Aeneas Furens? Aeneas Furens? The reception of Herculean Aeneas in Seneca’s Hercules

Abstract

Virgil goes out of his way to blur – to problematise – the simple dichotomy between Olympian hero [Hercules] and chthonic monster [Cacus]: the hero of reason falls prey to a fiery fury that seems the more proper quality of the fire-breathing monster Cacus. The hero of civilization and future god falls below the level of humanity into a semi-bestial passion.