Seneca's Heroides: Elegy in Seneca's Medea Author(S): Christopher Trinacty Reviewed Work(S): Source: the Classical Journal, Vol

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Seneca's Heroides: Elegy in Seneca's Medea Author(s): Christopher Trinacty Reviewed work(s): Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 103, No. 1 (Oct. - Nov., 2007), pp. 63-78 Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30038659 . Accessed: 11/06/2012 14:37

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http://www.jstor.org SENECA'S HEROIDES: ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA*

Abstract:This paper analyzes the intertextual relationship between Seneca's Medea andOvid's Heroides. Seneca utilizes the Heroides not only to flesh out his characterizationof Medea, but to examinethe differences (and similarities)between the genresof elegy and tragedy.Seneca's Medea owes her elegiac background toOvid, buther actions in theplay reveal a self-consciouscharacter striving to surpass previousrepresentations.

ver ten years ago, Tarrantwrote, "Analyzing Seneca's strong rereadingof the Augustans is one of the mostpromising ways ver of furtherdefining the themesand outlook of Senecan drama, but focusingon Seneca's genericcontaminatio may also enhanceunder- standing of his dramaturgy."'Seneca's tragedies resound with the language and imagery of previous Greek and Roman authors,and his works respond creativelyto this poetic traditionto carve out a place for his own unique voice and view. Recent work on Senecan tragedy has explored aspects of Seneca's intertextualrelationship with Ovid and Virgil, as well as suggested how intertextualitycan enrichthe interpretationof the plays.2Schiesaro, for example, shows how Seneca's Atreus models his behavior on Ovid's Tereus and Procne (Met. 6.412-674), and suggests that the immoral cycle of revenge in thattale permeates Thyestes:"the pointed and systematic connectionbetween the Metamorphosesand Thyestesreinforces pre- cisely this precarious and destabilizing morality."3In addition to thematicemphasis, intertextualityevokes larger questions of genre, as referencesto epic or elegy are woven into the fabricof Senecan tragedy. Littlewood finds that Hippolytus' hunting song, rife with

* I would like to thankthe editor,S. Douglas Olson, and the anonymous referees to Profs.David of CJfor their insightful suggestions and critiques.I am also grateful Christensonand JeriDeBrohun fortheir perceptive comments. 1 Tarrant(1995) 225. 2 For verbal parallels, see e.g. Jakobi (1988); Putnam (1995); Schiesaro (2003); Littlewood (2004). Conte (1986), Wills (1996), Hinds (1998) and Edmunds (2001) have informedmy use of the term"intertextuality." 3 Schiesaro (2003) 82. Both Tereus and Procne are morallyculpable: "To Tereus' responsibilityOvid opposes a monstrousrevenge with intractablemoral implications. IfTereus' tyrannicalcruelty is neitherlessened nor justifiedby the terriblepunishment his wife prepares for him, neitherdoes Procne personifya fully endorsable moral option."

THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL103.1 (2007) 63-78 64 CHRISTOPHERTRINACTY allusionsto elegiacpoetry, undermines the chaste persona he strug- gles to embodythroughout the play.4Intertextuality allows forthe incorporationof diverse voices into Seneca's tragedies, and whenhe incorporateselegy and epic,the reader must decide how thegenre of the sourcematerial alters the meaningof the line in its new tragic context.sSeneca thus revealshimself as an authorconcerned with genericcontaminatio, and his tragediesbecome arenas in whichthe assumptionsand conventionsof different genres are contested.6 Thispaper focuses on theintertextual relationship between Sene- ca's Medeaand Ovid's Heroides.7Seneca utilizesthe Heroides exten- sivelyin the creationof his characters,most notablyMedea and Phaedra.8Heroides 6 (Hypsipyleto Jason)and Heroides12 (Medea to Jason)offer Seneca a view of Medea thatdiffers drastically from her representationin Greektragedy or Roman epic.9Ovid's heroines (Hypsipyleand Medea) subscribeto thegeneric rules of theelegiac Heroidesand detailtheir love forJason, although the different inter- nal authorsoffer distinctive perspectives on theirrelationships with him."1Both heroinesspecify the miserylove causes them,while placinga new "spin"on thetraditional literary tales. Ovid imagines Medea momentsafter the wedding procession for Creusa and Jason has passedher door, while his Hypsipyle has heardrumors of Jason's new mistress,Medea. Ovid's portrayalsof Medea respondto previous representationsin Euripidesand Apollonius,but add new

