A Speech out of
Lucan First printed from manuscript in W. D. Briggs (
1915b), 247–8, who
puts forward very strong arguments for Jonson’s authorship, despite the
lack of ascription in manuscript sources. Several lines appear in a
revised form in
Sej., and the poem is found in
Bodleian MS Rawl.Poet.31 (JnB 469) and British Library Harley MS 4064
(JnB 470), both of which contain significant numbers of early versions
of poems known to be by Jonson. Its presence in those MSS is compatible
with
H&S’s
suggestion that the translation was made with an eye to using it in
Sej. (printed 1605; performed ?1603), since both
contain material dating from before 1614. In Lucan’s
Pharsalia, 8.484–94 (on which, see ‘May’ headnote)
the eunuch Photinus urges Ptolemy to murder Pompey. The Latin text
printed here is a modernized version of the text from which Jonson is
most likely to have worked. Variants in lines 10 and 11 (
cum for
dum and
vult for
the subjunctive
volet, where Jonson appears to
translate the former in both cases) probably indicate that he worked
from a text deriving from Bersman’s edition (the edition used here is
Leipzig, 1589) rather than from
Grotius’s edition of 1614, of which he
possessed a copy, or Farnaby’s of 1618, of which he also possessed a
copy (Jonson’s Library, Electronic Edition). This further suggests that
the translation was completed before 1614; a date
c.
1602–4, when Jonson was working on his similarly literal translation of
Horace’s
Ars Poetica is highly probable. The
divergences between the poem and the version in
Sej.
all suggest that the latter is a later and tighter version.
1–2 Just . . .
themselves Righteous actions often bring harm to those who do
them. The poem argues against virtue in favour of pragmatism.
2 themselves]
JnB 470; himselfe JnB 469
4 Whom]
JnB 470; whom, yf JnB 469
4 Come near
Approximate the state of [by loving only those in
favour].
6 shun]
JnB 469; shee JnB 470
(mistranscribed as ‘flee’ by H&S)
6 as foes An
interpolation.
7 Look how
Just as (translating the Latin ut).
9–16 This passage is extremely close to Sej., 2.180–7.
9 The main
The forceful; the phrasing in Sej., 2.180, ‘All the
command’, is closer to the Latin.
11 armies
Neither this nor ‘empires’ in Sej., 2.182 quite
catches arces (citadels).
11 nice
scrupulous.
12 to do ill
‘of dark deeds’ in Sej., 2.183 is closer to scelerum.
12 protects
that protects.
13 Even
Monosyllabic.
14 what it
list what the sword wants to do.
15 Yet ’ware
An interpolation which marks the shift in argument. In Sej. the corresponding moment is marked by a shift of speaker
from Sejanus to Tiberius.
16 safe
safely. Sej., 2.187 reproduces the adverb in the Latin
more closely.
16 but
except.
17 will The
Latin Jonson probably read was indicative rather than future.
18 they not
consort do not go together.
19–20 Very close to Sej., 2.178–9.
19 a tyrant’s . . .
bear An expansion of quem saeva pudebunt,
‘who will be afraid of savage acts’.