DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Mercury. Livius, lib. 5
Fur. Camillus.
Brennus.
Julius Cæsar.Cæsar, Com. de bell. Gall., lib 4 et 5.
C. Volusenus.
Q. Laberius, alias Labienus.
Q. Atrius.
Comius Atrebas.
Cassibelanus, imperator Britannorum.
Mandubratius, princeps Trinobantum.
Cingetorix,four petty kings in Kent.
Carvilius,
Taximagulus,
Segonax,
Lud, his sonsAndrogeus. Galfrid Monumetensis lib. 4.
Tenantius.
Cassibelane.
Nennius.
Belinus, a chief nobleman.
Hirildas, nephew to Cassibelane.
Eulinus, nephew to Androgeus.
Cridous, king of Albania.
Britael, king of Demetia.
Guerthed, king of Ordovicia.

Names Feigned.

Lantonus, two druids, or priests.
Hulacus,
Landora,two ladies mentioned.
Cordella,
Rollano, a Belgic.

Chorus of five Bards or Poets-Laureate.
Soldiers, Shipmen, Servants.

FUIMUS TROES: THE TRUE TROJANS.

Mercury conducting the ghosts of Brennus and Camillus[251] in complete armour, and with swords drawn.

Mer. 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.[252] Amongst the rest,[253]
Two pleasant groves by two sorts are possess'd:
One by true lovers crown'd with myrtle boughs,
Who hand-in-hand sing pæans 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
A pair of martial imps,[254] by Jove's decree,
As sticklers[255] in their nation's enmity.
Furious Camillus, and, thou Briton bold,
Great Brennus, sheathe your conquering blades. In vain
You threaten death; for ghosts may not be slain.

Bren. From the unbounded ocean and cold climes,
Where Charles his wain[256] circles the Northern Pole,
I first led out great swarms of shaggy Gauls
And big-bon'd Britons. The white-pated Alps,
Where snow and winter dwell, did bow their necks
To our victorious feet: Rome, proudest Rome,
We cloth'd in scarlet of patrician blood,
And 'bout your Capitol pranc'd our vaunting steeds,
Defended more by geese,[257] than by your gods.

Cam. But I cut short your fury, and my sword
Redeem'd the city, making your huge trunks
To fat our crows, and dung our Latian fields.
I turn'd your torrent to another coast;
And what you quickly won, you sooner lost.

Mer. Leave these weak brawlings. Now swift time hath spent
A Pylian age and more, since you two breath'd,
Mirrors of Briton 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,
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 countrymen, when night and sleep
Conquer the eyes: when weary bodies rest,
And senses cease,[258] be furies in their breast.
Never two nations better match'd; for Jove
Loves both alike. Whence then these armed bands?
Mavors[259] for Rome, Neptune for Albion stands.

Bren. Then let war ope his jaws as wide as hell,
And fright young babes; my country-folk, more stern,
Can outlook Gorgon. Let the Fates transpos'd
Hang beaten flags up in the victor's land:
Full dearly will each pace of ground be sold,
Which rated is at dearest blood, not gold.
What! are their ruin'd fanes, demolish'd walls,
So soon forgot? Doth Allia yet run clear?
Or can three hundred summers slake their fear?

Cam. Arise, thou Julian star, whose angry beams
Be heralds to the North of war and death.
Let those black calends be reveng'd; those ghosts,
Whose mangled sheaths, depriv'd of funeral rites,
Made the six hills promise a Cadmus' crop—
Be expiated with a fiery deluge.
Jove rules the spheres, Rome all the world beside;
And shall this little corner be denied?

Mer. 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
And back reduce you[260] to grim Pluto's hall [Exeunt.

FOOTNOTES:

[251] Brennus, king or leader of the Transalpine Gauls. He won the battle of Allia against the Romans, and in consequence of it made himself master of their city, which he entered about the year 363 from its foundation, and committed every excess which wanton barbarity could dictate. After continuing there some time, he was defeated and driven out of it by Camillus, then an exile, but created dictator on the occasion.

[252] So Milton, in "Comus," l. 811—

"One sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
Beyond the bliss of dreams."

The thought is much older than Milton, and the following from Chaucer is still more apposite—

"His herte was bathed in a bath of bliss."

—"Wife of Bath's Tale."

Chaucer has nearly the same expression in his "Book of Troilus," l. 1, st. 4—

"But ye lovers that bathen in gladnesse."

—Collier.

[253] See Virgil's "Æneid," bk. vi.

[254] "Impyn," says Mr Steevens (note to the "Second Part of Henry IV.," act v. sc. 5), is a Welsh word, and primitively signifies a sprout, a sucker; and by the writers of this period is almost perpetually used for progeny. So in Chaloner's translation of Erasmus's "Praise of Folie," 1549, sig. D 3: "Yet truly more pernicious was he to the common-weale, in leavying so ungracious an ympe as Commodus was," &c.

[255] A stickler was a sidesman to a fencer, so called because he carried a stick, wherewith to part the combatants. See Note to "The Ordinary," [xii. 275.]

[256] Seven stars in the constellation Ursa Minor.

[257] After Brennus had taken the city of Rome, he besieged the Capitol, and in the night attempted to scale the ramparts. The attempt was rendered abortive by the cackling of some geese consecrated to Juno, which were kept as sacred birds, and which being heard, gave an alarm to the garrison in time enough to save the place they defended.

[258] Generally speaking, this play was more accurately reprinted by Mr Reed than any other in the whole collection. Nevertheless, several errors crept in some of them from following the blunders of the old copy, although that is not so incorrect as many others of the same date. In a few instances the punctuation was neglected or mistaken, and such was the case with the passage in the text. It is evident that the ghosts of Camillus are to "incite their countrymen when night and sleep conquer the eyes," from scene 7 of act ii., where they work alternately upon Nennius and Cæsar, who are in "night-robes." Till now the wrong pointing obscured the sense. See also act v., scene 2.—Collier.

[259] i.e., Mars.