4 Cf. Littlewood(2004) 263, discussing "deviant intertextuality." 5 Cf. Barchiesi (2001) 142: "The relationthat joins a textto a model involves the interpretationnot of one textbut two. Both these interpretationsare ever on trial,in process, and continuallyinfluencing one another. The new text rereads its model, while the model in turninfluences the reading of the new text-indeed when recog- nized, it oftenhas the power to do so." 6 Cf. Conte (1994) 36: "A means of significationincorporated into the textto give formand meaning to the discourse and instructionsto its reader,the genre is in fact the horizon markingthe boundaries of its meaningand delimitingits real possibilities withinthe systemof literarycodification." Leo (1878) and Cleasby (1907) firstpointed out many of these parallels. 8I will not examine the characterof Phaedra, althoughSeneca certainlyhad Her. 4 in mind in his Phaedra.See DeVito (1994) and Casali (1995) forreadings of Her. 4 that are influencedby Seneca's Phaedra,and the edition of Coffeyand Meyer (1990), which points out the multipleparallels. 9 Ovid also writes of Medea at Met. 7.1-424. I am convinced that Ovid's lost tragedy,Medea, also influencedSeneca's version,but, due to the fragmentarynature of that play, I have chosen to focus on the Heroides.Although Knox (1986) doubts the authenticityof Her. 12, I feel that Hinds (1993) successfullycounters many of Knox's argumentsand believe that Her. 12 is the work of Ovid. See Heinze (1997) 237-52 for text,testimonia and commentaryon Ovid's Medea. "oFor Her. 12, see Bessone (1997); Heinze (1997). For Her. 6, see Knox (1995). For discussion of the relationshipbetween Her. 12 and Her. 6, see Verducci (1985); Lind- heim (2003). Recent work on the Heroideshas stressed the individual voices of the internalauthors within the largergroup of heroines;see Fulkerson(2005). ELEGYIN SENECA'S MEDEA 65 perspectivescommensurate with theirposition in the epistolaryand elegiac genre.11The Heroidesshow elegy's abilityto reshape epic and tragicmaterial, and Seneca offersa correspondingtransformation as he reclaimsMedea forhis tragedy.12As Hinds commentson Medea's characterizationin the Heroides,"Medea, the tragicheroine par excel- lence,enters a collection of elegiac epistles, but she does not come quietly: her tragic identityis not suppressed, but ratheris set in productive tension with her new epistolaryenvironment."'13 Ovid's Heroidesprovide ways of viewing the literarytradition, focalized throughthe lettersof the heroines. Seneca's response advances the storyto a concretefuture and shows the resultsof the elegiac Medea's returnto the tragic stage. As Ovid's charactersdefine themselves within the genre and vis-ai-visprevious literarymaterial, so Seneca writeshis Medea in response to these new figurationsof Medea. His tragedyrelies on Ovid's Medeas to provide a ready-made "elegiac" role forhis own Medea.14 Seneca's decision to utilize the Heroidesin the constructionof his Medea is an inspired one. In the Heroides,Medea's elegiac character- isticsare emphasized along with her controlof the literarytradition; she is, afterall, craftingthe letterof Heroides12. A reading of Seneca's Medea that takes into account the intertextualechoes of the Heroides helps clarifyhow and why Seneca's Medea is as self-consciousas she appears to be.15I will trace examples of the intertextualrelationship between Ovid and Seneca to show how the elegiac characteristicsof Seneca's Medea derive from the elegiac works of Ovid, and how these characteristicsrenegotiate aspects of personaand genre. The Ovidian intertextserves as the background for the love Seneca's Medea once felt for Jason. When Seneca alludes to this material,

