A dissertation on Lucian's Dialogues of the dead V-IX as thesource of the plot of Ben Jonson's play Volpone

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Authors Gottschalk, Barbara Ottilie

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A Dissertation on Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead 7-IX asthe Source of the Plot of Ben Jonson’a Play Volpone

Barbara Ottilia Oottaohalk

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

; U :'CV

: Master.of,Arts

in the College of Lettera.'Arts/ and Sciences, of the

University of Arizona

1932

-T. ?.

^ 7 ' '932,

-2,

The writer hereby wishes to acknowledge the kind assistance given in the preparation of this thesis by Professor Melvin T . Solve and Professor Frank B. Fowler.

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Outline

I. Introduction}A. General statement of the oaae♦B. Purpose of this paper•0. Outline of the proposed treatment of the subject.

II. Chronological review of criticism concerning the sources of Volpone. • ...

III. Examination of the possible sources of Volpone; aside from Lucian:A. Horace:

1. Summary of passages dealing with legacy-hunting2. Comparison of the treatment in these passages

to treatment of the subject in Volpone.3. Conclusions•

B. Juvenal: ,1. Summary of passages dealing with legacy-hunting2. Comparison of the treatment in those passages

to treatment of the subject in Volpone.3. Conclusions •

C. Pliny:1. summary of passages dealing with legaoy-hunting2# Comparison of the treatment in these passages

to treatment of the subject in Volpone•3. Conclusions.

. D. Summary of Volpona. showing extent and oharaoter of similarity to the Dialogues of the Dead 7-II.

E. Resemblance of the two works in tone and humor.P. Explanation of the "aomberneBS" of Volpone.Q. Conclusions.

7. Brief review of findings.

71. Conclusion.

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A DISSERTATION ON DUO I ATT'S DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD 7-IX AS THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT OF BEN J0N30N* S PLAT YOLPONE

' • ■ ' ‘ ■ ■ ■' I ' - ' : •Betwee® the theme of Luoian’a Dialog**#

of the D#@& V-IX and the plot of Ben Jonson's play, Volpone. there Is a resemhlanoe so striking that one orltio has re­marked that the dialogues oontain the whole eomedy "as an oak is In en aeorn"• If this were not so and if orltlos had not relied on tho strong similarity to speak for itself once it was pointed oat, there would be no need for this paper, which proposes to examine the problem methodically in an attempt to discover whether or not this resemblance is a case merely of remarkable ooincidence or whether there may be valid grounds for supposing, as many have, that Lucian furnished the material from which the play was made.j It willbe neoesaery first to make a brief survey of critical comment?on the subject to see what has been done and how it has been done, and then to examine the various possible sources of the play with internal and external evidence to determine what the influence may have been in each case, concluding with the evidence concerning the Dialogues of the Dead.

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II -In criticism before the eighteenth century

I find no mention made of specific aenreee for Yolpone. yet I wish to begin my chronicle with the late seventeenth cen­tury, | In An Essay on Dramatic Poesy. Dryden states that Ben Joneon "ms not only a professed imitator of Horace, but a learned plagiary of all tho others; you track him everywhere in their snow; if Horace, Lucian, Petroniua Arbiter, Sen­eca, and Juvenal had their own from him, there are few serious

,, ' • ; .v & '

thoughts which are new in him.,Tfl) Here we find two names which figure largely in subsequent discussion of the sources of Yolpone, Also the trend of such dieoueeion is foreshad* owed, for later critics have been mainly occupied with noting passages which seem to have been translated or paraphrased from classical authors by Joneon, In the notes in John X), Sea’s edition of Yolpone almost every word of the play is accounted for in this manner.

In 1749, John Upton, in his Remarks on Three Plays of Ben Jonson. points out the sources of many passages of Yolpone. He makes mention of Lucian in con­nection with several lines and notes the connection of the play with Horace,Satire, 2*5. f2)

Whalley, in hie edition of Joneon’a works in 1756, summarizes Upton’s oomment and supplies notee en * 2

T l Dryden, Works. v. XVI p. 300 ! “ "2. Rea, Yolpone. Intro., p. xii. Also The Works of Ben

Jonson. edited by Whalley, Preface, p . 23. I havenot seen Upton’s book.

many more passages•• "

Reverend Thomse Franoklin, In hie trans­lation of luoian, states that legacy-hunting has been an object of satire from "the days of Lucian to those of Ben Jenson, who has perhaps treated it more fully and com­prehensibly than any," and that "the plan of his excellent comedy seems to have been taken from this dialogue (i.e* the third)."(1)

In Thomas Davies1 Dramatic Miscellanies it is stated apropos of comment on the plot 'of Volpone that "Lucian, the father of true ridicule" has five or six dim- logues on the same subject.(2)

nothing is said in the Gifford-OunnIngham edition of Joneon’s works concerning the source of the play as a whole. Whalley's notes are used and commented upon; both Gifford and Cunningham have added to the list of par­allel passages. They oite mainly from Luoian, Juvenal and Horace.

Swinburne makes no mention of sources for

this play.' ' ,■ ■

1. Zoeppel, in his Quellen-Studien. merely summarises the notes in the Gifford-Ounningham edition of Jonson, (3)

1. Quoted by L. H. Holt in M. 1. II. for February, 1906, from Franokiln's translation of Luoian, vol. I, p. 237.

2. Quoted by L. H. Holt in M.L.5. for February, 1906, from Thomas Davies' Dramatic Miscellanies, ed. 1766, vol. 2,P. 97 *

3. John D. Rea, Volpone, Intro,, p. xil.

In Modem Language t?ot<sa ( m « no# 7)for Soreabor, 1901, Edward Ohaunoey Baldwin drowa/attention

*

to the Oreek ohorooter oketohea of Libaniuo os probable esmrces for eharaeters in Joneon'a plays * pointing out parallels between phrases used in them and speeches made by Lady Polltiquo<Tould-Be and Vo1pons*

F. Belthanaen, in Anglia 12# 519, advances the theory tbst several episodes in the sotyrioon of Pe- tronius Arbiter gave Jonson the idea for Volpone, He bases his belief on the similarity he sees botvmeo Volpone sad Fuselpas« He also states that the Delia incident comes from a similar incident in the Setyrioon#

John Qulnoey Adsas Jr* objects to Bel* tbsason’s statements in an article In Modern Philology for Oetobef, 1904. He opposes to Holthausen’a beliefs hie own that the pialofaea of the Dead are the true source of Tel* pone..pointing oat In support of his Idea particular sim­ilarities of incident without going into the matter thor­oughly# Bis argument le, therefore, inconclusive#

In Modern language Kotos for April, 1906, William Hand Browne also objects to the statement that PetrenitiB it* the ooeroo of the ploy# and remarks that two of Lucian's dialogues contain tho whole comedy "as an oak is

in an ® @ © m %Holt end Bang, in 1908, make note of

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Luoien in connection with certain passages of the play.(l)In the introduction to hie edition of

Yolpone published in 1919, John D* Be# asserts that "the suggestion for the play as a whole came* not from Pe* tronius or hueIan* hut from Erasmus1 satire* Praise of Folly." He cites as evidence his notes which "show some specific passages borrowed verbatim". He further states that Jenson probably used parts of Lucian in the trans­lation by Erasmus and shows that Jonson used the notes in this translation. Bee does not attempt to refute the claims that Petronlus, Lucian* or any other olassibal author may have as the source of the plot of Yolpone* nor does he go beyond mere citation of parallel passages in support of bis beliefs. Rea's work will be referred to in greater detail in examination of Erasmus as a source.

