The history of the Byzantine era is rich in dramatic potential, and was extensively exploited by writers of continental Catholic school and college drama in the early modern period. However, it was hardly ever drawn upon within Tudor and Stuart professional drama. One exception to this rule is Zeno, written by Joseph Simons SJ, freely adapted by Sir William Killigrew and printed in 1669 under the title The Imperial Tragedy. Killigrew's play is also unusual because plays written and performed in the English Catholic colleges on the continent during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were very seldom acknowledged, printed or adapted on the English mainland. The adaptation suggests a personal relationship between the two playwrights. Simons was attached to the London court at this period as Jesuit Provincial; Killigrew, a courtier, appears to have been on friendly terms with Simons in the late 1660s, and to have wanted to pay him a compliment by adapting his play. However, he printed it anonymously, not mentioning either Simons's name or his own. It is likely that he did this because Simons was a controversial associate: not least for his influence over the future James II, whom he converted to Roman Catholicism. Killigrew appended a tantalising title page to his work, suggesting that there was more to his anonymity than mere modesty, and came clean about his authorship to the semi-private audience with which he also shared his revisions: an audience which included at least one individual with a pronounced interest in religious toleration. At this time, the gift of books could cement literary and personal alliances, and manuscript circulation could define friendship and patronage networks. The two surviving copies of The Imperial Tragedy annotated by Killigrew give us something in between: a case study of how an author's previously printed material could be personalized by religiously sensitive manuscript additions for an inner circle.

中文翻译：

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英格兰复辟中的拜占庭悲剧：约瑟夫·西蒙斯的芝诺和威廉·基利格鲁爵士的帝国悲剧

拜占庭时代的历史具有丰富的戏剧潜力，在近代早期被大陆天主教学校和大学戏剧作家广泛利用。然而，在都铎王朝和斯图亚特的职业戏剧中几乎没有被提及。这一规则的一个例外是芝诺，由约瑟夫·西蒙斯 SJ 撰写，由威廉·基利格爵士自由改编，并于 1669 年以《帝国悲剧》为标题印刷。基利格鲁的戏剧也很不寻常，因为 16 和 17 世纪在欧洲大陆的英国天主教学院编写和演出的戏剧很少在英国本土得到承认、印刷或改编。改编暗示了两位剧作家之间的私人关系。西蒙斯在此期间作为耶稣会省长隶属于伦敦法院；朝臣基利格鲁，似乎在 1660 年代后期与西蒙斯保持友好关系，并想通过改编他的戏剧来赞美他。然而，他匿名打印了它，既没有提到西蒙斯的名字，也没有提到他自己的名字。他这样做很可能是因为西蒙斯是一个有争议的伙伴：尤其是因为他对未来的詹姆斯二世的影响，他皈依了罗马天主教。基利格鲁在他的作品中附加了一个诱人的标题页，表明他的匿名不仅仅是谦虚，并向半私人观众坦白了他的作者身份，他也与之分享了他的修改：观众至少包括一个人对宗教宽容有着明显的兴趣。这时候，赠书可以巩固文学和个人的联盟，手稿流通可以定义友谊和赞助网络。基利格鲁注释的帝国悲剧的两本幸存副本为我们提供了介于两者之间的东西：一个案例研究，说明作者以前印刷的材料如何通过为内部圈子添加宗教敏感的手稿来个性化。