Two Tragedies of Seneca
Two Tragedies of Seneca
Medea and The Daughtersof Troy
Rendered into English Verse, with an Introduction
By
Ella Isabel Harris
Boston and New York
Houghton, Mifflin and Company
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
M DCCC XCIX
COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY LAMSON, WOLFFE AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY ELLA ISABEL HARRIS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| INTRODUCTION | vii |
| Sources of Senecan Influence on English Drama. | |
| Tendencies of Senecan Influence as felt by English Drama. | |
| Direct Borrowings from Senecan Tragedies. | |
| MEDEA | 1 |
| THE DAUGHTERS OF TROY | 45 |
INTRODUCTION
I
SOURCES OF SENECAN INFLUENCE ON ENGLISHDRAMA
The interest of English students in the dramasof Seneca lies in the powerful influence exerted bythem upon the evolution of the English drama,and these translations have been undertaken inthe hope that they may be found useful to Englishstudents of English drama.
Though all the tragedies ascribed to Seneca arenot by the same hand, yet they are so far homogeneousthat in considering them as a literary influence,one is not inclined to quarrel with theclassification that unites them under a single name.For the present purpose, therefore, no time needbe spent in the discussion of their authorship orexact date, but we may turn at once to look fortheir appearance as agents in the development ofthe modern, serious drama. In this relation it ishardly possible to overestimate their determininginfluence throughout Europe. Perhaps it mayhave been owing to the closer racial bond betweenthe Romans and the French that while the Senecaninfluence upon the drama in France was soovermastering and tyrannical, in England the native spirit was stronger to resist it, and theEnglish drama at its best remained distinctivelyEnglish, the influence exercised over it by theSenecan tragedies being rather formative thandominant.
Before the time of Marlowe and Shakespearethe forces that determined the development ofthe serious drama in England were practicallytwofold: one native, emanating from the moralitiesand miracle plays; the other classic, and foundin the tragedies long ascribed to Seneca. Theseremnants of the Roman drama were known to theEnglish at a very early date, were valued by thelearned as the embodiment of what was best inancient art and thought, and were studied in theLatin originals by pupils in the schools evenwhile the schools were still wholly monastic.During the latter half of the sixteenth century,separate plays of Seneca were translated into Englishby various authors, and in 15