On page fifty-three of the second volume of Hen Jonson. edited hy Herford and Simpson, appears the statement that:

"It will be aeon that neither Lucian nor Petronlus can he said to have provided the plot of Yolpone» But to one or both Jonson doubtless owed the fundamental situation of the legator who makes game of the legacy* hunters, and a few details of the execution."In the same work attention is called to the fact that the. .....

plot must be of literary origin, since legacy-hunting of this type was not practised in Elizabethan England. Wots

T l John P. Rea. Yolpone. Intradaption. p« xlll.

is also made of satire on legacy-hunting in Horace, Juvenal and Pliny. The ooncluaions with regard to Lucian and Pe- troniufl may acorn to be final, yet it seems to me that more remains to be said on the subject, after a closer examina­tion of the works in question.

In a chapter entitled "Lucian's creditors and debtors” In his book. Lucian, Satirist and Artist, page 158, Francis G . Allinaon states that ”Tolponc. an unre­strained satire on legacy-hunters, draws freely from this motif in Lucian's Dialogues of the Lead.” He also men­tions further debts Jonson owes to Lucian, but gives little or no proof. .

Petronius only is mentioned in connection with Volpone in Ben Jenson's Art by Hiss Esther 0. Dunne, published in 1988# !

The Cambridgo History of English Liter­ature goes baefc to John Quinoey Adams by refering the reader, in a footnote, to his article in Modern philology for October, 1904, for a true account of the sources of Yolnone,

The latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Brltannloa gives Petronius' Satyrloon as the source of Yolpone.

In recent comment on Yolpone occasioned by the Zweig adaptation end its production by the Theatre

»?•

Guild, I have found no diaousaion of the aouroee of the play, nor mention of the fact that the changes node in suiting the play to the tastes of a twentieth century audience are of sueh a character that the modern version seems closer to the classical antecedents than tho original

play- - . . .The method adopted in the criticism re­

viewed Is uniformly that of finding sources for particular passages of the play by noting parallelism, and then of making assumptions concerning tho souroo of the play as a whole* As a result great divergence of opinion exists on the matter* The frequent mention of Buclan aa souree— ras well as of Petronius, Juvenal, eto*— remains unconvincing because the full possibilities of the case are nowhere dealt with* Mr. Rea has made out a strong case for great in­fluence of Erasmus on the play by citing an amazing amount of borrowing throughout tho play, but ho has not given proof that Jonson owes to Erasmus the conception of the plot and development• lot only has no opinion on the source of Vol- pone been satisfactorily presented, but neither has any con­vincing refutation been offered; which makes it necessary to deal with each one in this paper*

legacy-hunting was a practise common in Roman society, so common as to be recognised as a profes­sion, such as contracting or money-lending.(1) "Owiiig to

T% Horace, Ep. I. 1.77. ' ~~

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the prevalanoo of celibacy snd other oaueee there was always, during and after the late republic;* a large number of onlldless persons (orbi) at Borne, many of them rich, who beeame marks for the legacy-hunters, large fortunes were left to persons to whom the testators were in no way related. Oioero notes the practice in his own day. Pared. 6. 2.39: ... To be childless and rich was to bo courted and powerful. ... Some rich men actually disowned their chil­dren, in order to gain the attentions that orbitas at­tracted.” fl) In consequence, there are many allusions tothis morbid pursuit in letin literature. In England, how­ever, I find no evidence of such legacy-hunting having flourished or even having been practised despite the seem­ingly eontrary evidence of the following lines.

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On Yolpene"If thou dar'at bite this Fox, then read my rhymes;Thou guilty art of some of these foul crimes:Whieh else, are neither his, nor thine, but Timeo's.The ancient forma reduced, as in this age The vices, are; and bare-faced on the stage:So boys were taught to abhor seen drunkards rage. "

- T.3.To My Good FriendMaster Jenson

"The strange new fellies of this idle age In strange new forma, presented on the e By thy quick muse* so pleas'd judicious eyes;That th'onee admired ancient comedies'Fashions, like clothes grown out of fashion, lay looked up from use: until thy Fox' birth-day,In an old garb, shewed so much art, and wit.As they the laurel gave to thee, and It."

3.D. (2)This is but praise ill-founded in fact, for there is no further allusion in literature or account in history to * 2

Y % TheSatires of Horaoe. Arthur Palmer, p, 328.2. ffie Works of hen Johaon. Sifford-Ounningham, Vol. I,1

p. eexlvi. ' —

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ahow that the Tices satirised in Yolpone were practised in Elisabethan England— or, Indeed at any period in England.Nor la there "evidence or probability that Jonaon had dis­covered a Venetian Euoratea or Eamolpus.w(l) "But Yolpone bears the stamp of his purely literary origin." This is an important point to keep in mind in considering the possible classical sources of the play, for it means that the whole

Xidea as well as specific incidents must have been derived from the sources. There must be precedent for the atti­tude of the legator as well as the hopeful legatee, there must be examples of actions the same or similar to those found in the play. Allusions lacking detail cannot be counted as true source material even though they may be considered as contributing elements in the choice of sub­ject and in supplying background. What must he looked for is a treatment of the theme of legacy-hunting so suggestive that it would fire a dramatic imagination, and details which will correspond to those in the play. 1

1. The Works of Ben Jenson. Oifford-Ounningham, Yol. I, p. ooxlvi.

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' .. Ill ' 'Sinoe Jonson was a nprofessed imitator

of Horace" end knew his works well, Horace's satires will he a.logical place to bogin our search.

Satire V in the second book is a dialogue between Ulysses and Tireslas in Hades, on the subject of legacy-hunting, in reply to Ulysses1 inquiry concerning arts and means of repairing his lost fortune that he may not return home empty-handed, Tiresias advises Ulysses to find an old man without children and become his toady. The arts he recommends are numerous* Should some delicacy be sent to Ulysses he is to give it in turn to the old man he has chosen; he is to give him, also, the first fruits of his garden, even before offering them to the gods. Ulysses is "to wait upon him at his least command" no matter how low a creature he may be, even if he is "perjured, a fratri­cide, low-born, or a fugitive slave." As others may per­ceive his aim, Ulysses must be always on hia guard to avoid snares though to preserve his air of innocence he "nibble off the bait," A method for picking up an object for such at­tentions is to espouse and aid the cause of a rich man who is involved In a lawsuit, if that man has no heirs or but one sickly child* The man to be shunned la the one with

