The Literary Afterlife of the Essex Circle

16 Pages·2014·0.16 MB·English

The Literary Afterlife of the Essex Circle: Fulke Greville, Tacitus, and BL Additional MS
18638
Author(s): Bradley J. Irish
Source: Modern Philology, Vol. 112, No. 1 (August 2014), pp. 271-285
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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NOTES AND DOCUMENTS
The Literary Afterlife of the Essex Circle: Fulke
Greville, Tacitus, and BL Additional MS 18638
BRADLEY J. IRISH
Arizona State University
The friends, followers, and fans of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex,
madenosmallcontributiontotheworldofearlymodernEnglishletters.1
Both before and after his spectacular demise, Essex’s intellectual inter-
ests—most notably, his famous devotion to Cornelius Tacitus—sparked
thepoliticalandphilosophicalwritingsofdevoteeslikeSirHenrySavile,Sir
John Hayward, Antonio Perez, and the brothers Francis and Anthony
Bacon,whiletheearl’sformidableculturalstandingalsohelpedshapethe
production of literary onlookers like Edmund Spenser, Samuel Daniel,
George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare.2 And indeed,
deathdidlittletocurbthistrend:Essex’smemorybecameasiteoffierce
cultural contestation in theStuart regime—which even found him resur-
rected,inpamphletssuchasRobertEarleofEssex,hisghost—andhissurviving
IwishtothankFrankWhigham,RichardStrier,PaulinaKewes,JasonPowell,JessicaK.
Printz,andthereadersandstaffofModernPhilology.
1.Inthepasttwodecades,PaulE.J.Hammerhasthoroughlyrevisedthetraditionalcar-
toonofEssextheplayboybyemphasizingthesophisticatedintellectualengagementsofboth
theearlandhiscircle.See,e.g.,‘‘TheEarlofEssex,FulkeGreville,andtheEmploymentof
Scholars,’’StudiesinPhilology91(1994):167–80,‘‘TheUseofScholarship:TheSecretariatof
RobertDevereux,SecondEarlofEssex,c.1585–1601,’’EnglishHistoricalReview 109(1994):
26–51,andespeciallytheindispensableThePolarisationofElizabethanPolitics:ThePoliticalCareer
ofRobertDevereux,2ndEarlofEssex,1585–1597(CambridgeUniversityPress,1999),whichhas
deeplyinformedthisessaythroughout.
2.Unsurprisingly,theliteratureonthissubjectisvoluminous.Forsomerepresentative
work,seeBradleyJ.Irish,‘‘LibelsandtheEssexRising,’’NotesandQueries59(2012):87–89;
AlzadaJ.Tipton,‘‘‘LivelyPatterns...ForAffayresofState’:SirJohnHayward’sTheLifeand
ReigneofKingHenrieIIIIandtheEarlofEssex,’’SixteenthCenturyJournal33(2002):769–94;
JohnChanningBriggs,‘‘Chapman’sSeavenBookesoftheIliades:MirrorforEssex,’’Studiesin
EnglishLiterature,1500–1900 21(1981):59–73;HughGazzard,‘‘’ThoseGrauePresentments
of Antiquitie’: Samuel Daniel’s Philotas and the Earl ofEssex,’’ Review of English Studies 51
(2000):423–50;PaulE.J.Hammer,‘‘Shakespeare’sRichardII,thePlayof7February1601,and
theEssexRising,’’ShakespeareQuarterly59(2008):1–35.
(cid:2)2014byTheUniversityofChicago.Allrightsreserved.0026-8232/2014/11201-0012$10.00
271
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272 MODERN PHILOLOGY
followers, many of whom retained social affinity, continued to generate
textsintheintellectualmodesthattheEssexcirclehelpedtoestablishin
the1590s.3
Inwhatfollows,Iattempttocontributetoourgrowingunderstanding
oftheEssexcircle’sliteraryafterlifebycontextualizingBLAdditionalMS
18638,anearlyseventeenth-centurymanuscriptcontainingapartialEnglish
translation of Diana, Jorge de Montemayor’s Spanish pastoral romance.
