Henslowe writes: ye 25 of June 1595 ... R at the j pte of seaser ... xxijs
In modern English: 25th June, 1595 ... Received at The First Part of Caesar ... 22 shillings
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey after a three-month absence from the stage, but have now retitled it The First Part of Caesar in order to form a two-part play with the sequel that they premiered last week. This part probably dramatized the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about it in the entry for 8th November, 1594.
It seems like a great idea: take an old play, give it a sequel, and turn them into a two-parter to excite the public. However, today's box office for the revamped 'Part One' is not impressive, and the company will never perform it again. Farewell, Caesar and Pompey!
Henslowe writes: ye 6 of marche 1594 ... R at seaser ... xxs
In modern English: 6th March, 1595 ... Received at Caesar ... 20 shillings
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey, their retelling of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about this play in the entry for 8th November, 1594.
The company has ignored Caesar and Pompey for over a month, but doing so has not increased the public's enthusiasm and it continues to receive mediocre audiences.
What's next?
For unknown reasons, Henslowe records no performances for the next four days. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 10th March. See you then!
Henslowe writes: ye j of febreary 1594 ... R at seaser ... xxiiijs
In modern English: 1st February, 1595 ... Received at Caesar ... 24 shillings
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey, their retelling of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about this play in the entry for 8th November.
Caesar and Pompey continues to chug along, solidly but unimpressively. Like many plays that began strongly, it has quickly descended to mediocrity.
What's next?
There will be no blog entry tomorrow, because 2 February was a Sunday in 1595 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 3rd. See you then!
Henslowe writes: ye 18 of Jenewary 1594 ... R at seaser ... xxvs
In modern English: [17th] January, 1595 ... Received at Caesar ... 25 shillings
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey, their retelling of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about this play in the entry for 8th November.
This play is still relatively new, but the company has still waited nearly a month after its last performance before restaging it; perhaps this betrays a lack of confidence in it. Its box office today is higher than its last outing, but that was during the lean times of Advent.
Henslowe writes: ye 10 of desembȝ 1594 ... R at seser ... xijs
In modern English: [11th] December, 1594 ... Received at Caesar ... 12 shillings
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey, their retelling of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about this play in the entry for 8th November.
The company has waited a week and a half to revive the still relatively new Caesar and Pompey. Like all other plays at the mment, it is being hit hard by the Advent downturn, and has not drawn much of a crowd.
Henslowe writes: ye 25 of novembȝ 1594 ... R at seser & pompey ... xxxijs
In modern English: 25th November, 1594 ... Received at Caesar and Pompey ... 32 shillings.
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey, their retelling of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about this play in the entry for 8th November.
It's the third performance of Caesar and Pompey, and the box office remains average for the Rose, as it was last week; the play is not setting the theatrical world aflame, but probably no-one's complaining either.
Henslowe writes: ye 14 of novembȝ 1594 ... R at sesor & pompie ... xxxvs
In modern English: 14th November, 1594 ... Received at Caesar and Pompey ... 35 shillings.
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Caesar and Pompey, their retelling of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. You can read more about this play in the entry for 8th November.
The company premiered this play less than a week ago, and they have brought it straight back to the stage, a sign that they have confidence in it. But the play isn't doing as well as most new plays; on its second performance it is already taking in only average box office.
Henslowe writes: ye 8 of novembȝ 1594 ... ne ... R at seser & pompie ... iijll ijs
In modern English: 8th November, 1594 ... New ... Received at Caesar and Pompey ... £3 and 2 shillings.
Today, the Admiral's Men performed a new play! Caesar and Pompey is lost, but it would have told of the civil war that erupted in Ancient Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. There would have been battle scenes, and no doubt Edward Alleyn played Caesar with gusto. Today's premiere was a great success that played to a full theatre.
The story of Caesar and Pompey
Roman bust of
Pompey
Elizabethan writers knew a great deal about the history of Ancient Rome, thanks to the fulsome narratives in works by Roman historians such as Plutarch, Suetonius, and Caesar himself.
In the middle of the first century BC, Rome was ruled by a triumvirate of three powerful men: Crassus, Julius Caesar and Pompey. Caesar and Pompey had always been rivals, but Crassus had managed to keep the peace.
When Crassus was unexpectedly killed in Parthia while Caesar was away fighting in Gaul, Pompey took the opportunity to seize power. The Roman Senate took his side and ordered Caesar to disband his army and return home.
Caesar's army crossing the
Rubicon, by Jean Fouquet (15th century)
But Caesar did not obey. He maintained control of his army and marched upon Rome. With his famous crossing of the Rubicon river, which marked the boundary of Roman power, he signified his decision to make war on Pompey.
A civil war thus broke out, culminating in Caesar's defeat of Pompey's forces at Pharsalus in Greece. Pompey fled to Egypt, but its king sided with Caesar and ordered him killed. This left Caesar as sole ruler of the Roman Empire. And so Pompey's tragedy was Caesar's triumph.
Detail from Caesar Contemplating the Head of Pompey by Tiepolo (1746)
This, then is the story that most likely played out on the Rose stage today. Of course, we don't know exactly where the playwright chose to end the play, but, as Martin Wiggins points out in his catalogue of British drama, next year a sequel will appear, called The Second Part of Caesar; this title implies that Pompey was not in the sequel, and that today's play thus climaxed with his death.
Other Caesars and Pompeys
In addition to the sequel that will appear next year, Caesar and Pompey may have been the start of something bigger. In their study of Thomas Middleton's lost plays, Doris Feldmen and Kurt Tetzeli von Rosador propose that two later lost plays, Catiline's Conspiracy and Caesar's Fall, could together have been a tetralogy (four-play sequence) staging the entire life of Caesar. But we will talk more of such things later.
The war between Caesar and Pompey was a popular subject for Renaissance dramatists: an earlier lost play of the same title was performed in London in 1580, and George Chapman would later write an unperformed tragedy on the subject. The story has been less popular in the modern age, but the HBO series Rome is a major exception, casting Kenneth Cranham as Pompey and Ciaran Hinds as Caesar over a full season's arc; here's their version of Pompey's final moments (warning: gruesome):
FURTHER READING
Caesar and Pompey information
Doris Feldman and Kurt Tetzeli von Rosador, "Lost Plays: A Brief Account", in Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works, edited by Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino (Clarendon Press, 2007), 328-333
Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 972.
