Part 1

Transcriber’s Notes:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.

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A TRANSLATION OF OCTAVIA, A LATIN TRAGEDY, WITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION

BY ELIZABETH TWINING HALL, A. B., 1900

THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

1901

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

_May 29_ 190_1_

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY

_Elizabeth Hall_

ENTITLED _Translation of Octavia, a Latin Tragedy with Notes and Introduction_

IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF _A.M._

_Herbert J Barton_ HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF _Latin_.

INTRODUCTION

Octavia is the only extant tragedy in fabula praetexta or historical Roman tragedy in Roman scene and setting. It is remarkably true to fact, and almost every statement may be verified by reference to the ancient historians.

It deals with the sad story of Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina. Married against her will when only twelve years old to Nero, a lad of sixteen, she was after five years divorced by her husband on a charge of barrenness in favor of Poppaea Sabina, and in 62 A.D. was banished to a desert island there to be executed.

The play is a well rounded whole, all the parts are well worked out, and the characters are vivid and lifelike. There is a force and majesty in the tragedy which carries the reader through without pause. The sad story of Octavia forms the plot, but the poet has interwoven political motives and represents the people as taking Octavia’s part. This only serves to hasten her death, for Nero eagerly seizes upon this as a pretext to condemn her.

There are five acts in the play, and each is closed by chants from the chorus which serve to explain the action further. There are many references to history and mythology, but the atmosphere is distinctly Roman. At no time do three actors appear on the stage in the same scene. The characters are exactly as one would expect from a close study of history and are delineated with marvelous skill and fidelity.

The versification is confined to iambic meters in the dialogues, while the choruses, though they form a very prominent feature, are restricted to anapestic systems somewhat loosely constructed.

The play is really a bitter impeachment of Nero and was composed shortly after his death in 68 A.D. The tragedy of Octavia for a long time was supposed to be written by Seneca and was handed down to posterity with his genuine dramas, but later authorities ascribe its authorship possibly to Curiatius Maternus. There is unmistakable evidence in the words of the play that it was composed after Nero’s death, and this would render the authorship of Seneca entirely out of the question since he died three years before Nero.

There is perceptible the strong influence of Greek tragedy, but the plot and setting are distinctly original. Octavia has the characteristics of tragedy as laid down by Aristotle, that the aim is to purify the passions by means of action exciting pity for the actors and fear for the hearers, and that the leading characters must partly occasion their own misfortunes. Octavia conforms to the old Greek idea of the unities of time, place, and action. The place of action is confined to the palace of Nero; the action may be considered as taking place in one day and night; and the action forms a whole of which each part has its proper place and the parts follow one another in logical order.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

NERO, THE EMPEROR SENECA, THE TUTOR OF NERO PREFECT MESSENGER OCTAVIA, THE DIVORCED WIFE OF NERO POPPAEA, THE MISTRESS OF NERO NURSE OF OCTAVIA NURSE OF POPPAEA AGRIPPINA, MOTHER OF NERO CHORUS

OCTAVIA, A TRAGEDY.

_OCTAVIA_: Already glorious Aurora[1] chases the wandering stars from the sky. Titan,[2] with radiant hair, rises and returns a clear day to the world. Come, thou[3] who art burdened by so many great misfortunes, utter once more thy sad lamentations. Surpass the kingfishers[4] and the swift nightingales, for thy fate is more grievous than theirs. O, mother, for whom I have always mourned, the first cause of my misfortunes, (if any consciousness exists in the shades) hear the sad lamentations of thy daughter. Would that Clotho[5] had broken my threads with her own aged hand before I saw thy features sprinkled with loathsome blood.[6] O, day always fatal to me, from that time thou hast been to me more hateful than the lower regions. I have endured commands, hostility, and fierce glances from my cruel stepmother.[7] That gloomy Erinys[8] has brought to my bridal room Stygian[9] fires and has destroyed thee, wretched father,[10] whom recently the whole world beyond the Ocean obeyed, before whom retreated the Britains,[11] ignorant of our leaders and their own rights. Woe to me, father, that I am overwhelmed by the treachery of thy wife, and that thou liest prostrate, and that thy conquered home and daughter obey the tyrant.