Themanuscript, Isuggest, offersunacknowledged testimonyon the mat-
ter,bothinthedocumentitselfandinthecircumstancesthatcanbefound
tosurrounditsproduction—this,despitethefactthattheearlhadlosthis
headnearlytwodecadesbeforeitscreation.Whilethemanuscriptcontains
alinkbetweenEssexandTacitusthathasnot,tomyknowledge,yetbeen
noted,italsosuggestshowtheEssexcircle’slegacyextendedtoavarietyof
literaryforms,suchasArcadianromanceandItaliansatire.Whensituated
inthiscontext,BLAdditionalMS18638tellsastoryabouttheinterestsof
oneoflateElizabethanEngland’sgreatestpoliticalnetworksandreminds
us how the connection between the surviving Essexians and their literary
and intellectualpast remainedapotent nodeof socialmeaning wellinto
theseventeenthcentury.
InthefinalyearsofElizabeth’sreign,theCambridge-trainedlawyerSir
Thomas Wilson (d. 1629)—best known today as the author of The State
ofEngland,AnnoDom.1600,(possible)nephewofhumanistandprivycoun-
selorThomasWilson(1523/24–1581)—embarkedonatouroftheconti-
nent, as prelude to an eventual career in the service of the Stuart kings.4
During his European travels, he passed time translating Jorge de Monte-
mayor’smidcenturySpanishproseromanceDiana,‘‘tokeepe[his]English,
iniourneyingwiththevnpleasingproccacciosofItalyortheclumpsWaga-
norsofGermany,andtheMuletiersofotherparts.’’5Inhispreface,Wilson
3.ThomasScott,RobertEarleofEssex,hisghost([London],1624).SeealsoAlzadaJ.Tipton,
‘‘TheTransformationoftheEarlofEssex:Post-executionBalladsand‘ThePhoenixandthe
Turtle,’’’StudiesinPhilology 99(2002):57–80.TheafterlifeoftheEssexcircleisdiscussed
throughoutthetext.
4.TheOxfordDictionaryofNationalBiography(hereafterODNB)entryontheelderWilson
affirmsthisrelation;thatoftheyoungerclaims‘‘thereisnocorroborativeevidenceforthis
andheisnotmentionedintheelderWilson’swill’’(n.p.).SeeA.F.Pollard,‘‘Wilson,Sir
Thomas(d.1629),’’rev.SeanKelsey,inODNB,ed.H.C.G.MatthewandBrianHarrison
(Oxford University Press, 2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29690; Susan
Doran and Jonathan Woolfson, ‘‘Wilson, Thomas (1523/4–1581),’’ in ODNB, http://www
.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29688.ForTheStateofEnglandseeTheNationalArchives(here-
afterTNA),SP12/280;itwasfirstpublishedasThomasWilson,‘‘TheStateofEnglandAnno
Dom.1600byThomasWilson,’’ed.F.J.Fisher,CamdenMiscellany16(1936):1–47.
5.BritishLibrary(hereafterBL),AdditionalMS18638,fol.3.Whentranscribingmanu-
scriptsthroughout,Ihavesilentlyexpandedabbreviations.Aproccaccioisacarrierofgoods;see
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. ‘‘procaccio, n.’’ On the document, see D. M. Anderson, ‘‘Sir
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BradleyJ.Irish LiteraryAfterlife of theEssex Circle 273
admitstolittleliteraryambition:‘‘SoeitmaybeesaidofmeethatIshewe
myvanitieenoughinthis[that]after15yearespainfullyspentinUniversi-
ties studies, I shold bestow soe many ydle howres, in transplanting vaine
amorousconceiptsoutofanExotiquelanguage.’’6Yethistranslationwould
lead a far more interesting life than such protestation suggests—as quiet
witnesstosometwentyyearsofcourtlypoliticsunderthereignofaqueen
andking.
In1596,WilsondedicatedthefruitsofhislabortoarisingstaroftheEliz-
abethan court. He prepared a manuscript of his translation for Henry
Wriothesley,‘‘theErleofSouthampton,’’whowasatthetime‘‘vpponthe
Spanish voiage with my Lord of Essex.’’7 Though best known today as
Shakespeare’spatron,theyoungSouthamptonledadashinglifealongside
Essex, whose martial prowess he admired and sought to imitate; indeed,
Southamptonwasaprimarypartyintheearl’sinfamousuprisingof1601
andonlynarrowlyescapedthefateofhisfriendandmentor.8TheSpanish
voyagethatWilsonrecallswastheso-calledCadizRaidof1596,theshining
military achievement of Essex’s short career, in which he and his men
besiegedtheSpanishcoastalhubofCadiz.9CadizmarkedSouthampton’s
officialentryintothesportofwar,whichwouldcarryhimalongsideEssex
totheAzoresin1597,andtoIrelandin1599.
