Seneca's Fury
Enter a Fury and the Shade of Tantalus
Go forth, detestable shade, and lead your impious household gods with fury! Let it be carried on with every vice, and let the sword be attacked in turn. Let there be no shame or limit of anger. Let blind furor incite minds, let madness endure in the parent and let lasting nefariousness pass into succeeding generations. Let no one have leisure to hate an old crime; but let a new one always arise, many in one, and as the old criminal is punished, let a new one spring up. Let kingdoms fall from insolent brothers and let them rout the refugees; let the dubious fortune of the violent house totter between uncertain kings; let miserable ones be made from the powerful, and the powerful from the miserable, and let chance carry the kingdom in continuous flux. When god gives to the father to be hurled into crime, let them lead back into crime, and let them be as hated by everyone as they are by themselves. Let there be no anger which he thinks forbidden. Let brother fear brother and parent fear his child and baby fear his father, let children wreak destruction badly and let worse yet be born. Let the disturbed wife hang over her man, and let them carry wars across the sea, let blood, poured out, irrigate every land, let victorious Libido exult over the great leaders of the races, let incest be the lightest offence in the impious house; and faith and law and justice all perish. Let not even the sky be immune to your evils; why should the flaming stars in the North Pole serve their splendor-debt to the world? Let night be supreme; let day fall from the sky. Throw the gods into confusion! Spur on slaughter and disgust and burning flesh! Fill the whole house with Tantalus! Let the high column be adorned and let the doors become green with happy laurels, and let the worthy fire shine at your coming; let the sin exceed in number that of the Thracians. Why is the hand of the uncle vacant? Not yet does Thyestes weep for his children; will Atreus ever lift his hand? Let the bronze cauldrons froth with fire from below, let torn limbs go in piece by piece, let blood pollute the hearths of the land, let the dishes be set up, you go to a party of a crime not unfamiliar to you. We give you this free day and loosen your hunger at these tables. Fill yourself with these good things; having been looked on by you, the wine mixed with blood is drunk; I have found a feast which even you will flee from. Stand; whither do you rush so quickly?
Tantalus: To the pools and streams and receding waters and the refuge from this family tree, hollow yet full. Let it be allowed for me to go back to my black couch of a prison, and let it be allowed, if I am too little a sufferer, to change rivers, in the middle of your cave, the Phlegethon, I will be left surrounded by a strait of fire. To you, whoever is commanded to bear the penalties of the fates, given by law, whoever you are, lying in hollowed-out caves, you fear the fall of the mountain [and subsequent collapse of the cave], you who shudder, grasped in the fierce mouths of hungry lions and the dire multitude of Furies, you who, half-charred, drive away the torches thrust at you, release the voice of Tantalus with haste toward you all; believe me to be an expert and love your punishments. When will it fall to my lot to escape the upper world?
Fury: First perturb the house and carry your disturbance inside and evil love of the sword for the kings, shake the fierce heart with insane tumult.
Tantalus: It is fitting for me to bear punishments, not to be a punishment. Am I sent as a deadly vapor from a rupture in the earth or a pestilence to spread fatal plague to the nations? Shall I, the grandfather, lead horrendous nefariousness to my offspring? O Great Father of the gods, and of me, too, though it may cause you shame, even though my chattering tongue be tortured with legal but unnatural punishments, I will not be silent about this; I warn you not to violate your hands with accursed slaughter or sprinkle your altars with the evils of the Furies. I will stand my ground and resist this crime-- why do you terrify me with a whip and, fierce, hang entwined snakes over me? What fastened hunger do you stir up in my innermost marrow? My heart is ablaze with enflamed thirst and shines with flames in my burnt innards. I follow!
Fury: This, this furor spread through the whole house! Thus, thus they are borne and, hostile, thirst for their own blood by turns. The house senses your coming and shudders at what evils will be caused by contact with you. The deed is done. Descend back to the infernal caves and famous water; these sad lands are burdened with your step. Do you see how the water, led back inside the spring, dries up, so that the the rivers are vacant and the the hot winds blow few clouds? Every tree loses its color and the naked branch stands stands with the fruit in flight, and where the Isthmos with waves nearby here and there roars, the neighbouring void divides with a thin strip of earth, now the broad land hears the sounds of the ocean from a long way off. For Lerna draws back and the Phronidean river draws back nor does the sacred Alpheus proffer his waters and the peaks of the Cithaeronian mountains stand in no part white with deposits of snow and the noble Argives fear their old thirst. The titan himself hestitates to order to follow and drives the day with his reigns, to go, about to die.
