Shakespeare merely touches such a scene with the magic of his genius, and his Cæsar speaks: Let me have men about me that are fat: Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look: He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. A careful reading of North's _Plutarch_ and then of the famous Roman plays shows to how great an extent Shakespeare was dependent upon his obscure contemporary. North's translation, to which we owe so many heroic models in our literature, was probably made not from Plutarch but from Amyot's excellent French translation. Nevertheless he reproduces the spirit of the original, and notwithstanding our modern and more accurate translations, he remains the most inspiring interpreter of the great biographer whom Emerson calls "the historian of heroism." SUMMARY OF THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. This period is generally regarded as the greatest in the history of our literature. Historically, we note in this age the tremendous impetus received from the Renaissance, from the Reformation, and from the exploration of the New World. It was marked by a strong national spirit, by patriotism, by religious tolerance, by social content, by intellectual progress, and by unbounded enthusiasm. Such an age, of thought, feeling, and vigorous action, finds its best expression in the drama; and the wonderful development of the drama, culminating in Shakespeare, is the most significant characteristic of the Elizabethan period. Though the age produced some excellent prose works, it is essentially an age of poetry; and the poetry is remarkable for its variety, its freshness, its youthful and romantic feeling. Both the poetry and the drama were permeated by Italian influence, which was dominant in English literature from Chaucer to the Restoration. The literature of this age is often called the literature of the Renaissance, though, as we have seen, the Renaissance itself began much earlier, and for a century and a half added very little to our literary possessions. In our study of this great age we have noted (1) the Non-dramatic Poets, that is, poets who did not write for the stage. The center of this group is Edmund Spenser, whose _Shepherd's Calendar_ (1579) marked the appearance of the first national poet since Chaucer's death in 1400. His most famous work is _The Faery Queen_. Associated with Spenser are the minor poets, Thomas Sackville, Michael Drayton, George Chapman, and Philip Sidney. Chapman is noted for his completion of Marlowe's poem, _Hero and Leander_, and for his translation of Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. Sidney, besides his poetry, wrote his prose romance _Arcadia_, and _The Defense of Poesie_, one of our earliest critical essays.