Hercules Oetaeus
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~17,300 words · 82 passages
Cite this work
- APALucius Annaeus Seneca. (n.d.). Hercules Oetaeus. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/hercules-oetaeus
- MLALucius Annaeus Seneca. "Hercules Oetaeus." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/hercules-oetaeus.
- ChicagoLucius Annaeus Seneca. Hercules Oetaeus. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/hercules-oetaeus.
What it is about
The death of Hercules, burned by the poisoned tunic, and his apotheosis.
Context and history
The attribution to Seneca has been disputed for centuries: many philologists take it for the work of an imitator, and it is the longest of all the tragedies in the Senecan corpus. Worth reading in that knowledge, not as a settled matter. The tragedies are not a literary appendix to Seneca's philosophy: they are the main road by which he set it out. Anger, the fear of death and fate, argued for in the letters, are here shown at work.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Hyllus Nuntius taciti Lichas Philoctetes chorus Virginum chorus Aetolarum Mulierum Hercules. Sator deorum, cuius excussum manu utraeque Phoebi sentiunt fulmen domus, secure regna — protuli pacem tibi, quacumque Nereus porrigi terras vetat, non est tonandum: perfidi reges iacent, saevi tyranni, fregimus quicquid fuit tibi fulminandum. sed mihi caelum, parens, adhuc negatur? parui certe Iove ubique dignus teque testata est meum patrem noverca, quid tamen nectis moras? numquid timemur? numquid impositum sibi non poterit Atlas ferre cum caelo Herculem? quid astra, genitor, quid negas? mors me tibi certe remisit, omne concessit malum quod terra genuit, pontus aer inferi: nullus per urbes errat Arcadias leo, Stymphalis icta est, Maenali nulla est fera; sparsit peremptus aureum serpens nemus et hydra vires posuit et notos Hebro cruore pingues hospitum fregi greges hostisque traxi spolia Thermodontiae. vidi silentum fata nec tantum redi, sed trepidus atrum Cerberum vidit dies (322) et ille solem, nullus Antaeus Libys animam resumit, cecidit ante aras suas Busiris, una est Geryon sparsus manu taurusque populis horridus centum pavor. quodcumque tellus genuit infesta occidit meaque fusum est dextera: iratis deis non licuit esse. si negat mundus feras, animum noverca, redde nunc nato patrem , vel astra forti, nec peto ut monstres iter; permitte tantum, genitor: inveniam viam. vel si times ne terra concipiat feras,
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