Hercules Furens (Mad Hercules) (Seneca's First Tragedy)

Heywood, Jasper / Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, published 1581 · tragedy; literary play · Translation;Nonprofessional;Closet/Unacted · other editions of this work: 59 (1561) · other edition — not in the analysis

28chunks

14,024words

3topics

32 %unassigned

Metadata

Title	Hercules Furens (Mad Hercules) (Seneca's First Tragedy)
Author	Heywood, Jasper / Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
Publication year (edition)	1581
Genre (British Drama)	tragedy; literary play
Genre group (comparison)	tragedy — British Drama label compound or missing → Annals label used · Annals: tragedy
Play type	Translation;Nonprofessional;Closet/Unacted
Work / edition / TCP / DEEP	work 34 · edition 60 · TCP A11909 · DEEP 5015.01
Edition role	Other edition — placed after the fit, excluded from the main statistics; its chunks carry the topic they were placed in, for browsing
First performance / composition (Annals)	1561
First performance (BritDrama)	1561
Format	Quarto
Greg	34b
Genre (Annals)	Tragedy
Genre (BritDrama)	Literary Tragedy
BritDrama no.	342
Title page	[RT; B1r] Herecules furens The first tragedie. [var.: "furens."; "tragedie"; "tragedy."; "Tragedy."]
Corpus build	corpus-v3-2026-09-08 · nodes 1378 · witness single

Topic composition (share of words)

T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue

57.3 %

unassigned

32.3 %

T36 Hell, Furies and the language of punishm

7.0 %

T7 The Trojan war: conflict and its afterma

3.4 %

Chunks in order

#	nodes	words	topic	typ.	opening
1	0–46	483	unassigned		I Sister of the Thunderer, (for now that name alone Remains to me) Ioue evermore as though divorced and gone, …
2	47–88	476	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.79	Prevail to hurt? for lo he bears for weapons now away What once he feared, and put to flight: he armed comes a…
3	89–132	475	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.83	Let present be from bottom deep upraised of lowest hell Th'Eumenides, let flaming locks of theirs the fires ou…
4	133–192	480	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.67	Do call the light with overturned wain. With marble horse now drawn, his way to high Doth Titan top of Oetha o…
5	193–240	479	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.82	Let glory him by many lands away Display, and fame throughout all cities wide Full babbling praise, and even w…
6	241–283	482	unassigned		The waking dragons golden spoils with him he brought away. The Lerna monsters numerous ill what need to tell h…
7	284–327	481	T7 The Trojan war: conflict and its afterma	0.80	Send dut with thee, as when the tops of haughty hills undone A headlong passage making through for hasty flood…
8	328–375	504	unassigned		Injurious fortune virtue most of men most stout and strong Doth seldom spare: no man alive himself in safety l…
9	376–417	462	unassigned		Should I abide, that I the hand sprinked with my father's blood, Should touch, and double death imbrued of bot…
10	418–462	464	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.79	A trembling cold doth run throughout my bloodless limbs each one. What heinous thing comes to mine ears? I fea…
11	463–510	520	unassigned		First Dragon with his blood imbrued the shafts of Phoebus lo. how grievous ills even yet full young he bore, d…
12	511–564	498	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.80	Because that stubbornly thou dost refuse my wedding so, And fear a king, thou shalt know what the Sceptres now…
13	565–619	499	unassigned		And when pale death with greedy teeth so wide. Unnumbered Nations hath sent down to spirits With one Boatman a…
14	620–663	503	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.84	I there could reign. the Chaos of eternal night of hell, And worse than night, the doleful Gods I have that th…
15	664–707	490	unassigned		Yet Theseus thoroughly overcome whatever fear remains In bosom deep, nor do thou not of best fruit of thy pain…
16	708–752	490	T36 Hell, Furies and the language of punishm	0.75	No joyful Meads do there bring forth with face so green & fair, Nor yet with gentle Zephyrus wags ripened corn…
17	753–798	490	T36 Hell, Furies and the language of punishm	0.78	And spares his soul, he having long led forth the lingering days Of happy age, at length to heaven doth either…
18	799–841	489	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.84	And at his crooked wrested tail doth hiss a Dragon long: Like ire to shape, when him he wist his pace that way…
19	842–906	500	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.75	Eurystheus borne with swiftened birth in haste, Did bid to bottom of the World to go: This only lacked of labo…
20	907–958	537	unassigned		WIth my revenging right hand slain now Lycus lo the ground With groveling face hath smit: then whosoever fello…
21	959–1008	532	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.84	Of daytime stars? lo here behold my labour first full stout Not in the lowest part of heaven the Lion shineth …
22	1009–1059	530	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.91	Whether doth the rage and fury blind yet go? His mighty Bow he drew with horns together driven lo, And quiver …
23	1060–1116	515	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.83	Thou hast not son yet all performed, fill up the sacrifice. Lo th'offering doth at th'altars stand, it waits t…
24	1117–1174	514	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.89	Let error blind, where it begun hath, go, For nought else now but only madness may Thee guiltless make: in nex…
25	1175–1223	514	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.80	Could pluck away? who taken hath the spoils so great as these And who was he that feared not even sleep of Her…
26	1224–1271	498	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.85	Thy grievous woe is there, The crime thy stepdames: this mischance no fault of thine hath here. From every par…
27	1272–1324	552	unassigned		By sacred holy kindred rights, by force and duty all Of both my names; if either me thy bringer up thou call. …
28	1325–1377	567	T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue	0.89	This word is meet for Hercles' father lo With this same arrow slain behold thy son is tumbled down, This weapo…

Grace · generated by 13_site.py from run runs_Qwen_Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B_masked_hdb10, seed 42. Texts: EEBO-TCP / EarlyPrint (CC BY-NC 3.0). Metadata: DEEP, Wiggins & Richardson.