Had this beene honest now, and for his countrey, 690 As 'twas against it, who had ere fallen greater ? CIC. Honor'd PETREIVS, Rome, not I, must thanke you. How modestly has he spoken of himselfe ! CAT. He did the more. CIC. Thanks to the Romans, I now am paid for all my labours, Of this glad day, if I may know it liue Within your thoughts, shall much affect my conscience, 700 Which I must alwayes studie before fame. Though both be good, the latter yet is worst, And euer is ill got, without the first. THE END. 702 [Excunt. S. N.-G. The names of the players as here given are placed at the beginning of the play in 1640. They are not found in QI. NOTES References to the text of Catiline are to act and line of this edition. Other references to Jonson are to the GiffordCunningham edition, by play, volume, and page. References to Shakspere are to the Globe edition, act, scene, and line. Abbreviations need no explanation beyond that furnished by the Bibliography. The material for notes signed W. is from Whalley; G., from Gifford ; C., from Cunningham. Quotationmarks have usually been omitted in signed notes, as the wording is very frequently altered. For material found in notes on I. 143, 2. 189-190, 2. 248-265, 3. 64, and 5. 214, and for part of that found in the note on 1. 247—250, I am indepted to Professor Bright, editor of Modern Language Notes, who kindly supplied me with the proof-sheets, before publication, of Professor Briggs' article, Source Material for Jonson's Plays, while my book was going through the press. TITLE-PAGE Sejanus Tragoedie. Jonson preferred the Latin spellings. has the same form in the sub-caption. Epicoene has the Latin form 'Comoedie' in its sub-title, and so uniformly. K. MAIESTIES SERVANTS. This was Shakspere's company. For full particulars of this company, see Fleay, Stage 82 ff., 133 ff., 188 ff.; and Collier, Stage 1. 287 ff., 334. His non plebecula gaudet, etc. Horace, Epist. 2. 1. 186 ff. William Stansby. Stansby started in business as a bookseller. He began printing in 1609, and from then until 1638 he printed 154 books. Among the important works from his press were Certayne Masques at the Court never yet printed, by Jonson, January 20, 1614-15; the 1620 quarto of Epicoene; the 1635 quarto of Hamlet; and the second quarto of Love's Labour's Lost. DEDICATION William, Earl of Pembroke. William Herbert, third earl of Pembroke, was born in 1580 and died in 1630. He was Lord Chamberlain from 1615 to 1625, Lord Steward from 1626 to 1630, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1624. In the latter year Broadgates Hall was refounded in his honor as Pembroke College. By some critics he has been identified with the 'Mr. W. H.' of the Shakspere sonnets, but the evidence is doubtful. He was made a Knight of the Garter in the first year of James 1. To him Jonson also dedicated his Epigrams. 5. Iig-giuen times. The jig was a common conclusion to theatrical performances, usually being performed by the clowns and fools of the play just finished, and lasting about an hour. Probably it was a ludicrous composition in rhyme, sung or recited by the clown, accompanied by dancing and music on the pipe and tabor (see Collier, Stage 3. 182 ff.). 6. Against all noise of opinion. Jonson's impatient contempt for popular judgment is expressed more than once in his works. In a passage in Timber, 'Censura de poetis', (Wks. 9. 153) q. v., he vigorously presents his views. 9. The first (of this race). That is, tragedy. Sejanus, 1605, was without dedication. W. ACT I SYLLA'S ghost. Several classic tragedies open with the appearance of a ghost as, for example, the Hecuba of Euripides with the spectre of Polydorus - but the opening here is imitated particularly from Seneca's Thyestes and Agamemmnon. In both, a spirit rises from Hades on the eve of a fearful crime, and one inspired in some measure by his own, to foreshadow the coming horrors. In Thyestes, it is the shade of Tantalus,1 whose crime, terrible as it was, is exceeded by that of Atreus. In Agamemnon, it is the shade of Thyestes, whose son by an incestuous marriage, Ægisthus, 1 See note on 4. 353. |