11 For more on the epistolarityof the Heroides,see Kennedy (2002). Farrell(1998) stressesthe femaleauthorship of the Heroidesand theirrhetorical strategies. 12 See Barchiesi (1993) 346: "Ovid's heroines ... are conditionedby an intertextuality which is not simply mythological,but is specificallyliterary." Fulkerson (2005) 14: "Because these heroines exist prior to the Heroidesin various textualincarnations, it is impossible to avoid comparingthe charactersin the poems to theirpredecessors, even when those predecessorsexist only in fragments." 13 Hinds (1993) 39. 14I do not believe thatevery allusion carriessuch genericresonance, but I hope to show that certainallusions should be read in this mannerand that Seneca was aware of the generic tension between differentforms of poetry and his tragedies. Harrison (2002) discusses "genericascent" in Ovid's works. 15 In Her. 12, Medea refersto herselfin the third person in her self-conscious appeal to Jason(5, 25, 182). This self-addresssets a precedentfor Seneca's Medea and leads, in part,to her sense of herselfas an archetype,into which she grows as the play progresses. For more on the use of Medea's name in the play, see Segal (1982). Her self-consciousnature has been a topic of discussion since Wilamowitz's (1919) 3:162 famous commentthat Seneca's Medea musthave read Euripides' play. 66 CHRISTOPHER TRINACTY he forges significantcontinuities between his vision of Medea and Ovid's. Seneca's Medea, however, fulfillsthe threatsof Ovid's heroine, and, in doing so, points out how quickly and completelylove can turnto hate and thus how her storycan be transformedfrom an elegy to a tragedy. Seneca'sLiterary Imitatio Seneca's use of Ovidian material has not gone unnoticed, and Seneca himselfclaims that appropriationof such materialprovides authors with additional avenues to approach a subject. In Ep. 79, Seneca encourages Lucilius to writea poetic account of Aetna,despite the factthat Virgil, Ovid and Cornelius Severus have already written about the mountain.Seneca claims thatprevious poets have not had the last word on the topic,and thatit can even benefita writerto be the latestin a long line of authors(79.6):

Multuminterest utrum ad consumptammateriam an ad subactamaccedes: crescitin dies,et inventurisinventa non obstant.Praeterea condicio optima est ultimi:parata verba invenit, quae aliterinstructa novam faciem habent. Nec illismanus inicit tamquam alienis; sunt enim publica.

It makesa greatdeal of differencewhether you take up a subjectalready exhausted,or one wherethere is stillwork to be done;in thelatter case, the topicgrows day by day,and whatis alreadydiscovered does not standin theway ofnew discoveries.Besides, he who writeslast is in thebest posi- tion;he findsalready at hand words which, when arrayed in a differentway, showa new face.Nor is he stealingthem, as thoughthey belonged to someone else,when he uses them,for they are publicproperty.

The idea that "words ... when arrayed in a differentway, show a new face" defines Seneca's intertextualproject in his tragedies. Seneca createscharacters who explore theirintertextual lives through allusion to authors such as Ovid, and this intertextualrelationship allows him both to fleshout his characters'feelings and motivations, and to investigateliterary issues such as genericdifference. Likewise, in Epistle84, Seneca develops the metaphorof the good writeras a bee who sifts and blends varied flavors into "one delicious com- pound" (unumsaporem).16 Through a process of distillation,the honey reveals its origins, while simultaneouslybecoming "differentthan that fromwhich it came" (aliud tamenesse quam unde sumptumest). This metaphor mirrorsSeneca's literaryproduction as he combines themes,imagery and language fromthe existingpoetic traditionand

16 Ep. 84.5, encompassing the following quotation, as well. For an attemptto summarize Seneca's literarycriticism, see Merchant(1905). ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA 67

createssomething new fromits diverse parts. Clearly Seneca feltthat the tragic tales of characterssuch as Medea, Atreus and Phaedra were not exhausted and that his accounts, in part because of their intertextualplay with previous material,could offera freshview of the story. A HeavierMedea In the firstact of Seneca's play, Medea emerges angrilyfrom the house, planning revenge,even ifshe is unsure what it will entail.She appears to be takingup where Ovid's Medea leftoff in the Heroides: at the conclusion of Heroides12, Medea claims nescioquid certemens mea maius agit ("my mind surely plans somethinggreater," 12.214) foreshadowing the tragedy that will result from her feelings of desertionand anger." Here Seneca also recallsAmores 3.1, in which a personifiedElegy and Tragedy fightover Ovid's services as poet, and Tragedy urges Ovid: incipemaius opus ("begin a greaterwork," 3.1.24). Seneca evokes thislanguage of genericascent in his tragedy.18 His Medea strivesthroughout the play to perform"greater" crimes and claims that her youthfullove of Jason has curdled into black hate. At the startof the play, she states(48-50): leviamemoravi nimis; haecvirgo feci. gravior exsurgat dolor: maioraiam me scelerapost partus decent.19

I have rememberedevils too light; I did thesethings as a girl.A heavierpain grows: now,having given birth, greater crimes suit me.