_NURSE_: If anyone is captivated, astonished, and stupefied by the first gleam of deceptive royalty, he will see, overthrown by a sudden attack of concealed Fortune, a recently powerful home and the progeny of Claudius who ruled the world and commanded the ocean which reluctantly received his fleets.[12] Behold, he who first placed the yoke upon the Britains[13] and covered unknown seas with such great fleets, and was safe among barbarous tribes and savage seas, perished by his wife’s crime.[14] Soon she died by the hand of her own son whose brother met death by poison. The unhappy sister and wife sorrows; restrained indignation cannot conceal the grievous affliction of a cruel husband whom she in her innocence always escapes, while the passionate husband burns with a mutual hatred. In vain my fidelity and loyalty to soothe her sorrowing mind. Pitiless grief frustrates my plans; the mind’s generous ardor cannot be subdued but gathers strength for evils. Alas, what an infamous crime our terror foresees. O, may the gods avert it.

_OCTAVIA_: My fortunes are comparable to no evils,[15] even if I should recall thy sorrows, Electra.[16] Thou wast permitted to mourn thy father and to avenge the crime by the vengeance of a brother whom thy loyalty rescued and thy fidelity protected.[17] Fear prevents me from lamenting my parents removed by a cruel destiny, and forbids me to weep for the death of a brother who had been my only hope and the brief solace for so many misfortunes. Now I remain in my sorrow the shadow of a great name.[18]

_NURSE_: Listen, I hear the voice of my sad foster daughter. Does slow old age hesitate to go to the wedding chamber?

_OCTAVIA_: O, nurse, thou faithful witness of my grief, see my tears.

_NURSE_: What day, wretched daughter, will free thee from such sorrow?

_OCTAVIA_: The day which will send me to the Stygian shades.

_NURSE_: I hope that these forebodings of thine may be long in realization.

_OCTAVIA_: Not thy prayers but the fates rule my destiny.

_NURSE_: A pitying god will give better opportunities to thee in thy sorrow. Soon thou wilt quietly win over thy husband with caressing obedience.

_OCTAVIA_: I could conquer the savage lion and the fierce tiger sooner than the merciless heart of a barbarous tyrant. He hates men of noble descent, he scorns both gods and men, and not yet does he meet the fate which his infamous mother by a dreadful crime bestowed upon him. Although he may be ashamed to have gained this unacknowledged empire by the kindness of his ill-omened mother, yet she will bear this title of honor[19] after death for endless generations.

_NURSE_: Restrain the thoughts of thy raging mind; repress those rashly spoken words.

_OCTAVIA_: However much I may endure the inevitable, never can my misfortunes be ended except by sorrowful death. With a mother murdered and a father removed through crime, deprived of a brother, overwhelmed by my woes and grief, distasteful to my husband, and submissive to my slaves, I do not enjoy a pleasant life. My heart is always trembling, not from fear of death--to die would be a joy--but from dread of crime[20] of which I hope I may never be accused. For it is a punishment worse than death for me in my misery to see those swollen features and to endure the fierce glances of a tyrant[21] and the kisses of an enemy, not even whose courteous nod I cannot endure after the murder of my brother[22] whose empire the wicked assassin rules and over which he rejoices. How often the sorrowful apparition of my brother appears to my vision when quiet relaxes my limbs and sleep weighs down my eyes wearied by weeping. Now he arms his feeble hands with smoky torches and with hostile intent seeks the presence of his own brother;[23] now in fear and trembling he flees into my apartment; his enemy follows and violently pierces us with his sword as we cling together.

Then tremulous dread drives away sleep and renews my wretched sorrow and fear. Besides all these woes, there is the haughty mistress[24] resplendent with the spoils of our home--the mistress whose son rewarded her by placing her upon that fatal bark.[25] More cruel than the waves of the sea, he destroyed[26] her by his sword after the failure of the shipwreck in the peaceful waters. After such a great crime, how can I hope to escape? A victorious and unfriendly woman[27] threatens my marriage couch. Burning with hatred toward me, she demands, as a reward for her dishonor, the head of the lawful wife. Come forth from the shades and aid thy appealing daughter, father,[28] or open the Stygian depths to the sundered earth whither I may be borne headlong.

