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There was sufficient demand in England to warrant an edition in 1572, avowedly for the use of boys. For their sake, it prefaces a chronology compiled from Eusebius, Berosus, and Metasthenes. The side.-notes point out the rhetorical landmarks to them: "Narratio & occasio operis," "A rei diff'Scultate," "Argumentu a minori ad mains," "certatim" suggested as a reading for "egregatim," "Consilium instituti operis," these are the notes on the first page, while other pages supply the same types of material. There are not, however, any ex-tended notes. The copy in the British Museum has also been well glossed in English by some contemporary English boy, showing that this copy was read throughout in detail. The edition of 1593 furnishes the same material as that of 1572, but with the chronology moved to the end. Evidently Justin was considerably used in the grammar schools of Shakspere's day, but I do not find that Shakspere has even been accused of having used Justin.
Valerius Maximus is also mentioned in four curricula. He was
the compiler of a large collection of historical anecdotes, entitled De Factis Dictisque Memoratilihus Lirri IX., arranged under different heads, the sayings and doings of Roman worthies being, moreover, kept distinct in each division from those of foreigners . . . The subjects treated of are of a character so miscellaneous, that it would be impossible, without transcribing the short notices placed at the head of each chapter, to convey a clear idea of the contents . . . without going so far as to assert that the whole ought to be regarded in the light of a formal treatise on morality, taught by examples, it is even now very evident that the greater number of the stories are designed to illustrate some great moral principle as
It will be seen how as historical anecdotes inculcating morality the work was fitted to the Elizabethan schoolmaster's hand. But I do not find Shakspere accused of having borrowed from it.
Finally, Florus is mentioned at Eton and Westminster as a possible source of supplementary materials.
We possess a summary of Roman history, divided into four books, extending from the foundation of the city to the establishment of the empire under
Augustus (n. D. 20), entitled Rerum Romanorum Libri IV., or Epitome de Gestis Romanorum . . . This compendium, which must by no means be regarded as an abridgment of Livy, but as a compilation from various authorities, presents within a very moderate compass a striking view of all the leading events comprehended by the above limits .n
One might think, therefore, that had the Elizabethan schoolmasters
u Smith, W., Dictionary (I$5o), Vol. II, pp. icon-Ioo2. u Smith, W., Dictionary (i 85o), Vol. II, p. 176.
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