prince owes his l i fe to her and heproves false to both the princess and her children, "when dutiesof state and court cal l him." She in a f i t of hate and jealousy

1. ovid Amores, 2. 18. 13, P 436, Loeb Classical Library, translation byGrant Showermana soeptra taman sumpsi, ouraque tragoedia nostra crevit, ethuic operi quamlibet aptus eram.Ibid., 3. 1. 11, p. 444: venit et ingenti violenta Tragoedia passu.Ibid., 3. 1. 67, P 448: exiguum vati concede, Tragoedia, tempus1That this play gained considerable reputation we learn from: Tacitus Dia-logus, 12, P 48s nee ullus Asinii aut Messaleae l iber tam i l lustr is estquam Medea Ovidii aut Varii Thyestes; Quintilian, op. ci t . , 10. 1. 98, p.5&ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum i l le vir praestare potuerit, s iingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.2. Propertius writes to Cynthia 2. 24. 29, P 132 in Loeb Classical Library,translation by H. m. Butler: Iam t ibi Iasonia nota est Medea carina, Et mo-do servato sola reliota viro:


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31avenges herself and her offspring. This is the story in i t soriginal text . To a semi-barbaric people this may have beenfeasible and even comprehensible. To Euripides and his age i twas foreign conduct since man through the years had grown lessbrutal . In his adaptation he gives a new turn to the story. HehaS taken Medea out of the realm of myth into tta stream of humanexistence." He portrays Jason as throwing aside the higher demands of humanity "for the grat if icat ion of a self ish passionmotivated by ambition." Medea the woman was wronged,3 and inher helplessness, mingled with jealousy and hate for the usurpershe slays her two sons to save them from further and worsewrongs.4 Seneca, in turn, reverts to the old story, since theposition of women in Rome made the version of Euripides's Medeauntenable (he presents her as a veritable monster),5 and Jason'scharacter wholly unintel l igible, since a Roman prince could notabandon his sons, nor could a Roman matron vindicate herself by

3. Murray, Gilbert, op. ci t . , P 15, 1. 218, brings out this poiRt admira-bly well in his translation, Episode 1, Scene 1, oh, of a l l things uponearth that bleed and grow, a herb most bruised is woman.4. Ibid., P 16, 1. 258ffa oh, in a l l things but this, I know how ful l offears a woman is , And faint at need, and shrinking from the l ight of battleabut once spoil her of her right in man's love, and there moves, I warn thee,No bloodier spiri t between heaven and hell.5. Decharme, Paul, Euripides and the Spirit of His Dramas, translated byJames Loeb, Chapter IV, P 93, says that at the time of the PeloponnesianWar women were trying to emerge from the obscurity in which they had been prviously kept. But i f Euripides recognizes this new power, he does not dealwith i t gently hen he introduces into his dramas personal observations on contemporary l i fe , he expresses views about women which are oftenof extreme severity.


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the murder of her sons. Seneca, accordingly, had Medea againthe barbarian princess and sorceress of the primitive story.The Roman mind could understand Jason's posi t ion, and so looksupon his union with Creusa to protect his children as quite thenatural , paternal , and Roman thing to do. Seneca portrays Medeaas insane and hence irresponsible and in this manner handles thekil l ing of the two sons.6 In both plays Medea

"a wild soul spends i t se l f recklessly forthe object of i t s love, beats impotentlyagainst injust ice , loses hold on sani ty ,and sweet human t i es , and is transformedinto an avenging fury.tr7And so the essent ial differences are one of sp i r i t and are notso much due to the authors, since in both the action follows theancient myth, as to the changed point of view of the audiences.for which they were written.S

For a bet ter understanding o.f the plot i t wil l be conveni-ent to notice the plan o.f each play. At . f irst glance i t wil l beseen that Seneca borrowed the main outlines of his Medea .from

6. Pais, A., in I l Teatro di L Ann. Sen., P 105 saysa In Euripides, Me-dea e sempre una donna, in Seneca, ha fin da principio le proporzioni diuna virago.7. Sturgeon, Mary c., Women of the Classics, P 192.a. Kingery, Hugh Macmaster in Three Tragedies of Seneca, P 7, In the Me-dea of Euripides as well as that of Seneca time and scene are the same; inboth she protests against the injustice of her banishment and gains a res-pite of a single day; in both she seeks a f inal interview with Jason and up-braids him with his faithlessness, listening with scorn to his excuses; inboth she t r ies at f i rs t to recall her recreant husband to his duty, andfailing in that, dissembles her wrath but begins to plot her vengeance.