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wife and children• To court only bachelors would invite auepioion, however, so it is well to pick at least one who has one weak heir in hope of being named second in the will.Do not openly read the will of the legatee, even though it be proffered you but glance at it sidewise, advises Tireslas. Also, it is good to be the ally of the servants and speak well of them to the master that they may do like­wise by you, but it is best to pay most attention to the rich man himself. If the legator writes bad verse, encourage him with praise; if he is lustful, deliver Penelope to him. Treat the old man’s health as something precious; flatter him until he cries enough; at his funeral and after­wards pretend sorrow and speak good of him to all; and, for your own praise, build him a magnificent tomb. If there are other heirs at all feeble court them in the hope of gaining their share too. As examples, Tireeias tells two stories.The first, in a warning against letting the motive of your attention he suspected, is that of a Roman who, unable to pay his debts, marries his young daughter to an old man in order to inherit his wealth; the old man, aware of the father- in-law's device, has him read the will in which neither the wife nor her father are mentioned, as revenge. The second relates the story of a legacy-hunter who so wearied the woman he pursued with his attentions that she left him the desired legacy on condition he could and would carry her body anoint­ed with oil to the grave, hoping in death to give him the

slip, as she had not been able to in life.(l)In this satire the fundamental situation

differs widely from that of the play, Yolpone* Here the wealthy men are somewhat unwilling and must be fooled and cajoled as well as sought out* All the initiative is in the hands of the would-be heirs. In Volpone. while the suitors for Volpone1a wealth think they must keep their motives hidden, he is as anxious to keep them attentive and to fool them as they are to mm# into possession of hie wealth. Thera is a bare hint of part of Mo806*8 role in the.play in the advice eonoeming the treatment of ser- vents; a hint perhaps, also, in the story of the tiresome logaoy-hunter for Volpone’s attitude toward Lady pelitigue- Would-Be (though this would be rather far-fetched evidence in the light of the difference between the situations and of Ben Jon#on’s attitude in the Silent WomanH certainly the linos concerning Penelope contain more than a hint, of the Celia episode. The advice about showing zealous regard for the legator*0 health recalls the morning calls of Voltore, Corbacolo, and Corvino to inquire after Volpone, and faintly suggests the motivation of the Celia incident. But, hero again, the similarity is slight, end in the satire there is no detail which corresponds to tho situation or

1. This summary is based on the text of Satires and tipistles of Horace edited by J.B. Qreeneugh, and the translation by the liev. Philip Trends in Works of the English Poets by Chalmers, Arthur Palmer’s edition of Horaos omits the passages concerning Penelope *

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action of the play• It can be seen, then, that while the satire furnishes general Information on legacy-hunting and methods of pursuit, there is little in it either directly used in the play.or of great similarity;

Pliny gives an account of the methods of Regains, a legsoyhunting lawyer. In one ease; Regains pays a call to a very sick lady and prophesies that she will re­cover • He immediately consults the augurs who confirm his prophesy as he reports to the lady. In gratitude, she adds a clause to her will leaving Regains a legacy. When she finds herself on the verge of death a very short time later, she calls the man a "rogue, a treacherous and worse than per­jured Vila in for he swore by his son's life"; but she is unable to strike out the clause before dying. Another time, a wealthy consul in his last illness sends for Regains in order to alter his will. Regulus takes the opportunity to court the old men and ostentatiously implores the physicians to lengthen his life by all means. After the changes are made, however, he accuses the doctors of cruelty for keep­ing the consul lingering in suffering. This time Regulus is unsuccessful, for he is left "not a farthing"• In the third instance he tries flattery. He demands of an elegant lady that she leave him a very handsome dress that she la wearing when he oernes to seal her will, she complies, but disappoints him by not being sufficiently flattered to

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leave him come thing of moro north in addition •(!)All of this, save something of the atti­

tude toward the old man 'a health, is for from Volpone* It could provide no more than general background.

Juvenal‘s satires are often cited in connection with Yolpone. particularly the third. I can find but two lines in the third satire whioh refers to legacy-hunting. The first is translated as follows by Dryden:

"I neither will, nor can prognosticate To the young gaping heir his father’s fate:"(2)

The second is briefer but more to the point; for in the simple question "who could inscribe a poor man as his heir?"(3) is implied all of the gift-giving and use of in­fluence employed by the fairly well-to-do toady seeking a legacy from a wealthy old man• In satire IV, however, there are four lines on the subject, which Charles Badham trans­lates somewhat freely in the following manner:

"’Well 1 he designed no doubt some fool to fix,Whoso palsied hand his fluctuating will Indites and cancels— I oomoend his skill:Money's we11-spent on dolts with cash to leave.Nor wit to question wherefer they receive.’"(4) 1 2 3 4

1. Based on Pliny, Ep. ii. 20#2. line 43, 44; Satire 3.

" ... funua promittere patrisneo volo neo possum;

3. line 161; Satire 3 .• • "quia pauper soribitur heres?"4. 11. 18 - 22; Satire IV.

"Consilium laudo artifiois, si munere tanto praeoipuam in tabulis oeram senis abstulit orbi;eat ratio ulterior, magnoe si misit amioae, quae vehitur oluso latis speoularibns antro•"

The disgusting description of the sat state of feeble old age In satire X dentalns more pertinent details. The old man is piotured as toothless and unable to ohew his food, with trembling volee and limbs, and drooling miserably like an Infant. Bis wife and children keep away from him; fas­tidious flatterers forsake him. People must shout in hie ears to make him hear at all. He lives in a state of seml- oonaoiousness ineapable of any enjoyment or feeling, unable to recall the names of his servants or to recognize his friends, Finally after his death his heir is found to be some low-born person rewarded for secret services, in place of his family and friends, lines 93-130 of the twelfth satire speak of the sacrifices which a legacy-hunter would offer to the gods after the recovery from danger of a testa­tor in order to make a show of devotion, whereas he, Juvenal, earn not be suspected of self-interest in offering Ms.best heifer in gratitude for his friend, Catullus' escape from a shipwreck, for Catullus has three small sons. Sines avarice wee one of the outstanding vices of the degenerate society of Borne under Domltlan and other emperors of the time legacy- hunting is often alluded to among other methods of obtaining wealth by fraudulent moans; such numerous and slight refer­ences are not of sufficient value to be included here. The first of the passages from Juvenal quoted here has no par­allel in Toluene. The quotation from satire IV sums up the

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attitude of Gorflno, Oerbaooio, and Voltore in the play who ahower Volpone with costly gifts in the hope not only of winning Yolpone's favor, hut also of outdoing one another --spurred on hy the wiles of Hoaea. The description of the revolting.physical condition of an impotent, foehlo old person'in satire X is oloaely paralleled in details of Yol­pone's pretense to a s1mllar condition. Mosoa anoints Vol­pone eo that he appears to be rheumy-eyed, won and drivel­ling • Volpone pretends to ho in a semi-coma from which he can soaroely bo aroused to reoeive Corvino's pearl; even shouting of an abusive nature does not stir him to oonaoioue- neee* This is the oecesion of one lively and amusing scene and no more. v.-: . . . •

