Table Of ContentOCTAVIA
OCTAVIA
Attributed to Seneca
Edited with Introduction, Translation,
and Commentary by
A. J. BOYLE
1
1
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ISBN978-0-19-928784-0
FOR HELEN MORALES
Only singing are we just and true—
for then we are at once the axe, the bough
and the sweet and ripening danger in between.
DonPaterson,‘TheHour’,fromOrpheus(2006)
Preface
Octaviaisaworkofexceptionalhistoricalanddramaticinterest.Itisa
uniquecompleteexampleoftheRomanhistoricaldramaknownasthe
fabulapraetexta;itdealswitheventsatthecourtofNerointhedecisive
year 62 ce, for which it is the earliest extant literary source; its main
themesaresex,murder,politics,power;itdramatizestheperceptions
of history. The play appealed to the Renaissance and influenced Re-
naissance drama and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century historical
opera. Neglected throughout most of the twentieth century, this
‘pseudo-Senecan’ drama has begun to receive appropriate attention.
AmongthecriticalandscholarlyworkonOctaviaofthelastdecadeare
twojournalspecialnumbers,one‘companion’,sixeditions,including
two in English, and the editio princeps of Nicholas Trevet’s medieval
commentaryontheplay.Onethinghasbeenmissing:acriticaledition
of Octavia, with verse translation and commentary, which aims to
elucidate the text dramatically as well as philologically, and to locate
itfirmlyinitshistoricalandtheatricalcontext.
Thepresent bookattempts to fill that gap and topresent Octavia
to as wide a readership as possible, offering a substantial introduc-
tion,anewLatintext(with41differentreadingsfromtheZwierlein
Oxford text of 1986), an English verse translation designed for
both performance and serious study, and a detailed commentary
ontheplaywhichisnotonlyexegetic,butanalyticandinterpretative.
The resulting book should prove useful to drama students, to Latin
students at every stage of the language, to professional scholars
of Classics (including Roman history), Drama, and Comparative
Literature—and to anyone interested in the dynamic interplay be-
tweentheatreandhistory.
Like all new editions of classical texts the present one is deeply
indebtedtopreviouseditions—farmoreindebtedthanthenecessarily
jejune citation of them would suggest. I am especially indebted to
the2003CambridgeeditionofRolandoFerridespitemydisagreement
withiton innumerable issues,largeand small. I benefited, too, from
the critical advice of the following friends and scholars, who read
viii Preface
earlier versions of this book: Elaine Fantham (Princeton University),
JohnHenderson(King’sCollege,Cambridge),GesineManuwald(Uni-
versity College, London), Joseph Smith (SDSU), and Peter Wiseman
(Exeter University). George Harrison (Concordia University) most
kindlyallowedmetoviewthetypescriptofhisCompaniontoPs.Seneca
Octavia in advance of its publication. I learned much from Amanda
Caraway’s intelligent staging of an early version of my translation of
OctaviainSanDiegoduringApril2006.Atthebook’sproofstageLisl
Walsh(USC)providedexceptionalassistance.Isincerelythankallthe
above,andattachtheusualdisclaimerthatresponsibilityforerrorsof
factorjudgementwhichthebookcontainsrestswithme.Ishouldalso
liketothankRoutledgeforpermissiontousesomerewrittenmaterial
from my Tragic Seneca (London 1997) and Roman Tragedy (London
2006) and Francis Cairns Publications for permission to reuse some
materialfrommySeneca’sTroades(Leeds1994)invariouspartsofthe
book. The citation from Don Paterson’s Orpheus on the dedication
pageisbypermissionofFaberandFaber.
I am once more obligated to two great educational institutions:
CambridgeUniversity, whose libraries I have used withprofit, most
especially the library of the Classics Faculty; and the University of
SouthernCalifornia,whosemanyyearsofinstitutionalandcollegial
support(includingonthisoccasionastudyleaveinthefallof2006)
have assisted greatly. The debt which cannot be described is to the
book’sdedicatee.
A.J.B.
USC,LosAngeles
SummerSolstice,2007
Contents
INTRODUCTION xi
I. TheHistoricalContext xiii
II. TheRomanTheatre xxv
III. TheFabulaPraetexta xlii
IV. TheDivorceandDeathofOctavia lvi
V. ThePlay lviii
VI. OctaviaandRenaissanceDrama lxxv
VII. Metre lxxxvii
VIII. TheTranslation lxxxix
TEXTANDTRANSLATION 1
SelectiveCriticalApparatus 78
Differencesfromthe1986OxfordClassicalText 82
COMMENTARY 85
SelectBibliography 295
Indexes:
I. LatinWords 315
II. PassagesfromOtherPlaysoftheSenecanTragicCorpus 317
III. GeneralIndex 326
