“Fuimus Troes” (Aeneid 2).
THE TRUE TROJANS.
Edited by Chris Butler, Sheffield
Hallam University.
Contents.
Introduction.
--- First Publication and
Authorship. 3.
--- Dates of Composition and
Performance. 4.
---Sources. 6.
---Type of Play. 8.
---Major Thematic Concerns.
---James
as “Second Brute”. 11.
---Prince
Henry and Chivalric Values. 13.
---James/Charles
as Second Augustus. 15.
---Tranlatio Imperii. 17.
---The
Golden Age (and the Marriage of Princess Elizabeth
and Frederick V, Elector Palatine). 19.
---National
Identity. 22.
---Editorial Procedures. 24.
Works Cited in the Introduction and Notes. 25.
“Fuimus Troes” (Aeneid 2). The
True Trojans. 29.
Appendix 1: Fisher’s Epithalamium. 139.
Introduction.
First Publication and Authorship.
“Fuimus Troes” (Aeneid 2). The True Trojans (hereafter referred to as Fuimus Troes) was first published,
anonymously, in a quarto-sized edition, in London, 1633. Wood, the
seventeenth-century historian of Oxford, affirmed that Jasper Fisher was the
author of Fuimus Troes, and this
attribution has been widely accepted.[1]
Jasper Fisher was born in Carleton, Bedfordshire in 1591, the son of William Fisher, “deputy auditor for Yorkshire” (Foster 500), and Alice Roane of Wellingborough. After matriculating at Magdalen Hall, Oxford (1607), Fisher obtained his BA (1611), MA (1614) and BD and DD (1638). While still at Oxford, he contributed a Latin poem to Epithalamia (1613), the university’s volume celebrating the wedding of James I’s daughter Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V, Elector Palatine (see Appendix 1). In 1624, Fisher became rector of St. Nicholas Church in the “somewhat straggling” village of Wilden, Bedfordshire (Page, Counties 223), and, in 1627, married Elizabeth Sams. Their two children (Jasper and Elizabeth) were baptized at Wilden.
In addition to Fuimus Troes, Fisher published sermons,
including The Priest’s Duty and Dignity
(1635), which argues that while priests should not be regarded as infallible
(in the Roman Catholic manner), nor should every believer assume the right to
interpret scripture according to his/her own lights. Notwithstanding its
promotion of Anglican views, the sermon could be read as implicitly criticising
the absolutist position espoused by Stuart monarchs. On the priest’s role as
mediator of God’s laws, Fisher insists it is “[t]he law which he speaks, not which he makes of which he is the lawyer, not the
law-giver” (16). Conversely, in True Law
of Free Monarchies (1598), James I (who equated the authority of kings with
that of bishops) had asserted: “Kings were the authors and makers of the laws,
and not the laws of the king”. Comparing these statements, it seems justifiable
to assume that Fisher was no mere mouthpiece for the Stuart polity.
In later life, according to a
manuscript note by Oldys, Fisher became blind, “whether from old age or an
accident is not known. Wood calls him “an ingenious man, as those that knew him
have divers times informed me”” (Bradley). Fisher’s death, in 1643, is recorded
on a monument on the north wall of the chancel in St. Nicholas Church (Page, Counties 226).
Dates of Composition and Performance.
Neither the date of composition
of Fuimus Troes, nor the date of its
one attested performance is known. Curran cites Brinkley’s assessment that
“1625 is probably the latest possible date [of composition] for Fuimus Troes” (261). This supposition is
based on the assumption that because the play contains a song in Scottish
dialect it was written with a view to pleasing King James I, who died in 1625
(see Bentley 304 and Hazlitt 447). However, the inclusion of a song in Scottish
dialect may well have pleased King Charles after 1625. Apparent analogical
references not only to the death of Prince Henry (1612; see 3.7.1.ff), but also
(arguably) to the disasters which befell Frederick V, the Elector Palatine
suggest that the play was written after 1620 when “Frederick’s forces were …
defeated at the Battle of White Mountain, outside Prague, on 8 November”
(Yates, Rosicrucian 34). In any case,
as Hopkins remarks: “It seems reasonable to assume [that the play’s] … dates of
composition and [original] performance … were close together” (39).
In the early seventeenth-century,
academics who wrote plays “tried to maintain their amateur profile by keeping
their works unpublished” (Elliott, Plays 181).
Fuimus Troes would have been “written
exclusively for the use of student actors, not for any profit that might be
gained from either the printed page or the professional stage” (181). This
would explain why, if the play was
written around (or several years before) 1625, it remained unpublished until
1633. It does not, however, explain why the play eventually was printed in that year. Possibly Fuimus Troes was restaged, or considered
for revival, in the early 1630s.
To consider this possibility, it
will be useful to discuss Cartwright’s The
Royal Slave. The latter play was performed in Christ Church hall, at Oxford
University, before King Charles and Queen Henrietta. It received “a warm
reception from the entire court, especially the queen, who made a special
request to have it performed by her own company … at Hampton Court the
following January” (Elliott, Drama
652-3). It must be acknowledged that The
Royal Slave is a very different play to the comparatively dry Fuimus Troes. Nonetheless, there is
evidence here of a relationship between successful academic drama and
subsequent re-presentations at court, around the Christmas season. Royal
attendance at academic drama was more frequent under James and Charles than it
had been with Elizabeth. Consequently, academic drama can be said to have had
more contact with the court after 1603 than during the Elizabethan period.
Certainly, “Oxford’s proximity to London ensured that the worlds of court,
capital and university remained in close connection” (Fincham 180). In this
context, it is worth noting that Shakespeare’s
Cymbeline (which, like Fuimus Troes, features an encounter
between Romans and Britons on British soil around the time of the birth of
Christ) was revived “on Charles I’s return from his Scottish coronation [1633]”
(Kerrigan 133) and performed “at court on 1 January 1634, when, according to
the Master of the Revels, it was “well liked by the King” (Warren 6). Also, the
inclusion of over a dozen songs in Fuimus
Troes, in addition to “triumphs” (3.7.49.sd) and a masque, suggests the
play was written (or had been revised and extended) with a view to making its
otherwise rather old-fashioned (Senecan) treatment of a historical subject as
entertaining for a courtly audience as possible. Bearing in mind Charles I’s
Scottish coronation of 1633, a song in Scottish dialect may have been included
by special request, for “from the accession of the new dynasty it became
increasingly fashionable for the university to produce verses to commemorate
the births, marriages, deaths and peregrinations of the Stuarts, with as many
as eight collections being published in the decade after 1630” (Fincham 180).
Sources.
The play’s list of Dramatis Personae cites the main
historical sources. Camillus and Brennus, we are told, come from Livy’s history
Book 5. The majority of the remaining characters derive from either Julius
Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic Wars
or Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the
Kings of Britain.[2]
Whoever composed the list of Dramatis
Personae was meticulous, not only listing two “lad[ies] mentioned” who do
not appear onstage during the play, but also listing the character of Cassibelane
twice: once as Caesar’s
“Cassibellaunus” and again as Geoffrey’s “Cassibelane”. The author of this list
was either careless or keen to assert an equivalence between Caesar and
Geoffrey’s texts as “history”.
Indeed, I feel Fuimus Troes may offer more to the
modern reader as a dramatisation of the historiographical contest between
native and classical (Latin) texts for discursive eminence in the early decades
of the seventeenth-century than to the modern playgoer as an early modern
representation of historical characters in conflict. Investigation of
character-psychology is not a priority in the play. Only Rollano, the cowardly
Belgian who prefers tackling dead capons to live Romans, Eulinus, the lovesick
noble given to neo-platonic excess in his utterance and Spenserian intensity in
his dreams, and Nennius, the British champion who wins Caesar’s sword in
one-to-one combat, emerge as memorable characters. However, the play becomes
more fascinating if its two main sources (Caesar and Geoffrey) are regarded as
the real protagonist and antagonist among the Dramatis Personae. And though the traitor Androgeus, as character,
may not captivate an audience with his pallid vacillations, as a
Geoffrey-derived creation he attracts the informed reader’s eye by appearing
onstage with his Caesarian double, Mandubratius (Mandubrace). For Mandubratius
and Androgeus are the same “historical” character under two different names. In
such ways, “the play calls attention [both] to its use of Galfridian
non-history and to its own story as a mixture” (Curran 22).
Of course, Fuimus Troes has other sources besides those cited in the list of Dramatis Personae. The playwright paraphrases Tacitus, Lucian and others, among Latin authors. He also includes abundant echoes of early modern English poets and dramatists such as Spenser, Shakespeare and Kyd. Other details derive from English/British chroniclers and antiquarians such as Holinshed and Camden. In addition, eulogistic imagery familiar from the many masques and pageants written after the accession of King James in 1603 is often employed by Fisher as patriotic ammunition. Details of such borrowings and adaptations can be found in the notes accompanying the text of the play in this edition.
Type of Play.
Under conditions affected by strict state censorship (as obtained under
the Tudor-Stuart polities), the distancing effect inherent in “history plays”
allowed playwrights to comment obliquely on contemporary political issues in
relative safety. Also, a dramatist might claim he did not seek to criticise the
existing regime in his history play, but rather wished to demonstrate
“universal” laws of government in a historical setting. After all, “kings, by
understanding these laws, could rule wisely and well” (Ribner 19). Nonetheless,
“historical eras were chosen for dramatisation particularly because they
offered direct parallels with the events of the dramatists’ own times” (17).
As mentioned, a frequent “source
of entertainment for the Stuart royalties was provided by the plays performed
at the Oxford and Cambridge colleges” (Boas 401). Given the perceived function
of the history play as a means of recommending, in acceptable terms, a style of
government to a monarch, it comes as no surprise to find that many academic
plays were history plays. However, from 1605-1636, Cambridge “had the monopoly
of the royal presence at its entertainments” (409). We can assume, therefore,
that the performance of Fuimus Troes
at Magdalen did not receive a royal audience. But academic plays did not require
a royal audience to justify their existence: “In the training of young men for
public life, either in the church or state, plays were regarded as a branch of
rhetoric whose educational function was to hone the skills of the future
preacher, orator and statesman in the classical style” (Elliott, Plays 180). Fuimus Troes, then, may not have been written to advise a king, but
to assist in the training of young men who later would be in positions where
they would be called upon to advise their monarch or his council. As we know,
Fisher not only became a rector after leaving Oxford, he also preached sermons
which touched on controversial areas of doctrine.
As for why an academic history
play like Fuimus Troes should contain
so many songs, it appears that at Oxford, in the Tudor-Stuart period, bachelors
were sometimes admitted to Master’s status only on condition that they write a
play well-stocked with songs (see Elliot, Plays
179). This provided Oxford’s musical scholars (including choristers) with an
opportunity to perform new work before a large audience.
Completing ignoring the play’s
musical content, Ribner regards Fuimus
Troes as “an academic exercise in the vernacular [which] cannot be said to
have had … much influence … upon … the mainstream of English drama”. Yet, he
concedes:
The play is interesting as a late
survival of the type of rigid imposition of Senecan form on chronicle matter
[as, for example, in The Misfortunes of
Arthur [1587-8]]. Fisher’s play does, however, show some influence of the
popular dramatic tradition in that the serious historical matter is combined
with a romantic love affair and with comic interludes provided by a cowardly
clown (228).
Aspects of Fuimus Troes may certainly be regarded as a throwback to
Elizabethan Senecan tragedy. Its patriotic welding of “British” (i.e.
Galfridian) material to a classical form follows the practice inaugurated by
“the first original English tragedy extant [based on the] Senecan model, Gorboduc” (Charlton 140-1). In lieu of
presenting action, the many “long, static and declamatory speeches” (Cuddon
806) in both plays strive for rhetorical effect at the expense of the
(relative) naturalism cultivated by commercial dramatists after Marlowe.
Similarly, stichomythia tends to appear in plays regarded as Senecan (see Fuimus Troes 5.1.22ff). While this
device may be “highly effective in the creation of tension and conflict”
(Cuddon 864), it can also make characters seem like interchangeable conduits of
rhetorical technique rather than distinct individuals. In addition, the authors
of Gorboduc and Fuimus Troes appear to have designed their plays to deliver clear
moral messages. Characters in both plays assert that national tragedy follows
private rebellion. At the end of Gorboduc,
surviving Britons are told: “These mischiefes spring when rebells will arise, /
To worke revenge and iudge their princes fact, / This, this ensues, when noble
men do faile / In loyall trouth, and subiectes will be kinges” (5.2.242-5; in
Cunliffe). Fisher’s Androgeus likewise says: “Thus, civil war by me and
factious broils / Deface this goodly land” (5.5.1-2). Admittedly, Androgeus is
a traitor: this speech might be read as expressive of his remorse (and so not
primarily didactic). But the patriotic Belinus sententiously concurs: “No way
half so quick / To ruinate kingdoms as by home-bred strife. Thus, while we
single fight, we perish all” (5.2.8-10). Also, Fisher’s play, like Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy (an “amalgam of Seneca
and popular tradition” [Charlton 144]), has Mercury guide the ghosts of
illustrious soldiers from the classical underworld back “to this upper sky” (Fuimus, induction 38) to watch the
living wreak revenge.
In place of the customary Senecan
moralising chorus, however, Fisher puntuates the main action with songs, dances,
triumphs and a masque (though the first song in Act 2 Scene 8 strikingly
resembles a Greek tragic chorus). Given that opera began as “chanted tragedy”
(Cuddon 616) and “musicologists … have charted in the masque the development of
a musical style which, in projecting the words of songs in recitative and
arioso setting, may have contributed to the rise of opera” (Lindley ix-x),
Fisher’s play may be given some credit for a role in the development and
combination of existing dramatic forms which culminated in opera.
Major thematic concerns.
James as
“Second Brute”.
The Tudor monarchs “exploited their Welsh ancestry to
claim descent from the early British kings as a way of legitimising their rule”
(Wymer 4), basing their claims largely on genealogical “evidence” contained in
Geoffrey’s history. Then, in 1603, James I became king of an ambiguous
amalgamation of realms. As a result:
just when all this body of [Galfridian] mythical material was beginning to be historically discredited by the emergence of “modern” historiography and proper antiquarian research, it was being reinvigorated poetically by the reunion of Britain under James, … [who] was hailed as the second Brute in the pageantry which accompanied his Royal entry into London in 1604 and in many other poems and pageants over the next few years (Wymer 5-6).
Thus, Munday’s The
Triumphs of Reunited Britania (1605) declares that James, “a second Brute”,
is descended from the first (Trojan) Brute “by the blessed marriage of
Margaret, eldest daughter of King Henrie the Seaventh, to Iames the fourth king
of Scotland” (47-9). James, however, was a better Brute, for “whereas the first
Brutus had “severed and divided” the kingdom of Britain among his sons, the new
Stuart king would make “one happy Britannia again, peace and quietness bringing
that to pass which war nor any other means could attain unto”” (King 41).
With this in mind, it seems legitimate to ask if Fuimus Troes endorses James as a “second
Brute”. As Ronan observes, history plays “provided … audiences … with the
aesthetic pleasure of ironic endings” (16); i.e. plays that “end” happily end
ironically for an audience which knows that history holds unhappiness in store
for some of the characters onstage at the play’s close. Obviously, this device
affords not only “aesthetic pleasure” for an audience, but also a means of
sending a message to a reigning (currently happy) monarch. In Fuimus Troes, Caesar is told by Hulacus,
a druid soothsayer, “Be Saturn, and so thou shalt not be Tarquin” (5.1.45).
Primed by Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (among
many other works), the audience knows that Caesar, as ruler, will become, or
come to be perceived as, a tyrant (as did Tarquin) and invite assassination by
Brutus. (The name “Brutus” here is another source of irony; Caesar—or James,
the second Brute—is told: “Rule as Saturn or be killed by another second Brute…”). So while the play’s conclusion seems to
celebrate the union of Caesar and Cassibelane, it indicates elsewhere their
shared destinies as would-be absolutists. (Charles I, of course, was to meet a
fate comparable to Caesar’s in 1642.)
Prince Henry
and Chivalric Values.
Nennius, “a character among Geoffrey’s most brazen
fictions … symbolised not only British identity and defiance against Rome, but also
continuity [in that he] objected to
the renaming of Troynovant into what was to become “London”” (Curran 162;
stress added). Likewise, in Fuimus Troes,
Nennius represents continuity, in a Stuart context, with the Elizabethan era,
espousing Spenserian-Elizabethan chivalric, militant Protestant values. In this
he resembles James I’s son Prince Henry, who “ever much reverenced [the] memory
and government” of Elizabeth I (Sir John Holles, in Strong 2). As a result of
his “reverence” for Elizabeth I’s reign, Henry’s court tended to be the
focus-point for a faction of opposition to James’s policies.
Given the positive portrayal of Nennius in Fuimus Troes as a Spenserian chivalric
hero, we might suppose that Fisher, like Drayton, was in the pro-Henry / anti-James
camp. “For Drayton’s generation (and the one that followed),” says Helgerson,
an “intense nostalgia for the age of Elizabeth went hand in hand with a disdain
for the Stuart monarch and his court” (129). Drayton, it should be noted,
dedicated Polyolbion (1612) to Prince
Henry. Indeed, poets at this time frequently reiterated “themes of laudation of
Henry living and lament for him dead … [identifying him] with other worthies,
like Hector … [and celebrating] his prowess in the lists” (Strong 19).[3]
Fisher also compares Nennius with Hector (3.7.19) and shows his knightly
prowess in single combat with Caesar himself (3.2). It is worth observing,
then, that Prince Henry was closely connected with Oxford: “a census [of
scholars at the university] was drawn up [in 1610] … at the request of the
prince of Wales” (Porter 35). It is also known that “the prince’s college
chapel of Magdalen [Fisher’s college] was draped in black” for Henry’s funeral
(Fincham 180).
Reading Nennius as analogue for Henry, then, must lead us
to view Fuimus Troes as, to some
extent, a challenge to the authority of James I, in that it presents feudal
values (i.e. values consistent with a belief in the limited authority of a monarch) in a more positive light than that
accorded to values consistent with a belief in the absolute powers of the monarch. Here, I feel, it would be helpful
to consider the comparable tension between feudal and absolutist values which
exists in a prototype for Spenser’s epic The
Faerie Queene: Tasso’s Jerusalem
Liberated. In Book Five of the latter work:
Rinaldo slays Gernando [another noble] … in a fight over honour and precedence … Goffredo [the king] resolves to punish the offender … [But Rinaldo] refuses even to submit to trial … For Rinaldo, the freeborn nobleman, submission to the law is a sign of servile subjection. The state and its claims must give way before the higher claim of honour and lineage … Tasso leaves no doubt concerning the official allegiance of his poem. It supports Goffredo … [But the notion that] Tasso’s … allegiance [to absolutist state values] is only official, that his poem betrays a ‘secret solidarity’ with the feudal, romantic ideology that it ostensibly rejects, has been a commonplace of criticism almost since the poem was issued (Helgerson 45-6).
Fisher’s play conforms to the same pattern. After all, it
is virtually inevitable that the character who heroically (and successfully)
challenges no less a personage than Julius Caesar to single combat and takes
part in an exciting duel onstage (or on page) will cut a more dashing figure
than the representative of state values (i.e. the king), whatever the
“official” line of the poem or play in question. Indeed, this “pattern” may be
a generic feature common to epics and revenge tragedies exploring heroic-epic
values. Choosing to represent Prince Henry as Nennius, then, as an application
of this generic “feature”, may be regarded as a political gesture on the
dramatist’s part.
James/Charles as Second Augustus.
The relationship of Britain, or England, or whatever name we choose
to give to James’s ambiguous realm(s), to classical and Catholic Rome is of
central importance to the play. Caesar’s Rome is the Britons’ enemy, but it
also represents (as imperial power) a model of excellence to be imitated and
surpassed. “In place of Geoffrey’s belief that the Britons resembled the Romans
because both descended from Troy, [the governing elite of Stuart Britain] began
to embrace the idea that the Roman mission to conquer and civilize had translated westwards and been inherited
by Britain” (Kerrigan 114).
In this context, it is significant that James’s “accession medal is
the first example of a British monarch adopting the title and dress of a Roman
emperor” (King 81). At the pageant welcoming him to London, James was “hailed
as a new Augustus … The character of Roman Emperor is [thus] imposed over that
of Trojan Prince [“second Brute”] to herald a great imperial reign” (Parry 14).
Identification with Augustus, though, not only involves the presentation of the
monarch as an emperor who ushers in a new golden age of peace, but may also
give rise to concern over the political dangers associated with an absolutist
model of rule. For “a state which breaks out of the shell of an ageing empire
and claims its autonomy—as Henry VIII broke free of the power of Rome … is
likely to be imprinted not just with the ideology but the vices of the
apparatus that fostered it” (Kerrigan 114). The growing tendency for English
monarchs to represent themselves as Roman emperors represented a clear threat
to those who favoured a parliamentarian system. This threat became more serious
under James who consistently espoused his belief in his divine right to rule
absolutely and reached its presumptuous apogee under Charles. For example,
Rubens’s panels for Whitehall, commissioned by Charles, represented James not
only as a Roman emperor but as a Roman emperor turned god: “the central oval of
the ceiling shows the apotheosis of James … [the king is] borne heavenwards on
an imperial eagle” (Parry 28). Like the Romans Julius and Augustus, and the
Stuart James, Charles, such imagery implies, is a future god. Gods do not need
parliaments to ratify their decrees.
At the Christmas festivities of 1631-2, Charles played Caesar; he led
captive kings in Aurelian Townshend’s Albion’s
Triumph, and bought Mantegna’s Triumph
of Caesar in 1629. This painting, along with twelve portraits of Roman
emperors by Titian, “held a particular significance for Charles, for … he was
increasingly disposed to cast himself in an imperial role as Emperor of Great
Britain, a style already adopted by King James but more grandiosely assumed by
Charles” (Parry 49). Albion’s Triumph
ends in the joint apotheosis of Charles and Henrietta.
Turning to Fuimus Troes, we
find expressed the idea that the Britons can be beaten by the Romans only
because a number of British tribes have gone over to Caesar’s side (5.2.5-10).
But the British tribes have defected not through fear of Caesar but in
opposition to their king’s tyranny: Cassibelane usurps the claims of Androgeus
and Themantius to the throne (at least, according to Androgeus and Themantius),
refuses to compromise on the question of where Eulinus should be tried for
killing Hirildas, and persecutes the tribal chieftain Mandubrace, apparently
for political reasons. Whether Cassibelane is in the right or wrong on these
issues, the obvious implication is that it is his autocratic style of
government that sets in motion the chain of events that leads to the British
defeat by Caesar. Had Cassibelane’s “parliament” been given its due, the Romans
could have been repulsed. As Themantius pointedly declares: “A body politic
must on two legs stand” (5.5.37).
Translatio Imperii.
The concept of translatio imperii (the translation of
empire) became “extremely influential in the Middle Ages, when the Roman empire
was ‘translated’ first to the Franks under Charlemagne and subsequently to the
Germans as the Holy Roman Empire, and in a rather different form in the
Renaissance, when Spain, France and England all saw themselves as heirs to Rome
… [In the use the Tudors made of Geoffrey’s material,] we can see a deliberate
imitation of Virgil’s use of the legend of the Trojan Aeneas to support the
political position of Augustus. Just as empire had passed from Troy to Rome, so
now it passed to New Troy, London” (Rivers 59, 61).
The Renaissance historian
Panvinio “locates the main triumphal succession not in the papacy but in the
Holy Roman Empire … from Romulus to Charles V” (Miller 47). Charles V (“the
second Charlemagne”), on being elected as Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, was
perceived as “the potential Lord of the World … due to the Hapsburg dynastic
marriage policy which had brought … vast territories under his rule” (Yates, Astraea 1), “territories more extensive
than the ancient Roman empire” (Miller 2).
This reading of history extended
into the reign of Charles I. George Lauder, a Scot and a “robust poetic
supporter of Charles in his early reign” (Miller 120), represented Charles as
another Charlemagne: “his royall brow / Crown’d with triumphant bayes …may HEE
… take his place / In Charlemaigne’s fair chayre” (Miller 120-1). Poets such as
Lauder, then, were asserting that a new “Charles the Great” was the heir to the
British throne at the time Fuimus Troes
was written (if a date of composition based on supposed analogical references
to Frederick’s downfall is accepted [see below]). Also, this new Charlemagne
occupied the throne when the play was finally published. Hence, it is
intriguing to find, in the play’s opening scene, Brennus (who “throughout the
sixteenth-century and well into the seventeenth … continued to be invoked as a figure for England’s / Britain’s independence from, rivalry with,
and primordial superiority to Rome” [Schwyzer 15]), referring anachronistically to “Charles his
wain” (line 17) as the starting point for his victorious campaign against Rome.
Charles’s Wain, of course, was an old name for the Great Bear constellation. As
Berry and Archer observe:
An
important figurative strand within Union-inspired literature expands on
classical allusions to the British as ‘the nations on whom the Pole Star looks
down’, whose island ‘lies under the Great Bear’, the constellation ‘that
circleth ever in her place’ … Following the
acceptance of Copernicus’s hypothesis of the earth’s planetary status,
both the new Britain and its ruler are equated with the polar stars as the
‘loadstone’ or fixed points within the newly mobile globe (124).
With a new Charlemagne reigning
at the new imperial/geographical centre of the world, Charles’s empire
supersedes that of old Rome (previously regarded, at least by the ancient
Romans themselves, as the centre of the known world), thereby “reversing the
Roman conquest of Britain” (Miller 121). In this way, Charles may be said to
“appropriate the triumphal boast of Julius Caesar: ‘hee shall come and see, and
overcome’ (Miller 121; quoting Lauder). Fisher participates in the same
discursive field, cancelling Caesar’s boast by having Caesar himself admit,
regarding his British campaign: “Nor can I write now, ‘I came over, / And I
overcame’” (3.4.19-20). Also, Fisher interrogates the notion that Caesar
discovered Britain by implying that the pole star lures Caesar to Britain precisely so that Rome’s imperial authority
may be transmitted: “I long to stride / This Hellespont [i.e. the Channel]”
declares Caesar in Act 1, “Disclosing to our empire unknown lands / Until the
arctic star for zenith stands” (2.33-6). That is, the arctic star will not only
magnetically distort the borders of the Roman Empire and de-centre Rome, but
the island it shines upon (Britain) will replace Rome as the “zenith” of the
world. In asserting that the Britons are no less “true Trojans” than the
Romans, and in showing Nennius the British hero defeating Julius Caesar in
single combat, taking Caesar’s sword as a sign of victory to be paraded in a
triumphal procession, Fisher announces that the imperial mantle is being
translated from pagan (or Catholic) Rome to Christian (Protestant) Britain. Thus,
the “triumphs” in Act 3 Scene 7, though they appear only as a stage direction
in the text of the play, in performance would presumably play a major role,
representing the moment of translatio
imperii.
The Golden Age (and the Marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V,
Elector Palatine).
The Christian Holy Roman empire was to be created by (ostensibly)
peaceful means, not conquest. Charles V “had providentially inherited territories in Europe which recalled the
Roman Empire [and] … did not entertain the ambition of achieving a world empire
by conquering other states” (Yates, Astraea
25-6; emphasis added). But the dream of Charles V peacefully ruling a
united Christian world ended with the reformation. After that, individual
national monarchs “representing the ordered rule of the One within their
individual realms—took over something of the imperial role” (Astraea 28). James was represented as
having providentially united the island of Britain for the first time since the
birth of Christ. Thus, “the small world of the Tudor union [of the houses of
Lancaster and York] and the Tudor pax”
and the slightly larger world of (symbolic) British union under James and the
Jacobean pax “have behind them the
vaster European perspectives of the Hapsburg union and the Hapsburg pax; and behind these again is the
august concept of Holy Roman Empire, reaching out in ever-widening influence to
include the whole globe” (54).
James I saw dynastic union as the
means by which a Christian empire could expand without recourse to arms.
Accordingly, he decided his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, should marry
“Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, … the senior Elector of the Holy
Roman Empire who … was [putatively] descended from Charlemagne” (Strong 56-7).
An account published in Heidelberg in 1613 of a masque intended to be performed
at the marriage of Elizabeth and Frederick provides
insight as to how the Palatine
match was viewed … The argument [of the masque states:] … ‘although the poets
say, divisus ab orbe Britannus; yet
the marriage, made in heaven, and consummated on earth, of the only daughter of
this wise King of Great Britain with the Serene Prince Frederick V, Elector of
Palatine … had given occasion … to believe, that one day, if it pleased God,
the world (quitting its errors) would come to give recognition to Truth which
resides solely in England and the Palatinate’ (Strong 135).
In other words, the marriage of
Elizabeth and Frederick brought the dream of a world Protestant empire one step
closer to fulfillment.
Early modern plays featuring Roman characters set in the decades
before the birth of Christ participate in the belief that Christ awaited the
coming of Augustus in order to be born into a world stable enough to facilitate
the growth of Christianity (see 5.6.62-3 and note). A further implication of
this belief in the providential function of imperially-ensured peace was that,
in the Stuart period, the creation of a reformed Christian world empire (larger
than that governed by Augustus) would see the return of Christ and the
completion of history. Consequently, Fuimus
Troes includes not only several references to Astraea, the goddess of
justice whom Virgil had predicted, in Eclogue 4, would return to earth for a
new golden age (see 3.8.16), but also millennial imagery (5.2.16-21). The fact
that Fuimus Troes takes its title
from Virgil’s Aeneid becomes highly
significant in this context, for the latter work had come to be seen as “a
semi-sacred poem glorifying the historical framework of the Saviour’s birth”
(Yates, Astraea 1). Moreover, from a
Christian perspective, the reference to the prophecies of Daniel in the final
scene (“The world’s fourth empire Britain doth embrace” [line 20]) suggests
that, after the final defeat of Rome, the reign of Christ on earth will begin.
However, hopes for a reformed Christian empire were shown to be
unrealistic following the outbreak in Europe of the Thirty Years War around
1620, and the play seems to allude to this disappointment. The heroine of Fuimus Troes, Landora, is referred to as
a “phoenix” (4.2.40; as Yates points out, “the return of the golden age and the
rebirth of the phoenix are symbols with parallel meanings” [Astraea 38]). But instead of performing
a glorious resurrection, this phoenix commits suicide after being involved in a
somewhat sordid subplot. Eulinus, a Briton, impersonating the man Landora
loved, had been sleeping with her. In the notes to 1.4.85-7, it is suggested
that this subplot refers analogically to Frederick V claiming Elizabeth as his bride
on the strength of his descent from Charlemagne. Here, there is only space to
observe that the name “Landora” is an anagram of “a Roland”. A Roland, it might
be felt, must love (and serve) a (descendant of) Charlemagne. In any case, when
his country has been ravaged as a result of his actions, Eulinus laments:
“Shall ensigns be displayed, and nations rage / About so vile a wretch?”
(4.2.34-5). As mentioned, the Thirty Years War was to devastate Europe
following Frederick’s attempt to reign as King of Bohemia. In the aftermath of
the Battle of White Mountain, “propaganda pamphlets against Frederick …
delighted to show him as a poor fugitive [“a wretch”] with one of his stockings
coming down” (Yates, Rosicrucian 34).
Certainly, events following his marriage to Elizabeth showed that Frederick was
no Charlemagne.
The play concludes not with the dynastic union of Britain and Rome
through marriage, but with the “masculine embrace” of Cassibelane and Caesar
(Mikalachki 96-7). Translatio imperii,
it seems, is achieved between men at a symbolic level (via exchanged gifts
[5.6.36-40], trophies won in single combat, etc.)
not through men and women in a biological manner.
If England depends, to an extent,
on Scotland as other for self-definition, what happens when England “merges”
with Scotland? Or is English identity, insofar as it can be said to exist at
all, simply the product of such mergers? “‘My muse is rightly of the English
strain, / That cannot long one fashion
entertain.’ Drayton mocks both himself and the English for their lack of any
single fixed identity. Yet in this self-mockery there is also pride” (Helgerson
14). By definition, an empire is a nation with an identity crisis, a notional
space with shifting boundaries. To become (or extend) an empire is to admit
change. “To be like the Greeks [or the Trojans] … to base one’s identity and
the identity of one’s country on a project of imitative self-transformation is
precisely to adopt “the English strain”, as Drayton defines it” (14). To
possess a fluid identity is to possess a recipe for successful imperialism. The
mission of world rule is transferred from Rome to Britain because Britain
possesses the more flexible identity; put another way: Britain lacks a sense of identity even more than
the Romans do.
Are the Britons savages or
Trojans? Caesar’s spy, Volusenus, describes the Britons as exotic barbarians:
“their statures tall and big, / With blue-stained skins, and long, black,
dangling hair / Promise a barbarous fierceness” (2.4.10-12). “The catalogue of
British forces offers similar imagery, as the Ordovices are said to ‘rush
half-naked on their foes’ [2.5.43]. But British warriors are elsewhere referred
to as ‘worthy [k]nights’ [2.8.4]” (Curran 23). Nennius is a chivalric hero,
fighting alongside cannibals who “gnaw and suck / Their enemies’ bones”
(2.5.62-3). If they are descended from Trojans, these Britons no longer act
like it. As Samuel Purchas asks in a
marginal note of 1625: “Were not wee our selves made and not borne civill in
our Progenitors dayes? and were not Caesars Britaines as brutish as Virginians?
The Romane swords were best teachers of civilitie to this & other Countries
neere us” (in Wymer 4). The alliteration Purchas found so ready to hand
(“Britaines … brutish)” should be noted. As a result of ongoing developments in
historiographical method, Britain’s Trojan ancestry (via Brute) had become
material for self-mocking word-play. Through its fusion of Latin and “British”
sources, Fuimus Troes participates in
this self-mockery (for example, see 3.8.38 for a comparable equation of Britons
with “brutes”) at the same time that it refuses to relinquish the notion that
the Britons, no less than the Romans, are “true Trojans”.
Editorial Procedures.
I have based this edition on the
quarto edition of Fuimus Troes
(1633). Spelling and punctuation have been modernised. In some cases,
vocabulary has been (silently) modernised. Elisions in the original have also
been silently regularised, except where metre would be affected by the change.
The “-ed” form is used for unstressed terminations in past tenses and past
participles, and “-èd” for stressed. Unaccented vowels have occasionally been
given accents to correct what I regard as faulty metre. I have also corrected
what I consider to be obvious errors (such changes are referred to in the
relevant footnotes). Square brackets enclose any additions to or changes in the
stage directions.
It will be noticed that this
edition contains a great many notes. There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, I have not included a glossary. Therefore, every word which I felt a
modern reader might not understand is glossed in a note below the text.
Secondly, the play contains a great many classical allusions which require
explanation for a modern reader. Thirdly, there has been very little criticism
written about this play. Therefore, I have attempted to include every salient
piece of commentary I could find, distributed in relevant footnotes. Hence,
this edition functions as a compilation of existing criticism on Fuimus Troes. Finally, as explained in
the introduction, I find it useful to regard Fisher’s sources (especially
Geoffrey and Caesar) as characters in the play. To enable the reader to discern
these “characters” beneath their disguises, I have given perhaps more examples
of “source-passages” than is customary in most editions.
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“Fuimus
Troes” (Aeneid 2).°
THE
TRUE TROJANS,°
Being
a story of the Britons’ valour at the Romans’ first
invasion.
London.
Printed by J[ohn] L[egatt] for Robert Allot,° and are to be sold at the sign of the
Bear in Paul’s churchyard, 1633.
Publicly° represented by the gentlemen students° of
Magdalen College° in Oxford.
Quis
Martem tunicâ tectum adamantinâ dignè scripserit?°
Dramatis Personae.
Mercury [characters
Furius Camillus.° from] Livy
Julius Caesar.°
C. Volusenus.°
Q. Laberius, alias Labienus.° [characters
Q. Atrius. from]
Comius Atrebas.° Caesar’s
Mandubratius,°
princeps Trinobantum. on
the
Cingetorix, petty king in Kent. Gallic War
Carvilius, petty king in Kent. Books 4 and 5.
Taximagulus, petty king in Kent.
Segonax, petty King in Kent.
Androgeus,° Lud’s
son.
Cassibelane,° Beli
Mawr's° son. [Characters
Nennius, Beli Mawr’s son.° from]
Belinus, a chief nobleman.° Geoffrey’s
Hirildas, nephew to Cassibelane. Monuments
Eulinus, nephew to Androgeus. Book 4.
Cridous, King of Albania.
Britael, King of Demetia.
Guerthed, King of Ordovicia.
Names feigned:
Lantonus, druid or priest.
Hulacus, druid or priest.
Landora, lady mentioned.°
Cordella, lady mentioned.
Rollano, a Belgic.
Chorus of five bards or poets laureate.
Soldiers.
Shipmen.
Servants.
[Enter] Mercury,°
conducting° the
ghosts of Brennus and Camillus in complete armour and with swords drawn.°
Mercury:
As in the vaults of this big-bellied earth
Are dungeons, whips and
flames for wicked ghosts,
So° fair Elysian fields, where spotless souls
Do bathe themselves in
bliss. Among the rest,
Two pleasant groves by two
sorts are possessed: 5
One by true lovers crowned
with myrtle boughs,
Who, hand in hand, sing
paeans of their joy;
Brave soldiers hold the
second, clad in steel,
Whose glittering arms
brighten those gloomy shades,
In lieu of starry lights.° From hence I bring 10
A pair of martial imps,° by Jove’s decree,
As sticklers° in their nations’ enmity.
Furius Camillus, and, thou
Briton bold,
Great Brennus, sheathe
your conquering blades. In vain
You threaten death, for
ghosts may not be slain.° 15
Brennus:
From the unbounded ocean and cold climes
Where Charles his wain° circles the northern pole,
I first led out great swarms of shaggy Gauls
And big-boned Britons.° The white-pated Alps,
Where snow and winter dwell, did bow their necks° 20
To our victorious feet. Rome, proudest Rome,
We clothed in scarlet of patrician blood,°
And ’bout your Capitol pranced our vaunting steeds,
Defended more by geese than by your gods.°
Camillus:
But I cut short your fury, and my sword 25
To fat our crows and dung our Latin fields.°
I turned your torrent to another coast,°
And what you quickly won, you sooner lost.
Mercury:
Leave these weak brawlings. Now swift time hath spent 30
A Pylian age, ° and more, since you two breathed,
Mirrors° of British and of Roman valour.
Lo, now the black imperial bird° doth clasp
Under her wings the continent, and Mars,
Trampling down nations with his brazen wheels, 35
Fights for his nephews° and hath once more made
Britons and Romans meet. To view these deeds,
I, Hermes, bring you to this upper sky,
Where you may wander, and with ghastly looks
Incite your country-men. When night and sleep 40
Conquer the eyes; when weary bodies rest
And senses cease,° be furies° in their breast.
Never two nations better matched, for Jove
Loves both alike. Whence then these armèd bands?°
Mavors° for Rome, Neptune for Albion stands.° 45
Brennus:
Then let war ope° his jaws as wide as hell
And fright young babes; my country-folk, more stern,
Can out-look Gorgon. Let the Fates,° transposed,°
Hang beaten flags° up in the victors’ land.°
Full dearly will each pace of ground be sold, 50
Which rated is at dearest blood, not gold.°
So soon forgot? Doth Allia° yet run clear?°
Or can three hundred summers slake their° fear?
Camillus:
Arise, thou Julian star, whose angry beams° 55
Be heralds to the north of war and death.°
Let those black calends° be revenged, those ghosts
(Whose mangled sheaths deprived of funeral rites,
Made the six hills° promise a Cadmus crop°)
Be expiated with a fiery deluge. 60
Jove rules the spheres, Rome all the world beside,
And shall this little corner be denied?°
Mercury: Bandy no more these private frowns, but
haste,
Fly to your parties and enrage their minds,
Till at the period° of these broils,° I call 65
And back reduce° you to grim Pluto’s hall.
Exeunt.
The True Trojans.
Act 1 Scene 1.
Duke°
Nennius, alone.
Nennius. Methinks I
hear Bellona’s° dreadful voice,
Redoubled from the concave
shores of Gaul.°
Methinks I hear their
neighing steeds, the groans
Of complemental° souls, taking their leave,
And all the din and
clamorous rout° which sounds 5
When falling kingdoms
crack in fatal flames.
Die, Belgics,° die like men. Free minds need have
Naught but the ground they
fight on for their grave,
And we are next. Think ye the smoky mist
Of sun-boiled seas can
stop the eagle’s eye,° 10
Or can our wat’ry walls keep
dangers out,°
Which fly aloft,° that thus we, snorting,° lie,
Feeding impostumed humours° to be lanced
As they° are now, whose flaming towns, like beacons, 15
Give us fair warning, and
even gild our spires,°
Whilst merrily we warm us
at their fires?
Yet we are next, who,
charmed with peace and sloth,
Dream golden dreams. Go,
warlike Britain, go,
For olive bough exchange
thy hazel bow,° 20
Hang up thy rusty helmet,
that the bee
May have a hive or spider
find a loom.
Instead of soldiers’ fare
and lodging hard
(The bare ground being
their bed and table), lie
Smothered in down, melting
in luxury. 25
Instead of bellowing drum
and cheerful flute,
Be lulled in lady’s lap
with amorous lute.°
But, as for Nennius, know
I scorn this calm.
The ruddy planet at my
birth bore sway—
Sanguine adust° my humour, and wild fire 30
My ruling element.° Blood and rage and choler°
Make up the temper° of a captain’s valour.
Exit.
Act 1 Scene 2.
[Enter] Julius Caesar, Comius,
Volusenus, Laberius, soldiers with ensign° (a
two-necked
eagle, displayed sable),° drum,
ancient,°
trumpet. A flourish.