The incident in the Satyrioon of.PetroBi.ua cited se the souroe of Volpone la the lest in the book*After storm and ship-wreck, a group of adventurers, in­cluding Eumolpus and.' Ineolplus, find themselves on shore near the city of Groton which, they learn from a bailiff is a town of "legacy-leavers" and "legacy-hunters"* The business of the town is carried on by flattery and entertainment— the legacy-huntere even support rich, heirless old people in the hope of being more than repaid hy the will of tho object of their attentions. Eumolpus, an old man, decides to play the part of an exceedingly rich, shipwrecked foreigner with hie friends as the remainder of his servants, and thus to impose

on the legaey-huntera o f Groton# The aohoae is auooeasfbl so that soon Bmiolpus Is living in luxnry at the expense of others ana has power through friends at eourt. - within this framework is told the story of the lasoivious love saven­ture a of Rnoolpius with a well-horn lady of Groton# Final­ly, Eneolpius perceives that the game of deoeption is about played out, and so he deserts Eumolpua, who is disgraced by discovery and killed as the scapegoat offered up annually as propit is tion for the sins of the populace of croton#One incident in the story la of particular importance in consideration of this aa the source cf Volpone# During the . prosperity of Eumolpus, a professional legacy-huntor, a widow grown old in the business now seeking legacies for her children, a girl and o boy, delivers those children up to Eumolpus on the pretense that she needs aid and advice in their education# He finds that she has taught them to win their wey into old men's hearts by scandalous means. The passage dialing with this is left untranslated by J.M# Mitchell# This adventure contains the germ of the Cells incident in Volpone. although the circumstances and the em­phasis are different. It can hot be given as the source of the Celia incident, however, for the suggestion in Horace's satire V of book II concerning the use wives may be in help­ing their husbands gain legacies is much closer to the situa­tion and motivation in the play. The general situation in the aatyrloon of an old man fooling the legacy-hunters pur-

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posely for hie own "banefit is similar to that of the play with the difference, however, that 7olpono ia not an unknown adventurer but a respected oitiien of Venice and that his deceit is lose since he really is wealthy. Aside from the widow and her children* there are no details of methods of fooling legacy-huntera or of hunting legacies in the Satyrioon, The main Interest of the adventure centers in the love story, which seeas to be its real raison d*etre.The influence of the Satyrioon can therefore be soon to be small in Ben Jonson’s play for there is but scant material in it which would have been pertinent to the theme or action of the play* The whole tone of the Satyrioon differs widely from that of Volpone« The Satyrioon is the narration of the experiences of a group of unprincipled adventurers who live by their wits, deceiving and sponging on others* They travel from one place to another as chance leads them* Petronius does not hold bis characters nor their vises up to ridicule, though his purpose is the correction and in­struction of his readers • His method ia rather to draw an exaggerated pieture of vice and let degeneracy speak for it­self , The result is a book of lewd tales rather loosely put together which dooo not entirely accomplish the purpose its author intended. For a long while it was taken as a literal

and true picture of Homan society in the time of Serov In the Conversations with Drummond. Ben Jonson is quoted as

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recommending Horace, Juvenal and others for pleasure, where­as he separates Fetroniue from this group rather pointedly and recommends reading his works for the fine style* This can "be used as an Indication (no more) of Ben Jonson’s lack of sympathy with the manner and content of the Satyrloon. whloh would re-lnforoe the conclusion that the Satyrloon had little Influence on the plot of Volpone, and therefore can not ho cited as the main source of the play.

John D. Rea, in his comments and notes In his edition of Volpone has shown that Jonson drew largely on Erasmus for dialogue of the play both by paraphrase and direct translation; not content with this, however, he has also stated and made some attempt to prove that Jonson ob­tained his whole plan and idea from Erasmus, adding details from here and there in olassioal authors. He also states that Jonson knew Luoian through the medium of Erasmus, who translated parts of Lucian's work. Erasmus refers often to Luoian and was greatly influenced in his own writing by his admiration for Luoian.

Rea says, on page xiv of his Introduction;"The suggestion for the ploy as a whole

oame, not from Petronius or Luoian, but from Erasmus' satire. Praise of Folly. The notes to the play in the present edi- tion will show some of the specific passages borrowed from this, often almost verbatim; and these borrowings, it will be noted, are not merely from the satire itself, but from the notes ordinarily published with it, and even from Eras­mus' Epistola Apologotioa. written in defense of his work, to which last Jonson owes almost os muoh as to the satire itself. The Epistle Dedicatory, usually considered Jonson’s finest piece of prose, is little more than a paraphrase

of parts of this."Erasmus1 work is e satire in the style of

Lucian, in whioh Folly, the supposed speaker, points out the many varieties of fools, This is the theme of Volpone also; but instead of Folly, three fools, in an interlude inserted near the beginning of the play, oall our attention to the folly of those usually accounted wise* Erasmus1 list of fools is too long to give in full; . • . .

"It will be not ieed that here is not mere­ly the suggestion of presenting mankind ae a procession of fools, but also the comparison to a turba ausoarun (1), evidently the origin of the idea of Moses, and TnSireotly of the various bird-and-animal-oharaoters of the play,"

It is true that praise of Folly represents mankind as a procession of fools, with emphasis on the folly of greed. Folly herself being the daughter of Plutus; but the form which that folly is presented under, in Vol­pone is mentioned but onco in the Praise of Folly, and that mention is brief, containing a mere suggestion of the situation in Volpone, (2) The Interlude to vdiidh Sea refers is Nano*8 masque, which owes much to Luoian's di­alogue, The Cook.

Mosoa has many antecedents, most of v/hloh have little if anything to do with the general them® of legacy-hunting• The parasite of old Roman oomedy is the 1 2

1. Rea notes, op. oit., p, xv, that "musoa was often used for parasite; Erasmus says (Adagia 4,7. 43.) that musoa was used of all those 'qui deleotabantur aliens mensa, quos Plautus muribus ooaparat semper alienum edentibus album.

2. "Another had rather get Richer by Warthan live peaceably at home. And some there are that think them easiest attained by courting old childless men with Presents; end others again by making rich old women be-. lieve they love'm; both which afford the Gods most ex­cellent pastime to see them cheated by those persons they thought to have over-oaoh't." praise of Folly, p. 100,

-al­

most obvious souroo for suoh a character; indeed, Moaoa himself takes oare to inform the audience that though he is a parasite he is not the usual parasite of old comedy and then very exactly lists the differences between himself and his forebears on the stage. (1) Nor is he the "diner- out", or the flatterer or the toady common in Roman liter­ature, especially Roman satire. He resembles various ones of them in various respects and yet Is something very dif­ferent from any. The likeness of the word oosoa, gad-fly, to musoa, parasite, quite probably contains a good part of the suggestion for the oharaoter, but so also do the olever, ' scheming servants, the parasites, and the "diner-out? of Roman plays and of the later Italian Oommedia del Arte,In Ineian's Dialogues of the Dead, IX, there is a passage

"

which may contain some suggestion of Moses's role and character, as will be shown later. Therefore, while Mr.Rea has shown fairly conclusively that jonaon knew and used Erasmus' Praise of Folly and his translation of a few of Lucian’s works by calling attention to the parallelism in word and phrase between them, and by pointing out Jenson’s use of the notes in Erasmus as well as the text, his case in regard to Erasmus as the source of the whole play is not convincing. In addition, that Ben Jonson was acquainted with 1

1. Volpone. Act III, Scene I.

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end 'borrowed from Erasmus 1 Praise of Folly and the transla­tion of parts of lueian, partioularljr the notes, is no proof that Jonson did not also know luo lan * a works in any other fora. As a matter of faot, another translation of luoian has been found bearing Jonson ’s signature as owner,"Sum Ben Jonsonij". Whether or not this contains the Dialogue* of the Dead is a matter of conjecture since the best descrip­tion of it that I have been able to obtain is: "LuoianlSamoeatensis Dialog! Goto, Marini Dialog! XV, Gharon slue Oontemplantes, Paris, 1630.M (1) This is not the translation by Erasmus, which was printed at Basel by Asoen- sianis, and is entitled "Lucian! Erasmo interprets• Dialog!& alia emunota. etc." It contains three of the dialogues which deal with legacy-hunting in the following order with matter separating them: Onemonis et Damlppi (Dialogue VIII)wherein the legacy-hunter has died a sudden death leaving his money to the old man; Zenophantes et Oallimedae (Dia­logue VII) wherein the legacy-hunter has died of the poison he meant for the old man; Simylus et Polystrati (Dialogue IX) in which a wealthy old man arrives in Hades etill laugh­ing at how he has fooled the suitors for his money. The 1

1. Ben Jonson. Harford and Simpson, Vol. I, p, 266. Also,ffiransaotlons of the Royal society of Literature. 2nd series. Part IV, vol. XXVII. p. lt>7. Note on Ben Jonson1 s Books, by Robt. W. Ramsey. Both note that it was offered for sale by Messrs. Hodgson on March 20, 1907.