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33Euripidea.9 The principal scenes in E u r i ~ i d e s have corresponding ones in Seneca, as the following outlines of the two playashOW:lO

prologueEuripides's Medea

sc. 1. NUrse explains thesituation.Sc. 2. Attendant informsthe NUrse of thebanishment.

Seneca's MedeaMedea suggests the situation.

parodes Chorus inquire the Chorus singing the epithalamium.cause of the sorrow.1st EpisodeSc. 1. Medea enlists the Medea considers means of revenge.sympathy of theChorus.sc. 2. Creon's decree.Medea is given anadditional day.Sc. 3. Medea announcesher intentions tothe Chorus.1st Stasimon Man's insincerityequals that ofwomans.2nd Episodesc. 1. Jason and Medeaquarrel.

Creon's decree. Medea is given anadditional day.

Glory of the Argonauts.

The Nurse and Medea are in conversation--Medea's rage.

9. Braun, Wilhelm, Die Medea des Seneca, 1m Rheinisches Museum f!r PhilologieVol. 32, p. 68, Trotzdem sich in der Medea des Seneca, von der hier nur beil lufig beachteten zeichnung der Charaktere ganz abgesehen, mehrfache, zumeistauf der Manier des Dichters beruhende Abweichungen von der gleichnamigen Trag!die des Euripides finden, so stimmt doch sowohl der Gang der Handlung alsViele Einzelheiten in beiden der Art dberein dass wir in dieser das Prototypjener erkennen haben. Zugleich wird sich zeigen, dass auf die Gestaltung me-herer abweichenden Momente Ovid's Werke nicht ohne Einfluss gewesen sind.10. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . , p. 459-465.


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Euripides's Medea2nd Episodeso. 2.

2nd Stasimon

3rd Episodesc. 1 .so. 2.

3rd Stasimon

4th Episodesc. 1.

4th stasimon5th Episodesc. 1.

sc. 2.so. 3.

so. 4.so. 5.5th Stasimon

The Chorus prays,tobe delivered fromthe pangs of immoder-ate love and jealousy.Aegeus and Medea.Medea revealsher complete planin detail to theChorus.The Chorus singsthe praises ofAthens.Reconciliation ofJason and Medea--the gifts.Delight and doom ofthe bride.Attendant announcesreprieve for children.Medea's monologue.Chorus monologue onthe advantages ofchildlessness.Messenger's narrative.Medea's resolution.Chorus prays the godsto restrain Medea'smad act.

The Exodes sc. 1. Jason learns from thechorus the fate ofhis children.Sc. 2. Final interview be-

34Seneca's Medea

Jason and Medea quarrel and bringabout an apparent reconciliation.May Jason be saved; the sea isavenged.

Nurse describes Medea's magic pow-ers.Medea's incantations.

Chorus prays for Medea's speedy de-parture from the city.

Messenger's narrative and Medea'smonologue.Final catastrophe.


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35In comparison with the 1414 l ines of the Greek Medea, Sene

ca 's play contains only 1027 l ines. He reduces the number ofcharacters to f ive . The Prologue (1-55) is shorter by seventyfive l ines , and i s a furious monologue by Medea. I t has l i t t l ein common with the celebrated prologue of Medea's old nurse fromwhich we learn a l l that is vi ta l to the complete understandingof the action. We hear instead Medea wailing in grief and a n g e ~in a rage of jealous hate call ing for th malediction upon Jasonfor his fai th lessness , destruction upon her r iva l and Creon, andin the same breath entreat ing the blessing of the various deit ies upon her diabolical projects and exhorting herself to surpass a l l her former crimes. In Seneca her "plans of reprisalsare already matured," while in the Greek drama, Medea's plans donot materialize unt i l much l a te r in the action.