Caesar: Welcome thus far, partners of weal and
woe;
Welcome, brave bloods. Now
may our weapons sleep,
Since Ariovist° in cock-boat° basely flies;
Vast Germany stands
trembling at our bridge,°
And Gaul lies bleeding in
her mother’s lap. 5
Once the Pellean duke° did eastward march
To rouse the drowsy sun,
before he rose,
Adorned with Indian
rubies, but the main°
Bade him retire. He was my
type.° This
day,
We stand on nature’s
western brink.° Beyond, 10
Nothing but sea and sky.
Here is nil ultra.°
Democritus, make good thy
fancy,° give
me
More worlds to conquer,
which may be both seen
And won together. But
methinks I ken
A whitish cloud° kissing the waves, or else 15
Some chalky rocks surmount
the barking flood.
Comius, your knowledge can
correct our eyes.°
Comius:
It is the British shore, which ten leagues hence
Displays her shining
cliffs unto your sight.
Caesar:
I’ll hit the white.° That sea-mark° for our ships 20
Invites destruction and
gives to our eye
A treacherous beck.° Dare but resist,° your shore
Shall paint her pale face
with red crimson gore.
Comius: Thus much I know, great Caesar, that
they lent
Their secret aid unto the
neighbour Gauls,° 25
Fostering their fugitives
with friendly care,
Which made your victory
fly with slower wing.
Caesar: That’s cause enough.° They shall not henceforth range
Abroad for war, we’ll
bring him° to their doors.
His ugly idol shall
displace their gods, 30
Their dear Penates,° and in desolate streets
Raise trophies high of
barbarous bones, whose stench
May poison all the rest. I
long to stride°
This Hellespont,° or bridge it with a navy,°
Disclosing to our empire
unknown lands° 35
Until the arctic star° for zenith stands.
Laberius: Then raise the camp and strike a
dreadful march
And unawares pour
vengeance on their heads.
Be like the wingéd bolt of
angry Jove,
Or chiding torrent whose
late-risen stream 40
From mountains bended top
runs raging down,
Deflow’ring all the virgin
dales.
Caesar: First, let’s advise,° for soon to ruin come
Rash weapons which lack
counsel grave at home.
Laberius:
What need consulting where the cause° is plain? 45
Caesar: The likeliest° cause without regard° proves vain.
Laberius: Provide for battle, but of truce no
word.
Caesar: Where peace is first refused should
come the sword.°
Laberius:
But ’tis unlike° their self-presuming might
Will curbéd be° with terms of civil right.° 50
Caesar: ’Tis true, yet so we stop the people’s
cry,°
When we propose and they
do peace deny.
We’ll therefore wise
ambassadors dispatch
(Parents of love, the harbingers
of leagues,
Men that may speak with
mildness mixed with courage, 55
Having quick feet, broad
eyes, short tongues, long ears)
To warn the British court,
And further view the
ports, fathom the seas,
Learn their complotments,° where invasion may
Be soonest entertained.° All this shall lie 60
On Volusene, a legate° and a spy.
Volusenus:
My care and quickness shall deserve this kindness.
Meantime, unite and range° your scattered troops,
Embark your legions at the
Iccian shore°
And teach Erinyes° swim, which crawled before. 65
Exeunt.
Act 1 Scene 3.
[Enter] Cassibelane,
Androgeus, Themantius, Belinus, attendants.
Cassibelane: Although
the people’s voice constrains me hold
This regal staff,° whose massy weight would bruise
Your age and pleasures,
yet this, nephews, know:
Your trouble less,° your honour is the same,
As if you wore the diadem
of this isle. 5
Meanwhile, Androgeus, hold
unto your use
Our lady-city Troynovant° and all
The toll and tribute of
delicious Kent,
Of which each quarter can
maintain a king.
Have you, Themantius,
Cornwall’s dukedom large, 10
Both rich and strong in
metals and in men.°
I must to Verulam’s fencèd
town°
repair,
And as protector for the whole
take care.°
Androgeus:
My heart agrees. Henceforth, ye sovereign cares,
State-mysteries, false
graces, jealous fears, 15
The linings of a crown,
forsake my brain.
These territories neither
are too wide
To trouble my content, nor
yet too narrow
To feed a princely train.
Themantius: All thanks
I render. Your will shall guide ours. 20
With treble-twisted love,
we’ll strive to make
One soul inform three
bodies, keeping still
The same affections both
in good and ill.
Now am I for a hunting match.
Yon thickets
Shelter a boar which
spoils the plough-man’s hope— 25
Whose jaws with
double-sword, whose back is armed
With bristled pikes, whose
fume inflames the air,
And° foam besnows the trampled corn. This beast
I long to see come smoking
to a feast.
Exit Themantius. Enter Rollano.
Belinus:
Here comes my Belgic friend, Landora’s servant. 30
What news, Rollano, that
thy feet so strive
To have precedence° of each other? Speak.
I read disturbèd passions
on thy brow.
Rollano: My trembling heart quavers upon my
tongue,
That scarce I can with
broken sounds vent forth 35
These sad, strange,
sudden, dreary, dismal news.
A merchant’s ship,
arrived,° tells how the Roman,
Having run Gaul quite through
with bloody arms,
Prepares for you. His
navy, rigged in bay,
Only expects a gale.
Further, they say, 40
A pinnace,° landed, from him brings command
Either to lose your
freedom or your land.
Cassibelane: And dares
proud Caesar back our untamed surges?
Dreads he not our sea-monsters, whose wild shapes
Their theatres ne’er yet
in picture saw?° 45
Come, sirs, to arms, to
arms. Let speedy posts
Summon our petty kings and
muster up
Our valorous nations from
the north and west.
Androgeus, haste you to
the Scots° and Picts,°
Two names which now
Albania’s kingdom° share. 50
Entreat their aid, if not
for love, yet fear
For° new foes should imprint swift-equal fear
Through all the arteries
of our isle.°
Belinus, thy authority
must rouse
The vulgar troops within
my special charge.° 55
Fire° the beacons. Strike alarums loud.
Raise all the country
’gainst this common foe.
We’ll soon confront him in
his full career.
This news more moves my
choler° than
my fear.
Exeunt.
Rollano, alone.
Rollano: I am by birth a Belgic, whence I fled 60
To Germany for fear of
Roman arms.
But when their bridge
bridled the stately Rhine,°
I soon returned, and
thought to hide my head
In this soft halcyon’s
nest,° this
Britain isle.
But now, behold, Mars is a-nursing here, 65
And ’gins to speak aloud.
Is no nook safe from Rome?
Do they still haunt° me?
Some peaceful god
transport me through the air,
Beyond cold Thule,° or the sun’s bedchamber,
Where only swine or goats
do live and reign; 70
Yet these° may fight. Place me where quiet peace
Hushes all storms, where
sleep and silence dwell,
Where never man nor beast
did wrong the soil,
Or crop the first fruits,° or made so much noise
As with their breath. But
foolish thoughts, adieu. 75
Now catch° I must, or° stand or fall with you.
Exit.
Act 1 Scene 4.
[Enter] Eulinus, Hirildas.
Eulinus:
The court a wardrobe is of living shapes,
And ladies are the
tissue-spangled suits
Which nature wears on
festival high days.°
The court a spring, each
madam is a rose.
The court is heaven, fair
ladies are the stars. 5
Hirildas:
Aye, falling stars.
Eulinus: False echo, don’t blaspheme that glorious
sex,
Whose beauteous rays can
strike rash gazers blind.
Hirildas: Love should be blind.
Eulinus:
Pray, leave this cynic humour, whilst I sigh 10
My mistress’ praise: her
beauty’s past compare;
Oh, would she were more
kind or not so fair.
Her modest smiles both
curb and kindle love.
The court is dark without
her. When she rises,
The morning is her
hand-maid, strewing roses 15
About love’s hemisphere.
The lamps above
Eclipse themselves for
shame, to see her eyes
Out-shine their chrysolites° and more bless the skies
Than they the Earth—
Hirildas:
Give me her name.
Eulinus:
—Her body is a crystal cage, whose pure 20
Transparent mould not° of gross elements
Compacted, but° the extracted quintessence
Of sweetest forms
distilled, where graces bright
Do live immured, but not
exempt from sight…
Hirildas:
I prithee speak° her. 25
Eulinus:
Her model is beyond all poets’ brains
And painters’ pencils. All
the lively nymphs,
Sirens and dryads are but
kitchen-maids,
If you compare. To frame
the like Pandore,°
The gods repine,° and nature would grow poor… 30
Hirildas: By love, who is’t? Hath she no mortal
name?
Eulinus: For here you find great Juno’s stately
front,
Pallas’ gray eye, Venus
her dimpled chin,
Aurora’s rosy fingers, the
small waist
Of Ceres’ daughter and
Medusa’s hair 35
Before it hissed…°
Hirildas:
Oh love, as deaf as thou art blind! Good Eulinus,
Call home thy soul and
tell thy mistress’ name.
Eulinus:
Oh, strange! What, ignorant still, when as so plainly
These attributes describe
her? Why, she is 40
A rhapsody of goddesses!
The elixir°
Of all their several
perfections. She is
(Now bless your ears) by
mortals called Landora.
Hirildas:
What, Landora the Trinobantic lady°?
How grow your hopes?° What metal is her breast?° 45
Eulinus:
All steel and adamant. ’Tis beauty’s pride to stain
Her lily white with blood
of lovers slain.°
Their groans make music,
and their scalding sighs
Raise a perfume, and,
vulture-like, she gnaws
Their bleeding hearts. No
gifts, no learned flattery, 50
No stratagems can work
Landora’s battery.°
As a tall rock maintains
majestic state,
Though Boreas° gallop on the tottering seas
And, tilting, split° his froth out, spurging° waves
Upon his surly breast, so° she resists, 55
And all my projects on her
cruel heart
Are but retorted to° their author’s smart.
Hirildas: Why then, let scorn succeed thy love
and bravely
Conquer thy self, if thou
wilt conquer her.
Stomachs with kindness
cloyed, disdain must stir.° 60
Eulinus:
Most impious thoughts! Oh, let me rather perish
And, loving, die, than,
living, cease to love.
And when I faint, let her
but hear me cry,
“Aye me, there’s none
which truly loves, but I”.
Hirildas:
Oh, ye cross° darts of Cupid! This very lady, 65
This lady-wasp,° woos me, as thou dost her,
With glances, jewels,
bracelets of her hair,
Lascivious banquets and
most eloquent eyes.
All which my heart
misconsters° as immodest,
It being pointed for
another pole. 70
But hence learn courage,
coz.° Why
stand you dumb?
Women are women, and may
be o’ercome.
Eulinus: Your words are earwigs° to my vexéd brain,
Like henbane° juice or aconite° diffused,
They strike me senseless. 75
My kinsman and Hirildas,
to my end,°
But I’ll ne’er call you
counsellor or friend. Adieu.
Hirildas:
Stay, stay. For now I mean with gentler breath
To waft you to your happy
landing place.
Seeing this crocodile
pursues me flying, 80
Flies you pursuing, we’ll
catch her by a trick.
With promise feigned, I’ll
point° a
Cupid’s stage,°
But in the night, and
secret, and disguised,
Where thou, which art my
self,° shalt
act my part.
In Venus’ games, all
cozening° goes for art.° 85
Eulinus:
Blest be these means, and happy the success.
Now ’gin I rear my crest
above the moon°
And in those gilded books
read lectures of
The feminine sex.° There moves Cassiope,°
Whose garments shine with
thirteen precious stones, 90
Types of as many virtues;
then her daughter,°
Whose beauty without° Perseus would have tamed
The monstrous fish,° glides with a starry crown;
Then just Astraea° combs her golden hair;
And my Landora can become
the skies 95
As well as they. Oh, how
my joys do swell!
He mounted not more proud
whose burning throne
Kindled the cedar-tops and
quaffed whole fountains.°
Fly then, ye wingéd hours,
as swift as thought,
Or my desires. Let day’s
bright wagoner° 100
Fall headlong and lie
buried in the deep,
And, dormouse-like,
Alcides’ night° out-sleep.
Good Tethys,° quench his beams, that he ne’er rise
To scorch the Moors, to
suck up honey-dews
Or to betray my person.° 105
But prithee, tell, what
mistress you adore?
Hirildas:
The kind Cordella,° loving and belov’d.
Only some jar of late about
a favour
Made me inveigh ’gainst
women. Come, away,
Our plots desire the
night, not babbling day. 110
Eulinus: We must give way. Here come our
reverend bards
To sing in synod,° as their custom is,°
With former chance
comparing present deeds.°
Exeunt.
Act 1 Scene 5.
Chorus of five bards laureate, [comprised of] four voices and a harper, attired.
First Song.
Birds do sing,
Now with high,
Then low cry;
Flat, acute; 5
And salute
The sun born
Every morn.
All: He’s no bard that cannot sing
The praises of the flow’ry spring. 10
2: Flora,° queen,
All in green,
Doth delight
To paint white
And to spread 15
Cruel red
With a blue
Colour true.
All: He’s no bard that cannot sing
The praises of the flow’ry spring. 20
3: Woods renew
Hunter’s hue.
Shepherd’s gray,°
Crowned with bay,°
With his pipe 25
Care doth wipe,°
Till he dream
By the stream.
All: He’s
no bard that cannot sing
The praises of the flow’ry spring. 30
4: Faithful loves,
Turtle doves,
Sit and bill
On a hill.
Country swains 35
Run and leap,
Turn and skip.
All: He’s
no bard that cannot sing
The praises of the flow’ry spring. 40
5: Pan° doth play
Care away.
Fairies small,
Two foot tall,
With caps red 45
On their head,
On the ground.
All: He’s no bard that cannot sing
The praises of the flow’ry spring. 50
6: Phyllis° bright,
Clothed in white,
With neck fair,
Yellow hair,
Rocks doth move 55
With her love
And make mild
Tigers wild.
All: He’s
no bard that cannot sing
Second song.
Thus spend we time in laughter,
While peace and spring do smile,
But I hear a sound of slaughter
Draw nearer to our isle.
Leave then your wonted prattle, 65
The oaten reed° forbear,
For I hear a sound of battle,
And trumpets tear the air.
Let bagpipes die for want of wind,
Let crowd° and harp be dumb. 70
Let little tabor come behind,
For I hear the dreadful drum.
Let no birds sing, no lambkins dance,
No fountains murmuring go.
Let shepherd’s crook be made a lance, 75
For the martial horns do blow.
Exeunt.
Act 2 Scene 1.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Cridous,
Britael, Guerthed, Nennius, Belinus, Eulinus, [with] Volusenus
following.
Cassibelane: Heavens
favour Cridous, fair Albania’s° king,
And Britael decked with
the Demetian° crown.
The same to famous
Guerthed, whose command
Embraces woody Ordovic’s° black hills.°
Legate, you may your
message now declare. 5
Volusenus:
By me, great Caesar greets the Briton state.
This letter speaks the
rest.
Cassibelane: Then read the
rest.
Volusenus: [Reads]
“Caesar, Proconsul° of Gallia, to Cassibelane, King of Britain.
Since Romulus’ race, by will of Jove,
Have stretched their empire wide, 10
From Danube’s° banks, by° Tigris swift,
Unto Mount Atlas’ side,
And provinces and nations strong,
With homage due obey,
We wish that you, hid in the sea, 15
Do likewise tribute pay,
Submitting all unto our wills,
For rashly aiding Gaul,
And noble lads for hostages
Make ready at our call. 20
These, granted, may our friendship gain,
Denied, shall work your woe.
Now take your choice: whether you’d find
Rome as a friend or foe.”
Cassibelane: Bold
mandates are unwelcome to free princes. 25
Legate, withdraw; you
shall be soon dispatched.
Exit Volusenus.
Cridous:
He writes more like a victor than a foe,
Whose greatness, risen
from subduéd nations,
Is fastened only with
fear’s slippery knot.
Nor can they fight so
fierce for wealth or fame, 30
As we for native liberty.
With answer rough
Bid him defiance. So
thinks Cridous.
Guerthed:
Guerthed maintains the same, and on their flesh
I’ll write my answer in
red characters.
Britael:
Thou ravenous wolf,° imperious monster Rome, 35
Seven-headed hydra,° know we scorn thy threats.
We can oppose thy hills
with mounts as high
And scourge usurpers with
like cruelty.
And thus thinks Britael.
Eulinus:
Let Caesar come. Our land doth rust with ease 40
And wants° an object whose resisting power
May strike out valorous
flashes from her veins.
So shadows give a picture
life. So flames
Grow brighter by a fanning
blast. Nor think
I am a courtier and no
warrior-born, 45
Nor love object,° for well my poet° says,
“Militat omnis amans”: each lover is a soldier.
I can join Cupid’s bow and
Mars his lance.
A pewter-coat° fits me as well as silk.
It grieves me see our
martial spirits trace 50
The idle streets while
weapons by their side
Dangle and lash their
backs, as t’were to upbraid
Their needless use.° Nor is it glory small
They° set upon us last, when their proud arms
Fathom the land and seas
and teach both poles. 55
On then. So great a foe,
so good a cause,
Shall make our name more
famous. So thinks Eulinus.
Cassibelane: Then,
friends and princes, on this blade take oath,
First, to your country, to
revenge her wrongs,
And next, to me, as
general, to be led 60
With unity and courage.
They kiss the sword.
All: The gods bless Britain and Cassibelane.
Nennius:
Now, royal friends, the heirs of mighty Brute,°
You see what storm hangs
hovering o’er this land,
Ready to pour down
cataclysms° of blood. 65
Let ancient glory then
inflame your hearts.
Beyond the craggy hills of
grim-faced death,
Bright honour keeps
triumphant court, and deeds
Of martial men live there
in marble rolls.
Death is but Charon° to the Fortunate Isles,° 70
Porter to fame.°
What though the Roman,
armed with foreign spoil,
Behind him lead the
conquered world and hope
To sink our island with
his army’s weight,
Yet we have gods and men
and horse to fight, 75
And we can bravely die.
But our just cause,
Your forward loves and all
our people edged
With Dardan° spirit, and the powerful name
Of country bid us hope for
victory.
We have a world within
ourselves,° whose breast 80
No foreigner hath,
unrevengèd, pressed
These thousand years.
Though Rhine and Rhone can serve°
And envy Thames his never
captive stream,
Yet maugre° all, if we ourselves are true,
Cassibelane: Let’s then
dismiss the legate with a frown
And draw our forces toward the sea to join
With the four kings of Kent, and so affront
His first arrival. But,
before all, let
Our priests and druids in
their hallowed groves 90
Propitiate the gods and
scan events
By their mysterious arts.
Exeunt.
Act 2 Scene 2.
[Enter] Eulinus, Hirildas,
Rollano.
Hirildas:
Well, so. Your tongue’s your own, though drunk or angry.
Rollano: Umh!
[Hirildas] seals his mouth.
Hirildas: Speak not a word upon your life. Be
dumb.
Rollano: Umh!
[Hirildas] gives him money.
Hirildas:
I’ll winch up thy estate.° Be Harpocrates.° 5
Rollano: Umh!
Hirildas:
Thy fortunes shall be double-gilt.° Be midnight.°
Rollano: Umh!
Hirildas:
[Aside] An excellent instrument to be
the bawd
To his dear lady. [To Rollano] But, Rollano, hark. 10
What words, what looks,
did give my letter welcome?
Rollano: Umh!
Hirildas:
Nay, now thy silence is antedated.° Speak.
Rollano: Umh!
Hirildas: I give thee
leave, I say. Speak. Be not foolish. 15
[Hirildas unseals his mouth.]
Rollano: Then (with your leave), she used,° upon receipt,
No words, but silent joy
purpled her face,°
And, seeing your name,
straight clapped it to her heart
To print there a new copy,
as she’d° say
The words went by her eyes
too long a way. 20
Hirildas: You told her my conditions, and my oath
Of silence, and that only
you be used?
Rollano:
All, sir.
Hirildas:
And that this night—
Rollano:
Aye, sir.
Hirildas: You guard the door—
Rollano:
Aye, sir. 25
Hirildas: But I ne’er mean to come.
Rollano:
No, sir? Oh, wretch!
Shall I deceive when she
remains so true?
Hirildas:
No, thou shall be true,° and she remain deceived.
Eulinus, in my shape,
shall climb her bed.
This is the point.° You’ll promise all your aid?
Rollano:
Your servant to command, and then reward.
Eulinus:
We’ll draw thee meteor-like by our warm favour
Unto the roof and ceiling
of the court. 35
We’ll raise thee (hold but
fast) on fortune’s ladder.
Exit
Rollano.
This fellow is a medley of
most lewd
And vicious qualities: a
braggart, yet a coward;
A knave, and yet a slave;
true to all villainy,
But false to goodness. Yet
now I love him 40
Because he stands just in
the way of love.°
Hirildas:
Coz, I commend you to the Cyprian queen°
Whilst I attend Diana in
the forest.
My kinsman Mandubrace and
I must try
Our greyhounds’ speed
after a light-foot hare. 45
Exit Hirildas.
Eulinus:
Oh love, whose nerves unite in equal bonds
This massy frame; thou
cement of the world,
By which the orbs and
elements agree,°
By which all living
creatures joy to be,
And, dying, live in their
posterity. 50
Thy holy raptures warm
each noble breast,
Sweetly inspiring more
soul. Thy delight
Surpasses melody, nectar
and all pleasures
Of Tempe,° and of Tempe’s oldest sister,
Elysium°—a banquet of all the senses! 55
By thy commanding power,
gods into beasts
And men to gods are
changed, as poets say.
When sympathy rules, all
like what they obey.
But love triumphs when man
and woman meet
His sacred shrine. Yet,
this to me denied,
More whets my passion.° Mutual love grows° cold.
And laugh at lovers’
perjuries and guiles.
Exit.
Act 2 Scene 3.
[Enter] Lantonus, Hulacus [and] two druids, in long robes [with] hats like pyramids [and] branches of mistletoe.
Lantonus:
That souls immortal are, I easily grant,
Their future state
distinguished, joy or pain,
According to the merits of
this life,
But then, I rather think,
being free from prison
And bodily contagion, they
subsist 5
In places fit for
immaterial spirits,
Are not transfused from
men to beasts, from beasts
To men again, wheeled
round about by change.
Hulacus:
And were it not more cruel, to turn out
Poor naked souls stripped
of warm flesh, like landlords 10
Bidding them wander? Then
(forsooth) imagine
Some unknown cave or
coast, whither° all the myriads
Of souls deceased are
shipped° and thrust together!
Nay, reason rather says:
as at one moment
Some die and some are
born, so may their ghosts, 15
Without more cost, serve
the succeeding age.
For sure they don’t wear,° to be cast aside,
But enter straight less or
more noble bodies,
According to desert of
former deeds:
The valiant into lions,
coward minds 20
Into weak hares,
th’ambitious into eagles,
Soaring aloft, but the
perverse and peevish
Are next indeniz’d into° wrinkled apes,
Each vice and virtue
wearing seemly shapes.°
Lantonus: So you debase the gods’ most lively image,° 25
The human soul, and rank
it with mere brutes,
Whose life, of reason
void, ends with their sense.
Enter Belinus.
Belinus:
Hail to heaven’s privy counsellors. The king
Desires your judgement of
these troublesome times.
Lantonus: The gods foretold these mischiefs long
ago. 30
In Eldol’s° reign, the earth and sky were filled
With prodigies, strange
sights and hellish shapes:
Sometimes two hosts with
fiery lances met,
Armour and horse being
heard amid the clouds;
With streamers red, now
march these airy warriors, 35
And then a sable
hearse-cloth wraps up all,°
And bloody drops speckled
the grass, as falling
From their deep-wounded
limbs,
Whilst staring comets
shook their flaming hair.
Thus all our wars were
acted first on high, 40
And we taught what to look
for.°
Hulacus:
Nature turns° step-dame to her brood and dams
Deny their monstrous
issue. Saturn, joined
In dismal league with
Mars, portends some change.
Late in a grove by night,
a voice was heard 45
To cry aloud, “Take heed, more
Trojans come.”°
What may be known or done,
we’ll search and help,
With all religious care.°
Belinus:
The king and army do expect as much,
That powers divine,
perfumed with odour sweet 50
And feasted with the fat
of bulls and rams,
Be pleased to bless their
plots.
Lantonus: All rites and orisons due shall be
performed.
Chiefly, night’s empress° fourfold honour craves,
Mighty in heaven and hell,
in woods and waves. ° 55
Exeunt.
Act 2 Scene 4.
[Enter] Caesar, Volusenus,
Laberius, soldiers.
Caesar:
What land, what people and what answer, show.
Volusenus: We saw a paradise whose bosom teems
With silver ore, whose
seas are paved with pearl.°
The meadows richly spread
with Flora’s tapestry;
The fields even wonder at
their harvest loads.° 5
In crystal streams the
scaly nations play,°
Fringed all along with
trembling poplar trees.
The sun in summer, loath
to leave their sight,
Forgets to sleep, and,
glancing,° makes no night.°
Then, for° the men: their statures° tall and big, 10
With blue-stained skins
and long black dangling hair,
Promise a barbarous
fierceness.° They scarce know,
And much less fear, our
empire’s might, but thus
Seeing your empire’s
great, why should it not suffice?
To covet more and more is
tyrant’s usual guise.°
To lose what Jove you
gave, you’d think it but unjust.
You have your answer then:
defend this isle we must,
Hath iron more for swords
than gold for tribute’s pay.
If amity, and like° fear, succour° to Gaul imparts,
Pardon,° for this small brook could not divide our hearts.°
We hope the gods will help
(and fortune back) our cause,
As you from Troy, so we
our pedigree do claim.
Why should the branches
fight when as° the root’s the same?°
Despise us not because the
sea and north us close.°
Who can no further go,
must turn upon their foes.
Thus, rudely° we conclude: wage war or change your will. 30
We hope to use a lance far
better than a quill.”
Caesar: I grieve to draw my sword against the
stock
Of thrice-renownéd Troy,° but they are rude°
And must be frighted ere
we shall be friends.°
Then let’s aboard and,
hoisting sails, convey 35
Two legions over, for I
long to view
This unknown land and all
their fabulous rites°
And gather margarites° in my brazen cap.°
Nature nor fates can
valorous virtue stop.
Laberius: Now Caesar speaks like Caesar: stronger
and stronger. 40
Rise like a whirlwind.
Tear the mountain’s pride.
Shake thy brass harness,
whose loud clattering may
Of Haemus,° lulled with° Boreas’ roaring base,
And put to flight this
nation with the noise. 45
A fly is not an eagle’s
combatant,
Nor may a pygmy with a
giant strive.
Exeunt.
Act 2 Scene 5.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Belinus
and attendants, [with] Comius following.
Comius:
Health and good fortune on Cassibelane tend.
My love to you and Britain
waft me hither
To make atonement° ere the Roman leader
Bring fire and spoil and
ruin on your heads.
Nothing withstands his
force. Be not too hardy°
But buy a friend with
kindness, lest you buy
His anger dearly.
Cassibelane: Comius, speak no more. He knows our mind.
Comius: Oh, let not rage so blind your
judgement but 10
Prevent with ease the
hazard of a war—
Of war (a word composed of
thousand ills).
Oh, be not cruel to
yourselves. I’ll undertake,
Without discredit, to
appease his wrath
If you’ll cashier° your soldiers and receive 15
Him like a guest, not like
an enemy.
Cassibelane: False-hearted Gaul, dar’st thou persuade e’en me
For to betray my people to
the sword?
Now know I thou art sent
for to solicit
Our princes to rebel, to
learn our strength. 20
Lay hands on him: a spy.
All: A spy, a spy, a traitor and a spy.
They chain him.
Comius:
Is this the guerdon° of my loving care?
You break the laws of
nature, nations, friends.
But look for due revenge
at Caesar’s hand. 25
Cassibelane: Expect° in prison thy revenge. Away with him.
Exit Comius.
Belinus, have you mustered
up our forces?
Belinus:
Yes, if it please your highness.
Cassibelane: And what are the particulars?
Belinus:
First, Cridous leads from the Albanian realm, 30
Where Grampius’° ridge divides the smiling dales,
Five thousand horse, and
twenty thousand foot,
Three thousand chariots
manned. The Brigants° come,
Decked with blue-painted
shields, twelve thousand strong.
Under the conduct of
Demetia’s prince, 35
March twice three
thousand, armed with pelts° and glaves,°
Whom the Silures° flank, eight thousand stout,
Greedy of fight, born
soldiers the first day,
Whose gray-goose-wingèd
shafts ne’er flew in vain.
Then Guerthed, mounted on a shag-hair steed, 40
Full fifteen thousand
brings, both horse and foot,
Of desperate Ordovicians,
whose use° is
To rush half-naked on
their foes, enraged
With a rude noise of
pipes.
Your province bounded with
that boiling stream 45
Where Sabrine°—lovely damsel—lost her breath,°
And with curled-pated
Humber, Neptune’s heir,
Affords eight thousand
cars,° with
hooks and scythes,
And fifty thousand expert
men of war
(All brave Logrians, armed
with pike and spear), 50
Each nation being
distinguished into troops,
With gaudy pennons° flickering in the air.
Beside these, Kent is up
in arms, to blunt
The edge of their first
furious shock.
Cassibelane: We’ll now
invite them° to a martial feast, 55
Carving with falchions° and carousing healths
In their lives’ moisture.
Well returned, Androgeus.
Enter
Androgeus.
Have you obtained, or is
your suit denied?
Androgeus: Our message told unto the Scots, their
king,
With willing sympathy,
levies a band: 60
Ten thousand footmen,
whose strange appetites
Murder and then devour and
dare gnaw and suck
Their enemies’ bones.
Conducted thence, we saw
The Pictish court and,
friendly° entertained,
Receive eight thousand,
whose most ugly shapes, 65
Painted like bears and
wolves° and
brinded° tigers,°
May kill and stonify° without all weapons.
More aid they promise, if
more need. These forces,
Led by Cadallan, hither
march with speed.
Cassibelane: ’Tis well.
Our kings consent for common good. 70
When all are joined, we
shall o’er-spread the hills,
And, soldiers thicker than
the sand on shore,
Hide all the landing
coasts. Ere next day break,
The rocks shall answer
what the drum doth speak.
Exeunt.
Act 2 Scene 6.
[Enter] Hulacus, Lantonus,
ministers.
Lantonus:
That ceremonious fear,° which bends the heart
Of mortal creatures and
displays itself
In outward signs of true
obedience,
As° prayer, kneeling, sacrifice and hymns,
Requires again help from
immortal deities 5
As promise, not as debt.
We laud° their names;
They give us blessings and
forgive our blames.
Thus, gods and men do
barter. What in piety
Ascends, as much descends
again in pity—
A golden chain reaching
from heaven to earth. 10
Hulacus:
And now’s the time, good brother, of their aid,°
When danger’s black face
frowns upon our state.
Away, away, ye hearts and
tongues profane;
Without devotion,
mysteries are vain.°
They kneel,
elevate hands thrice.
Lantonus:
Draw near, ye heavenly powers 15
Who dwell in
starry bowers,
And ye who in
the deep
On mossy
pillows sleep,
And ye who
keep the centre
Where never
light did enter, 20
And ye whose
habitations
Are still
among the nations,
To see and
hear our doings
(Our births,
our wars, our wooings).
Behold our present grief. 25
Belief doth beg relief.
Both: (going
around) By the vervain° and lunary,°
By the
dreadful mistletoe°
Which doth on
holy oak grow. ° 30
Draw near,
draw near, draw near.
Hulacus: Help us, beset with danger,
And turn away your anger.
Help us, begirt with trouble,
And now your mercy double. 35
Help us, oppressed with sorrow,
And fight for us tomorrow.
Let fire consume the foe-man.
Let air infect the Roman.
Let seas entomb their fury. 40
Let gaping earth them bury.
Let fire and air and water
And earth conspire their slaughter.
Both: [going
around] By the vervain and lunary,
By fern-seed
planetary, 45
By the
dreadful mistletoe
Which doth on
holy oak grow.
Draw near, draw near, draw near.
Help us, help us, help us.
Lantonus:
We’ll praise then your great power, 50
Each month, each day, each hour,
And blaze in lasting story,
Your honour and your glory.
High altars lost in vapour,
Young heifers free from labour, 55
White lambs for suck still crying
Shall make your music, dying.
The boys and girls around,
With honeysuckles crowned,
The bards with harp and rhyming, 60
Green bays their brows entwining,
Sweet tune and sweeter ditty
Shall chant your gracious pity.
Both: [going
around] By the vervain and lunary,
By fern-seed
planetary, 65
By the
dreadful mistletoe
Which doth on
holy oak grow.
Draw near, draw near, draw near.
We’ll praise, we’ll praise, we’ll praise.
Hulacus:
Fix, holy brother, now your prayers on one: 70
Britain’s chief patroness.° With humble cry,
Let us invoke the moon’s
bright majesty.°
They
kneel.
Lantonus:
Thou, queen of heaven, commandress of the deep,
Lady of lakes, regent of
woods and deer,
A lamp dispelling irksome
night, the source 75
Of generable° moisture,° at whose feet,
With garments blue and
rushy garlands dressed,
Wait twenty thousand
naiads. Thy crescent
Brute elephants adore,° and man doth feel
Thy force run through the
zodiac of his limbs.° 80
Oh, thou first guide of
Brutus to this isle,°
Drive back these proud
usurpers from this isle.
Whether the name of
Cynthia’s silver globe
Or chaste Diana with a
gilded quiver
Or dread Proserpina, stern
Dis° his
spouse, 85
Or soft Lucina, called in
child-bed throes,
Doth thee delight—rise
with a glorious face,
Green drops of Nereus° trickling down thy cheeks,
And with bright horns,
united in full orb,
Toss high the seas, with
billows beat the banks, 90
Conjure up Neptune and the
Aeolian slaves,°
Contract both night and
winter in a storm,°
That° Romans lose their way and sooner land
At sad Avernus° than at Albion’s strand.
So mayst thou shun the
dragon’s head and tail.° 95
So may Endymion° snort° on Latmian bed.°
So may the fair game fall
before thy bow.
Shed light on us, but
lightning on our foe.
Hulacus:
Methinks a gracious lustre spreads her brow,
[Voice] within [the shrine]: Come near and take this
oracle.
Lantonus:
Behold, an oracle flies out from her shrine,
Which both the king and
state shall see before
We dare unfold it.
Exeunt.
Act 2 Scene 7.
[Enter] Brennus’s ghost [and]
Nennius in night-robes.
Brennus:
Follow me.
Nennius:
“Follow”? What means that word?° Who art? Thy will?°
Brennus:
Follow me, Nennius.
Nennius:
He names me. Sure it is some friend which speaks.
I’ll follow thee, though’t
be through Stygian lakes. 5
Brennus: ’Tis ancient Brennus calls, whose
victories
Europe and Asia felt, and
still record.
Dear Nennius, now’s the
time to steel thy courage.
Canst thou behold thy
mother°
captive, then
Look back upon thy
ancestors, enrolled 10
Among the worthies,° who spread wide her fame?
First let thy eyeballs
pour out poisoned beams
And kill them with disdain
who dare but lift
Their hand against her.
No! No consul must
Boast of her thralldom and
out-brave our walls. 15
I wonder that such
impudent owls should gaze
Against the splendor of
our British cliffs.
Play thou a second
Brennus. Let thy lance,
Like an Herculean club,
two monsters tame:
Rome’s avarice and pride.
So, come life or death, 20
Let honour have the
incense° of thy breath.
Exit.
Nennius:
Farewell, heroic soul. Thou shalt not blush
At Nennius’ deeds. The smallest
drop of fame
Is cheap if death and
dangers may it buy.
Yet give thy words new
vigour to my spirits 25
And spur the Pegasus of my
mounting thoughts.
I’ll follow thee o’er
piles of slaughtered foes
And knock at Pluto’s gate.
I come. Come life or death,
Honour, to thee I
consecrate my breath.
Exit.
[Enter] Caesar, [with] Camillus’s ghost following.
Camillus:
Julius, stay here. Thy friend Camillus speaks. 30
Caesar: Oh, thou preserver of our present race,
Our city’s second founder!° What dire fate
Troubles thy rest that
thou shouldst trouble mine?
Camillus:
Only to bid thee fight.
Caesar:
Thou shalt not need.
Camillus:
And bid thee take a full revenge on this, 35
This nation° which did sack and burn down Rome,
Quenching the coals with
blood, and kicked our ashes,
Trampling upon the ruins
of our state,
Then led the Gauls in
triumph thorough° Greece,
To fix their tents beside
Euxinus’ gulf.° 40
Caesar: Is this that northern rout,° the scourge of kingdoms,
Whose names, till now
unknown, we judgéd Gauls,
Their tongue and manners
not unlike?
Camillus:
Gauls were indeed the bulk, but Brennus led
(Then brother to the
Briton king)° those armies, 45
Backed with great troops of
warlike islanders.
To thee belongs° to render bad for ill.
Oh, be my spirit doubled
in thy breast,
With all the courage of
three Scipios,°
Marius° and Sylla,° that° this nation, fierce 50
In feats of war, be forced
to bear our yoke.
Exit.
Caesar:
So mayst thou sweetly rest, as I shall strive
To trace your steps.° Nor let me live if I
Thence° disappointed ever seem to fly.
Exit.
Act 2 Scene 8.
[Enter] Chorus.
First song.
Ancient bards have sung,
With lips dropping honey
And a sugared tongue,
Of our worthy knights:
How Brute did giants tame,° 5
And, by Isis’° current,
A second Troy did frame
(A centre of delights);
Locrinus, eldest son,°
Did drown the furious Hun° 10
But burnt himself with Elstrid’s love;°
Leil, rex
pacificus;°
Eliud,° judicious
How heavenly bodies roll above;°
Both soul and body’s Bath°
(Like Icarus, he flew);°
A golden crown, ° whose heirs
More than half the world subdue.° 20
[Enter soldiers]
Second song.
Thou nurse of champions, oh, thou spring
Whence chivalry did flow;
Thou diamond of the world’s great ring,°
Thy glorious virtue show.
Thou many a lord hast bred, 25
In catalogue of fame read,°
And still we have
As captains brave
As° ever Britons led.
Then dub a dub dub.° 30
The soldiers join [with] tantara.°
Chorus:
Cassibelane, with armour gay
And strongly couchèd lance,
His courser° white, turned into bay,°
On carcasses shall prance.
What a crimson stream the blade 35
Of Nennius’ sword hath made.°
Black Allia’s day°
And Canae’s fray°
Have for a third long stayed.°
Then dub a dub, dub. 40
The soldiers join [with] tantara.
[Exeunt.]
Act 3 Scene 1.
Noise of ships landing and the battle within. [Enter] Caesar, Volusenus, Laberius, Atrius, ensign, drums, flag.
Caesar:
Our landing cost us dearly, many lives
Between the ships and
shore being sacrificed.
Our men with heavy armour
clogged, and ignorant
Of all the flats and
shallows, were compelled
To wade and fight, like
Tritons: half above, 5
Half under water.° Now we surer tread
Though much diminished by
so many lost.
Come on. Come on.
They march and go out.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Cridous,
Britael, Guerthed, the four kings of Kent, Nennius, Androgeus, Themantius,
Eulinus, Hirildas, Belinus, Rollano, ensigns, drum. A march [plays].
Cassibelane: So let them land. No matter which they choose—
Fishes or crows—to be
executors;° 10
They’ll find the land as
dangerous as the sea.
The nature of our soil
won’t bear a Roman,
As Irish earth doth poison
poisonous beasts.°
On then. Charge close,
before they gather head.
Nennius: Brother, advance. On this side, I’ll
lead up 15
The new-come succours° of the Scots and Picts.
They march and go out.
[Enter] Caesar [accompanied.]
Caesar:
What, still fresh supplies come thronging from their dens?
The nest of hornets is
awake. I think,
Here’s nature’s shop.° Here men are made, not born,
Nor stay nine tedious
months, but in a trice 20
Sprout up like mushrooms
at war’s thunderclap.°
We must make out a way.°
Exeunt.
[Enter] Rollano, armed
cap-a-pie.°
Rollano:
Since I must fight, I am prepared to fight,
And much enflamed with
noise of trump and drum.
Methinks I am turned lion
and durst meet 25
Ten Caesars. Where° all these covetous rogues
Who spoil the rich for
gain and kill the poor
For glory?° Blood-suckers and public robbers.
Laberius enters. Rollano retires afraid but, [Laberius] being gone out, [Rollano] goes forward [again].
Rollano:
Nay, stay, and brag Rollano did thee kill.
Stay, let me flesh my
sword° and
wear thy spoils. 30
Laberius re-enters with an ensign.
Laberius: Come, will ye forsake your ensign and
fall off?°
I call to witness all the
gods: I here
Perform my duty. Thou
canst not ’scape.
Rollano would fly, fights, falls as [though] wounded.
Now die, or yield thyself.
Rollano:
I yield, I yield. Oh, save my life, I yield. 35
I am no Briton, but by
chance come hither.
I’ll never more lift
weapon in their quarrel.
Laberius:
How may I trust your faith?
Rollano:
Command me any thing.
Laberius: Lay down your neck.
Treads on it.
Give up your sword. 40
Beats him with it.
Base coward, live.° Such foes will
ne’er do hurt.
Exit
Laberius.
Enter Eulinus, Androgeus [and] Belinus, with bloody swords.
Eulinus:
Rollano, what, at stand?° Pursue the chase.
Rollano:
I made their strongest captain fly. This hand,
This martial hand, I say,
did make him fly.
Eulinus:
Some silly scout. 45
Rollano:
He was a match for Cyclops. At each step,
The ground danced, and his
nostrils blew the dust;
Armed as the god of battle
pictured is.°
Eulinus:
What were his looks?
