The edition of this play embodies all the features of its predecessors, with several additions. Firstly, all movements have been printed in heavy type to enable them to be easily detected from the other matter secondly, the text has been pointed by means of perpendicular marks to indicate the pauses to be observed either after or before the word thus treated. These pauses may be short or long, and in most cases there is a note provided to indicate their necessary duration but where this does not occur the reader will be able to judge by the context what form of treatment is required. They do not occur at every obvious point, but only where the difference created by them, though at times slight, enables the line to be governed so as to discharge its proper value. This also applies to the words italicized for emphasis, which in some cases may be light and in others heavy, the slight in?exion sometimes giving the elliptical construction its proper solution. Thirdly, among the innovations comes the detailed description of the costumes. This will, it is hoped, prove of great value in a play which sometimes causes confusion and difficulty in the matter of apportioning the right costume to the right character. Beside the dress is placed its Latin name, so that readers can, if they so wish, continue their investigations in the classical dictionaries and study examples of the clothes that are frequently shown in the articles dealing with them. A glossary of the costumes not fully described in the text, but which are mentioned under their Latin names, is placed at the end of this preface, together with a plate. It contains a short description of the military, civil, male and female costumes, with instructions as to the winding of a full-sized toga. Two plates are also provided showing thirty-seven of the principal properties used in the play, each of which is brie?y described in an accompanying commentary. In short, this edition seeks to provide every means to facilitate a proper understanding of the play and its equipment.