The second scene of the Firs t Episode is the f i r s t scenecommon to both playwrights. The scene in Seneca is a mixture ofEuripides and Ovid. Paral lels occur in the section in which Me-dea is ordered from Creon's kingdom, and Medea's pet i t ion to re -main one day is granted with a threat of dire v e n g e a n ~ e i f sheis found in the kingdom af ter the time specified (Euripides,266-368; Seneca, 179-300). Euripides 's scene contains the for -mal announcement of the sentence of banishment against Medea;ll

11. Murray, Gilbert, op. ci t . , P 17, 1. 27lf. Thou woman sullen-eyed andhot with hate against thy lord, Medea, I here command That thou and thy twochildren from this land Go forth to banishment.


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36hereas, in Seneca, the sentence is assumed as already past andthe meeting or Medea with Creon only a casual and purely accidental one.l2 In Euripides Medea's pretext for asking one moredaY is to prepare for the departure of herselr and her children.

"Suffer me to abide th is single day and devise some plan for the manner of my exi le ,and means of l iving for my children, sincethe ir father cares not to provide his babestherewith."l3In Seneca, i t is to give her time to take leave of her children,since Creon is becoming the ir foster parent.

"I pray thee grant from f l ightA respite brief , while upon my chi ldren 's lip,sA mother's kiss imprint, perchance the l as t . 14In the former they share the sentence of banishment with the irmother. The outcome, however, in each play is the same. Thereis banishment in both, and one more day is granted her beforeher departure from Corinth. This Episode is very essent ial tothe development of the s tory, since i t makes the crime plottedpossible of execution, and also gives an account of the crimesproposed. In Euripides there are four elements that make thecrfme possible: support of the Chorus (in Seneca the Chorus is

12. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . , P 88, 1. 179fs Medea, baleful daughter of the Colchian King, has not yet taken her hateful presence from ourrealm.13. Coleridge, Ed. P., op. ci t . , P 42, 1. 41-44.14. Miller, Frank Justus, op. ci t . , p. 91, 1. 287-289.


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37never in sympathy with Medea), the addit ional day in Corinth,Aegeus 1 promise of marriage and the feigned reconcil iat ion withJason. In Seneca we have only the additional day in Corinth andthe gesture of reconciliation. In both Euripides and Senecathere are two crimes perpetrated: death resulting to the newbridel5 and her royal father from the poisoned bridal gown andcrovn1,l6 and the murder of the children. The dialogue betweenJason and Medea occurs in Seneca in the Second Scene of the Sec-ond Episode. The resul t of the dialogue is the feigned reconci l ia t ion between Medea and Jason af ter much abusive and quarrelsome language. In Euripides the quarrel occurs in the SecondEpisode, Scene One. This scene in Euripides seems of less importance to the development of the plot than i t does in the Latin play, since the reconcil iat ion in the Greek play occurs twoscenes l a te r . In the Senecan tragedy, Medea, during th is scene,conceives the idea of the death of her children as a f ina l thrustat Jason, (549-551), who sta tes during the conversation his in -abi l i ty to l ive without them (545-548). The reconcil iat ion

15. The Messenger in Euripides describes the catastrophe (1202-1313). Seneca, Third Episode treats of the preparation of the gifts , and their dispatchby the children. The account of the result is given in the mxode in Seneca.Euripides makes mention of this in the Fifth Episode, Scene Five, but thedeed obviously occurs during the Fifth Stasimon; In Seneca this occurs inScene Five, Stasimon Five.16. Seneca mentions three gifts , the pa11a, the monile and the aurum, quoso1ent cingi comae 1. 570-574; whereas in the Greek play we read of only twowith gifts they shall be sent, Gifts to the bride to spare their banishment,Fine robings and a careanet of gold 1. 815-817.


