in Troas (Seneca's Sixth Tragedy) — Heywood, Jasper, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
Metadata
Play
Troas (Seneca's Sixth Tragedy)
Author
Heywood, Jasper, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
Year (catalogued)
1581
First performance
1559
Decade
1580s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Closet Translation
Speech prefix(es)
Cal.
Words
163
Characters
877
Typicality
0.24 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A11909.6
BritDrama no.
308
Cluster
Cluster 15 — Devils, vices & grotesques
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 15 (ang, hunc, fleire, shillings, chil, sblood…). Matches are highlighted.
with wonted price. And with what cost you came to Troy, you shall repair to Greece With blood you came, with blood you must from hence return again, And where Achilles ashes lies, the virgin shall be slain, In seemly sort of habit, such as maidens wont you see, Of Thessaly, or Mycena's else, what time they wedded be. With Pyrrhus
Full speech
The fates appoint the Greeks to buy their ways with wonted price. And with what cost you came to Troy, you shall repair to Greece With blood you came, with blood you must from hence return again, And where Achilles ashes lies, the virgin shall be slain, In seemly sort of habit, such as maidens wont you see, Of Thessaly, or Mycena's else, what time they wedded be. With Pyrrhus hand she shall be slain, of right it shall be so And meet it is that he the son, his father's right should do. But not this only stays our ships, our sails may not be spread, Before a worthier blood then thine, (Polyxena) be shed, Which thirst thirst the fates, for Praimes nephew. Hector's little boy: The Erekes shall tumble headlong down, from highest tower in Troy. Let him there die, this only way you shall the gods appeas, Then spread your thousand sails with joy you need not fear the seas.
Plot summary
Plot — Troas (Seneca's Sixth Tragedy)
After a ten-year war, Troy has fallen: King Priam had been murdered, the city burned, the women taken into slavery; but Queen Hecuba’s age means that none of the Greek conquerors are interested in her. Achilles’ ghost returns from the dead, demanding the blood of Hecuba’s daughter Polyxena in revenge for his own treacherous murder by Paris. Until she is sacrificed on his tomb, he will not allow the Greek fleet to sail home. Agamemnon is doubtful about this, but Pyrrhus reminds him that he was willing to sacrifice his own daughter to get the fleet to Troy, and Calchas confirms that the price of returning to Greece is the same as the price of leaving it: a virgin’s death. The ghost of Hector appears to Andromache in a dream and warns her to flee from Troy with their son: Calchas has demanded his blood as well as Polyxena’s. She hides the boy in Hector’s tomb, and tells Ulysses he is dead; but Ulysses insists on removing Hector’s ashes if the Greeks cannot have their sacrifice. Andromache produces the child, and Ulysses has him thrown to his death from a tower. Helen is sent to prepare Polyxena to marry Pyrrhus, but she tells Hecuba and Andromache that the Greeks intend a sacrifice, not a wedding. Pyrrhus leads Polyxena away and kills her. A messenger describes the two deaths. Not knowing whom she should grieve for most — husband, daughter, or nephew — Hecuba wishes for death. The women, Hecuba included, are taken away to live in slavery in Greece.