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New Light on Jonson and Roman Comedy: Volpone and Eunuchus, Magnetic Lady and Truculentus

New Light on Jonson and Roman Comedy: Volpone and Eunuchus, Magnetic Lady and Truculentus R I C H A R D F. H A R D I N Behind the practice of imitation in Renaissance literature lay the knowledge that the ancients themselves had imitated. Roman followed Greek comedy as Virgil followed Homer. Terence readily countered the charge that he had kidnapped characters from Greek comedy. So do all comic playwrights: indeed, "Nothing in fact is ever said which has not been said before" (Nullumst iam dictum quod non sit dictum prius).1 As it happens, Terence's remark appears in the preface to a play that shows evidence of Ben Jonson's imitation in Volpone ­ The Eunuch. The connection between these plays has apparently not previously been made, despite work on Jonson and ancient comedy over the past century.2 My discussion of Volpone and Eunuchus will lead into observations on the English playwright's The Magnetic Lady as it echoes the plot of the mysterious pregnancy in Plautus's Truculentus. Peter Happé writes that The Magnetic Lady shows Jonson, beginning around 1632, inclining toward "the staging practices of Plautus and Terence. The latter in fact are the chief debt, and Jonson both The Ben Jonson Journal 20.2 (2013): 179­200 DOI: 10.3366/bjj.2013.0080 © Edinburgh University Press http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Ben Jonson Journal Edinburgh University Press

New Light on Jonson and Roman Comedy: Volpone and Eunuchus, Magnetic Lady and Truculentus

Ben Jonson Journal , Volume 20 (2): 179 – Nov 1, 2013

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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press
Subject
Articles; Literary Studies
ISSN
1079-3453
eISSN
1755-165X
DOI
10.3366/bjj.2013.0080
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

R I C H A R D F. H A R D I N Behind the practice of imitation in Renaissance literature lay the knowledge that the ancients themselves had imitated. Roman followed Greek comedy as Virgil followed Homer. Terence readily countered the charge that he had kidnapped characters from Greek comedy. So do all comic playwrights: indeed, "Nothing in fact is ever said which has not been said before" (Nullumst iam dictum quod non sit dictum prius).1 As it happens, Terence's remark appears in the preface to a play that shows evidence of Ben Jonson's imitation in Volpone ­ The Eunuch. The connection between these plays has apparently not previously been made, despite work on Jonson and ancient comedy over the past century.2 My discussion of Volpone and Eunuchus will lead into observations on the English playwright's The Magnetic Lady as it echoes the plot of the mysterious pregnancy in Plautus's Truculentus. Peter Happé writes that The Magnetic Lady shows Jonson, beginning around 1632, inclining toward "the staging practices of Plautus and Terence. The latter in fact are the chief debt, and Jonson both The Ben Jonson Journal 20.2 (2013): 179­200 DOI: 10.3366/bjj.2013.0080 © Edinburgh University Press

Journal

Ben Jonson JournalEdinburgh University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2013

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