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38scene, however, in both plays i s of the greatest importance. Thef inal catastrophe depends ent i rely upon th is feigned reconci l ia-t ion , since Jason's favor was needed before a gi f t could be madeto his new bride. In Euripides the scene opens with a cold, rum-bit ious , uninterested, resentful and prudent Jason, "with idealsfaded and every generous emotion dead." In Seneca he i s fu l l ofregrets for past neglects .

Medea in the older tragedy plays the role of one contr i teand sincerely grateful fo r the turn of events. In Seneca, shereplies angri ly and proceeds to recount the ev i l deeds she hasperpetrated fo r Jason. I t i s here especia l ly that one feelsSeneca's overpowering rhetor ic which has given way to the Greek"classical directness of expression." Medea i s the f i r s t tospeak in th is scene in the Latin play. Cleasby refers to herspeech thus: "Seneca has produced th i s scene to f i l l in whatseems suspiciously l ike the l eaf from the rhe tor ic ian 's exercisebook-...Medea's self-defense." Her principal argument i s that sheis the one to whom belongs the credi t for the survival of theArgo; tha t she i s the i r Deliverer , l7 and that the fortunes of

17. Ovid's Metamorphoses, Bk. VII, P 344-346, l . 48-50, The Loeb ClassicalLibrary with a.n English Translation by Frank Justus Millera t ibi se semperdelebit Iason te face sollemni iunget sibi perque Pelasgas servatrix urbesma.trum celebraber turba.Again in ovid's Heroides xii , p. 146, 1. 73-75, The Loeb Classical Library, translated by Gra.nt Showerma.na ius t ib i et a.rbitrium nostra.e fortunasalutis tradidit , inque tua est vitaque morsque ma.nu.

Idea of Deliverer in Euripides, P 48, l . 476fa I saved thy l i fe , soevery Hellene knows who sailed with thee aboard the good ship Argo


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b e beroes depended ent i re ly upon her , 39She boasts e x t r a v a g a n t l ~thereby attempting to intimidate Jason. Jason's arguments are

~ u c h more natural in the Latin play, and Medea's speeches havemuch more orca and dignity. Altogether, the scene i s very efective and has in i t an element o human in teres t , and one osuspense. They stand tttypifying the eternal struggle betweenthe passionate heart and the arrogant brain."

In Euripides, the scene of the meeting with Aegeus takesplace beore the reconcil iat ion scene. This i s less effectivesince her changed manner is the resul t of the meeting. In Seneca i t i s the resul t of fas t thinking, and gives one of the mostpowerful strokes in the tragedy o Seneca. Perhaps i t is a l i t -t le too ast , and not suff ic ient ly weighed and questioned by Jason who should know Medea's malevolent mind. In Euripides thereis a gradual and well-planned development: Medea begs forgiveness for her rashness, her bad moods. She then summons the chi ldren to bear witness to the reconciliation and peace. Medeaasks permission to have the children remain in Corinth. Thenupon Jason's answer that the King i s hard to move, she begs himto ask the favor "as a boon or his daughter," and promises himhelp through gif ts which she wil l send "by the boys' hands."All this i s very plausible . The children are then sent with thegif ts . In Seneca they are not sent unt i l la te r since Senecagives us the whole and lengthy process o Medea's incantationsand a representation of her necromancy as she prepares the f a ta l


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40poisoned robe. This scene is the only new matter in Seneca'splay, and i t is generally supposed i t was taken from Ovid,l8and is considered an innovation in the Latin play. There is noproof available that Ovid did not use i t in his Medea, sinceonly two l ines of his play have come down to us. The subject ofMedea's poisons and power of magic was a familiar one with the

