Seneka – Kochanowski, Kochanowski – Seneka
Seneca – Kochanowski, Kochanowski – Seneca

Summary/Abstract: The paper considers the problem of mutual interrelations between Jan Kochanowski and Seneca the tragedy writer. In spite of the ostensible distance between the two figures in question, Kochanowski not only proves to be familiar with such Seneca’s works as "Phaedra," "Thyestes," and "Agamemnon," but also resorts to them in a skillful way. Both are best revealed in the former’s two first elegies of the "Elegiarum libri IV" collection, and to even larger extend in his "Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys." The interrelations in question are observed on many levels since Kochanowski is interested in Seneca’s descriptions of violent feelings or didactic hints as well as technical resolutions. Moreover, the comparison of "Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys" with the Trojan cycle shows Kochanowski’s confrontational attitude to Seneca’s world of tragedy devoid of moral values. To add to the this, the author points at Kochanowski’s expressions that permeate Łukasz Górnicki’s and Jan Alan Bardziński’s subsequent translations of Seneca the tragedy writer.

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