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Vindicat Omnes Natvra Sibi: A Reading of Seneca's Phaedra

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2014

P. J. Davis
P. J. Davis*
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
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Extract

Many recent discussions of Senecan tragedy have concentrated on such issues as the author's relationship to previous Greek and Latin tragedy, the connections between his prose and dramatic works and problems of performance. Although these questions are important, I propose to set them aside as far as possible in order to examine the inner dynamics of one Senecan tragedy, Phaedra. I shall explore the ways in which Seneca's use of imagery, mythological allusion and characterisation bear upon the play's central theme, man's attempts to defy or control the forces of nature.

Phaedra begins with the organisation of a hunt. In Euripides' Hippolytus the hero entered returning from the hunt, but Seneca's Hippolytus, surrounded by a group of companions, is actually in action. The opening sentences of his first speech are commands (1-24). Indeed his first word is an imperative (Ite [‘Go!’]). He directs his men to different localities much as a general disposes his troops. His language suggests that there are analogies between a hunt and a military operation, for the successful hunter is a ‘conqueror’ (victor, 52) and the sequel will be a ‘lengthy triumphal procession’ (longo… triumpho, 79f.). Implicit in Hippolytus' exercise of power through the hunt is the notion of control. Note, for example, Hippolytus' orders concerning the hounds.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ramus , Volume 12 , Issue 1-2 , 1983 , pp. 114 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Aureal Publications 1983

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References

I would like to thank Professor Michael Putnam for his helpful criticisms of an earlier draft of this paper.

1. The text I have used is that of Giardina (1966). All translations are my own.

2. Cf. G. 3.253f., 269f.

3. Endymion’s relationship to Diana is also referred to by the chorus at 309ff. and 785ff.

4. For a useful discussion of Seneca’s astronomical motifs see Owen (1968).

5. E.g. Catull. 62.35, Manil. 1.177–8, Plin. NH 2.36, Seneca Ag. 819–21.

6. Lawall (1976), Vol. 2, 28, points out that line 782 refutes 520f.

7. Note the way in which 1072–5 recalls 181–3. Both the excess and deficiency of self-control prove destructive.

8. This scene has been criticised as too gruesome, but it should only be censured if it is self-indulgently macabre. I do not think that it is. Nor is it any more revolting than the analogous scene in Euripides’ Bacchae (1200ff.).

9. Although an allusion to the bull of Marathon is possible here the pattern of Cretan allusions makes this unlikely.

10. Seidensticker (1969), 149, points out that the words could refer to Phaedra’s refusal to give way to the nurse.

11. Ibid., 149.

12. Cf. Lawall (1976), Vol. 2, 33.

13. Ibid., 41.

14. Cf. Lefèvre (1972b), 369.

15. Cf. Aristotle’s discussion of moral responsibility at EN. 1110A4–8. Phaedra’s case belongs to the category Aristotle considers difficult to determine. Aristotle does not legislate for particular cases but Phaedra’s seems closer to that of the man blown by the gust of wind than to that of the criminal.

16. Lefèvre (1972b), 363f.

17. Ibid., 357.

18. The essential property of the bull from the sea is ambiguity. Although a bull (taurus, 1036), it has a blue-green neck (caerulea … cotla, 1036). (Caeruleus is a very common epithet of the sea.) Its brow is green (viridanti, 1037). At one moment it appears to be the ‘leader of a savage herd’ (1039), i.e. a creature like that beloved of Pasiphae (cf. 118) and at another a creature born from the sea (1040). The ambiguity is not merely apparent but real. Its front section is that of a bull (it even has dewlaps, 1044), but its rear section is scaly (1048).

19. E.g. Ep. 5.4; 16.7; 17.9; 25.4; 41.9; 45.9; 66.39; 98.14; 107.8; 122.19.

20. Cf. DRN. 1.23ff., G. 1.125–59; 2.458–540. In his account of the natural way of life lived by early man (Ep. 90) (an account which resembles this one in many respects) Seneca actually quotes G 1.125–8, 1.139f. and 1.144.

21. In Georgics 1 hunting is both deceptive (139) and characteristic of the post-Saturnian age.

22. Cf. G.2.532–40.

23. In the theodicy at G.1.125ff. these are all characteristics of the Jovian age.