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dialogues in suoh order and so separated hare no unity of impression nor any continuity. Dialogue VII contains the device so important in Volpone of the false will made by the legacy-hunter as bait to entice the legatee to make a similar will; this is also the subject of another dialogue in Luoian wherein two brothers name each other as heir each hoping to outlive the other; they die together, however, and the legacies go to two relatives who had had no hopes for them. Dialogue VII deals with the poisoning of the old man, which is suggested by Gorbaoolo in the play but not adopted and so is of minor importance. Dialogue IX corres­ponds in tone to the play. The merriment of the old man over the disappointment of the legacy-hunters, his recital of the attentions they paid him and of their gifts, and his account of the present state of his slave to whom he left his estate all have bearing on the play; yet even with this the dialogues as translated and placed in Erasmus do no t seem completely satisfactory as the source of the whole plot of Volpone even when taken into consideration with praise of Folly and the Epistles and the Adagla. from which Rea has shown that Jonaon borrowed. While Mr. Rea has shown that Jonson owed a great debt to Erasmus in the composition of Volpone, he has not proven nor oan I find evidence that

Jonson found the idea for the whole play in Erasmus nor that Jonaon knew Luoian only through the medium of Erasmus' works.

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Jonaon may have become Interested in Lucian through reading Erasmus. That he was interested beyond what is found in Erasmus is shown by the fact that he owned the translation of Luoian which has been traced to his library. Whether or not this translation contained the Dialogues of the Dead or not is not proof that Jonson did not read them, for there were editions containing these dialogues existent in his time which he might easily have had access to. It is interesting to note that the first book printed at Cam­bridge, where Jonson is supposed to have gone as a scholar, was a translation of Luoian by Henry Bullock. (1) This contains, however, only Dlpsas, the Snake-thirst, with mar­ginal notes. In the Henry R. Huntington Library at San Marino, California, is a complete translation of Luoian pub­lished at Franfort in 1543. I have found frequent mention of other editions of Luoian in Elizabethan times. For al­lusions to Luoian in Elisabethan works see pages 166 through 169 of Luoian. Satirist and Artist, by Francis G. Allinson. The fact remains that Jonson not only knew the translations of Luoian by Erasmus, but also owned a copy not by Erasmus and could have consulted a complete edition— may even have owned one, since the list of books traced to his library is not complete. ; ;

No mention of Luoian or Volpono is made

1. A Study of Rare Books, by Nolle Mamoy, p. 22 -23.

' • . IV

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in the OonTaraations with Drummond. But there is an allusion to Luolan in Oynthla's Revels* (1) More important is the reference to the "Gobbler's obok" in Nano's masque (2) in the first aot of Volpone. for this would definitely show that Jonson had at least one of LuoIan's dialogues in mind when writing the play.

The Dialogues of the Dead V~IX form a some­what disconnected series centering about a main theme, legacy-hunting. As John Quinoey Adams Jr. suggests, however, the rich old man in each is the same, though he has a different name in each dialogue. (3) There is a dramatic unity in the group, too, apart from the fact that the reader identifies the old men as one and- the some. In the first of the so dialogues, Pluto suggests to Hermes that it would be ideal poetic justice if the would-be-heirs of "that old, old fel­low, Huoratea the millionaire" were to be brought down to

XT Oynthia's Hovels, Act I. Scone 1 "If we may creditLucian, who, in his Eneomlo Demosthenls, affirms he never drunk but water."

2. In speaking of the transmigrations of his soul from Pythagoras to its present habitation, ?Tano soys:

"Besides, oxe, and asae, oammell, mule, goat, and brook. In all which it hath spoke, as in the Gobbler's Cook."

Volpnne. Act I, Scene II. LI. 23, 24.In Lucian's dialogue The Peek. Micyllus, a shoemaker, grumbles at being awakened by a cock’s crowing• The cook reproves Mi- oyllus and replies to his exclamations of surprise at a oook's being able to speak, that he was a man but a short time be­fore, in fact that he is one incarnation of the soul of Pytha­goras . Jonson gives the same list of transmigrations as does the cook, adding to it to bring it from the cook to Nano.

This dialogue is of farther interest in .connection with consideration of Volpone in that it ridicules the desire for wealth,3. Modern Philology. October, 1904.

Hades before the old man, and the old man actually to be­come young again and attend thoir funerals* Hermes, finally persuaded to this point of view, agrees to the plan of bringing them off first. In dialogue VI, the first of the suitors for the-legacy has arrived in Hades, indignant that he should die at thirty and leave the decrepit old man in possession of the riches he had coveted and hoped for.When told of the plan he at first can see no point to it, then he remembers the other suitors left olive and feels it really will be a joke on eaoh of them for the millionaire to outlive them. The next legacy-hunter to appear, is a man who has taken by mistake the poison he intended for the legator whose death he had not the patience to await, in VIII, the suitor reaches Hades in a bad state of mind for he has left his estate to the old man he was courting as bait to make him reciprocate. The suitor Sled a sudden violent death, leaving his more proper heirs nothing, to the enrichment of the old man he had hoped to profit from.In the last, the old man, himself, reaches Hades still en­joying memories of his prosperous, well-attended later years, made pleasant by entertainment provided by his would- be-heirs. He was miserly in his youth to enjoy life; in his old ago he has enjoyed great luxury at the expense of others. What most pleases him is that after his death the hopeful ones will be repaid for their hypocrisy by being loft

out of his will, which leaves everything to a young Phrygian 1/ slave who has served him. This legator was lascivious as well as a hoarding miser. Throughout the dialogues the ac­tion narrated by the speakers is swift, the conversation is full of irony and clover psychological touches so that the situations unfold dramatically. Also the greed of the would- be-heirs is censured clearly without a hint of preaching.

