Chapter 9

IV.iii.120 (356,7)

Think it a bastard, whom the oracle Hath doubtfully prunounc'd thy throat shall cut]

An allusion to the tale of OEdipus.

IV.iii.134 (357,8) And to make whores a bawd] [W: make whole] The old edition reads,

_And to make whores a bawd._

That is, _enough to make a whore leave whoring, and a bawd leave making whores_.

IV.iii.139 (357,9) I'll trust to your conditions] You need not swear to continue whores, I will trust to your inclinations.

IV.iii.140 (358,1) Yet may your pains, six months,/Be quite contrary] The explanation [Warburton's] is ingenious, but I think it very remote, and would willingly bring the author and his readers to meet on easier terms. We may read,

--_Yet may your pains six months Be quite_ contraried.--

Timon is wishing ill to mankind, but is afraid lest the whores should imagine that he wishes well to them; to obviate which he lets them know, that he imprecates upon them influence enough to plague others, and disappointments enough to plague themselves. He wishes that they may do all possible mischief, and yet take _pains six months_ of the year in vain.

In this sense there is a connection of this line with the next. Finding _your pains contraried_, try new expedients, _thatch your thin roofs_, and _paint_.

To _contrary_ is on old verb. Latymer relates, that when he went to court, he was advised not to _contrary_ the king.

IV.iii.153 (359,3) mens' spurring] Hanmer reads _sparring_, properly enough, if there be any ancient example of the word.

IV.iii.158 (359,5)

take the bridge quite away Of him, that his particular to foresee Smells from the general weal]

[W: to forefend] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense is good. To _foresee his particular_, is _to provide for his private advantage_, for which _he leaves the right scent of publick good_. In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for some of the hounds _to smell from the general weal, and foresee their own particular_. Shakespeare, who seems to have been a skilful sportsman, and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps, alludes here to hunting.

To the commentator's emendation it may be objected, that he used _forefend_ in the wrong meaning. To _forefend_, is, I think, never to _provide for_, but to _provide against_. The verbs compounded with _for_ or _fore_ have commonly either an evil or negative sense.

IV.iii.182 (361,8) eyeless venom'd worm] The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the _blind worm_, and the Latins, _caecilia_.

IV.iii.183 (361,9) below crisp heaven] [W: cript] Mr. Upton declares for _crisp_, curled, bent, hollow.

IV.iii.188 (361,1) Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!] [W: out to ungrateful] It is plain that _bring out_ is _bring forth_, with which the following lines correspond so plainly, that the commentator might be suspected of writing his note without reading the whole passage.

IV.iii.193 (362,2) Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough torn leas] I cannot concur to censure Theobald [as Warburton did] as a _critic_ very _unhappy_. He was weak, but he was cautious: finding but little power in his mind, he rarely ventured far under its conduct. This timidity hindered him from daring conjectures, and sometimes hindered him happily.

This passage, among many others, may pass without change. The genuine reading is not _marrows, veins_, but _marrows_, vines: the sense is this; _O nature! cease_ to _produce men, ensear thy womb_; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them; _dry up thy marrows_, on which they fatten with _unctuous morsels_, thy _vines_, which give them _liquorish draughts_, and thy _plow-torn leas_. Here are effects corresponding with causes, _liquorish draughts_ with _vines_, and _unctuous morsels_ with _marrows_, and the old reading literally preserved.

IV.iii.209 (363,3) the cunning of a carper] _Cunning_ here seems to signify _counterfeit appearance_.

IV.ii.223 (364,4) moist trees] Hanmer reads very elegantly,

--moss'd _trees_.

IV.iii.37 (364,5)

_Tim._ Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Dost please thyself in't?

_Apem._ Ay.

_Tim._ What! a knave too?]

Such was Dr. Warburton's first conjecture ["and know't too"], but afterwards he adopted Sir T. Hanmer's conjecture,

_What a knave_ thou!

but there is no need of alteration. Timon had just called Apemantus _fool_, in consequence of what he had known of him by former acquaintance; but when Apemantus tells him, that he comes _to vex him_, Timon determines that to _vex_ is either _the office of a villain or a fool_; that _to vex by design_ is _villainy, to vex without design_ is _folly_. He then properly asks Apemantus whether he takes delight in _vexing_, and when he answers, _yes_, Timon replies, _What! and knave too?_ I before only knew thee to be a _fool_, but I now find thee likewise a _knave_. This seems to be so clear as not to stand in need of a comment.

