§ 1. THE MAIN (SENTIMENTAL) PLOT OF
THE FOUR LOVERS AND THE COURT OF THESEUS

"And out of olde bokes, in good feith,
Cometh al this newe science that men lere."
_Chaucer_.

* * * *

I

As the play opens with speeches of Theseus and Hippolyta, it is convenient
to treat first of these two characters. Mr. E.K. Chambers has collected (in
Appendix D to his edition) nine passages from North's Plutarch's _Life of
Theseus_, of which Shakespeare appears to have made direct use. For
example, Oberon's references to "Perigenia," "Aegles," "Ariadne and
Antiopa" (II. i. 79-80) are doubtless derived from North; and certainly the
reference by Theseus to his "kinsman Hercules" (V. i. 47) is based on the
following passage:--

... "they were near kinsmen, being cousins removed by the mother's
side. For Aethra was the daughter of Pittheus, and Alcmena (the mother
of Hercules) was the daughter of Lysidice, the which was half-sister to
Pittheus, both children of Pelops and of his wife Hippodamia."

In modern phraseology, Theseus and Hercules were thus second cousins.

Of the Amazon queen North says:--

"Touching the voyage he [Theseus] made by the sea Maior, Philochorus,