WilsoningratiateshimselftothemilitaristicEssexcirclewithaslybitof
irony, offering a swashbuckling Spanish romance—‘‘Wherein vnder the
namesandvailesofSheppardsandtheireLouersarecouertlydiscoursed
manienobleactions&affectionsoftheSpanishnation’’—atthemoment
thatSouthamptonandhismentorwerestormingthegatesofCadiz.10First
publishedinthemid-sixteenthcentury,JorgedeMontemayor’sDianawas
a milestone in the development of European pastoral romance—but as
Wilsonwaswellaware,thischoiceoftextwouldhaveanevenmorepersonal
ThomasWilson’sTranslationofMontemayor’sDiana,’’ReviewofEnglishStudies7(1956):176–
81.Thetexthasbeenprinted,withsomecommentary,asHenryThomas,‘‘DianadeMonte
Mayor,DoneOutofSpanishbyThomasWilson,’’RevueHispanique50(1920):367–418.
6.BLAdditionalMS18638,fol.4.
7.Ibid.,fol.2.
8.OnSouthampton’slife,seeG.P.V.Akrigg,ShakespeareandtheEarlofSouthampton(Lon-
don:HamishHamilton,1968);ParkHonan,‘‘Wriothesley,Henry,thirdearlofSouthampton
(1573–1624),’’ in ODNB, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30073. For Essex, see
Hammer,Polarisation; AlexandraGajda,TheEarlofEssexandLateElizabethanPoliticalCulture
(OxfordUniversityPress,2012);JanetDickinson,CourtPoliticsandtheEarlofEssex,1589–1601
(London,Pickering&Chatto,2012);Essex:TheCulturalImpactofanElizabethanCourtier,ed.
AnnalieseConnollyandLisaHopkins(ManchesterUniversityPress,2013).
9.SeePaulE.J.Hammer,‘‘Myth-Making:Politics,Propaganda,andtheCaptureofCadiz
in1596,’’HistoricalJournal40(1997):621–42.
10.BLAdditionalMS18638,fol.2.
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274 MODERN PHILOLOGY
significance to Essex and his followers.11 For it is Montemayor’s pastoral-
ism,Wilsonremindsthem,thatdirectlyinspired‘‘thatadmirable&never
enoughpraisedbookeofSirPhilipSidneyesArcadia,’’thatessentialdocu-
mentofElizabethanchivalricfantasy.TheNewArcadia,infact,adoptsmuch
ofDiana’snarrativestructureandimitatessomeepisodesdirectly,whiletwo
of Sidney’s Certain Sonnets translate its verse.12 As paragon of aristocratic
martial virtue, the shepherd knight exerted a profound influence on the
young Essex and would provide the heroic archetype on which the earl
modeledhiscareer;onhisdeathbedintheNetherlands,Sidneyfamously
bestowedhisswordtoEssex,whowouldgoontomarryhisfriend’swidow.13
(Infact,justtwoyearslater,theassociationofSidneyandEssexwasimplic-
itlyreinforcedinthefirstprintedEnglishtranslationofDiana:in1598,Bar-
tholomew Young of the Middle Temple dedicated his Diana of George of
Montemayor to Lady Penelope [ne´e Devereux] Rich, sister to the earl of
EssexandthewomanwhoSidneyimmortalizedashisStella.)14Through-
out his career, Essex consciously positioned himself as Sidney’s symbolic
successorintheElizabethancourt,andthereiseveryreasontothinkthat
hewouldnotbeunpleasedwithWilson’slinkageofhiscircletoitssecular
saint.AfierceopponentoftheCatholicforcesonthecontinent,Sidneywas
senttohisgravebyaSpanishmusketinabattlethatEssexsurvived—andit
iswithparticularresonancethatWilsoninvokesthisheroiclineagejustas
theearlandhisowndevoteewerescoringrevengeagainstthehatedtroops
ofPhilipII.
