J. Leeds Barroll’s, T. J. B. Spencer’s, and Clifford Ronan’s studies of Elizabethan representations of Rome show that Elizabethans thought of classical Rome as a place of “garboyles,” or civil wars, the outcomes of the Roman pride that Shakespeare’s characters so emphatically insist on in Julius Caesar.1 Barroll, Spencer, Ronan, and critics who build on their work focus on the ways that Elizabethan writers such as Shakespeare apply their visions of factious and proud Romans to Elizabethan politics.2 Critics typically seek similarities between England and Rome rather than differences because, despite its “garboyles” and pride, Rome had significant status in Elizabethan England.

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