109-124

Juno asks the Furies to drive her mad as well so she can participate in the assault on Hercules’ mind. Instead of wishing him dead, she wants him to return alive from the Underworld so she can watch him destroy his family.

110 mē mē: the repetition indicates Juno’s agitation, as at 99 hōc hōc.

110–11 mente dēiectam meā … prīmam: in apposition with mē. Juno asks to be “driven out” of her mind first, before Hercules (dēiectam > dēiciō; see L-S deicio I.B.1, “Military technical term, to drive out, dislodge an enemy from his position”).

112 novercā: the adjective dignus governs an ablative of specification (AG 418.b), as usual.

113 reversus: referring to Hercules. pater: i.e., Hercules.

113–14 videat … redeat: jussive subjunctives.

114 manūque: ablative of specification (AG 418) with fortis. Juno does not want Hercules’ hand to be too weak to kill his children.

115 quō: ablative of time when (AG 423); its antecedent is diem.

116 Notice this line’s careful distribution of groups of ascending syllabic units: a group of three syllables (mē vīcit), followed by four syllables (et sē vincat), concluded by six (et cupiat morī). This common rhetorical figure has various names: tricolon abundans, a tricolon crescendo, or an ascending tricolon.

116–17 reversus: referring to Hercules.

117–18 hīc: “here,” i.e. “in this regard,” not hĭc which would mean “he.” Supply the word Herculem as the subject of esse in indirect statement introduced by prōsit mihi, “let it be useful to me that ….”

118–19 In prose word order these lines would read stābō et manū lībrābō, ut ēmissa tēla certō nervō exeant. The conjunction ut introduces a purpose clause (AG 531.1). Juno will help Hercules aim his bow so that his arrows do not miss. certō… nervō: an example of a transferred adjective (hypallage): technically it is the arrows, not the bow-string, that will be “unerring.”

120 furentis: referring to Hercules. 

120-1 Herculī ... favēbō: like other verbs meaning “favor,” the verb faveō typically governs a dative (AG 367).

121 scelere perfectō: ablative absolute (AG 419), referring to the completion of the murders.

121–22 licet … admittat … genitor: licet (“it is permitted,” “he may”) introduces a substantive clause of purpose (AG 565) with the subjunctive admittat. Hercules’ genitor is Jupiter.

122 illās … manūs: Hercules’ hands become an important theme of Act 5. See in particular his address to his novercālēs manūs (line 1236).

123–4 Juno announces the coming of day, followed by the Chorus’s entrance to the stage.

123 movenda: as at line 5, a passive periphrastic phrase (AG 500.2) with the dative of agent (mihi) unexpressed. For moveō = “begin,” see L-S moveo I.2.a.

124 ortūque: ablative of accompaniment (AG 413). Tītān: the Sun.