From a thematicstandpoint, these lines highlightthe maternalimag- ery of the firstact, and reveal a Medea concerned with her repu- tation and her abilityto outdo her previous actions. From a literary perspective,the words signifythat Seneca is bringingforth a plot "greater"(maiora) than the "light" (levia) deeds ofelegy. A quick glance back at Amores3.1 reveals thatElegia calls herself"light" (41-2):

17 Both Barchiesi (1993) and Hinds (1993) cite this line as an indication of the tragedy that will follow, but neithercritic points out how Seneca responds to this claim in his Medea. For similarprogrammatic formulations, see Prop. 2.34.65-6: nescio quid maius nasciturIliade. In Seneca's works, see Thy.267: nescioquidanimus maius ... tumet;and Oed. 925: secumipse saevus grande nescioquid parat. Schiesaro (2003) 81 n. 25 commentson these parallels. 18 "Generic ascent" signifiesthe way poets such as Ovid representtheir transi- tions from"lower" genreslike elegy or pastoral to "higher" ones like tragedyor epic; see Harrison (2002). 19 I use Zwierlein's (1986) OxfordClassical Text throughout. 68 CHRISTOPHER TRINACTY

sumlevis, et mecumlevis est, mea cura,Cupido; nonsum materia fortior ipsa mea.

I am light,and mycare, Cupid, is lightwith me; I myselfam notstronger than my material.20 Seneca's Medea definesherself as someone who has transcendedher elegiac representation,and the "heaviness" of her grief(gravior dolor) hintsat the tragedyto follow.21 Furtheringthis representationof her as a woman who has out- grown elegy,Seneca's Medea claims thatshe will not blusterin vain (23-8):

me coniugemoptet, quoque nonaliud queam peiusprecari, liberos similes patri similesquematri. parta iam, parta ultio est: 25 peperi.querelas verbaque in cassumsero? nonibo in hostes?manibus excutiam faces caeloquelucem...

Mayhe longfor me as hiswife, and-I canthink of no worsecurse-for children who resemble their father and theirmother. My revenge is born,it is nowborn: I havegiven birth. Do I composecomplaints and words in vain? ShallI notattack my enemies? I willshake the wedding torches fromtheir hands and thelight from the sky!

Here we are remindedof the querelaethat appear to be programmatic shorthandfor elegy fromPropertius 1.18 (et quodcumquemeae possunt narrarequerelae, "and whatever my complaints are able to tell," 29) to theHeroides.22 Seneca is shaping his Medea intoa figurewho moves beyond the genre of elegy and no longer carriesa romantictorch for Jason. In addition, in these lines Seneca comments on the close of Heroides12, where Ovid's Medea threatens,ingentis parturit ira minas

20 On the traditional"lightness" of love poetry,cf. Ov. Rem.379-80; Am. 1.1.19; Hor. Carm.1.6.20. See James(2003) 112-13 forthe elegiac beloved's levitas. 21 Cf.Ovid's claimin theTristia: omne genus scripti gravitate tragoedia vincit / haec quoque materiamsemper amoris habet ("Tragedy defeatsevery genre in the weight of its writing/ but even this always has the subject-matterof love," 2.381). For Tragedy's gravitas,see Kelly (1993) 8-10. 22 Cf.Her. 1.69-70: scirem ubi pugnares, et tantumbella timerem /et mea cum multis iunctaquerela foret ("I would know where you were fighting,and I would only fear war / and my complaintwould be joined with many others");Her. 3.5-6: si mihipauca queride tedominoque viroque Ifas est,de dominopauca viroque querar ("If it is permitted forme to complain brieflyabout you, my masterand lover, / I shall complain briefly about you, my master and lover"). For querelaand lacrimaein the Heroides,see Baca (1971). For the connectionbetween elegy and lament,see Knox (1995) ad ES = Her. 15. ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA 69

("my anger is toiling with mightythreats," 208). Seneca's Medea utilizes the imageryof pregnancyboth to foreshadowthe role of her childrenin her revenge against Jason,and to point out the generic differencesbetween tragedy and elegy.23If tragedy is a "heavier" (gravior)genre than elegy, greatercrimes are necessary forher as a mother(maiora iam me scelerapost partus decent, 50).24 Words such as pario(25, 26, 50, 55) and gravior(49) emphasize the connectionMedea draws between motherhoodand revenge.Seneca highlightsthis cor- respondence furtherwhen his Medea states, quae scelereparta est, scelerelinquenda est domus("the home was procuredby crime,it must be leftby crime,"55). His Medea underscoresthe subjectof the tragedy at hand, as well as the differencebetween the threatsof Ovid's Medea and the actual power she possesses in his own play.25 A New Typeof Wedding Seneca's tragedycontinues to develop materialfrom Heroides 12 in the firstchoral song. Heroides12.137-40 featuresa heart-rending descriptionof Medea as she learns of Jason'snew marriagewhen the wedding parade passes by her door:

ut subitonostras Hymen cantatus ad aures venit,et accensolampades igne micant, tibiaqueeffundit socialia carmina vobis, at mihifunerea flebiliora tuba...

