The Elder Brother, Virgil’s De apibus, and the Chronology of the Plays in the Canon of John Fletcher and His Collaborators, 1617–20

Abstract

This article argues that John Brinsley's 1620 translation of Virgil's Georgics, Book IV, is a source for John Fletcher and Philip Massinger's The Elder Brother. This contention results in dating the play to 1620 rather than 1618 as suggested by Martin Wiggins. The re-dating has consequences for the dating of other plays in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators for the period 1617 to 1620, and I propose a new chronology for the Fletcher plays in this time span.

Keywords:

• John Fletcher,
• Philip Massinger,
• The Elder Brother,
• Virgil,
• John Brinsley