The Tragedy of Julius CaesarPurchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTES ABBREVIATIONS Abbott .... Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, 3d edition. F 1 or F . . . . First Folio (1623) of Shakespeare's plays. F 2 Second Folio (1632). F3 Third Folio (1663 and 1664). F4 Fourth Folio (1685). Ferrero .... Ferrero's Greatness and Decline of Rome, 5 vols. New Eng. Diet. . A New English Dictionary, ed. Murray. Plutarch .... North's Translation of Plutarch's Lives. For the meaning of words not given in these notes, the student is referred to the Glossary at the end of the volume. The numbering of the lines corresponds to that of the Globe Edition: this applies also to the scenes in prose. DRAMATIS PERSONS The principal authority consulted in preparing these notes upon the dramatis personal has been Ferrero. Taken in connection with the extracts from Plutarch (Appendix A), they will serve to show how far Shakespeare's presentation of his incidents is in accord with the facts, as at present understood. The characters omitted (as Publius, Varro, etc.) are unhistoric. Gaius Julius Csesar --born 100 (some say 102) s. c. His ancestry was of the noblest blood of the aristocrats. It was supposed to reach back on his mother's side to Ancus Mardus, the Roman king, and on his father's to jEneas, the founder of the Roman nation. At the age of fourteen he was made a priest of Jupiter by Marius, who had married his aunt, and who was leader of the popular as opposed to the aristocratic party in Rome. When only seventeen he married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who had succeeded Marius as leader of the popular party. By this marriage his alliance with the party of the people was made complete. A few months later Sulla, successful general of the aristocrats, was made dictator and a reign of terror for members of the popularparty began.... |