In the opening scene of Voloone. Volpone appears counting over his treasure and recent gifts with Moses. He gloats over his possessions, though he says that it is not so muoh what he has that pleases him as the adventure of acquisition and the manner in which without working he extorts wealth not from widows and orphans but irom the greedy who oan afford to pay court to him. While Polystratus of the ninth dialogue enjoyed his wealth and his manner of getting it, his attitude is somewhat different, less oonsoiouelymoral. Both of these old men, however, take advantage of the ,

: ' ■ : ' Vavarice of their suitors as a profitable sport, despising them and anxious to get the bettor of them in the end by dis­appointing their hopes. Volpone can not wait until his own death to see the effect of this disappointment, but by pre­tending to be dead he oan witness it with as great relish as ^ Polystrates. Polystratus relates that he has left his slave his sole heir to the confusion of the would-be-heirs; by this time the former slave has the best of society at hie call and "now he is one of the sristooraoy . . . . called nobler than

28

Codrug. In the play, Volpone haa the rumor of hia death spread about the streets by his servants and then hides him­self to watoh those hopeful of gaining by this event oome to Hobos, who is provided with a false will naming himself as heir, to ask for particulars of the will. Volpone asks Mosoa to dally with th«n and play upon them before crush­ing their hopes, for his entertainment, and then secretes himself in the room as the first one approaches. Mosoa plays his part so well that Volpone is beside himself with delight and must have more of it. He forces Mosoa to dress in the role of a magnifioo of Venice, to which degree the estate would raise him, and parade through the streets to receive the reverence of the people and to excite still farther the envy of the legaoy-hunters. This is an expansion of the situation in the ninth dialogue to which it is similar both in mood and conception.

"The luxuries that Thuorites has enjoyed at my expense 1 He always looked as if he were at the point of death. I never went to see him, but he would groan and squeak like a ohioken barely out of the shell: I consideredthat he might step into his ooffin at any moment, and heaped gift upon gift for fear of being outdone in generosity by my rivals; . . ." (1)

Volpone not only lives in luxury at others’ expense and grows wealthy by gifts, but he also looks as though he were at death’s door when his suitors oome. Mosoa uses all his art to make him suit the description given in the

1. Dialogues of the Dead, VI.

same dialogue as the preceding, of an old man "with only three teeth left in his head, half blind, . . . drivelling and rheumy-eyed." Moaoa aids this deception farther with his account of Volpone's weakness, with his shouting into Volpone’s ear to show his deafness.

"I have been fooled, miserably fooled.I have passed over all whom I should like to have made my heirs, and left my money to the wrong man. . . • I had been speculating on the death of Hermolaus, the millionaire. Ho had no children, and my attentions had been well received by him. I thought it would be a good idea to lot him know that I had made my will in his favor, in the ohanoe of its exciting his emulation." f1)Ben Jonson uses on incident like this as the motivation for much of the action of his play. L!osoa suggests to Cor- baooio that he make such a will for suoh a purpose. Moeoa then informs Corbacoio's son of his father’s action. The son is, by Mosoa’s plan, let in to Volpone's house to over­hear his father's treachery, in the hope that he will come out of concealment to accuse his father and so anger him that the father will become truly willing to disinherit this only son. Plans miscarry, so that the son is enabled to save Celia and oreato a seemingly hopeless situation which Mosea turns to Volpone's advantage.

The use of pois&n^to dispatch old men tenaciously clinging to life was seen to be the subject of one of the dialogues. Jonson seems to follow Luolan, and follow him too far this time when he makes Corbaooio, who is older and in reality more feeble than Volpone, propose to

1. Dialogues of the Dead, VIII.

end Volpone's life by poison. Moaoa nips this plan in the bud: neither Oorbaeolo nor Volpone oan bo spared from theplay by reason of dramatlo necessity, so the suggestion can­not be followed to any conclusion. Tbs proposal seems un­necessarily to heighten the morbidity of the play.

In the first dialogue of the group the general situation is set forth in a conversation between Pluto and Hermes. Pluto draws attention to "that old, old fellow, Sucrates, the millionaire," surrounded by toadies who have envious eyes on his estate. He suggests that they turn the joke on those toadies by bringing them off to Hades before Ruorateo, and then of making Euorates young and strong enough to attend their funerals. Hermes finally agrees to the scheme and goes off presumably to fetoh the first suitor. In Volpone the preparation is similarly laid for the appear­ance of the legacy-huntera in the first scene between Vol­pone and llosoa, and in Hone's short masque. Volpone and 'Tosco start the day gloating over Volpone's possessions and glorying in their means of acquiring wealth not by labor, usury nor extortion from widows and orphans, but by playing on the greed itself of well-to-do citizens, by holding out to them the hope of their gifts buying the favor of a legacy in Volpone's will which will bring great riches. The joke is on the legacy-hunters end is likely to remain so sines Vol­pone is in reality younger than he makes himself appear and is lustier than the suitors. The audience has sympathy with

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hls motive and enjoys his trick as he does. While even in this first scene the character of Volpone is not entirely sympathetic to a modern audience, the suitors are portrayed as so much more evil, that Volpone seems Justified. The audience is let into the secret connivance of Volpone and Mosoa and given a hint of their methods, so that the appear­ance of the suitors is awaited with keen anticipation of the fun the gulling is to provide. The same tone is set in the dialogue and the first scene of the play; in each case the plot of a huge joke is exposed and the reader is prepared to relish the consequences•

In review, then, we find that the play and^> the dialogues "begin with scenes comparable in purpose, tone,J situation• Both proceed Immediately to the introduction of the individual legacy-hunters, starting with the least extra­ordinary— in Volpone, Voltore with his pieces of plate; in Lucian, the man who died at thirty and feels cheated that the old man he was courting should out-live him. In fiorbaooio are combined two of the suitors who appear in the dialogues: the one who has not the patience to let the old man die a natural death, and the one who makes a will as a snare.After Corbaoolo leaves and Gorvino enters, however, the in­cidents in the play depart from the material found in the dialogues• To each legacy-hunter in succession Mosos paints Volpone1s physical condition worse. He and Gorvino shout insulting remarks at Volpone without arousing him to any overt

82

sign of consciousness, and Oorvino leaves assured that he has not long to wait for the wealth Mosoa asserts Volpone has left him. His departure is followed by mention of his beautiful wife whom he guards jealously. The first scene of the sooond act introduces the characters of the sub-plot; and the rest of the act is given over to the mountebank scene wherein Volpone, in disguise, oatohes a glimpse of Celia. He then decides ho must have her at all costs, and Yosoa undertakes to persuade Oorvino to yield her to Volpone. This he accomplishes by tolling Oorvino that Corbaooio and Voltore have procured Volpone'a favor and partial recovery by administering to him some of the mountebank's remedy; but Volpone needs some young woman to warm hie blood and by re­porting further that each suitor and even the doctor are offering kinswomen to fill that office• Oorvino swallows the bait and offers his wife. This incident is somewhat similar to the delivering of the two children in the Satyrl- oon, but,is closer in detail end motivation.to the sugges­tion in Horace, Satire 2.6., that Ulysses persuade Penelope to play such a part, and to X Kings 1 and 2. (1) .

w8e was still talking when there entered a matron of the most orthodox type, by name Philomela. In her prime she had collared quite a number of legacies: now shewas old and shrivelled up, but she went on foisting a son or a daughter on childless old men, and thus kept up the tradi­tion and extended her connexion. With this purpose she visited Eumolpua, hoping to enlist his practical sympathy in behalf of her offspring and to throw herself and her loved ones on his generosity. She explained that in the whole wide world he was the only man she could trust to bring up her little ones in the way they should go• In a single word, she

The first part of the third sot Is taken up with the sub-plot and the complication of the main-plot, whereby Bonnario, son of Corbaooio is hidden in Volpone’s house to witness hie father's treachery.in disinheriting his son and naming Volpone his heir. Oorvino, with Celia, comes too soon; Bonnario saves her from Volpone, but in doing so brings in the watch, and all must be settled in court. Yosoa so works upon the three legacy-hunters that each agrees to support the tale he has concocted to defame Bonnario and Celia, and to free Volpone. Voltore acts as Volpone’s ad­vocate. Ifosoa 's success in handling this seemingly hopeless tangle so intoxicates Volpone with delight that he takes affairs into his own hands and has rumor spread of his death. Mosoa as a magnifico and Volpone in disguise go to the second hearing of the case against Celia and Bonnario.

proposed to leave her children at his house to drink in those words of wisdom which were the only true inheritance that her young hopefuls would be likely to receive.