_NURSE_: In vain, wretched daughter, dost thou invoke the spirit of thy father who in the lower world has no thought for his child. He could prefer the progeny of foreign blood[29] to his own son and he married in disgraceful nuptials the daughter of his own brother.[30] From thence is begun a long series of crime, murder, treachery, desire for dominion, and thirst for royal blood. The noble son-in-law[31] was betrayed by his wife’s father and perished in the bridal chamber lest he become powerful by his union with thee. Alas, that such a crime should be! Silanus, given as a reward to Agrippina who falsely accused him, has taken his own life. Then there entered the conquered home the hostile son-in-law[32] and yet an own son, a youth of infamous genius, capable of any crime, and influenced by the wily stepmother who gave him to thee in marriage although thou wast timid and reluctant.

This fierce and victorious woman, carried away by her great success, has dared to menace the sacred empire of the world. Who can recall the many crimes, and infamous desires, and beguiling treachery of a woman who seeks power through the steps of every crime? Then sacred Loyalty fled with trembling step; cruel Erinys with deadly tread entered the deserted halls, polluted with baneful fires the sacred Penates, violated Justice, and broke every law of Nature. The unnatural wife mixed poison for her husband; he perished; then soon, she, too, fell by the hand of her own son. Thou, too, art fallen, Britannicus, unhappy youth whom we forever mourn, recently the star of the universe and the protector of a mighty home; now, woe to me, thou art only light ashes and a sorrowful shade. Even the cruel stepmother shed tears when I placed thy body upon the funeral pyre and when the cruel flame played round thy godlike limbs and features.[33]

_OCTAVIA_: Let it destroy me too lest this tyrant perish by my hand.

_NURSE_: Nature has not given such strength to thee.

_OCTAVIA_: Grief, sadness, misery, anguish, and mourning will give it.

_NURSE_: Thou hadst better conquer pitiless Nero by obedience.

_OCTAVIA_: For what purpose? That he may restore to me my brother whom he has murdered?

_NURSE_: That thou, thyself, mayst be safe; that thou by thy progeny, mayst keep from ruin the former home of thy father.

_OCTAVIA_: The home of the emperor desires another offspring. The dreadful death of my brother distracts me.

_NURSE_: Such great favor of the citizens toward him should soothe thy mind.[34]

_OCTAVIA_: It alleviates my sorrows but does not free me from them.

_NURSE_: The power of the people is great.

_OCTAVIA_: But the power of the ruler is greater.

_NURSE_: He will have regard for his wife.

_OCTAVIA_: His mistress forbids this.[35]

_NURSE_: But as everyone knows, she is hated by all.

_OCTAVIA_: But dear to my husband.

_NURSE_: Not yet his wife, however.

_OCTAVIA_: Soon she will be a wife and at the same time a mother.

_NURSE_: Youthful ardor rages at first but easily languishes just as the warmth of a little flame; not long does it continue in disgraceful love, but unceasing love for a chaste wife remains. The first slave[36] who dared to dishonor thy couch long swayed the emperor’s mind, but now she fears--

_OCTAVIA_: Undoubtedly someone preferred to herself.

_NURSE_: Humble, submissive, and confessing her fault, she heaps up votive offerings by which she shows her own fear. Cupid, the fickle god of love, will abandon her, and although beautiful in form and haughty in her resources she will enjoy but brief happiness. Juno, the queen of the gods, endured sorrows similar to thine when Jupiter, the lord of the heavens and father of the gods, changed himself into every form; now he took the wings of the swan;[37] now, the horns of the Sidonian bull;[38] now he flowed in golden showers.[39] The stars of Leda shine in the sky; Bacchus[40] resides on paternal Olympus; the god Alcides[41] is the husband of Hebe,[42] nor fears the wrath of Juno although she has been his lifelong enemy. Yet the wise compliance and suppressed rage of the proud wife conquered. Great Juno alone now retains the Thunderer securely on the heavenly couch, nor allured by mortal beauty does Jupiter leave the lofty halls. Thou, too, a second Juno on earth, sister[43] and wife of Augustus, mayst thus vanquish thy heavy sorrows.

_OCTAVIA_: The cruel seas will be united with the stars; fire with water; the heavens with the gloomy under world; genial light with darkness; day with dewy night, before my spirit, always mindful of my murdered brother, will be united with the abandoned soul of my infamous husband.