So in 1596, Thomas Wilson dedicated his manuscript translation of
Montemayor’s Diana to Southampton, the Earl of Essex’s prote´ge´, while
activelyinvokingthememoryofSirPhilipSidney,theblueprintofElizabe-
than chivalry and hero to the Essex circle.15 But this is only part of the
11.W.W.Greg,PastoralPoetryandPastoralDrama(NewYork:Russell&Russell,1959),58–
60.
12.BLAdditionalMS18638,fol.2.ForSidney’sdebttoMontemayor,seePaulJohnCooke,
‘‘TheSpanishRomancesinSirPhilipSidney’sArcadia’’(Ph.D.diss.,UniversityofIllinoisat
Champaign-Urbana,1939);JosedeOliveiraeSilva,‘‘SirPhilipSidneyandtheCastilianTon-
gue,’’ComparativeLiterature34(1982):130–45.
13.OnSidneyandEssex,seeHammer,Polarisation,51–54;Gajda,EarlofEssex,68–70;Rich-
ardWood,‘‘‘CleverlyPlayingtheStoic’:TheEarlofEssex,SirPhilipSidneyandSurvivingEliza-
beth’sCourt,’’inConnollyandHopkins,Essex,25–46.
14.BartholomewYong,DianaofGeorgeofMontemayor(London,1598).Foramodernedi-
tion,seeACriticalEditionofYong’sTranslationofGeorgeofMontemayor’sDianaandGilPolo’sEnam-
ouredDiana,ed.JudithM.Kennedy(Oxford:Clarendon,1968).
15.OtherevidencetentativelylinksWilsontotheEssexcircle.AccordingtotheODNB,Wil-
sonmaybethe‘‘Tho.Wilson’’whosesignatureappearsonthefirstpageofatreatiseonIreland
dedicatedin1599to‘‘theRighthonorablePeere,RobertEarleofEssex’’;seeTNA,SP63/203,
fol.283.JamesR.SiemonsuggeststhatWilsonmakesfavorablereferencetoEssexinTheState
ofEngland;see‘‘‘WordItselfagainsttheWord’:CloseReadingafterVoloshinov,’’inShakespeare
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BradleyJ.Irish LiteraryAfterlife of theEssex Circle 275
story—because there survives only one copy of Wilson’s translation, itself
partial,datingsometwodecadeslaterandpreparedforadifferentpurpose
entirely.
BL Additional MS 18638 is an early seventeenth-century presentation
copyoftheEnglishDiana—inscribedbyWilson,alongsidehisoriginalded-
ication toSouthampton,to‘‘theright honorableSir FulkeGrevyllknight
PrivieCounsellortohisMajesty&ChancelloroftheExchequer,mymost
honorable and truly worthy to be honored frend.’’16 Some two decades
after offering his translation to Southampton, Wilson was as shrewd with
thisseconddedicationashewaswiththefirst.17SirFulkeGreville,created
BaronBrookein1621,hadavariouslyfortunedcareerascourtierandad-
ministratortoaqueenandtwokings—butheisbestknowntoday,inspite
of his own literary creations, for his magisterial biography of close friend
PhilipSidney,andevenmoreimportantly,forguidinghisfriend’sArcadia
intoprint.18(Infact,Wilson’sdedicationisoneofthekeypiecesofinde-
pendent evidence that establishes Greville’s editorial role.)19 Just as Wil-
son’sfirst inscription engaged theEssex circle’sreverencefor Sidney, his
reimagined preface to Greville even more explicitly celebrates the bond
betweenSidneyandhisnewdedicatee:
Iknowyouwillwellesteemeof[thistranslation],becausethatyourmost
nobleandneverenoughhonoredfrendSirPhillippSiddneydidvery
muchaffectandimitatetheexcellentAuthorthereof,whoemightwell
tearmehisbookeDiana(asthesisterofApollo,&thetwinnbornewith
him)ashisArcadia(whichbyyournoblevertuetheworldsohapily
enioyes)mightwellhauehadthenameofPhoebus,forneverwasourage
lightnedwithtwostarresofsuchhighandemenentwitt,asarethebookes
ofthesetwoexcellingAuthors.20
AsafoundingfigureintheestablishmentofSidney’sliterarylegacy,Gre-
ville is appropriately praised for his editorial efforts—and this remark, in
Reread:TheTextsinNewContexts,ed.RussMcDonald(Ithaca,NY:CornellUniversityPress,
1994),250.