Whensuddenly the wedding hymn comes to myears, and thetorches sparkle with kindled flame, and thepipe pours out songs joyful to you, butto me morefull of tears than a funeralhorn.

Seneca focuses on this situationand makes it the subject of his first chorus, a polymetricsong that responds to both Medea's opening speech and the situationin Ovid's poem.26Seneca "completes"Ovid's

23 Cf. Schiesaro (2003) 89 on birthingimagery in Seneca's Oedipus:"Poetry comes to lightthrough a painfulbirthing process which gives shape to the passions residing in the underworld,and is thus associated with the fear-inspiringsecrets of the female body." 24 See OLD gravis2b forthe word's association with pregnancy.Cf. Her. 12.188, where Medea worries,saeviet in partusdira novercameos ("a savage stepmotherwill rage against my children"). 2ZMedea's power is expressed in universal terms in her incantation(670-844), and the results of her revenge will stretchthroughout the world (as seen in the Argonauticodes). For a readingof the play thatstresses the danger of bringingMedea to the civilized world,see Benton (2003). 26 Hinds (1998) 104-22 discusses a similarphenomena in Ov. Met. 12.623-14.582, where the poet reimagines Virgil's Aeneid by foregrounding"Virgilian stories of 70 CHRISTOPHER TRINACTY work and gives a poetic account of the hymn mentionedthere (Her. 12.135-58). This is a fine example of an intertextualmoment that is not (merely)a verbal allusion, in thatSeneca adds dramatictouches to the scene to indicatehis supplementationof Ovid's material.27Sig- naling a metaliteraryresponse to Ovid, Seneca's Medea reappears on stage and commentson the chorus she has just heard (116-17):

occidimus:aures pepulit hymenaeus meas. vixipsa tantum,vix adhuc credo malum. I am donefor: the wedding song has struckmy ears. Scarcely,scarcely can I believeso greatan evilhas occurred.

These lines hearken back to the Heroidespassage and force the reader to acknowledge Seneca's appropriationof the Ovidian subject matter.Seneca's choral ode highlightsthe differencesin perspective between the Chorus and Medea, and reveals that one aspect of the play's conflictis a dispute over language.28While the Chorus praises the power of marriage,Medea attemptsto freeherself from her previous roles as wife and motherand will soon configureher revenge as a new type of wedding (nuptiasspecto novas, 894), therebyidenti- fyingthe connectionbetween her past love forJason and the revenge she will enact.

Becomingand BeingMedea Near the close of the play, Medea describeshow farshe has come in her conceptionof crimeand of self.At thispoint, she has realized that Jason will not leave his new bride, and has displayed her magical powers throughan incantation(indebted heavily to Ovid's Metamorphoses)that consumes much of the fourthact. She claims that

metamorphosis"(p. 105). Seneca's move here is slightlydifferent, as he stages a song in lyricmeters (Minor Asclepiadean and Glyconics) that cannot be accommodated to the elegiac distich.Cat. 61 is also in Glyconicstrophes. 27 The Chorus desires thatBacchus' son, Hymen,be presentand thata Fescennine verse be sung. While both are typical forweddings, Fescennineverses are thoughtto be the predecessor of Roman drama; cf. Hor. Ep. 2.1.145-6; Livy 7.2.6-7. For a similar developmentof Greek drama, cf.Arist. Po. 1449a9-31. 28 See Fyfe (1983) 79: "[The Chorus'] fear of Medea seems characterizedby a desire that she remain silent,as if whatever threatthere mightbe in her presence would be realized ifshe were allowed to talk." On the contestbetween Medea and the Chorus, see Hine (1989) passim.Star (2006) 232-40 points out thatMedea's self-address leads to her actions,so the Chorus is rightto fearher language. Seneca's Medea exer- cises her controlof the play throughher language as shown in her interactionswith Creon (179-300) and Jason (435-578), as well as her incantation(740-844), and her language teems with threateningirony and grimforeboding throughout. ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA 71 the crimesshe performedearlier in lifewere mere triflesand thatshe has become "Medea" (910-14):

Medea nuncsum: crevitingenium malis. iuvat, iuvat rapuisse fraternum caput, artusiuvat secuisse et arcano patrem spoliassesacro, iuvat in exitiumsenis armassenatas.