Chorus:
If anyone among the gods loves Achaian Argos or the house of Piseas famous for chariots; if anyone loves the kingdom of the Corinthian chariots and the twin ports and the sea set apart*, if anyone loves the conspicuous snows of Taygeti, which, when Sarmatian Boreas at a frigid time puts upon the high peaks, and the summer loosens sail-bearing Etesiis, which Alpheos touches with his cool and lucid rivers, famous for his Olympic stadium, let him turn to placid rule and enclose us, let them not give each other vices by turn, nor let worse grandchildren succeed their grandfather or greater crimes please the lesser. Exhausted of impiety, let the progeny of thirsty Tantalus put of their fierce impetus; there has been enough of sin. No faith fares well and nefariousness is common. Myrtilus was shown to be a deceptor of his master, he fell, and carried by the loyalty which he had borne, he gave the noble sea a changed name; there is no story more famous among the Ionian sailors. The young boy was received on an impious gladius when he ran to his father's kiss, the immature victim fell on the altar and was divided by your right hand, Tantalus, so as to set the tables for the gods, your guests. Eternal hunger follows that feast, and eternal thirst, since a more fitting punishment could not be discerned for such a fierce feast. Exhausted Tantalus stands in the hollow gulley, and fruit aplenty hangs over his noxious head, more likely to flee than the birds of Phineas, and here and there the tree hangs down its heavy branches and, curved and trembling with its fruits, plays up against his gaping mouth. Here, greedy as you wish and not patient of delay, deceived so many times before he feigns to touch and averts his eyes and shuts his mouth and binds his hunger with his fastened jaws. But then the entire grove sends down its divine fruit close and ripe fruits from above on languid branches mock him, and they stir up his hunger, for which reason he commands his riled hands to go forward; and where he leads them forward, he is not surprised at dissapointment, and the whole wood is seized up and the wood is mobile. Then, thirst stands no more easily than hunger; which when his blood is heated and heated with firey torches, the miser stands, striving with his mouth for the obvious waters, which the fleeing river turns away from the sterile cavity and deserts the striver. He, from the gurgling river, drinks the deep dust.
Exeunt.
Enter Atreus and an attendant.
Atreus: Inactive, unskillful, gutless and, which I deem the maximum problem for a tyrant in such perilous circumstances, unavenged; after such a crime, after my brother's tricks and every right is sundered, you lead with vain complaints, O "Angry" Atreus? For the whole world should tremble with your armies and the fleets should stir up either of the twin seas, for fields should shine with flame and cities be leveled and drawn swords flash from every corner. Let the whole earth sounds with our horse; let no forest cover the enemy nor cities built on the high peaks of mountains; let the whole populus sing the wars of left-behind Mycenis, whoever keeps watch over or shelters his worthless head, let him fall with lethal ruin. Let the strong house of famous Pelops itself fall on me, if at the same time it falls on my brother. Come, soul, do what no posterity could condone, but at which none could keep silent. It is some daring sin or other, atrocious, bloody, so great that my brother wishes it were his. You do not avenge crimes unless you surpass them. And what could be so savage to surpass him? Crouching, does he lie down? Does he accept any limit in prosperity, any retirement in adversity? I know the implacable nature of man; it cannot be bent, but it can be broken! Let him be attacked first, so that he cannot attack me when I am off guard. He will ruin or perish; the crime is set between for whoever gets there first.
Attendant: The rumors of the populus do not turn you aside?
Atreus: This is the greatest boon for a tyrant, the fact that the populus is driven by its master as much to praise as it is to bear.
Attendant: Those whom fear drives, fear will make into enemies; and whoever seeks the glory of true fame, wishes to be praised with spirit more than with voice.
Atreus: True praise always clings to the humble man, false praise to none but the powerful. Let them wish for what they don't want.
Attendant: Let the king want honesty; no one will want otherwise.
Atreus: Wherever honesty alone is permitted the king, he reigns precariously.
Attendant: Where there is no shame, nor care, sancitity, piety or faith, the kingdom is unstable.
Atreus: Sanctity faith care are private goods; going one's own way is for the kings.