16.BLAdditionalMS18638,fol.3.Thereisdisagreementaboutwhetherthemanuscript
isinWilson’shand;seeThomas,‘‘DianadeMonteMayor,’’367;Anderson,‘‘Montemayor’s
Diana,’’12.
17.ThenomenclaturehelpsusdatethemanuscriptbetweenOctober1614(whenGreville
wasnamedchancelloroftheexchequer)andJanuary1621(whenhewasraisedtothepeerage
asBaronBrooke).Wilson’ssignature(fol.6)doesnotrefertohisownknighthood,grantedin
July1618—soitseemsunlikelythatitwaspreparedsubsequently.
18.ForGreville’slife,seeR.A.Rebholz,TheLifeofFulkeGreville,FirstLordBrooke(Oxford:
Clarendon,1971);JohnGouws,‘‘Greville,Fulke,firstBaronBrookeofBeauchampsCourt
(1554–1628),’’inODNB,http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11516.
19.SeeJoelB.Davis,TheCountesseofPembrokesArcadiaandtheInventionofEnglishLiterature
(NewYork:PalgraveMacmillan,2011),28.
20.BLAdditionalMS18638,fols.4v–5.
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276 MODERN PHILOLOGY
lightofthefirstdedication,implicitlylinksEssexandSouthampton’smar-
tialtriumphswithGreville’sliteraryones.21
It initially seems curiousthat Wilson preservestheoriginaldedication,
dilutingafocusthatmightotherwisebeheapedentirelyonGreville—until
werememberthat,alongwithSidney,itwasEssexwhomostprominently
shapedGreville’searlycareer,aspatron,advocate,andfriend.22Itdidnot
takelongforGrevilletogravitatetowardEssex,Sidney’sculturalheir,and
public performances like the Accession Day tilts of 1590 soon worked to
establish their mutual guardianship of the shepherd knight’s memory.23
Their growing relationship implicitlyguidedthefirstprinting ofSidney’s
Arcadia,whichGrevillepublishedin1590.AsJoelDavishasdemonstrated,
Greville’s editorial emphasis on the text’s more pessimistic features seem
designedtoingratiatehimselftoEssexandhiscircle,whowerebeginning
to develop their temperamental devotion to the grimness of Tacitus.24
Moreover,GrevilleservedseverallogisticalfunctionsforEssexduringthe
Cadizraidof1596—includinganapparentroleinthecourtlypropaganda
campaignitsparked—anditisthusparticularlyappropriatethat,sometwo
decadeslater,Wilsonretainstheoccasionofhisinitialdedication.25Inthe
survivingmanuscript,thepreservationoftheseparatextualelementsbears
witnesstoGreville’smembershipintheesteemedlegacyoftheEssexcircle,
honoringhimasanaturalheirtoWilson’stranslation.
ButWilson’snewprefacealsocontainsamoreintricatereminderofGre-
ville’ssocialnetwork.Toexcusehimselfforpresentingonlyapartialtransla-
tion,Wilsonoffersacuriouslyelaborateconsolation,whichIquoteherein
full:
thinkingofotherthings,[I]madetherestofthismiscary,butIwillmakea
sutetoApolloashisbelouedchildreneofPernassusdidtohimtorecouer
thelostbookesofCorneliusTacitus.AndIhopetohaueabetteransweare
fromhimthentheyhad,whoelookingforgrace&thanksformakingthat
motiontorecouertheworkesofthatFatherofhumainePrudence,and
Inventerofmodernepolicie,insteadtherofwereanswearedwitha
21.Itispossiblethat,inthefirstdecadeoftheseventeenthcentury,Wilsonhadahandin
publishingworksofSidney;seePollard,‘‘Wilson,’’n.p.
22.Itisworthnotingthat,despitehisloveforEssex,Grevillestrovetoremainonfavorable
termswithRobertCecil,theearl’snemesisatcourt;thisneutralitywould,attheveryleast,
shieldGrevillefromthevortexofparanoiathatfinallyundidEssexandhisloyalists.