Rollano:
His brows were like a stormy winter night, 50
When Juno, scolding, and
Mars, malcontent,
Disturb the air. At each
look, lightning flies.
Jove ’gainst the giants
needed but his eyes.°
Eulinus:
How eloquent is fear!
Rollano:
So came he stalking with a beam-like spear. 55
I gave the onset then
received his charge,
And next blow cleft his
morion.° So, he flies.
Eulinus:
Oh, bravely done. Here comes a straggling soldier.
Enter
Laberius.
Rollano:
’Tis he! ’Tis he! I care not for vainglory.
It’s sweeter live than
dead to be a story.° 60
[He] runs away.
Eulinus:
Oh, valiant coward, stay. There’s not a spark
Of British spirit doth
enlive° thy
corpse.
Exeunt.
Act 3 Scene 2.
Nennius, pursuing.
Nennius:
Fight, Britons, fight. The day is ours. I’m cloyed
And glutted e’en with
slaughter. There some fly,°
And, flying, die, and,
dying, mangled lie.
I twice broke through the
ranks, yet cannot find
That vent’rous captain
Caesar, on whose breast 5
I long to try my blade and
prick that bladder
Puffed with ambition and
victorious fight.
Caesar enters.
Caesar:
We may confess they come of Trojan kind;
A hundred valiant Hectors
here we find.
Nennius:
Fairly encountered. Let our blades discuss 10
Who hath the justest
cause, and on this combat
May Victory her equal
balance hang.
Caesar:
Thou seem’st a worthy prince, and Caesar’s match.
They fight. [Caesar] wounds Nennius in the head, who staggers,
fights, and recovers Caesar’s fallen sword, and puts him to flight.°
Nennius:
Stay, stay. Thou art at home. Here’s Campus
Martius.°
The Britons, sought-for,
see thy frighted back.° 15
Return and take possession
of our isle,
And by thy death be styled
Britannicus.°
Leave not thy blade
unsheathed. A tyrant’s heart
To his own sword a
scabbard should impart.°
Ye senators and
gaily-gowned Quirites,° 20
Open the Capitol’s ivory
gates and lead
Fat bulls with garlands
green and gilded horns.
Let supplications last for
twice ten days—
Caesar returns a victor.
Prepare the laureate coach
and snow-white steeds, 25
Embroidered canopy and
scarlet gowns;°
Let altars smoke, and
tholes° expect
our spoils—
Caesar returns in triumph:
basely flies
And leaves his conquest in
weak infancy.°
For had he won this coast,
yet many blows 30
Must pass, ere he could
pass the Thames. And then,
Ere he touch Humber, many
nations° must
Be tamed. And then, before
he Tweed can drink
And climb the craggy rocks
of Caledon,°
A life is° spent, yea, many thousand lives. 35
Oh, my wound rages, and
tormented brain
Doth labour of a fury, not
a Pallas.°
This blade was steeped in
poison. Oh, I’m poisoned!
Well didst thou fly, ° or I had made thee taste
Thine own provision.° Now my wrath and pain 40
With double force shall
flow in purple streams.
The three infernal ladies° with wire whips
And speckled snakes shall
lackey close° my steps,
Whilst that I offer
hecatombs° of men.
The Latian shepherd’s brood° shall ban° those stars 45
Whose glimmering sparks° led their audacious pines°
To lie so far from home in
foreign soil.°
When cedars fall, whole
woods are crushed, nor die
Can Nennius private
without company.
Enter Laberius.
Thou runn’st upon thy
death. 50
Laberius:
A Roman never daunted was with looks,
Else had not Sarmatian° and Libyan° bugbears°
Been captive led in
chains.
Nennius: But our looks kill.
[They] fight. Laberius falls.°
Die slave, by Caesar’s
sword. Thou art his friend;
Die as the ransom of his
greater ghost, 55
And learn as well as I how
venom smarts.
Be thou my post to the
Tartarian prince°
And tell him Nennius
comes. But first, I’ll send
More of you headlong home
a nearer way
Than by the cloudy Alps. 60
Exit. A retreat [is] sounded.
Act 3 Scene 3.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Belinus,
Lantonus.
Cassibelane: Now hot alarums die in fainter notes.
Tempestuous night is gone.
Victorious joy
(As when pale Eos° cleaves the eastern fogs
And, blushing more and
more, opes half her eye,
With holy water° sprinkling all the meads, 5
Whose clear reflex° serves as her morning glass)
Doth paint with gaudy
plumes the checkered sky.
The only° name of victory sounds sweeter,
Than all mellifluous
rhetoric.
Lantonus: Thanks to Andates,° whose power kingdoms feel. 10
Andates, greatest goddess,
in whose train
Fear, red-faced anger and
confusions wheel.
Murder and desolation run
before,
But joyful shouts, mirth,
olive-budding peace
And laurel-crowned
triumph, at her back, 15
Do pace with stately
steps. Thy temple is
The earth, where furious
monarchs play the priests;
Armies of men imbrue° thy altar-stones.
Thanks also to the
trident-shaker’s mace,
Drawn by two ramping° sea-horses, at whose beck° 20
The waters, wrinkled,
frown or smoothly smile.
But thou, heaven’s
diamond,° fair Phoebus’ sister,
Nor Delian dames° nor the Ephesian towers°
Shall blazon more thy
praise. Thy influence strong°
Struck up the sandy ooze,
that madding waves 25
Battered their ships and
dashed their bended sails
And, with a tempest,
turned them round in scorn.°
Cassibelane: But where’s the answer which her idol gave?
Can you expound the sense?
Lantonus:
Dread sovereign, thus runs the oracle: 30
“Loud doth the king of
beasts roar;
High doth the queen of
birds° soar,
But her wings, clipped,
soon grow out;
Both° repent they are so stout°
Till “C” ’gainst “C”
strike a round, ° 35
In a perfect circle
bound.”°
The meaning, wrapped up in
cross,°
doubtful terms,
Lies yet thus open: that
disastrous fate
Must be the prologue to a
joyful close.
The rest we’ll search out
if our skill don’t fail. 40
Belinus:
Renowned Cassibelane, might my counsel speak!
Cassibelane: I know thy
loyal heart and prudent head,
Upon whose hairs time’s
child, experience, hangs
(A milk-white badge of
wisdom), and canst wield
Thy tongue in senate and
thy hands in field. 45
Speak free, Belinus.
Belinus:
We forfeit fame and smother° victory
By idle lingering. The
foe, discomfited,
Must needs be much amazed.
His ships, dismembered,°
Do piecemeal float upon
the waves. The horse° 50
Whose succour he expects
are beaten back
By friendly winds.° His camp contracted is
(A tithe of° soldiers left, the rest all slain),
His chief munition spent
or lost. Provision
(An army’s soul), but° what we give, he wants.° 55
What then shall hinder to
destroy their name,°
So none again shall venture,
but our isle
Rounded with Nereus’
girdle° may
enjoy
Eternal peace?
Cassibelane: I like thy warning. With united stroke 60
Of all our nations, we’ll
his camp beleaguer,
Devouring ships and men.
But one mischance,
My brother’s wound (his
mortal wound I fear),
Turns all to wormwood.° Why were ye dumb, ye idols?
No sainted° statue did foretell this grief. 65
Come, let’s go visit him.
You may, lord general,
Set Comius free. We love
not to insult
But render good for ill.
Exeunt.
Act 3 Scene 4.
[Enter] Caesar, Volusenus, [accompanied].
Caesar:
Heaven, sea and wind and all the elements
Conspire to work us harm.
Our ships in Gaul,
Wind-bound, at length put
forth and come in view,
Are tossed and torn. Our
navy on° the shore
With civil discord break
each other’s planks.° 5
The airy rulers° are displeased. All day,
Noises and nimble° flashes mixed with rain
Amaze° our soldiers.
To make grief full, my
daughter’s death I hear.°
When, powerful Fortune,° will thy anger cease? 10
Never till now did Caesar
Fortune fear.
Mount Palatine,° thou throne of Jove,° and ye°
Whose lesser turrets
pinnacle Rome’s head,
Are all your deities fled?
Or was I bold°
To out-go nature° and our empire stretch 15
Beyond her limits? Pardon
then my fault.
Or do we basely faint?° Or is our might
Answered with like, since
Troy ’gainst Troy doth fight?
Nor can I write now, “I
came over, and
I overcame”;° such foes deny such haste.° 20
Volusenus: The islanders consult, and sure° intend
Some sudden stratagem. And
now the scales
Poise equal day and night,° when rougher seas
And stormy Pleiads may our
passage stop.°
Caesar: Then sirs, to ship. Compelled, I leave this
land 25
But° to return, if gods do not withstand.°
Exeunt.
Act 3 Scene 5.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Belinus,
Lantonus [and] Nennius in a chair.
Nennius:
We won the day, and all our foes are fled?
Belinus:
Yes, noble Nennius. Scattered on the shore,
Thick lay the Latins, and
the glutted stream
Spews up her dead, whom
death hath taught to swim
Though ignorant alive.
Their flowing blood 5
Made a new Red Sea. But
those few we lost,
Sweetly reposed upon their
mother’s breast,
And wounded all before,° kept in their face
A warlike frown.°
Nennius:
Where is false Caesar’s° sword, called Crocea
Mors,° 10
Which never hurt, but
killed? Let it be placed
Within my tomb.°
Belinus:
Here is the fatal blade.
Nennius:
Death like a Parthian° flies, and, flying, kills.
In midst of conquest came
my deadly wound.
Accursed weapon, more
accursed man, 15
Who serpent-like in poison
bathes his sting.
Tiber doth breed as
venomous beasts as Nile.°
We scorn such cruel craft.° But death draws near.
A giddy horror seizeth on
my brain.
Dear brother and thou,° holy priest of heaven, 20
Witness my words: I leave
my country free
And die a victor. Thus,
with lighter wing,
My purified soul mounts to
her first best cause.°
I long even to behold
those glorious cloisters
Where Brutus, great
Dunwallo and his sons, 25
Thrice noble spirits,
walk.°
Thou mighty enginer° of this wondrous globe,
Protect this isle,
confound all foreign plots;
Grant Thames and Tiber
never join their channels,
But may a natural hate
derived from us 30
Live still in our
long-trailèd progeny.°
(My eyes do swim in
death.)
Before this land shall
wear the Roman yoke,
Let first the adamantine
axle crack,
Which binds the ball
terrestrial to her poles,° 35
And dash the empty air;
let planets drop
Their scalding jelly and,
all flame being spent,
Entomb the world in
everlasting smoke.
Come faster, death. I can behold thy grim
And ugly jaws with quiet
mind. Now, now, 40
I hear sweet music, and my
spirit flies.
He dies.
Cassibelane: His breath is gone who was his country’s prop
And my right hand. Now
only doth he crave
To see him° laid with honour in the grave.
[Exeunt.]
Act 3 Scene 6.
[Enter] Eulinus, Hirildas.
Eulinus:
A mind content, oh, ’tis a mind of pearl,
A mint of golden thoughts,
a heaven on earth!
When eager longer meet
full but their scope,
And hopes are actuated
beyond hope.°
So Jason joyed,° the golden fleece obtained;° 5
So Hercules joyed, the
golden fruit being gained;
So Venus joyed, the golden
ball to hold;
So Midas joyed, when he
turned all to gold;
So, and much more,
rejoiced the Phrygian swain,°
Which air did ever kiss.
His brazen keel,
Proud of° her burden, sliced the capering brine.
The Tritons blew their
horns, and sea-gods dance;°
Before, behind, about his
ship,° they
prance.
The mermaids skip on high
but to compare 15
Their dangling tresses
with her silken hair.
These° were but shadows° of my bliss. A robe
Of pure beatitude° wraps me round about,
Without a speck or
blemish, nor can invention
Wish more unto me than I
have: Landora. 20
I’m rich, free, learnèd,
honoured, all, in this.
Who dares conceive against
the female sex
But one base thought? Lo,
here I stand, their champion,
And will maintain he is a
beast, a devil,
Begot between a bitch-wolf
and an incubus.° 25
Women—all good, all
perfect, and all gracious
Men-making creatures,
angels clad in flesh—
Let me adore your name.
Hirildas:
And let me speak.
Eulinus:
But I in you° enjoy Landora’s love. 30
Hirildas:
But she enjoys not your love, cause unknown.°
Eulinus:
No matter I in you, or you in me,
So that° I still possess my dearest dear.
A paltry fancy last night
in her bed
Turmoiled my thoughts,
which since I shaped in rhymes, thus… 35
Hirildas:
Prithee, let’s hear. I know thou art turned poet.
Eulinus: [reads]
“The Dream.
By one°; for worse,° Saturnius° left the sky.
Slumb’ring at last (for
love can hardly sleep), 40
Straight-ways I dreamed
(for love doth revels keep°):
A damsel fair, and
fashioned for delight
(Our day-born objects do
return at night),
With flow’ry chaplet and
red velvet gown,
Which from her breast was
fastened along down 45
With rich enamelled locks,
all which one key,
Whose bright gold ’bout
her silver neck did play,
Could open and divorce. A
veil most fair
(Such whiteness only
Paphian doves° do wear)
With false light did her
beauteous front improve. 50
From this arch,° Cupid shot his darts of love.
With gentle strain,° she took me by the hand
(Touches in love do more
than tongue’s command),
Then leads me with an
amorous smile along
(He’s easily led whom
beauty draws, more strong 55
Than cable-ropes). An
altar we descry,
In little rolling° curls. A reverend priest,
With snowy beard waving
upon his breast,
There kneeling, did his
eyes in sorrow steep, 60
Whose passionate cry made
me, though ignorant,° weep.
Phlegon’s° hot breath no sooner licks up dew
Than joy had dried those
tears, for, lo, I view
A circular room,° all built with marble dear—
It seemed. I know not how
we came, nor whence,
Nor any passage saw to get
from thence,
But, oh, the rich delight
and glorious fire
Which dazzled me, no heart
can more desire.
Her first, my guide, oped
her spice-breathing door:° 70
“Ask what thou wilt, this
is the ark of store.°
No vows are here
repulsed,” she said. But I,
Surprised with extreme joy
and ecstasy,
By chance a scorpion’s
tail behind her spied°
(Pity, such° beauty such° a monster hide). 75
Trembling, yet silent,
doubtful what to crave;°
Lo, wit a stink and
fearful screech, this brave°
And glorious dame doth
vanish, and a dart,°
Which still I quake at,
struck me to the heart.
But, waking, I revived,
and found in bed 80
Such sovereign balm would
cure old Pelias° dead.”°
Hirildas:
Ha, ha. Your tedious dream hath made me drowsy.
But hark, we must attend
the funeral pomp.
[Exeunt.]
Act 3 Scene 7.
The funeral [cortege, including Cassibelane,] passes over the stage.°
Nennius’s escutcheon° [and] armour, [and] Caesar’s sword borne;
[the procession includes figures carrying]
torches [and other] mourners.
Cassibelane: Set down that heavy load with heavier hearts.°
Could virtuous valour,
honourable thoughts,°
A noble scorn of fortune,
pride and death,
Myriads of vows and
prayers sent to heaven…
Could country’s love or
Britain’s genius° save 5
A mortal man from sleeping
in his grave,
Then hadst thou lived,
great Nennius, and outlived
The smooth-tongued Greek.° But we may more envy,
And less bewail, thy loss,
since thou didst fall
On honour’s lofty
field-bed,° on which stage 10
Never did worthy° act a statelier part.
Nor durst pale death
approach with cypress° sad,
Till flourishing bay° thy conquering temples clad.
A funeral elegy [is] sung to the harp.
Mourners:
Turnus° may
conceal his name,
Nennius had Aeneas’ fame.° 15
Hannibal, let Afric’
smother,
Nennius was great Scipio’s
brother.°
Greece, forbear Achilles’
story,
Nennius had brave Hector’s
glory.°
Sorrowful songs befit a
tomb.
Turn, ye marble stones, to
water.°
Isis’ nymphs,° forswear all laughter,
Sigh and sob upon your
bed,
Heli’s° noble son is dead. 25
A banquet [is] served over the stage. [Enter] Rollano with a leg of a capon and a tankard of wine.
Rollano:
I like such slaughtering well of birds and beasts,
Which wear no swords, nor
shake a fatal pike,
When hogsheads bleed, and
oxen, mangled, lie.
Oh, what a world of victuals
is prepared
For sacrifice and
feasting. Forty thousand 30
Fat bullocks! Then the
parks and forests send
Full thirty thousand wild
beasts, armed with horns
And dangerous teeth; the
main battalion
Consists of sheep (a
hundred thousand, fat);
Sans
number, and some fish for succours serve—
A goodly army.° Troynovant doth smoke
And smells all like a kitchen. The king, princes
And nobles of the land a
triumph hold.°
Music and songs, good
cheer and wine; and wine 40
And songs, and music and
good cheer. Hey, brave!°
No more shall barley broth° pollute my throat,
But nectar—nectar of the
grapes’ sweet blood.
Come, heavenly
potion—wine, whose gentle warmth
Softens the brain, unlocks
the silent tongue; 45
Wit’s midwife, and our
spirits’ vestal priest, °
Keeping alive the natural
heat. A health,
A health (to make short
work)° to all
the world,
So will it sure go round.
[He] steals
behind.°
The triumphs.°
Cassibelane, [the] four Kings of Kent,
Cridous, Britael, Guerthed, Androgeus, Themantius, Hirildas, Eulinus, Belinus
take [their] places.
Cassibelane: Sorrow must doff her sable weeds, and joy 50
Furbish the court with
fresh and vernant° colours,
Else should we seem
ungrateful to the gods.°
Triumphs° must thrust out obsequies, and tilt
With tourney° and our ancient sport called Troy, °
Such as Iulus,° ‘bout his grandsire’s tomb, 55
Did represent,° and, at each temple’s porch,
Games, songs and holy
murdering of beasts.
They sit down. A dancing masque of six°
enters. Then the epinicion° [is] sung by two bards:
1 bard:
The Roman eagle, threat’ning woe,
The sea did shadow with her wing,
But our goose-quills° did prick her so, 60
That from the clouds they down her bring.
Both: Sing
then, ye hills and dales, so so° clear,
That Io
Paean° all may hear.
1 bard:
They° may us
call Isles Fortunate.°
They sought for life here, not for fame.° 65
All° yield to them, they° to our state.
The world knows but our double name.°
Both: Sing then, ye streams and woods, so so
clear,
That Io Paean all may hear.
Androgeus and Themantius play at foils.° Then
Hirildas and Eulinus play.
Eulinus:
’Twas foully played.°
Hirildas: You lie. ’Twas fairly hit. 70
Eulinus:
I’ll give a quittance.°
Hirildas: Do your worst, vain braggart.
They take swords° [and] fight. Hirildas [is] slain.
Oh, I am slain.
Cassibelane: Hold, hold. My nephew’s slain before my face.
Life shall be paid with
life.
Androgeus:
He° shall not die. °
Cassibelane: “Shall not”? Your king and uncle says he shall. 75
Eulinus:
No kingly menace or censorious frown
Do I regard (tanti° for all your power),
But the compunction of my
guilt doth send
A shuddering chillness
through my veins enflamed.
Why do ye stare, ye grisly
powers of night? 80
There, there, his soul
goes. I must follow him.
Offers to kill himself, is
hindered.
Androgeus:
He was provoked and did it in defence,
And, being my kinsman,
shall be judged by laws
Of Troynovant. Such custom
claims our court.°
Cassibelane: No custom shall bar justice. I command 85
That he appear before us.
Androgeus: Trials are vain when passion sits as
judge.
Cassibelane: I’ll soon rebate this insolent disdain.
Exeunt Androgeus, Themantius, Eulinus.
Let not this dismal chance
deface our joy,
Most royal friends. 90
Cridous:
War being silenced, and Enyo’s° rage
In hell fast fettered,
sound we now retreat,
That soldiers may re-greet
their household gods,
Their children cling about
their armèd thighs.
Britael:
And place their trophies ’bout their smoky halls. 95
There, hang a gauntlet bright,
here, a stabbed buckler;°
Pile up long pikes° and, in that corner, plant
A weighty sword,
brandished by some centurion.
Not he who ne’er on snaky
perils trod,
But happy he who hath them
stoutly passed,° 100
For danger’s sauce gives
joy a better taste.
Guerthed: Great monarch, if thy summons call us
back,
We tender here our
service, men and arms,
As duty bids and binds.
Cassibelane: Should he° return, our province dares him front.° 105
So, a most kind adieu unto
all three.
Exeunt Cridous, Britael,
Guerthed.
Cingetorix, Carvilius, Taximagulus, Segonax…
I know your faithful love.
Kent’s fourfold head
Will check rash rebels and
as firmly stand
As hearty oaks, who bear
off Aeolus’ blows
And with a whistle but
deride his force.° 110
Exeunt [the] four kings of Kent.
Burst, gall,° and dye my actions in flame-colour.°
I saw Hirildas fall and
breathe his soul
Even in my face, as though
hell watched a time°
To crush° our pomp and glory into sighs.
The conduits of his vital
spring,° being ripped, 115
Spurtle’d° my robes, soliciting revenge. Belinus,
Attach° the murderer, and if abettors
Deny obedience, then, with
sword and fire,
Waste their dominions. For
a traitor’s sake,
Whole towns shall tremble
and the ground shall quake. 120
Exeunt.
Act 3 Scene 8.
[Enter] Androgeus, Themantius,
Mandubrace.°
Androgeus:
Shall Justice° and just Libra° ne’er forsake
Th’embroidered belt?° No sign of them on earth?
Are gods dim-sighted
grown, or do they sleep
The morning and carouse
the afternoon,
Cleave, thou blue marble
ceiling, that heaven’s king,
With clearer aim, may
strike a tyrant’s crown,
Nor spend his brimstone° bullets ’gainst some hill
Or innocent° pine.
Mandubrace: Your injuries run low. Mine break all bounds: 10
My father butchered at his
lawless will,
I banished from my lands,
deposed from rule,
Owing my life to night and
flight.°
Themantius: I do
confess, you may complain aloud
And tear the element° with a dolorous note, 15
Or call up Nemesis° from the direful deep
To expiate your wrongs.
Else would the manes° of your father slain,
In a white sheet come
sliding to your bed 20
And be revenged on you.° He gave you life.
How can you better spend
it than to wreak°
His death and slaughter? [To Androgeus] But our case and cause°,
Brother, is not the same:° Eulinus slew
His innocent friend, and
we defend the fact,° 25
With hostile noise
drowning law’s reverent voice,
But murder out-cries both.° Give me, then, leave
To be a neutral. My young
years, unfit
For any desperate course,
can but complain
The king, our uncle, doth
not use us well. 30
Exit.
Androgeus:
Usurpers use this method still:° at first
He, as protector, slyly
got the stern,
During our nonage.° Then the commons’ voice
(Bought with a fawning
brow and popular grace°),
With empty titles to
beguile our thoughts,
Like puppet-lords, dressed
up with crown and scarf,°
Glad that we live and hunt
and reign o’er brutes.°
Our uncle is the king who,
when he saw
His throne established and
his foes repulsed, 40
Grown big° with prosperous fortune, proudly spurns
All fear of God or man.°
Mandubrace: His anger,
nursed by jealousies,° must feed
On princes’ flesh, who
lose both state and life
If they but look awry.° A tyrant’s growth, 45
Reared up by ruins,° thence may learn his fall:°
For whom all fear, he
justly feareth all.
Androgeus:
In antiphones° thus tune we female plaints,
But plots and force beseem
us.° Thus,
great Caesar
Shall pull him down below
us. Thou, Mandubrace, 50
Sure pledges take of our
revolt and quickly
Implore his aid. Blow up
his drooping fire
With hopeful terms. But
let him stronger come.°
Mandubrace: I fly unseen, as charmers° in a mist.
Grateful° Revenge, whose sharp-sweet relish fats 55
My apprehensive° soul!° Though all were pared off°
Which doth accrue from
fortune, and a man left
As barely poor° as nature thrust him out,°
Nay, worse, though spirits
boil, rage, anger, care
And grief like wild horse
tear the affrighted° mind, 60
Though wrongs excoriate
the heart, yet all is sweetened
If vengeance have her
course. I reck not how;°
Let commonwealth expire,
and owls proclaim
Sad desolation in our
halls. Let heaps
Of dust and rubbage° epitaph our towns.° 65
Let fire and water fight:
who° first
shall spoil
This universal frame. From
north or south,
Revenge, th’art welcome.
No sin worse than pity—
A tyrant’s only physic° is phlebotomy.°
Exeunt.
Act 3 Scene 9.
[Enter] chorus.
First Song.
Rejoice, oh Britain,
Britain, oh, rejoice.
The stormy cloud passed
over
And only made a noise.
A clattering sound was
heard, 5
And still we felt no
wound.
Rejoice, rejoice,
Thou happy British ground.
Oh, that sweet Plenide,
Were now to chant our
victories
With a melodious tone,
And rousing echo from the
dales
With harmony to sound.
Rejoice, rejoice, 15
Thou happy British ground.
Second song.°
Gang,° ye lads and lasses,
If ye ligg° in this plight.° 20
And gif° night gars° the welkin° merk,°
Tom piper, do you blive.°
Hidder, eke and shidder,° 25
With spicèd sew ycramd,°
Sa that unneath° thilke° borrells°
May° well ne° yede° ne° stand.
When timbarins° ‘gin sound,° 30
For harvest gil° pranked up° in lathe°
To lout it low° around.
[Exeunt.]
Act 4 Scene 1.
[Enter] Caesar, Volusenus,
attendants.
Caesar:
A story is’t or fable, that, stern Mars,
Thy weight did Romulus’
sleepy mother° press°
Since we, thy brood° degenerous,° stand at gaze,
Charmed in the circle of a
foaming flood,
And trail our dastard
pikes? Burst Janus’ prison,° 5
Roar as thou didst at
Troy, drown° Stentor’s° voice
By many eights,° which Pindus° may re-beat,°
Which Caucasus may, as a
catch,°
repeat,
And Taurus° low° the same, that pygmies small
May squeak, “it thunders,”
and dive into burrows. ° 10
Let the four winds, with
dreadful clamour, sing
Thy° anger through the affrighted world.
What Lemnian chain° shackles our mounting eagle?°
The moon’s round concave
is too strait° a cage
For her advancèd pinions. 15
Enter Mandubrace, wounded and bloody,° with
Androgeus’s young son.°
Mandubrace: If pity can have room in angry breast,
Favour a Briton prince,
his father slain,°
His regiment bereft,° his dearest blood
Drawn by the sword of
false Cassibelane.
Having got crown, he then
struck at my head, 20
Nor can I safely suck my
native air.
His coz° Androgeus, also, and whole regions,
In open war, withstand his
violence.
Lo, Albion’s aged arms
spread wide t’enchain
Thee as her patron, in a
true-love knot. 25
Wherefore, dread Caesar,
let thy mercy strike
Revengeful fire,° and be justly styled
[He] kneels.
Tamer of tyrants. Then
fame blows aloud:
When valour helps the
weak, pulls down the proud.
Caesar:
Arise, unhappy prince, our deeds shall show 30
We grant thy suit. (To Volusenus) Fortune repents at last.
The moon is changed. The
globe° doth
to us turn
Her shining cheek and woos
us with a smile.
[To Mandubrace] But what firm signs of faith, what faithful aid,
What furtherance° can you give at our arrival? 35
Mandubrace: See here,
Androgeus’ heir, whose tender age
His father ventures° and makes bold with nature
To pledge his darling. He
and thirty more
Of noble linage° shall assure our faith.
Besides, I pawn my life. 40
Caesar: Enough. I’ll once more cross the seas,°
For your good, more than
mine, that° happier sky
May bless your towns with
peace, your fields with plenty,
Perpetual spring, in gay
perfumed attire,
Surname° your isle, the Garden of the West.° 45
Mandubrace: Thanks, gracious Caesar. For this kind acceptance,
My knee doth kiss the
ground, my lip your knee.°
Pardon ye gods (if any
haunt our land),
Ye nymphs and lares,° fawns and silvans wild,
That thus I bring a
stranger on our coasts, 50
Whose foreign shape° and language may affright
Our lazy clowns,° and on my country’s back
Once° tread victorious steps. Be pleased to view
Wrongs now redressed,
neglected first by you.°
Caesar: Now, Volusene, 55
Our glorious state,° like the noon-pointed sun,
When he bestrides the
lion’s flaming fleece,°
Doth north-west roll his
burning brand, whose fire
The ocean’s blue lake
cannot stop, but flies
With brighter blaze to
thaw the frozen isles. 60
But how proceeds our
preparation?
Volusenus: Many strong ships are built, five
legions armed,
Ready to launch.
Caesar: Blow gently, Africus.°
Play on our poops. When
Hyperion’s son°
Shall couch in west his foam-bedappled jades, 65
We’ll rise to run our
course.
Exeunt.
Act 4 Scene 2.
[Enter] Eulinus.
Eulinus:
Though Orpheus’ harp, Arion’s lute,° the chimes
Whose silver sound did
Theban towers raise,°
Though sweet Urania° with her ten-string lyre,
Unto whose stroke the
daily-rolling spheres
Dance their just measures,° should with tune and tone 5
Tickle my air-bred ear,° yet can their notes
Those fabulous stones° more° enter than my soul.
Lead,° poppy, slumber stupefy° my heart,
But bedlam grief acts
gambols° in my brain.
The centaur’s wheel,° Prometheus’ hawk,° the vulture 10
Of Tityus,° Sisyphus’ never mossy stone,
The tale of Danaids’ tub° and Tantalus’ gaping
Are but flea-bitings to my
smart. I’ve slain
A kinsman—more, a friend—I
dearly loved,
Nay, more: no cause
provoking but in rash 15
And hellish choler.
I had thought my love had
cannon-proof been ‘gainst
A world of injuries, when
see, all is split
By a small wind. Cursèd be
thou, my sword,
The instrument of fury;
cursèd hand, 20
Which mad’st the thrust;
but most accursèd part,°
Whose ruddy flesh,
triangular, boiled in flame,
Like an Aetnean or
Vesuvian salamander.°
That breast I so could
hug, that faithful breast,
That snowy white, I with
dark sanguine stained, 25
And from the wounds’ red
lips, his panting heart
Did seem to speak: “Is
this a friendly deed?”
Oh no, Hirildas. Bears can
harmless play,
Lions can dally, and
sheathe up their claws,
I only, worst of brutes, kill
friends in jest. 30
Why dost Androgeus,
kindly-cruel, keep
Me from their sentence?° Say° law bids me die—
If law should not, I’ll
make that law myself.°
Shall ensigns° be displayed, and nations° rage
About so vile a wretch?
Shall foreign hooves 35
Redeem my folly with a
kingdom’s fall?
First may I stop black
Cerberus’ triple jaws.°
Die, die, thou hast
out-lived thyself. Thou° only,
Phoenix of females,° still dost bind and bound 40
My runagate° spirit in these walls of mud.°
From thee and for thee
’tis I breathe. Yet how
Borrow can I his shape or
use mine own?°
Odious before, now worse
than hell-born goblin,
With brand° and chains, to scare this dove, all quaking 45
’Twixt wrath and fear.° But time may favour win.
When hope doth fail, then
knife or rope begin.
Exit.
Act 4 Scene 3.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Belinus,
Rollano.
Cassibelane: Wisdom, confirm my sense:° what seemed their number?
Rollano:
Rising from shore, conjecture might descry
A thousand ships, with
painted prows, to pave
The briny fields of
Neptune—their broad sails
Did Nereus canopy, Titan’s° taper veil— 5
As nations twenty-nine
’gainst Troy built up
A floating Delos° of a thousand ships
To plough the liquid
glass. No frame of Pallas,°
No crafty Sinon,° but those wooden horse°
Her mother’s° fate. Achilles comes again,°
And Pergamus° again shall sink in dust.
They threaten.
Exit.
Cassibelane: Wonder!° What, can their arsenals spawn so fast?
Last year, his barks and
galleys were deboshed.° 15
This spring, they sprout
again. Belike° their navy,
Like the Lernean adder,° faster grows,
The more ‘tis pruned. They
come their last. Lord deputy,
Lead on the present troops
and levy new.
’Twere best, I think, to
let him land, lest view 20
Of his huge navy should
our commons fright.°
Retire ourselves to some
place of advantage,
Entice him from his ships.
So, cut the veins
Which nourish both.
Enclosed, he cannot ’scape.
Belinus: I rather judge we should oppose his
footing, 25
Using the benefit of our
natural mound.°
Cassibelane: Uncertain
’tis where, when, he makes in-road.
To furnish all, unlikely,
to neglect
Any were dangerous as
Pelides’ heel.°
Our shores are large° and level. Then,° t’attend 30
His time and leisure would
exhaust the state,°
Weary our soldiers.
Belinus:
All places may be strengthened more or less,
As, by° last year, discretion° now may guess.°
The cliffs themselves are
bulwarks strong; the shelves 35
And flats refuse great
ships; the coast so open,
That every stormy blast
may rend their cables,
Put them from anchor,
suffering double war—
Their men, pitched battle,
and ships, naval fight.°
For charges,° ’tis no season to dispute— 40
Spend something or lose
all. Shall he° maintain
A fleet to enthrall us, we
detract° small costs
When freedom, life and
kingdom lie at stake.°
Cassibelane: But the
assailants are the flower of Italy
Backed with four-hundred
Gallic horse, all tried 45
And gallant troops, joined
in one martial body
To give a fuller stroke,
when° we,
defendants
Scattered along, can° weak resistance make,
Plainness° of ground affording us no shelter.
Belinus:
For what serves art and engines, mounts° and trenches, 50
But to correct the nature
of a plain?
A few on firm land may
keep out a million
Weakened by sea, false
footing, billows’ rage,
And ponderous arms, when
as,°
received within,°
He prospers by our spoil;
we feed a viper,° 55
And malcontents and rebels
have a refuge.°
Nor were it safe to
venture all at once,
When, one fought field
being lost, swift ruin runs°
And, rushing, throws down
all.
Cassibelane: We know our strength and his. We’ll fight in field, 60
Some dozen miles from sea.
An open theatre
Gives lustre° to our prowess. To keep him out°
Supposes fear, not
manhood. No, let him march
Till he rouse death° and stride his future grave.
Exeunt.
Act 4 Scene 4.
[Enter] Caesar, ensign, drum,
trumpet, flag, soldiers, shipmen. The noise of landing [is heard].
Caesar:
The coast is clear. Our honour is the goal.
In vain doth Tagus’ yellow
sand° obey,°
Rhine’s° hornèd front,° and nimble Tigris, running
For wager with the wind,
which skims his top;°
In vain from Ganges to
Hesperian Gades,° 5
The bounds° marked out by Jove’s two base-born sons,°
Our echoed name doth
sound,° if we
recoil
From hence again not
victors.°
Ye pilots old, who were
begot on mermaids,
Whose element is the sea,
bred and brought up 10
In cradles rocked with
storms and wooden walls,°
Fear not to grapple with
their° seas.
Fear not
Their bulks,° brave veterans; that extended mass
Is not of iron but can
bleed and die.
They were not dipped in
Styx,° nor
are they giants 15
Or wild poetic centaurs we
assail.
Let then this voyage quit° our credit lost,°
And let rage° lash on° courage. Here’s the game.
Life may be lost, but sure
we’ll hold fast fame.
Cassibelane: Our first attempt doth prosper. They, retiring, 20
Scud° to the bosom of their fir-tree vaults°
And, under hatches, hide
themselves from death.
The Cornish band made
havoc of their ranks,
Like Scythian wolves° midst of a bleating fold.
The jingling lances,
rattling chariot-wheels 25
Madded their horse. The
bowmen merrily shot.
Belinus: Yet would° our tributary kings had succoured!°
We are decayed,° they much in number grown,
And surely will make head° again.
Cassibelane: Fear not.
Thou knowest I can, even with a whistle, 30
Hide Kent with glittering
arms—more flaming sparkles°
Paint not a freezing
night,° nor
speckled bees
Buzz not about sweet
Hybla’s° bloomy head.
But what need millions
when some thousands serve?
Oh, did my brother live,
we’d climb the Alps, 35
Like brave Mulmutius’
sons, make Romulus’ wolf
Howl horror in their
streets, and Rome look pale,
As when the Punic captain
eyed her walls. °
[They] march out.
[Enter] Caesar [and] Volusenus,
[accompanied].
Caesar:
Are ye the men who never fought in vain,
Who wear Bellona’s favours° in your scars? 40
Aye, ye are they. What
then benumbs our spirits?
Our empire from Quirinus’° narrow centre
Doth, circling, spread,° and finds no brink nor bottom.
Titan° no later sets nor earlier wakes
Than he beholds our
provinces. Why then, 45
What privilege hath this
place? Have we or they
The Phrygian powers?° Have they Palladium° got?
No, no. Those gods our
Capitol keep with joy;°
These° only have undaunted minds from Troy.
Enter Q. Atrius.
What news, good Atrius?
Atrius: No good news from Atrius. 50
When ominous earth with
shade° and
cloudy vapours
Had darkness° doubled, storms began to sound,
The dappled south,° rough-footed° Aquilo,°
Came rushing like two rams
whose steelèd horns
Dart fiery sparks. The
clouds, crushed, breathe out flames.° 55
Thunder and lightning
daunt all ears and eyes.
The winds and billows
strive who° loudest roar.
The sky distilled° in rain, his room° to fill,
Ambitious waves would
climb the starry hill.°
Our ships are battered
all—some forty sunk.° 60
Caesar: What devil°-Cacus drags our fortune back?°
Doth she move retrograde
and hoist us up,
That we may fall at
height?° Why dost Camillus
Each night torment my
sleep and cry “revenge”?
I strive against the
stream. 65
Enter Androgeus, Mandubrace, soldiers.
Androgeus:
Thus join we standards° and resign the keys
Of Troynovant with all our
warlike forces.
Mandubrace: By me° the Trinobants submit, and Cenimagnians,
Segontiacks, Ancalites,
Bybrocks and Cassians—°
Six worthy nations do
desire thy guard. 70
Caesar: All, all shall know our love.
Mandubrace: The tyrant
lies on Isis’ flow’ry banks,°
Where a full choir sing of
white-surpliced° swans.°
The ford’s unlevel belly they have fenced
With sharp stakes under
water.° 75
Caesar: Nor stakes, lakes, fords, nor swords
shall check our progress.
Those downy swans shall
hear more funeral notes.°
Their kings° departed,° Nennius dead, whose loss
Would tears extort even
from pumicean eyes°
(Had Britain nursed but
such another champion, 80
They might have stuck
their darts on our barred gates,
And Latium trembled with
contrary fates),°
In what now lies their
hope?
Mandubrace: Great
numbers still remain. Nay, worse, they laugh
At death and boldly trust
(as druids preach) 85
Their souls who die in
fight shall live in joy.
Hence, count they dangers
benefits, and die
With freedom in their
mouth,° and
willful rage.
But let soft mildness wait
on women. Let
To tell thy coming. ° No man’s built so lofty
But his foundation meets
the humble dust,
Which, undermined, how
high° he
pierced the clouds,
So deep he sinks.
Hostile and civil foes° shake top and root, 95
As winds invade above and
vines below,
And so will we.
Caesar: No doubt. This blow shall like an
earthquake move
The roots and pillars of
this sea-clipped isle.
A cloud of vultures shall
attend our camp, 100
And no more shall the
fields bear vert but gules.°
His verdant hue.° Bones, marrow, human limbs
Shall, putrefying, reek,
whose vapoured° slime,
Kindled on high,° may breed long-bearded stars° 105
To tell° more mischief and out-beard Apollo.°
Mandubrace: Let’s
waste no time, lest more unto him flock,
As humours glide to guard
the wounded member.
Caesar: Atrius, let our ships be drawn on
shore,
New-rigged and mended.° I must needs confess him 110
A darling of the gods,
under whose colours
Stars, winter, sky and
tempests serve in pay
And know both march and
skirmish by his drum.
Exeunt.
Act 4 Scene 5.
[Enter] Rollano, [with] Eulinus, hearkening.
Rollano:
Oh, my dear lady, hast thou slain thyself?
So fairly pure, so kindly
chaste, so—
[He] cries.
A Venus and Diana mixed in
one.
She eat her meat with
studs of pearl, she kissed
With rubies, and she
looked with diamonds bright. 5
Fish seas° and fowl the air, hunt all the earth
For such another bit and
lose your labour.
Eulinus: Oh, why dost thou complain?
Rollano:
Had she not killed her self, no cruel Atropos,°
No fury,° could, for pity, cut her thread. 10
She was the lodestone of
all eyes, the whetstone
Cries.
Eulinus:
Oh, my presaging thoughts in ugly form
Suggest some tragedy.
Speak—yet stay a while.
I know thou kill’st with
speaking.° Be then dumb. 15
Let sound ne’er give those
notions airy robes.°
Yet speak. Dispatch me.° Fear’s as bad as death.
Oh, could no tongue affirm
it! Is she dead?
Rollano:
My mistress is.
Eulinus:
Wither, ye pleasant gardens where she trod; 20
White lilies, droop, and
blasted° daisies, wink°
And weep in pearly dew.
Blind Vesper,° mourn;
Hang thy cold tears° on every grassy blade.
Groan loud, ye woods, and
tear your leafy hair.
Let wind and hoary frost
kill every flower, 25
For she is gone who made
continual May.
Let foggy mists envelop
sun and stars,
For she is gone who made
perpetual day.
Confounded° nature, stand amazed. Dissolve°
Thy rolling engines and
unbrace° the seas. 30
Fling all into their first
disordered lump,
For thy chief paragon, thy
rich masterpiece,
The jewel° for which thou didst venture all,
Is lost, is lost. And can
I live to speak it?
How died she?
Rollano: By a poisoned draught. 35
Eulinus: The very word (poison) infects my
breath. °
Durst thou° presume to pass that coral porch?°
Were not her lips
sufficient antidote?