Now I am Medea,my genius has grownby crimes. I am glad,glad thatI toreaway my brother's head, glad thatI dicedhis limbs and plundered thesacred treasure from my father, glad thatI armed daughtersto kill their elderly father.

What does Medea mean when she says thatshe is now Medea?29 In part,this passage picks up an earlier allusion to Heroides6, where Hypsipyle writesto Jasonabout the pain and anger she feelsbecause he desertedher foranother woman, i.e. Medea herself.In thatletter, Hypsipyle wishes thatshe could punish Medea forstealing her man (149-51):

paelicisipsa meosimplessem sanguine vultus, quosqueveneficiis abstulit illa tuos. Medeae Medeaforem.

I would have filledmy eyes withthe sightof yourmistress' blood, and youreyes too, which she stoleaway by magic. I wouldhave been a veritableMedea toMedea.30

Hypsipyle'sbloodthirsty wish to murderMedea is recalledin Seneca's play when Medea debates with the Nurse what action she should take against Jason(168-71):

(Nu.) Rexest timendus. (Me.) Rexmeus fuerat pater. (Nu.) Non metuisarma? (Me.) Sintlicet terra edita.

29 Bartsch(2006) 261 points out the Stoic overtonesof much of Medea's language, but also recognizes the literarynature of her conception of self: "The result of the drama's attentionto the question of recognitionis that personalself-recognition and literaryrecognition necessarily coalesce here." For Medea's literaryself-consciousness, see Littlewood (2004) 103-5; forthe metatheatricalfeatures of this self-consciousness, see Boyle (1997) 130-3. For the EpistulaeMorales as an illustrationof Seneca's notion of self,see Edwards (1997). 30 On Hypsipyle's desire to become Medea, see Lindheim (2003) 114-35. Hypsi- pyle wants to become the "Medea" she has learned about, a sorceress who has the power to charm Jason,while hintingat the crueltythat Medea embodies; cf. Knox (1995) ad loc.; Tarrant(1995) 222-3. 72 CHRISTOPHER TRINACTY

(Nu.) Moriere.(Me.) Cupio.(Nu.) Profuge.(Me.) Paenituit fugae. (Nu.) Medea- (Me.) Fiam.

(Nurse)The king must be feared.(Medea) My father was a king. (Nurse)You do notfear arms? (Medea) Not even if sprung from theearth. (Nurse)You willdie. (Medea) I desireit. (Nurse) Flee! (Medea) I regretmy flight. (Nurse)Medea- (Medea) is who I shallbecome.

The move fromthe subjunctive (forem)to the futureindicative (fiam),and the similarityin language mark the thematicparallelism between these passages. While Hypsipyle will be unable to fulfillher desired revenge (note the subjunctivein a contrary-to-factcondition), Medea can and will requite Jasonfor his desertion.In the course of the play she will become "Medea," as she herselfrecognizes (Medea nuncsum, 910). Seneca's play emphasizes Medea's strugglebetween her love forJason and her anger at being deserted. These passages show the transitionfrom a possible revengein the future(fiam) to the presentrevenge being enacted (sum).Seneca alludes to Ovid's Heroides in order to point to the characterizationof Medea in Ovid's elegiac poetry,while exploringthe tragicramifications of such a characteri- zation. While Ovid introducedthe tragicMedea to the elegiac world of the Heroides,Seneca re-introducesher to her "proper" genre, tragedy,and marksthat transferal through metaliterary language.31 A similarmoment of genericascent occurs in the fifthact, when Medea again appropriateslanguage found in Heroides12. One of the final commentsby Ovid's Medea concerns her anger: quo feretira, sequar.facti fortasse pigebit... ("where anger leads, I will follow. But perhaps my action will displease me...," 209). Within the generic constraintsof elegy,Medea can only hintat violence,but at the close of Seneca's tragedy she recasts the language of the Heroidesin the present indicative: ira, qua ducis, sequor ("anger, where you lead, I follow,"953). Seneca's Medea has just burned down the royalpalace, and killed the king and Creusa, and now roams the stage with her sons and a sword in hand. In Seneca's tragedy,she certainlyfollows and acts out her anger.32

31 Schiesaro (2003) 213 discusses how Atreus' and Medea's self-recognition"is predicated on the immutabilityof fundamentalcharacteristics which define them as what they are." I believe that these fundamentalcharacteristics are found in earlier literaryaccounts. Cf. Ovid's comments on the appropriateness of ira in tragedy at Rem. 376 grandesonant tragici: tragicos decet ira cothurnos("Tragic poets bellow powerfully:anger befitsthe tragicboots"). ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA 73

