Dawn at Thebes (Seneca, Hercules Furens 125-201)

Juno has just finished her opening monologue in which she whips herself into a frenzy of rage at Hercules. As the chorus enters, they sing of the dawn, then deliver an encomium of the simple country life, away from the ambition, greed, and corruption of city life. (Seneca apparently knew little of country life, which […]

Hercules is known for his monumental strength and immense fortitude, today this Greek hero himself would be dwarfed by the strength and durability of Metal Roofing, a trend that will make you feel protected by the Greek gods themselves. A Beautiful Wedding Photography Season Can you imagine a future where we could have contemplated the […]

Despite my royal status and lineage, I am begging you. Spare me, please. May you get everything you want as a huntsman. tolle morās tantum properātaque foedera iunge — quī mihi nunc saevit, sīc tibi parcat Amor! nōn ego dēdignor supplex humilisque precārī. 150                                   heu! ubi nunc fastūs altaque verba iacent? et pugnāre diū […]

Phaedra asks Hippolytus to put off his huntsman’s persona and relax, then offers to come out on the hunt with him. She offers to abandon Theseus and move to Troezen to be with Hippolytus. Theseus is already ignoring and slighting both of them, she argues. Their close family connection is no problem, even an asset. […]

Phaedra wants to take up hunting like Hippolytus and is driven to the extremes of mental derangement. Perhaps it is some family curse that the women of her Cretan line all suffer in love (Europa, Pasiphae, Ariadne)? Phaedra describes how attractive she found Hippolytus when she first saw him at Eleusis. See Peter J. Davis, […]

Quā, nisi tū dederis, caritūra est ipsa, salūtem mittit Amāzoniō Cressa puella virō. perlege, quodcumque est: quid epistula lēcta nocēbit? tē quoque in hāc aliquid quod iuvet esse potest; hīs arcāna notīs terrā pelagōque feruntur.   5 īnspicit acceptās hostis ab hoste notās. ter tēcum cōnāta loquī ter inūtilis haesit lingua, ter in prīmō restitit ōre […]

There are still a couple of days left to sign up to join me and Chun Liu of Peking University for an online workshop reading Ovid’s Heroides, July 15-20, 2020: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/dcc/2020/05/03/2020-ovid-heroides-online-workshop-announcement/ Deadline to register is July 1, 2020. Quam legis, ā raptā Brīsēide littera vēnit, vix bene barbaricā Graeca notāta manū. quāscumque adspiciēs, lacrimae fēcēre litūrās; […]

Join me and Chun Liu of Peking University for an online workshop reading Ovid’s Heroides, July 15-20, 2020: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/dcc/2020/05/03/2020-ovid-heroides-online-workshop-announcement/ crēdidimus blandīs, quōrum tibi cōpia, verbīs; crēdidimus generī nōminibusque tuīs;       50 crēdidimus lacrimīs—an et hae simulāre docentur? hae quoque habent artēs, quāque iubentur, eunt? dīs quoque crēdidimus. quō iam tot pignora nōbīs? parte satis potuī quālibet […]

Hospita, Dēmophoōn, tua tē Rhodopēia Phyllis ultrā prōmissum tempus abesse queror. cornua cum lūnae plēnō semel orbe coīssent, lītoribus nostrīs ancora pacta tua est— lūna quater latuit, tōtō quater orbe recrēvit;                     5 nec vehit Actaeās Sīthonis unda ratēs. tempora sī numerēs—bene quae numerāmus amantēs— nōn venit ante suam nostra querēla diem. Spēs quoque lenta […]

This is the third and last episode on Heroides 1. If you love Ovid’s Heroides, consider joining Chun Liu (Professor of Comparative Literature at Peking University) and me at the Dickinson Summer Latin Workshop (online this year), July 15-20, 2020. http://blogs.dickinson.edu/dcc/2019/11/06/dickinson-summer-latin-workshop-ovid-heroides/ Penelope imagines that Odysseus, who has the same desires as most men, might have taken up […]