Note 1048 — Chapter II · DRAMATIC LITERATURE IN THE AUGUSTAN AGE—REVIVAL UNDER NERO—DEFECTS OF THE TRAGEDIES ATTRIBUTED TO SENECA—INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THEIR AUTHORSHIP—SENECA THE PHILOSOPHER A STOIC—INCONSISTENT AND UNSTABLE—THE SENTIMENTS OF HIS PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS FOUND IN HIS TRAGEDIES—PARALLEL PASSAGES COMPARED—FRENCH SCHOOL OF TRAGIC POETS.
Reading edition
Of the closeness with which Seneca imitated the Greek tragic poets, the two following passages will serve as specimens:—
Animam senilem mollis exsolvit sopor.
Œdip. 788.
Σμικρὰ παλαιὰ σώματ’ εὐνάζει ῥοπή.
Quis eluet me Tanais.
Hippolyt. 715.
Οἴμαι γαρ οὐτ’ ἂν Ἴστρον, οὔτε Φᾶσιν ἂν
νίψαι καθαρμῷ....
Œd. Tyr. 1227.