Satelles: Think it a crime to do harm even to a bad brother.
Go forth, detestable shade, and lead your impious household gods with fury! Let it be carried on with every vice, and let the sword be attacked in turn. Let there be no shame or limit of anger. Let blind furor incite minds, let madness endure in the parent and let lasting nefariousness pass into succeeding generations. Let no one have leisure to hate an old crime; but let a new one always arise, many in one, and as the old criminal is punished, let a new one spring up. Let kingdoms fall from insolent brothers and let them rout the refugees; let the dubious fortune of the violent house totter between uncertain kings; let miserable ones be made from the powerful, and the powerful from the miserable, and let chance carry the kingdom in continuous flux. When god gives to the father to be hurled into crime, let them lead back into crime, and let them be as hated by everyone as they are by themselves. Let there be no anger which he thinks forbidden. Let brother fear brother and parent fear his child and baby fear his father, let children wreak destruction badly and let worse yet be born. Let the disturbed wife hang over her man, and let them carry wars across the sea, let blood, poured out, irrigate every land, let victorious Libido exult over the great leaders of the races, let incest be the lightest offence in the impious house; and faith and law and justice all perish. Let not even the sky be immune to your evils; why should the flaming stars in the North Pole serve their splendor-debt to the world? Let night be supreme; let day fall from the sky. Throw the gods into confusion! Spur on slaughter and disgust and burning flesh! Fill the whole house with Tantalus! Let the high column be adorned and let the doors become green with happy laurels, and let the worthy fire shine at your coming; let the sin exceed in number that of the Thracians. Why is the hand of the uncle vacant? Not yet does Thyestes weep for his children; will Atreus ever lift his hand? Let the bronze cauldrons froth with fire from below, let torn limbs go in piece by piece, let blood pollute the hearths of the land, let the dishes be set up, you go to a party of a crime not unfamiliar to you. We give you this free day and loosen your hunger at these tables. Fill yourself with these good things; having been looked on by you, the wine mixed with blood is drunk; I have found a feast which even you will flee from. Stand; whither do you rush so quickly?
Tantalus: To the pools and streams and receding waters and the refuge from this family tree, hollow yet full. Let it be allowed for me to go back to my black couch of a prison, and let it be allowed, if I am too little a sufferer, to change rivers, in the middle of your cave, the Phlegethon, I will be left surrounded by a strait of fire. To you, whoever is commanded to bear the penalties of the fates, given by law, whoever you are, lying in hollowed-out caves, you fear the fall of the mountain [and subsequent collapse of the cave], you who shudder, grasped in the fierce mouths of hungry lions and the dire multitude of Furies, you who, half-charred, drive away the torches thrust at you, release the voice of Tantalus with haste toward you all; believe me to be an expert and love your punishments. When will it fall to my lot to escape the upper world?
Fury: First perturb the house and carry your disturbance inside and evil love of the sword for the kings, shake the fierce heart with insane tumult.
Tantalus: It is fitting for me to bear punishments, not to be a punishment. Am I sent as a deadly vapor from a rupture in the earth or a pestilence to spread fatal plague to the nations? Shall I, the grandfather, lead horrendous nefariousness to my offspring? O Great Father of the gods, and of me, too, though it may cause you shame, even though my chattering tongue be tortured with legal but unnatural punishments, I will not be silent about this; I warn you not to violate your hands with accursed slaughter or sprinkle your altars with the evils of the Furies. I will stand my ground and resist this crime-- why do you terrify me with a whip and, fierce, hang entwined snakes over me? What fastened hunger do you stir up in my innermost marrow? My heart is ablaze with enflamed thirst and shines with flames in my burnt innards. I follow!
Fury: This, this furor spread through the whole house! Thus, thus they are borne and, hostile, thirst for their own blood by turns. The house senses your coming and shudders at what evils will be caused by contact with you. The deed is done. Descend back to the infernal caves and famous water; these sad lands are burdened with your step. Do you see how the water, led back inside the spring, dries up, so that the the rivers are vacant and the the hot winds blow few clouds? Every tree loses its color and the naked branch stands stands with the fruit in flight, and where the Isthmos with waves nearby here and there roars, the neighbouring void divides with a thin strip of earth, now the broad land hears the sounds of the ocean from a long way off. For Lerna draws back and the Phronidean river draws back nor does the sacred Alpheus proffer his waters and the peaks of the Cithaeronian mountains stand in no part white with deposits of snow and the noble Argives fear their old thirst. The titan himself hestitates to order to follow and drives the day with his reigns, to go, about to die.
