895-918

Hercules opens Act 4 with a proclamation of his defeat of Lycus. The confrontation happens in an unspecified span of time between Acts 3 and 4, setting the scene in the moments after Hercules’ victory. In his triumph, he prepares for his sacrifice to the gods, calling for sacrificial victims, incense from India and Arabia, and garlands to be brought forward. Hercules will sacrifice to his father Jupiter, and asks Theseus to honor the founders of Thebes.

Act 4 Essay

Hercules returns from killing Lycus and begins to perform a sacrifice to the gods. Amphitryon reminds him to clean his hands first, as they are still dripping with Lycus’ blood. As Hercules prays for peace throughout the world, he begins to experience an episode of madness induced by the Furies as Juno threatened in the opening monologue. Hercules first sees an eclipse of the sun, and then hears the gods calling him to overthrow Jupiter and conquer Olympus. His delusion then turns more sinister: he believes the Fury (Erinys) is attacking him, and that his own children are Lycus’ children.

895–96 ultrīce dextrā: ablative of means (AG 409). Hercules sought vengeance for the injuries Lycus inflicted on Thebes and his family in his absence. fūsus: “cast to the ground, vanquished, prostrated” (LS fundo I.B.2.b.β), predicative adjective describing Lycus. adversō … ōre: “with face downward” (Fitch 2018): ablative of manner (AG 412). terram cecīdit: “fell to the ground,” accusative of place to which, used more freely in poetry than prose (AG 428.g).

896–897 comes … comes: ending both lines with comes emphasizes how Hercules’ anger goes beyond Lycus to his “companions.” Comes foreshadows how this anger will later fuel Hercules’ eventual assault on his own children, whom he confuses as the children of Lycus in his madness. et poenae comes: “also a companion of his punishment”; as often, et =  etiam. Whoever accompanied Lycus in his tyranny has accompanied him to his death. 

898 sacra: “sacred gifts,” “offerings” (LS sacrum I.A.β).  patrī: Hercules’ father Jupiter. victor: “as a victor.”

899 meritās … ārās: the gods deserve thanks, so their altars are “deserving” by extension. caesīs … victimīs: ablative of means (AG 408). The language conflates Hercules’ victims (Lycus and his comitēs) with the usual animal sacrifice. Note the careful word order of this line: two adjectives, followed by two nouns, concluding with the verb.

900–908: Hercules invokes a series of gods to whom he offers sacrifice: Minerva, Bacchus, Apollo, and Diana. They are his half-siblings by Jupiter and women other than Juno. He concludes with a general invocation of “any brother of mine who lives in heaven” (frāterque quisquis incolit caelum meus) and specifies “[but] not a brother born of my stepmother” (nōn ex novercā frāter), since any sons of Juno might be hostile to him out of loyalty to their mother.

900–901 tē tē: Minerva. The repetition is characteristic of prayer style. socia et adiūtrix: vocatives. Hercules describes Pallas as his helper because she assisted him during his Labors. Pallas: = Minerva.

901–902 cuius … aegis: Ovid’s Metamorphoses (4.753–803) and other sources tell the story of how, after Perseus killed Medusa, Minerva placed the head on her shield, where it became the aegis. ōre saxificō: “a petrifying expression,” ablative of means (AG 408). The Gorgon Medusa could turn people to stone with her glare.

903 adsit: jussive subjunctive (AG 439). Lycūrgī domitor et Rubrī Maris: Lycurgus of Thrace banned the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus). Bacchus punished him by driving him mad and causing him, like Hercules, to kill his wife and son. Bacchus also traveled to India, and so could be loosely called the “conqueror of the Red Sea.”

904 tēctam: modifies cuspidem and governs virentī … thyrsō: “covered in a verdant thyrsus.” A thyrsus is a staff or spear tipped with a cone or vines, carried by Bacchus or his followers. A Roman relief from the Prado Museum depicts a Maenad carrying a thyrsus.

905–906: the repetition of key words in these lines is again characteristic of prayer style. Understand adsit from 903. Phoebus et Phoebī soror: Apollo, god of music, and his sister Diana, goddess of the hunt. sagittīs aptior… lyrae: Diana typically holds a bow and Apollo a lyre, as these images from the Roman imperial era indicate.

908 appellite: imperative, presumably addressed to some slaves standing nearby, like date in 918.

909 gregēs opīmos: sacrificers offered the gods their best animal victims. arvīs: ablative of place where (AG 429.4).

910 odōrīs … arboribus: ablative of source (AG 403), “from fragrant trees”

911 pinguis exundet vapor: jussive subjunctive (AG 439), “let thick smoke billow up.”

912 exōrnet: jussive subjunctive (AG 439). pōpulea … arbor: Hercules follows the Chorus’s instruction to cover his hair with poplar leaves (893–94 comās… tege populō). Both here and in the following line, Seneca uses a combination of adjective and a noun in place of simple nouns (populus, olea). These uses of periphrasis create a more elevated style.

913 tegat: jussive subjunctive (AG 439). fronde gentīlī: ablative of means (AG 408): “with your people’s foliage.” Theseus was king of Athens, famous for its olive trees.

914 Tonantem: see line 1.

916 trucis … Zēthī: Zethus built the walls of Thebes with his brother Amphion. He is probably described as trux (“fierce”) to distinguish him from his brother. Amphion was a musician, while Zethus “took to the rough herdman’s life” (Fitch 1987); see Apollodorus 3.5. nōbilis ... aquae: genitive of description. Dircēn: a famous river of Thebes, accusative in a Greek declension (AG 44).

917 laremque rēgis advenae Tyrium: Seneca places the final object in his list in a carefully structured order in chiasmus according to case (acc. – gen. – gen. – acc.). Cadmus, founder of Thebes, came from the ancient city of Tyre in Phoenicia, now in Lebanon.