18. ovid Heroides, Bk. VI., op. ci t . , p. 74-76, 1. 8 ~ f f a nee facie meritis-que placet, sed carmina novit diraque cantata pabula falce metit.Ibid., P 76, 1. 9 ~ f : male quaeritur herbis moribus et forma concili-andus amor.Miller, Frank Justus, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Vol. 1, Bke VII, P 354-356,1. l79ff: Tres aberant nootes, ut cornua tota ooirent effioerentque orbem;postquam plenissima fulsit ao solida terras spectavit ~ a g i n e luna, egrediturtectis vestes induta reoinctas, nuda pedem, nudos umeris infusa capillos,fertque vagos mediae per muta silentia noctis incomitata gradusa homines volueresque ferasque solverat alta quies, nullo cum murmure saepes, inmotaequesilent frondes, s i let umidus aer, sidera sola micanta ad quae sua bracchiatendens tar se convertit, tar sumptis flumine crimen inroravit aquis ternis-que ululatibus ora solvit et in dura submisso poplite terra: 1Nox' a i t ar-canis fidissima, quaeque diurnis aurea cum luna succeditis ignibus astra,tuque, triceps Hecate, quae coeptis conscia nostris adiutrixque venis cantua-que artisque magorum, quaeque magos, Tellus, pollentibus instruis herbis,aureaque et venti montesque amnesque lacusque, dique omnes nemorum, dique om-nes noctis adeste, quorum ope, cum volui, ripis mirantibus amnes in fontesrediere suos, concussaque sisto, stantia concutio cantu freta, nubila pellonubilaque induco, ventos abigoque vocoque, vipereas rumpo verbis et carminefauces, vivaque saxa sua convulsaque robora terra et silvas moveo iubeoquetremescere montis et mugire solum manesque exira sepulcrisl te quoque, Luna,traho, quamvis Temesaea labores aera tuos minuant; currus quoque carmine no

stro pallet avi, pallet nostris Aurora venenisl vos mihi taurorum flammashebetastis et unco inpatiens oneris collum pressistis aratro, vos serpentige-nis in se fera bella dedistis custodemque rudem somni sopistis et aurum vin-dioe decepto Graias misistis in urbesa nunc opus est sucis, per quos renova-ta senectus in florem redeat primosque reoolligat annos et dabitis. nequee n ~ micuerunt sidera frustra, nee frustra volucrum tractus cervice draconumcurrus adest ' 'other references famous for her power of magic are: ovid, Met. Vol. I ,Bk. VII: 98, 116, 137, 148, 152ff, 162ff, 166, 168, l99ff, 294, 297, 394ff,406ff.


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41Augustan poets, l9 and may have been suggested to Seneca fromvarious sources, and undoubtedly from Euripides himself inl l86ff and 1198ff.20 Seneca becomes a l i t t l e tiresome in thelengthy and detailed account of the technicali t ies of the ceremony,21 and the time he consumes in the account. The omissionof this scene is considered one of the greatest flaws in theGreek play. In Euripides i t is ei ther to be supposed that thegarments were lying in readiness to be sent for at wil l , or thatthe poison was infused merely by some magic stroke without anyintervention of her hand. But since we know that Medea is undecided as to the manner of infl ict ing death,22 and only makes a

19. Tibullus to Delia, l . 2. 51, P 200a sola "tenere mala.s Medea.e dici"turbarbas.Ibid., To Nemesis, 2. 4. 55, P 270a quidquid Medea. Veneni. in Ca."tul

