Samuel Brandon was a sixteenth-century author.

Brandon was the author of The Tragi-comœdi of the Virtuous Octavia (1598). Concerning his life no particulars whatever are preserved. His solitary play is a work of some merit and of considerable value and rarity. The plot, taken from the life of Augustus by Suetonius

Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....

, and that of Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

 by Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

, follows to some extent classical models. Its scene is Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, and its catastrophe the death of Mark Antony. The fact that at the close the heroine, who oscillates between love for her husband and jealousy of Cleopatra, is still alive, is the excuse for calling it a tragicomedy

Tragicomedy

Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...

. Weak in structure and deficient in interest, the Virtuous Octavia has claims to attention as poetry. It is written in decasyllabic verse with rhymes to alternate lines, and includes choruses lyrical in form and fairly spirited. Two epistles between Octavia and Mark Antony, "in imitation of Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

's style, but writ in long Alexandrins" (Langbaine, p. 30, ed. 1691), are added. These epistles "are dedicated to the honourable, virtuous, and excellent Mrs. Mary Thin" (ib.) The play itself is dedicated to Lady Lucia Audelay. At the close of the work are the Italian words: L'acqua non temo dell'eterno oblio.