Hercules. Amphitryōn. Thēseus.
HER. Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundī plaga?
ubi sum? sub ortū sōlis, an sub cardine
glaciālis Ursae? numquid Hesperiī maris1140
extrēma tellūs hunc dat Ōceanō modum?
quās trahimus aurās? quod solum fessō subest?
certē redîmus: unde prōstrātā domō
videō cruenta corpora? an nōndum exuit
simulācra mēns īnferna? post reditūs quoque1145
oberrat oculīs turba fērālis meīs?
pudet fatērī: paveō; nescioquod mihi,
nescioquod animus grande praesāgit malum.
ubi es, parēns? ubi illa nātōrum grege
animōsa coniūnx? cūr latus laevum vacat1150
spoliō leōnis? quōnam abît tegimen meum
īdemque somnō mollis Herculeō torus?
ubi tēla? ubi arcus? arma quis vīvō mihi
dētrahere potuit? spolia quis tanta abstulit
ipsumque quis nōn Herculis somnum horruit?1155
libet meum vidēre victōrem, libet —
exsurge, virtūs. quem novum caelō pater
genuit relictō? cuius in fētū stetit
nox longior quam nostra?
Notes
Hercules wakes up from his rampage, disoriented and unaware of what he has done. He begins to describe the scene of devastation in his house but thinks he may still be in the Underworld. Still confused, he calls out for his family members and demands to know what has happened to his weapons. He assumes he has been defeated by a greater opponent and desires to meet him. The insistently repeated question words (quis, quae, ubi, an, etc.) convey his confusion.
Act 5 Essay
After a few exchanges with Amphitryon and Theseus, Hercules comes to recognize that he is in his palace and notices the blood on his hands which confirms that he has murdered his own family. He accepts responsibility for the murders, and his thoughts immediately turn to exile or suicide as appropriate punishment for his crime. The problem with exile is that the whole world knows him because of the fame of his Labors, and so he would still be recognized even in the world’s most remote places. Over the remainder of the Act, Amphitryon successfully talks Hercules down from suicide by arguing that he would be unable to survive if his son Hercules died. Theseus offers Hercules refuge in Athens, which was a sanctuary for family murderers such as Orestes and Oedipus in Greek mythology.
read full essay
Through the argument between Hercules and Amphitryon over suicide, Seneca examines one of Stoicism’s characteristic tenets: that it is better to take your own life rather than to compromise your virtue. This romanticization of suicide is of course one of the many ways in which the ancient world differs from our own, and offers dangerously misguided “lessons” for modern life. Hercules’ threat of suicide directly recalls Megara’s similar threat in Act 2 to avoid marriage with Lycus. Megara promised suicide to avoid oppression; Hercules contemplates suicide to avoid guilt. Absolution by his father and friend help to alleviate the guilt and so allow him to live on. Through this conclusion, Seneca advances another central tenet of Stoicism: that we must endure life’s hardships rather than make cowardly efforts to avoid them (e.g. Moral Letters 78.1-2). As in Prodicus’ fable, Hercules again becomes an allegorical figure of endurance.
The opening of the scene once more provided inspiration for a Shakespearean play. Like Hercules, King Lear similarly attacked his child: his exile of his dutiful daughter Cordelia has nearly caused her death, and the instability he has caused in his kingdom will result in both of their deaths. Also like Hercules, he collapses after an episode of madness during which he wanders in a terrible storm. When Lear awakens, he is at first unaware of his surroundings or what has happened; his doubt that his hands are his own is a further evocation of Hercules. But he then finds himself reunited with his daughter and sees she still loves him. The scene is one of Shakespeare’s most moving:
Lear: You do me wrong to take me out o’ th’ grave:
Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound
Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears
Do scald like molten lead.
Cordelia: Sir, do you know me?
Lear: You are a spirit, I know. Where did you die? . . .
Where have I been? Where am I? Fair daylight?
I am mightily abused. I should ev’n die with pity,
To see another thus. I know not what to say.
I will not swear these are my hands . . .
Methinks I should know you, and know this man;
Yet I am doubtful, for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is . . .
Do not laugh at me,
For as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child, Cordelia.
(Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 4, Scene 7)
Lear and Cordelia will be dead a few scenes later, but their enemies’ malice cannot remove this moment of reconciliation from them. The contrast with Hercules’ narrative—equally guilty, but unable to find reconciliation with his victims—lends further emotional power to the Shakespearean scene, and increases the pathos of the characters’ impending deaths. As one Shakespearean scholar has written, this adaptation offers “an experience of grace and forgiveness beyond anything that Seneca’s fundamentally malevolent cosmos has to offer” (Gorden Braden, “Heracles and Hercules,” Theater and Society in the Classical World, 1993: 260.).
