The Roman Empress

The Roman Empress is a 1670 tragedy by the writer William Joyner. It was first staged by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

The Roman Empress
Written by	William Joyner
Date premiered	August 1670
Place premiered	Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Original language	English
Genre	Tragedy
Setting	Ancient Rome

The original cast included Michael Mohun as Valentius, Edward Kynaston as Florus, Richard Bell as Honorius, Edward Lydall as Statilius, William Beeston as Macrinus, Rebecca Marshall as Fulvia, Elizabeth Knepp as Antonia, Marmaduke Watson as Hostilius, William Cartwright as Arsenius, Elizabeth Boutell as Aurelia and Katherine Corey as Sophonia. The published version of the play was dedicated to the writer Charles Sedley.

Plot summary

The Emperor of Rome, Valentitius, is at war with his brother, who has attempted to usurp the throne. The Emperor's wife, Fulvia, attempts to seduce Florus, a Roman soldier and the Emperor's Favorite. When Fulvia fails, she resolves to take revenge by claiming that Florus forced himself upon her; Florus is promptly executed. Aurelia, Valentitius's niece and Florus's lover, has sworn Florus off after being told by her father that her lover killed her brother in battle. Upon discovering that her father lied to her in the hopes that she would cease to pursue Florus, she murders him. Afterwards, Sophonia, the Emperor's first wife- who, after being wrongfully accused of adultery, has been posing as the handmaid of Aurelia- commits suicide and leaves a note revealing her innocence as well as the fact Florus was her son, whom she, fearing that her own disgrace would endanger his life, passed off as a friend's child.

Influences

William Joyner states in his preface that The Roman Empress is partially modeled after Oedipus and Phaedra. Although he does not clarify which dramatizations of these myths he refers to, the scene between Fulvia and her nurse, Antonia, is clearly modeled after the second scene of Act I in Seneca's Hippolytus (which in the 21st century, is typically referred to as Phaedra). Interestingly, Sophonia's death greatly resembles that of Phaedra in the Hippolytus of Euripides.

Bibliography

• Van Lennep, W. The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960.

• Joyner, William. The Roman Empress, a Tragedy, Printed by T.N. for Henry Harrington, 1671