Chorus:
If anyone among the gods loves Achaian Argos or the house of Piseas famous for chariots; if anyone loves the kingdom of the Corinthian chariots and the twin ports and the sea set apart*, if anyone loves the conspicuous snows of Taygeti, which, when Sarmatian Boreas at a frigid time puts upon the high peaks, and the summer loosens sail-bearing Etesiis, which Alpheos touches with his cool and lucid rivers, famous for his Olympic stadium, let him turn to placid rule and enclose us, let them not give each other vices by turn, nor let worse grandchildren succeed their grandfather or greater crimes please the lesser. Exhausted of impiety, let the progeny of thirsty Tantalus put of their fierce impetus; there has been enough of sin. No faith fares well and nefariousness is common. Myrtilus was shown to be a deceptor of his master, he fell, and carried by the loyalty which he had borne, he gave the noble sea a changed name; there is no story more famous among the Ionian sailors. The young boy was received on an impious gladius when he ran to his father's kiss, the immature victim fell on the altar and was divided by your right hand, Tantalus, so as to set the tables for the gods, your guests. Eternal hunger follows that feast, and eternal thirst, since a more fitting punishment could not be discerned for such a fierce feast. Exhausted Tantalus stands in the hollow gulley, and fruit aplenty hangs over his noxious head, more likely to flee than the birds of Phineas, and here and there the tree hangs down its heavy branches and, curved and trembling with its fruits, plays up against his gaping mouth. Here, greedy as you wish and not patient of delay, deceived so many times before he feigns to touch and averts his eyes and shuts his mouth and binds his hunger with his fastened jaws. But then the entire grove sends down its divine fruit close and ripe fruits from above on languid branches mock him, and they stir up his hunger, for which reason he commands his riled hands to go forward; and where he leads them forward, he is not surprised at dissapointment, and the whole wood is seized up and the wood is mobile. Then, thirst stands no more easily than hunger; which when his blood is heated and heated with firey torches, the miser stands, striving with his mouth for the obvious waters, which the fleeing river turns away from the sterile cavity and deserts the striver. He, from the gurgling river, drinks the deep dust.
Exeunt.
Enter Atreus and an attendant.
Atreus: Inactive, unskillful, gutless and, which I deem the maximum problem for a tyrant in such perilous circumstances, unavenged; after such a crime, after my brother's tricks and every right is sundered, you lead with vain complaints, O "Angry" Atreus? For the whole world should tremble with your armies and the fleets should stir up either of the twin seas, for fields should shine with flame and cities be leveled and drawn swords flash from every corner. Let the whole earth sounds with our horse; let no forest cover the enemy nor cities built on the high peaks of mountains; let the whole populus sing the wars of left-behind Mycenis, whoever keeps watch over or shelters his worthless head, let him fall with lethal ruin. Let the strong house of famous Pelops itself fall on me, if at the same time it falls on my brother. Come, soul, do what no posterity could condone, but at which none could keep silent. It is some daring sin or other, atrocious, bloody, so great that my brother wishes it were his. You do not avenge crimes unless you surpass them. And what could be so savage to surpass him? Crouching, does he lie down? Does he accept any limit in prosperity, any retirement in adversity? I know the implacable nature of man; it cannot be bent, but it can be broken! Let him be attacked first, so that he cannot attack me when I am off guard. He will ruin or perish; the crime is set between for whoever gets there first.
Attendant: The rumors of the populus do not turn you aside?
Atreus: This is the greatest boon for a tyrant, the fact that the populus is driven by its master as much to praise as it is to bear.
Attendant: Those whom fear drives, fear will make into enemies; and whoever seeks the glory of true fame, wishes to be praised with spirit more than with voice.
Atreus: True praise always clings to the humble man, false praise to none but the powerful. Let them wish for what they don't want.
Attendant: Let the king want honesty; no one will want otherwise.
Atreus: Wherever honesty alone is permitted the king, he reigns precariously.
Attendant: Where there is no shame, nor care, sancitity, piety or faith, the kingdom is unstable.
Atreus: Sanctity faith care are private goods; going one's own way is for the kings.
Satelles: Think it a crime to do harm even to a bad brother.