Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity

290 Pages·2013·1.92 MB·English

by  Colin Burrow

Oxford Shakespeare Topics
Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity
oxford shakespeare topics
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GENERALEDITORS:PETERHOLLANDANDSTANLEYWELLS
Shakespeare and
Classical Antiquity
COLIN BURROW
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InmemoriamEmrysJones,1931–2012
Preface
I am very grateful to all the many generations of scholars on whose
workthisbooksometimebuildsbutmostlyrests.WithoutBaldwin,
Miola,Martindale,andmanyothersIwouldnotknowverymuch,and
a lightly annotated book such as this one cannot adequately record
the full extent of my debts. Pigmies and giants, that kind of thing.
Ihavebeenveryfortunatethatseveralexceptionallyperceptivereaders
have scrutinized much of it, notably John Kerrigan and Leah
Whittington, as well as the series editors Stanley Wells and Peter
Holland, to all of whom I am most grateful. What’s still wrong
in it remains my own, of course. I am also grateful to the Warden
andFellowsofAllSoulsCollege,Oxford,forgivingmethefreedomto
write it, as well as to Jacqueline Baker (and before her, Andrew
McNeillie)forencouragingtheworkandtoleratingmydelays.Librar-
iansinOxford,Cambridge,andinparticularatAllSoulshavebeen
exceptionallyhelpful.Sincesomuch of itisabout howShakespeare
rememberedhislearningandteaching,Ishouldalsorecordmydebts
to my ownteachers in the distant past, particularly to Derek Lucas,
Anne Bowler, Roland Clare, and David Miller at Bristol Grammar
School,JohnCaseyandJ.H.PrynneatCambridge,andinparticular
to the supervisor of my D. Phil., Emrys Jones, whose The Origins of
Shakespeare is one of the origins of my own interest in this topic, and
whosesadandunexpecteddeathoccurredwhileIwasfinishingthisbook.
Quotations from Shakespeare follow William Shakespeare, The
Complete Works, ed. S. Wells and G. Taylor 2nd edn (Oxford: Clar-
endonPress,2005).Quotationsfromotherearly-modernsourcesare
modernized in spelling and punctuation from early printed sources,
oraretakenfrommodernizededitions.Foreaseofreference,quota-
tionsfromclassicaltextsarekeyedtotherelevantvolumesintheLoeb
Classical Library, although on occasions I have modified the text to
bring it closer to that of editions printed in Shakespeare’s lifetime.
Translations are generally my own unless otherwise stated, though
‘my own’ here can sometimes mean ‘a freshened-up version of the
Loeb translationadapted to take accountof what I want the text to
meanforthepurposesofmyargument’.
Contents
ListofIllustrations viii
Introduction 1
1. LearningfromthePast 21
2. Virgil 51
3. Ovid 92
4. RomanComedy 133
5. Seneca 162
6. Plutarch 202
Conclusion 240
Notes 249
FurtherReading 269
Index 277
Illustrations
1. Astormblowsaverymedieval-lookingAeneastowardsthe
Strophades. 80
2. Metamorphoses,BookVI:TereusattacksPhilomelainthe
top-rightbackground. 107
3. Lucrece’ssuicideinMarsus’seditionofOvid’sFasti. 116
4. SosiaandMercuryappearintheAmphitryonagainst
aclassicizingbackgroundwhichsuggeststhedoorsused
forentriesandexits. 146
5. Metamorphoses,BookXV:Thebullrisesfromtheseaand
Hippolytuscrashesinthebackground. 179
Introduction
EverybodyknowsthatShakespearehad‘smallLatinandlessGreek’.
TheyknowitbecauseBenJonsonsaidsoinhiselegyprefixedtothe
first Folio of Shakespeare’sComedies, Histories and Tragediesin 1623.
It’sworthreadingthewholepassage,though,toseeifJonsonmeant
exactlywhatheisoftenthoughttohavesaid:
ForifIthoughtmyjudgementwereofyears
Ishouldcommittheesurelywiththypeers,
AndtellhowfarthoudidstourLylyoutshine,
OrsportingKyd,orMarlowe’smightyline.
And,thoughthouhadstsmallLatinandlessGreek,
FromthencetohonourtheeIwouldnotseek
Fornames,butcallforththunderingAeschylus,
EuripidesandSophoclestous,
Pacuvius,Accius,himofCordovadead,
Tolifeagain,tohearthybuskintread
Andshakeastage;or,whenthysockswereon
Leavetheealoneforthecomparison
OfallthatinsolentGreeceorhaughtyRome
Sentforth,orsincedidfromtheirashescome.(27–40)1
Jonson was throughout his career keen to emphasize how far his
classical learning outstripped that of his peers. His hard-earned
reputationasaclassicisthasprovidedtheusualframeworkforreading
hiselegyonShakespeareas(inthewordsofJohnDryden)‘aninso-
lent, sparing, and invidious panegyric’,2 which claims that Shake-
speareknewnothingornotmuchaboutclassicalliterature.
Jonson,however,isnotsimplysayingwhathesoundsasthoughhe
issaying.3Thewholepassageishypothetical.Itbegins‘ifIthought