by Thomas; Kohn
There is no claim that Seneca is unique in this practice. Marshall examines the possibility of a similar effect in the Oresteia.41 Sutton considers the significance of role sharing in Aristophanes.42 And while discussing Greek tragedy in general, Gould comments that “the likely doubling of parts is sometimes striking in its histrionic possibilities. The probability that the parts of Deianira and Heracles (in Trachiniae), of Phaedra and Theseus (in Hippolytus) or of Pentheus and Agave (in Bacchae) were played by the same male actor gives an idea of the challenge to an actor's technical skills.”43 Thus, the technique of significant role distribution seems to have existed in fifth-century Attic drama. But Seneca appears to have taken extraordinary advantage of the Greek precedent.
This practice provides strong evidence that Seneca had at least a fictive stage in mind for his plays, for it is much easier for an audience to recognize significant role sharing in performance than on the page. Further, Seneca must envision a theater that uses masks. There is not much evidence about masks in first-century Rome. Juvenal speaks of a young child at a theatrical performance being frightened by the personae pallentis hiatum (the “gaping of the pale mask,” Sat. 3.175). But if Seneca tragicus has actors take on multiple roles, then masks are a necessity, so that the audience can distinguish one character from another. But at the same time, the audience must be able to discern which actor is playing which parts. The cleverness of, for example, having the Fury and Atreus in the Thyestes portrayed by the same man would be lost if no one could tell that it was the same man. The means of this recognition are uncertain. The audience may simply have recognized the performers’ voices, or perhaps each actor wore an easily identifiable costume. Seneca may have had in mind men who were physically distinctive. It is even possible that the characters played by a single actor would demonstrate similar gestures, postures, sudden silences, proxemics, and so on. But in order for the technique to be most effective, the audience must at the same time recognize each actor and accept that he is playing different parts.44
Another ramification of masks is the inability of actors to display emotions or facial expressions. Although a gifted performer can use a mask to his or her advantage,45 it is still an unmoving canvas. Emotions are very important to Senecan tragedy, and the playwright would need to use every means at his disposal to get them across. Certainly, such nonverbal elements as tone of voice, posture, gestures, and other movements would inform the audience of a character's feelings; but Seneca also indicates emotions verbally. Every play has at least one character expressing him-or herself: being angry or sad, weeping, and so forth. Modern audiences may find such descriptions annoying or redundant. But the ancient audience would expect that, for example, a physical portrayal of a weeping Hercules would be accompanied by a statement concerning his tears. A more specific illustration of this principle can be found in Seneca's descriptions of hairstyles. Balsley (2006) discusses how the Roman playwright uses the alteration of hair as a metaphor for changing emotional state. For example, Hecuba orders the captive women to let down their hair as a symbol of their mourning in the first act of the Troades. Also, Medea, in act 4 of her eponymous play is said to have undone her hair in preparation for her magic rites, and Phaedra illustrates her distress by changing her hairstyle (Phaedra 393–95). In all cases, physical signs of emotion coincide with verbal descriptions.
Besides distributing roles in significant ways, Seneca also shows great artistic skill as well as quite a bit of variety in using the three actors onstage. They do not all have to be present at once. Many characters, such as Juno in act 1 of the Hercules Furens, Hecuba in act 1 of the Troades, the Nurse in act 4 of the Medea, and Oedipus in act 1 of the Oedipus deliver monologues.46 Phaedra and her Nurse as well as Creon and Oedipus are among the many characters who engage in dialogue,47 and such sequences often contain speaker changes in the middle of the line of verse. Fantham (1996b), in an analysis of such midline interruption, finds that they can fulfill a limited number of functions: answers to questions/demands, urgent sequences of cut-and-thrust dialogue, impatient demand, and prolongation or delay. And quite a number of these dialogues occur with a third speaking actor observing; in the Hercules Furens, for example, Theseus observes silently while Amphitryo and Hercules converse in act 4 and most of act 5. The Old Servant watches without speaking while Andromache and Ulixes verbally spar with each other in act 3 of the Troades. The Nurse in the Medea says nothing in act 2 when her mistress talks with Creon or in act 3 when she talks with Jason. Phaedra and her Nurse take turns conversing with Hippolytus in act 3 of the Phaedra, but only one woman participates in the dialogue at a time: lines 431–588 feature Hippolytus and the Nurse, while lines 589–718 are between Hippolytus and Phaedra, with the Nurse only speaking again once the youth exits. And Cassandra is silent in act 5 of the Agamemnon while Electra entrusts Orestes to Strophius. These are only a few examples of a fairly common practice. It is hard to say exactly why Seneca favors this technique, but it makes it all the more effective when all three characters do speak together, such as during act 4 of the Oedipus (Oedipus, the Old Corinthian, and Phorbas) or act 5 of the Troades (Hecuba, Andromache, and the Messenger).
