The Chrysis of Enea Silvio Piccolomini

This book offers an accessible translation and detailed commentary of Piccolomini's only comedy,Chrysis.Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-64), also known as Pope Pius II, is among the Quattrocento’s most interesting personalities. An intellectual and public figure, Piccolomini enjoyed remarkable range, one aspect of which is his capacity as a writer and, specifically as regards this volume, as a comedic dramaturge. This book offers a performable English translation of his play,Chrysis,along with a detailed introduction and accessibly written commentary. TheChrysisis unabashedly a Roman comedy written in the Plautine manner and reveals an awareness of many Latin literary forms. Within its historical context, theChrysisis a highly interesting piece of Renaissance drama while being, at the same time, not as fully appreciated as it might have been. Piccolomini does not seem to have wanted it to be made public, for the play’s plot involves Catholic priests visiting a brothel. However, theChrysisis also replete with classical allusions, from Catullus to Juvenal and Martial, thus demonstrating that Piccolomini was a serious poet and admirer of Latin literature. This book offers a critical introduction, a text with an apparatus, a translation, and a commentary for Enea Silvio Piccolomini’s play entitled Chrysis. In the introduction, Liu and Smith situate the play within the development of Renaissance drama, explore the themes and structure of the play, and consider the historical context of its development. They establish the text through their own autopsy of the relevant copies, which they evaluate through the lens of a century of philological observations by the scholarly community. Based on that text, they include in this volume a fresh translation meant to be usable for production of the play in English, along with a rich commentary that expounds upon the numerous intertextual connections and allusive debts of the Chryrsis to ancient exemplars.