May the ruler of the heaven dwellers who often shakes the world with his deadly thunderbolts and terrifies our mind with sacred lightning,--may he prepare to overwhelm the head of the impious chief with flames.[44] We have seen in the sky, where Bootes[45] stiff with cold slowly draws his wagons in the eternal change of night, the glowing splendor of the comet expand its baneful light.[46] Behold, even the very atmosphere is contaminated by the ominous breath of the savage chief;[47] the stars foretell new calamities to the nations which the impious leader rules.

When long ago Tellus, furious at Jove, was a mother,[48] she did not produce a monster as fierce as this infamous Nero. This curse, more dreadful than Typhon, this enemy of gods and man, has driven the celestial deities from their temples and the citizens from their fatherland; he has deprived my brother of life; he has shed the blood of his own mother; yet he sees the light, he enjoys life, and continues to draw his deadly breath.[49] Alas, Jupiter, thou noble father of the world, why dost thou vainly hurl with thine own royal hand so many times at random? Why dost thou hesitate to act against such a baneful monster? May Nero, the pretender, the true descendant of Domitius[50] pay the penalty for his crimes--Nero, the tyrant of the world which he burdens with a disgraceful yoke--Nero, who defiles the very name of Augustus with his blemished character.

_NURSE_: I acknowledge that he is unworthy of thee but submit to fate and fortune, daughter, and do not, I implore thee, arouse the wrath of thy angry husband. Perhaps some avenging god will appear and a joyful day will dawn.

_OCTAVIA_: For a long time our home has been beset with the heavy wrath of the gods. Pitiless Venus first exacted punishment for the madness of my wretched mother who was united in incestuous marriage, regardless of me, of her husband, and forgetful of the laws.[51] With her hair flowing and entwined with serpents, that avenging Erinys came to the fatal marriage couch and quenched in blood the torches snatched from the marriage chamber. Anger aroused the heart of the fierce leader to disgraceful murder. Our unhappy mother perished by the sword, and her death continually saddens me. She has led forth to death her own husband and son; she has betrayed and destroyed our home.

_NURSE_: Cease renewing filial sorrows by thy weeping. Do not disturb the spirit of thy mother who has paid heavy penalties for her own madness.

_CHORUS_: What rumor do we now hear? Falsely believed and repeated in vain so many times, may it lose credence; may the new wife not enter the bridal apartments; may the former wife, the child of Claudius, retain her own Penates; may she give birth to pledges of love in which a peaceful universe may rejoice and Rome preserve an eternal glory.

Great Juno, chosen by lot, occupies the bridal apartment of her brother. Why is the wife and sister of Augustus driven from her ancestral halls? What does sacred pity avail her? What, a divine father? What, chastity and virtuous modesty? We, too, are forgetful of ourselves after the death of a leader whose son we betrayed since his life caused fear.[52] Once there was genuine Roman valor of the ancestors and the true race and blood of Mars in these men. They drove the haughty kings from Rome, and well did they avenge thy wrongs, Lucretia, thou, dishonored by the cruel tyrant and killed by thy own wretched hand.[53] Tullia, the wife of Tarquinius, paid the penalty for her dreadful crimes.--Tullia who wickedly drove the cruel chariot over the body of her murdered father and refused a funeral pyre to the mangled old man.[54]

This generation has seen the infamous crime of a son who sent into the Tuscan seas his mother enticed into the fatal boat by treachery.[55] The sailors are ordered to leave the peaceful port; the waves resound with the measured beat of the oars. The ship is borne along upon the deep seas; sinking slowly, it suddenly divides and sucks in the waters. A great clamor mingled with women’s wailing is raised to the stars; a dreadful death threatens them; each one seeks for himself escape from death; some cling to the planks of the shattered stern; their naked bodies cleave the waves; others swim for the shore; the fates plunge many to the depths of the sea. Augusta rends her clothing; she tears her hair and weeps. After she has given up hope of escape, burning with wrath and overcome by her misfortune, she exclaims, “Dost thou reward me, thus, for my great services, my son? I confess that I am worthy of this ship since I gave birth to thee, and in my madness gave thee life, dominion, and the royal name of Caesar.

