Fuimus Troes

Fuimus Troes
Written by	Jasper Fisher
Date premiered	c.1607-1625
Place premiered	Magdalen College, Oxford
Original language	English
Subject	Julius Caesar invades Britain
Genre	history play
Setting	Ancient Britain

Fuimus Troes is a verse drama attributed to Jasper Fisher about Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 55 BC. It was published in quarto in London, 1633. The drama is written in blank verse, interspersed with lyrics; Druids, poets, and a harper are introduced, and it ends with a masque and chorus.

It was published by Robert Allott in 1633. The title page describes it as, "Fuimus Troes, the True Trojans, being a story of the Britaines valour at the Romanes first invasion. Publickly presented by the gentlemen students of Magdalen College in Oxford. Quis Martem tunicâ tectum adamantinâ Dignè scripserit?". London, printed by I. L. for Robert Allott; and to be sold at the sign of the Bear, St Paul's Churchyard, 1633. 4to". The Latin tag is an abbreviation of a passage from Horace's ode Scriberis Vario (I:6): "Quis Martem, tunicâ adamantinâ tectum, aut Merionen, pulvere Troico nigrum, aut Tydiden, ope Palladis superîs parem, dignê scripserit?" (Who may fitly sing of Mars array'd in adamant mail, or Merion, black with dust of Troy, or Tydeus' son by Pallas' aid strong against gods to thrust?).

It was probably performed at Magdalen College, Oxford by the students some time before 1625.

The title derives from a line in Virgil's Aeneid, "Fuimus Troes, fuit Illium et ingens / gloria Teucrorum" (We were Trojans, this was Illium and the mighty glory of the Teucrians). The play's title, "we were Trojans", refers to the legend that both the Britons and the Romans were descended from the survivors of ancient Troy, through Aeneas. In the context of the Protestant culture of the time, the play seeks to validate an opposition between Britain and Rome, setting up the British as eternal enemies of Roman authority. The descent of the British from Aeneas's grandson Brutus of Troy is portrayed as a fact well-known to Caesar. The British leader Cassibelan attempts to appeal to their common ancestry, saying "As you from Troy, so we, our pedigree do claim; / Why should the branches fight, when as the root's the same?". The martial prowess of the Britons continually linked to their Trojan ancestry, and they are depicted worshipping the same classical gods as the Romans. However, the common Trojan origin is set against a model of pan-Celtic identity, with the ghost of the Gallic warlord Brennus, who sacked Rome in 387 BC, supporting the Britons.

...
Wikipedia