ABSTRACT
All citations to John Lyly's plays come from this edition and will henceforth be denoted in parentheticals by act, scene, and inclusive line numbers. This chapter expands the contractions and also modernizes all titles of early modern works. It is not specifically concerned with euphuism as a condition for the treatment of dreams in Lyly's plays, and while the euphuistic style could be said to contribute to the structure of the discussion of dream interpretation in Sappho and Phao, it is not, of any particular significance for the way in which dreams are treated in the plays under discussion. The play demonstrates the variety and richness of early modern dream theories. The chapter suggests that it is from the perspective of such theories that Lyly's preoccupation with prophecies and superstition should be understood. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that Elizabethan views on dreams were divided with respect to their potentially prophetic or supernatural properties.