Although Seneca seems to have limited himself to three (and very occasionally four) speaking actors, he appears to have been quite free in the use of silent actors. Virtually every play has mute servants or attendants who carry out the commands of the dramatic royalty,48 characters whom Goffman refers to as “disattended,” that is, “present in a relevant way, but treated as if not present”49 until their actions become necessary. In the Hercules Furens, Lycus gives orders for Megara and the children to be blockaded inside the temple (506–8). Ulixes, in the Troades, is accompanied by unspeaking soldiers as he hunts for the child of Hector (627). In the Medea, Creon employs silent bodyguards to protect him (188), and Jason seems to summon mute townspeople (978). Hippolytus begins the Phaedra by addressing hunting companions; they must either be silent extras, or perhaps the Chorus. But it is more certain that Theseus, upon his entrance, commands mute servants to reveal the pitiful Phaedra (863), and later to carry on the mutilated limbs of his son (1247). In the Oedipus, unspeaking attendants bring on the cattle for the extispicium (299), haul Creon off to imprisonment in a cave (707), and fetch Phorbas the shepherd (823–24). In the Agamemnon, the king orders mute servants to lift up Cassandra from the ground and give her some refreshment (787–88); later on, Aegisthus issues commands to his silent servants, first to drag Electra to a cave (997), and then to carry Cassandra into the palace (1004). Finally, in the Thyestes, Atreus orders unspeaking attendants to open the doors to reveal Thyestes (901–2). Clearly, Seneca follows the Greek tradition of having mute servants accompany kings.50
But Seneca also uses unspeaking actors to portray more specific and significant characters. There are no silent individuals in the Phaedra, the Oedipus, or, unsurprisingly, the Phoenissae. In the Hercules Furens, the three small children of Hercules and Megara are represented onstage by mute actors.51 Similarly, in the Medea the two sons of Jason and Medea are present but silent. Act 5 of the Agamemnon features two unspeaking boys: Orestes and Pylades. And when Thyestes and Tantalus enter for act 3 of the Thyestes, they are accompanied by two mute actors as Tantalus’ brothers.52 In four of the tragedies, then, Seneca employs mutes to portray young boys. The Troades, however, diverges somewhat from this practice, including in all but the final act mute actors who portray a variety of powerless young characters: Cassandra in act 1, Polyxena in acts 2 and 4, Astyanax in act 3, and Pyrrhus in act 4. That is powerless, since three of the four are on the verge of being slain,53 and the fourth, Pyrrhus, helplessly obeys the wishes of his deceased father. And this is, in fact, in keeping with the other tragedies. In the other plays that include mute characters, all but the Agamemnon use them for young boys who are about to be slaughtered: the sons of Hercules, Medea, and Thyestes. The sole exception, aside from the Troades, which includes girls who are about to be sacrificed, along with the son of A
chilles, is Orestes in the Agamemnon, who on the contrary is being saved, along with his cousin Pylades; but one could argue that the two boys in the Agamemnon are mere pawns of their relatives, and so have no more control over the situation than their mute counterparts in the other plays. On the other hand, the two young girls who require a fourth speaking actor are far from powerless: Manto in the Oedipus is an equal partner to her father, and Electra in the Agamemnon actively defies the wishes of her mother in sending her brother away to safety. It is not a perfect rule, then, but we can say that generally Seneca uses mute actors for young boys, especially those on the verge of death, and helpless young girls, while he twice uses a fourth speaker for powerful young girls.