"Wo sooner said than done I She left in the room a very attractive young damsel with her brother, who was about eighteen, pretending that she was off to the temple to pay her vows."

(The intervening passage is not translated by Mitchell.)

"(This amazing good fortune put us in the highest spirits. We laughed heartily at Philomela's canny ways and her children's professional skill, both of which were doomed to disappointment in our oaso; for it was only in the hope of a bequest that she had given us access to hor son and daughter........ )"

Petronius. The Satyrioon. Translated by J.M. Mitchell, pp. 240.

"prevent his asking, if he loves a wench.And let your wife his nobler passion quench.

Volt ore owns to the truth of the affair, even though he thereby ruins his own reputation. Mosea turns on Volpone, who confesses his identity and his cheat. The court then punishes all save Celia and Bonnario, who are allowed to go free.

We find that the incidents similar to those in Lucian’s Dialogues of the Dead are found in the first act of the play, and that they there serve to sot the tone for the whole play, provide the main situation and the actions from which thb subsequent complication arises. With the Celia in oident they comprise all that there is in the play that deals with legacy-hunting. Much has been added which contains echoes of other authors— for example, the Celia incident; , also Ydltore who recalls the lawyer, Regulue, who appears In Pliny; and the details of the description of Volpone which

' ~~ Ulysses• I ' >"Can you suppose, a dame so chaste, so pure.Could e ’er bo tempted to th@ guilty lure,Whom all the suitors amorously strove, x;In vain, to stagger in her plighted love? ,4

. - ' - ' . - ' - \ \• . Tirealae.. . " .... ... - Vi ■'

"The youth too sparing of their presents came;They loved the banquet, rather than the dame;And thus your prudent, honourable spouse,It seems, was faithful to her nuptial vows.But had she once indulged the dotard 'a glee.Smack'd her old cull, and shar'd the spoil with thee.She never after could be terrified. . . ."

Horace, Sat. 2.6. Francis' trans., English poets, p. 721.

Rea notes, page xvi, that lambinns'.com­ments on this passage contain more detail, and that Cor­nelius Agrippa von Hetteshelm retells and uses the follow-

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reoall Juvenal, Satire !• In the sub-plot la material taken from the Ilf© of Jonson *s own time. The ending is truly Jonsonian in its moral.

Another point of Importeroe is the faot that Yolpone is ofton called Ben Jonson'e "somber” oomedy, and yet that, when well acted, it is lively on the stage.The subject is certainly morbid, centering as it does about the hoped-for death of an old man. Most of. the mentions of legacy-hunting in Roman satires have the foul odor of de­generate vice and crime, and intentionally so, since the writers mean to show the vileness of the practice in its fullness. In Lucian, however, the case is different. He is holding the folly and vioe of the world up to ridicule.

ing biblical incident as argument in proof of his contention that women aro more vigorous and beautiful than men.

"TTow king David was old and striken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.

. ’’Wherefore his servants said unto him.Let there he sought for my lord the king a young virgin: andlet her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and ler her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat.”

I Kings 1 and 2. (King James version)Jonson probably knew the Lambinusredition

of Horace, as it was popular; he owned the edition annotated by Bernadus, however, (see Ben Jonson« by Herford and Simpson, vol. I., p. 266.) tie also knew both Cornelius Agrippa and the Bible. .

Mosea. . . . ."At last, they all resolved That, to preserve him, was no other means,But some young woman must be straight sought out.Lusty and full of juloe to sleep by him;He knows the state of’s body, what it is;That nought can warm his blood, sir,but a fever."

Yolpone, Act II, Scene III.

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By the time the reader ha a reaohed this group of the Dia­logues of the Dead, he has become,aoaaatomed to the grisly atmosphere of Hades, to the grim humor of the newly dead still clinging to life and to the attitudes of the living in their new world where such attitudes are comically Incon­gruous , as also to the relation of earthly sordidness and wickedness. Also Sharon’s attitude.and that of tho sensible dead has taken away much of tho horror of dying and killing from the reader, for the time being; death seems inevitable, in some oases quite humorous. The living are the foolish, and even more foolish are those who wish to return to earth. In Yolpone there is of course none of this preparatory back­ground; nor any tradition of legacy-hunting nor of this type of legacy-leaving, even though heirless rich old people have often been the center of much interest and speculation, even of attention, in England during Jonson's tine and modern times. When read, the morbidity of the theme and the re­puls ivene so of the characters who seem capable of any crime over-balance the humor. When well acted at a swift tempo, however, the mind has not time to reflect nor to grasp the sordidness in full, so that the Luoianio humor has a ohanoe to predominate in the impression created. Then one rejoices with Yolpone in !Josea's almost superhuman cleverness, and it seems excellent fooling indeed. The final break in Mosoa's good fortune is a point of relief for the audience who know his bubble of fiotioning must burst, and yet fears

37

and hopes the moment will not come; and the end "brings the satisfaction of tension past and justice done. It is in the Dialogues of the Dead alone that the theme is treated with such gaiety and humor, yet it would seem that the aomhernesa would also be due to Luofan*a influence in part. For by necessity Jonaon would have to change the action to life on earth in place of the hereafter, thus losing the humor of the surroundings of the dialogues and of the narration in retrospect pointed by remarks of shades such aa Llenippua. Also the suggestion which Corbaooio makes that Yolpbne be dispatched by poison which adds greatly to the repulsiveness of the play can be traced to Lucian. The treatment of the theme as a subject for practical joking also comes from Lucian.

If we take into consideration not only the similarity of incident in the play and the dialogues and the use of these incidents in the play as the basis of de­velopment of the fundamental circumstances and action; but take into consideration also the comic element in the dia­logues, their dramatic character, and their dramatic sug- gestivenoss, the evidence seems conclusively to show that Jonson owed his inspiration to this group of dialogues by Luoian. The dialogues are brief summaries of action which has already taken place, full of implied detail and develop­ment. It is action boiled down to the essentials which re­create in the mind of the reader the full happening. What

is left unsaid in them would-fire the imagination of a dramatist. What is said, is told swiftly and vividly, and under emotion, so that eaoh dialogue is a dramatic scone in itself contributing to the larger dramatic whole. There is room for development, with suggestion as to what that further development should be. The whole lives and grows in the mind after the reading. The wit of the conversation and the many comic incongruities tickle the fancy and enliven the whole. Thus they would not only kindle a dramatic imagination but would seem to'be a proper subject for comedy. Had Jonson not had suoh stimulation as this it seems improbable that he would have undertaken to satirize the folly and vioe of gulling and greed by means of a prac­tise so foreign to the society of his day, thereby forfeiting both the point and appeal of his play.