IV.iii.242 (365,6) Willing misery/Out-lives incertain pomp; is crown'd before] Arrives sooner at _high wish_; that is, at the _completion of its wishes_.

IV.iii.247 (365,7) Worse than the worst, content] Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content. This one would think too plain to have been mistaken. (1773)

IV.iii.249 (365,8) by his breath] It means, I believe, by his _counsel_, by his _direction_.

IV. iii. 252 (366,l) Hadst thou, like us] There is in this speech a sullen haughtiness, and malignant dignity, suitable at once to the lord and the man-hater. The impatience with which he bears to have his luxury reproached by one that never had luxury within his reach, is natural and graceful.

There is in a letter, written by the earl of Essex, just before his execution, to another nobleman, a passage somewhat resembling this, with which, I believe every reader will be pleased, though it is so serious and solemn that it can scarcely be inserted without irreverence.

"God grant your lordship may quickly feel the comfort I now enjoy in my unfettered conversion, but that you may never feel the torments I have suffered for my long delaying it. _I had none but deceivers to call upon me, to whom I said, if my ambition could have entered into their narrow breasts, they would not have been so precise. But your lordship hath one to call upon you, that knoweth what it is you now enjoy; and what the greatest fruit and end is of all contentment that this world can afford._ Think, therefore, dear earl, that I have staked and buoyed all the ways of pleasure unto you, and left them as sea-marks for you to keep the channel of religious virtue. For shut your eyes never so long, they must be open at the last, and then you must say with me, _there is no peace to the ungodly_."

IV.iii.252 (366,2) from our first swath] From infancy. _Swath_ is the dress of a new-born child.

IV.iii.258 (366,3) precepts of respect] Of obedience to laws.

IV.iii.259 (366,4) But myself] The connection here requires some attention. _But_ is here used to denote opposition; but what immediately precedes is not opposed to that which follows. The adversative particle refers to the two first lines.

_Thou art a slave, whom fortune's tender arm With favour never claspt; but bred a dog. --But myself, Who had the world as my confectionary,_ &c.

The intermediate lines are to be considered as a parenthesis of passion.

IV.iii.271 (367,5) If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rag,/ Must be thy subject] If we read _poor rogue_, it will correspond rather better to what follows.

IV.iii.276 (367,6) Thou hadst been knave and flatterer] Dryden has quoted two verses of Virgil to shew how well he could have written satires. Shakespeare has here given a specimen of the same power by a line bitter beyond all bitterness, in which Timon tells Apemantus, that he had not virtue enough for the vices which he condemns.

Dr. Warburton explains _worst_ by _lowest_, which somewhat weakens the sense, and yet leaves it sufficiently vigorous.

I have heard Mr. Bourke commend the subtilty of discrimination with which Shakespeare distinguishes the present character of Timon from that of Apemantus, whom to vulgar eyes he would now resemble. (see 1763, VI, 249, 6) (rev. 1778, VIII, 424, 4)

IV.iii.308 (369,8) Ay, though it look like thee] Timon here supposes that an objection against hatred, which through the whole tenor of the conversation appears an argument for it. One would have expected him to have answered,

Yes, _for it looks like thee_.

The old edition, which always gives the pronoun instead of the affirmative particle, has it,

_I, though it look like thee_.

Perhaps we should read,

_I_ thought _it_ look'd _like thee_.

IV,iii.363 (371,2) Thou art the cap] i.e. the property, the bubble. WARBURTON.] I rather think, the _top_, the _principal_.

The remaining dialogue has more malignity than wit.

IV.iii.383 (372,4) 'Twixt natural, son and sire!']

[Greek: dia touton ouk adelphoi dia touton ou toxaeas. ANAC.]

