The Roman Hydra in Du Bellay's Les Antiquitez de Rome

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, this is the first paragraph of the article. In "Plus qu'aux bords Aeteans le brave filz d'Aeson," the French Renaissance poet Joachim Du Bellay evokes the classical myths of Jason and Golden Fleece, the Hydra, and the Labors of Hercules. In this sonnet, the tenth of Du Bellay's Les Antiquitez de Rome of 1558, the poet transforms these classical names and allusions to create his own myth of Rome's fratricidal combats.