“Lift thy face from the lower world, husband, and feast upon my punishment. The cause of thy death, Claudius, and the instigator of thy son’s funeral pyre, I shall be borne to Tartarus, deservedly unburied and overwhelmed by the savage waters of the sea.” As she spoke, the waves beat her face, she rises again from the waters; in terror, she beats the billows with her palms but finally exhausted she yields to the struggle. Loyalty still remained in silent hearts though scorned even in the hour of bitter death. Many hasten to aid their mistress whose strength is broken by the force of the sea. With shouts they encourage her as she slowly but persistently waves her arms. Eagerly they lift her into their boat. What did it profit thee to escape the waters of the cruel sea? Thou art destined to die by the sword of thy son whose infamous crime posterity will scarcely believe and to which succeeding generations will always be slow to give credence. The unnatural son is furious at his mother’s escape, he grieves that she is saved from the sea, and he commits a greater crime by hastening her death. The servant sent to commit the murder lays open the breast of the mother with his sword. The unhappy woman, while dying, commands the slave to bury the fierce sword in her womb. “Here, here is the place. The sword must pierce the womb which bore such a monster.” Then, passionately weeping, she breathed her last.

_SENECA_: O, thou powerful Fortune with beguiling but treacherous countenance! Why didst thou elevate me when I was content with my lot? Didst thou hope that, received into a lofty citadel, I might see afar so many causes for anxiety and therefore fall most heavily?[56]

Rather would I, removed far away from envious misfortunes, lie concealed among the rocks of the Corsican sea where my mind had freedom and leisure to pursue its studies.[57] O how delightful it was to watch the sky which is as great as anything Mother Nature, the builder of the universe, has produced, to gaze upon the alternating changes of the sun and moon surrounded by wandering stars, the far shining glory of the lofty firmament. If this world wanes, if, although so great, it returns again to gloomy chaos, be thou present to the world, that last day which overwhelmed the wicked race of the world with ruin so that rising again, it produced a new and better generation. Such a people[58] Jupiter brought forth when Saturn held the dominion of the universe.[59]

The maiden Justice, the goddess of divine majesty, sent with sacred Piety from heaven, mercifully ruled the human race. The nations had not known wars, nor the fierce blasts of the trumpets, nor arms; they did not surround their cities with walls; everything was held in common. Mother Earth herself, blessed and happy in her devout foster sons, voluntarily opened her fruitful bosom. But a second race less skilled and gentle appeared; then a third, practised in new arts but not wicked yet.[60] Soon this age was restless. It dared to follow the swift wild beasts in their course, to draw out with heavy net the fish concealed in the depths, to catch the birds in lime twig snares, to hold a trap-X-X-X,[61] make the fierce bulls submissive to the yoke, to plow the earth before untouched by a plowshare,--the land which concealed its fruits far within its sacred bosom. But a worse age pierced the vitals of its own parent.

It dug up heavy iron and gold and soon armed its cruel hands. The land was divided; kingdoms were established; new cities were built; it defended its own walls or, intent upon pillage, sought the property of a stranger. Astraea, now the great glory of the stars, fled from the earth and the cruel customs of men defiled with bloody carnage.[62] Desire for war and thirst for gold increased throughout the entire world. The greatest misfortunes had their origin in luxury, that beguiling evil, which gained strength from time and serious error. Vices acquired during so many long ages abound in us. We are oppressed by an infamous age in which crime rules, raging impiety grows furious, and passionate lust and disgraceful love conquer. With avaricious hands, victorious Luxury grasps the immense resources of the world to destroy them. But, lo, with frenzied step and fierce glance Nero enters.[63] I fear what he brings.

_NERO_: Fulfil my commands! Send a man who can bring back to me the severed heads of Plautus and Sulla.[64]

_PREFECT_: I shall not delay your commands. I will seek the camp immediately.

_SENECA_: It is best to decide nothing rashly against relatives.

_NERO_: It is easy for him to be just whose heart is free from fear.

_SENECA_: Clemency is a great cure for fear.

_NERO_: To destroy an enemy is the greatest virtue of a leader.

_SENECA_: It is a greater virtue to preserve the citizens for the father of the fatherland.[65]

_NERO_: It is right for a merciful old man to admonish youth.