Multorum pallor in ore Mortis venturæ est. 651-655. The thought here is very similar to a bit from Lucan, Phars. I. 100-107: Qualiter undas Qui secat et geminum gracilis mare separat Isthmos 659. They knew not, what a crime their valour was. Cf. Lucan, Phars. 6. 147: Et qui nesciret in armis Quam magnum virtus crimen civilibus esset. 663. ENYO. A name given to Bellona, the goddess of war, who drove Mars' chariot. Here the word is war itself, personified. 668. Couer'd that earth... with their trunks. 'Sed confecto prœlio tum vero cerneres, quanta audacia quantaque animi vis fuisset in exercitu Catilinæ. Nam fere quem quisque vivos pugnando locum ceperat, eum amissa anima corpore tegebat' (Sallust, Cat. 61). 669-689. Sallust gives the following account of Catiline's death: 'Catilina postquam fusas copias seque cum paucis relictum videt, memor generis atque pristinæ suæ dignitatis in confertissumos hostis incurrit, ibique pugnans confoditur' (Cat. 60); 'Catilina vero longe a suis inter hostium cadavera repertus est, paululum etiam spirans, ferociamque animi, quam habuerat vivus, in voltu retinens' (Cat. 61). Cf. this last passage especially, with 685 in the text. 672. Like a Lybian Lyon. See Lucan, Phars. 1. 206 ff.: Sicut squalentibus arvis, Aestiferæ Libyes viso leo comminus hoste Hæreat, aut latum subeant venabula pectus, 697-698. Only the memorie of this glad day. Cf. quotations in note on 610-616, supra. 678. MINERVA holding forth MEDVSA'S head. See Ovid, Met. 4. 12. 769 ff. The story of Minerva's fight with the giant Enceladus is told by Claudian, Carm. 53. 91 ff., in a passage which Jonson here closely imitates. Cf. Tritonia virgo Prosiliit ostendens rutila cum Gorgone pectus; Ut se letifero sensit durescere visu... (Et steterat iam pæne lapis)-Quo vertimur? inquit, In this connection, cf. also Lucan, Phars. 9. 638-642, 654-658: Quem, qui recto se lumine vidit, Passa Medusa mori est? rapint dubitantia fata, Olim Phlegræo, stantis serpente gigantes, Erexit montes, bellumque immane deorum Multis 688-691. A braue, bad death, etc. Cf. Florus, Epit. 4. 1: 'Pulcherrima morte, si pro patria sic concidisset.' 694-695. All my labours... and my dangers. meis laboribus et periculis'-a common phrase in Cicero. See 3 Cat. 1; Pro Mur. 2. The principall Tragoedians. These were all members of Shakspere's company. For detailed accounts of their lives and activities, see Collier, Hist. of Eng. Dram. Poetry 3. 257 ff. Master of Revells. At first a mere professional organizer of court-amusements (Stowe, Survey of London, ed. Morley, p. 122), the master of revels came later to be an absolute censor and dictator (see Camb. Hist. of Eng. Lit. 6. 276). Jonson is thought by some to have coveted the office (see Dekker, Satiromastix, ed. Scherer, p. 47, and note). IF APPENDIX A. COMMENDATORY VERSES AND MEMORANDA IN QI. To my friend Mr. Ben Ionson, F thou hads't itch'd after the wild applause I should commend the thing, but not thy choyse. To his worthy friend Mr. Ben Ionson. E, that dares wrong this Play, it should appeare Stampt for continuance, shall be currant, where HAD Iohn Fletcher. To his worthy beloued friend Mr. BEN IONSON. AD the great thoughts of Catiline bene good, In a copy of this Quarto in the possession of W. Bang, on the last leaf, occur some interesting memoranda. I here reproduce the parts concerning Catiline. These same memoranda are found in a Dulwich College Ms., in the London, etc., of David Hughson (Edward Pugh), 1805—09. Although the memoranda are not in Jonson's hand, the existence of two copies argues for their authenticity. The script, says Bang, is of the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The 'Ld. T-r' is undoubtedly Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset and Baron Buckhurst (see D.N.B.). The parts to the left of the parentheses are Bang's conjectures-the edge of the sheet having been cut into by the binder. Me)m. I laid the plot of my Volpone, & wrote most of it, after a present of 10 dozen of )sack, from my very good Ld T-r; that Play I am positive will last to Posterity, )d when I & envy are friends, with applause. scen)e in that Play which I think is flat; I resolve to mix (For the remainder, and discussion, see Mod. Lang. Rev. I. III ff.) B. PROLOGUE AND EPILOGUE TO Q3. A PROLOGUE ΤΟ CATILINE, To be merrily spoken by Mrs. Nell, A Woman's prologue! This is vent'rous News; Let th' House hold full, We're to carry't then. But show, who best deserve true worth in Man. |