Thyestes as color in Seneca the Elder

Abstract

Seneca’s tragedy Thyestes is the only play about such myth to have come down to us. Nevertheless references to it are abundant in Latin literature under the Empire. Quintilian (I.O. 10, 1, 98) considered Varius’ Thyestes to be on a par with the best Greek tragedies. According to Horace, Thyestes’ dinner was not only an example of tragic plot, but also of the limits of dramatic representation (Hor. Ars 90-91; 186). In Tacitus’ Dialogus de oratoribus it is suggested that Maternus’ recitatio of his tragedy Thyestes will denounce embarrassing facts about political power in the times of Vespasian (Tac. Dial. 3, 3). In the first controversia of Seneca the Elder, the myth of Thyestes is mentioned twice. In both cases it is used for the development of a color to defend the most difficult pars of the controversia, the one in favour of the uncle who disinherited his nephew (Sen. Contr. 1, 1). This paper analyzes how M. Porcius Latro created a color on hatred among brothers in the manner of Thyestes (Thyesteo more) and the evolution of that color in Alfius Flavius’ criticized intervention (Cf. Sen. Contr. 1,1, 21-23). Based on both interventions criteria for the evaluation of a color in Seneca's Controversiae are analyzed.