Durst thou descend through
those close-winding stairs°
With treacherous intent?
How could thy venom 40
Seize on her and not,
sweetened, lose his virtue,°
Or, rather, vicious° quality? May toads,
Dragons and mandrakes° be thy gallipots,°
This° body was a casket° for the graces,
No cask° for poison. With her, dies all love. 45
Cupid may break his bow,
his arrows burn,
Then quench his taper° in a flood of tears.
Is she dead?
Rollano: Or° in a long trance.
Eulinus: She may revive.
I’ll visit her. Art° may prolong her days, 50
Whether she will or no…
Exeunt.
Act 4 Scene 6.
[Enter] chorus.
First song.
Alecto° rising from the lakes
Of night’s sad empery,°
With knotty bunch of curlèd snakes
Doth lash fair Britany.
More ghastly monster did not spring 5
With which Morvidus° combating,
Of foe became his food.
Sit whistling without care? 10
Shall never spear be made a spade,
And sword a ploughing-share?
Grant, heaven, at last, that music loud
Of bloody Mars be still,
That British virgins° in a crowd° 15
With hymns the sky may fill.
Second song.
Nor is Landora’s loss
The least part of our
mournful muse.
Jove, Juno for to cross,
This Trojan dame° for bride did choose,° 20
Where she doth shine
’Bove Gwendolin,
The
Amazon of her days,°
And Marcia wise,
Law to devise.° Oh, sound Landora’s praise. 25
There doth she shine
above,
Clear as great Delia’s° hornèd bow,°
Bright as the queen of
love,°
To shoot down gentle beams
below.
Not to compare
With her most splendent rays.
A ring the sky,
A gem her eye.° Oh, sound Landora’s praise.
[Exeunt.]
Act 5 Scene 1.
[Enter] Caesar, Androgeus,
Mandubrace, [accompanied, and] soldiers.
Caesar:
Thus gain we ground, yet still our foes will fight
Whether they win or lose. With bloody drops
Blush with vermilion.° Nations crave our league
On every side, yet still Cassibelane braves us 5
Nor will submit.
Androgeus: Not far hence Verulam lies, his
chiefest fort,°
By nature guarded round with woods and fens,°
By art enclosèd with a ditch and rampart—°
From hence we must dislodge the boar. 10
Mandubrace: There are but two ways to assail this town°
(Both which I know). Your parted army must
His doubtful rescues.
Enter Volusenus with Hulacus prisoner.
Hulacus:
Draw° slaves
unwilling, I dare meet my death 15
Volusenus: You’ll repent anon,
Hulacus: If I do ill,° but not for suffering ill.
Volusenus:
Your stoical apathy° will relent I know.
[To Caesar]
This priest I caught within a shady grove,
Devoutly kneeling at a broad oak’s foot. 20
Now he awaits your doom.°
Caesar:
What god adore you?
Hulacus: Him whom all
should serve.
Caesar:
What’s the moon?
Hulacus: Night’s sun.
Caesar: What’s night?
Hulacus: A foil to glorify the
day.
Caesar:
What most compendious° way to happiness? 25
Hulacus:
To die in a good cause.
Caesar: What is a man?
Hulacus:
An hermaphrodite of soul and body.°
Caesar:
How differ they in nature?
Hulacus:
The body hath in weight, the soul in length.°
Caesar:
One question more: what dangers shall I pass? 30
Hulacus:
Many, by land and sea, as steps to glory.
Throw Palatine° on Esquiline; on both
Heap Aventine° to raise one pyramid for a°
Chair of estate, where thy advancèd head,
Among those heroes pictured in the stars 35
(Orion, Perseus, Hercules), may consult
With Jove himself.° But shun the senate house.°
March round about the Caspian Sea.° Search out
’Mong cedars tall the Arabian phoenix nest.°
Run counter to° old Nile till thou discover 40
His sacred head wrapped up in cloudy mountains,°
And, rather than work fail,° turn Hellespont
Out of his channel;° dig that isthmus down
Which ties great Africk.° Shun the Senate house.°
Be Saturn, and so thou shalt not be Tarquin.° 45
A Brutus strong
Repays in fine°
To Brutus’ line.°
Caesar:
We’ll talk at leisure more. 50
Exeunt.
Act 5 Scene 2.
[Enter] Cassibelane [and] Belinus,
[accompanied].
Cassibelane: No ramparts keep him back. He presses forward
Though every stamp he treads seems to conjure
The fates from their infernal center. None
But he durst be so bold.
Belinus:
Yes, when Britons lead, and Mandubrace, insulting 5
With naked sword, calls on° the lagging soldiers;
When fierce Androgeus, with° revolted nations,
Usher his army. No way half so quick
To ruinate kingdoms as by home-bred strife.
Thus, while we single fight,° we perish all. 10
Cassibelane: Aye, aye, those treacherous caitiffs!° Rebel slaves!
Oh, may their country’s heavy curse them sink
Below the nine-fold brazen gates of hell.
That princox° proud! Aye, ’twas a ’scape° in policy.
I should have slain the whelps with their good sire.° 15
Let Britain’s climacterical° year now run,
One urn conclude° our ashes and the world’s.°
Befall what will, in midst of horror’s noise
And crackling flames, when all is lost, we’ll die 20
With weapons in our hands, and victory scorn.
There’s none that die so poor as they are born.
Faithful Belinus, let a post° command
The Kentish kings to set upon° his° fleet°
Whilst we here bid the base.° Four thousand charioteers 25
(Such as did glide upon the Phrygian plains
And, wheeling, double service do perform:
Both horse-man’s speed and foot-man’s stable strength)°
Still do remain.° With these and flocking voluntaries°
We’ll give him once more battle. Let the captains 30
Enter and hear my charge.°
Enter
captains. [Cassibelane] stands on a throne.
Subjects and fellow-soldiers, we must now try
For ancient freedom° or perpetual bondage.
There is no third choice. The enragèd foe
With cruel pride, proud avarice, hath spoiled 35
From east to west, hunting for blood and gain,
Your wives and daughters ravished, ransacked towns,
Great bellies ripped with lances, sprawling° babes,
The spouse about her husband’s neck run through
By the same spear. Think on these objects, 40
Whole countries and call desolation peace.°
Yield, yield, that he,° ennobled by our spoils,
May climb the Capitol with triumphant car,°
You led, fast-fettered, through the staring streets 45
And fill their arras-hangings with our story.
No. Brennus’ ghost forbid, who this night stood
Before my eyes and, grimly furious, spake:
“Shall Britain stoop to Roman rods and hatchets 50
And servile tribute? Will ye so defame
Your ancestors and your successors wrong,
Heirs but of ° slavery?” Oh, this day make good
The glory of so many ages past!
Your weapons, not your cares.
All: To
arms, to arms, to arms. We’ll fight and die.
Exeunt.
Act 5 Scene 3.
[Enter] Eulinus, in a nightcap, unbraced,° [carrying a] viol and a poniard.° [He] plays and sings to the viol.
Eulinus:
So the silver-feathered swan,
Both by death and colour wan,
Loves to sing
before she die,°
Leaving life so
willingly.
But how can I
sing a note 5
When dead
hoarseness stops my throat?
Or how can I play a stroke
When my
heart-strings all are broke?
[Speaks] Come, guilty night, and with black velvet wings
Mantle me round; let melancholic thoughts 10
Hang all my brain with blacks, this darksome grove
My gallery,° so all things suit° my mind.
Such funeral colours please a gasping° heart.
I died with thee, Landora, once. Now only
Some struggling spirits are behind,° to be 15
Laid out with most thrift on thy memory.
Where shall I first begin my last complaint,
Which must be measured by my glass of life?°
At° thee, Hirildas, slain in furious mood,°
By whose help only I enjoyed my love? 20
Or thee Landora, dying for his sake,
And in thy death including mine?
Or at my country’s wrack,° whose surface torn
Doth for my vengeance° importune the pole?°
Or at my self? Aye, there is sorrow’s spring.° 25
Shall I go wand’ring, lurk in woods unknown,
A banished hermit, and sigh out my griefs,
Teaching the pretty birds to sing my dear,
My dear Landora? There to feed on acorns,
Drink the clear fountain and consume° with weeping, 30
Were but an easy life, an easy death.
My violent passion must have sudden vent.°
Refinèd soul° (whose odoriferous light
The damnèd hags stare at, and whining elves,°
Thinking it heaven in hell)°, behold my pangs; 35
Pity my dying groans and be more soft.
Oh, may our shadows° mingle. Then shall I
Envy° no more those citizens above°
The ambrosian junkets° of the Olympian hall
And all that gorgeous roof.° But cowards talk. 40
Come, thou last refuge° of a wearisome life;
Draws his poniard.
A passport to the Elysian land, a key
To unlock my grievèd inmate.° Lo, I come.
Oh, let this river from my eyes, this stream
Unbuttons.°
From my poor breast, beg favour° of thy ghost. 45
Oh, let this lukewarm blood thy rigour° steep°
Stabs [himself].
And mollify thy adamantine heart.
Leander-like,° I swim to thee through blood.
Be thy bright eyes my Pharos° and conduct me
Through the dull night of gloomy Erebus.° 50
Flow, flow, ye lively drops, and from my veins
Run winding to the ocean of my bliss.
Tell her my love, and if she still shall doubt,
Swear that ye came directly from my heart.
I stay too long. (Stabs
[himself] again.) 55
Sweet lady, give me welcome.
Though I shall pass twelve monsters as° the sun,°
Or° twelve Herculean labours on° a row,
Yet one kind look makes all my journey sweet.
Thou fairy queen of the Tartarian court,° 60
To whom Proserpine may the apple give,
Worthier than she, to warm old Pluto’s bed,
See thy poor vassal weltering in his gore.
I faint, I faint.
I die, thy martyr, as I lived, thy priest. 65
Falls and dies.
Act 5 Scene 4.
The four kings of Kent march over the stage. A drum [is] struck up within. Q. Atrius comes with
Cingetorix prisoner. [Enter] Rollano, running, [and] Volusenus [who] meets
him.
Rollano:
What shall I do? How shall I ’scape?
[He]
falls [over] for fear.
Volusenus:
I scorn to take advantage. Rise and fight.
Rollano:
I had rather be killed quickly, quickly.
Volusenus:
Then die, as thou desirest.
Thrusts at him.
Rollano:
Oh, let me wink° first. 5
[He] bawls
aloud.
I shall never endure it. Oh, oh, I am peppered and
salted.°
Exit Volusenus. Rollano crawls away.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Belinus, [accompanied].
Cassibelane: Oh, that base fortune° should great° spirits damp
And fawn on muddy° slaves; that envious fate
Should ripen villainy with a Syrian dew°
And blast sweet virtue with a Sirian flame.° 10
A catalogue of mischiefs do concur:°
Our British Hector, Nennius, dead;° our kings,
Angry to be refused, sit still at home;
And then those traitors with their train augment
His huge and expert army. Nothing stops him— 15
Rivers nor ramparts, woods nor dangerous bogs.
On this side° Thames, his dismal ensigns shine.
Last, Kent’s unhappy rulers are° at sea
O’erthrown, and our men almost spent. Then, general,
In desperate pride and valour’s scornful° rage, 20
Let us run headlong through their armèd° tents
And make their camp a shambles,° so to raise
Our lofty tombs upon their slaughtered heaps.
Belinus:
Nay, rather first, let’s parley for peace.
Cassibelane: Ye country-gods and nymphs who Albion love, 25
Old father Neptune, all ye powers divine,
Witness my loyal care: if human strength,
Courage and policy could a kingdom save,
We did our best. But Discord, child of hell,°
Numbers of train-men° and each captain picked 30
Out of a province° make us bow or break.
In vain we strive when deities do frown.
When destinies push, Atlas himself comes down.
Enter Comius.
Belinus:
No mediator is so fit as Comius. And here’s the man.
Comius: Do not the dangers which environ you 35
Call for a good conclusion° (which I wish,
As friend to both sides)?
Cassibelane: No, Comius. There is more behind° than Caesar
Hath overrun.° Our charioteers still drive,
Our harness still is worn. Through woods and lakes 40
We’ll tire his dainty soldiers, then set fire
On towns and sacrifice ourselves, our wives,
Our goods and cattle in one public flame,
That wind may blow our ashes in his face.
Comius:
So shall dead elements° curse your causeless° fury. 45
Rather conclude some friendly peace.
Cassibelane: Thus far we hear you: if with honoured terms
And royal looks he will accept our faith,
We will obey—but never serve.
Comius:
I’ll undertake as much.° 50
Exeunt.
Act 5 Scene 5.
[Enter] Androgeus, Themantius.
Androgeus:
Thus, civil war by me and factious broils
Deface this goodly land. I am revenged.
The cause, Eulinus, dead, my anger dies.
He° is our uncle and in danger’s mouth—
A rampant lion, war hath made a lamb.°
Caesar shall not proceed, for private ends,
To captivate our isle,° whose clamorous curse
Doth knock, I know, at heaven’s star-nailed gates
For that° Jove’s bird,° imped° with our plumes, o’er-flew 10
The ocean’s wall to seek her prey in Britain.°
Themantius: Aye, we have made a rod for our own backs.
Fetters of gold are° fetters. No gap worse
To let destruction in by than to call
A foreign aid, who, having seen our weakness 15
And tasted once the fatness of our land,
Is not so easily thrust out as admitted.
Such medicine is worse than the malady,
Fretting the bowels of our kingdom.
Androgeus:
I know their° hatred just and here resign 20
All my birthright to thee, my second self.
I must forsake my country’s sight and seek
New fortunes with this emperor, in hope
To be raised up by his now-rising wheel.
Themantius: Oh, do not so, dear brother. So to part 25
Were to divide one individual soul.°
Nor think me so ambitious. I can live
A private life and see a regal crown
With no more envy than I see the sun
Glitter above me. Let not Lud’s two sons 30
Be parted by a sea. I hold your presence
At higher price than a whole kingdom’s pomp.°
Keep then your right.° Like those admirèd twins,°
Let us rejoice, mourn, live and die together.
Androgeus:
You shall a sceptre gain.
Themantius:
And lose a
brother. 35
Androgeus:
Bear you the sovereign power of this land.
Themantius: A body politic must on two legs stand.°
I’ll bear a part, so to diminish envy.
Androgeus:
I must away, and shun the people’s eye.
Themantius: If to your self unkind, be kind to me. 40
For my sake, stay at home. Why will you fly?
Think you a step-dame soil gives sweeter sap?
Androgeus:
Aye, for trees transplanted do more goodly grow.
Themantius: And I’ll count men but stocks° when they do so.
Androgeus:
I am resolved, all troubles brought asleep,° 45
To leave you with a parting kiss.
Themantius: And by
that kiss
May I transfuse° my soul or quite expire.
Brothers have often for a kingdom fought—
We strive to lose it. This is holy° strife.
But here I vow: if e’er that sacred lace° 50
Or fish for tribute in the dreadful deep. °
Act 5 Scene 6.
[Enter] Caesar, Mandubrace.
Androgeus:
Let gracious favour° smooth war’s rugged brow.
Cassibelane will compound.° All rage must end.
We choose you umpire for a friendly close. °
Caesar:
It is my glory to end all with peace,
And for that cause I Comius sent in haste 5
For to conduct him° hither.
[A trumpet sounds.]
Themantius: This trump gives warning of the king’s approach.
[Enter] Cassibelane, Comius,
Lantonus.
Cassibelane: Fate, and no fault of mine, makes me appear,
To yield as far as honour gives me leave.
Caesar:
Hail, valorous prince. Disdain not this ingrafting° 10
Into Rome’s empire, whose command encloses
The whole Levant, and whose large shadow hides
The triple-bounded earth° and bellowing seas.
Cassibelane: We shall observe your will, so° you impose
A league, no yoke. 15
They shake hands.
Caesar:
Thus we determine: that crown still shall stand.
Reign as the total monarch of this isle°
Till death unkings you. ’Twere, Androgeus, best
You in our train kept honourable place
And let Themantius wear the royal wreath. 20
[To Cassibelane]
You must forgive the towns which did revolt,
Nor seek revenge on Trinobants but let
Young Mandubrace possess his father’s princedom.
Cassibelane: Be all
wrongs drenched in Lethe.°
Androgeus:
Pardon my rash attempts. 25
Cassibelane embraces Androgeus and
Mandubrace.
Mandrubrace: Count me your loyal friend.
Caesar:
In sign of league, you shall us pledges give
And yearly pay three thousand pound of silver
Unto our treasury.° So let these decrees
Be straight proclaimed through Troynovant, whose tower
30
Shall be more fairly built at my charge as
A lasting monument of our arrival.°
Cassibelane: All shall be done. Renownèd prince, whose worth,°
Unparallelled both as a friend and foe,
We do admire, 35
Accept this surcoat,° starrified° with pearls
And diamonds, such as our own shores breed.
Caesar: And you receive this massy° cup of gold,°
Love’s earnest,° and memorial of this day.
By this, suppose our senate calls you friend. 40
They sit together.
Lantonus:
Now time, best oracle of oracles,
Father of truth, the true sense doth suggest°
Of Diane’s answer.
The lion and the eagle do design°
The British and the Roman states, whose arms 45
Were painted with those animals;° both fierce,
Weary at last conclude. The semi-circles,
First letters of the leaders’ names, we see
Are joined in true love’s endless figure.°
Both come of Trojan race, both nobly bold; 50
Both matchless captains on one throne, behold.°
Caesar:
Now, the Tarpeian Rock° o’erlooks the world,
Her empire bounded only by the ocean,
And boundless fame beats on the starry pole.
So Danube, crawling from a mountain’s side, 55
Wider and deeper grows and, like a serpent,
Or pyramid reversed,° improves his bigness°
As well as length, till, viewing countries large,
And fed with sixty rivers, his wide mouth
On the Euxine sea-nymph° gapes, and fear doth stir, 60
Whether he will disgorge° or swallow her.°
Cassibelane: Since the
great guide of all, Olympus’ king,
Will have the Romans his viceroys on earth;°
Since the red, fatal eyes° of crow-black night
Fling their malignant influence on our state; 65
Since Britain must submit, it was her fame°
None but a Julius Caesar could her tame.
While trumpets sound, Androgeus and Themantius,
embracing, take leave. All depart.
Act 5 Scene 7.
[Enter] chorus.
First song.
Come, fellow
bards, and sing with cheer
Since
dreadful alarums° we shall no more hear.
Come, lovely
peace, our saint divine;
Olive and
laurel do love for to twine.
The graces
and muses and nymphs in° a round,° 5
Let voice
beat the air, and feet beat the ground.
So, hell’s
black image chased away,
Eos° doth dandle the goldilocked° day.
So, Bruma° banished, all forlorn,
Cupid and
Flora the spring do adorn. 10
And so, the
grim fury of Mars laid in grave,
A merrier
ending doth friendly peace crave.
Second song (a morris°).
The sky is
glad that stars above
Do give a
brighter splendour.
The stars
unfold their flaming gold 15
To make
the ground more tender.
The ground
doth send a fragrant smell,
That air
may be the sweeter.
The air doth
charm the swelling seas
With
pretty chirping metre. 20
The sea, with
rivers, water doth
The plants
and flowers dainty.
The plants do
yield their fruitful seed,
That
beasts may live in plenty.
The beasts do
give both food and cloth, 25
That man
high Jove may honour.
And so the
world runs merrily round
When peace
doth smile upon her.
Oh then,
then, oh; oh then, then, oh,
This
jubilee° last for ever, 30
That foreign
spite or civil fight
Our quiet
trouble never.
Exeunt.
[Enter] Mercury, reducing° the
ghosts of Camillus and Brennus.
Camillus:
How bravely Caesar passed the angry main.
Brennus: How bravely was he back repulsed again.
Camillus:
How did he wheel his sword in Nennius’ face.
Brennus:
How did he lose his sword and fly apace.
Camillus:
How did, again, his army fill° your coast. 5
Brennus:
Aye, when our princes did conduct his host.°
Camillus:
How did they pierce through Isis’ dangerous flood.
Camillus:
Mirror of captains,° Julius, still hath won.
Brennus:
But we may justly brag of two for one.° 10
Camillus:
Confess, our valorous race hath now repaid
The Allian massacre° and our city’s flame.°
See how they° yield, and yearly tribute pay.
Brennus:
No, proud dictator,° both do, weary, stand
On equal terms; both wish a peaceful league. 15
But if they shall° oppress, know°: generous° spirits
Will break this compact° like a spider’s web.
Mercury:
Jove’s will is finished, and (though Juno frown
That no more Trojan blood shall dye the stage)°
The world’s fourth empire° Britain doth embrace.° 20
At once views ruddy morn and cloudy west.°
Her° wings, displayed o’er this terrestrial egg,
Will shortly hatch a universal peace,
For Jove intends a favour to the world.° 25
It now remains that you two martial wights°
Cease from your braving° one another’s worth.
You must be friends at last. The close° is sweet
When, after tumults, hearts and hands do meet.
Exeunt.
Nec Lusisse pudet, sed non incidere Ludum.°
FINIS.
Appendix 1.
Fisher’s Epithalamium.
Below is the Latin text of
Jasper Fisher’s contribution to Epithalamia,
the 1613 Oxford volume of poetry celebrating the wedding of Princess Elizabeth
and Frederick V, Elector Palatine.
Plaudite iam colei, fit conjux Herculis Hebe:
Pulchrior Ista tamen, fortis & iste magis.
Nomina temporibus fallacia Fata dedistis,
Ut benè
compensent Februa damna Febris:
Iste dies Domini, quo Princeps sydera
scandit;
Quo
nubit Princeps, Iste dies Veneris.
Faemineam Thamesin
Rhenus complectitur vinis,
Masculus, Hinc ingens Oceanus dabitur.
Angli Saxonibus, Germanis Saxones orti.
Hoc
igitur thalamis fit FREDERICE Tuis,
Ut soror atq; Avia est eadem Germania nostrae
Iam
patriae. Davo Sphinx fatìs ista pater.
The following translation
is my own (with suggestions from Matthew Steggle and Lisa Hopkins):
Applaud, now, heaven, the marriage of Hercules and Hebe
has taken place.
She is more beautiful, but he is braver.
Fate has dedicated a time with a fallacious name
(February [i.e. fever month]),
Compensating well for a damned fever [i.e. Prince Henry’s
death by typhoid].
By marrying a princess is (also) a day belonging to Venus
[St. Valentine’s Day°].
Let the masculine Rhine embrace the feminine Thames (like
trained vines);
Thus a great ocean will be given to the Anglo-Saxons,
descended from
the
German Saxons.
Through your nuptials, Frederick, Germany is the sister
and grandmother of
Our homeland. Our father is the Sphinx who has said
these things to Davus.
[1] “The Huntingdon Library copy of the quarto has a
manuscript attribution “By W. Rider”, but this is dismissed by Bentley because
nobody of that name was associated with Magdalen in the seventeenth century”
(Bradley).
[2] Part of Fisher’s purpose in using Geoffrey’s
history as a principal source for a play may have been to celebrate Oxford’s
history as an institution of learning. “Geoffrey’s signature appears in the
list of witness appended to six different twelfth-century charters … all of
them connected with religious foundations in or near Oxford … Twice Geoffrey
signed himself magister. The island
of Oseney, in Oxford, with which the first charter deals, was in the parish of
St. George and belonged until 1149 to the five or six Augustinian canons of the
secular college of St. George’s. It has been suggested that Geoffrey himself
may have been a canon of that college … For twenty-three years of his life … the
evidence is … that Geoffrey was resident in Oxford … although [at that time,
the town] was still far from being a University” (Thorpe 11-3).
[3] A collection of elegies for Henry was, like Fuimus Troes, first published in 1633.
° Fuimus
Troes] We were Trojans (Aeneid 2.325-6).
The very title ““Fuimus Troes” (“we were Trojans”) suggests that the play’s
project is to insist that what is commonly assumed to be a distinctively Roman
association should become applicable to Britain as well” (Curran 19). Hopkins
refers to the “bizarre typography” of the play’s full title “Fuimus Troes Aeneid 2 The True Trojans…”, as given in the
title-page of the quarto, observing that “the reference to “Aeneid 2” is in
fact misleading: the play’s plot, nomenclature, and moral all owe a very great
deal more to Geoffrey of Monmouth than to Virgil, although it is from the
latter that the resonant phrase “fuimus Troes” itself is derived” (38). The
current edition modernises the quarto’s typography, reading “Fuimus Troes” as a
quotation and “Aeneid 2” as the author’s citation of the title’s source, with
“The True Trojans” being a sub-title.
° The True
Trojans] “Who are the “True Trojans”? The answer, which constitutes the
play’s basic thesis, is that the Britons have at least as good a claim to
Trojan ancestry as their Roman foes … the true
“Trojans” are what we used to be,
and we ought to reach back into the past and reclaim this forgotten way of
defining ourselves … [Geoffrey’s] British History positioned Britain directly
beside Rome as its eternal foil … [Moreover,] Rome needs to be dislodged from
its exalted perch of assumed superiority, while Britain, far too easily
under-rated, has been the victim of a historical misassessment that must be
corrected” (Curran 20).
° Robert
Allot] This would seem to be the Robert Allot identified by Honigmann as a
student at Cambridge around 1592, who died in 1642. He was “part of a literary
circle that included … Drayton”. Allot “was an important agent in the process
of redirecting texts that normally circulated in manuscript and found their
resting places in private collections … into the more public world of print”.
His work “signalled print’s growing importance as the medium of literary
transmission” (Marotti, DNB sub Robert Allot).
° Publicly]
“Virtually every member of [a] college was expected to participate [in plays
put on at Oxford in the early decades of the 17th-century] … This
left no one to fill the scaffolds that were erected in the hall for the
audience, and so the plays were thrown open to the public” (Elliott, Plays 183).
° gentleman
students] In plays at Oxford at this time, “the actors were principally
recent bachelors and undergraduates, as were the playwrights” (Elliott, Plays 183).
° Magdalen
College] At Oxford, in the Tudor-Stuart period, academic plays “took place
principally in those colleges with large numbers of undergraduates, such as
Christ Church, Magdalen and Saint John’s. These colleges also had halls large
enough to accommodate the audience” (Elliott, Plays 181).
° Quis Martem … scripserit?] “Who may worthily write of Mars garbed / In adamantine mail?” (Horace, Ode 6 lines 13-14).
° Furius
Camillus] When Brennus’s Gauls occupied Rome (see notes to the character
“Brennus” below), the experienced Roman general (and former dictator) Camillus
was in exile at Ardea. Reinstated as dictator by the besieged Romans, Camillus
returned to Rome and led the defeat of the Gauls (Livy 320ff.) Like the British
leader Cassibelane, Camillus was (temporarily) appointed ruler of a previously
non-autocratic state in order to deal with a military emergency. On the other
hand, Camillus resembles Julius Caesar in that, when celebrating his triumph
over the Veii tribe, he had made himself “particularly conspicuous”, entering
“the city riding on a chariot drawn by white horses, which seemed to place him
on a level too high for a citizen or a mortal. People thought it a religious
transgression for the dictator to put himself on a footing with Jupiter and the
Sun in using these horses” (Livy 307). Julius Caesar was said to have
“transgressed” in an identical manner. Interestingly, “Charles [I] … modelled
himself on [such as] Camillus … triumphators who saved the Roman state in its
most serious danger” (Miller 119). Thus, “a commission [of 1633] associates
Charles directly with the Roman triumph … Van Dyck’s Charles I on Horseback with M. de St Antoine shows the king …
riding through a triumphal arch, his magnificent white horse evoking the white
horses that drew the chariot of a Roman triumphator” (123).
° Brennus]
“Throughout the sixteenth-century and well into the seventeenth, Brennus
continued to be invoked as a figure for England’s / Britain’s independence
from, rivalry with, and primordial superiority to Rome” (Schwyzer 15). In
Geoffrey, Brennus is a son of Molmutius Dunwallo, the law-making king of early
Britain (89-90). He conquers Rome with an army of Britons and Gauls. In Livy,
Brennus is the general of the Transalpine Gauls who occupy Rome (c. 390 BC). On
entering the city, Brennus “committed every excess which wanton barbarity could
dictate. After continuing there some time, he was defeated and driven out of it
by Camillus” (Hazlitt 44). Livy implies that Camillus kills Brennus along with
the rest of the Gaulish army. However, the Gaulish Brennus described in
Diodorus Siculus, Pausanias and Justin invades Greece (c. 279 BC), attacks the
temple at Delphi and is destroyed there. Though Fisher (following the English
authors Higgins and Spenser) conflates these characters, Polydore Vergil states
“that the other Brennus, the invader of Greece, was not [Livy’s] Brennus” (Curran 127).
° Julius
Caesar] Roman general who conquered Gaul (58-50 BC) and invaded Britain
(55-54 BC). The action of the play is set prior to Julius Caesar’s becoming
dictator of the Roman Empire (49-44 BC).
° Volusenus]
“a military tribune and a man of sound judgement and great courage” (Caesar
94).
° Laberius,
alias Labienus] Caesar’s second-in-command (Caesar 51).
° Comius
Atrebas] After conquering the Atrebates (a Belgic tribe in northern
France), Caesar made Comius their king, “a man of whose courage, judgement, and
loyalty he had a high opinion, and who was greatly respected in Britain”
(Caesar 120).
° Cassibellaunus]
Cassibelane appears twice in the list of Dramatis
Personae: here, among the characters found in Caesar’s Commentaries and, below, among the characters found in Geoffrey’s History. Curran’s analysis casts light
on this duplication: “Just how compatible Caesar was with Geoffrey, and just
how much of the British History Caesar had effectively demolished, became a
central dilemma for English writers. A writer as influential as Holinshed, for
example, could present both accounts in their entirety but imply Caesar’s
superiority by noting his advent as a great step forward in historical
knowledge: “More certaintie from hence forth appeareth in the historie,”
proclaims the margin. But Holinshed could at the same time insist that Caesar
might be right about Cassibellaunus and still be ignorant of the Galfridian
royal lineage in his background … Holinshed exemplifies the tendency … to draw
upon Caesar extensively and to assume his authority, while simultaneously
trying to deny or steer around the negative implications of this authority”
(157-8). The duplication of Cassibelane/Cassibellaunus in the list of dramatis personae, here, would appear to
exemplify the same tendency Curran observes in Holinshed. On the one hand,
Caesar’s authority is assumed, indicating that Cassibelane actually existed; on
the other hand, Caesar does not provide the whole “truth” about Cassibelane.
Hence, the character in Fuimus Troes
is sometimes the same character as Caesar’s Cassibellaunus but, at other times,
he is Geoffrey’s Cassibelane. Accordingly, he is listed twice.
° imperator]
“It was an ancient custom dating from the days of the Republic that Roman
generals were only acclaimed as imperator
after winning an actual victory in the field. Under the Empire, emperors had
assumed the practice of accepting such a salutation themselves after any
victory won in their name” (Salway 199). Cassibelane celebrates a triumph over
the Roman army at 3.7.49.sd., though it is his brother Nennius who defeats
Caesar in single combat and brings away the latter’s sword among the spoils of
victory. In Act 5, Caesar and Cassibelane embrace each other, fulfilling an
oracle that “C” (for Caesar) and “C” (ostensibly for Cassibelane) will unite.
In the note to 5.6.51 it is suggested that the union of “C” and “C” may signify
the union of the secular (Roman) and spiritual (Christian) empires, heralding a
new golden age. Since Constantine was, historically, “the first British
imperator” (Miller 121), by referring to Cassibelane as “imperator”, here, the
playwright implies a comparison with Constantine.
° Mandubratius]
“Mandubratius, Mr Camden observes, is
by Eutropius, Bede, and the more modern writers called Androgeus, which in the British language signifies vir malus, a bad man; a name of infamy
fixed on him for having been the first who betrayed his country.—Camden’s
“Britannia,” 2.237, edit. 1772” (Hazlitt 508). “The distinction between Caesar
and Geoffrey may be illustrated by [Fuimus
Troes’s] treatment of the problem of Mandubratius and Androgeus.
Mandubratius was mentioned by Caesar as a young leader of a nation called the
Trinobantes … Androgeus, on the other hand, was Geoffrey’s adaptation of
Mandubratius … [The playwright, Fisher] found he could not decide. He makes
Mandrubratius and Androgeus two different people … The play betrays a wish …
that the glorious non-history [derived mainly from Geoffrey] could be kept as
history, that events as [recorded by Caesar] … and events as seen from the
perspective of [Geoffrey’s] glorious epic narrative could somehow coincide”
(Curran 21-3).
° Androgeus]
See notes to the character Mandubratius.
° Cassibelane]
According to Geoffrey, when Lud, the oldest son of King Heli (i.e. Beli Mawr),
died, his sons, Androgeus and Tenvantius, were too young to govern the kingdom
(of a portion of Britain). Accordingly, Lud’s younger brother “Cassivelaunus
was preferred in their stead. As soon as he was crowned King he gained such
high esteem for his bounty and his prowess that his fame was spread abroad
through far-distant kingdoms [i.e. tribal areas in Britain]. As a result the
kingship of the entire realm came into his hands” (106). In this way,
Cassibelane could be regarded as an “emperor” of several kingdoms. However, in
Caesar, Cassibelane’s claims are less grand. During his first expedition,
Caesar heard of no “British king”. It was only on arriving in Britain for the
second time that Caesar “found that larger British forces had now been
assembled from all sides by Cassivellaunus, to whom the chief command and
direction of the campaign had been entrusted by common consent. Cassivellaunus’
territory is separated from the maritime tribes by a river called the Thames,
and lies about seventy-five miles from the sea. Previously he had continually
been at war with the other tribes, but the arrival of our army frightened them
into appointing him their supreme commander” (135-6). “The name of Cassivellaunos … is usually interpreted
as “Lover (i.e. devotee) of Belenos” (“Beli Mawr”).
° Beli Mawr’s]
Beli Mawr, i.e. Beli the Great, “was the ultimate progenitor of the Brythonic
ruling tribe, from whom a number of the most powerful ruling houses in the
British Celtic West claimed some kind of descent … Some have argued … that the
name Beli Mawr relates to the Gaulish god known as Belinos or Belenos”
(“Beli Mawr”).
° Nennius]
The
younger brother of Lud and Cassibelane (Geoffrey 106). “A centrally important
figure in the play, it is he who is given the opening speech [after the
inductive scene with Brennus and Camillus], conveying his awareness of Caesar’s
impending invasions and of the British need to be valiant and remain free. The
fighting spirit of the Britons is personified in him, and it is a spirit linked
to a proud, long-standing national tradition” (Curran 167).
° Belinus]
In Geoffrey, Belinus (not to be confused with the earlier Belinus, brother of
Brennus) is “the commander-in-chief of [Cassibelane’s] army, with the help of
whose planning and advice the whole kingdom was governed” (108). Nennius’s History of the Britons refers to
““Bellinus, son of Minocan” as a king of Britain in Julius Caesar’s time …
Geoffrey, who has put Belinus centuries earlier, does not ignore this. He
assumes that there was another man of the same name, and duly finds him in [Historia Anglorum by] Henry of
Huntingdon, who mentions such a man and makes him a British commander” (Ashe 89
and 139).
° Landora,
lady mentioned] Landora, like Cordella (the next character named in
the list), does not appear onstage during the play. Intriguingly, in Ford’s The Broken Heart (published, like Fuimus Troes in 1633), a male character
(Thrasus), listed under “speakers’ names”, also does not appear onstage
(indeed, the character is dead before the play’s action begins). Noting that
“no Shakespeare text published before his death has such a list [i.e. of dramatis personae]”, Random Cloud tends
to regard lists of dramatic personae as
an editorial imposition which took root most firmly after the early
eighteenth-century “in a tradition that stems from Pope’s appropriation of
Rowe” (95-6). However, judging from the evidence of Fuimus Troes and The Broken
Heart, it seems that, by 1633, publishers, having become more aware of
play-texts as reading-texts, had already begun to prepare lists of characters
with readers in mind, as opposed to spectators/auditors. Notwithstanding this
hypothesis, the non-appearance of Landora and Cordella in Fuimus Troes means that no
women appear onstage during the entire play. Thus, we may assume that Fisher
deliberately avoided bringing female characters onstage. Since female
characters in a play performed at Magdalen College in the early 17th-century
would certainly have been played by young men, the playwright (and future
rector), without being a “puritan”, may have had doubts about writing a play
which called for young men to dress as desirable women. John Rainoldes, “a
leading Oxford divine” (Jardine 57), had written, in Th’ Overthrow of Stage-Playes (1599): “A womans garment beeing put
on a man doth vehemently touch and moue him with the remembrance and
imagination of a woman; and the imagination of a thing desirable doth stirr up
the desire” (in Jardine 57). However, “the objections of … such as … Rainolds
to “stage-plays” fell largely on deaf ears in Oxford” (Elliott, Drama 642). But Fisher would not have
had to share Rainoldes’s “hysterical” (Jardine 57) views to regard a play without
female roles as an effective means of avoiding controversial matters. (Indeed,
the play closes with a maxim from Horace’s Epistle 1: “Nec Lusisse pudet, sed non incidere Ludum”, which may be
translated: “Playing is not shameful if one knows where to draw the line”.)
Bearing in mind the publication date of Fuimus
Troes, it should also be noted that, in the late 1620s / early 1630s, there
was a heightening of the ongoing controversy surrounding female dramatic roles
and woman actors, which may have some bearing on the non-appearance of Landora
and Cordella. In 1629, a French company had brought women players to London.
They were hissed and pelted from the (commercial) stage. Clearly, the
commercial theatre was still not ready to allow women on the stage. More
relevant to the case of an academic drama which features a masque (and which
may have been considered for performance at court), however, is the fact that,
in 1632, Queen Henrietta’s performance in Walter Montague’s The Shepherd’s Paradise and other
productions turrned not just female acting but female representation “into a livewire issue” (Tomlinson 190). Even to
include female characters in a play in the early 1630s would necessarily lead
to the question of who would “play” them, and, thus, allude indirectly to the
queen’s “behaviour”. Cordella’s name, of course, reminds most readers of
Shakespeare’s Cordelia, a female character part of whose virtue consisted of
saying “nothing” (1.1.85).
°1.sd. One of the god Mercury’s functions was to
conduct the souls of the dead to the underworld. Therefore, he could be
expected to guide ghosts back to the land of the living when required.
° 1.sd. conducting]
leading.
°1.sd. “The opening of the play neatly crystallizes
[its] dual allegiances [to] … the trappings of the classical past [and] … the
dominant discourses of the reign of Charles I … by its deft co-option of yet a
third time-frame. The opening tableau of “Mercury, conducting the ghosts of
Brennus and Camillus…” unmistakably recalls the celebrated beginning of Thomas
Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (1590?),
which had inaugurated the genre of revenge tragedy on which Fuimus Troes draws so heavily. Mercury’s
ensuing description of the Elysian fields, paralleling that offered in Kyd by
the ghost of Don Andrea, completes the resemblance, as does the fact that, in
both plays, the ghosts will eventually return to conclude the action.
Reminiscences of The Spanish Tragedy
are certainly appropriate in Fuimus Troes,
for … both plays negotiate, albeit with markedly different degrees of emphasis,
the interpenetration of classical and Christian cultures and ideologies”
(Hopkins 38-9).
°3. So]
So too are there.
°1-10. In
Virgil’s Aeneid, the underworld
consists of two sections: “Elysian fields”, for the blessed, and Tartarus, for
the damned (6.542-3). In the opening sequence of The Spanish Tragedy, Kyd muddies Virgil’s scheme by describing
“three ways” (59): “that on the right-hand side / Was ready way unto the …
fields, / Where lovers live, and bloody martialists, / But either sort
contain’d within his bounds. / The left-hand path … / Was ready downfall to the
deepest hell” where “all foul sins [were] with torments overwhelm’d. / ‘Twixt
these two ways … the middle path” which leads to the “fair Elysian green”
(59-73). However, the only inhabitants of the latter zone mentioned by Kyd are
Pluto and Proserpine. Virgil, incidentally, does not separate lovers and
warriors into separate “groves” but allows them to frolic intermixedly (Aeneid 6.638ff). Finally, just as Fisher
locates Elysian fields in “the vaults of this big-bellied earth”, Plutarch says
the Elysian Fields are at the centre of the earth (Lemprière sub Elysium).
°11. imps]
spirits.
°12. sticklers]
umpires, seconds, mediator. “A stickler
was a sidesman to a fencer, so called because he carried a stick, wherewith to part the combatants” (Hazlitt 450).
°14-15. sheathe
your … death] The ghosts of Brennus and Camillus have been brandishing
their swords at each other.
°17. Charles
his wain] Charles’s Wain was an old name for the Great Bear constellation.
“The name is held to be a corruption of “Churl’s wain” (peasant’s cart).
Another version derives it from “Charlemagne’s wain” (Brewer). Fisher’s
genitive form (“Charles’s his”) endorses the latter derivation. By referring anachronistically
to Charlemagne in the opening scene, the playwright encourages his audience to
interpret characters and events from the play’s period as being analogous to
individuals and circumstances in other periods, including the “present”.
“Anachronisms make a Then into a Now” (Ronan 30). “The Renaissance, a time of
growing historical sophistication, invented the term anachronism but certainly
recognised that intentional anachronism
had been a tradition for thousands of years … If original spectators can be
assumed to notice an anachronism, it must be an intentional one … The most
interesting moments to analyse [in Renaissance history plays] are those when
the dramatist prompts a spectator to travel from the play’s chief historical
chronotope to some present-day or eternal one” (16, 20).
°18-19. I
first … Britons] Livy describes Brennus as “the Gallic chieftain” (322). In
Geoffrey, Brennus is a Briton who conquers Gaul. Leading a combined army of
Britons and Gauls, Geoffrey’s Brennus conquers Rome. In this way, Geoffrey’s
account simultaneously “corrects” and is corroborated by Livy’s.