1138 locus … regiō … plaga: supply est.
1139 ortū sōlis: i.e., the east. cardine: “the (north) pole” (LS cardo I.B.2).
1140 glaciālis Ursae: Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, a poetic way of referring to the north.
1140–41: Prose order: numquid extrēma tellūs dat hunc modum Ōceanō Hesperiī maris? “Can it be that the farthest land places this limit on the Ocean of the western sea?” Hercules thinks he might have traveled west all the way to the limit of the ocean that surrounds the inhabited world—a place he was familiar with, since his Labors took him to the far west and gave the name “Pillars of Hercules” to the Strait of Gibraltar. numquid: introduces a question where a negative answer is anticipated: “Is it really possible that …?” “Surely …. not.”
1142 quās trahimus aurās: “what air do I breathe?” i.e., “what land am I in?” We recall that he has traveled the entire world. fessō subest: dative with a compound verb, “lies under this tired man.”
1143 redîmus: a contraction of the perfect rediimus (pf. indic.). The subject is Hercules (a poetic plural). prōstrātā domō: ablative absolute (AG 419).
1145 simulācra … īnferna: accusative plural. Hercules wonders whether he is seeing reality or an Underworld vision. post reditūs quoque: “even after my return.”
1146 oculīs … meīs: “before my eyes,” locative ablative (AG 429.4).
1147 pudet: an impersonal verb that governs a complementary infinitive (AG 454): “it is shameful [for me] to confess.”
1149 grege: depending on the adjective animosa: “proud of her flock.”
1151 spoliō: ablative of separation (AG 400) after vacat. quōnam: “where on earth?” abît: = abī(v)it, pf. indic. > abeō.
1152 īdem ... mollis … torus: his lion skin served as both defensive armor and a bed. somnō … Herculeō: “for Hercules’ sleep.” Latin poets often use an adjective in place of a genitive, for metrical reasons and to elevate the style.
1153 ubi … ubi: as in line 1138, supply the relevant forms of esse. vivō mihi: dative of separation, “from me while I [still] live.”
1155 ipsumque ... somnum: “and even the sleep.”
1156 libet ... vidēre: an impersonal verb that governs a complementary infinitive (AG 454): “I wish to see.”
1157 exsurge, virtūs: Hercules assumes that some new hero (another son of Jupiter) has stolen his weapons, and stirs up his courage to meet the man. pater: Jupiter.
1157–58 caelō … relictō: ablative absolute.
1158–59 cuius in fētū: Hercules refers to his own conception, when Jupiter extended the night to triple its length. He assumes a more powerful son of Jupiter would require an even longer night.
Vocabulary
plaga –ae f.: tract, region
ortus ortūs m.: rising, beginning; sunrise, the East
cardō –inis m.: hinge, pole
glaciālis –e: icy
ursa –ae f.: she-bear; Ursa Major
numquid: in a direct question, a strengthened num
Hesperius –a –um: of the west; western
Ōceanus –ī m.: Oceanus
subsum subesse —: to be under, be behind
prosternō –sternere –strāvī –strātus: to lay low, strike down
cruentus –a –um: bloody, blood-stained
exuō exuere exuī exūtus: to take off
simulācrum simulācrī n.: likeness, imitation, image
īnfernus –a –um: of that which is below, infernal
reditus reditūs m.: return
oberrō oberrāre : to wander
fērālis –e: pertaining to the dead
pudet pudēre puduit/puditum est: to makes ashamed
paveō –ēre –uī: to tremble, fear
nescioquis nescioqua nescioquid: someone or other other; I know not who/what; to some degree, a little bit
grandis grandis grande: full-grown; large
praesāgiō –sāgīre: to perceive beforehand, presage
grex gregis m.: herd, flock
animōsus –a –um: bold, spirited, proud
coniūnx coniugis f.: spouse, wife
laevus –a –um: left
spolia –ōrum n. pl.: plunder; hide (of an animal), arms
leō leōnis m.: lion
quōnam: whither? to where?
tegmen (tegumen) –inis n.: means of covering; skin
Herculeus –a –um: of Hercules; Herculean
torus –ī m.: bulge; muscle, knot, bank, cushion
arcus arcūs m.: bow, arch
dētrahō –trahere –trāxī –tractum: to take away from, remove, withdraw
Herculēs –is m.: Hercules
horreō horrēre horruī: to shake, dread
exsurgō –surgere –surrēxī: arise
fētus fētūs m.: birth; bearing or breeding; the young; the new swarm