23.Inthesetilts,‘‘TheEarleofEssex&M.FoulkeGreeuill’’mutuallymourned‘‘Sweete
Sydney,fairestshepheardofourgreene’’;seeGeorgePeele,Polyhymniadescribing,thehonourable
triumphattylt,beforeherMaiestie,onthe17ofNouember(London,1590),A2,A4v.
24.JoelDavis,‘‘MultipleArcadiasandtheLiteraryQuarrelbetweenFulkeGrevilleandthe
CountessofPembroke,’’StudiesinPhilology101(2004):401–30.SeealsoWood,‘‘‘CleverlyPlay-
ingtheStoic.’’’
25.SeeHammer,‘‘Myth-Making’’;Hammer,‘‘EarlofEssex,FulkeGreville.’’
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BradleyJ.Irish LiteraryAfterlife of theEssex Circle 277
frowningcountenancethattheywereignorantmentomakesucha
request,asthoughfromthatwhichwasleftofhiswritting,ofthecrueltieof
TiberiusandtherapacityofNero,modernePrinceshadnotlearned
enoughperrodereetradereipopuli[tognawandrazethepeople],but
thattheymustneedeshauetheobscaenityandtyrannieofCaligula&
Domitian,thoseodiousMonstersofNature,whichoutofdivine
providencewerelostandexterminatedforthebenefittoftheworld,for
thegoodwherof,ithadbeenegood(saidhee),cheTacitohauessesempre
tacciuto[thatTacitushadalwaysbeensilent].26
I have found no discussion of this odd moment—which, as we will see
below,isadoptedfromaprovocativecontemporaryItaliansatire.Withthis
digression,Wilsonfurtherthickenstheassociativetextureofhisdocument
bybringingtomindtheEssexcircle’swell-knownaffinityforCorneliusTac-
itus.
ScholarshavethoroughlydocumentedtheEssexcircle’sinterestinTaci-
tus,whoseemphasisonthenakedrealitiesofstatecraftsuitedtheirincreas-
ingly cynical temperament.27 Essex, we know, read Tacitus actively, and
manyofhisassociates(suchasHenrySavile,HenryWotton,andAntonio
Perez)andwould-be’s(mostfamously,JohnHayward)arelinkedwiththe
Taciteanexplosionofthe1590s—includingFulkeGreville,whodisplayed
a lifelong commitment to the Roman historian throughout his scholarly
endeavors.28Aftertheearl’sdeath,Tacituscontinuedtofueltheoutlookof
manysurvivingEssexpartisans,whotookrefugeinthecourtoftheyoung
PrinceHenry—thenewheir(incontrasttohisrexpacificus father)tothe
26.BLAdditionalMS18638,fols.3–4.Translationmine.
27.TheliteratureontheriseofTacitusinRenaissancepoliticalthought(andonTacitus
andtheEssexcircle)isalsovast.See,e.g.,J.H.M.Salmon,‘‘StoicismandRomanExample:
SenecaandTacitusinJacobeanEngland,’’JournaloftheHistoryofIdeas 50(1989):199–225;
Salmon,‘‘SenecaandTacitusinJacobeanEngland’’inTheMentalWorldoftheJacobeanCourt,
ed.LindaLevyPeck(CambridgeUniversityPress,1991),169–88;AlanT.Bradford,‘‘Stuart
Absolutismandthe‘Utility’ofTacitus,’’HuntingtonLibraryQuarterly46(1983):127–55;Edwin
B.Benjamin,‘‘BaconandTacitus,’’ClassicalPhilology60(1965):102–10;Benjamin,‘‘SirJohn
HaywardandTacitus,’’ReviewofEnglishStudies8(1957):275–76;DavidWomersley,‘‘SirHenry
Savile’sTranslationofTacitusandthePoliticalInterpretationofElizabethanTexts,’’Reviewof
EnglishStudies42(1991):313–42;Womersley,‘‘SirJohnHayward’sTacitism,’’RenaissanceStud-
ies6(1992):46–59;PeterBurke,‘‘Tacitism,Scepticism,andReasonofState’’inTheCambridge
HistoryofPoliticalThought,1450–1700,ed.J.H.Burns(CambridgeUniversityPress,1991),
479–98;TacitusandtheTaciteanTradition,ed.T.J.LuceandA.J.Woodman(PrincetonUniver-
sityPress,1993);KennethC.Schellhase,TacitusinRenaissancePoliticalThought(Universityof
Chicago Press, 1976); Alexandra Gajda, ‘‘Tacitus and Political Thought in Early Modern
Europe,c.1530–c.1640,’’inTheCambridgeCompaniontoTacitus,ed.A.J.Woodman(Cam-
bridgeUniversityPress,2009),253–68;Gajda,‘‘TheEarlofEssexand‘PoliticHistory,’’’inCon-
nollyandHopkins,Essex,237–59;PaulinaKewes,‘‘HenrySavile’sTacitusandthePoliticsof
RomanHistoryinLateElizabethanEngland,’’HuntingtonLibraryQuarterly74(2011):515–51.
