Opening the text

The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological IndexSeneca, Lucius Annaeus

General

The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

Name: The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index
Author: Seneca, Lucius Annaeus

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus

Mythology, Classical -- Drama; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65 A.D. -- Translations into English

And sinks inactive? Why dost counsel take
  Within thy heart, and turn away, and ask
  Whether this deed become thee? Do but think
  Upon thy mother; then wilt thou confess
  It doth become thee well. But what drags out
  In long delay this summer night's brief span
  To winter's hours of darkness? And what cause
  Prevents the stars from sinking in the sky?                         55
  The sun shrinks from my face. I must away,
  That so he may bring back the light of day.

[_Exit._]

       *       *       *       *       *

  _Chorus of Argive women:_ On fortune's headlong brink they stand
    Who hold the scepter in their hand;
    No safe assurance can they know                                   60
    Who on too lofty pathways go:
  But care on care pursues them to the last,
  Their souls assailed and vexed by every blast.

    As seas on Libya's sandy shore
    Their waves in ceaseless billows pour;                            65
    As Euxine's swelling waters rise
    Beneath the lowering northern skies,
    Where bright Boötes wheels his team
    High o'er the ocean's darksome stream:                            70
  With such assaults, by such wild tempests blown,
  Does fortune batter at a kingly throne!

    Who would be feared, in fear must live.
    No kindly night can refuge give;
    Nor sleep, that comforts all the rest,                            75
    Can bring care-freedom to his breast.
  What throne so safe, on such foundation stands,
  That may not be destroyed by impious hands?

    For justice, shame, the virtues all,
    E'en wifely faith, soon flee the hall                             80
    Where courtiers dwell. Within, there stands
    Bellona dire with bloody hands;
    Erinys too, the dogging fate,
    Of them who hold too high estate,
  Which any hour from high to low may bring.                          85
    Though arms be lacking, wiles be none,
    Still is the will of fortune done:
  By force of his own greatness falls the king.

    'Tis ever thus: the bellying sail                                 90
    Fears the o'erstrong though favoring gale;
    The tower feels rainy Auster's dread
    If to the clouds it rear its head;
    Huge oaks most feel the whirlwind's lash;                         95
    High mountains most with thunder crash;
  And while the common herd in safety feeds,
  Their mighty leader, marked for slaughter, bleeds.                 100

    Fate places us on high, that so
    To surer ruin we may go.
  The meanest things in longest fortune live.
    Then happy he whose modest soul
    In safety seeks a nearer goal;                                   105
    Fearing to leave the friendly shore,
    He rows with unambitious oar,
  Content in low security to thrive.


ACT II

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological IndexSeneca, Lucius Annaeus

General

The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus

Mythology, Classical -- Drama; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65 A.D. -- Translations into English

And sinks inactive? Why dost counsel take
  Within thy heart, and turn away, and ask
  Whether this deed become thee? Do but think
  Upon thy mother; then wilt thou confess
  It doth become thee well. But what drags out
  In long delay this summer night's brief span
  To winter's hours of darkness? And what cause
  Prevents the stars from sinking in the sky?                         55
  The sun shrinks from my face. I must away,
  That so he may bring back the light of day.

[_Exit._]

       *       *       *       *       *

  _Chorus of Argive women:_ On fortune's headlong brink they stand
    Who hold the scepter in their hand;
    No safe assurance can they know                                   60
    Who on too lofty pathways go:
  But care on care pursues them to the last,
  Their souls assailed and vexed by every blast.

    As seas on Libya's sandy shore
    Their waves in ceaseless billows pour;                            65
    As Euxine's swelling waters rise
    Beneath the lowering northern skies,
    Where bright Boötes wheels his team
    High o'er the ocean's darksome stream:                            70
  With such assaults, by such wild tempests blown,
  Does fortune batter at a kingly throne!

    Who would be feared, in fear must live.
    No kindly night can refuge give;
    Nor sleep, that comforts all the rest,                            75
    Can bring care-freedom to his breast.
  What throne so safe, on such foundation stands,
  That may not be destroyed by impious hands?

    For justice, shame, the virtues all,
    E'en wifely faith, soon flee the hall                             80
    Where courtiers dwell. Within, there stands
    Bellona dire with bloody hands;
    Erinys too, the dogging fate,
    Of them who hold too high estate,
  Which any hour from high to low may bring.                          85
    Though arms be lacking, wiles be none,
    Still is the will of fortune done:
  By force of his own greatness falls the king.

    'Tis ever thus: the bellying sail                                 90
    Fears the o'erstrong though favoring gale;
    The tower feels rainy Auster's dread
    If to the clouds it rear its head;
    Huge oaks most feel the whirlwind's lash;                         95
    High mountains most with thunder crash;
  And while the common herd in safety feeds,
  Their mighty leader, marked for slaughter, bleeds.                 100

    Fate places us on high, that so
    To surer ruin we may go.
  The meanest things in longest fortune live.
    Then happy he whose modest soul
    In safety seeks a nearer goal;                                   105
    Fearing to leave the friendly shore,
    He rows with unambitious oar,
  Content in low security to thrive.


ACT II

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

The Tragedies of Seneca: Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

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