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HERCULES.

HERCULES.

THE labours of Hercules are so well known to every reader, and so finely celebrated in one of the choral odes of this tragedy, that it is unnecessary to give any further account of them. His descent to the infernal regions to drag the triple-headed dog to the light of heaven must be deemed as one of his wildest adventures, if taken in the literal sense; but the poet clearly explains its meaning, when he makes his hero, in answer to his father's questions, whether he really went to the house of Pluto, and brought the dog of hell to light, declare that he did, "for he had been so happy as to see the sacred "mysteries." His descent to hell then means his initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries; and his bringing Cerberus from thence is the knowledge he acquired by his initiation, that the terrors of those regions were imaginary and false :

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum

Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.

Theseus and Pirithous had made this descent before, with a design, it is said, to take Proserpine

from Pluto by force; that is, they intruded into the mysteries without being initiated; they were seized; Pirithous was thrown to the dog Cerberus, who devoured him, that is, he was put to death; Theseus was imprisoned four years, till the next celebration of the mysteries, when he was released by the Hierophant at the powerful intercession of Hercules;

Me quoque petenti munus Alcidæ dedit,

says the Theseus of Seneca. If the reader desires perfect information on this subject, let him consult Div. Leg. vol. i.

The first scenes of this tragedy are very affecting; Euripides knew the way to the heart, and as often as his subject leads him to it he never fails to excite the tenderest pity: we are relieved from this distress by the unexpected appearance of Hercules, who is here drawn in his private character as the most amiable of men; the pious son, the affectionate husband, and the tender father wins our esteem, as much as the unconquered hero raises our admiration. Here the feeling reader will perhaps wish that the drama had ended, for the next scenes are dreadful indeed, and it must be confessed that the poet has done his subject terrible justice, but without any of that absurd extravagance which in Seneca becomes un tintamarre horrible qui se passe dans le tête de ce Héros devenu fou. From the violent agitation into which we are thrown by

these deeds of horror, we are suffered by degrees to subside into the tenderest grief, in which we are prepared before to sympathize with the unhappy Hercules by that esteem which his amiable disposition had raised in us; and this perhaps is the most affecting scene of sorrow that ever was produced on any theatre. Upon the whole, though this tragedy may not be deemed the most agreeable by the generality of readers, on account of the too dreadful effects of the madness of Hercules, yet the various turns of fortune are finely managed, the scenes of distress highly wrought, and the passions of pity, terror, and grief strongly touched. The Scene is at Thebes before the palace of Hercules.

Seneca, who took a pride in showing how ill he could write on subjects that had been finely treated by Euripides, has exerted himself with wonderful alacrity to spoil some of the finest scenes of this drama: but the criticism of P. Brumoy on his tragedy, except the approbation of the part where Lycus offers love to Megara, which is more agreeable to French than to Grecian manners, shows so much good sense and true taste, that nothing needs to be added to it.

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