lus, Tibullus, and pervigilium veneris, "the Loeb Classical Library, ed. T.E. Page.20. Coleridge, Ed. p., op. ci t . , P 65, 1. ll861 Then to the earth shesinks, by the cruel blow oercome, past a ll recognition now nd fromher bones the flesh kept peeling off beneath the gnawing of those secretdrugs, een a.s when the pine tree weeps i ts tears of pitch21. Braun, Wilhelm in Rheinisches Museum, vo11 20, p. 278-279: In Medea784ff spricht Medea. von den Todbringenden Gewandern, die sie Kreusa. zusendenwill. Des da.zu verwa.ndten Giftes gedenkt sie nur in (vier) worten. Seneca.n ~ t dara.us veranla.ssung zur composition zweier scenen; in dar ersten erzahlt die Nutrix von Medea's vorbereitung zur vergiftung des Gewa.ndes (670-739), in der zweiten wird uns dar zauberspruk selbst vorgefAhrt (740-848).Vaughan, c . E., in Types of Tragic Drama, p. 99-lOOa The two passages ofMedea ( l l . 670-738, 739-840) form one continuous scene which recites the incantations that summon the powers of darkness to aid the heroine in gatheringher poisons, and paints the concoction of the venomous drugs which she smearson the fatal robe destines for her rival.22. Coleridge, Ed. p., op. ci t . , p. 43, 1. 377ffs Now though I have manyways, to compass their death, I am not sure, friends, which I am to tryf irst . Shall I set fire to the bridal mansion or plunge the whetted swordthrough their hearts, softly stealing into the chamber where their couch isspread?


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42decision af ter meeting Aegeus, there seems to be a defini te lack1n the provision made fo r the poisoning of the garment. Thesupposition may be made that she l e f t the stage to take care ofthe garment. This seems impossible, since the Choral song inthe scene following is addressed to Medea. Seneca's scene ismore plausible, even though i t shows less sk i l l in portrayingthe subtlety of Medea's character; however, in Euripides she approaches the end she has in view much more gradually and sk i l l -fully than she does in Seneca. Cleasby believes that this sect ion of the play marks out Seneca "as a rhetorician rather thana. dramatist ."

The Monologue of Medea is also common to both and is considered one of the most celebrated spots in both plays, as i tsurpasses a l l other parts in intensity and in teres t . On i t depends the f inal outcome of the plot.23

The Narrative scenes in both plays are in decided contrast .Euripides's is long and effective and he has devoted approximately one hundred l ines or more to his narrat ive. I t is one ofthe moat dramatic portions of his play.24 Seneca has abridged

23. Mahaffy, Sir john Pentland, Studies in Greek Tragedy, P 68a Apart frommodern uedeas, a popular version of the scene (1021-1080) depicting the menta l conflict between the mother's affection for her children and her sternresolve to sacrifice them as a revenge upon her husband--with the oppositeresolution conquering the furious mother, as might be expected in a christiansociety, is to be found in Bellini 's popular opera of Norma.24. In Euripides the slave speaks with as much right as the master: Like hismaster his tongue is glib with moral maxims and philosophical arguments.


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- 43the part to ten or more l ines and i t is only a question and answer procedure between the Chorus and the Messenger. Euripidesgives the whole catastrophe resulting from the poisoned gif t s ;seneca's narrat ive i s without l i t e rary value, but i s , however,necessary to the plo t , since i t gives added fuel to Medea's re -solve expressed in the soli loquy which follows the Narrative.

The closing dialogue between Medea and Jason occurs in bothplays. Seneca has greater theatr ical value and i s a "masterpiece of scenic effec t , lacking dramatic delicacy.n The chi l -dren are kil led in Jason's presence, and less time remains af terthe "air-earn appears and her disappearance. Jason's appearancewith an armed force goads Medea to complete her dastardly deed,in spi te of the second child 's pathetic pleadings. In E u r i p i d e ~the children have been kil led before he appears, and he hearsthe s tory from the Chorus. Medea i s on the balcony in bothplays, but in Euripides she remains there for some one hundredl ines bickering with Jason. This las t scene tends to destroythe ar t i s t ry of the Greek play and weakens an otherwise strongdrama. The superiority of the Senecan f inale in tragic in tensity is o b v i o u s . ~ I t is in th is scene part icular ly that we fee lthat "Senecan cleverness has replaced Greek genius." Medea'sescape in both plays is of divine intervention and as Sturgeonsuggests:

"There is something weird in this touch ofthe supernatural; but there is somethingsymbolic too. For Medea is a woman no


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44longer: with her own hand, driven byfoul wrong and an untamed heart , she hascast humanity away.tt25

SCENES COMMON TO BOTH EURIPIDES AND SENECA

Euripides's MedeaFirst Episode,

scene le Creon's decree. Me-dea is given a.n additional day.second Episode,

scene 1. Jason and Meaea arebickering.Third Episode,

Scene 2. Medea reveals herplan to send her sons with gifts tothe new bride.

