Scholars have long held that the date of
the action of this play was some time during
the commercial pre-eminence of the city of
Venice, that is. during the latter part of the
Middle Ages. The frequent recurrence of the
word “state" iustead of city was explained
away by the theory that in those days the
government of a city had the independence
and the authority of a state. But Mr. Gris
ton quite convincingly shows that it was
probably the old state of Yenetia, which we
know to have been commercially important
long before the city came into existence.
The city, which is occasionally referred to in
the play, is calculated by the author to have
been Apuleia, which was in late Roman
times a leading city of that particular coaat.