The relationshipbetween the textsis markedby shared language, and the change in tense captures the present situation of Seneca's tragedy,which revolves around Medea's love and anger. Is Seneca equating the emotions or showing the similaritiesbetween them? Throughoutthe play, his Medea posits love as the cause forher previous crimes(135-6): nullumscelus iratafeci: saevit infelix amor. I have committedno crime outof anger: unlucky love raged.33 The Chorus likewise understands that the connectionbetween love and anger definesMedea. Their commentbefore the beginning of the fifthact encapsulates her conflict(862-5): frenarenescit iras Medea,non amores; nuncira amorque causam iunxere:quid sequetur? Medea is incapableof reining in heranger or her love. Now love and angerhave joined forces.What will follow?

Love and anger combine in the final act of the play, as Medea gives in to her anger (ira ... sequor),answering the Chorus' question (quid sequetur?).Seneca points to the love Medea once showed to Jason(and her children)by alluding to the elegiac genre of the Hero- idesand to the representationof Medea there.He shows the struggle Medea undergoes between these emotions in the course of the play, and only in the finalact does she give in to her anger.34 This descent into anger and hatred defines the tragic Medea. Whereas Ovid's Medea worries that she may rue her futureactions, factifortasse pigebit ("But perhaps my action will displease me," 12.209),Seneca's Medea takes pleasure in her crimes.She comments on her new-foundjoy (990-2): quid,misera, feci? misera? paeniteat licet, feci.voluptas magna me invitamsubiit etecce crescit.

33 Cf. 397-8, where Medea draws a parallel between her love and hate (si quaeris odio,misera, quem statuas modum, /imitare amorem). 34 Gill (1987) analyzes Medea's self-divisionin Seneca's and Euripides' plays. If my reading is correct,such a self-divisioncan have metaliteraryconsequences (i.e. in the oppositionbetween elegy and tragedy). 74 CHRISTOPHER TRINACTY

Miserablewoman, what have I done? Miserable?Although I mayregret it, I haveacted. Great pleasure arises in me,against my will, and,lo! [shesees Jason] it increases.

The formsof facio and the impersonalverbs of displeasure and regret (pigebit-paeniteat)used in both descriptionssuggest the connection between the passages, and the transformationthat has occurred. Seneca's Medea has become greaterthan the elegiac Medea of Ovid's Heroides,but these allusions also point back to the motivationfor her actions. Her anger springsfrom her past love forJason. Medea states thatshe is "following"her anger,which recallsprevious pointed uses of the verb sequorin the play. The Chorus wondered what would follow the union of Medea's love and anger (quid sequetur?,869), and Medea earlier postulated that she would leave her husband in the same way that she followed him (quo virumlinquis modo? / hoc quo secutaes, 53-4). Seneca utilizes this verb to signpost Medea's trans- formationinto an agent of vengeance, and the final allusion to Ovid's Heroides12 specifiesthat she is developing the personacreated there.Although there is continuityin Medea's thought,Seneca shows the process behind her transformationand the alternativepersonae she could have chosen to embody. In the end, however, he reveals how the destructionof Medea's previous love forJason impelled her acts ofrevenge.35 Medea as Author Seneca is a self-consciouswriter whose tragedies revel in self- conscious characters.His Medea recognizes that she must act like "herself"in pursuing her revenge against Jason. She constructsthe plot accordingly,and Seneca stressesthat his Medea outstripsprevi- ous representations,in particularnoting the transformationof the Medea of theHeroides into a "new" tragicfigure. Seneca's intertextual relationshipwith Ovid allows him to carefullydelineate and inter- rogateMedea's actionsand motivation,while simultaneouslyprovid- ing a metaliterarycomment on the poetry of his tragedy.The language he employs to describe Medea's possible revenge can also be interpretedas a critiqueof his own version of the story.At the close of the play, Medea herselfbecomes a representativeof the author,as she remarks upon her new manifestation.She addresses her grief (914-15):

35Note Medea's language aftershe learns of Creusa's and Creon's fierydemise (quid,anime, cessas? sequerefelicem impetum, 895). ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA 75

quaere materiam,dolor: ad omnefacinus non rudem dextram afferes.36

Seeknew material, grief! You willbring a practicedright hand to everycrime.