° 19-20. The
white-pated …necks] “Tradition says that [the Gauls], attracted …
especially by the wine, which was an indulgence then new to them, had crossed
the Alps … that Arruns of Clusium had exported wine into Gaul with the express
purpose of encouraging them to come … and that Arruns was the one who led them
over the Alps” (Livy 317-8).
° 22. scarlet
of patrician blood] “A probable quibble on the play’s Roman aristocrats
wearing purple vesture” (Ronan 78).
°24. geese]
During their siege of Rome, the Gauls scaled a steep cliff, seeking to
penetrate the citadel of Capitol Hill in the night. “They emerged on the summit
in such silence that not only did the guards fail to hear them, but the dogs as
well … But the geese sacred to Juno heard them … and this proved Rome’s
salvation. For Marcus Manlius … was alerted by their honking and the beating of
their wings” (Livy 332).
° 25-6. But I
… city] Curran astutely notes: “The presence of Camillus [who was not
mentioned by Geoffrey in his account of Brennus’s triumph at Rome] surely
establishes the primacy of Livy’s account [over Geoffrey’s]. Camillus even
points out to Brennus that “I cut short your fury,” and he is not contradicted”
(Curran 140).
° 25-7. But I
… fields] “In a more regular battle at the eighth milestone on the road to
Gabii, where [the Gauls] had gone after taking flight [from Rome, the Gauls]
were defeated … under the leadership and auspices of Camillus. The slaughter
was total … not even a messenger survived to report the disaster” (Livy 334).
In Geoffrey, Brennus and the Gauls defeat the Romans: “The city was invested
and the invaders distributed all the hidden treasures of the citizens among
their own troops” (99).
°28. I turned
… coast] I diverted your might, encouraging you to attack another country
(Greece). This detail is in neither Livy nor Geoffrey. Pausanias describes how
“Brennos … persuaded the Gauls to march on Greece” (455). Since this invasion
took place c.279 BC, the “Brennos” in
question cannot be the Brennus who led the assault on Rome c.390 BC.
°31. Pylian
age] 300 years. Nestor, king of Pylos, was famous for longevity. “The
ancients are all agreed that he lived three generations of men, which length of
time some suppose to be 300 years, though more probably only 90, allowing 30
years for each generation” (Lemprière). That a Pylian age here equals 300 years
is made clear by line 54 (“three hundred summers”). Brennus was said to have
conquered Rome c. 390 BC; Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55-54 BC.
°32. Mirrors]
Instructive examples.
°33. black
imperial bird] The eagle was the symbol of the Roman Empire, carried on
military standards. See note to 1.2.1.sd.
°36. nephews]
grandsons, descendants (i.e. the Romans) via his sons Romulus and Remus. “When
the Vestal [virgin Rhea Silvia, alias Ilia], having been ravished, became the
mother of twin sons, she named Mars as the father of her dubious progeny” (Livy
8).
°40-42. When
night … breast] In classical literature, ghosts often appear to heroes in
dreams to instruct them as to their heroic duty. See Act 2 Scene 7.
°42. furies]
immortal ministers of vengeance; the classical equivalent of a conscience.
° 44. bands]
troops.
°45. Mavors]
Mars.
° 44-5. Whence
then … stands] Why then (if Britain and Rome share Jove’s love) are these
two states about to fight? Well, Mars supports Rome and Neptune, Albion
(Britain); therein lies the conflict (as far as the gods are concerned).
According to a relatively late mythological tradition, Neptune was the father
of the giant Albion (see Ashe 4). Thus, Munday, in The Triumphs of Reunited Britania, writes: “Neptune put his son
Albion the giant in possession of this land [i.e. the future Britain]” (lines
47-8).
° 46. ope]
open.
° 48. the
Fates] the three goddesses in charge of human destinies.
°48. Let the
Fates, transposed] Let the Fates, having reversed their hitherto pro-Roman
policy. This line echoes the description in Livy’s fifth book (cited as a main
source of the play in the list of Dramatis
Personae) of the turning of the tide in Rome’s first encounter with the
Gauls: “But now Fortune had reversed her course, now the favour of the gods and
man’s intelligence were on Rome’s side” (334). The altering of “Fortune” to
“the Fates” may be accounted for by the fact that Pausanias, differing from
other authorities, named one of the Fates as Fortune (Lemprière sub Parcae). The same idea (of the
transference of divine favour from one imperial power to another) is expressed
in the lines from which Fisher took the title for his play: “We Trojans, with
Ilium and all its Teucrian glory / Are things of the past; for cruel Jove has
quite gone over to the Greeks” (Aeneid
2.325-7).
°49. beaten
flags] the flags of the defeated armies.
° 49. the
victors’ land] Brennus asserts the British will be the victors, since the
forthcoming war is to take place in Britain (“the victors’ land”).
° 51. Which
rated … gold] A pointed jibe at the Romans. In the final stages of the
Gauls’ siege of Rome, “as both hope and food failed [the Romans, they] finally
bade the authorities negotiate surrender or ransom on whatever terms they
could”. The Roman tribunes and Brennus “fixed on an amount: a thousand pounds
of gold was the price put on the nation that was destined to rule the world”
(Livy 333).
°52. fanes]
temples.
°53. Allia]
The Allia is an Italian river which joins the Tiber.
° 53. Doth
Allia … clear?] Isn’t the river Allia still red with Roman blood? As Livy
writes: “A great slaughter took place along the bank of the Tiber [where it is
joined by the Allia]” (323).
° 54. their]
the Romans, i.e. the descendants of the Romans who survived the massacre at
Allia.
°55. Arise,
thou … beams] Camillus addresses the comet which appeared in the sky after
the death of Julius Caesar. “The comet was clearly visible in the sky for seven
nights after Caesar’s murder”. The comet’s beams are described as “angry”
because the comet registered “the gods’ displeasure at Caesar’s murder”
(Plutarch 358).
° 56. Be
heralds … death] After Caesar’s assassination, “his great guardian spirit,
which he had relied on throughout his life, looked after his interests even
after his death by avenging his murder. It harried and hunted his assassins to
the ends of the earth, over land and sea, until not one of them remained”
(Plutarch 358). Since Caesar is still alive at the time Camillus speaks, his
guardian spirit may be regarded as attendant on him. Thus, Caesar himself is
the “Julian star”, a living sign of revenge, to be enacted on the descendants
of the Gauls who slaughtered many Romans 300 years previously.
°57. black
calends] terrible times.
°59. the six
hills] the six hills of Rome we abandoned to the Gauls. When the Gauls
entered Rome, the Romans “took the following decisions: the young fighters with
their wives and children were to retire to the citadel and [the] Capitol [Hill]
… and from this fortified place they were to defend gods and men”. The rest of
the Romans (the elderly, the plebians, etc.)
either remained in the city or fled into the countryside. Thus, those Romans
the Gauls slew upon entering the city were left unburied on six hills.
°59. Cadmus
crop] the Greek hero Cadmus sowed a dragon’s teeth and caused armed men to
spring from the soil. Presumably, Camillus means that, as a result of the Gauls
leaving Roman carcasses unburied, Roman soldiers have now sprung from Roman
soil to punish the Gauls.
°62. little
corner] a condescending attitude to Britain is put into the mouth of a
Roman character to rouse patriotic indignation in an English audience.
° 65. period]
end.
° 65. broils]
troubles, battles.
° 66. back
reduce you] lead you back.
° 1.1.1.sd. Duke]
An anachronistic title; appropriately so, as Nennius acts like a chivalric
knight.
°1. Bellona]
goddess of war, sister of Mars.
° 1-2. Methinks
I … Gaul] Nennius imagines he can hear the deaths of Gaulish allies across
the English Channel.
° 4. complemental]
whole complements of.
° 5. rout]
disturbance, row.
° 7. Belgics]
“Natives of Gallia Belgica, a province comprising the Duchy of Treves, part of
Luxembourg, and the departments of the Meuse, Moselle, Meurthe, and Vosges”
(Hazlitt).
° 10. The
eagle’s eye] The eagle is the symbol of the Roman empire. In the following
scene, Julius Caesar will act as “the eagle’s eye” when he spots the white
cliffs of the British coast across the English Channel (1.2.14-6).
° 9-11. Think
ye … out] Nennius’s complaints about Britain’s lack of coastal defence (at
a time of Roman belligerence in mainland Europe) may be intended to reflect
Prince Henry’s concerns regarding the state of early seventeenth-century
England’s navy. “The navy was to become for Henry a major obsession. In 1603
England was supreme at sea and James had inherited the finest navy afloat”.
However, “Nottingham, the Lord High Admiral was already sixty-seven in 1603,
but this was not to deter him from clinging on to power until 1618 with,
needless to say, catastrophic results … In January 1612 [the shipwright,
Phineas] Pett describes the Prince [Henry] summoning all the shipwrights to
Greenwich “about a resolution of building ships”. Bishop Goodman “reports the
Prince pressing the [Privy] Council in November [1611] to sanction the
construction of eight galleons and in December outlining massive navy reforms …
All this points to the conclusion that the navy was the principal focus of
Henry’s interest during the period following his creation … the Prince saw
maritime might as central to the country’s power and prosperity” (Strong 35,
38).
° 12. Which
fly aloft] the Roman armies (represented by eagle-standards) can fly over
the “wat’ry walls” of the channel in their boats.
° 12. snorting]
snoring.
° 13. Feeding
impostumed humours] Clogging our nasal passages with pus.
° 14. outlandish]
foreign; i.e. the Roman armies will clear the blocked nasal passages of the
slumbering Britons by “lancing” their heads with weapons.
° 12-4. thus we … surgeon] Lines in William Crosse’s epic fragment Belgiaes Troubles, and Triumphs (1625) bear curious similarities to expressions used by Nennius in this opening speech. In Crosse’s poem, the English also sleep irresponsibly in the midst of danger, but they are contrasted with the Dutch: “Nor doe the Dutch like Lethargists secure, / Sleepe being prickt” (in Miller 117). The similarity of Fisher’s “snorting” sleepers’ “humours” being “lanced” to Crosse’s “Lethargists … being prickt” might seem only fortuitous unless it is observed that Crosse attended Oxford at the same time as Fisher. “In 1612, [Crosse] … contributed verses on the death of Henry, prince of Wales, to Justa Oxoniensum” (Goodwin) and in the following year to the same collection of epithalamia celebrating the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick, the Elector Palatine, to which Fisher contributed. After leaving Oxford, Crosse, like Fisher, took holy orders. What makes the relationship between Fuimus Troes and Belgiaes Troubles particularly dynamic is the fact that Crosse’s poem implicitly accuses the English of cowardice, while Fisher’s play features a cowardly Belgic Gaul. See also note to lines 23-7.
° 15. they]
the Gauls on the continent.
° 16. gild
our spires] the flames from across the Channel burn so high, they are
reflected on British towers.
° 20. For
olive boughs exchange thy hazel bow] exchange your weapons of war, such as
bows made of hazel-wood, for symbols of peace (olive boughs).
° 23-7. Instead
of … lute] Similar ideas are found in Crosse’s Belgiaes Troubles (see note to lines 12-14). Miller paraphrases and
cites: “In the years of Jacobean peace, the English have lost their warlike qualities,
and “like Iades have liv’d in pomperd ease”” (117).
° 30. adust]
burnt.
° 29-31. The
ruddy planet … ruling element] Mars (“the ruddy planet”), influenced my
birth. Consequently, my bodily fluids are burnt blood-red, and the aspect of my
character typified by fire raging out of control dominates my nature.
° 31. choler]
anger.
° 32. temper]
quality, constitution, condition (Crystal and Crystal).
° 1.2.1.sd. ensign]
military banner.
° 1.sd. a
two-necked … sable] That the eagle is black (“sable”) and two-necked “is
likely to have anachronistically suggested the Habsburgian Holy Roman Empire as
well as the ancient one” (Ronan 190). “The eagle is, with the lion, the animal
appearing most frequently in European coats of arms … The eagle’s legendary heroic
qualities led many rulers to take it for their insignia … A striving for
symmetry in head-on two-dimensional depictions soon favoured the double eagle,
already in evidence … from 1433 on in the insignia of the Holy Roman empire …
It has been speculated that the two-headed eagle originally relates to the
double function of the Roman emperor and German king” (Biedermann). The emblem
of Charles V, Holy Roman emperor in the mid-16th-century, showed a bi-necked
black eagle between two columns.
° 1.sd. ancient]
flag.
° 3. Ariovist]
Ariovistus, king of a German tribe.
° 3. cockboat]
a small boat. (“A very few of the strongest [of the German army] tried to swim
the river [the Rhine, fleeing Caesar’s army]—including Ariovistus, who had the
luck to come across a small craft moored to the bank” [Caesar 72].)
° 4. Vast
Germany … bridge] Prior to invading Britain, Caesar had overseen the
building of a bridge over the Rhine. The bridge’s construction took only ten
days, according to Caesar’s memoir (117). The bridge enabled the Roman legions
to attack previously aggressive German tribes on native soil.
° 6. the
Pellean duke] Alexander the Great, born in Pella, Macedonia.
° 8. the main]
the Indian Ocean.
° 9. type]
model for emulation; prefiguring forerunner. “In a moment of leisure [Caesar]
was reading one of the histories of Alexander and became very quiet and
withdrawn for a long time, and his eyes eventually filled with tears. In
astonishment, his friends asked him what the matter was. “Don’t you think it’s
sad,” he said, “that while Alexander was already ruling over a vast empire at
such a young age, I haven’t yet achieved anything remarkable?” (Plutarch 311).
It’s not enough for Caesar that he has subdued Gaul and defeated Germany, he
feels he must now extend the boundaries of the known world in order to emulate
Alexander properly.
° 9-10. He
was … brink] Just as Alexander once stood on the easternmost edge of the
known world, so do I now stand on the known world’s westernmost edge.
° 11. nil
ultra] the point beyond which nothing exists. This phrase implies that
Caesar imagines the world to be flat (see note to 2.4.9.). Thus, pagan
knowledge of the world is shown to be incomplete. This, in turn, implies that
the advent of Christianity is required to perfect the Roman world empire in the
form of a Christian empire. Since the borders of the “known world” were marked
by two columns (“the Pillars of Hercules”) standing near Cadiz in Spain (see
note to 4.4.6.), Caesar’s phrase would remind the early modern academic reader/auditor
of the device of Charles V (especially when heard spoken beneath an ensign
showing a black, bi-necked eagle [see note to 1.2.1.sd], and following the
covert reference to Charlemagne in the opening scene [line 17], for Charles V
was “called the second Charlemagne” [Yates, Astraea
1]). Charles V, Holy Roman emperor in the mid-16th-century, was
regarded as “the potential lord of the world … due to the Hapsburg dynastic
marriage policy which had brought such vast territories under his rule”.
Consequently, he occasioned the “revival of a universal imperialist hope”
(Yates 1). Charles’s device showed two columns, bearing the motto “Plus Oultre” (“More beyond”). “As well
as its obvious meaning that [Charles’s] was an empire which extended further
than that of the Romans, which had been bounded by the columns of Hercules, the
device carried with it [the] prophetic implication that the discovery of new
worlds was providentially timed to coincide with the coming of one who should
be Dominus mundi in a wider sense
than was known to the Romans” (23).
° 12. Democritus
… fancy] the existence of infinite worlds was postulated by the philosopher
Democritus.
° 12-5. give
me … cloud] Caesar regards the act of “seeing” (discovering) a new world as
being simultaneous with the act of “conquering” it. Having expressed this idea,
Caesar then sets eyes on Britain for the first time (“methinks I ken…”). In
Book 15 of Orlando Furioso, Ariosto’s
prophetess says “it has pleased Gods to keep the ways to … as yet undiscovered
lands unknown until the time when he will raise up a new emperor” (Yates, Astraea 23).
° 17. Comius,
your … eyes] Caesar had a “high opinion” of Comius’s judgement.
Accordingly, “he instructed Comius to visit as many [Gaulish] tribes as
possible” (Caesar 120). Thus, Caesar expects Comius to have information about
the “whitish cloud” he can see across the Channel.
° 20. white]
a metonymic reference to Dover cliffs; “the white” may also mean the bull’s-eye
(the centre of the target in ancient archery contests was often white).
° 20. sea-mark]
beacon. Cf.: “Here is my journey’s
end, here is my butt / And very sea-mark of my utmost sail” (Othello 5.2.274-5).
° 22. treacherous
beck] a self-betraying summons; i.e. the whiteness of the cliffs attracts
the attention of those who would destroy their inhabitants.
° 22. Dare
but resist] Caesar addresses the distant island.
° 24-5. Thus
much … Gauls] “Caesar made active preparations for an expedition to
Britain, because he knew that in almost all the Gallic campaigns the Gauls had
received reinforcements from the Britons” (Caesar 119). However, “although
there was much intercourse between Gaul and Britain, the military aid which
Caesar says the Gauls received from the Britons cannot have been the real
reason for the invasion. Such assistance could hardly have been of much
importance … Probably [Caesar’s] main motive was to secure the glory of leading
an army to victory in a distant and unknown land, the wealth of which was
reputed to be much greater than it really was” (Handford 266).
° 28. That’s
cause enough] By finding a legal justification for attacking Britain,
Caesar hopes to appear as not a pirate but a minister of divine vengeance
° 29. him]
Mars; i.e. war itself.
° 31. Penates]
household gods. “In Roman antiquity, the Penates were often understood as the
guardian deities of the state as well as of the individual household” (Berry
and Archer 126-7).
° 33. I long
to stride] Caesar’s hubris is implied by his wish to be a giant capable of
crossing the English Channel in a single stride. The idea of crossing a narrow
channel in a single stride brings to mind the Colossus, a giant statue of
Apollo which was believed to have stood over the harbour at Rhodes. This, in
turn, recalls Shakespeare’s Cassius saying Caesar “doth bestride the narrow
world / Like a Colossus” (Julius Caesar,
1.2.136-7). “Rome produced putative giants … Like the “giant brethren” in
Jonson’s Catiline (5.9.75), Romans
had not just size and power but also potential monstrosity … the power to
become one of the “prodigies and monsters / That Rome hath teem’d with since
she first knew Mars” (Catiline
1.1.95-6)” (Ronan 153). Spenser, in The
Faerie Queene, describes a giant
(Albion) entering Britain “on dry-foot”. However, Spenser had earlier explained
that Britain was part of mainland Europe at that time (Ashe 6).
° 34. Hellespont]
narrow channel. The actual Hellespont was between Asia and Europe.
° 34. bridge
it … navy] The Persian monarch Xerxes built a bridge of boats across the
Hellepont in order to invade Greece. Xerxes’s presumptuous attempt to subdue
the sea was held to be justly punished by the subsequent destruction of his
ships.
° 35. Disclosing
to … lands] By extending the Roman empire’s western boundary, Caesar sought
to emulate Alexander the Great, who had extended his empire (and its
geographical knowledge) eastward as far as the Indian Ocean (see lines 6-9).
° 36. arctic
star] “Arcturus (the bear-ward) … is the brightest star in the Northern
Hemisphere and can be found by following the curve of the Great Bear’s tail”
(Brewer sub Arctic Region). See lines
16-17 of the opening scene.
° 43. advise]
take counsel amongst ourselves.
° 45. cause]
business, matter to hand.
° 46. likeliest]
most promising.
° 46. regard]
due consideration.
° 48. Where
peace … sword] We should give them a chance to surrender before we attack.
° 49. unlike]
unlikely that.
° 49-50. But
‘tis … be] “This island [Britain], stiff-necked and stubborn-minded …
ungratefully rebels … frequently … against foreign kings … For what can there …
be … more disgraceful or unrighteous in human affairs, than … to refuse due
honour to those of higher dignity” (Gildas 10).
° 50. civil
right] law acknowledged by civilised
states.
° 51. yet so … cry] in this way, we prevent
the people we conquer from claiming that we are tyrants. Caesar is keen to
ensure that his military conquests are perceived as legal acts.
° 59. complotments]
secret plans.
° 58-62. And
further … spy] Caesar “thought it would be of great advantage … to make
himself acquainted with the lie of the land [in Britain], the harbours, and the
landing-places … the character and
strength of the tribes which inhabited it, their manner of fighting and customs
… In order to get this information before risking an expedition, he sent a
warship in command of Volusenus … His orders were to make a general
reconnaissance and return as soon as he could” (Caesar 119).
° 61. legate]
messenger.
° 63. range]
arrange, put in order.
° 64. Iccian
shore] Portus Itius, i.e. Calais. For
his second expedition against Britain, Caesar “ordered all the ships to be
assembled at Portus Icius, the starting-point for the easiest crossing to
Britain—a run of about thirty miles” (Caesar 129). “In that part of Gallia
there was in those daies an haven called Itius Portus (which some take to be
Calice [Calais]) and so the word importeth an harbourgh as then able to receive
a great number of ships” (Holinshed 3.1.22).
° 65. Erinyes]
the Greek name for the furies; Volusenus exhorts Caesar to become a minister of
divine vengeance over sea, not just over land as previously.
° 1.3.1-2. Although
the … staff] See note to “Cassibelane” in the list of Dramatis Personae.
° 4. Your
trouble less] While your troubles (duties) will be fewer.
° 7. Troynovant]
“New Troy”, i.e. London. “Once he had divided up his kingdom, Brutus decided to
build a capital … He came at length to the River Thames … There then he built
his city and called it Troia Nova” (Geoffrey 73).
° 6-11. Meanwhile, Androgeus … men] Cassibelane’s popularity as king, says Geoffrey, meant that “the kingship of the entire realm came into his hands, instead of into those of his nephews. However, Cassivelaunus had such a sense of family solidarity that he did not wish the young men to be cut off from the kingship, and he allotted [large shares] of his realm to the two of them” (106).
° 12. Verulam’s
fenced town] Verulamium, later St. Albans.
° 13. And as
… care.] “Cassivelaunus himself remained in authority over [Androgeus and
Themantius] and over the princes of the entire island, for he was the overlord
by virtue of his crown” (Geoffrey 106).
° 28. And]
And whose.
° 32. precedence]
stressed on the second syllable.
° 37. arrived]
that has arrived
° 41. pinnace]
“small speedy boat with a single mast” (Crystal and Crystal).
° 44-5. Dreads he … saw?] Cassibelane’s reference to “sea-monsters” is perhaps intended to put the audience in mind of the monsters customarily shown surfacing on the seas of maps of the British Isles, such as those published in Drayton’s Poly-Olbion (1612) or in John Speed’s The Theatre of the Empire in Great Britain (1611). Alternatively, the audience may have been reminded of “two artificiall sea monsters, one in fashion of a whale, the other like a dolphin” used in Prince Henry’s investiture processions in June 1610 (King 41). Indeed, the assertion that the Romans had never seen the like of Britain’s sea-monsters in “their theatres” suggests that Fisher is referring to sea-monsters which had featured in English masques.
° 49. Scots]
“During the Roman period, and for some centuries after, Scotti was a … synonym for the Celtic Irish … but in the latter
half of the fifth century [AD] a group [of “Scots” from Ireland] … planted
itself in Argyll” (Ashe 18). The Scots of “Albania’s kingdom” (Scotland),
mentioned by Cassibelane, are, therefore, an anachronism: “how generall soever
the name of Scots then was, sure it is, that no speciall mention of them is
made by anie writer, till about 300 yeares after the birth of our saviour”
(Holinshed 21).
° 49. Picts]
“The name [Picts] was applied vaguely to Caledonian tribes … So far as [their]
heartland can be defined, this lay north of the Firth of Forth … The Irish
called them Cruithne, meaning
strictly “picture people”, in allusion to their custom of tattooing with woad,
which inspired the epithet “Pict” itself—a Latin term bestowed by Romans, not a
native one. They may have been simply Britons who remained outside the Empire”
(Ashe 16). Elsewhere, Ashe notes: “Greek and Welsh writers indicate that the
initial letter [of “Britain”] may once have been P, in which case a connection can be traced with Celtic words
meaning “figure” or “picture”, and the reference may be to the natives’ custom
of tattooing themselves with designs in woad” (10). Thus, the Picts and the
Britons may originally have been a single tribe.
° 50. Albania’s
kingdom] Scotland.
° 52. For]
That.
° 53. Through all … isle] This line’s shortness may indicate Cassibelane’s haste in giving orders.
°
55. The vulgar … charge] i.e. the Catuvellauni forces. Hazlitt emends the
quarto’s “my” to “thy” on the grounds that Belinus is in “charge” of
Cassibelane’s forces. However, if it is remembered that Cassibelane was chief
of the Catuvellauni tribe, first, and ad
hoc king of Britain, second, the quarto’s reading makes perfect sense.
° 56. Fire]
Disyllabic. (Alternatively, Hazlitt emends by adding “all” after “Fire”.)
° 59. moves
my choler] rouses my anger.
° 62. But
when … Rhine] See note to 1.2.4.
° 64. halcyon’s
nest] kingfisher’s nest; a safe and stable place. “The ancient Sicilians
believed that the kingfisher laid its eggs, and incubated for fourteen days on
the surface of the sea, during which period, before the winter solstice, the
waves were always unruffled” (Brewer). Britain, being an island separate from
the rest of the (known) world (according to Virgil [see note to 2.1.79]) could
be considered exempt from the violence of the Iron Age. Sir Richard Fanshawe,
in An ode upon occasion of His Majesty’s
proclamation (1630), wrote: “White Peace … Seems here [i.e. in Britain,
“the island which we sow, / (A world without the world)”] her everlasting rest
/ To fix, and spreads her downy wings / Over the nest: // As when great Jove,
usurping reign, / From the plagued world did her exile, / And tied her with a
golden chain / To one blest isle … // A safe retreat to all that came” (in
Rivers 17-18).
° 67. haunt]
pursue, afflict.
° 69. Beyond
cold Thule] i.e. to the end of the world. Thule was “the name given by the
ancients to an island, or point of land, six days’ sail north of Britain, and
considered by them to be the extreme northern limit of the world” (Brewer).
“Camden supposes Shetland to be the
place so often distinguished by the name of Thule”
(Hazlitt).
° 71. these]
even these; i.e. even swine and goats.
° 69-74. Beyond
cold … fruits] Rollano imagines a golden world of eternal peace (“where
only swine or goats do live and reign”) beyond the known world, a place where
the effects of original sin are unknown (where Adam did not “crop the first
fruits”). It is as though by travelling north, or west (to “the sun’s
bedchamber”), and discovering a new world, explorers can recover humanity’s
lost innocence.
° 76. catch]
endure; cf.: “a noble nature / May
catch a wrench” (Timon of Athens
2.2.2-3).
° 76. or]
and either.
° 1.4.1-3. The
court … days] “The court resembles a collection of every-day garments made
animate, while the ladies of the court are like those delicate and beautiful
items with which we dress trees on special holidays.”
° 18. chrysolites]
gemstones; cf.: Othello 5.2.151-3.
° 21. not]
is not.
° 22. but]
but is.
° 25. speak]
describe.
° 29. Pandore]
Pandora: a mortal female endowed by the gods with every feature, ornament and
skill considered beautiful and pleasing in women. The quarto’s spelling is
retained here for the sake of meter and rhyme. In Dekker’s Old Fortunatus (1599) we learn that “Some call [Eliza, i.e. Queen
Elizabeth I] Pandora” (in Barton
305). At 4.2.40, Eulinus’s beloved Landora is called a “phoenix”, a mythical
figure often associated with Queen Elizabeth. It should perhaps also be noted
that the invented name “Landora” rhymes with Pandora (the standard spelling of
Pandore).
° 30. repine]
would be reluctant.
° 35-6. Medusa’s
hair … hissed] Minerva transformed the beautiful woman Medusa’s hair into
snakes as a punishment for having sexual intercourse with Neptune in the
goddess’s temple.
° 41. elixir]
compound, distillation.
° 44. Trinobantic
lady] lady of Troynovant (“New Troy”); i.e. lady from London (see 1.3.7 and
note).
° 45. How
grow your hopes?] How far have you got with her?
° 45. What
metal is her breast?] Has her breast repelled the arrows of love?
° 46-7. ’Tis
beauty’s … slain] Cf.: “Her [i.e.
Hero’s] wide sleeves … / Where Venus … strove / To please … proud Adonis … / Her kirtle blue,
whereon was many a stain / Made with the blood of wretched lovers slain”
(Marlowe, Hero and Leander 1.11-6;
stress added).
° 51. work
Landora’s battery] gain entrance to Landora’s impregnable fortress.
° 53. Boreas]
the north wind.
° 54. split]
a mix of spill and spit?
° 54. spurging]
splurging, wasting, perhaps combined with expelling (as in purging).
° 55. so]
just so, in this way.
° 57. retorted
to] turned back upon.
° 58-60. let
scorn … stir] play hard to get, treat her mean to make her keen.
° 65. cross]
perverse.
° 66. lady-wasp]
bothersome lady.
° 69. misconsters]
misinterprets.
° 71. coz]
cousin.
° 73. earwigs]
malicious, scandalising. An old superstition maintained that earwigs crept into
human ears in order to penetrate the brain.
° 74. henbane]
poisonous plant.
° 74. aconite]
poison: “wolfsbane, or monk’s hood” (Ford, Broken
Heart 1.1.37.n).
° 76. to my
end] till I die.
° 82. point]
suggest, appoint.
° 82. Cupid’s
stage] a place where acts of love may be performed.
° 84. which
art my self] being my closest friend and, therefore, virtually identical to
my own self.
° 85. cozening]
deception, trickery.
° 85. In
Venus’ … art] Any trick is justifiable in the game of love.
° 85-7. In
Venus’ … moon] “The trouble with [the] German Protestant princelings [James
I considered as potential husbands for his daughter Elizabeth] is that none was
thought to be grand enough for a daughter of the king of Great Britain” (Strong
56). The Elector Palatine, Frederick V, however, being descended from
Charlemagne, was considered worthy of marriage to Elizabeth. Indeed, by
marrying Elizabeth, Frederick might be thought (from the Stuart point of view)
to “rear [his] crest above the moon” (that is, improve his family’s pedigree
via union with the reincarnation of Elizabeth I, who was often associated with
Diana, the moon). Fisher’s Eulinus poses as a man (Hirildas) whom Landora holds
worthy of her love, just as Frederick had appeared to be heraldically qualified
to marry Elizabeth. As events turned out, however, Frederick did not live up to
the name of his ancestor, Charlemagne. (Evidently “these means” had not been
“blest”, so “the success” was not “happy”.) Arguments in favour of Frederick’s
suitability based on his legendary “descent” may consequently have come to be
regarded (from the British point of view) as a kind of “cozening … in Venus’
games” (85). Fisher himself had his family arms and crest registered when the
officers of the College of Arms visited Bedfordshire in 1634 (see Blaydes 107).
° 87-9. Now
‘gin … sex]. Now able to lift my head, I look past the moon and find useful
information about women in the stars
° 89. Cassiope]
Cassiopeia, who was transformed into a constellation as a punishment for
boasting of her beauty. The quarto’s spelling is retained for the sake of the
meter.
° 91. her
daughter] Andromeda.
° 92. without]
even without.
° 91-3. then
her … fish] then Andromeda, whose beauty by itself would have tamed the
sea-monster had not Perseus rescued her.
° 94. Astraea]
the goddess of justice, the constellation Virgo.
° 97-8. He
mounted … fountains] i.e. Phaethon, who tried to drive the chariot which
belonged to his father, Phoebus (the sun), and almost caused a universal
conflagration.
° 100. bright
wagoner] the plough constellation, Charles’s Wain.
° 102. Alcides’
night] the night when Hercules (Alcides) was conceived, which lasted as
long as three normal nights.
° 103. Tethys]
a sea-goddess; here, the sea itself.
° 99-105. Fly
then … my person] Come quickly, night, and last three times your usual
length. Better yet, oh sea, quench the sun so night can last forever. Then I
can spend forever in bed with Landora without her realising I’m not who she
thinks I am.
° 107. Cordella]
This character never appears on stage in the play (see note to the character
“Landora” in the list of Dramatis
Personae). Cordella’s name “seems deliberately designed to echo the name of
[Lear’s daughter] Cordelia” (Hopkins 44-5). Indeed, with nothing else to go on,
any reader or audience is likely to supply details using Shakespeare’s heroine.
It is, perhaps, telling that Hirildas refers to Landora as a “crocodile” (80).
In Jonson’s Volpone (1606), Corvino
upbraids Celia thus: “Whore, / Crocodile, that hast thy tears prepared”
(3.7.119-20). From this, it seems possible to infer that Cordella represents
sincere (because platonic?) love, which cannot be adequately expressed, while
Landora represents (in Hirildas’s view) sensual love, which manifests as
self-aggrandising effusion.
° 112. in
synod] together, in assembly.
° 112. To
sing … is] “The whole intellectual life of the Gauls in pre-Roman times was
carried on by means of oral teaching, and closely associated with their trained
eloquence was their power of memorizing … [The] druids … taught entirely by
means of poetry orally transmitted” (Chadwick 47).
° 113. With
former … deeds] of past events which offer insight into things happening
now and things to come. “[W]e are meant to consider the advent of Caesar as
only the latest episode of a great British tradition; there is a vast,
magnificent story in the background of the play. References to the songs of the
bards call attention to this idea … we hear about the Britons’ institution for
recording and celebrating their own history, about their medium for
remembering. But the playwright’s dependence on Caesar for much of his
information serves as a reminder that in the Renaissance, the capacity of this
memory was much in doubt. The irony of this play is that it takes as the
culmination of a long tradition the very event which, as men in the
playwright’s time were coming to realise, effectively begins British history”
(Curran 24).
° 11. Flora]
goddess of flowers.
° 23. gray]
gray hair. The suggestion seems to be that the hunter’s outdoor life makes him
look healthy, while the shepherd’s hair goes gray with worry for his flock.
° 24. bay]
a laurel wreath, the shepherd is a poet.
° 25-6. With
his pipe … wipe] Forgets his troubles while playing on his pipe.
° 41. Pan]
the shepherds’ god of nature.
° 43-7. Fairies
small … around] The early modern poet Richard Corbet (1582-1635) blamed
Protestantism (and monarchs such as Elizabeth and James) for the fairies’
departure from England: “But since of
late Elizabeth / And later James came in, / [The fairies] never danced on any
heath … By which we note the fairies / Were of the old profession [i.e. the
fairies were Catholics]” (Ashe 108-9).
° 51. Phyllis]
typical name for a country maid.
° 66. oaten
reed] the shepherd’s musical instrument, reed-pipe.
° 70. crowd]
fiddle (Hazlitt).
° 2.1.1. Albania’s]
Scotland’s
° 2. Demetian]
“Men speak loosely of the whole land to the north of the Bristol Channel as
Demetia … a Latinized form of Dyfed [in south-west Wales]” (Thorpe 318).
° 4. Ordovic’s]
Geoffrey calls “Gueithaet” king of “Venodotia” (108), “a Latinized form of
Gwynedd [a county of north-west Wales]” (Thorpe 369); the Ordovices were an
ancient Celtic tribe “chiefly situated in southern Gwynedd” (Salway 45).
° 1-4: Geoffrey refers to Cridous, “Gueithaet” and
“Britahel” as three kings “holding sway” of their respective regions under
Cassibelane (108).
° 8 Proconsul]
the governor of a Roman province, acting on behalf of the consul.
° 11. the
Danube’s] The river Danube was usually regarded as marking the northern
boundary of the Roman empire.
° 11. by]
by way of.
° 35. Thou
ravenous wolf] See note to 4.4.24.
° 36. Seven-headed
hydra] Rome is a seven-headed monster because it is built on seven hills.
° 41. wants]
lacks
° 46. Nor
love object] Nor suggest my pursuit of love is an impediment to my being a
warrior.
° 46. my poet]
Ovid. While it seems unlikely that a Briton would refer to Ovid as “my poet” in
55 BC, this reference indicates how far Rome may be said to have “conquered”
Britain via cultural imports before its legions first arrived. “Colonial
encounters rarely happen—especially around trading empires—without a
pre-history of interaction. A country drawn into tribute-paying will absorb in
advance some of the culture of its stronger neighbour” (Kerrigan 126).
° 49. pewter-coat]
suit of armour.
° 50-3. our
martial … use] our potential warriors wander around town carrying weapons
which beat against their wearers’ backs as though to punish them for bearing
arms without using them.
° 54. They]
The Romans.
° 63. Brute]
Brutus, first king of the Britons, great-grandson of Aeneas. “Encouraging his
countrymen, [Nennius] conspicuously invokes their ancestry” (Curran 167).
° 65. cataclysms]
deluges (Steevens, in Hazlitt).
° 70. Death
is but Charon] Death (in war) is no more than a short passage, Charon being
the ferryman who conducts the souls of the newly-dead over the rivers Styx and
Acheron to the infernal regions.
° 70. Fortunate
Isles] islands where the souls of the virtuous resided after death.
° 71. Porter
to fame] i.e. death in war is a route to eternal glory.
° 78. Dardan]
Trojan.
° 79. We have … ourselves] In Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, the unsavoury Cloten expresses a similar idea: “Britain’s a world / By itself” (3.1.12-3). “The idea of Britain being “a world by itself” was a popular one in Shakespeare’s day” (Nosworthy 75). Later, in Cymbeline, Innogen says: “I’th’ world’s volume / Our Britain seems as of it but not in’t” (3.4.138-9). The idea has its earliest expression in Virgil, when the herdsman Meliboeus expresses his concern that he might be sent from Italy as far as “Britain—that place cut off at the very world’s end” (Eclogue 1.66).
° 82-3. Though
Rhine … serve] Though German tribes are prepared to submit to Rome.
° 84. maugre]
despite.
° 84-5. Yet
maugre … do] “The same sentiment is introduced by Shakespeare into King John Act 5 Scene 7: “This England
never did, nor never shall / Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror. / But when
it first did help to wound itself … nought shall make us rue, / If England to
itself do rest but true”” (Hazlitt).
° 2.2.5. I’ll
winch … estate] “A metaphor, from engines by which weights are raised or winched up” (Hazlitt).
° 5. Harpocrates]
the god of silence, often represented holding one finger to his mouth.
° 7. double-gilt]
rich.
° 7. Be
midnight] Be silent as the hour of midnight.
° 13. antedated]
no longer required, untimely.
° 16. used]
uttered.
° 17. purpled
her face] made the blood rush to her cheeks.
° 19. as
she’d] as if to.
° 29. thou
shall be true] technically, you won’t be lying.
° 30. I’ll
lie … lie] I’ll tell a lie, but I will not lie down with her.
° 32. point]
aim, purpose.
° 40-1. Yet
now … of love] Yet now I must seem to love him (and perhaps truly do love
him) because he currently intercepts (as a barrier) the love I feel for
Landora.
° 42. Cyprian
queen] Venus.
° 48. By
which … agree] i.e. love holds the universe and all of nature together.
° 54. Tempe]
a valley between Olympus and Ossa, the most delightful place on earth.
° 55. Elysium]
paradise.
° 61-2. Yet
this … passion] But being rejected excites me more than being accepted
would.
° 62. grows]
soon grows.
° 2.3.12. whither]
“whether” in quarto.
° 13. shipped]
“slipped” in quarto; Hazlitt emends to “shipp’d”.
° 17. wear]
wear out, waste away.
° 23. indeniz’d
into] re-housed as.
° 1-24. That
souls … shapes] “One [of Fisher’s] druid[s], in accordance with Caesar’s
Commentaries, espouses the doctrine of metempsychosis. But the other druid
seems attached to [the] Galfridian notion of a pagan Britain ripe for
Christianity; he argues for a heaven, a place where the immortal soul can travel,
“fit for immaterial spirits”” (Curran 23). Lucan, in Pharsalia, “expressly states that souls, according to the Druids,
do not go down to the gloomy underworld … but proceed elsewhere and that death
“is but the mid-point of a long life”” (Graves 57). Caesar wrote: “A lesson
which [the Druids] take particular pains to inculcate is that the soul does not
perish but after death passes from one body to another” (32-3). However,
Kendrick believes the Gauls did not share with Pythagoras the belief in “an instant
metempsychosis, perhaps into animal as into other human bodies, but rather in
the survival of the identity of the deceased in its recognisable form” (in
Spence 52). See 3.5.23-26 and note.
° 25. most
lively image] closest likeness.
° 31. Eldol]
a king of ancient Britain (Geoffrey 105).
° 35-6. With
streamers … all] This vision of a transition from “streamers red” to “a
sable hearse-cloth” may be an echo of Tamburlaine’s intimidating use of white,
red and black “streamers” as markers of increasing threat during his siege of
Damascus in Marlowe’s play (see Tamburlaine
Part 1 4.2.111-22 and following scenes).
° 41. And we
… for] see 1.4.113 and note.
° 42. turns]
“tunes” in quarto.
° 46. Take
heed … come] There “is confusion [in Fuimus
Troes] over who are the true Trojans … This, the first mention of Trojans
in the text of the play, immediately sets up a worrying equivalence between
friend and foe” (Hopkins 42).
° 47-8. What
may … care] However: “The rich and powerful corporation of the Druids does
not appear to have played any part as a body in the [Gaulish] resistance to the
Romans” (Handford 261).
° 54. night’s
empress] (the goddess of) the moon.
° 54-5. fourfold
honour … waves] each of the moon’s four aspects requires honouring; i.e.
the moon must be worshipped as goddess of 1) the night-sky; 2) the underworld
(where, as Hecate, she reigns); 3) the woods (where, as Diana, she hunts); and
4) the sea which she controls.