One final category of performer remains to be discussed: the Chorus.54 Calder suggests, rather sensibly, that Seneca's Chorus would have between three and seven members.55 This would be large enough to establish its presence, but manageable enough to be able to move around the stage. And when it withdraws to the scaenae frons, there would still be room for the other characters. Although both Aristotle56 and Horace57 say that the Chorus should be an integral part of the drama, modern scholars often have difficulty seeing Seneca's singers as essential. For an extreme example, consider Rutenberg's free adaptation of the Oedipus, in which the choral songs are replaced by passages from Seneca's philosophical treatises.58 On the other hand, one can often see the Senecan Chorus as Goffman's mediator: “a specialized viewer who also participates as a staged character [and who] can comment on whole aspects of the production, treating as an object of direct attention what the projected characters have to treat as something in which they are immersed. He is a footnote that talks,”59 or, more frequently, sings. The present aim is not to talk about its role or the content of its songs,60 but to consider how the Chorus works within Seneca's dramaturgical structure.
One of the difficulties for a modern reader is the uncertainty in some plays as to who the Chorus is supposed to be. Sutton rightly points out that in performance the identity of the Chorus would be perfectly clear from some visual clue, such as masks and costumes.61 But if understanding is limited to just the text, the makeup of the Chorus is sometimes hard to determine.62 In the Hercules Furens, for example, there is no indication as to its identity. It is only through such clues as a clearly demonstrated sympathy for Hercules and his family, as well as comparison with Euripides’ play, that one can conjecture that it consists of Theban elders. Similarly, the Chorus of the Medea does not identify itself; but since its first song is an epithalamium that extols the beauty of Creusa, and since, as the play progresses, the Chorus paints Medea's achievements in an increasingly negative light, it seems safe to take it as a group of Corinthians, most likely women,63 who approve of Jason's remarriage. The only clues about the Chorus in the Phaedra are likewise to be found in the content of the songs: a consistent sympathy for Hippolytus, suggesting a group of the youth's hunting companions. The Chorus of the Thyestes gives no clue to its identity, except for displaying sympathy for Mycenae and its royal family, and so implies a group of Mycenaean citizens. In half of the plays, then, it is very difficult to determine the identity of the Chorus through textual means.
The identity of the Chorus in the Troades, on the other hand, could not be more clear. At line 63, Hecuba addresses it as turba captivae mea. Throughout the first act it follows the former queen's instructions of how to mourn,64 and it will continue to lament its fate and the destruction of Troy. Similarly, the Chorus of the Oedipus is, ironically, one of the best identified,65 referring to itself as Theban citizens in its first song (110 and 124). Seneca, then, is perfectly capable of identifying his Chorus if it suits his purposes. The unfinished Phoenissae does not have any choral parts; but as the only other drama to be named for a group instead of an individual, one could surmise that Seneca meant to have a Chorus of Phoenician women.66 The Agamemnon seems to have two Choruses.67 One, which sings the first two passages, identifies itself as Mycenaeans (342)68 and its songs definitely betray Greek sympathies. At lines 586–88, Clytemnestra announces the arrival of Cassandra and a sad crowd of captive Trojan women, which will take over the duties of the Chorus for the rest of the drama. The first Chorus of Argives, then, must exit at some point, probably after announcing the entrance of the herald Eurybates, change masks, and then return. Seneca, then, varies in his approach to the Chorus, sometimes letting the audience know specifically who it is, and sometimes, apparently, leaving it up to visual clues.
Occasionally in the tragedies, the Chorus will show a particularly close connection with one of the characters. The two notable examples are the groups of captive Trojan women who interact with Hecuba in the Troades and with Cassandra in the Agamemnon. Another addition to this list is the huntsmen who accompany Hippolytus at the start of the Phaedra. The opposite side of the coin would be the Corinthians who seem to detest Medea throughout the Medea.
