1173-1191

Hercules wonders why Theseus and Amphitryon will neither look at him nor speak to him. He asks if Eurystheus or Lycus have attacked the city and caused the death of his family. Amphitryon tries unsuccessfully to get Hercules to avoid the question.

1173–74 meōs … vultūs: “my face.”

1175–76 quis … dederit: indirect question (AG 574) after profāre: “(tell me) who gave…” dederit necī: = necāverit. meōs … omnēs: “all my family,” as at 1049.

1177 “But you tell [me who killed my family], Theseus. No, Theseus, [tell me] with your [usual] faithfulness.” We must infer that Theseus remains silent after Hercules’ first request, and so Hercules asks again, this time appealing to Theseus’ faithfulness to him. sed: we have translated as “no,” but the logical connection is “you are refusing to answer, but I will now appeal to your faithfulness.” 

1178 uterque: Amphitryon and Theseus.

1180–81 quid est pudendum: passive periphrastic (AG 500.2), “what is there to be ashamed about?” numquid:introduces a question were a negative answer is anticipated: “Is it really possible that …?” “Surely …. not.” impotēns / dominator: Eurystheus, ruler of Argos. On impotēns, see 966n.

1181–82 infestum Lycī / pereuntis: “angry because of dying Lycus,” or in more natural English “angry that Lycus died.” clade … tantā: ablative of means (AG 404).

1183–85 Translation order: genitor, precor tē per laudem meōrum facinorum tuīque nōminis, semper nūmen secundum mihi. Seneca’s order is not unusual in Latin prayers: per followed by the person being prayed to (tē) and then the object of per (laudem). E.g., Virgil, Aeneid 2.141–3 per tē ... superōs … ōrō = ōrō tē per superōs. 

1183 facinorum: Hercules uses the word in a positive sense, thanking of all his heroic “deeds,” but facinus much more often has a negative connotation of “crime”: Hercules has still not realized that his “deeds“ now include the murder of his family.

1184 genitor: Amphitryon. 

1185 secundum: i.e., second after Jupiter’s. Notice the word play of nōmen … nūmen.

1186 praeda: nominative in apposition (AG 282): “for whom do I lie defeated, as plunder?”

1186 Tacita: predicatve, “in silence.” abeant: hortatory subjunctive (AG 439).

1187 obfuit: “does harm” (> obsum), perfect expressing a general truth (AG 475).

1188 segnis: a common descriptor of someone unable or unwilling to perform “manly” deeds of war or heroism. 

1189 hīs: ablative of comparison, governed by maius aut gravius (AG 406).

1191 Prose order: quota pars tuae clādis est ista (pars) quam nōstī. quota: “how small.” nō(vi)stī syncopated perfect > noscō with present sense, as usual: “you know.”