° 2.4.1-3. We
saw … pearl] “Britain yields gold, silver and other metals, to make it worth
conquering. Its seas, too, produce pearls, but they are of a dark, bluish-grey
colour” (Tacitus 63). “Julius Caesar is said to have dedicated a breastplate
decorated with British pearls in the temple of Venus Genetrix at Rome”
(Mattingly 145). In 54 BC, Cicero twice “recorded having had letters both from
Caesar and his own brother Quintus who was serving as an officer in Caesar’s
expeditionary force. The first time he records that they tell of a complete
lack of silver, the second confirms the failure to acquire booty … There is
very little doubt … that profit in cash and kind [i.e. in the form of
“tribute”, hostages, etc.] was very
much to the fore among Roman motives for these campaigns in 55 and 54 BC”
(Salway 39).
° 5. The fields … loads] Tacitus is more circumspect than Caesar’s scout: “The [British] soil will produce good crops … they are slow to ripen, though they shoot up quickly—both facts being due to the same cause, the extreme moistness of the soil and atmosphere” (63). Caesar himself notes: “By far the most civilized inhabitants [of Britain] are those living in Kent … whose way of life differs little from that of the Gauls [on the continent]. Most of the [British] tribes in the interior do not grow corn but live on milk and meat” (136).
° 3-6. The
meadows … play] Britain’s “plains are spacious, its hills are pleasantly
situated, adapted for superior tillage, and its mountains are admirably
calculated for the alternate pasturage of cattle, where flowers of various
colours … give it the appearance of a lovely picture. It is decked … with
divers[e] jewels, with lucid fountains and abundant brooks wandering over the
snow white sands; with transparent rivers, flowing in gentle murmurs” (Gildas
9-10). “[I]t is well known for its plentiful springs and rivers abounding in
fish. Salmon and eels are especially plentiful” (Bede 37). “It provides in
unfailing plenty everything that is suited to the use of human beings. It
abounds in every kind of mineral. It has broad fields and hillsides which are
suitable for the most intensive farming and, in which, because of the richness
of the soil, all kinds of crops are grown in their seasons … and there too grow
flowers of every hue … it has … beauty-spots where clear springs flow into
shining streams which ripple gently and murmur … What is more, it is watered by
lakes and rivers full of fish” (Geoffrey 53).
° 9. glancing]
looking (lingeringly) sidelong at the land.
° 8-9. The
sun … night] “It is believed that there are also a number of smaller
islands [besides Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man], in which according to
some writers there is a month of perpetual darkness at the winter solstice. Our
inquiries on this subject were always fruitless, but we found by accurate
measurement with a water-clock that the nights are shorter than on the
continent” (Caesar 135). On this subject, Tacitus is more imaginative: “Their
[i.e. the Britons’] day is longer than in our part of the world. The nights are
light, and in the extreme north so short that evening and morning twilight are
scarcely distinguishable. If no clouds block the view, the sun’s glow, it is
said, can be seen all night long: it does not set and rise, but simply passes
along the horizon. The reason must be that the flat extremities of the earth
cast low shadows, and do not raise the darkness to any height; night therefore
fails to reach the sky and stars” (62-3). “Tacitus, who seems to have been
uninterested in and somewhat ignorant of certain scientific facts widely known
in the ancient world [imagines] a disc-like earth, although its spherical shape
was known to Greek scientists as early as the fourth century BC, and through
them to many Romans. He apparently thought that the sun passed across just
below the horizon, and that the flat edges of the earth were not high enough to
cast shadows to the sky, hence the night glow in the extreme north” (Mattingly
144). In Act 1 Scene 2, Fisher’s Caesar calls Britain “nature’s western brink”
(10), declaring, “Here is nil ultra”
(11). Both statements are consistent with a belief that the earth is flat. See
note to 1.2.11.
° 10. for]
as for.
° 10. statures]
(physical) dimensions; comparable to the modern term “statistics”.
° 11. With
blue-stained … fierceness] “All the Britons dye their bodies with woad,
which produces a blue colour, and this gives them a more terrifying appearance
in battle. They wear their hair long” (Caesar 136) “Diodorus Siculus also
stresses the “terrifying aspect” of the Gauls and their deep and harsh voices”
(Chadwick 50).
° 12-4. They
scarce … defiance] Gildas complains that Britain (i.e. its inhabitants),
being “stiff-necked and stubborn-minded, from the time of its first being
inhabited, [often] ungratefully rebels” and refuses to pay “due honour to those
of higher dignity” (10). He quotes Porphyry: “Britain is a land fertile in
tyrants”, where “tyrants” means “usurpers of the imperial dignity” (10-11 and
note).
° 14-31. Cassibelane’s reply to Caesar is, for the
most part, a translation of the British king’s letter to Caesar in Geoffrey
(107-8).
° 16-7. Seeing
your … guise] “The play casts Caesar as a grasping tyrant whom the world
has made an idol” (Curran 20). Thus, Caesar’s greed anticipates “papistical
tyranny” (20).
° 22. like]
shared.
° 22. succour]
Britain’s aiding Gaul is not mentioned in Cassibelane’s letter in Geoffrey.
° 23. Pardon]
Pardon that.
° 23. for
this … hearts] for this small division of loyalties on our part should not
be enough to make Britain and Rome enemies.
° 27. when as]
it being the case that.
° 26-7. As
you … same?] “What you have sought from us, Caesar, is an insult to
yourself, for a common inheritance of noble blood comes down from Aeneas to
Briton and to Roman alike, and our two races should be joined in close amity by
this link of glorious kinship” (Geoffrey 108). “Cassibelane’s logic does not
persuade Caesar, however, and that is unsurprising, for his metaphor brings
with it the ideological baggage of the question found in so many 1633 texts, of
when descent from an ancestor becomes so temporally and generationally remote that
it ceases to be meaningful” (Hopkins 42).
° 28. close]
enclose, surround; render isolated from civilisation.
° 30. rudely]
harshly, abruptly; without rhetorical ornament.
° 32-3. I
grieve … Troy] “By Hercules!” [Caesar] exclaimed. “Those Britons come from
the same race as we do, for we Romans, too, are descended from Trojan stock”
(Geoffrey 107). John Twyne (a Catholic historian in the early modern period)
attacked “in particular the Galfridian notion that Caesar had had Britain’s
Trojan ancestry on his mind when he formulated his invasion plan. Twyne pointed
out that Geoffrey had not just misrepresented Caesar, but actually portrayed
him as at that time thinking
something which in no way agreed with how Caesar had characterised his own
thoughts. A glance at Caesar’s writings would show how unlikely he would have
been to understand Britain as sharing a common descent with him; instead,
Caesar articulated a lack of knowledge about the Britons’ origin … Later,
Clement Edmunds … says that [Caesar’s remarks in his Commentaries] showed [the Britons] to be a people “not knowing
whence they came”. Edmunds views Caesar as the only source of knowledge on the Britons’ descent and conclusive
proof of the Britons’ primitive ignorance about themselves” (Curran 151).
° 33. rude]
uneducated, uncivilised, and therefore unaware of their inferiority to us.
° 33-4. but
they … friends] “All the same [Caesar continues, weighing how to treat the
Britons, given that they are also “Trojans”], unless I am mistaken, they have
become very degenerate when compared with us … living as they do beyond the
deep sea and quite cut off from the world” (Geoffrey 1-7).
° 36-7. I
long … rites] Like “discoverers” and investors in the New World in the
early modern period, Caesar justifies his imperial expedition on scientific
(and anthropological) grounds.
° 38. margarites]
pearls (here, pronounced as two syllables: “mar-grets”).
° 38. brazen
cap] helmet.
° 43-4. Gradivus
… Haemus] Gradivus is another name for Mars, the god of war. Though he had
a temple near Rome, Mars preferred to live among the warlike Thracians. Thus,
he would be likely to sleep on top of Haemus, a high mountain separating Thrace
and Thessaly. Mount Haemus “received its name from Haemus, son of Boreas and
Orithyia, who … was changed into this mountain for aspiring to divine honours”
(Lemprière 261).
° 44. lulled
with] Because Mount Haemus is so high, Boreas the north wind’s roaring is
so distant that it serves to lull Mars to sleep while lying on the peak.
° 2.2.3. make
atonement] negotiate a settlement.
° 6. hardy]
foolhardy; daring.
° 15. cashier]
dismiss, decommission.
° 23. guerdon]
reward, recompense.
° 26. Expect]
Wait for.
° 31. Grampius]
the Grampians, a Scottish mountain range.
° 33. Brigants]
a tribe of northern England.
° 36. pelts]
shields (Hazlitt).
° 36. glaves]
broadswords (Hazlitt).
° 37. Silures]
ancient British tribe, inhabitants of South Wales.
° 42. use]
custom.
° 46. Sabrine]
River-goddess, usually called Sabrina, as at 4.6.30.
° 46. Where
Sabrine … breath] Locrinus, king of Loegria (part of Britain, roughly
equivalent to modern England minus Cornwall), deserted his wife, Gwendolen,
taking Estrildis as his queen. In revenge, Gwendolen gathered Cornish troops
and proceeded to wage war on Locrinus. After Locrinus died in battle, Gwendolen
seized control of Loegria. “She ordered Estrildis and her daughter [by
Locrinus] Habren to be thrown into the river which is now called the Severn”.
Hence, “this river is called Habren in the British language, although by a corruption
of speech it is called Sabrina in the [Latin] tongue” (Geoffrey 77). Cf.: Milton’s Comus lines 824-42.
° 48. cars]
chariots.
° 52. pennons]
banners, flags.
° 55. them]
the Romans.
° 56. falchions]
curved broad swords.
° 64. friendly]
in a friendly way.
° 66. wolves]
See note to 4.4.24.
° 66. brinded]
striped.
° 61-6. Ten
thousand … tigers] “Charles I’s journey to Scotland [in 1633] means that
the question … of when [does] descent from an ancestor becomes so temporally
and generationally remote that it ceases to be meaningful … is asked about the
king himself: when does a Stuart—particularly one who had never lost his
Scottish accent—cease to be a Scot? And, by extension, when do the Scots—who
while not positively unfriendly in Fuimus
Troes do nevertheless “gnaw and suck
/ their enemies’ bones” and are “Painted like bears and wolves and
brinded tigers”—become part of a British identity?” (Hopkins 42).
° 67. stonify]
petrify.
° 2.6.1. fear]
awe, reverence.
° 4. As]
Such as.
° 6. laud]
Given Lantonus’s benign view of “outward signs” of worship, this may be a
punning allusion to Archbishop Laud’s controversial reinstatement of certain
ceremonial forms of worship in the Anglican church. In the build-up to the
civil war, the Church of England (under Laud) was “criticised by radical
Protestants for its “magical ceremonial rites”” (K. Thomas 79). However, a
similar phrase to Fisher’s occurs in Shakespeare’s earlier play, Cymbeline: “Laud we the gods” (5.5.47).
° 11. of
their aid] their aid’s most required.
° 14. Without
devotion … vain] Without faith, rituals are empty forms.
° 27. vervain]
the “holy herb”, regarded as sacred by the druids.
° 27. lunary]
moonwort.
° 28. fern-seed]
the asexual spores of ferns (previously believed to be seeds).
° 28. planetary]
Magical herbs have to be gathered “in their correct planetary hours” (Graves
28).
° 29. dreadful
mistletoe] Shakespeare calls mistletoe “baneful” (Titus Andronicus 2.3.95), “perhaps in allusion … to the tradition
that it was once a tree from which the wood of Christ’s cross was formed; or
possibly with reference … to the connection of the plant with the human
sacrifices of the Druids” (Brewer).
° 30. Which
doth … grow] “The Druids … hold nothing more sacred than mistletoe and the
tree on which it grows, provided it is a hard-oak. They also choose groves of
hard-oak for its own qualities, nor do they perform any sacred rites without
leaves from these trees … [T]hey believe that anything growing on oak-trees is
sent by heaven and is a sign that the tree has been chosen by God himself.
Mistletoe, however, is rarely found on hard-oaks, but when it is discovered, it
is collected with great respect on the sixth day of the moon” (Pliny 216).
° 71. Britain’s
chief patroness] Expelled from Italy, after killing his father accidentally,
Brutus (great-grandson of the Trojan hero Aeneas) visited a deserted island
called Leogetia. There, he found a temple of Diana, the goddess of the moon.
Brutus offered sacrifice to Diana in the temple then fell asleep. The goddess
appeared to Brutus, in a dream, and told him to sail west, past Gaul (France),
until he came to an island (Albion, later Britain), adding: “Now it is empty
and ready for your folk. Down the years this will prove an abode suited to you
and to your people; and for your descendants it will be a second Troy”
(Geoffrey 64-5). Hence, the druids address Diana as “Britain’s chief
patroness”.
° 72. the
moon’s bright majesty] Fuimus Troes
“shows signs of nostalgia [for the Elizabethan period]: there is a
neo-Elizabethan devotion to “the moon’s bright majesty”, depicted as being the
essential originator of British identity since she was “first guide of Brutus
to the isle [2.6.81]” (Hopkins 39).
° 76. generable]
generating, causing generation.
° 76. moisture]
dew.
° 79. Brute
elephants adore] Pliny credited elephants with “respect for the stars, sun
and moon” (108), remarking that elephants worshipped the moon by holding
branches aloft with their outstretched trunks as though in offering.
° 79-80. man
doth … limbs] In the early modern period, the moon was held to have a more
direct effect on the human body than the other “planets”.
° 81. See note to line 71.
° 85. Dis]
the Gaulish equivalent of Pluto, the god of the underworld. “The Gauls all
claim to be descended from Father Dis, declaring that this is the tradition
preserved by the Druids” (Caesar 34).
° 88. Nereus]
a sea-deity; i.e., here, the sea itself: the moon is imagined as rising from
out of the ocean.
° 91. Aeolian
slaves] Since Aeolus is the god in control of winds, “Aeolian slaves” are
the winds themselves, subject to Aeolus.
° 91-2. Conjure
up … storm] The Moon-Goddess controls the sea and winds, like a sorceress.
° 93. That]
So that.
° 94. Avernus]
the entrance of hell.
° 95. the
dragon’s head and tail] the two points in the sky marking where the sun and
moon’s paths intersect. In myths describing celestial phenomena, eclipses were
said to be caused by a dragon having devoured the sun and moon. Thus, the
Moon-deity addressed by Lantonus wishes to shun the sites of its encounters
with its dragon-enemy.
° 96. Endymion]
shepherd granted eternal youth by Jupiter, and loved by Diana, the goddess of
the moon.
° 96. snort]
snore.
° 96. Latmian
bed] the top of Mount Latmus, where Diana visits Endymion in the night.
° 2.7.2. What
means that word?] Nennius is a “duke” (1.1.1.sd) and not accustomed to
following orders.
° 2. Thy
will?] What do you want?
° 9. mother]
motherland.
° 11. worthies]
great heroes of world history
° 21. incense]
tribute, offering.
° 32. second
founder] For his services to Rome, Camillus was known as a “second
Romulus”.
° 35-6. this,
/ This nation] Hopkins reads the repetition of “this” as an indication
that Camillus is spluttering in fury (43). The word “this” is similarly
repeated for rhetorical effect in Gorboduc:
“This, this ensues, when noble men do faile…” (5.2.244; in Cunliffe).
° 39. thorough]
disyllabic form of “through”.
° 40. Euxinus’
gulf] the Black Sea.
° 41. rout]
rabble, mob.
° 44-5. Brennus
led … king] Livy’s Camillus is made to speak Geoffrey’s script.
° 47. To thee
belongs] It is up to you.
° 49. Scipios]
Scipio was the name of a famous family in Rome, many of whose members were
renowned for bravery in serving the republic.
° 50. Marius]
a famous Roman soldier.
° 50. Sylla]
rival of Marius.
° 50. that]
so that.
° 53. trace
your steps] emulate your feats.
° 54. Thence]
From there (i.e. Britain). Caesar, therefore, perjures himself by not
committing suicide after the failure of his first attempt to conquer the
island.
° 2.8.5. How
Brute … tame] According to Geoffrey, when Brutus arrived in Albion, it was
inhabited by a small number of giants. After Brutus and his comrades had
explored the island, “they drove the giants … into the caves in the mountains”.
Later, the giants attacked Brutus and killed many Britons. “However, the
Britons finally gathered together … and overcame the giants and slew them all,
except Gogmagog” (72-3).
° 6. Isis’]
The name “Isis” usually refers to the part of the Thames in or near Oxford, but
occasionally in Fuimus Troes it
appears to be used as an alternative name for the entire river.
° 9. eldest
son] oldest son of Brutus.
° 10. the
furious Hun] Locrinus forced Humber, the king of the Huns, who had invaded
Britain, to retreat until a river blocked his way. Humber drowned himself in
the river, which took his name (Geoffrey 75).
° 11. But
burnt … love] Locrinus’s passion for one of Humber’s prisoners (Estrildis,
the daughter of the king of Germany), led him to break a promise he’d made to
Corineus, ruler of Cornwall, to marry the latter’s daughter Gwendolen. This
breach of contract resulted in civil war (see 2.5.46 and note; Geoffrey 77).
° 12. Leil,
Rex Pacificus] Leil, king of Britain, “a great lover of peace and justice”;
he “took advantage of the prosperity of his reign to build a town in the
northern part of Britain which he called Kaerleil after himself” (Geoffrey
79-80).
° 13. Eliud]
a king of Britain.
° 13-14. judicious
/ How … above] passing judgements
in accordance with the regular movements of the stars.
° 15. Wise Bladud
… bath] Bladud, king of Britain, “built the town of Kaerbadum, … now called
Bath, and … constructed the hot baths there which are suited to the needs of
mortal men” (Geoffrey 80). Being himself an inventor of genius, Bladud “chose
Minerva [the goddess of wisdom], as the tutelary deity of the baths” (80).
Thus, Fisher calls him “wise”. Indeed, “from such advocates as John Bale, John
Stow, and William Slatyer, Englishmen had become attached to the notion that
Britain had developed schools of higher learning as early as Bladud’s reign, in
the ninth century BC, and that pre-Roman British kings had cultivated civilised
achievements” (Curran 158). According to one legend, “Bladud was a leper whose
initial enthusiasm for Bath arose from the fact that the water and the
impregnated mud there had cured him” (Thorpe, note in Geoffrey 80). Presumably,
the waters in Bath were also used for baptism.
° 17. Like
Icarus, he flew] “Bladud was a most ingenious man who encouraged necromancy
… He pressed on with his experiments and finally constructed a pair of wings
for himself and tried to fly through the upper air. He came down on top of the
Temple of Apollo in … Trinovantum and was dashed into countless fragments”
(Geoffrey 81).
° 18-9. How
first … crown] According to Geoffrey, Dunvallo Molmutius “fashioned for
himself a crown of gold and restored the realm to its earlier [unified] status”
(89).
° 19-20. Whose
heirs … subdue] Led by
Molmutius’s “heirs” (i.e. hs sons Belinus and Brennius), British-Gaulish armies
(according to British mythographers) subdued much of Europe, including Rome and
Greece.
° 23. Thou
diamond … ring] Aethiopia, in Jonson’s Masque
of Blackness, says: “For were the world … a ring, / Britannia … / Might be
a diamond worthy to enchase it” (lines 221-3, in Lindley). Similarly, according
to Camden, Britain is “fo reflendent in all glory, that if the most Omnipotent
had fafhioned the world like a ring, as he did like a globe, it might have been
moft worthily the only gemme therein” (Relics
1).
° 26. read]
recorded, given an account of.
° 28-9. As
captains brave / as] Captains as
brave as any.
° 30. dub]
the sound of a drum (CED, “dub” [5]). The chorus may be giving a signal to the
drummer(s) among the soldiers to play.
° 30.sd. tantara]
a blast on a trumpet or horn.
° 33. courser]
swift horse.
° 33. bay]
i.e. blood-colour.
° 36. hath
made] the chorus imagines what will happen as having already happened.
° 37. Black
Allia’s day] the day when the Italian river Allia, which joins the Tiber,
ran black with Roman blood. The Romans were defeated on Allia’s banks by
Brennus and the Gauls.
° 38. Canae’s
fray] the battle in the Greek city of Canae (at which Brennus defeated the
Greeks).
° 39. Have
for … stayed] Have waited a long time for a third British victory of comparable
importance.
° 3.1.1-6. Caesar “ran his ships aground on an
evenly sloping beach, free from obstacles. The natives, on realising his
intention, had sent forward their cavalry and a number of chariots … the rest
of the troops followed close behind and were ready to oppose the landing. The
Romans were faced with very grave difficulties. The size of the ships made it
impossible to run them aground except in fairly deep water; and the soldiers,
unfamiliar with the ground, with their hands full, and weighed down by the
heavy burden of their arms, had at the same time to jump down from the ships,
get a footing in the waves, and fight the enemy, who, standing on dry land or
advancing only a short way into the water, fought with all their limbs
unencumbered and on perfectly familiar ground” (Caesar 121-2).
° 10. executors]
executioners.
° 12-3. The
nature … beasts] Ireland was famously devoid of snakes. Hopkins writes of
these lines: “Not only does this simile comprehensively undo the equivalence
which [the speaker, Cassibelane] himself has posited between the Britons and
the Romans, it would also have sent Spenser spinning in his grave by forcing
instead an equivalence between mainland Britain and Ireland” (44).
° 16. succours]
reinforcements.
° 19. shop]
workshop, factory.
° 21. Sprout
up … thunderclap] Mushrooms were believed to spring up beside trees struck
by lightning, engendered by the lightning-blast itself.
° 22. out a
way] a way through; an escape route.
° 22.sd. armed
cap-a-pie] clad in armour from head to foot.
° 26. Where]
Where now are.
° 26-8. Where
all … glory?] Where, now it’s a real fight, are all these soldiers whose
custom on battlefields is to kill poor, unarmed men in order to achieve a
reputation for bravery and steal the expensive armour of fallen rich men for
booty?
° 30. let me
… sword] let my sword claim its first victim.
° 31. fall
off] withdraw from the scene of battle.
° 41. Base
coward, live] According to Gildas, the British (at the time of Boadicea)
had “presented their necks to [the Romans’] swords, whilst chill terror ran
through every limb, and they stretched out their hands to be bound, like women;
so that it has become a proverb far and wide, that the Britons are [not] brave
in war” (11-2). By featuring a cowardly Belgic Gaul, the dramatist suggests that the
notion of proverbial Gaulish cowardice should apply onto to non-British Gauls.
(Presumably, Fisher does not feature a cowardly Roman character as it is
important that the Britons’ foes be thoroughly worthy opponents.) The cowardice
of “Belgic” Rollano may allude to the reluctance of Dutch and German
Protestants to support Frederick V, the Elector Palatine, following his defeat
at the Battle of White Mountain. Hans Werner, discussing Massinger’s Believe As You List (1631), refers to
“Dutch reluctance to commit themselves militarily in Frederick’s behalf unless
England did so first”. Thus, in characters such as Rollano, “we can easily
recognise the low opinion of Dutch courage commonly held by Englishmen of the
day” (Werner 256). Moreover, associating fear with “foreign” Protestants may
represent a defensive ploy intended to hide embarrassment at England’s own
abandonment of Frederick (James I’s son-in-law).
° 42. at
stand] at a standstill, not busy.
° 48. Armed
as … is] Wearing armour such as the poets describe Mars wearing.
° 53. Jove
‘gainst … eyes] In the war of the gods and the giants, Jupiter could have
easily scared the giants away if he’d had my opponent’s eyes.
° 57. morion]
helmet (Hazlitt).
° 60. It’s
sweeter … story] I’d rather be a living laughing stock than a dead hero.
° 62. enlive]
enliven, animate.
° 3.2.2. there
some fly] some run that way.
° 13.sd. They
fight … flight] “Nennius had the extraordinary luck of meeting Julius in
person [in the battle]. As he rushed at Caesar, Nennius rejoiced in his heart
at the fact that he would be able to deal at least one blow at so great a man.
Caesar saw Nennius charging at him. He warded his opponent off with his shield
and struck him on his helmet with his naked sword. Caesar lifted his sword a
second time with the intention of following up his first blow and dealing a
fatal wound. Nennius saw what he was at and held out his own shield. Caesar’s
sword glanced off Nennius’ helmet and cut into his shield so deeply that, when
they had to abandon their hand-to-hand fight because of the troops who crowded
in on them, the Emperor could not wrench his sword out. Having acquired
Caesar’s sword in this way, Nennius threw away his own, dragged the other
weapon out and hurried off to attack the enemy with it” (Geoffrey 109-10).
° 14. Campus
Martius] a large field, outside Rome, dedicated to Mars, where Roman youths
practised sports and fighting skills.
° 15. thy
frighted back] “Geoffrey took pains to depict the invading Romans as severely
taxed by formidable Britons, inventing a story wherein Caesar was twice
repulsed from the island and quoting Lucan on how Caesar “showed his back to
the Britons”” (Curran 149)
° 17. be
styled Britannicus] Nennius statement “Here’s Campus Martius” (line 14; emphasis added) further complicates the
question of whether the Britons and the Romans are mirror-images of each other.
The play leads us to wonder if Britain is in fact culturally (and materially?)
identical to Rome (as Spenser wrote, in Ruines
of Rome: “Rome was th’whole world, and al the world was Rome” [line 359; in
Poetical Works 513]). Of course, not
only British identity but Roman identity in return is threatened by the
sustained contact of these two states claiming Aeneas as their ancestor. In “tak[ing]
possession” of Britain, the Romans may cease to be “Roman” and “be styled
Britannicus”: the colonisers become the colonised; i.e. empire is translated
from Rome to Britain not imposed by Rome on
Britain.
° 18-19. A
tyrant’s … impart] An unjust ruler, on being exposed/defeated, should
commit suicide.
° 20. Quirites]
Roman citizens.
° 24-6. Caesar
returns … gowns] “Nennius … bitterly muses about the triumphs and pomp
Caesar will enjoy in Rome … which he will not have earned but which will exalt
him far above the true magnitude of his accomplishments. To the extent
Galfridian conceptions control the play, they convey animosity toward Caesar,
Rome, and the evil empire they represent” (Curran 20).
° 27. tholes]
temple-roofs (Hazlitt).
° 28-9. Basely
flies … infancy] Ignobly flees, not having achieved even stage one of his
conquest.
° 32. nations]
tribes.
° 34. Caledon]
Caledonia; i.e. Scotland.
° 35. is]
will have been.
° 36-7. my
wound … Pallas] Jupiter, suffering from an agonizing headache, received an axe-blow
to the skull from Vulcan. The goddess Minerva (i.e. Pallas) sprang from the
wound. Here, Nennius, suffering great pain from his poisoned wound, imagines
that a hideous female demon (“a fury”) is about to be born from his skull. The
notion of a fury being born from a wound is appropriate because the Furies
themselves “sprang from the drops of blood which flowed from the wound which
Coelus [i.e. Uranus] received from his [treacherous] son Saturn” (Lemprière).
° 39. Well
didst thou fly] You did well to run away, Caesar.
° 39-40. or I
… provision] otherwise, I would have poisoned you with your own sword.
° 42-3. The
three … ladies] the Furies who, in hell, punish the wicked with endless
whipping and torture.
° 43. lackey
close] closely follow (like a lackey).
° 44. offer
hecatombs] sacrifice; i.e. slaughter. (“Everyone whom Nennius struck with
[Caesar’s] sword either had his head cut off or else was so seriously wounded
as Nennius passed that he had no hope of receovery” [Geoffrey 110].)
° 45. The
Latian shepherd’s brood] “i.e., The Romans, who owed [the survival of]
their founders, Romulus and Remus, to the care of Faustulus, who was shepherd to the tyrant Amulius” (Steevens, in
Hazlitt).
° 45. ban]
curse.
° 46. glimmering
sparks] the stars’ visible signs, interpreted (wrongly) as having a
favourable aspect.
° 46. audacious
pines] pine-trees; i.e. in the form of the Roman ships.
° 45-7. The
Latian … soil] They shall rue the day they chopped those trees down to make
these ships. A pastoralist comparison of the iron and golden ages, derived from
Ovid’s Metamorphoses: “The loftie
Pynetree was not hewen from mountaines where it stood, / In seeking straunge
and ferren landes to rove upon the flood. / Men knew none other countries yet,
than were themselves did keepe” (Golding’s translation, in Gifford).
° 52. Sarmartian]
Sarmatia is “the ancient name of a region between the Volga and Vistula Rivers”
(CED). “The Sarmatians were a savage uncivilized nation … naturally warlike,
and famous for painting their bodies to appear more terrible in the field of
battle” (Lemprière).
° 52. Libyan]
African (the Romans referred to the whole of Africa as Libya).
° 52. bugbears]
bogeymen, i.e. creatures intended to be frightening.
° 53.sd. Laberius
falls] “As Nennius raged up and down [wielding Caesar’s sword] … the
Tribune Labienus came to meet him, but Nennius killed him on the spot”
(Geoffrey 110).
° 57. the
Tartarian prince] Pluto, god of the underworld.
° 3.3.3. Eos]
the goddess of the dawn.
° 5. holy
water] dew.
° 6. reflex]
reflective properties.
° 8. only]
pre-eminent, peerless.
° 10. Andates]
“Peculiar and locall Gods, the Britains had in that part which is now called
Essex, Andates” (Servius Honoratus, note on Aeneid
7.47 [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html]). Dio mentions
the “grove of Andate” (62.7.3), describing Andate “as the British goddess of
victory” (Salway 678).
° 18. imbrue]
stain with blood.
° 20. ramping]
rampant, wild, requiring control.
° 20. beck]
signal, gesture.
° 22. heaven’s
diamond] the moon.
° 23. Delian
dames] Diana, the goddess of the moon, was born on the island of Delos.
Hence, she was worshipped there (by priestesses) with particular devotion.
° 23. Ephesian
towers] The city of Ephesus was famous for its temple of Diana, regarded as
one of the seven wonders of the world. “The roof was supported by 127 columns,
60 feet high … Of these columns, 36 were carved in the most beautiful manner”
(Lemprière).
° 24. Thy
influence strong] The tide, under your influence.
° 24-7. Thy
influence … scorn] “On the fourth day after Caesar’s arrival in Britain the
eighteen transports on which the cavalry had been embarked sailed from the
northern port before a gentle breeze. When they were approaching Britain and
were visible from the camp, such a violent storm suddenly arose that none of
them could hold its course. Some were driven back to their starting-point;
others, at great peril, were swept westwards to the south of the island. In
spite of the danger they cast anchor, but as they were being filled with water
by the waves, they were forced to stand out to sea into the darkness of the
night and return to the continent. It happened to be full moon that night, at
which time the Atlantic tides are particularly high … The result was that the
warships used in the crossing, which had been beached, were waterlogged, and
the transports … were knocked about by the storm … A number of ships were
shattered, and the rest, having lost their cables, anchors, and the remainder
of their tackle, were unusable” (Caesar 124).
° 32. the
queen of birds] the eagle (i.e. Rome). More usually, the eagle was regarded
as not the queen but the “king of
birds” (Biedermann). However, here, the union of the lion and the eagle is
prophesied. Accordingly, one beast must be female.
° 34. Both]
The (British) lion and the (Roman) eagle.
° 34. stout]
proud, arrogant, haughty.
° 35. “C”
‘gainst … round] C (for Caesar) and C (for Cassibelane) join to form O (a
circle). Or: “C” for Christ and “C” for Caesar. See note to 5.6.51.
° 35-6. Till
“C” … bound] These words, with their “stress on the importance of the
perfect circle” are “in tune with … the neoplatonism of Henrietta Maria”
(Hopkins 40-1).
° 37. cross]
contradictory.
° 47. smother]
snuff out, i.e. cancel.
° 49. dismembered]
shattered.
° 50. horse]
cavalry.
° 50-2. The
horse … winds] See note to lines 24-7.
° 53. tithe
of] tenth part of his.
° 55. but]
except for.
° 55. wants]
lacks.
° 56. What
then … name] What then is keeping us from destroying their reputation (for
being unbeatable).
° 58. Nereus’
girdle] the sea (Nereus being a sea-god).
° 64. Turns
all to wormwood] gives our victory a bitter taste.
° 65. sainted]
holy (anachronistic). (Catholic) adoration of “idols” may, thus, be regarded as
misdirected.
° 3.4.4. on]
moored at.
° 5. With
civil … planks] Like rival factions in a civil war, run against each other
destructively.
° 6. airy
rulers] gods of wind and storm.
° 7. nimble]
sudden.
° 8. Amaze]
Alarm, perplex.
° 9. my
daughter’s … hear] “Letters from friends in Rome reached [Caesar] just as
he was about to sail across to Gaul, telling him about his daughter’s death.
She had died in childbirth in Pompey’s house. The depth of Pompey’s grief was
matched by Caesar’s” (Plutarch 321).
° 10. Fortune]
the goddess Fortuna, who governs the success or failure of human endeavour.
° 12. Mount
Palatine] the largest of the seven hills on which Rome was built
° 12. throne
of Jove] Roman emperors held court on Mount Palatine. Since an emperor’s
authority was sanctioned by Jupiter, Palatine might be referred to as the
“throne of Jove”.
° 12. ye]
the other six hills.
° 14. bold]
too presumptuous.
° 15. To
out-go nature] In seeking to do more than nature would allow.
° 17. basely
faint] ignobly lose heart at a small setback.
° 19-20. Nor
can … overcame] “In a letter to Matius, one of his friends in Rome, Caesar
used just three words to describe the speed and swiftness of [the battle he had
won at the city of Zela in Asia]: “I came, I saw, I conquered” (Plutarch 343).
“Caesar’s denial here [in Fuimus Troes]
of his own most famous words echoes the similar refusal of the wicked queen in Cymbeline to allow that Caesar’s phrase
to Britain. “A kind of conquest / Caesar made here, but made not here his brag
/ Of “Came, and saw, and overcame”” says the queen. John E. Curran has …
discussed the way in which her stance aligns her with the Jacobean historians
who refused to concede that Polydore Vergil had discredited the Galfridian [i.e
Geoffrian] idea of a knowable British history predating the Romans, not least
because they found the story of the three kingdoms [England, Scotland and
Wales] having once been joined under Brutus conducive to their arguments that
Britain should be perceived as an empire rather than simply as a kingdom. Here,
Fisher goes one step further than Shakespeare in daringly having Caesar himself
bear witness to the Galfridian case, and the implications of this would not be
lost on those for whom the debate between the Vergilians and Galfridians was
one of the central issues of contemporary historiography” (Hopkins 41-2).
° 17-20. Or
is … haste] “Both sides in the conflict devote much energy to establishing
who are the true Trojans. Ostensibly,
the British and the Romans, both claiming descent from Aeneas, are
mirror-images of each other, but [this] word-play of Caesar’s [“came over …
overcame”] neatly suggests the extent to which mirror-imaging is not the same
as identity” (Hopkins 41).
° 21. sure]
surely.
° 22-3. And
now … night] And now the equinox is coming. (“[T]he equinox was close at
hand and [Caesar] thought it better not to expose his damaged ships to the
dangers of a voyage in wintry weather” [Caesar 127].)
° 24. Stormy
Pleaids … stop] The Greeks called the stars in the Taurus constellation
“the Pleaides”, “from the word plein,
to sail, because they considered navigation safe at the rising of the
constellation [in spring], and their setting marked the closing of the sailing
season” (Brewer).
° 26. But]
Only.
° 26. if gods
… withstand] God willing.
° 3.5.8. wounded
all before] injured in the front; i.e. they fell while attacking, not while
fleeing. Cf.: “the strait pass was
dammed / With dead men hurt behind” (Cymbeline
5.3.11-12). Being “hurt behind”, notes Nosworthy, was “a sign of cowardice. Old
Siward (Macbeth 5.8.46) asks of his
slain son, “Had he his hurts before?””
° 9. warlike
frown] The frown is “the proper
condition of brow and face with which to meet a dangerous enemy” (Nosworthy,
2.4.23.n.; citing Vaughan).
° 10. false
Caesar’s] Nennius refers to Caesar as false because he applied poison in a
treacherous manner.
° 10. Crocea
Mors] Yellow (i.e. Golden) Death.
° 11-2. Let
it … tomb] “Caesar got the
victory,” wrote Spenser in The Faerie Queene, “Through great
bloushed, and many a sad assay, / In which him selfe was charged heauily / Of
hardy Nennius, whom he yet did slay, / But lost his sword, yet to be seene this
day” (2.10.49.1-5). “Not only is Nennius put forward as the shining example of
the awful travail Caesar endured in Britain, but his example is also a lasting one; the sword he took from
Caesar after it dealt Nennius his death wound still physically exists and can
be seen … Almighty Caesar left part
of his greatness in Britain, and here is a surviving record of an event he
conveniently failed to record in his Commentaries. But of course, that Spenser
has only fabricated this tangible object reaffirms the predominance of those
Commentaries as a testament of what actually happened during Caesar’s invasion”
(Curran 169).
° 13. Parthian]
Parthian arrow; the Parthians were regarded as the deadliest archers in the
world.
° 17. Tiber
doth … Nile] Nennius undoes “the distinction between Rome and Egypt which
Shakespeare had made so crucial in Antony
and Cleopatra” (Hopkins 45). See note to lines 29-31.
° 18. We
scorn … craft] In Fuimus Troes,
Nennius is “even supposed to be remembered as a more effective emblem of his
people than Caesar was of Rome, for this Caesar, like Higgin’s [in Mirror for Magistrates] has unmanfully
poisoned his sword and run away in cowardly fashion” (Curran 168).
° 20. thou]
Lantonus.
° 23. My
purified … cause] Nennius’s unusual way of referring to heaven is “in tune
with … the neoplatonism of Henrietta Maria” (Hopkins 40-1).
° 24-6. I
long … walk] “Dying, [Nennius] voices his yearning to walk in Elysium with
his forebears, Brutus and Dunwallo; he is to be placed as the latest member of
a pantheon of British heroes who represent a prolonged history of equality with
Rome” (Curran 168).
° 27. Thou
mighty enginer] i.e. God.
° 29-31. Grant
Thames …progeny] After comparing the Tiber with the Nile (see line 17 and
note), Nennius considers the relationship between the Tiber and the Thames.
This “abruptly imposes a far more modern [comparison] in which the associations
of Rome have changed dramatically, and it now represents the home of the pope …
certainly [Nennius’s] words here are squarely in line with [Prince Henry’s]
committed anti-Catholicism. This passage, especially when delivered by someone
who might have been seen as dignified by association with Prince Henry, would
have been so offensive to Henrietta Maria that one must suppose it most likely
that the play was originally written before Charles’s marriage, but that would
not make the sting in 1633 [when the play was first published] any the less”
(Hopkins 45).
° 34-5. Let
first … poles] The “adamantine axle” is the axis mundi (the “axle of the world”). “Ancient cosmologies pictured
the earth as a globe spinning on a shaft with the ends fastened at the
celestial poles. The axis mundi
penetrated the earth at its centre” (Walker). From Nennius’s point of view,
Britain represents a crucial part of this “axle”. Similarly, Gildas avers: “The
island of Britain [is] … poised in the divine balance, as it is said, which
supports the whole world” (9). Thus, Nennius’ apocalyptic strain is justified:
if the Thames and Tiber “join their
channels”, the universe will self-destruct. Nennius’s prophecy, however, runs
counter to the message of the oracle at 3.3.35-6. Moreover, “fame will not be
kind to Nennius. His paeans to fame remind us he will be denied it, just as his
insistences on the necessity of British freedom remind us that Caesar’s
invasion marks the end of it. Britain has a thousand year undefeated streak to
protect, says Nennius passionately [see 2.1.80-2], and at his death he exhorts
that “Before this land shall wear the Roman yoke, / Let first the adamantine
axle crack…” But since we know this
catastrophic loss of independence is indeed about to happen, such moments makes
us feel just how catastrophic it is; the Romans obliterate not only British
independence but also a thousand year tradition we will never comprehend”
(Curran 168).
° 43-4. he
crave / To see him] he (his lingering spirit) require that he (his body)
be.
° 3.6.1-4. Eulinus, posing as Hirildas, has now
spent several nights in Landora’s bed.
° 5. joyed]
rejoiced.
° 5. So Jason
… obtained] There was a precedent for using Jason’s acquisition of the
Golden Fleece to figure the “obtaining” of a precious woman. In June 1613, the
arrival of the newly-married Elizabeth and Frederick, Elector Palatine, at the
latter’s castle in Heidelberg, was celebrated with tournaments and “triumphal”
processions. In one triumphal chariot “was the Elector Palatine, attired as
Jason, and sailing with the Argonauts in the quest of the Golden Fleece”
(Yates, Rosicrucian 14). In an
epithalamion celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth and Frederick, Henry Goodyer
wrote: “And you braue Pallatine, / … Enter into the possession of your Myne, /
Here you maye fittly fayne / These [bed] sheetes to bee a Sea / And you in it
an Argosie” (in Dubrow 66).
° 9. the
Phrygian swain] Paris, who took Helen away from Greece.
° 12. Proud
of] Happy to bear, and therefore scarcely registering.
° 13. dance]
In his excitement, Eulinus pictures the mythical scene happening before his
eyes, and changes tense accordingly.
° 14. Before,
behind … ship] This “riot of prepositions,” says Hopkins, “recalls Donne’s
“Elegie: To his Mistris Going to Bed” [published, like Fuimus Troes, in 1633]: “License my roving hands, and let them goe
/ Behind, before, above, between, below”. So, more importantly, does the
association between the woman’s body and the conquest of new lands. In Donne’s
case, the woman is imaged as “my America, my new found lande”; in Fisher’s, a
similar idea is emblematised in her name, Landora” (40). In Henry Goodyer’s
epithalamion celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth and Frederick (see note to
line 5), not only is Elizabeth described as a “Myne” which Frederick, as Jason,
enters into possession of, with “These [bed] sheetes … a Sea / And you in it an
Argosie”, but also Elizabeth is represented as “an Iland, whose discouerie
Spaine / … hath sought in vaine” (in Dubrow 66-7). Certainly, Eulinus
associates his possession of Landora with myths relating to the acquisition of
prizes or riches (Jason and the Golden Fleece, Paris and Helen, Hercules and
the fruit of the garden of the Hesperides, Venus and the prize awarded by
Paris, Midas and the gold he acquired through the power of his transforming
touch), and it is worth noting that four of these five mythical acquisitions
are made of gold. With this in mind, the name “Landora” may be taken to refer
to the New World, the location of Ralegh’s El Dorado, the Land of “Ore” (gold).