. v

In no other work that I have examined have I found suoh a stimulus nor anything which would aooount for this use of legacy-hunting by Jonson. Erasmus1 Praise of Folly starts with a lightness of touch and gaiety whichis comparable to that in both luoian and Jonson and becomes" : , ' ■■ •. ■ ' - ~ ■■ - ' ■ 'more serious and grave as the work proceeds from folly to folly as does Volpone. but it contains no dramatic unity and holds up folly in its many aspects without particular am-

phasia on either credulity or legacy-hunting— in faot the latter is merely mentioned in passing. The Satyrioon has little detail or atmosphere which would contribute to the play as a whole, certainly it offers no inducement to make of it a comedy for an Elizabethan. Pliny speaks of Regulus only in disgust; there is no comedy or drama in his remarks, nor are the most striking incidents of his account used by Jonson in Volpone, In Satire X, Juvenal describes an old m m in terms closely corresponding to those Moses uses con­cerning Volpone1a simulated appearance, but neither here nor in any of the references to the profession of legacy- hunting scattered throughout his works is there the humor of the situation pictured which appears in Volpone nor hint of dramatic conception. There is little drama and less humor in Horace’s Satire 2.6. ^Therefore, since Ben Jenson owned a copy of Lucian, mentions him in Gynthlaa Revels, shows he has him in mind by his allusion to the "Gobbler's cook" in Nano’s masque, and uses all of the incidents of the Dialogues of the head V-IX in the first aot of Volpone. not in a superficial unimportant way, but as the foundation of his plot, and since this group of dialogues contains with­in Itself the suggestion for such expansion as we find in the play, it seems more than probable and quite possible that the dialogues gave Jonson the impetus which resulted in the play. (/Add to this the faot that the origin of the play must have been literary, and the dialogues appear to be the aoorn

40-

from which this oak must have grown• They are the source of the inspiration, though not of the plot in all of its detail. Acting as oatylist, the idea as presented in Lucian drew unto itself the background and particulars given in other classical works. With the intuitional insight of the creative.artist Jonson saw in this ancient and foreign theme the familiar fable of the fox and the crow, and gave his persons animal names and characters. Mo sea is a creation of pure genius, made up of bits from here and there and yet a new whole— as is the play itself, though Jonson seems to have patched the dialogue together from Erasmus, Luoian, Horace and others, and though the main actions are taken from Lucian, Horace, Juvenal and other olassies commonly known in his day.

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That many authors have contributed to Yolpone is acknowledged. Yet I oome to the conclusion that the Dialogues of the Dead 7-IX by Lucian is the primary source of the plot of the play, and should be mentioned if but one source is given for the play as a whole.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allinaon, Pranoia G. - Luolan. Satirist and Artist. Boston. Marshall Jones Co ., 1066.

Chalmers, Alexander - The Works of the English Poets, from Chauoer to Cowper. t oI. XXl. London. 161o.

Chapman, John Jay - Luolan. Plato and Greek Morals. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1951. "" “ “

Dryden, John - The works of John Bryden. Revised and corrected by G. Saintsbury, B&lnburgh, l8d2 - 1693.

Drummond, william - Ben Jonson's Conversations with william Drummond of Hawihornden. London. Blaokie. 1923.

Dunn, Esther Cloudman - Ben Jenson*s Art, Northampton. Mass.. Smith College, 19231

Erasmus, Deslderlus - The Praise of Folly, translated by John Wilson, 1661,edited by Mrs. p. S. Allen, Oxford, 1926.

Horace - The Satires and Epistles of Horace, edited by J. B. Greenough, College Series of Latin Authors, Boa ton, Ginn, 1890.

Horace - The Satires of Horace, edited by Arthur Palmer, London, Macmillan, 1916.

Jonson, Ben - Volpone. edited by John D. Rea, New Haven, Yale Press, 1919.

11

Jonson, Ben - works, edited toy Gifford with introduotion and sppendloea toy F. Cunningham, London, Biokers and Son, 1875*

Jonson, Ben - Works, edited toy C* H* Harford and Percy Simpson, 6xford, 1925.

Jonson, Ben • Works, edited toy Brinsley TTiohoIson withintroduction toy C. E. Harford, Hew York, goritoners, 1893 - 1896.

Jonson. Ben - Works, edited toy Poter whalley, London, 1866.

Juvenal - Juvenal, translated toy Charles Badha®, Hew York, Harper, 571.

Luoian— "Luoiani Eraaao interprets. Dialog! & aliaemunota. Quorum quaedam recentlus /quedam annos ato hino ooto aunt versa: sed nuper reoognita: ut indloead flnem apponendo deolaratoimus• Quaedam etiam a Thorns Mora Latina facta; & Quaedam ato eodem con- oinnate. Yenundantur in editous Asoeneianis

Luoian - "Luoiani Samosatensis opera; quae quids® extant, omnia, e Graeco Sermons in Latinum, Partlm lam diversis autoritous, parti® nuno donum per Jaootoum Mloyllum, translate• oum argumentitoue & snnota- tionibue oiusdem passim adieotis• Franooforte, 1543.

Luoian - Luoian, selected writings, edited toy Francis Green- leaT Allinson, College series of Greek Authors, Hew York, Ginn,o. 1906.

Luoian - The Works of Luoian. translated toy H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, Oxford, 1906*

Money, Holie - A Study of Rare Books. Denver, Clason Pub­lishing Go., 1930. .

Petronius - Satyrioon. translated toy J. M. Mitohell, 2ndedition, Broadway Translations, Hew York, Dutton, n.d.

ill

Pliny - Pliny’s letters, translated by Reverend AlfredGhnroh and Severend W* J• Brodribb. Ancient Classios for English Readers, Philadelphia, Lippinoott, n.d#

Postgate, John Peroival - Corpus Poetarum Latinornm. London, Bell, 1920.

Sohelling, Felix E. - Foreign Influences in Elizabethan Plays. Hew York, Harper, 19%^.

Swinburne. Algernon C .— A Study of Ben Jonson. London, Ohatto and wIndus, 1895.

Symonds, J. A* - Ben Jonson . English Worthies, London, Longmans, Green, 1898.

The Cambridge History of English Literature, Hew York, Putnam, 1907-1917.

Bnoyolopaedia Britannica. 14th. edition, 1929.

Adams, Joseph Quincey Jr* - "The Sources of Ben Jonson's VolponeModern Philology. October, 1904.

Adams, Joseph Quincey Jr. - "The sources of jonson's Hews from the Hew World Discovered in the Moon,” Modern Language Notes. XXI

Baldwin, E. C• - ”Jonson and the Greek Character sketch of Libanius.” Modern Language Notes. XVI, 7. p. 193.

Briggs, W. D. - "Source Material for Jonson's Plays," Modem Language Notes. XXXI, p. 193.

Browne, Wm. Hand - "Luoian and Jonson," Modern Language Notes. XXI. p. 113.

Fox, W. Sherwood - "Luoian in the Grave-soene of Hamlet," Philological Quarterly. II, 2. p. 132.

IT

Holt, 1. H. - "Notes on Ben Jonson’s Volpone." Modern Language Notes. XX, p. 164.

Holthausen, P. - "Die Quelle von Ben Jonson's Volpone." Anglia, XII, p. 519.

Ramsey, Robert w. - "Note on Ben Jonson's Books," Transao- tions of the Royal Society of Literature. 2nd series, part iv, vol. XXVII.

Tapper, Frederick Jr. - "Legacies of Lucian," Modern Language Notes. XXI, p. 76.

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