Walking Tall: The Final Entrance of Atreus in Seneca's Thyestes

Walking Tall: The Final Entrance ofAtreus in Seneca's Thyestes Mark Morford University ofVirginia andSmith College Atreus enters boasting that he walks "level with the stars and above all beings, touching the skywith [my] proud head."1 The Chorus have just appealed to the Sun, ruler ofearth andheaven for an explanation of the unnatural darkness thathas spreadoverthe sky, and theyhave ended their prayer with the reflection that it may be in their time that the universe will be torn from its axis and time will end. They accept their fate and prepare themselves to perish with the universe.2 Although the 1 Thy. 885-86: aequalisastrisgradieretcunctossuper/altum superbo vérticeattingens polum. [Tarrant erroneously prints cuneta in line 885·] Quotations fromThyestes are from Zwierlein's Oxford Text (1986) and "Tarrant" refers to Tarrant's edition cited in the bibliography. 2 Thy. 789-884, for the Chorus. Paraphrased are 789-92 (unnatural darkness); 875-78 (destruction of the universe and the end of time); 883—84 (resignation in the face of destruction). For the disruption of nature and the cosmic order in the presence ofevil, cf. Baron. For the motifofthe world turned upside-down in antiquity see Kenner, especially 65—69. The motif of the eclipsed sun is first found in Archilochus, fr. 122 (West), referring to the eclipse of648 B.C.E. The context may be moral (i.e., Archilochus is reproaching Lycambes, as Professor Peter Green suggests, per litt.), but it cannot be known for certain (cf. Barron and Easterling, 86). The MORFORD: WALKING TALL1 63 Choruses in Senecan tragedyare generallyheld to be detached from the action, this one is closely linked to it. The Chorus's ignorance of the dismemberment and cooking of Thyestes' children narrated in the Messenger's speech (641-788) intensifies their fear and confirms their resignation to their fate. The universe has been disjointed and all must perish; the Sun has withdrawn from his duty ofgivinglightto theworld; the victory of the Olympian gods over the Giants and the forces of disorder has been annulled and the battle must once more be renewed (805-13)? All the more ironic, then, is the triumphant entrance of Atreus, who touches theveryvault ofheaven that the Chorus have perceived to have collapsed; he dismisses the gods, fortheyhave answered his prayers and he needs them no more: he has become a god (885-88): aequalis astris gradior et cunctos super altum superbo vértice attingens polum. Nunc decora regni teneo, nunc solium patris. dimitto superos:4 summa votorum attigi. I stride level with the stars and, higher than all mankind, I touch the heights of heaven with my proud head. Now I possess the royal honors, now I occupy my fathers throne. I dismiss the gods: the utmost ofmy prayers have I attained. With this entrance Atreus reaches the limits of what Gordon Braden (1985, 53) has felicitouslycalled "the expanding circle ofintimidation," when the gods and the limits ofthe universe have been transcended by ?aafurorofthe tyrant.5 context is moral in Ovid, Tr. 1.8.1—10 (the disloyalty ofa friend); cf. Theocritus, Id. 1.134; Herodotus, 5.92.1. 3 For the Chorus in Senecan tragedy see Davis, 254—61. He treats this chorus as poetry, less satisfactorily than the incisive commentary ofTarrant, 204—05. 4 Tarrant (note to 888) points out that beyond the literal meaning ofdimitto superos Atreus "releases them from further obligations," since the gods have granted all that he could wish. 5 cf. Braden 1970 (especially 22-29) and 1984, especially 289: "the destructive cycle thus spirals outward." 1 64SYLLECTA CLASSICA 1 1 (2000) Seneca's dramatic composition contains a network of literary and proverbial allusions and ironic perversion ofStoic doctrine. With this intricate aemulatio Seneca has combined his own construction of the character ofAtreus, seen here in his final triumph. I intend first to examine Seneca's use ofliterary and Stoic allusions, and then to consider the character ofAtreus at his entrance: in particular I intend to consider the nature of aiefitror that has motivated him to persevere to this extremity .6 Touching the skywith one's head is proverbial for supreme success, tempting one to exhibit hubristhatleads to divinepunishment. In Greek literature it first...