Moreover, Paris’s “theft” of Helen and Jason’s acquisition of the Golden Fleece
carry suggestions of the translation of empire.
° 17. These]
The joys felt by these various mythical characters.
° 17. shadows]
poor copies.
° 18. beatitude]
To preserve the metre, this word must be trisyllabic and stressed on the second
syllable: “be-AT-tood”.
° 25. incubus]
a male demon that has sexual intercourse with sleeping women. This mention of
the incubus anticipates the description of its female equivalent (a succubus)
in lines 37-81.
° 29. in you]
thinking you are me (when she goes to bed with you).
° 30. in you]
in your place.
° 31. But she
… unknown] But she does not credit the pleasure she gets to you (the fact
you are its efficient cause being unknown to her).
° 33. So that]
So long as
° 39. one]
someone.
° 39. for
worse] for women of less value.
° 39. Saturnius]
Jupiter, son of Saturn.
° 41. love
doth revels keep] love likes to be entertained.
° 49. Paphian
doves] doves from Paphos, a city where Venus was particularly worshipped.
° 51. arch]
bow; i.e. from the bow formed by the v-shape of her veil.
° 52. strain]
force, constraint.
° 58. rolling]
spiralling.
° 61. though
ignorant] without knowing the reason for his tears.
° 62. Phlegon’s]
Phlegon was “one of the horses of the sun” (Steevens, in Hazlitt).
° 64. A
circular room] Given the neoplatonic overtones of Eulinus’s dream (with its
reference to “Nature’s Storehouse” [line 65]), the fact that it features “a
circular room” may relate to the neoplatonism of Henrietta Maria, which
stressed “the importance of the perfect circle” (Hopkins 41).
° 70. oped
her … door] opened her mouth; i.e. spoke.
° 71. ark of
store] chest of plenty.
° 72-4. But I
… spied] “Here we are clearly in the realm of allegory, and more
particularly of Spenser’s monstrous female figures. Indeed, what we are offered
here is a virtual clone of Duessa, the villainess of The Faerie Queene, whose attractive appearance conceals a monstrous
posterior and who was, significantly for the play’s renewed topicality [in
1633] for imaginings of Britishness, notoriously intended as an allegorical
representation of Mary, Queen of Scots … The spectral presence of Spenser
underlines the fact that this play … presents a vision of a British identity
which it may not be possible to differentiate securely from [a Scottish] one”
(Hopkins 41; Hopkins writes Irish
where I have interposed Scottish). See also 5.3.60.
° 75. such]
that such.
° 75. such]
should such.
° 76. Trembling,
yet … crave] Trembling, I remained silent, unsure what to ask for. (The clause
lacks a subject and a verb.)
° 77. brave]
splendid.
° 78. dart]
arrow.
° 81. Pelias]
The quarto reads “Peleus”. See note to lines 80-1.
° 80-1. waking,
I … dead] Steevens (in Hazlitt) suggests the quarto’s “Peleus” refers to
“Pylius, i.e., Nestor”. Thus, the
lines would mean “I woke up next to Landora, whose beauty would rejuvenate even
a man as old as Nestor at the time of his death (aged 300)”. Hopkins, in a
private note to the current editor, suggests the quarto’s “Peleus” should be
read as Pelias, the enemy of the
Greek hero Jason. According to Ovid, Jason’s wife, Medea, used her magic skill
to restore the youth of Jason’s father, Aeson. The daughters of Pelias asked
Medea to perform the same operation for their sick and elderly father. But
Medea tricked them and Pelias died as a result of being chopped to pieces for
the experiment (Lemprière sub Pelias).
According to this reading, Eulinus here claims he woke and “found in bed” a
magical “balm” (in the form of Landora) which could have restored even an old,
infirm and dismembered Pelias to life.
° 3.7.1.sd. the
funeral passes over the stage] The stage direction “pass over the stage”
found in Tudor-Stuart plays is usually taken to describe “the action of
crossing the stage from one door to another” (Dessen and Thomson). However, I
do not find this a satisfactory description of what I infer is called for in
the present instance. Allardyce Nicoll objects to the usual interpretation
thus: “No very deep theatre sense is required to show that for a processional
movement this [i.e. crossing the stage from one door to another] would have
been hopelessly ineffective … any such “passage over the stage” would certainly
have proved flat, stale and unprofitable” (49). The stage directions in the
quarto edition of Fuimus Troes are
extremely thorough, marking almost all entrances and exits, yet here
Cassibelane’s entry prior to his speaking at line 1 is not mentioned.
Therefore, we may surmise that his entry is covered by the phrase “the funeral
passes over the stage”, i.e. Cassibelane is a member of the funeral procession
which passes over the stage. Presumably, Cassibelane detaches himself from the
cortege at some point in order to deliver his speech. Since he addresses the
coffin-bearers, the cortege should be still visible to the audience.
Consequently, I agree with Nicoll’s conclusion that the direction “pass over
the stage” means to cross the stage and take up a position offstage yet still
visible to the audience, i.e. in the yard (in the context of commercial drama,
which Nicoll concentrates on) or (in an academic venue) in the available space
between the audience and the stage (see Nicoll 53-4).
° 1.sd. escutcheon]
heraldic shield.
° 1. Set down
… hearts] “The sustained mourning for Cassibelane’s dead, heroic brother,
Nennius, looks very like a lament for [Charles’s brother] Henry, Prince of
Wales” (Hopkins 39).
° 1-2. Set down … thoughts] Cf.: “Set down, set down your honourable load, / If honour may be shrouded in a hearse” (Richard III 1.2.1-2).
° 5. genius]
guardian spirit.
° 8. smooth-tongued
Greek] Nestor, renowned for wise counsel and longevity.
° 10. field-bed]
a bed outside; i.e. Nennius died on a battle-field.
° 11. worthy]
man of excellence.
° 12. with
cypress] bearing cypress twigs. The cypress tree was “dedicated by the
Romans to Pluto, because when once cut it never grows again … The Greeks and
Romans put cypress twigs in the coffins of the dead” (Brewer).
° 13. flourishing
bay] The Romans crowned victorious generals with bay-leaves.
° 14. Turnus]
a king of the Rutuli (an Italian tribe).
° 14-15. Turnus
may … fame] By defeating Caesar in personal combat, Nennius acquired fame
which will endure as long as Aeneas’s. Turnus, on the other hand, having lost
to Aeneas in personal combat, is now more or less forgotten.
° 16-17. Hannibal,
let … brother] The fact that Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, was African
means his feats have not been celebrated as much as those of Scipio, a Roman
general who died in the same year. “The Romans entertained such a high opinion
of [Hannibal] as a commander, that Scipio, who conquered him, calls him the
greatest general that ever lived, and gives the second rank to Pyrrhus the
Epirot, and places himself the next to these in merit and abilities … Livy has
painted the character of Hannibal like an enemy, and it is much to be lamented
that this celebrated historian has withheld the tribute due to the merits and
virtues of the greatest of generals” (Lemprière). Nennius, as a Briton,
therefore, deserves to be as famous as Scipio, not as neglected as Hannibal. In
fact, Nennius’s lack of fame (outside the work of such ahistorical partisans as
John Higgins, in his additions to the Mirror
for Magistrates, and Geoffrey) was a sore point with British antiquarians.
Higgins’s Nennius “repeatedly complains of his unjust lack of notoriety: “For
there are Britaynes nether one nor two, / Whoese names in stories scarcely once
appeare: / And yet their liues, examples worthy were.” This lack of fame is
especially galling when compared to the fame of Caesar: “What Caesar though thy praise and mine be od?
/ Perdy the stories scarce remember mee: / Though Poets all of the[e] do make a
God…” Through a quirk of fate … Caesar is sung and Nennius ignored”. Thus,
Nennius embodies “a neglected British tradition of equal merit with the well
known Roman one. And yet, is this not as much as to acknowledge that neglect as
a fact? … History has abandoned Nennius for a reason: it has received no real
evidence that he ever lived. In Fuimus
Troes, too, the sense is that history should
reevaluate itself and take account of Nennius as Caesar’s symbolic counterpart”
(Curran 167).
° 18-19. Greece
forbear … glory] Nennius, being descended from Trojans, resembles Hector
more than Achilles. After noting that the “sustained mourning” for Nennius may
be a disguised lament for Prince Henry, Hopkins writes: “the memory of Henry
was powerfully revived in 1633 by the publication of George Wither’s Iwenilia, in which the many elegies for
him include … one (Elegy 28) which, with a typical confusion of Greek and
Trojan identities, begins “May I not liken London
now to Troy, / As she was that same
day she lost her Hector?”, but then
goes on “May I not liken Henry to
that Greek [i.e. Alexander], / That having a whole world unto his share, /
Intended other worlds to go and seek?”” (39). H. E. Sandison finds in poems of
this period frequently reiterated “themes of laudation of Henry living and
lament for him dead”, including “his identification with other worthies, like
Hector” (Strong 19).
° 22. Turn,
ye … water] The occasion is so sad that even the rocks in attendance should
weep.
° 23. Isis’
nymphs] female divinities of the River Thames.
° 25. Heli]
i.e. Beli, King of Britain, father of Lud, Cassibelane and Nennius. “Geoffrey
changed the initial letter of “Beli” because he had already put Belinus [in his
history] much earlier” (Ashe 132).
° 35. The
wings … fowls] From line 30, Rollano
imagines the various dishes of the banquet as sections of an army. “Birds and
fowls” make up the troops on the flanks.
° 30-7. Forty
thousand … army] In Trinovantum, following Caesar’s defeat, “sacrifices of
various kinds were made and many cattle were killed. They offered forty
thousand cows, a hundred thousand sheep and so many fowl of every kind that it
was impossible to count them. They also sacrificed three hundred thousand wild
animals of various species which they had caught in the woods. When they had
done honour to the gods, they feasted on the viands left over, as the custom
was on sacrificial occasions” (Geoffrey 113). The extent of these celebrations
may allude to events surrounding the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and
Frederick V, the Elector Palatine, in 1613 (see note to lines 50-2): “The court
bankrupted itself through the vast expenditure in clothes, jewellery,
entertainments, and feasting for the marriage” (Yates, Rosicrucian 2).
° 37-9. Troynovant
doth … hold] The queen in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline
recalls the celebrations Rollano describes: “The famed Cassibelan, who was
once at point— / O giglot fortune!—to master Caesar’s sword, / Made Lud’s town
with rejoicing fires bright, / And Britons strut with courage” (3.1.30-3).
Significantly, Shakespeare not only refers to “Troynovant” as “Lud’s town”
(apparently wishing to avoid the debate as to whether the British are descended
from the Trojans), he also has Cassibelane win (or nearly win) Caesar’s
sword—“famous” Nennius is forgotten.
° 41. brave]
splendid.
° 42. barley
broth] ale, usually given to horses (Crystal and Crystal).
° 46. spirits’
vestal priest] i.e. wine tends the
flame which provides our vital energy.
° 48. To make
short work] to get to the point; Rollano’s soliloquy belongs to the prolix
tradition of drunken toast-makers
° 49.sd. steals
behind] hides behind the mourners.
° 49.sd. The triumphs] The term “triumph” in a stage direction calls for “stage business to indicate victory and celebration though the specific implementation is unclear” (Dessen and Thomson).
° 51. vernant]
spring-time (Hazlitt emends to “verdant”).
° 50-2. Sorrow
must … gods] The marriage of James I’s daughter Princess Elizabeth and
Frederick, the Elector Palatine, took place in February, 1613. “The happiness
of the courtship period was marred by the illness and death of the bride’s
brother, Henry, Prince of Wales … [However], this fatal event did not long
interfere with the court amusements” (Yates, Rosicrucian 3-4). Frederick paid visits to both universities, “where he
was welcomed by erudite Latin poems … and the air was still thick with
congratulatory verses pouring from the press … in many of which rejoicing for
Elizabeth’s wedding was mingled with mourning for her brother’s death” (8).
° 53. Triumphs]
Celebratory pageants.
° 53-4. and tilt / With tourney] along with tilt and tourney. Again, these details may allude to the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick (see note to lines 50-2): “After the wedding … James, Frederick and Charles ran at the ring” (McManus 142).
° 53-4. Triumphs
must … Troy] “What remained of that [victory] day and night [after the public sacrifices and feasts,
the Britons] spent in various sporting events” (Geoffrey 113). This
“praise of tournaments, still popular in
[King] James’s day but obsolete by Charles’s, and the assertion of their
unimpeachably Trojan origin must have struck a sour note [especially if
performed before the king] in 1633” (Hopkins 45).
° 55. Iulus]
Another name for Ascanius, the son of Aeneas.
° 54-6. our
ancient … represent] “Troy” was a game/sporting event which Ascanius
(Iulus) learnt at Troy, as a boy. According to Virgil’s description of the
event, troops of boys on horseback charge one another, wielding lances, then
stage certain manoeuvres, “[k]eeping their relative positions … while
performing their maze of / Evolutions—a mimic engagement of mounted troops: /
Now they turn their backs in flight, now wheel and charge … It was like the
fabled Labyrinth … A maze … To keep the venturer guessing and trick him … Just
like this were the tracks made by the complex manoeuvres / Of the boys, as they
wove their patterns of sham flight or sham encounter” (Aeneid 5.584-94). Ascanius introduced the game to the early Latins
to commemorate the death of his grandfather, Anchises. “Represent”, here, means
“enact” or “revive, re-institute”.
° 57.sd. A
dancing masque of six] A group of six performers who give a short show
involving music, mime and dance.
° 57.sd. epinicion]
song of triumph.
° 60. goose-quills]
writing implements. “The rex pacificus
[as James I styled himself] wins his victory not by arms but by the weapon of
writing. While [military] triumphs were often staged or preserved in book form,
James’s triumph was actually won by the act of writing a book … a tract [issued
in 1607] defending his policy towards recusants against strictures by Pope Paul
V” (Miller 110).
° 62. so so]
so very.
° 63. Io
Paean] an ancient song of triumph.
° 64. They]
The Romans.
° 64. They
may … Fortunate] The British Isles were often referred to as the “Fortunate
Isles” during the reigns of the Stuarts. For example, one masque by Jonson is
entitled The Masque of the Fortunate
Isles and their Union (1624). An arch built for the pageant welcoming James
to London in 1603 declared that James would restore the Golden Age “which would
endure in the Fortunate Isles of Great Britain until the end of time” (Parry
13).
° 64-5. They
may … fame] The Romans came to Britain, hoping to achieve glory as victors.
Instead, they found fame as dead soldiers. (Since brave soldiers were said to
go to the Islands of the Blessed, alias the Fortunate Islands, when they died,
the bard says the Romans may now regard Britain as those very islands.)
° 66. All]
All other nations.
° 66. they]
but they yield.
° 67. The
world … name] The world knows that we Britons deserve to be called Trojans
no less than the Romans do.
° 69.sd. play
at foils] fence with foils.
° 70. ’Twas
foully played] That last thrust of yours was against the rules.
° 71. give a
quittance] pay it back in kind.
° 71.sd. swords]
This shows that the foils they were using were tipped for safety. Since
Hirildas initiates this raising of the stakes, Eulinus may be regarded as less
to blame for what follows.
° 74. He]
Eulinus.
° 70-4. While the sports to celebrate victory over
the Romans “were going on,” writes Geoffrey, “it happened that two well-known
youths, one the King’s own nephew [Hirelgdas; Fisher’s Hirildas] and the other
the nephew of Duke Androgeus [Cuelinus; Fisher’s Eulinus], wrestled together
man to man and then disagreed as to who had gained the upper hand … First they
wrangled with each other, then Cuelinus drew his sword and cut off the head of
the King’s nephew” (Geoffrey 113). Thus, in Geoffrey, Cuelinus (Eulinus)
murders Hireldgas (Hirildas). In Fisher’s play, Eulinus commits manslaughter in
self-defence.
° 77. Tanti]
An “expression of contempt” (Hazlitt); “I don’t give a fig…”
° 83-4. And,
being …court] In Geoffrey, Cassibelane is not present during the contest in
Trinovant. Hearing of his nephew’s death, the king summons Cuelinas to the
court for proper trial. “Androgeus guessed what the King intended to do. He
answered that he had a court of his own and that any case brought against his
men ought to be tried there … in the town of Trinovantum” (113-4).
° 91. Enyo]
Greek name for Bellona, goddess of war.
° 96. buckler]
small round shield.
° 97. pikes]
“piles” in the quarto.
° 99-100. Not
he … passed] The man who has always lived in safety doesn’t know what it
means to be happy.
° 105. he]
Julius Caesar.
° 105. him
front] defy him.
° 108-10. as
firmly … force] remain as steadfast (i.e. loyal to the throne) as strong
oak trees, which do not bend with the blasts of Aeolus, the god of the winds,
but mock his vaunted power with the whistling in your branches.
° 111. gall]
gall-bladder. There may also be a pun on divisions in the Gaulish camp.
° 111. dye my
… flame-colour] make everything I do an expression of the anger I (should)
feel. According to the theory of the four humours, choler (or yellow bile) was
the cause of anger. Thus, Cassibelane addresses the sac containing his body’s
store of bile, asking it to explode and, thereby, make him respond
appropriately to the defiance of Androgeus.
° 113. watched
a time] had been biding its time, waiting for an opportunity.
° 114. crush]
forcibly alter, reduce.
° 115. The
conduits … spring] His main
arteries.
° 116. Spurtle’d]
Splattered.
° 117. Attach]
Arrest.
° 3.8.1.sd. Androgeus
… Mandubrace] “The Renaissance [historian] was left to decide between
Mandubratius, whom Caesar himself had mentioned, and Androgeus … Geoffrey’s
adaptation of Mandubratius … [The author of Fuimus
Troes] could not decide. He makes Mandubratius and Androgeus two different
people and even lets them share the stage together … The playwright carefully
integrates Caesar’s details while retaining those elements of Geoffrey
necessary to fit the event into the Galfridian epic pattern” (Curran 21-2).
° 1. Justice]
Astraea, the goddess of justice (an “allegorical persona” of Elizabeth I
[Hopkins 45]).
° 1. Justice
and just Libra] Astraea is “a Roman title of the Libyan goddess of holy
law, Libra … symbolised by the Scales of Judgement now enshrined in the zodiac
as Libra” (Walker). In a scene featuring
two “historical” characters who are really one character with two different
names (Androgeus and Mandubrace), it is worth noting that one of them himself
splits a goddess into two deities, giving one her Roman name (Astraea) and the
other her African name (Libra).
° 1-2. Shall
Justice … belt?] Astraea
(Justice) lived on the earth during the golden age. Later, the wickedness of
humanity drove her to heaven, where she assumed a place in the zodiac (“the
embroidered belt”) under the name of Virgo, holding a pair of scales and a
sword. It was foretold that Astraea would return to the earth at the dawning of
a new golden age of peace. Androgeus is asking: “Will justice never return to
human society?” Arches built for the pageant welcoming James I to London in
1603 included one bearing an announcement that James would restore the Golden
Age, with the result that “Justice, so long absent from the earth, would
return: the figure of Astraea … stood on the summit of two of the arches, being
now identified with James’s rule” (Parry 13).
° 8. brimstone]
i.e. sulphur. Brimstone was regarded as an agent of purification; thus, in
Purgatory, sins were burned away with fire and brimstone. Androgeus asks
Jupiter to use his thunderbolts to purge the British state of Cassibelane’s
tyrannical pride.
° 9. innocent]
If thunderbolts are regarded as mere natural phenomena which indifferently
blast “innocent” hills and pines, divine justice may be said to be absent from
nature.
° 11-3. My
father … flight] “Mandubracius, a young prince of [the Trinovantes] tribe,
had gone over to the continent [during Caesar’s second attempt to invade
Britain] to put himself under Caesar’s protection, having fled for his life
when his father the king of the Trinovantes was killed by Cassivellaumus
[Cassibelane]” (Caesar 138).
° 15. the
element] the sky, the heavens.
° 17. Nemesis]
the goddess of vengeance.
° 19. manes]
spirit, ghost.
° 21. be revenged
on you] i.e. by disturbing your rest (and peace of mind) with its terrible
presence.
° 22. wreak]
revenge.
° 23. case
and cause] situation and ground for complaint.
° 24. same]
same as Mandubrace’s.
° 25. fact]
deed, crime.
° 27. But
murder out-cries both] But murder is
murder, and that fact weighs more in the scales than either the law’s verdict
or our opposition to that verdict.
° 31. Usurpers
use this method still] “Androgeus’s impassioned comparison of a previous
justice with present tyranny … must have struck a sour note in 1633 …
especially when that justice is explicitly identified with Elizabeth I’s
allegorical persona of Astraea” (Hopkins 45).
° 33. nonage]
period of legal infancy.
° 34. popular
grace] charming manners that please the general public.
° 35. regiment]
government, authority (Hazlitt).
° 35. we]
while we are only.
° 37. Like
puppet-lords … scarf] a reference to conventions of puppet-theatre?
° 38. reign
o’er brutes] command only the animals we hunt. Presumably, there is also a
punning suggestion that the subject-Britons Androgeus feels he should be ruling
over are equivalent to “brutes”.
° 41. big] arrogant, haughty.
° 39-42. Our
uncle … man] The sense is not clear. I adopt Hazlitt’s emendation of the
quarto’s “So when” in line 39 to “who, when”. However, this forms a defining
clause, which has the unfortunate effect of making it sound as though
Cassibelane were the only king who had ever spurned “all fear of God and man”.
° 43. jealousies]
suspicions, paranoia.
° 45. look
awry] accidentally say or do the wrong thing.
° 46. Reared
up by ruins] Built on insecure foundations; i.e. originating in an act of
usurpation.
° 46. thence
may … fall] From his own case knows how easily someone else might usurp him
in turn.
° 48. antiphones]
fine-sounding echoing responses.
° 49. beseem
us] are more appropriate to our situation.
° 50-3. During Caesar’s second attempt to invade
Britain “envoys arrived from the Trinovantes, about the strongest tribe in
south-eastern Britain …The envoys promised to surrender and obey Caesar’s
commands, and asked him to protect Mandubracius from Cassivellaunus and send
him home to rule his people as king. Caesar demanded forty hostages and grain
for his troops, and then allowed Mandubratius to go. The Trinovantes promptly
sent the required number of hostages and the grain” (Caesar 138).
° 54. Charmers]
“Charmers are enchanters or magicians.
So in Othello, 3.4.: “That
handkerchief / Did an Egyptian to my mother give; / She was a charmer, and could almost read / The
thoughts of people.”” (Hazlitt).
° 55. Grateful]
Gratifying.
° 56. apprehensive]
perceptive, feeling (Hazlitt); anticipating.
° 55. Grateful
Revenge … soul] Mandubrace addresses the goddess Nemesis directly: “Great
Nemesis, my soul grows fat, tasting in anticipation your bitter-sweet relish!”
° 56. off]
away.
° 58. barely
poor] naked and unprovided for.
° 58. as
nature … out] as the day he was born. (“For we brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” [1 Timothy 6.7].)
° 60. affrighted]
For the modern reader “afflicted” might better express Mandubrace’s idea.
° 62. I reck
not how] I don’t care how it’s done (so long as it’s done).
° 65. rubbage]
rubble.
° 65. epitaph
our towns] be the only signs of where our destroyed towns once stood.
° 66. fight:
who] fight: to decide who.
° 69. physic]
cure.
° 68-9. No
sin … phlebotomy] Mandubrace equates the tyrant (Cassibelane) with the
commonwealth. Those seeking to remove a tyrant may be deterred by feelings of
pity for what may subsequently befall the nation (which, after all, the tyrant,
as king, incorporates). Nonetheless, the only cure for a nation ruled by a
tyrant is a drastic, life-threatening operation (“phlebotomy”: a surgical
incision into a vein); i.e. Cassibelane must be assassinated.
° 3.9.10. Eloquent]
And eloquent.
° 9-10. Plenide
… Orone] Munday, in the Triumphs of Reunited Britania, lists
Plenidius and Oronius among “the bards of early Britain” (lines 29-32).
° 16.sd. Second
song] With James I seeking to (re)unite England and Scotland, plays about
“British history” could not avoid either alluding to the contemporary
relationship between England and Scotland, or being interpreted with Scottish
matters in mind. Thus, “Antony Munday’s London pageant, Sidero-Thriambos (1618) … brings an “ancient Brittish Bard” out of his grave to address the crowd not in Welsh
or Anglo-Welsh but in Scots” (Kerrigan 123). In addition, Kerrigan notes that Fuimus Troes has “ancient Britons sing
in Scots [or rather, in Scottish dialect] their survival of a Roman attack”
(138). Hopkins notes that in 1633 (the year of Fuimus Troes publication), “Charles I rode north to his Scottish
coronation” (36). Thus, Fisher’s inclusion of a song using Scottish dialect
appears pertinent to “questions of what it meant to be English, Scottish” or
British in 1633 (37). Moreover, the chanting of a Scottish victory song is a
pointed reminder that the Britons of the south need(ed) Scottish help to defeat
Rome. On account of the play’s inclusion of a song containing Scottish dialect,
“a conjecture has been hazarded that the author [Fisher] was a Scotchman, or
that the song was introduced to please King James. If so, the play must have
been written and represented before 1625; but there is no evidence that James
was ever present when it was performed” (Collier, in Hazlitt). Hazlitt refers
to the conjecture that Fisher was Scottish as “unfortunate”.
° 17. Gang]
Go on; come on.
° 18. Sa]
So.
° 18. wimble]
nimble, fit.
° 18. wight]
strong.
° 19. Fewl
mickle] Very much; a great deal of.
° 19. teen]
trouble, vexation.
° 20. ligg]
lie, languish, remain.
° 20. plight]
sorry state, sombre mood.
° 21. bonny]
hearty, brave; high-spirited.
° 21. buxom]
cheerful.
° 22. Trip]
Skip, dance.
° 22. haydegues]
hurdy-gurdies. The “haydigee” is “a sort of rural dance” (Hazlitt).
° 22. belyve]
quickly; in a lively fashion.
° 23. gif]
if.
° 23. gars]
makes.
° 23. welkin]
sky.
° 23. merk]
dark, murky.
° 24. blive]
remain.
° 25. Hidder,
eke and shidder] Men and women too.
° 26. With
spicèd sew ycramd] So full of spiced alcoholic drinks.
° 27. unneath]
inside.
° 27. thilke]
that.
° 27. borrells]
drinking-place.
° 28. May]
They may.
° 28. ne]
neither
° 28. yede]
walk.
° 28. ne]
nor.
° 29. leef]
dear, delightful.
° 29. weet]
think, rate.
° 30. timbarins]
tambourines.
° 30. ‘gin
sound] start playing.
° 31. harvest
gil] young woman celebrating the harvest.
° 31. pranked
up] decked out, dressed up.
° 31. lathe]
lace.
° 32. lout it
low] dance in an unsophisticated manner with swooping movements.
° 4.1.2. Romulus’
sleepy mother] Rhea Silvia, alias Ilia, daughter of Numitor, king of Alba.
° 1-2. stern
Mars … press] According to legend, Mars secretly had intercourse with Ilia,
fathering Romulus, the founder of Rome, and his twin brother Remus. “It is
notable that … Caesar … suggest[s] that Roman valour in province-taking is
directly related to Mars’s sexual conquest of the mother of Romulus and Remus”
(Hopkins 40).
° 3. brood]
descendants.
° 3. degenerous]
degenerate; i.e. the Romans’ martial qualities have declined since the time of
Romulus.
° 5. Burst
Janus’ prison] Leave heaven, Mars, and bring war back to earth. (The god
Janus held the key to the gate of heaven.) Alternatively, Caesar may have in
mind the fact that “the doors of [Janus’s] temple in Rome were thrown open in
times of war and closed in times of peace.” (Brewer).
° 6. drown]
drown out.
° 6. Stentor’s]
Stentor was one of the Greek heroes at Troy. His voice was louder than the voices of 50 men shouting
together.
° 7. eights]
octaves (with pitch regarded as equivalent to volume).
° 7. Pindus]
a chain of mountains, sacred to the Muses and, therefore, capable of echoing a
loud voice in a resounding manner.
° 7. re-beat]
echo.
° 8. catch]
musical round.
° 9. Taurus]
Turkish mountain range.
° 9. low]
bellow.
° 9-10. pygmies
small … burrows] According to Aristotle, the pygmies, a nation of dwarfs,
lived in holes under the earth (Lemprière).
° 12. Thy]
i.e. Mars’s.
° 13. Lemnian
chain] The women of Lemnos massacred their husbands then maintained their
island’s population by inviting passing sailors to impregnate them. Caesar
wonders what has become of the manly qualities of his soldiers. Perhaps his
troops have been affected by some latent Lemnian qualities of Britain.
° 13. shackles
our mounting eagle] impedes the expansion of our empire.
° 14. strait]
narrow, small.
° 15.sd. wounded
and bloody] We are not told how Mandubrace became “wounded and bloody”, but
we may suppose that Cassibelane’s forces attacked him on his way to Caesar’s
camp.
° 15.sd. Androgeus’s
young son] This character is not mentioned in the quarto’s list of Dramatis Personae. In Geoffrey,
Androgeus (“Geoffrey’s adaptation of Mandubratius” [Curran 21]) sends a letter
to Caesar, seeking Caesar’s help. In reply, Caesar demands hostages in return
for his aid. “Androgeus immediately sent his own son Scaeva to Caesar, together
with thirty young nobles who were his own close relatives” (Geoffrey 115).
° 2. Favour a
… slain] Mandubrace is referring to himself, not Androgeus’s son.
° 18. His
regiment bereft] The right to rule his tribe stolen from him.
° 22. coz]
nephew.
° 26-7. strike
/ Revengeful fire] obtain revenge
on our behalf.
° 32. globe]
full moon’s face.
° 35. furtherance]
assistance.
° 37. ventures]
risks.
° 39. linage]
lineage. (See note to line 15.sd.)
° 41. I’ll
once … seas] Fisher’s Caesar (like Geoffrey’s) had given up on his attempt
to conquer Britain. Only Mandubrace/Androgeus’s explicit (and traitorous)
request for aid brings him back. In this way, it can be asserted that “Caesar
had not really beaten the Britons at all; instead, they had in Geoffrey’s
version beaten themselves … [A]n outstanding feature of Geoffrey’s tale was …
the notion that Androgeus’s betrayal of Britain alone permitted Caesar’s third
voyage and victory. With this device, Geoffrey, arguing Britain as Rome’s equal
or superior … diluted Rome’s best accomplishment by transferring agency to the
Britons. The Britons were even in defeat self-made” (Curran 149-50). Tacitus’s
account of Gaulish in-fighting could be used to support this pro-British view:
“Once [the Gaulish tribes] owed obedience to kings; now they are distracted
between the warring factions of rival chiefs. Indeed, nothing has helped us
more in fighting against their very powerful nations than their inability to
co-operate. It is but seldom that two or three states unite to repel a common
danger; thus, fighting in separate groups, all are conquered” (62).
° 42. that]
so that a.
° 44-5. Perpetual
spring … Surname] The grammar is elided: “And so that perpetual spring
… may surname your isle…”
° 42-5. that
happier … West] By conquering Britain, Caesar suggests, he will bring an
end to factional wars there and usher in a new golden age of peace and plenty.
Life will be so good, it will seem like it’s always spring, as in the “Garden
of the West”, i.e. the Hesperides.
° 46-7. Thanks,
gracious … knee] By retaining Caesar’s Mandubrace, as well as Geoffrey’s
Androgeus, Fisher is able to record the fact that the Romans needed British
help to defeat the Britons, and, at the same time, avoid having a character
associated with Geoffrey’s history perform so humiliating an act as kissing
Caesar’s knee in gratitude. We are possibly supposed to infer that only a
Briton “invented” by Caesar could act so basely. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
forbids “citizens to indulge in genual obeisance” (Ronan 55). Indeed, in The Valiant Welshman, Caradoc, a Briton,
says: “I was not born to kneele, but to the Gods … Were Cesar lord of all the
spacious world … in spite of death and him / Ide keep my legs upright” (5.5.13,
16, 18-9; in Ronan 55). “Triumphalist bending and bowing of the subjects were
enforced at court by Elizabeth and the Stuarts alike, in imitation of customs
rooted in pagan Roman antiquity—and the liturgy of Roman Catholicism” (56).
° 49. lares]
deified ancestors or heroes.
° 51. shape]
appearance, garb.
° 52. clowns]
country-folk.
° 53. Once]
This one time only.
° 54-5. Be
pleased … you] Don’t be angry, my native gods, because I’ve invited the
Romans to repair wrongs which you chose to do nothing about.
° 56. state]
empire.
° 57. the
lion’s flaming fleece] the portion of the sky belonging to the
constellation Leo.
° 63. Africus]
wind from the south.
° 64. Hyperion’s
son] Phoebus, the sun. “Hyperion” should be read “HY-puh-REE-on”.
° 4.2.1. Arion’s
lute] Pleased by his music, dolphins
saved the poet-musician Arion from drowning.
° 1-2. the
chimes … raise] Amphion was said to have built the walls of Thebes simply
by playing on his lyre.
° 3. Urania]
the muse of astronomy.
° 3-5. Though
sweet … measures] Urania is here regarded as responsible for the music of
the spheres.
° 6. air-bred
ear] Hazlitt’s emendation of the quarto’s “ear-bred air”.
° 7. Those
fabulous stones] those stones Amphion moved with his music.
° 7. more]
more easily.
° 8. Lead]
the element, taken as a poison or narcotic.
° 8. stupefy]
may be used to anaesthetise.
° 9. acts
gambols] performs mad capers.
° 10. The
centaur’s wheel] Ixion, a king of Thessaly, attempting to seduce Juno, was
tricked into having intercourse with a cloud which looked like Juno. Jupiter
punished Ixion for his presumption by fastening him to a wheel which turns
perpetually in hell. The children Ixion had by the cloud were the centaurs,
though Ixion himself was not a centaur.
° 10. Prometheus’
hawk] The bird which preyed on Prometheus’s liver for approximately 30
years was in fact a vulture. Presumably, the dramatist changed the bird to
avoid repetition.
° 10-11. the
vulture / Of Tityus] In hell,
vultures perpetually feed on the entrails of Tityus the giant as a punishment
for his attempting to rape the goddess Latona.
° 12. Danaids’
tub] As a punishment for killing their husbands, the Danaides (daughters of
Danaus) had to pour water perpetually into sieves.
° 21. most
accursed part] Eulinus addresses his liver, the bile-factory which caused
his anger.
° 23. salamander]
a lizard-like monster, able to live in fire.
° 32. their
sentence] Cassibelane’s tribunal.
° 32. Say]
Say that the.
° 33. If law
… myself] If the law does not condemn me to death, I’ll take the law into
my own hands and kill myself.
° 34. ensigns]
the flags of opposing factions (in a civil war caused by the dispute over
Eulinus’s trial).
° 34. nations]
opposing tribes.
° 38. First
may … jaws] First may I die and, thereby, provide food for Cerberus, the
three-headed guard-dog of hell.
° 39. Thou]
Landora.
° 40. Phoenix
of females] At the time of her marriage to Frederick V, the Elector
Palatine, Princess Elizabeth “was seen as a rebirth of the phoenix, a return to
life of … Queen Elizaberth I” (Yates, Last
Plays 32); i.e. she represented a resurrection of militant Protestant hopes
for opposing Roman Catholicism in mainland Europe. Thus, in An Epithalamion,
Or Marriage Song on the Lady Elizabeth and the Count Palatine being married on
St. Valentines day (1613), Donne calls Elizabeth “faire Phoenix Bride”
(line 29).
° 41. runagate]
eager to flee.
° 39-41. Thou
only … mud] Only the thought of you, Landora, keeps this soul of mine,
which longs to leave this world, still confined within this fleshly slime, my
body.
° 42-3. Yet
how … own?] But how can I plausibly visit you disguised as Hirildas, the
man you loved, now he’s dead? Conversely, how can I approach you in my own
guise, seeing as I am his murderer?
° 45. brand]
a burning torch.
° 45-6. quaking
… and fear] shaking with a mixture of anger and fear.
° 4.3.1. Wisdom,
confirm my sense] Wise counsellors, confirm with your reports and opinions
what my senses suggest is the case.
° 5. Titan’s]
Titan is a title of the Roman sun-god.
° 7. Delos]
island; Delos was a floating island until Jupiter chained it to the bottom of
the sea.
° 8. frame of
Pallas] Palladium: a wooden statue of Pallas (i.e. Minerva). The safety of
Troy was said to depend on its retention of this statue.
° 9. crafty
Sinon] Sinon was the cunning Greek spy who tricked the Trojans into
bringing the Greeks’ wooden horse into the otherwise impregnable city.
° 9. those
wooden horse] i.e. not the famous wooden horse but wooden ships. Echoing
Augustine (who scoffed at the efficacy of such idols as the Palladium [5ff]),
Rollano suggests that Troy fell not because it lost the Palladium but for more
prosaic military reasons.
° 10. dis-Troy]
destroy.
° 11. mother’s]
mother-city’s.
° 11. Achilles
comes again] Throughout this speech, the Romans attacking Britain are
equated with the Greeks besieging Troy (“Delos … Sinon … Achilles”). This
implies the Britons are the “true” Trojans.
° 12. Pergamus]
The name of Troy’s citadel.
° 14. Wonder!]
Amazing! Unbelievable!
° 15. deboshed]
beyond recovery.
° 16. Belike]
Perhaps.
° 17. the
Lernean adder] the hydra, a many-headed monster which grew two heads every
time one was severed.
° 20-1. lest
view … fright] “Caesar ordered the warships – which were … likely to
impress the natives more by their unfamiliar appearance – to be removed a short
distance from the [other vessels] … Scared by the strange shape of the
warships, the motion of the oars, and the unfamiliar machines, the natives
halted and then retreated a little” (Caesar 122).
° 26. natural
mound] position, naturally higher in such circumstances.
° 29. were
dangerous … heel] would create a dangerous weak spot comparable to the heel
of Achilles (Pelides; i.e. son of Peleus).
° 30. large]
broad.
° 30. Then]
On the other hand.
° 31. the
state] the state’s resources.
° 34. by]
from.
° 34. discretion]
a sound judgement, a prudent mind.
° 34. guess]
recall, bring to mind.
° 39. naval
fight] combat with the storm-tossed sea.
° 40. For
charges] As for the cost to the state.
° 41. Shall
he] Let him.
° 42. detract]
subtract, deduct.
° 41-3. Shall
he … stake] For Caesar, win or lose, this invasion will prove an expensive
venture, but for us, given what’s at stake (our liberty, our lives and our
kingdom), any expenses we may incur are negligible. “War was expected to
produce not only the glory of military success to the victors in the ancient
world but also a handsome financial return” (Salway 32). Since, for the second
expedition, Caesar sailed with over eight hundred vessels, he must have been
expecting to find great riches in Britain.
° 47. when]
while, whereas.
° 48. can]
can only.
° 49. Plainness]
Flatness and openness.
° 50. mounts]
earthworks.
° 54. when as]
whereas
° 54. received
within] once allowed in.
° 55. feed a
viper] nourish a deadly enemy.
° 56. And
malcontents … refuge] Read with contemporary issues in mind, this line may
imply that through the state’s allowing Roman Catholics to live in England,
cover is provided for various subversive elements.
° 58. swift
ruin runs] the surviving defeated
forces hastily flee in confusion.
° 62. Gives
lustre] Shall lend glory.
° 62. To keep
him out] To hide within fortifications and endure a siege.
° 64. death]
i.e. death personified, causing death to come and fetch him.
° 4.4.2. Tagus’
yellow sand] the river Tagus, crossing Spain and Portugal, was said to
contain golden sand. Here, the Tagus represents the Roman province of Spain.
° 2. obey]
acknowledge Rome as its master.
° 3. Rhine’s]
In vain as well, the Rhine’s.
° 3. Rhine’s
horned front] Virgil called the Rhine “bicornis”
because it divides into two streams. “The river Rhine was for a long time a
barrier between the Romans and the Germans … J. Caesar was the first Roman who
crossed it to invade Germany” (Lemprière sub
Rhenus).
° 3-4. Tigris,
running … top] The Tigris, a river in Asia, flowed over mount Niphaltes in
Armenia.
° 5. Hesperian
Gades] Cadiz.
° 6. The
bounds] The Ganges was “said by Lucan to be the boundary of Alexander’s
victories in the east” (Lemprière). Situated 25 miles from Cadiz, the Pillars of
Hercules are two rocks at the entrance to the Mediterranean. “The ancients
supposed that these rocks marked the utmost limits of the habitable globe”
(Brewer). From Caesar’s perspective, the Roman Empire is coextensive with the
world. Thus, the “discovery” of Britain by Caesar is significant in that it
allows room for imperial expansion. On the other hand, the “bounds” may mark a
“natural” extent of the Roman Empire beyond which Rome cannot expand with
impunity. See note to 1.2.11.
° 6. Jove’s
two base-born sons] Hercules and Alexander.
° 7. sound]
resound.
