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The account of Severus's eastern wars (stanzas 4-7) is based upon Herodian; Lanquet and the Flores have only a few lines.45 In stanzas nine, ten, eleven and twelve, Severus tells how his two sons, Antonine and Geta, were rivals in their eagerness to supplant him, and how courtiers stimulated this feud and were punished; this too follows Herodian.46 The character of the Britons whom Severus encountered (stanzas 15-18) differs so much from that given by Herodian, that Higgins's patriotic instinct would appear to have overcome the historical.

For when I was to Britayne come that [famous] land,
Where people stout, untamde, unuanquisht dwelt...

I found the people nothing prest to pelt,

To yeeld, or hostage geue, or tributes [due to] pay,

Or couenaunts to accept, or fearefully to fray:

[But bade by war to win the price, and beare the palm away.]

Mark now how a plain tale shall put him down:

47

Britanni, repentino principis perculsi, auditoque tantas contra se comparari copias, legatos ad eum de pace ac seipsos expurgatum de iis quae antea deliquerant miserunt.

The matter about the Picts and Scots comes from the English chroniclers.48

the Greek and Politian's Latin version in parallel columns. Higgins would doubtless have used Politian; or he may have lightened his labors by means of Nicholas Smyth's English translation of Politian (1550?). The latter possibility is discussed below, p. 266, note 55.

Julian's buying of the empire, etc., are recorded in Herodian, pp. 41-52; Lanquet, p. 113; Boccaccio, De Cas. (ed. 1544), Note d, p. 207. The line "My seruants eke at Antioch Niger slay" (stanza 2) seems to be taken from Herodian, for the Flores says Niger was killed "apud Cyzicum (1, 147), and Lanquet "in Cilicia" (p. 113); the notes in Boccaccio (p. 207) mention his death at Antioch. The line following, "At Lyons siege they tooke Albinus head away," may be from Herodian (p. 70), Flores (1, 148), Bocc. (pp. 206, 208); Lanquet does not name Lyons (pp. 113-114). 45 Herodian, pp. 73-75.

** Ibid., pp. 75-82. The chronicles touch briefly on the strife between the sons, e. g., Grafton, p. 66.

47 Herodian, p. 83.

"Fulgentius (stanzas 19-21) is mentioned by Lanquet (p. 114), who calls him Fulgenius, and does not say that he was a Scythian and went

Concerning Severus's death Lanquet tells: "In the ende whereof he was slayne, and was buryed at Yorke, the latine cronycles testifie, that he dyed of the goute." 49 The Mirror (stanza 22) seems to amplify suggestions derived from both Lanquet and Herodian.49

The Life of Geta occupies sixteen stanzas, and the facts are drawn wholly from Herodian; the chroniclers are meagre in the extreme.50 The catalogue of Geta's virtues and the contrasted wickedness of Antonine (stanzas 2-6 and passim) are taken from the character sketches given by Herodian.51 Geta's appointment as governor of the southern part of Britain (stanza 2), the relations of Severus and his sons, the wars in Britain, Antonine's attempt to have physicians poison Severus and the outcome of it, his endeavor to have Geta poisoned, Geta's fears and counterplans, the murder of Geta-all this follows Herodian.52

The Life of Antonine (Caracalla) extends to fifty-one stanzas, and the abundant historical detail all comes from the same source. The first two stanzas form an introduction on the inevitable theme, and the emperor's ghost takes occasion to address the poet-" And, Higins,...," which may be regarded as one blade of grass in this arid desert. It is needless to follow the historical items in

to Scythia to get an army. Both details, as well as the correct name, are furnished by the Flores (p. 150).

An editorial note in the Mirror (1, 318) assumes an 66 error of the press " in the length of Severus's wall as given in the text (stanza 18)— "sixe score miles and twelue." The editor says: According to Lanquet, it should be five score and twelve, while the Polychronicon, which appears to be the poet's authority, says, "he made a walle in Brytayne that stretcheth six score myle and tweyne unto the see." But, as I just showed, Higgins is following the Flores, which on this point gives a hundred and thirty-two miles (Flores, 1, 149).

49

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Lanquet, p. 114. Herodian says: .. donec tandem Severus, moerore magis quam morbo consumptus, vitaque defuntus est" (pp. 84-85). Grafton (p. 66), Higden (v, 44), Fabyan (p. 41) merely state that he was killed and buried at York; the Flores (1, 150), that he was killed at York. 5o Flores, p. 150; Grafton, p. 66; Higden, pp. 44-46; Fabyan, p. 42; Lanquet, p. 115.

51 In part the description runs: "Maior tandem pars ad Getam spectabat, quod opinionem nonnullam ostenderet probitatis, moderatumque se & lenem in congressibus praestaret. Studia porro tractabat honestissima: .. Placidus praeterea in omnes atque humanus. (pp. 89-90).

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53

detail; 5 Higgins's fidelity to his source may be judged from a couple of samples.

Mirror (stanzas 13 and 16):

The sea and land (quoth she) my sonnes you get,
You finde a way how you may them deuide:
The Pontique floud betweene you both is set
For boundes of both, it buts on eyther side:
But how will you your mother now deuide?

How shall my haplesse corps be parted, put
Betweene you both, shall I likewise be cut?
But if deuide the Empire all you will,
First ere you goe for to enioy your raigne,
My woefull corps I pray you here to kill,
And it deuide betweene you both in twaine,
That I may eke with both of you remayne.

Doe burie each a parte so distant farre,
Deuided as your seates, selues, kingdomes are.

Herodian (p. 90):

Terram quidem & mare, o filii, iam inuenistis quo pacto diuidatis: & continentem utramque, ut dicitis, Pontici discriminant fluctus: matrem vero quonam modo diuidetis? quonam modo infelix ego distribuar inter utrunque vestrum, aut dissecabor? Me primam igitur occidite, dimidiamque, uterque apud se partem sepeliat, ut ego quoque inter vos cum mari terraque ipsa diuidar.

