46-63

Juno focuses on her most recent reason to hate and fear Hercules. Her enemy has just returned from the Underworld with Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog, and so demonstrated his contempt for death.

46 nec satis terrae patent: “even the earth is not room enough.”

47 īnfernī Iovis: “the Jupiter below,” a common poetic way of referring to Jupiter’s brother Dis, ruler of the Underworld.

48 opīma vīctī rēgis: a Roman commander could be awarded the spolia opīma, “the rich spoils,” by defeating an enemy commander in battle and taking his weapons and armor. Juno speaks as if Hercules has defeated Dis (vīctī rēgis) and taken spoils from him. ad superōs: the noun superī, “the ones above,” normally refers to the Olympian gods, who live above the world of humans. But here, from the perspective of the underworld, superī refers to the world of humans itself, i.e., the surface of the earth.

50 vīdī ipsa, vīdī: the repetition of vīdī with the intensifying pronoun emphasizes Juno’s strong emotion. Virgil’s Aeneas similarly repeats vīdī as he narrates the disasters that he observed during the sack of Troy (Aeneid 2.499–501). īnferūm: genitive, for inferōrum, “of the world below,” a neuter plural adjective used as a substantive (L-S inferus I.B)

50–51 nocte discussā … et Dīte domitō: ablative absolute (AG 419), describing the attendant circumstances of iactantem.

51 iactantem patrī: “(Hercules) showing off to his father (Jupiter).”

51-52 spolia … frāterna: “his (Jupiter’s) brother’s spoils”; Jupiter and Dis are brothers.

52–54 Juno exaggerates the consequences of Hercules’ removal of Cerberus. What if he decided to rule in the Underworld in place of Dis, the god whom he conquered?

53 ipsum: Dis. paria sortītum Iovī: “having drawn equal lots to Jupiter.” Sortītum refers to Dis, like the other accusative participles in the sentence. Dis drew lots with his brothers Jupiter and Neptune for control of the universe. Jupiter won and took heaven; Neptune came in second and took the sea; Dis lost and so has the undesirable Underworld. See Iliad 15.184ff.

54 Erebōque captō: ablative, governed by the deponent verb potitur (AG 410). Styga: a Greek accusative form of the third declension (AG 82).

49, 55-56 Juno voices a complaint that the god of the Underworld makes frequently in ancient poetry. During Homer’s battle of the gods, for example, Hades worries that Poseidon will split open the earth and allow people to see his kingdom (Homer Iliad 20.61–66).

49 Editors since F. Leo have moved this line here, as it makes better sense with the lines that follow. parum est revertī: “it is not enough to return.” foedus umbrārum: “the compact governing the shades,” i.e., an agreement between Pluto and Jupiter that Pluto’s kingdom is not to be violated. The genitive is normal after foedus, see L-S foedus -eris n. II. perīt: “has perished” = periit > pereō perfect active.

55 ab īmīs mānibus: “from the deepest underworld” > Mānēs, shades of the dead, by metonymy. retrō via: “the road back.” Note that via est should be read viast through prodelision; see note 2.

56 sacra: “holy things.” See note 30 on Latin neuter adjectives used as nouns.

57-63 Juno takes Hercules’ latest Labor personally, as if his choice to parade Cerberus in triumph was intended as an insult to her. She is also afraid of the monster that he has brought up from the Underworld.

58 superbificā: Seneca apparently coined this resonant compound adjective. Compound adjectives in –ficus are rare, but characteristic of Roman drama.

60 vīsō … Cerberō: ablative absolute (AG 419), describing the attendant circumstances. labantem … diem: “daylight faltering” (Fitch).

63 imperāsse: = imperāvisse, as if she herself, rather than Eurystheus, had ordered Hercules to bring back Cerberus.