° 2-8. In
vain … victors] This passage indicates that, in terms of identity
formation, Caesar is “dependent on the subjugation of suitably “othered”
others” (Hopkins 43). However, the suggestion that the passage shows “Caesar …
is wedded … to a model of identity definition based primarily on exclusion”
(43), with its implicit criticism of such a mode of thought as being
characteristic of Caesar, does not sufficiently allow for the ubiquity of
Caesar’s attitude. As Rivkin and Ryan remark (paraphrasing ideas found in
Derrida): “Any spatially locatable object of thought … has an identity or
presence of its own only by differing from other things” (278).
° 11. wooden
walls] Though the Romans claim to be descended from the Trojans, Caesar
makes “an allusion which immediately undoes much of his ideological work when
he urges his pilots to rely on their “wooden walls”. As even the most casual
student of Athenian history knows, it was the Greeks, not the Trojans who relied on wooden walls, and the Greeks
with whom Caesar thus identifies himself and his fellow-Romans” (Hopkins 43).
° 12. their]
these British.
° 13. Their
bulks] These Britons’ large bodies.
° 15. They
were … Styx] The sea-goddess Thetis dipped her son Achilles in the River
Styx in order to make his body invulnerable.
° 17. quit]
make amends for.
° 17. our
credit lost] the damage to our reputation arising from the previous
campaign.
° 18. rage]
vengeful anger. (“Two years passed. Then Caesar prepared to cross the sea a
second time, in order to avenge himself on Cassivellaunus … eager to inflict a
signal defeat upon a people who had beaten him” [Geoffrey 111-2].)
° 18. lash on]
motivate.
° 21. Scud]
Run quickly.
° 21. fir-tree
vaults] ships.
° 24. Scythian
wolves] “In Fuimus Troes, which
proclaims the islanders’ kinship with Rome and Troy, Britons share … the
martial wolfishness of the Roman army as a “ravenous wolf” (2.1.[35]). These
Celtic … descendants of Brut soon redefine themselves as barbaric “Scythian
wolves” (4.4.[24]) … They conclude that if given slightly better fortune, they
would have been able to invade Italy and “make Romulus’ wolf / Howl horror in
their streets” (4.4.[36-7])” (Ronan 193).
° 27. would]
if only.
° 27. succoured]
sent troops as reinforcements.
° 28. are
decayed] have dwindled, are reduced in numbers.
° 29. make
head] soon advance.
° 31. flaming
sparkles] stars.
° 32. Paint
not … night] Adorn not a freezing, because cloudless, night-sky.
° 32-3. bees /
buzz … head] Mount Hybla, in Sicily,
was famous for its honey and an abundance of sweet-smelling flowers.
° 38. As when
… walls] Hannibal, the commander of the Carthaginian armies in Spain,
decided to take his war with the Romans to Rome itself.
° 40. favours]
marks of favour, love-tokens. Caesar tells his troops that the scars they have
received in battle are nothing more than tokens of love awarded by Bellona,
goddess of war.
° 42. Quirinus’]
The name Quirinus (being a surname of Mars) was given to the deified Romulus.
° 41-2. Our
empire … spread] Our empire, having begun at a single point (in the form of
Romulus, founder of Rome), spreads in all directions.
° 43. Titan]
The sun.
° 46-7. Have
we … powers?] Has Rome or Britain inherited Trojan (Phrygian) power? Who
are the “true Trojans”?
° 47. Palladium]
See note to 4.3.8.
° 48. Those
gods … joy] “The Palladium … was conveyed safe from Troy to Italy by
Aeneas, and it was afterwards preserved by the Romans with the greatest secrecy
and veneration, in the temple of Vesta” (Lemprière). In Livy, Camillus refers
to “the image which is housed in [Vesta’s] temple as guarantor of Rome’s
empire” (337). “Joy” here may mean religious delight or bliss—for example, the
emotion felt by “Mary, as the mother of Jesus” (Crystal and Crystal; citing Henry IV Part 2: “Mary’s joys”
[2.4.47]). However, the joy (and security) felt by the Romans in possessing the
Palladium is (according to Augustine) deluded and misplaced: “What madness is
it to suppose that Rome had been wisely entrusted to these guardians, and could
not have been taken unless it had lost them! Indeed, to worship conquered gods
as protectors and champions, what is this but to worship, not good divinities,
but evil omens?” (6). Moreover, the fact that Caesar pluralises the Palladium,
referring to it as “gods”, serves to remind the audience that the Romans were
pagans at the time of the play’s action. Implicit, then, is the idea that the
Britons’ profession of a proto-Christian religion, in the form of druidism,
singles them out for a glorious (Protestant) destiny as a world power that will
eventually supplant not only the pagan Roman empire but also the
idol-worshipping Catholic church.
° 49. These]
These “Trojans” (i.e. the Britons).
° 51. ominous
earth] soil and dust carried up by strong winds to darken the sky,
presenting an evil omen.
° 52. darkness]
the normal darkness of night.
° 53. south]
south wind.
° 53. rough-footed]
and rough-footed.
° 53. Aquilo]
Latin name for the north wind (the Boreas) (Pliny 2.119).
° 55. flames]
bolts of lightning.
° 57. who]
to see who can.
° 58. distilled]
having dissolved.
° 58. his
room] the empty space left by the dissolved sky.
° 59. starry
hill] night-sky.
° 50-60. No
good … sunk] While Caesar pursued the fleeing enemy, “dispatch-riders
brought news from Atrius of a great storm in the night, by which nearly all the
ships had been damaged or cast ashore … About forty ships were a total loss”
(Caesar 134).
° 61. devil]
invisible nuisance.
° 61. What
devil-Cacus … back] After Hercules had obtained the herd of Geryon, Cacus,
a monstrous three-headed robber, “Rustled four bulls of surpassing build out of
the steadings, / And with them as many heifers … These, / To ensure that they
left no tracks pointing the way they had gone, / He dragged by their tails backwards
into his cave” (Aeneid 8.206-9).
Caesar’s allusion perhaps seems a little arbitrary unless it is recalled that
Virgil had made Hercules “a type for Augustus when, after his conquest of
Geryon, he appears in a proto-triumph on the future site of Rome” (Miller 28): “[V]ictorious, he drove this way / His great bulls, and his
herds were thronged by our marshy
river” (Aeneid 8.202-3; emphases
added). Moreover, Hercules’s destruction of Cacus in Virgil is “a possible
allusion to Augustus’s victory over savage Alpine tribes” (Miller 28). Thus,
something appears to Fisher’s Caesar to be preventing him from qualifying for a
triumphal entry of Rome on his return to that city, having conquered a brutish
nation (the Britons) equivalent to the
“savage … tribes” Augustus will later suppress.
° 62-3. Doth
she … height?] Are we past the highest point of our career, and now the
goddess Fortune, seeming to be on our
side, is lifting us up (in a backwards-fashion) to let us fall from a greater
height?
° 66. Thus
join we standards] Thus we ally ourselves with Rome.
° 68. By me]
Through me, in my person.
° 68-9. By me
… Cassians] “When they saw that the Trinovantes had been protected against
Cassivellaunus and spared any injury on the part of the Roman troops, several
other tribes sent embassies and surrendered” (Caesar 138-9). Caesar’s note
names the surrendering tribes as “the Cenimagni, Segontiaci, Ancalites,
Bibroci, and Cassi” (139.n). “The Trinobantes
were those who inhabited Middlesex and Essex. The Cenigmagnians, says Camden, were the same with the Iceni, whose
province contained Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire. Segontiacks, he thinks, were originally
the Belgae, and places them in the hundred of Holshot, in Hampshire; the Ancalites he calls those who inhabit the
hundred of Henley, in Oxfordshire; the Bybrocks,
that of Bray, in Berkshire; and the Cassians
the people of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Herefordshire, where the
name is still preserved in the hundred of Cashow” (Hazlitt).
° 72. The
tyrant … banks] “Cassivellaunus’ territory is separated from the maritime
tribes by a river called the Thames” (Caesar 135). At Oxford, the Thames is
called the Isis.
° 73. A full
… white-surpliced] In the early decades of the seventeenth-century, Puritans
such as William Hinde, “the protégé of John Rainolds, … object[ed] to wearing
the surplice” (Tyacke, Controversy
580). The anachronistic use of the adjective “white-surpliced” may, therefore,
be intended to imply that Cassibelane’s royal choir is proto-Anglican. Indeed,
Mandubrace’s “full choir” is suggestive of the choirs of seventeenth-century
Oxford: “During the first decades of the seventeenth-century there was a new
flowering of sacred choral music in Oxford … Laud, archbishop of Canterbury …
played a key role in the support of the movement which encouraged the use of
music in the liturgy” (Gouk 626).
° 73. white-surpliced
swans] The swan’s “white plumage made it a symbol of noble purity … The
singing swan, which (unlike the mute swan) lives only in more northern
latitudes … is associated with Apollo, who was … said to be revered by the
northern mythic race of the Hyperboreans … At times the swan is referred to as
the enemy or opponent of the eagle” (Biedermann). In Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, Innogen says: “I’th’ world’s
volume / Our Britain seems as of it but not in’t, / In a great pool a swan’s
nest” (3.4.138-40). Rollano had earlier called Britain a “soft halcyon’s [i.e.
kingfisher’s] nest” (see 1.3.64 and note). Representing Britain as a bird’s nest
floating on the sea, detached from the rest of the (known) world, implies that
Britain, untainted by the violence of the Iron Age, still partakes to some
extent of the conditions of the golden age of peace.
° 74-5. The
ford’s … water] “Caesar led his army to the Thames in order to enter
Cassivellaunus’ territory. The river is fordable at one point only, and even
there with difficulty. At this place he found large enemy forces drawn up on
the opposite bank. The bank was also fenced by sharp stakes fixed along the
edge, and he was told by prisoners and deserters that similar ones were
concealed in the river-bed” (Caesar 137).
° 77. Those
downy … notes] Swans were believed to sing just prior to dying. Here,
Caesar associates swans with songs of mourning in general.
° 78. kings]
Not Cassibelane but the kings of Kent etc..
° 78. departed]
having defected to our side, or abandoned the field.
° 79. pumicean
eyes] i.e. eyes made of (pumice) stone.
° 82. contrary
fates] a reversed outcome.
° 84-8. they
laugh … mouth] “You, ye Druids … If you sing of certainties, death is the
centre of continuous life. Truly the peoples on whom the Pole Star shines are
happy in their error, for they are not harassed by the greatest of terrors, the
fear of death. This gives the warrior his eagerness to rush upon the steel, a
spirit ready to face death” (Lucan, in Ashe 116).
° 89-91. Let /
Thy … coming] Have your troops march
through the woods, their feet throwing up clouds of dust, so that the sound of
marching troops and the clouds of dust announce your approach.
° 93. how
high] as high as.
° 95-6. Hostile
and … below] Not only your Roman forces but also rebellious British tribes
threaten Cassibelane, who will soon resemble a tree attacked above by winds
(foreign invaders) and strangled below by vines (which grow upon him, like a
part of himself).
° 101. vert [and] gules] The heraldic terms for green and
red.
° 101-3. And
no … hue.] 1) The fields of Britain shall no longer be green with crops;
they shall be stained red with human blood. 2) There shall be a change of
regime in Britain, with a corresponding change to the coats of arms
representing the island’s rulers (red representing Roman Catholicism).
° 104. vapoured]
decomposed, evaporating.
° 105. Kindled
on high] Catching fire on contact with the upper regions of the atmosphere.
° 105. long-bearded
stars] comets.
° 106. tell]
foretell.
° 106. out-beard
Apollo] last longer, as providers of ill omens, than even Apollo, god of
prophecy. Caesar hopes to lay a curse upon the island for centuries to come.
° 109-10. let
our … mended] Though forty ships had been lost in the recent storm, “the
rest looked as if they could be repaired at the cost of much trouble.
Accordingly, [Caesar] called out all the skilled workmen from the legions …
Further, although it was a task involving enormous labour, he decided that it
would be best to have all the ships beached and enclosed together with the camp
by one fortification” (Caesar 134-5).
° 4.5.6. seas]
the seas.
° 9. Atropos]
the oldest of the three Fates, and the one whose task it was to cut the thread
of life.
° 10. fury]
(otherwise) merciless goddess of vengeance.
° 11-2. the
whetstone … brains] her qualities inspired men to utter profound words.
º 12. the touchstone … hearts] Being perfect,
she revealed other people’s imperfections by comparison.
° 15. I know
… speaking] I’ve already guessed that Landora is dead, but as long as you
don’t actually say so, I can continue to hope she is alive.
° 16. Let
sound … robes] Don’t let the idea of her death be materialised as sound.
° 17. Dispatch
me] Tell me the news quickly.
° 21. blasted]
withered.
° 21. wink]
close your eyes, i.e. seal up your petals.
° 22. Blind
Vesper] Since Vesper, the evening star, betokens night, which is a cause of
“blindness” in people abroad at that time, the star may be regarded as blind
itself. Cf.: “black vesper” (Antony and Cleopatra 4.14.8).
° 23. cold
tears] accompanying moisture.
° 29. Confounded]
Dumbfounded.
° 29. dissolve]
dismantle.
° 30. unbrace]
unchain, release.
° 33. “Jewel” is disyllabic.
° 36. infects
my breath] affects my breath; takes my breath away.
° 37. thou]
Eulinus addresses the “poisoned draught”.
° 37. that
coral porch] her red lips.
° 39. those
close-winding stairs] her intestines.
° 41. virtue]
power to harm.
° 42. vicious]
damnable (as opposed to virtuous).
° 43. mandrakes]
poisonous plants.
° 43. gallipots]
a gallipot is “a small earthenware pot used by pharmacists as a container for
ointments, etc.” (CED).
° 44. This]
Landora’s.
° 44. casket]
jewel-box.
° 45. cask]
container, box.
° 47. taper]
torch. Cupid sometimes carried a burning torch.
° 48. Or]
Either that or.
° 50. Art]
Medical skill.
° 4.6.1. Alecto]
one of the furies. She incited (or accompanied) vengeance and war, her head
covered with snakes.
° 2. empery]
dominion (Hazlitt).
° 6. Hibernian]
Irish; Hibernia was the Roman name for Ireland.
° 6. flood]
sea.
° 7. Morvidus]
A king of Britain who died combating a savage monster that came out of the
Irish Sea and devoured the population on the sea-coast (Geoffrey 101-2). The
quarto reads “Morindus”.
° 15. virgins]
priestesses.
° 15. in a
crowd] as one; in a choir.
° 20. This
Trojan dame] Landora.
° 20. for
bride did choose] took up to heaven (as a star).
° 22-3. Gwendolin
/ The Amazon] Gwendolen led a Cornish
army against her unfaithful husband Locrinus and could therefore be described
as an “Amazon” (see note to 2.5.46).
° 24-5. Marcia
wise … devise] Marcia was the wife of the British king Guithelin, “a
noblewoman … skilled in all the arts. Among the many extraordinary things she
used her natural talent to invent was a law she devised which was called the Lex Martiana by the Britons” (Geoffrey
101). The quarto calls her “Mercia”.
° 27. Delia’s]
Diana was sometimes called Delia, having been born on the island of Delos.
° 27. great
Delia’s hornèd bow] the moon.
° 28. the
queen of love] i.e. the planet Venus in the night-sky.
° 30. Sabrina]
Sabrine. See note at 2.5.46.
° 33-4. A
ring … eye] If the sky is imagined as a ring, then Landora’s eye (now a
star) is its gem.
° 5.1.3-4. Thames
his … vermilion] the banks of the Thames, red with blood, resemble a
maiden’s blushing cheeks.
° 7. Verulam
… chiefest fort] See 1.3.12. “Cassivellaunus’ [i.e. Cassibelane’s] kingdom
was in Middlesex and Hertfordshire. His stronghold was formerly thought to have
been Verulamium, near St. Albans. But although Verulamium was certainly the
chief town of his son and successor Tasciovanus, it is probable that
Cassivellaunus’ fortress was at Wheathampstead, about five miles N.N.E. of St.
Albans” (Handford 267-8).
° 8. By
nature … fens] From the British tribes which had surrendered, “Caesar
learnt that he was not far from Cassivellaunus’ stronghold which was protected
by forests and marshes” (Caesar 139).
° 9. By art …
rampart] Caesar “marched to [Cassivellaunus’ stronghold] with his legions,
and found that it was of great natural strength and excellently fortified”
(Caesar 139). Caesar’s note adds: “The Britons apply the term “strongholds” to
densely wooded spots fortified with a rampart and a trench, to which they
retire in order to escape the attacks of invaders” (139.n).
° 11. There
are … town] Caesar “proceeded to assault [the stronghold] on two sides”
(Caesar 139). Caesar’s text does not say who provided him with information
regarding the “two ways to assail” the stronghold.
° 15. Draw]
Drag.
° 16. lead]
govern, direct, give orders to.
° 15-6. Draw
slaves … leader] Don’t drag me, like a slave. I walk to my death willingly.
Thus, I am the master of my captor. Or: Thus, I walk ahead of the one who would
lead me.
° 17. If I do
ill] If I commit a sinful act.
° 18. apathy]
indifference.
° 21. doom]
sentence.
° 25. compendious]
essential. “Compendious” is trisyllabic here (“kom-PEN-juss”).
° 27. An
hermaphrodite … body] A fusion of the spiritual (regarded as male) and the
physical (regarded as female).
° 29. The
body … length] A deliberately obscure response.
° 32. Palatine]
the Palatine Hill, the largest of the seven hills on which Rome was built.
° 32-3. Esquiline
[and] Aventine] hills of Rome.
° 33. Heap
Aventine … a] This line is hypermetrical.
° 31-7. As
steps … himself] Hulacus prophecies Caesar’s subsequent career and
apotheosis.
° 37. But
shun … house] Caesar was assassinated in the senate house in Rome in 44
B.C..
° 38. March
round … Sea] While dictator of Rome, Caesar defeated the Parthians and led
armies “past the Caspian Sea and the Caucausus, until he invaded Scythia”
(Plutarch, 348).
° 38-9. Search
out … nest] The phoenix “is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming
there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five
hundred years, when the old phoenix dies … the general make and size [of the
phoenix] are almost exactly that of the eagle” (Herodotus 155).
° 40. Run
counter to] Trace to its source.
° 40-1. run
counter … mountains] Hulacus is not prophesying that Caesar will discover
the source of the Nile; rather, he foretells that Caesar will occupy much time
in the mountains whence it flows. “The sources of the Nile are uncertain, for …
[it] is explored only by unarmed travellers, except in time of war … Its
origin, as far as King Juba was able to discover, is in a mountain in Lower
Mauretania” (Pliny 58). Caesar fought Juba during his wars against Scipio and
Cato in Africa.
° 42. work
fail] lack things to do.
° 42-3. turn
Hellespont … channel] Hulacus invents impossible tasks for Caesar to
perform, satirising ambition which lacks purposeful aims.
° 43-4. dig
that … Africk] Hulacus’s prophecy is (deliberately?) muddled. Plutarch says
Caesar “intended to tackle the digging of a canal across the Corinthian
isthmus” (349).
° 37 and 44. Shun
the Senate house] Hulacus’s pointed repetition of this phrase echoes the
soothsayer’s repetition of his warning (“Beware the ides of March”) in
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1.2.19
and 25).
° 45. Be
Saturn … Tarquin] When you come to rule, may your reign be like the golden
age over which Saturn presided, a time when no-one was a slave to tyranny. In
this way, you will not share the fate of Tarquin, the power-seeking tyrant, whom
the Romans eventually removed from office.
° 47. in fine]
at the end, eventually.
° 46-9. A
Brutus … line] The Brutus who co-assassinated Caesar was said to be the
descendant of the Brutus “who had overthrown the [Tarquin] dynasty and replaced
the monarchy with a system of government that gave power to the senate and the
people” (Plutarch 351). The Brutus who killed Caesar was “the son-in-law and
nephew of [Caesar’s enemy] Cato” (352).
Caesar had had Cato arrested earlier in his career and, by defeating Cato’s
army, Caesar had occasioned Cato’s suicide. In killing Caesar, therefore,
Brutus might be said to be repaying a wrong to his “line” (ancestor). It could
hardly be called a “brutish wrong”, however. Hulacus may have another Brutus in
mind, i.e. Brute who settled Britain. In attacking Britain without due cause,
Caesar has committed a “brutish [i.e. lawless] wrong” against his fellow
Trojans, the descendants of Brute. Eventually, another Brutus will repay this
wrong.
° 5.2.6. calls
on] calls to account; upbraids.
° 7. with]
along with (thus forming a plural subject for “usher” in line 7).
° 10. single
fight] fight amongst ourselves.
° 11. caitiffs]
wretches.
° 14. princox]
conceited youth. Using the singular, Cassibelane either singles out Androgeus
as object of reproach or refers to Mandubrace.
° 14. ‘scape]
mistake, lapse.
° 15. I
should … sire] Using the plural (“whelps”), Cassibelane must be referring
to Androgeus and Themantius. This reading is supported by the fact that
Androgeus and Themantius were only boys when their father, Lud, died. However,
Geoffrey nowhere suggests that Lud was murdered. Caesar, however, says that
Mandubratius “put himself under Caesar’s protection … when his father … was
killed by Cassivellaunus” (138). This cross-contamination of Caesar’s account
by Geoffrey’s (and vice versa) is symptomatic of the play as a whole. In any
case, the impression is given that Cassibelane here admits to having murdered
an obstacle to his political career.
° 16. climacterical]
critical; final. “It was once believed by astrologers that the 7th
and 9th years, with their multiples … were critical points in life;
these were called the Climacteric Years
and were presided over by Saturn” (Brewer).
° 17. The
series … kings] 70, being a multiple of 7, was a climacteric number (see
note to line 16).
° 18. conclude]
provide the last home for (with a quibble on “include”).
° 17-8. Nay,
let … world’s] Cassibelane equates the fall of Britain with the end of the
world. “A distinctive theme in Jacobean religious propaganda was the suggestion
that the Stuarts were the dynasty that should rule in the last age of the world
… The end would be characterized, as the Prophets and the Book of Revelation so
vividly foretold, by wars and disasters and by a bitter struggle against
Antichrist … As soon as James was crowned, preachers were prophesying that he
and his heirs “shall be continued to the end of the world” (Parry 21; citing
Willet, Ecclesia Trumphians [1604]).
° 23. post]
messenger.
° 24. set
upon] attack.
° 24. his]
Caesar’s.
° 23-4. let a
… fleet] “Cassivellaunus sent envoys to Kent ordering the four kings of
that region … to collect all their troops and make a surprise attack on the
naval camp” (Caesar 139).
° 25. bid the
base] “challenge [the Romans] to a chase” (Crystal and Crystal).
° 25-8. Four
thousand … strength] “In chariot fighting the Britons begin by driving all
over the field hurling javelins … Then, after making their way between the
squadrons of their own cavalry, they jump down from the chariots and engage on
foot. In the meantime their charioteers retire a short distance from the battle
and place the chariots in such a position that their masters, if hard pressed
by numbers have an easy means of retreat to their own lines. Thus they combine
the mobility of cavalry with the staying-power of infantry” (Caesar 126).
° 25-9. Four
thousand … remain] “Disbanding the greater part of his troops,
[Cassivellaunus] retained only some four thousand charioteers, with whom he
watched our line of march” (Caesar 138).
° 29. flocking
voluntaries] the volunteers who continue to join us.
° 31. charge]
commands.
° 33. ancient
freedom] the freedom we have known since ancient times.
° 38. sprawling]
spilling out.
° 42. call
desolation peace] The Romans “create a desolation and call it peace”
(Tacitus 81).
° 43. he]
Caesar.
° 44. with
triumphant car] in a chariot on a triumphal procession.
° 53. Heirs
but of] Making them heirs of nothing but.
° 5.3.1.sd. unbraced]
with his clothes unfastened.
° 1.sd. poniard]
dagger. This item would signify to the audience that Eulinus is contemplating
suicide.
° 3. Loves to
… die] See note to 4.4.77.
° 11-2. this
darksome … gallery] with this dark grove as my only place of exercise.
° 12. suit]
are in accordance with.
° 13. gasping]
dying (“at the last gasp”).
° 15. are
behind] remain, linger.
° 18. Which
must … life] Which will end when my life ends.
° 19. At]
With.
° 19. furious
mood] a fit of temper.
° 23. wrack]
ruin.
° 24. vengeance]
execution, as a matter of restitution.
° 24. Doth
for … pole] “The island of Britain …
poised in the divine balance, as it is said, which supports the whole world,
stretches out from the south-west towards the north pole” (Gildas 9). The pole
is thus the central axis of “the divine balance”, which is a symbol of justice.
The torn surface of Britain, therefore, appeals to justice, as symbolised by
the pole.
° 25. sorrow’s
spring] the source of my sorrow.
° 30. consume]
waste away.
° 32. sudden
vent] a more immediate outlet.
° 33. Refinèd
soul] He addresses the soul of Landora.
° 34. elves]
malignant little devils.
° 33-4. Refined
soul … hell] Landora’s soul is in hell because the souls of pre-Christian
lovers dwell in the Elysian fields, in the underworld. See the note to lines
1-10 of the play’s opening scene.
° 37. shadows]
spirits.
° 38. Envy]
Begrudge.
° 38. those
citizens above] Recalling that Shakespeare calls deer in As You Like It “citizens”, Dodsley
remarks: “The author of Fuimus Troes
goes farther and calls the blessed souls in heaven “citizens”” (Hazlitt 482).
Eulinus, however, is referring to the occupants of a pagan heaven (“the
Olympian hall” [line 39]).
° 39. junkets]
sweetmeats.
° 40. roof]
heaven.
° 41. refuse]
resource, resort (addressing his dagger).
° 43. grievèd
inmate] troubled soul.
° 44.sd. unbuttons]
He bares his chest.
° 45. favour]
pardon.
° 46. rigour]
inflexibility.
° 46. steep]
soak, in order to soften.
° 48. Leander-like]
Leander drowned while swimming across the Hellespont to visit his love, Hero.
° 49. Pharos]
lighthouse.
° 50. Erebus]
the dark, underground cave which spirits pass through on their way to hell.
° 57. as]
like.
° 57. pass
twelve … sun] The sun, in its journey across the sky, passes the twelve
signs (“monsters”) of the zodiac.
° 58. Or]
Or perform. The verb in line 57 (“pass”) applies to the “twelve monsters” and
the “twelve Herculean labours” though with different meanings: traverse and
undergo, respectively.
° 58. on]
in.
° 60. Thou
fairy-queen … court] As Hopkins and Hazlitt observe, Fisher explicitly
acknowledges Spenser as an influence here (see note to 3.6.72-4). However, it
should also be noted that Fisher’s “fairy queen” rules not the Land of Fairy
but “the Tartarian court”, i.e. she is a Queen of the Dead. “In many
countries,” writes Spence, “fairies were regarded as connected with the dead …
They were thought of as dwelling in a dim, subterranean sphere, in sepulchral
barrows, or in a far paradise, like [the fairy] encountered by … Thomas the
Rymour. The Fairy Queen in the old ballad warns Thomas against eating the
apples and pears which hung in her gardens, for to partake of the food of the
dead is to know no return” (53). Given the reference to Proserpine and the gift
of an apple in line 61, Eulinus appears to be awarding the apple of
pre-eminence to a British queen of the underworld (Landora), in lieu of her
classical equivalent.
° 5.4.5. wink]
close my eyes.
° 6. peppered
and salted] done for.
° 7. that
base fortune] that fortune, having no regard for rank.
° 7. great]
high-born.
° 8. muddy]
obscure.
° 9. Syrian
dew] In the Syrian desert, there would be no vegetable or animal life
without dew (or moisture carried on the wind). Therefore, “Syrian dew” is a
particular sign of divine blessing.
° 10. Sirian
flame] the scorching heat associated with the star Sirius.
° 11. concur]
occur together or in close succession.
° 12. Our
British … dead] See note to 3.7.18-9.
° 17. side]
side of the.
° 18. are]
have been.
° 20. scornful]
reckless (scorning fear).
° 21. armèd]
well-armed.
° 22. shambles]
slaughter-house.
° 29. Discord,
child of hell] The goddess Discord causes dissension. Cassibelane blames
her for making the Britons fight amongst themselves.
° 30. Numbers
of train-men] The enemy’s large numbers of well-trained men.
° 31. Each
captain … province] the quality of the enemy forces’ leadership, Caesar
having such a vast bank of talent at his disposal.
° 36. Call
for … conclusion] Make agreement between the two sides appear a good
option.
° 38. more
behind] more territory behind us.
° 39. Hath
overrun] Has so far covered (i.e. this land is not even halfway-conquered).
The antiquarian Camden “reminds the reader that Caesar “scarce made entry” into
Britain … The implication is clear: we must understand that as conqueror …
Caesar’s claims are inflated” (Curran 154).
° 45. dead
elements] i.e. the ashes of the Britons.
° 45. causeless]
unjustified, irrational, pointless.
° 47-50. if
with … much] “Cassivellaunus, alarmed by so many reverses, by the
devastation of his country, and above all by the defection of his allies, sent
envoys to Caesar to obtain terms of surrender, employing Commius as an
intermediary” (Caesar 139).
° 5.5.4. He]
Cassibelane.
° 5-6. Whom
peace … lamb] In Geoffrey, Cassibelane applies to Androgeus to “make peace
for him with Julius”. Receiving this request, Androgeus says: “The leader who
is as fierce as a lion in peace-time but as gentle as a lamb in time of war is
not really worth much” (117).
° 1-8. Thus,
civil … isle] “Androgeus went to Julius, put his arms round that leader’s
knees and said … “You have revenged yourself on Cassivelaunus. Now have mercy
on him … All that I promised you, Caesar, was this, that I would help you to
humble Cassivelaunus and to conquer Britain. Well, Cassivellaunus is beaten,
and, with my help, Britain is in your hands … The Creator of all things does
not intend that I should permit my leader to be bound in fetters … I cannot
allow you to kill Cassivelaunus while I myself remain alive” (Geoffrey 118).
° 10. For
that] Because.
° 10. Jove’s
bird] the eagle, i.e. the Romans.
° 10. imped]
repaired, fleshed out, boosted. “Imp out”, used with reference to a falcon’s
wing, meant “repair, insert feathers into” (Crystal and Crystal)
° 8-11. our
isle … Britain] Britain loudly cries out to heaven for Androgeus and
Themantius to be punished for traitorously assisting Rome.
° 13. are]
are still.
° 20. their]
our fellow Britons’.
° 25-6. So to
… soul] “Themantius’ protest that to separate him from his brother “Were to
divide one individual soul” … [is] in tune with … the neoplatonism of Henrietta
Maria” (Hopkins 41).
° 32. pomp]
apparent splendour.
° 33. right]
birthright.
° 33. those
admirèd twins] Castor and Pollux, known for their loyalty to each other.
When Castor was killed by Idas, Pollux
revenged Castor’s death by killing Idas. Being immortal, Pollux “entreated
Jupiter to restore [Castor] to life, or to be deprived himself of immortality.
Jupiter permitted Castor to share the immortality of his brother; and
consequently … they alternately lived and died every day” (Lemprière sub Castor).
° 37. A body
… stand] Here, “Themantius seems implicitly to advocate the political
compromise of a mixed government rather than an unfettered monarchy” (Hopkins
45-6). “Out of a wish to exploit the audience’s interest safely, censurable
ideas are put into the mouth of a [traitor]” (Ronan 57).
° 44. count
men but stocks] regard men as nothing but trees.
° 45. all
troubles brought asleep] all the troubles we have caused being sorted out.
° 47. transfuse]
transfer into your body.
° 49. holy
strife] a virtuous endeavour, i.e. we are arguing unselfishly.
° 50. lace]
ornament, i.e. king’s crown.
° 51-2. Rome
must … deep] Themantius implies that the Roman Empire has a “natural”
boundary, marked by the sea around Britain.
° 5.6.1. gracious
favour] a gracious facial expression.
° 2. compound]
come to terms.
° 3. friendly
close] amicable agreement.
° 6. him]
Cassibelane.
° 10. Disdain
not this ingrafting] Caesar suggests that the successful Roman invasion
should be welcomed by the Britons. After all, through intermarriage with the
Romans, the Britons will be able to substantiate their claim to be of Trojan
descent without recourse to Geoffrey’s discredited “history”. As Camden wrote:
“Britans may more truly ingrasse themselves into the Trojans stocke, by these Romanes,
who are descended from Trojans” (King 107-8).
° 13. triple-bounded
earth] For the ancients, the world to had “three corners”: Europe, Asia and
Africa. Thus, to an early modern audience, Julius Caesar here reveals the
extent of his geographical knowledge.
° 14. so]
so long as.
° 17. Reign
as … isle] Cassibelane is recognised by Caesar as King of Britain. James I
sought to be recognised by his parliament as King of Great Britain.
° 24. drenched
in Lethe] utterly forgotten. On drinking from the river Lethe in hell, the
souls of the dead forgot everything they had done while alive.
° 21-9. You
must … treasury] Caesar “granted Cassivellaunus’ request for terms,
demanding hostages, fixing an annual tribute to be paid by the Britons to the
Roman government, and strictly forbidding Cassivellaunus to molest Mandubricius
or the Trinovantes” (Caesar 139). In Geoffrey, Caesar “made peace with
Cassivelaunus, and the latter promised to pay a yearly tributre. The tax which
he pledged himself to pay was three thousand pounds of silver” (118).
° 30-3. whose
tower … arrival.] The Tower of London was popularly believed to have been
built by Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare’s Richard
III, Prince Edward says: “I do not like the Tower of any place. – / Did
Julius Caesar build that place, my lord?” Buckingham replies: “He did, my
gracious lord, begin that place, / Which since succeeding ages have re-edified”
(3.1.68-71). Again, in Richard II,
the queen refers to “Julius Caesar’s ill-erected Tower” (5.1.2). Ackroyd says
the original Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror: “The new
monarch’s primary task was to subjugate the city … But the Tower never belonged
to London and was considered by the citizens to be an affront or threat to
their liberty” (47). However, Fisher’s Caesar, instead of planning to build “a
visible token of foreign rule” (Ackroyd 48), may be echoing Prince Henry’s
plans to have Britain’s architecture “more fairly built” (5.6.31), according to
Italian Renaissance sensibilities. Speeches in Prince Henry’s Barriers (1610) “equate Henry’s revival of Ancient
British chivalry with a revival of Ancient British architecture seen not as the
type built by the “Goths”, but in the Classical style … [O]ne of the major
statements which the Prince was never able to bring to fulfilment because of
his death [was] the introduction of Renaissance classical architecture to
England” (Strong 110-1).
° 34. worth]
worthiness.
° 36. surcoat]
tunic (“often embroidered with heraldic arms, worn by a knight over his armour”
[CED]).
° 36. starrified]
be-starred, decorated.
° 38. massy]
massive, heavy.
° 36-8. Accept
this … gold] After agreeing terms, “Julius and Cassivelaunus then became
friends and gave each other presents” (Geoffrey 118).
° 39. earnest]
pledge.
° 42. suggest]
bring to light.
° 44. design]
represent.
° 45-6. whose
arms … animals] The lion was not only the heraldic animal of Brut, the
founder of Britain, but also of the Palatinate (Yates, Last Plays 27 and 52). The prophecy, then, may be read as not only
referring to the alliance of the ancient Roman and British states, but also
alluding to James I’s plans for the union of the Palatinate and Britain
(through the marriage of Elizabeth and Frederick).
° 47-9. The
semi-circles … figure] “Latin lines reprinted and translated in Camden …
boast of Julius Caesar’s ability to undo the island’s apartness: “What
heretofore was world and world is now conjoind in one.”” (Kerrigan 130).
° 51. Both
matchless … throne] Caesar and Cassibelane are presented as equals (“both
matchless”), sharing a single throne. This implies that the initials “C” and
“C” do not represent rival emperors (i.e. Cassibelane and Caesar), who would
require two thrones, but rather two aspects, one secular (“C” for Caesar), one
spiritual (“C” for Constantine, the first Christian emperor, or Christ
himself), of a single world emperor. The union of two “C”s forms a circle. In
Geoffrey, the goddess Diana had told Aeneas’s great-grandson Brutus to travel
to Albion and rename it Britain, adding: “A race of kings will be born there of
your stock, and the round circle of
the whole earth will be subject to them” (65; emphasis added). In successive
editions of Acts and Monuments, “the
initial “C” opens Foxe’s dedication to Elizabeth I, associating her first with
Constantine (in [the edition of] 1563) and later with Christ (1570)” (Knapp
199). In Foxe, “the capital C of “Constantine” encloses a portrait of the
queen. She sits on the throne holding the sword of justice … The lower part of
the letter, beneath Elizabeth’s feet, is formed by the body of the Pope,
wearing the papal tiara … The just virgin … has subdued and overpowered the
Pope; the royal crown [and true faith] triumphs over the papal tiara” (Yates, Astraea 43). “C” (for Caesar) and “C’
(for Cymbeline) also unite in Cymbeline.
In what sounds like a description of translatio
imperii, Shakespeare’s soothsayer declares: “For the Roman eagle, / From
south to west on wing soaring aloft, / Lessened herself, and in the beams o’th’
sun / So vanished; which foreshowed our princely eagle, / Th’imperial Caesar,
should again unite / His favour with the radiant Cymbeline, / Which shines here
in the west” (5.4.471-7).
° 52. Tarpeian
Rock] rock or peak on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.
° 57. reversed]
inverted.
° 57. improves
his bigness] increases in size, swells.
° 60. Euxine
sea-nymph] the nymph of the Black Sea, into which the Danube eventually
disburses.
° 61. disgorge]
vomit.
° 56-61. like
a … her] The Roman Empire covers all the world. Thus, it may be compared to
a serpent devouring its own tail. If that serpent is in turn imagined as a
river feeding on the seas it feeds, it becomes a logical problem whether a
sea-nymph threatened by the “serpent”’s gaping mouth should be regarded as
being inside or outside the serpent.
° 62-3. Since
the … earth] “The Romans who invade Britain are no saints yet are described
in orthodox Stuart terms as heaven’s “viceroys on earth”, so strong could be
the belief in the providential role of Augustus’s Pax Romana in ensuring the peaceful birth and preaching of Jesus”
(Ronan 45).
° 64. red,
fatal eyes] inauspicious comets.
° 66. it was
her fame] let it be reported of her.
° 5.7.2. alarums]
loud noises of war.
° 5. in]
linking in.
° 5. round]
circle dance.
° 8. Eos]
goddess of the dawn.
° 8. goldilocked]
golden-haired, sunny.
° 9. Bruma]
A personification of winter. (“The winter solstice” [Hazlitt].)
° 12.sd. morris]
morris dance, a country dance. “The dance may lead to a dervishlike loss of
full consciousness but the poet … [ultimately] only betrays his anxieties”
about the Stuart polity (Hammond 249).
° 30. jubilee]
joyful time.
° sd. reducing]
leading back (to hell).
° 5. fill]
over-run.
° 6. host]
army.
° 8. bankrupt]
break her banks.
° 9. Mirror
of captains] That most outstanding example for military commanders.
° 10. But we
… one] Perhaps Brennus means the Britons may boast of possessing two
“mirror[s] of captains” (i.e. himself and Nennius), compared to the Roman’s one
(Caesar). However, given that he is speaking to Camillus, who was himself regarded
as a “mirror of captains” comparable to Caesar, I do not find this reading
satisfactory..
° 12. The
Allian massacre] See note to 2.8.37.
° 12. flame]
conflagration. In Livy, the Gauls reduce the city of Rome to “burned-out ruins”
(327).
° 13. they]
the Britons.
° 14. dictator]
Camillus was made dictator by the Romans after the Gauls occupied Rome.
° 16. they
shall] the Romans were to.
° 16. know]
know this.
° 16. generous]
noble, proud.
° 17. compact]
agreement, treaty.
° 18-9. though
Juno … stage] Throughout the Trojan war, Juno supported the Greeks.
° 20. The
world’s fourth empire] “The scheme of the Four Monarchies derives from
Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and his own vision” (Rivers
59). Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar: “Thou, O king … art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom
inferior to thee [the silver kingdom], and another third kingdom of brass,
which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be
strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things” (2.37-40; in Carroll and
Prickett). “The Four Monarchies were traditionally identified as Assyria,
Persia, Greece and Rome; the fall of one marks the rise of the next, until the
last one, Rome, is finally overcome by Christ’s kingdom (the Fifth Monarchy)”
(Rivers 59).
° 20. The
world’s … embrace] “Jacobean dramas set in Roman Britain often conclude
with a masculine embrace staged literally or invoked rhetorically … Any women
who might have figured in the action (and they usually do so in invented love
plots) have been killed off, leaving the stage free for the men to conclude the
matters of true historic import … the stage of Roman Britain becomes the
exclusive preserve of men … This triumph of exclusion is figured in the
masculine embrace that becomes the dominant trope of these final scenes,
invoked as a metaphor of empire, and embodied in the staged embraces of male
Britons by Roman commanders and the symbolic merging of their national emblems”
(Mikalachki 96-7, 104).
° 21. The
thunder-bearer] Jupiter.
° 21. With a
Janus look] Looking two ways at once.
° 22. At once
… west] At one and the same time oversees the end of an era (the
pre-Christian era) and the dawning of a new age (the Christian epoch).
° 23. Her]
The Holy Spirit, as a dove. In delivering this message, Mercury resembles the
angel Gabriel.
° 25. For
Jove … world] Jove (i.e. God) is planning to give a gift (i.e. Christ) to
the world.
° 26. wights]
beings.
° 27. braving]
challenging.
° 28. close]
end.
° Nec Lusisse … Ludum] Playing is not shameful if you know when to stop (Horace, Epistle 1.14.36).
° The wedding of Elizabeth and Frederick took place
on Sunday February 14th 1613 (according to the Julian calendar,
which was still observed in England at that time).