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Act I, Scene 3
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Plautus (35).
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(c.254-184 B.C.) Roman comic poet and playwright. His coarsely comic plays, adapted from the Greek, deal with middle-class and lower-class life and stock comic figures.
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Queen Dido (36). |
In Roman mythology, she is the founder and queen of Carthage. In Vergil's Aeneid, she falls in love with Aeneas and then kills herself on a burning pyre when he abandons her.
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sealing wax (37). |
Used to seal letter, it is a resinous mixture of shellac and turpentine. When heated it softens and solidifies when cool. After dripping it over the flap of an envelope a metal seal is used to emboss a design.
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churlish (37). |
Surly or having a bad disposition.
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Cleopatra (38). |
( 69 B.C.-30 B.C.) Queen of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy XI and wife to Ptolemy XII. She joined with Julius Caesar to defeat her brother and. She became the mistress of Caesar and supposedly bore him a son who became Ptolemy XIV. When Caesar was murdered she fell in love with Marc Antony and married him. Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra in 31 B.C. and they killed themselves.
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Queen Elizabeth (38). |
Elizabeth I (1533-1603) Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She reestablished Protestant Anglicanism in England when she succeeded the Catholic Mary I. During her remarkable reign England became a great commercial and colonial power with a mighty navy. This was also a period of great literary figures such as Shakespeare and Spenser. Elizabeth never married, but through marriage negotiations she secured a defense alliance with France against Spain. The defeat of the Spanish Armada destroyed Spain's power.
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Ptolemy (38). |
The dynasty which ruled Egypt from 323-30 B.C. They began with Ptolemy I who was a general in Alexander the Great's army. The last ruler of the dynasty was Ptolemy XV who reigned with his mother, Cleopatra.
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great library of Alexandria (38). |
Ptolemy I founded the famed library of Alexander, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was destroyed by fire in 391 A.D.
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Athenians (38). |
Athens was the capital and the largest city of ancient Greece. It is located near the Saronic Gulf in the eastern part of the country. If the fifth century B.C. it was at the height of its imperial power and cultural achievements during the reign of Pericles.
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Aeschylus (38). |
The first great Athenian tragic dramatist (525-456 B.C.). Although he wrote nearly ninety plays, only seven survive. Believed to be the inventor if tragedy, he was the first to include two actors in addition to the chorus. His plays include the Oresteia trilogy,
The Seven against Thebes and Prometheus Bound.
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Sophocles (38). |
The Greek tragic dramatist (c.496-406 B.C.). Sophocles was younger than Aeschylus and older than Euripides. Both a general and a priest, he wrote over one hundred and twenty plays only seven of which survived (including Ajax, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus). He is credited with a third actor and increasing the size of the chorus.
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Euripides (38). |
(480 or 485 B.C.-406 B.C.). Along with Sophocles and Aeschylus, one of the greatest Greek tragedians. Of the more than ninety tragedies he wrote, only nineteen survive in complete form, including Alcestis, Iphigenia in Taurus, The Bacchae, Medea, Hippolytus, and The Trojan Women. His work is somewhat more realistic than that of his contemporaries.
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Aristotle (38). |
(384-322 B.C.) An ancient Greek philosopher, his writings on metaphysics, logic, science, poetics, ethics, and politics profoundly influenced all Western thought and civilization. He was a student of Plato and served as tutor to Alexander the Great.
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Archimedes (38). |
(c.287?-212 B.C.) An ancient Greek mathematician, inventor, and physicist. He calculated pi, devises exponential numbers, developed formulas for calculating the area and volume of geometric figures and used geometry in his study of mechanics. He is credited with the invention of ingenious devises (e.g., the Archimedean screw and various war machines) and he discovered the principle of buoyancy.
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papyrus (39). |
The writing material which the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans made from an aquatic plant.
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"The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne . . ." (39). |
Septimus has tricked Thomasina -- this is actually a quote from Act II, scene 2 of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopartra.
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second (39). |
A person who acts as an assistant to the principal in a duel.
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Rogers, Samuel (41). |
A British poet (1763-1855) whose works include The Pleasures of Memory.
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Moore, Thomas (41). |
An Irish romantic poet (1779-1852) and friend and biographer of Lord Byron. His nostalgic and patriotic lyrics include "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms".
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Wordsworth, William (41). |
The British poet (1770-1850) who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped establish romanticism in England. After graduating from Cambridge he went abroad and returned to England filled with the spirit of the French Revolution. He wrote Lyrical Ballads in 1798 with Coleridge. In 1843 Wordsworth was named poet laureate. He is recognized for his love of nature and his innovative use of language.
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Malta packet (41). |
Malta is country consisting of three islands in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily. Malta became French in 1798 and British in 1800. A packet is a boat that plies a regular passenger route.
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Lisbon (41). |
The capital and largest city of Portugal, located in the western part of the country on the Tagus River estuary near the Atlantic Ocean.
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Lesbos (41). |
An island of eastern Greece in the Aegean Sea near Turkey. Lesbos was settled in by the Aeolians and became a cultural center of ancient Greece. Lesbos was known for its lyric poets, including Sappho, in the seventh century B.C. It was also home to Aristotle.
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portmanteau (41). |
A large leather case that opens into two hinged compartments.
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billets (41). |
Lodging for troops
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pianoforte (41). |
A piano (from the Italian for soft (piano) and loud (forte).
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Ovid (42). |
(43 B.C.-A.D. 17) A great Roman poet who trained for a career in law but is known for his erotic and mythological poems including The Art of Love and Metamorphoses .
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bathos (42). |
As used here, it suggests banality or triteness; also, an insincere or grossly sentimental pathos producing a ludicrous effect.
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satyrs (42). |
In Greek mythology, a woodland creature with the pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat. Satyrs are associated unrestrained revelry.
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nymphs (42). |
In Greek and Roman mythology, minor female deities which inhabit and personify natural objects such as trees, waters, and mountains. Nymphs are generally young, beautiful, and amorous.
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guinea (42). |
A gold coin in England from 1663 to 1813. It was worth one pound and one shilling (£1 and twelve pence).
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penurious (42). |
Poverty-stricken or destitute.
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