The end of their meeting, the increasing hostility, the murder of Geta, Caracalla's securing of the empire (stanzas 17-25), follow Herodian as before, sometimes paraphrasing, sometimes abridging.54 Caracalla's speech of twenty-eight lines is a literal translation of Herodian.

Mirror (stanza 26):

Thus hauing said alowde, with irefull moode,
And bloudy countnaunce cast about the place,
Th' assembly pale and trembling, fearefull stoode,
And I retourn'de to th' pallace thence a space.
My brother's household then I made a way a pace,

His friends, his seruaunts all, young, olde, and new,
And th' infantes eke, without respect I slewe.

63 Herodian, pp. 81, 85 ff.

54 Ibid., pp. 91-92.

Herodian (p. 94):

Haec loquutus magna voce, irarumque plenus, ac truculento vultu illius amicos intuens, trementibus pallentibusque plerisque, in regiam reuertitur. Continuo igitur coepti occidi domestici omnis fratris atque amici, quique in aedibus habitabant quas ille incoluerat, ministrique item uniuersi: sic ut ne aetati quidem infantium parceretur.

Caracalla's further slaughtering of Geta's relatives and of people in general, and his various expeditions, follow in order.55

To summarize, the bulk of the material in these classical Lives is taken from Suetonius and Herodian. It is not demonstrable that the Polychronicon contributed anything; the Flores and Grafton supply a few details and episodes; the certain borrowings from Lanquet are not numerous.

Julius Caesar-Suetonius; Plutarch; Grafton; Chronicle of St. Albans. Tiberius Suetonius; Flores.

Caligula Suetonius; Lanquet.
Claudius-Suetonius; Lanquet.

Nero-Suetonius; Lanquet; perhaps Lydgate and Higden.

Galba-Suetonius.

Otho-Suetonius.

Vitellius-Suetonius, or any source.

Severus-Herodian; Flores; probably Lanquet.

Geta-Herodian.

Caracalla-Herodian.

While study of the Mirror is not likely to yield exciting conclusions, this mixture of ancient, mediaeval, and Renaissance sources is one more illustration of at least the more sluggish of the innumerable cross-currents in sixteenth-century literature.

Harvard University.

55 Stanzas 27-34 are based on Herod., pp. 94-95; stanzas 35-40 on Herod., pp. 96-99; stanzas 41-49 on pp. 100-105.

The question raised on p. 263—whether Higgins used Nicholas Smyth's English version of Politian's Herodian-can hardly be answered with any certainty. Some phrases in Smyth are suggestive of phrases in the Mirror, but they are not very numerous or convincing. Higgins may have read Smyth, and he may not; and perhaps the problem does not call imperiously for solution.

NOTES ON JOHN LYLY'S PLAYS

By W. P. MUSTARD

The following notes are made with reference to Professor R. Warwick Bond's edition of The Complete Works of John Lyly (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1902). They are mainly con

cerned with Lyly's classical sources.

CAMPASPE

Prol. I, 12. "If the shower of our swelling mountaine seeme to bring foorth some Eliphant, perfourme but a mouse." Horace, A. P. 139, "Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

Prol. I, 27. "As Harts that cast their hornes, Snakes their skinnes, Eagles their bils, become more fresh for any other labour." Cp. Ovid, A. A. iii, 77, "Anguibus exuitur tenui cum pelle vetustas, Nec faciunt cervos cornua iacta senes."

i, 1, 86. "Needes must that common wealth be fortunate, whose captaine is a Philosopher, and whose Philosopher is a Captaine." Cp. the fancy in Plato's Republic, 473D, that until the philosophers shall be kings, or the kings philosophers, there can be no stay of ills.

iv, 4, 32. "It is requisite to stande aloofe from kinges loue, Ioue, and lightening." Cp. Guazzo, Civ. Convers., lib. ii, "Io veggo che secondo il proverbio volete star lontano da Giove e dal folgore."

v, 4, 15.

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"Arachne <enamoured> of his wodden swan." Did Lyly write woven swan'? Cp. Ovid, Met. vi, 109 (of Arachne's weaving), "Fecit olorinis Ledam recubare sub alis."

Epil. I, 9. "As Demosthenes with often breathing vp the hill amended his stammering." Cicero, De Orat. i. 61, 261, "coniectis in os calculis summa voce versus multos uno spiritu pronuntiare consuescebat, neque id consistens in loco sed inambulans atque ascensu ingrediens arduo.”

SAPHO AND PHAO

ii, 1, 93. "Fair faces haue no fruites, if they haue no witnesses." Ov. A. A. iii, 398, "Fructus abest, facies cum bona teste caret."

ii, 1, 100. "Bewtie is a slippery good, which decreaseth whilest it is encreasing." Ov. A. A. ii, 113, "Forma bonum fragile est, quantumque accedit ad annos, Fit minor et spatio carpitur ipse suo.”

ii, 1, 110.

"Cotonea... is sweetest, when it is oldest." Pliny, N. H. xxi, 7, 38, "quaedam vetustate odoratiora, ut cotonea."

ii, 4, 13. "Our Sycilyan stone which groweth hardest by hammeringe." Cp., perhaps, Propertius, i, 16, 29, "Sit licet et saxo patientior illa Sicano "-where the reference is about as obscure as Lyly's.

ii, 4, 51. "To cure that by wordes which cannot be eased by hearbes." Ov. Her. v, 149, "Me miseram, quod amor non est medicabilis herbis "; Met. i, 523, "Ei mihi, quod nullis amor est sanabilis herbis."

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