I read Thyestes by Seneca a couple weeks ago and then decided to try another of his plays, this time reading Phaedra. I’m very pleased I decided to read another one, as I enjoyed Phaedra a great deal.

Here is the little reaction to it I wrote:

I finished reading Phaedra, a play written around the middle of the first century AD by Seneca. It is a tragedy focusing on the characters of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and Theseus. Seneca’s play is based closely on the story told in Euripides’ Hippolytus.

Certain passages remind one of Seneca’s stoic worldview, while others are interesting in light of Rousseau’s much later view of human nature.

The play is masterfully written, with vivid imagery, poetic language, and a sense of fullness regarding the tragic plot.

Take refuge if you will, beyond the Ocean

At earth’s extremest edge; go and inhabit

Worlds that lie upside-down beneath our feet;

Traverse the perilous tracts of arctic north

And hide in its remotest wastes; outrun

The reach of winter, pass the bounds of snow,

Leave the loud wrath of Boreas behind,

Fly faster than his ice-cold breath can follow – 

Yet you shall pay for your iniquities.