28.ForGreville’sinterestinTacitus,seeRebholz,Life,293–302.
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278 MODERN PHILOLOGY
Sidney-Essex mantle of Protestant militancy, whose early death in 1612
wouldbeyetanotherblowtothesimilarlyminded.29The‘‘cynicalornega-
tiveaspects’’ofTacitean-inflectedpolitics,embracedbytheEssexcirclein
the1590s,thusgrewevendeeperrootsamongsurvivorsintheseventeenth
century,whenthethemesof‘‘imperialtyrannyandcourtlycorruption...
wouldcarryspecialfrissonunderJamesIandCharlesI.’’30
Giventhiscontext,Icannotthinkitanaccidentthat,sometimeinthe
seconddecadeofthenewking’sreign,Wilsonplacesabizarrelyelaborate
referencetoTacitusinamanuscriptbearingthenamesoffivemen,each
ofwhomboastssomeassociation(mostquiteintimate)withtheEssexcir-
cle.31ButwhiletakingobviouspaintoflatterGreville’scontinuedinterest
intheRomanhistorian,healsoattemptstoinduceasenseofnostalgia.By
preserving his original dedication, Wilson reanimates and reunites the
monumentalpersonalitiesoftheEssexcircle,whilehisnewlydeployedref-
erencetoTacituspointedlyinvokesacentralpieceofthesymboliccapital
that helped make those personalities adhere.32 While the reference to
CadiznodsatGreville’s(andtheremainingEssexian’s)currentdisappoint-
mentwithJames’spacifism,thenewlypennedmanuscriptalsobecomesan
artifactofthepast,transportingbothgiverandrecipienttothegoldenage
ofEssex’schiefglory—andtotheoriginsofTacitusasanintellectualand
affective symbol of that social network. Tacitus helps anchor this double-
time, in which the Greville of the mid-1610s is presented with an elegant
timecapsuleofhisgreeneryears,evenifitcannothelpbutalsoreflectthe
unhappypresent.
Wilson’staleofTacitusandApolloisanincidentadoptedfromTraiano
Boccalini’sRagguaglidiParnaso (1612)—amajesticsatireinwhichApollo,
from his heavenly court of Parnassus, adjudicates various matters of state
and society.33 A literary agitator of the highest order, Boccalini ruthlessly
29. See Roy C. Strong, Henry, Prince of Wales and England’s Lost Renaissance (New York:
ThamesandHudson,1986).Greville,hiscareerstalledbyRobertCecil,wasnotamongthose
inHenry’scourt—buthismostfamouswork,theTaciteanADedicationtoSirPhilipSidney,was
likelyintendedfortheprince.SeeRebholz,Life,chap.11.
30.Salmon,‘‘StoicismandRomanExample,’’220;Kewes,‘‘HenrySavile’sTacitus,’’516.
31.Sidney,Essex,Southampton,Greville,andWilsonhimself,ifheisindeedthe‘‘Tho.Wil-
son’’discussedinn.4.
32.AstheJacobeanreigncontinued,theformerlycultinterestinTacitusbegantoswell
intoafad;itmaybethatWilsonisalsoremindingGrevilleofhisauthenticclaim.SeeBradford,
‘‘StuartAbsolutism,’’138.
