23 May, 1595 - The Second Part of Hercules

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: y^e 23 of maye 1595 ... ne ... R at 2 p of hercolas ... iij^ll x^s

In modern English: 23^rd May, 1595 ... New ... Received at The Second Part of Hercules ... £3 and 10 shillings.

Today, the Admiral's Men introduced the second part of Hercules, having premiered the first part just over a fortnight ago. Like its predecessor, the second part is also lost, but it must have continued to retell the legends of the Greek mythological strongman. And the second part attracted an exceptionally large crowd to the Rose.

Exactly which tales were staged in the second part is uncertain. As we saw back on May 7, The First Part of Hercules probably dramatized some or all of the Twelve Labours of Hercules, perhaps using straw figures to represent some of the monsters that he defeated. Perhaps the second part simply continued that story.

The Embarkation of the Argonauts by Lorenzo
Costa (16th century). Hercules is on the prow
of the Argo.

However, as we saw, Henslowe's inventory of props also contained "one golden fleece", which suggests that the legend of Jason was staged at the Rose, and this is the only known play to which it could have belonged. In the legend of the Argonauts, Hercules is one of many mythological heroes who joins Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. In his catalogue of British drama, Martin Wiggins therefore speculates that Part One was about the Twelve Labours and Part Two dramatized the adventures of the Argonauts, including the capture of the Golden Fleece from its guardian dragon.

Building on this possibility, Wiggins points out that Henslowe's inventory also contained "one suit for Neptune" and "Neptune's fork and garland". Neptune is prominent in one of the myths involving Hercules, in which he visits Troy at a time when it is threatened by a sea-monster sent by Neptune. The Trojans are sacrificing a maiden named Hesione to the monster.

Hercules rescues Hesione from the sea-monster;
from an illustrated manuscript of
Raoul Lefèvre's Histories of Troy (15th century)

Hercules kills the sea-monster and rescues Hesione. The Trojans promise that he may have her hand in marriage when he returns. However, when Hercules does return, the Trojans have given away Hesione to someone else, so he sacks the city and kills its king.

The death of Hercules by Gabriel Salmon
(16th century)

Perhaps the play ended with the death of Hercules. According to legend, Hercules' wife Dejanira carried with her a centaur's blood, believing it to be a love charm that would prevent him from cheating on her. But the blood was poisonous and Hercules died.

Whichever of these stories was staged, it is clear that Hercules II must have been an action-packed adventure, and its very high box office suggests that it had successfully hit the jackpot.

FURTHER READING

The Second Part of Hercules information

• Jenny March, Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology (Cassell, 1998).
• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry1001.

Henslowe links

• Transcript of this page of the Diary (from W.W. Greg's 1904 edition)
• Facsimile of this page of the Diary (from the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project)

Comments?

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