727-749

Amphitryon asks about judgment and punishment for criminals after death.

Theseus describes Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, the traditional judges of the Underworld. Criminal rulers are punished after death, while virtuous rulers are either deified and live in with the gods above or become judges themselves in Elysium. The details such as the high seats (731) and the forum (733) are meant to evoke the Roman law court.

727–28 Prose word order for this indirect statement (AG 577) would be verane fama est iura (iam sera) inferis reddi. iūra reddere is normal Latin idiom for “to administer justice” (LS ius I). inferīs: dative: “to those below” (Fitch 2018).

728–29 oblītōs suī / sceleris nocentēs: “criminals who have forgotten their own crime,” because of the long delay in punishment. The objective genitive (AG 349) is enclosed in a chiasmus. See 1203 for a similar use of oblitus with the genitive.

730 verī … atque aequī: substantive adjectives: “truth and fairness.”

731 altā sēde: locative ablative (AG 429.4)

732 reīs: dative plural > reus.                             

733–35 illō … illō … hōc: Minos presides over one court, Rhadamanthus over another, Aeacus over a third. Thetidis … socer: Aeacus.

736 exemplō: ablative of means (AG 408). nocēns: substantive: “the guilty person.”

738–39 The common people take revenge on their tyrants in the Underworld. Prose word order for this indirect statement (AG 577) would be vidi terga impotentis tyranni scindi plebeia manu. Manu is ablative of means (AG 408). The singular impotentis tyranni is in effect plural, designating a class, like cruentos duces above. Seneca depicts an authoritarian world that resembles the imperial court in which he worked. Note the contrast between the tyrant who lacks restraint (impotentis) and the leader who is gentle and self-controlled (potens).

739–45 This Herculean sentence can be made more manageable by paying attention to the main verbs. Here it has been divided into clauses and placed in prose word order:

Quisquis placide potens est

dominusque vitae innocuas manus servat

et mitis incruentum imperium regit

animaeque parcit

permensus diu longa spatia vivacis aevi,

vel caelum petit

vel felix laeta loca nemoris Elysii [petit],

iudex futurus.

742 animaeque parcit: “and spares lives” (LS anima II.C.2), poetic singular for plural. parco governs the dative (AG 367), as usual.

745 sanguine: ablative of separation after abstine (AG 400) 

746–47 modō / maiōre: ablative of manner (AG 412), “with heavier penalties” (Fitch 2018).

747–49 Amphitryon asks about punishment for the guilty.

747–48 Supply a question word such as -ne.

749 vinclīs: ablative of means (AG 408)