Fifth Episode,Scene 2. Medea's Monologue.scene 4. Messenger's narrative.

Seneca's MedeaFirst Episode,

Scene 2. Creon's decree. Me-dea is given an additional day.Second Episode,

Scene 2. Jason and Medea.quarrel, and there is an apparentreconciliation.Third Episode,

scene 2. In the final partof the scene Medea dispatches herchildren to Jason's bride withgifts .

The Exode, The Exode,scene 2. Final interview be-

tween Jason and Medea.Scene 1. Messenger's narra-

tive.

25. Sturgeon, Mary c., Women of the Classics, Euripides: Medea, P 206.Oates, Whitney Jennings, The Complete Greek Drama, Vol. 1, P 722: Theplaywright has also been censured because he permits Medea to escape in thedragon chariot at the end. Perhaps an answer may l ie in the fact that horri-ble though Medea's acts are, s t i l l she commands a modicum of sympathy, forJason's injustice to her has driven her to these extremes, and by allowingher to escape the poet partially justifies her deeds.


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45Seneca's Medea

Scene 2. Medea's monologue.Scene 3. Final interview between Jason and Medea.

More than o n e ~ a l f the scenes in Euripides have no corresponding ones in Seneca, as ten scenes in Euripides have no paral lels in Seneca and five of Seneca's differ entirely from thoseof the Greek.

Euripides has at times been cri t icized for the Aegeus-Medea scene.26 This scene is omitted in Seneca. Aegeus speaksonly forty-five l ines , and appears but once. To the Athenianaudience his appearance, however, was a most natural one, sinceAthenians were frequent visi tors in the ci ty, and i t gave anopportunity to one in the highest station of l i fe to pose as ahero.27 I t seems to have been the only outlet for Euripides,since the introductory scene demands some such incident.28

26. Oates, Whitney Jennings, op. ci t . , P 722 Critics have been troubledby the dramatic function of the scene in which Aegeus appears and offers anultimate refuge for Medea. The scene m ~ be more integral to the play thanthese cri t ics have suspected because in i t the childlessness of Aegeus seemsto suggest to Medea that her revenge take the form of killing her children inorder that Jason ~ suffer in like fashion.27. vaughan, c. m., op. ci t . , P 67 believes this may have been a diplomaticgesture on the part of Euripides woven into the story as a human interest device for the sake of gaining a more favorable hearing.28. I t is very likely that ovid made use of this scene in his Medea. Reference t o ~ is made in the Met. Bk. VII, P 370, 1. 394-397, sed postquamColchis ars i t nova nupta venenis flagrantemque domum regis mare vidit utrumque sanguine natorum perfunditur inpius ensis ultaque se male mater Iasoniseffugit arma.


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4 ~Flickinger29 t e l l s us that theatr ical conditions were such

tbat the exi ts and entrances o ~ the actors were extremely dif i -cult to motivate, especially those o ~ the Chorus. They were sodiff icult that thei r removal from the stage was rarely attempt-ed. Conditions then ~ o r c e d Medea to take the Chorus into her

c o n ~ i d e n c e , since the Chorus was normally l e ~ t uninterruptedlyupon the scene to hear and see a l l that was said and done. Me-dea bases her request ~ o r their silence upon "the bond o ~ thei rcommon sex." In Euripides they are sympathetic and timid Corin-thian women. Medea to them is nothing but a foreigner. But sheengages a l l thei r sympathies because she is a woman. From thebeginning to the end of the play they remain loyal to her, eventhough in the f i ~ t h Stastmon they apparently decide against herbecause of the crime she plans to perpetrate , and are in ever sosmall a degree in accord with Jason in regard to his marriagewith Creusa, since they know Creusa 1 s l ineage, and feel that thebarbarian Colchian princess should lay aside a l l claims in pref-erence to the royal house of Creon. They part icipate in thesituation and are affected by the events of the development ofthe plot . Even in their praise of Athens they are playing apart in trying indirectly to have Medea reconsider her plan, andcontinue to l ive on in Athens with a l l i t s advantages, even