In most of the plays, the Chorus enters after an initial act or prologue. The exceptions are the Troades, where it enters with Hecuba at the beginning of the play, and the Phaedra, where it comes on with Hippolytus. In a strictly functional and structural sense, the Chorus’ job is to sing between episodes, and to buy time for costume changes. The genuine, complete plays generally follow a pattern of five acts in iambic trimeter, with choral songs in various meters in between. Admittedly, there is no definitive evidence that the five-act structure was followed by Roman dramatists. Horace advocated for it (Ars Poetica 189–90), although he may simply be parroting a Hellenistic tradition going back to Aristotle.69 In modern editions, Roman comedy is usually divided into acts, although that seems more a matter of convenience, and it often appears that it would be more useful to separate the plays of Plautus and Terence into French scenes.70 Still, from a strictly formal sense, if one accepts Aristotle's definition of an act (i.e., ) as the material between choral songs (Poetica 1452b20–21), then Senecan drama adheres to the practice. On a certain level, the use of these act labels is purely conventional and a convenience for modern readers. But there may be more to consider. The acts in the Thyestes do seem to represent distinct actions. Act 1 is the prologue, act 2 shows Atreus settling on a course of action, act 3 features the return of Thyestes to Mycenae with his sons, act 4 sees the Messenger telling about the slaughter, and act 5 portrays the feast and aftermath. Similarly, in the Oedipus, act 1 is the prologue, act 2 begins the investigation into the death of Laius, act 3 features Creon's description of the necromancy, act 4 shows more of the investigation, act 5 includes the Messenger speech, and act 6 (see below) portrays the aftermath. In these plays, then, act divisions are clearly significant. Further, two plays, the Troades and the Phoenissae, have changes of setting between the acts. Thus, it seems that Seneca was conscious of act divisions, taking advantage of them and incorporating them into his dramatic technique.
The main exception to the five-act structure in Senecan tragedy is the Oedipus, which has an extra choral song at 980–97, and so, strictly speaking, should be said to have six acts.71 Somewhat problematic is act 4 of the Agamemnon. Prior to the arrival of Agamemnon, Cassandra, and the Chorus interact, with the following line assignments:
Lines 659–63: Cassandra
Lines 664–94: The Chorus
Lines 695–709: Cassandra
Lines 710–19: The Chorus
Lines 720–74: Cassandra
Lines 775–81: The Chorus
Most of the episode consists of iambic trimeters; but the Chorus sings in anapests at 664–92, and Cassandra has iambic dimeters at 759–74. This section is traditionally considered part of act 4,72 probably because the meter is primarily iambic. On the other hand, the passage of lines 67–163 of the Troades is usually labeled as the first choral song, in spite of actually being an exchange between the Chorus and Hecuba.73 This identification no doubt emerges because the passage consists of anapests. The final slight abnormality is in the opening lines of the Phaedra, where Hippolytus sings in anapests to the Chorus consisting of his f
ellow hunters.74
There are a few other occurrences of another meter within an act. At Troades 705–35, Andromache sings about Astyanax and the previous destruction of Troy by Hercules, in anapests. Thyestes sings his drunken song, also in anapests at Thyestes 920–69. In the first episode of the Phaedra (1–84), Hippolytus sings to his fellow huntsmen, again in anapests. Later in the same play, Theseus calls upon the gods of the Underworld, singing in trochees (Phaedra 1201–12). Medea sings in trochees, lyric iambs, and anapests when she performs her magic at Medea 740–842. In the Oedipus, Creon first describes Delphi using trochees (Oedipus 223–32), and then quotes the Oracle verbatim, using the traditional dactylic hexameter (Oedipus 233–38). Finally, Cassandra sings in iambic dimeter at Agamemnon 759–81. It seems, then, that when a character uses a meter other than iambic trimeter, it is most likely to be anapests, unless she or he is describing magic or an exotic location, in which case trochees are often used.