33.TraianoBoccalini,DeRaggvaglidiParnaso(Venice,1612).Wilson’sdedication,quoted
above,translatesthefollowingfromthisedition:‘‘PadredellaprudenzaHumana,edelvero
inuentor della moderna Politica, Cornelio Tacito’’ (390); ‘‘e non vi pare, che dal crudel
gouernodiTiberio,edallarapacevitadiNerone,tantoesattamentescrittadalvostroTacito,
alcunimoderniPrencipihabbianocauatiPrecettinobilissimidarodere,eradere,chevorreste,
chehauesserocommodita`divedersenellevitediCaligola,ediDomitiano,chesoloaccio`per-
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BradleyJ.Irish LiteraryAfterlife of theEssex Circle 279
skewered the leading political and intellectual figures of his day—but he
was also an ardent devotee of Tacitus, on whose works he composed a
weighty commentary (published posthumously).34 This inclination is evi-
dentintheRagguagli,whichuses‘‘hundredsofTaciteancitationstocom-
mentontheprincesandcourtiers’’ofRenaissanceEurope—andinwhich
bothTacitusandhismoderneditorJustusLipsiusstarinseveralepisodes.35
Earlyinthefirstbook,asequenceofdispatchesconsiderstheimplications
oftheTaciteanmode.Inone,TacitushimselfisarraignedbeforeApollo’s
court: the ‘‘seditious argument’’ of his histories, it is alleged by a host of
worldlystatesmen,‘‘hathframedakindeofspectacles,thatworkmostper-
nitiouseffectsforPrinces;forsomuchasbeingputvponthenosesofsilly
and simple people, they so refine and sharpen their sight, as they make
themseeandprieintothemosthiddenandsecretthoughtsofothers.’’36
For this crime, the injured princes request that Tacitus ‘‘for euer be ex-
pulsed the society and conuersation of all men,’’ but Apollo, loath to
deprivehisrealmofthe‘‘PrinceofallPoliticallHistorians,’’dismissesthe
charge,ontheconditionthatTacitusbeabitmoremindfulofwhatstate
secrets he unfolds.37 In a related tale, Justus Lipsius, the renowned six-
teenth-century editor of Seneca and Tacitus, must face charges that ‘‘hee
louednotTacitusasafriend,thathehonourednothimasaMaster,and
regardfullPatron,butadoredhimashisApolloandDeitie’’;whenbrought
beforethecourt,Lipsiusopenlyasserts‘‘Tacitus tobethechiefeStandard
bearerofallfamousHistorians,theFatherofhumanewisdome,theOracle
ofperfectreasonofState,theabsoluteMasterofPoliticians.’’38Thoughsen-
tenced to death for this blasphemy, Lipsius refuses to recant—and thus
finds himself praised by Apollo and pardoned for this ‘‘verteous constan-
cie,’’whichconfirmsthathe‘‘hastread[Tacitus]withdelight,studiedhim
withprofit,andlearnthimtothygreataduantage.’’39
ButitisathirdentryonTacitusthatWilsonadoptsinhispreface.Inthis
episode, ‘‘the chiefest learned men of Parnassus’’—who ‘‘with continuall
petuamente stessero ascose le obscenita`, e le crudeltadi, che vsarono quei sozzi mostri di
Natura,laMaesta`diDiopervostrograndissimobeneficiohaesterminatedalMondo?’’(391);
‘‘Feliceilmondotutto,seTacitohauessesempretaciuto’’(392).
34. Boccalini, Comentarri di Traiano Boccalini Romano sopra Cornelio Tacito (Cosmopoli
[Amsterdam],1677).OnBoccalini,seeWilliamF.Marquardt,‘‘TheFirstEnglishTranslators
ofTrajanoBoccalini’sRagguagliDiParnaso:AStudyofLiteraryRelationships,’’Huntington
LibraryQuarterly15(1951):1–19;Gajda,‘‘TacitusandPoliticalThought,’’264–65;Schellhase,
Tacitus,145–50.
35.RonaldMellor,Tacitus(NewYork:Routledge,1994),144.
36.Boccalini,TheNew-foundPoliticke(London,1626),29.ThoughWilson,wewillsee,uses
theItalianoriginal,IquotefromtheEnglishtranslationhere,whichIdiscussindetailbelow.
37.Ibid.,31.
38.Ibid.,16.
39.Ibid.,24.
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