The use of materiampoints to both the means of revenge and the way this tellingof the Medea storywill be rendered." Medea acts like a skilled (non rudemdextram) poet who creates her work in a sophis- ticated manner.38She claimed earlier that a girl's hands could not cause sufficientdamage (908-9):

quid manuspoterant rudes auderemagnum, quid puellarisfuror?

Whatgreat deed wereunpracticed hands able to dare?What could a girl'sfury accomplish?

Now, at the conclusion of the play, her hands will compose a suitable revenge against Jason,one that takes into considerationher growthfrom a youngerfigure of a weaker genreto the tragicMedea.39 Seneca's language emphasizes Medea's role in creatingthe action, and she comes to resemble an artistwho expresses herselfthrough her work. When Jasonenters the scene, he urges his men (988-9):

ipsamsceleris auctorem horridi capiamus.

Letus capturethe very author of this fearful crime.40

36 In thisscene, Medea addressesher dolor (914, 944), ira(916, 953) and furor(930). These emotions attest to her pain and anger at Jason's actions. See Her. 12.115 for Ovid's emphasison Medea's righthand as a synonymfor both authorship and crime: quodfacere ausa mea est,non audetscribere dextra ("What my righthand dared to do, it does not dare to write"). Bessone (1997) 5 and passim stresses the ways in which Ovid's Medea, as author,rewrites herself as an elegiac figurein Her. 12. 37 Cf. OLD materia6, 7. Materia can be used to describe the subject-matterof a speech or poetry; cf. Ov. Am. 3.1.42 (supra); Tr. 2.382 (supra); Sen. Ep. 79.6 (supra); Quint. Inst. 3.7.3; Tac. Dial. 35.4. For materiain Seneca's Phaedraand its resonances with Her.4, cf.Littlewood (2004) 277-8. 38 Cf. Troades67 fornon rude used in a similarmanner. 39 Ovid's Medea also defines herselfas "a simple girl" (puellae/ simplicis,Her. 12.90-1) when she firstmet Jason. Cf. Casali (1995) 2 forpuella as "an index of the elegiac code." 40 Cf. 734, where Medea is "an artistof crimes" (scelerumartifex). Auctor appears at Thy.639; Oed. 394; and Ov. Her. 7.105 with similarmetaliterary potential, although the word is not,of course,always imbued with thispotential. 76 CHRISTOPHER TRINACTY

His words ring true forthe reader who recognizes Medea's control of events on stage aftershe has become the author of the revenge plot against Jason. The intertextualrelationship between Seneca's Medea and Ovid's Heroidesreveals Seneca's interestin exploring the affinitiesand differences between the elegiac and tragic genres. He both follows Ovid's epistolarynarrative and elaborates episodes that Ovid only sketchesbriefly. These points of connectionalso act as metaliterary commentson generic distinctions,as Seneca asserts that his Medea will transcendOvid's and, in effect,realize a hypotheticalprojection of her Ovidian self.41Seneca marks many of these points of contin- uation and elaboration with a shiftin tense and mood from the subjunctive to the future or the present indicative (forem-fiam- sum), or from the futureto the present indicative (sequar-sequor). Medea develops in the course of Seneca's play, becoming a more threateningand palpable presence who delightsin causing pain and destruction.She is not a monolithicfigure who hates uniformly,and the allusions to the Heroideshelp delineate her characterand her rationale. At times, the more "elegiac" Medea surfacesin Seneca's text,both when she oscillates between her love for Jason and her anger at being spurned, and, more subtly,through allusions to the Heroides.Strong linguistic parallels between the textsprovide background material for Seneca's figureas she takes on the frustrated anger of Ovid's Medea. When Seneca's Medea claims, "Anger, where you lead, I follow," the reader remembersthe final words of Ovid's poem, and recognizesthat Medea has chosen to follow one of two alternatives.As the Chorus asked, "Now anger and love have joined causes, what will follow?". The answer is Seneca's play, and the reader can see how the author investigatesthe differencesand similaritiesbetween these emotions and the genres of elegy and tragedy in his Medea. The background to Medea's love is built on intertextuallinks with Ovid's Heroides,but the concrete results of spurned love have been staged in the course of Seneca's drama.

CHRISTOPHERTRINACTY Universityof Arizona

41 See Hardie (1993) 36 "There is even the possibilityof charactersattempting to live up to their own roles-in earlier literarytreatments of their own stories-in a displacementon to his charactersof the poet's attemptto rival his predecessor." Fitch and McElduff(2002) discuss similarself-recognition in Seneca's tragedies. ELEGY IN SENECA'S MEDEA 77

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