One of
my favourite female characters in Greek drama is Medea: the mother who killed her
two children and the new bride of her ex-husband Jason. Not that I approve of
women doing that, but portrayed by such a great dramatist and psychologist as
Euripides, one can fully understand her motives.
When in
the third century BC Romans started to copy Greek literature, tragedies
modelled on Greek examples were written too in the following two centuries, but
nothing has survived, except some titles and single lines. The only surviving tragedies have been written
by Seneca and he did quite a good job by writing ten. Most scholars think they
were not performed on stage, but were merely an attempt to cast philosophical ideas
into drama. Amongst these tragedies is a Medea, but though based on Euripides, it
is not an exact copy (see the link below). Euripides is by far the better playwright
and his play has a power still appealing for a modern public, but Seneca has
some forceful scenes too.
In the
following section the choir is comparing the fury of an abandoned woman with the
force (vis) of nature: nature loses… so,
men, beware!
Seneca, Medea.
Metre: Sapphic - u
- x
- u u - u - - (3x)
- u u - u
Chorus
Nulla vis flammae tumidive venti
tanta,
nec teli metuenda torti, 580
quanta
cum coniunx viduata taedis
ardet et odit;
non ubi
hibernos nebulosus imbres
Auster
advexit properatque torrens
Hister
et iunctos vetat esse pontes 585
ac vagus errat;
non ubi
impellit Rhodanus profundum,
aut ubi
in rivos nivibus solutis
sole iam
forti medioque vere
tabuit Haemus. 590
caecus
est ignis stimulatus ira
nec regi
curat patiturve frenos
aut
timet mortem: cupit ire in ipsos
obvius enses.
nulla vis...tanta metuenda, quanta
torqueo torti
torsum: to hurl
viduo: to bereave
taeda: nuptial
torch, wedding
hibernos imbres:
winter rains
Auster Austri: South-wind
advehi vexi vectum: to carry, bring
propero: to hasten, go quickly
Hister Histri: the lower Danube
iunctos vetat esse pontes:
and forbids bridges to be connected (i.e. breaking them.)
vagus errat: wanders astray (= floods its banks.)
Rhodanus: Rhone (river in France.)
profundum: the deep sea (here the Atlantic Ocean.)
rivus: small stream, brook
nivibus solutis: when the snow (nix nivis, f.) has melted
tabescere tabui: to dwindle, melt
Haemus: a mountain in Thessaly
caecus: blind
ignis: the fury of an abandoned woman
regi: passive infinitive of rego, not dative of rex!
patiturve frenos: or endures bridles
ire in ipsos obvius enses: to go against swords themselves (Note that obvius
is an adjective in Latin agreeing with ignis,
whereas in English – lacking a corresponding
adjective - it is translated as a preposition.)
Loeb
translation by F.J. Miller (1917)
CHORUS
[579] No
violence of fire or of swelling gale, no fearful force of hurtling spear, is as
great as when a wife, robbed of her love, burns hot with hate; not when cloudy
Auster has brought the winter’s rains, and Hister’s floods speeds on, wrecking
bridges in its course, and wanders afield; not when the Rhone beats back the
sea, or when the snows melt into streams beneath the sun’s strong rays and in
mid-spring Haemus has dissolved. Blind is the fire of love when fanned by rage,
cares not to be controlled, brooks no restraint, has no fear of death; ‘tis
eager to advance even against the sword.
No comments:
Post a Comment