29. Flickinger, Roy, Theatrical Conditions and the Greek Drama, ClassicalJournal, Vol. 7, 1911, 1912.


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47though i t would mean relinquishing her husband to another princess. The Choral Odes in Euripides are "unquestionably part ofthe plot and are indispensable to the tragedy and so are not i r relevant to the main incidents."30

Not as much can be said for the interlude of Seneca's t ragedies. Seneca's Chorus made up of Corinthian men, having nopart icular character, are in sympathy with Jason; hence Medeadoes not take them into her confidence at any part of the play.The Chorus of Seneca has no important part in the plot development,31 except in the prothalamion.32 I t ' s office is to singappropriate songs, however irrelevant they may be to the progress and development of the s tory. One thing seems unlikely.Seneca could not have intended the Chorus to be present duringthe entire tr.agedy as was the Greek Chorus, or they would havecomprehended Medea's intentions and prevented the catastrophe.Possibly a l l Medea's speeches in the presence of the Chorus were

30. Phoutrides, Aristides Evangelus, The Chorus of Euripides, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 27, P l08-l09a we cannot prove that thegenius of Euripides declined with the years either in the other parts of hisdramatic art or in his tragic choral creations. .In Euripides we shouldrather find a poet who struggled against the wave of decadence and successfully endeavored to preserve for the tragic chorus a position of freshnessand interest.31. Kingery, HUgh Macmaster, op. ci t . , P 5 There is l i t t le of that directparticipation in the development of the plot which is assigned the Chorus bythe Greeks and especially by Aeschylus. I ts part here is more formal andart i f ic ia l-- i t is rather a set passage one some lyric theme suggested more orless directly by the context than an integral part of the whole.32. ovid, Her. XII, Medea Jasoni, may have suggested this to seneca.


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48considered "asidest' end out o:f hearing o:f the Chorus. However 6bearing in mind that Seneca's drama was a rhetorical drama andnot a dramatical one, the songs may have served only as a breakin the reci ta t ion.33

SCENES IN EURIPIDES ONLY

prologue.scene 1. the NUrse explains the situation.scene 2. The attendant informs the nurse of the banishment.

First Episode.scene 1. Medea gains the sympathy of the Chorus.scene 3. Medea decides to wait for refuge.

Third Episode.scene 1. Aegeus and Medea interview.scene 2. Medea reveals her plan to the Chorus.

Fourth Episode.scene 1. Reconciliation of jason and Medea.

Fifth Episode.scene 1. Attendant announces the reprieve of the children.scene 3. Chorus discussion on the advantages of childlessness.

33. teo, Frederick, op. ci t . , p. 511: Der Chor hat in Senecas Trag!dienhauptslchlich das Gesch!ft, die vier zwischenakte mit Liedern auszufAllen.1 D ese Lieder Knupfen, ausdrucklich oder nur durch ihren Inhalt, an die Hand-lung an, aber sie warden dann meist allgemein; selten geh3ren sie materiellzur Handlung, wie der Hymenlus der Medea, selten zeigt der Chor in seinenLiedern menschliche Theilnahme an dem was vorgeht. Die Ch8re sind in derRegel nioht charskterisirt, meist nicht einmal als mlnnlich oder weiblich.Der Chor verschwindet nach dem letzten zwisohenakte;


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Tbe Exode.scene 1. Jason learns the fate of his children.

SCENES IN SENECA ONLYprologue.

Scene 1. Medea suggests the situation.First Episode.

scene 1. Medea considers means of revenge.second Episode.

Scene 1. Nurse and Medea are in conversation.Medea's rage.Third Episode.

Scene 1. Nurse describes

the medea of euripides and seneca- a comparison by mary enrico frisch loyola university chicago

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