C. LITERARY RELATIONSHIPS Catiline is a play of frank borrowings. In Jonson's day, when classical knowledge was held in rather more popular esteem than at present, it is highly probable that a considerable number of his readers and auditors recognized at once a large share of his quotations and allusions. The only method of producing a true historical play was, in Jonson's mind, his own-that of painstaking reference to the classics. Jonson was one of the few Elizabethans who had any regard for 'atmosphere,' and to whom such anachronisms as the striking of a clock in Brutus' orchard1 were abominations. A Roman play must be Roman, and its characters must speak as Romans spoke. On such a hypothesis, there could be but one conclusion: one must go to Roman speeches as they have been handed down to us, go to contemporary documents and transcribe them. Such a thesis is in the main right, but in it lies the grave danger of making too much of the letter at the expense of the spirit. This is precisely Jonson's case. Great as was his ingenuity, great as were his assimilative powers, there yet remains in Catiline much suspended erudition: masses of pedantry, so to speak, not in perfect solution. The traces of mosaic work (to change the figure), work very clever in itself withal, are not totally obliterated. However, in justice to Jonson, one must add that to the general reading-public of to-day, not so versed in classic lore as the poet's auditory, these things are not greatly in evidence. As I have said, Catiline is a play of frank borrowings. At times it is a literal transcript of authorities, at other times it is strongly reminiscent of them. In his efforts to catch the true Latin 'atmosphere,' the author even goes so far as to twist the English idiom, as in 4. 823, 1 Julius Cæsar 2. 1. 191. where I heare ill is the poet's attempt to render the Latin male audio, 'I am ill spoken of.' Then, too, there are his translations of virtus by vertue, pietas by pietie, and the like. The odor of the scholar's taper is strong upon such. The sources of Catiline fall readily into three main classes: first, those of the plot, wherein I include the characters; second, those of the dialogue; and third, those of the choruses. To the plot, Sallust's Catilina of course. makes the greatest contribution, and the characters are mainly developed in the way it suggests; but the contemporary works of Cicero, the Lives of Plutarch, and the accounts of Suetonius, Dio Cassius, and others are used freely. Into the dialogue many elements enter-speeches from Sallust; one whole oration from Cicero, and excerpts from others; figures from the Pharsalia of Lucan; and single quotations from scattered sources-Florus, Claudian, and others. To the choruses Petronius Arbiter contributes most, as the first chorus is in large measure a translation of the rhapsody of Eumolpus (Satiricon 119, 120); but another chorus, the fourth, owes greatly to Sallust, although not a mere translation. 1. Sources of the Plot Sallust. No other one authority supplied so much to the plot of Catiline as the Catilina of Sallust. Sallust's real narrative commences with section 14. Beginning here, the next three sections paint Catiline's character, suggest that it was the memory of Sulla's former easy and profitable triumphs that animated him to rebellion (this is even more strongly hinted in section 5), trace his crimes, and discover in them the unceasing scourges that drove him on to crimes still greater: The ills, that I haue done, cannot be safe b Now, closely parallel to this in Jonson is the introduction of Sulla's ghost, the catalogue of Catiline's misdeeds, and Catiline's monologue containing the lines just quoted above. Following this, Jonson introduces Aurelia Orestilla, who has been mentioned by Sallust in section 15; and then comes the first meeting of the conspirators, both in Jonson and Sallust. To show at a glance how far Jonson has used the Catilina, I here give a table of parallel references.1 Sallust, however, not only supplies the main framework for the plot, but it is from him that many of 1 This table is adapted from a similar one in Miss Wright's unpublished thesis. the chief characters are drawn. Sempronia and Aurelia Orestilla, Catiline, Lentulus, Cethegus, Curius, and Petreius are principally from his pages, although hints from other quarters are worked in. Many of the minor characters are not mentioned in any other account than the Catilina. Cicero. To fill in the outline furnished by Sallust, Jonson made heavy drafts on Cicero. However, these are generally in the dialogue, which I shall consider later. Practically the only part of the action taken from Cicero is the circumstantial account of the meeting of the senate (in act 5) at which the conspirators were convicted, which is from the third Catilinarian. However, the character of Cicero is due almost entirely to his self-revelations in his speeches, and the portrait of Catiline receives several effective touches from his hand. Plutarch, etc. The contribution of other authorities to the plot proper is, on the whole, negligible. Dio Cassius gives a description of prodigies that may not be imitated in Act 1. Plutarch adds touches to the characters of Catiline and Lentulus, supplies the portrait of Antonius, and furnishes the basis for the letter-incident in Act 5, and for Cicero's personally leading the conspirators to execution. From Suetonius is the mention of the libel against Cæsar in Act 5, and from him the character of Cæsar seems to be principally drawn. However, the sum of these is but a small portion of the whole. 2. Sources of the Dialogue Sallust. Sallust furnishes to the dialogue four of the five long connected speeches in Catiline: Catiline's address to the conspirators in Act I (Cat. 20), Catiline's speech to his soldiers in Act 5 (Cat. 58), and the speeches of Cæsar and Cato in the senate on the punishment of the conspirators in Act 5 (Cat. 51 and 52). A number of shorter quotations also occur: Act 1: 165–169, 179–181, 428-430, 441-449, 463-465; Act 2: 34-56 (the description of Sempronia), 66–68, 310–312; Act 3: 534-536; Act 4: 516–518, 558-563, 612, 614–616, 640–643, 777, 783-792, 798. Cicero. One long speech is from Cicero-the oration against Catiline before the senate, in Act 4, taken from the first Catilinarian. Besides this, the following lines are either quoted from Cicero, or suggested by him: From 1 Cat.-3. 815-827; 4. 653-655 4 Cat.-3. 264; 5. 424-432; 437-438; 439446; 499-516 Pro Mur.-3. 21-24; 219-222; 4. 151-155 Lucan and others. Jonson's borrowings from other sources are generally for 'atmosphere.' In describing the horrors, for instance, of Sulla's sway, which Catiline and his followers hope to see repeated, he goes to Lucan's Pharsalia, where a vivid picture of civil strife is ready at hand, and incorporates many of its details in the account of the meeting of the conspirators in Act 1. When Fulvia acquaints Cicero with the plot, in Act 3, Lucan supplies many of Cicero's exclamations of horror. He also furnishes part of Catiline's speech in the senate in Act 4, and figures for the description of Catiline's death in Act 5. Seneca furnishes several hints for the monologue of Sulla's ghost in the first act. Single quotations even appear from Petronius, whose phrase 'ingeniosa gula' is caught up in 1. 391 as witty gluttony. Even so little known an author as |