Thyestes, according to the preface, is generally regarded as Seneca's best tragedy, and it does not disappoint. Of course, given the grisly subject matter (murder of children, cannibalism), it has an immediate morbid appeal. It does take awhile to get going, but soon enough, we're in Hannibal Lector territory with the chorus's extremely graphic description of Atreus's murder of his nephews. I'll put up a few choice quotations soon. The dialogue between the two brothers is gripping, even dramatic.  Now on to Hercules on Oeta, which may not be by Seneca but so far is very good. Who knew that Hercules was such a man for the ladies? This seems to have escaped the Saturday morning cartoon versions I grew up with.

As in Aeschylus (as I recall--it's been awhile), Clytemnestra definitely has the best of it for most of Seneca's Agamemnon; Agamemnon himself is even less of a presence than in Aeschylus, showing up for a few lines of wind-baggery (allusion intended). She gets the most philosophically deep lines and the back story grants her sympathy. Thus, it's all the more shocking when Electra shows up and suddenly gives us a completely different point of view, and Clytemnestra forfeits all sympathy. Seneca isn't usually given much credit as a dramatist, but this shift in perspective works very well and is as shocking as it clearly is intended to be.

Now I'm on to Thyestes, which opens with a prologue spoken by, guess what, a ghost.

Next up in the collection is Agamemnon, which has the curious feature of beginning with a prologue spoken by a ghost. Ghosts, of course, appear frequently in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, but I wonder if any play actually begins with a ghost speaking to the audience. The ghost of Hamlet's father speaks a lot (too much for most of us), but he doesn't get cranked up until Hamlet appears and goes out to the edge of the cliffs to speak to him.

After a couple of abortive attempts to read through the Loeb Classics fairly systematically by starting at the beginning, I'm now starting somewhere in the middle. I started with Seneca because I actually own a copy of it. The first few numbers of the Loeb Classics are tough--I got stuck on Appian's *Roman History* a couple of times. Will I make through all of them? No, since it's bedtime reading and I usually make it through only a few pages before falling asleep.

Seneca's *Oedipus* is underrated. Certainly it lacks the power and artistry of Sophocles, but it has, as they say, its own charms. The descriptions of the effects of the plague are very powerful, more powerful than in Sophocles, in my recollection. You have to get into the spirit of it--it's far less accessible than Sophocles--but once you do, it's quite enjoyable.