Leaving the woods, lodge in the streets of Rome.”[[52]]
Lions are not mentioned, but Lydgate, translating Boccaccio, who in turn derived from Lucan, has the following:
“Lyons and wolves came down from the forest
Wyth many other beastes sauagyne;
Came to the cite, and some agayne kynde,
Spake as do men in Bochas as I fynde.”[[53]]
Pescetti goes as far as Ovid or Vergil. Following them, he writes,
“Per le piazze, alle case, a i tempi intorno,
Notturni cani urlar si son uditi.”—P. 75.
Yet none of the sources quoted above makes mention of the lioness whelping in the streets. Lydgate affords the closest parallel, and was probably one of Shakespeare’s sources unless we are willing to concede to the dramatist a far deeper and wider knowledge of the classics than even the most enthusiastic advocates of his learning have dared to maintain. The whelping of beasts is noted as ominous in Julius Obsequens;[[54]] but Shakespeare could hardly have derived from such an obscure authority.