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Tragedies II: Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, Hercules on Oeta, Octavia (Loeb Classical Library)

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One of Rome's greatest philosophers was also one of Rome's greatest poets and dramatists. Seneca's versatility and proficiency as an author will become evident to the reader who examines the contrast between the informal and dignified prose of his Stoic Epistles and the stunning elegance of his verse in the pathos laden Tragedies. Now it is simply amazing that the stern-browed champion of Roman Stoicism would don the laurel and take up the tragedian's genre. Perhaps he sought to indoctrinate the stage-crazed Roman mob with the tenets of Stoicism, since he worked many stoic ideals into the Tragedies' themes? It seems likely that he rather subtly directed his program of moralization through the medium of public entertainment. Whatever the case may be, Seneca has handed us poetry and drama, in nearly ever ancient meter (except heroic meter), that rivals his Latin predecessors, Terrance and Plautus. And even though he used the Greek tragedies as a model (except `Octavia'), Seneca's originality emerges as he reworks those classic Grecian themes to fit his Latin audience, adorning them with a stoic twist. Yet Seneca's 'Octavia' is a composition all his own and is genuinely Roman and not Grecian. The `Octavia' is a historical drama and recounts episodes from the tumultuous and brutal reign of Nero, of court intrigue and the machinations of Nero's wives and concubines. The other tragedies--Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes and Hercules on Oeta--are all traditionally linked to popular Greek mythology and are household names today. Overall, Seneca asserts himself as an exemplary poet/play-write and his influence was felt from his time well into the modern era, inspiring such figures as Boethius (in `consolatio'), Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ben Johnson [Oxford Classical Dictionary, Seneca]. Overall, the enthusiast of the classic drama, the lover of Latin poetry, and the collector of ancient works can hardly go without these two volumes, which are here presented in a fresh, vibrant and lucid, English translation. The scholarly analyses and annotations that accompany the text will be welcoming and profitable to readers as well.