Stephen Guy-Bray (2007), 'How to Turn Prose into Literature: The Case of Thomas Nashe', in Naomi Conn Liebler (ed.), Early Modern Prose Fiction: The Cultural Politics of Reading, Routledge: New York, pp. 33–45.

Thispointisunderlinedin"October"whenE.K.saysthat"the RomishTityrus"mentionedbyCuddie(Spenser1912:55)is"wei knowentobeVirgile."ThenameTityruswithoutanynationaladjectiveatallis,infact,wellknowntobeVirgil,anditisunderthisname thathispoeticcareerissaidtohavebegun.Itwouldnotbemuchof anexaggerationtosaythatthenameTityrusistypicallyusedasaway torefertothebeginningsofgreatpoetry.BypresentingChauceras theoriginatorbothofColin'sliterarycareerand,Iwouldargue,of greatpoetryingeneral,SpensergiveshisEnglishpredecessorVirgil's foundationalplaceinliteraryhistory.Themoveisespeciallyaudacious sincealthoughthetraditionalaccountofEnglishliteraryhistorybeginswithChaucer,hisrelianceonclassicalandmedievalcontinental literatureistypicallystressed.InSpenser'srewritingofliteraryhistory, thefourteenth-centurypoetsomehowpredatesthepoetwhodiedin 21B.C.E.Furthermore,inamovethatwillbeofgreatimportance toTheUnfortunateTraveller,Spenser'sidentificationofVirgil'sethnic origin-andtheuseof"Romish"ratherthanthemoredignified andclassical"Roman"emphasizestheidentification-associatesthe Latinpoetwiththepoliticalandreligiousenemiesofcontemporary England.