xerted by them upon the evolution of the English drama, and these translations have been
their authorship or exact date, but we may turn at once to look for their appearance as agents in the development of the modern, serious drama. In this relation it is hardly possible to overestimate their determining influence throughout Europe. Perhaps it may have been owing to the closer racial bond between the Romans an
thought, and were studied in the Latin originals by pupils in the schools even while the schools were still wholly monastic. During the latter half of the sixteenth century, separate plays of Seneca were translated into English by various authors, and in 1581 Thomas Newton collected these translations into one volume, under the title of "Seneca his Ten Tragedies, Translated into English." After an examination of these translations on
rue, or doth t
eade the Sprite
ies with heavy h
our leames of l
mbe our ashes
soule likewys
) do wretches
all at once t
art his fata
th the Soule from
oudes to vanis
fleeth from t
ote escape f
brand hath bur
n of 1702 the same lines
uth? or Fic
arful
o Earth we
yet do
Wife hath cl
sband'
st fatal Da
oil'd o
Dust and A
nes ar
d yet in n
Fun
longer Li
till r
uite? Nor o
es the
Smoake immixe
pirit
l Tapers a
naked
l rising d
ing sho
r one in the famous passage which closes the chorus at the end of the
oulde doe suffe
oude erecte
, doth not comp
ack, the kynges
te now scuddes
warres are ta
new walles them
lettes nought re
Ind Arexis lu
out in Rhene an
arkes, time shall
ve shall open
World at Will
l some newe fo
hall the Countre
ule, knowen furt
herburne thes
passi
and does all
m'd Argo,
uilt, by He
ne complain
petty Boat'
eep; no Bou
y Towns in
he pervious W
nothing. Ind
Albis, and Rhi
hall come
ars, where
the unive
Tracts of L
of Elder D
y some new T
Earth's far
luence was exerted not only by direct means; the revival of learning in Europe brought with it a general revival of the Latin influence, and England in borrowing from Italy and France borrowed indirectly from Rome. Among the English translations made in the time