IV.iii.398 (373,6) More things like men?] This line, in the old edition, is given to Aremantus, but it apparently belongs to Timon. Hanmer has transposed the foregoing dialogue according to his own mind, not unskilfully, but with unwarrantable licence.

IV.iii.419 (373,7) you want much of meat] [T: of meet] Such is Mr. Theobald's emendation, in which he is followed by Dr. Warburton. Sir T. Hanmer reads,

--_you want much of_ men.

They have been all busy without necessity. Observe the series of the conversation. The thieves tell him, that they are _men that much do want_. Here is an ambiguity between _much want_ and _want_ of _much_. Timon takes it on the wrong side, and tells them that their _greatest want is_, that, like other men, _they want much of meat_; then telling them where meat may be had, he asks, _Want? why want?_ (see 1765, VI, 254, 5)

IV.iii.420 (374,8) the earth hath roots;/Within this mile break forth an hundred springs]

_Vile plus, et duris haerentia mora rubetis Pugnantis stomachi composuere famen: Flumine vicino stultus sitit._

I do not suppose these to be imitations, but only to be similar thoughts on similar occasions.

IV.iii.442 (375,2) The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves/The moon into salt tears] [W: The mounds] I am not willing to receive _mounds_, which would not be understood but by him that suggested it. The _moon_ is supposed to be humid, and perhaps a source of humidity, but cannot be _resolved_ by the _surges_ of the sea. Yet I think _moon_ is the true reading. Here is a circulation of thievary described: The sun, moon, and sea all rob, and are robbed.

IV.iii.456 (376,3) 'Tis in the malice of mankind, that he thus advises us; not to have us thrive in our mystery] [Hanmer: his malice to] Hanmer's emendation, though not necessary, is very probable, and very unjustly charged with nonsense [by Warburton]. The reason of his advice, says the thief, is _malice to mankind_, not any kindness to us, or desire _to have us thrive in our mystery_.

IV.iii.468 (378,5) What an alteration of honour has/Desperate want made!] [W: of humour] The original copy has,

_What an alteration of honour has desperate want made!_

The present reading is certainly better, but it has no authority. To change _honour_ to _humour_ is not necessary. _An alteration of honour_, is an _alteration_ of an _honourable state_ to a state of disgrace.

IV.iii.474 (378,8)

Grant, I may ever love, and rather woe Those that would mischief me, than those that do!]

[W: rather too/...that woo] In defiance of this criticism, I have ventured to replace the former reading, as more suitable to the general spirit of these scenes, and as free from the absurdities charged upon it. It is plain, that in this whole speech _friends_ and _enemies_ are taken only for those who _profess friendship_ and _profess enmity_; for the _friend_ is supposed not to be more kind, but more dangerous than the _enemy_. In the amendation, _those that would mischief_ are placed in opposition to _those that woo_, but in the speaker's intention _those that woo_ are _those that mischief_ most. The sense is, _Let me rather woo or caress those that_ would _mischief, that_ profess to mean me mischief, _than those_ that really _do_ me _mischief under false professions of kindness_. The Spaniards, I think, have this proverb; _Defend me from my friends, and from my enemies I will defend myself_. This proverb is a sufficient comment on the passage.

IV.iii.484 (379,9) all/I kept were knaves, to serve in meat to villains] _Knave_ is here in the compounded sense of a _servant_ and a _rascal_.

IV.iii.492 (379,1) Pity's sleeping] I do not know that any correction is necessary, but I think we might read,

--_eyes do never give But thorough lust and laughter, pity sleeping_.

_Eyes never flow_ (to _give_ is to dissolve as saline bodies in moist weather) _but by lust_ or _laughter_, undisturbed _by_ emotions of _pity_.

IV.iii.499 (380,2) It almost turns my dangerous nature wild] [W: mild] This emendation is specious, but even this may be controverted. To _turn wild_ is _to distract_. An appearance so unexpected, says Timon, _almost turns my savageness_ to distraction. Accordingly he examines with nicety lest his phrenzy, should deceive him,

_Let me behold thy face. Surely this man Was born of woman_.

And to this suspected disorder of mind he alludes,

_Perpetual, sober, Gods_!-- Ye powers whose intellects are out of the reach of perturbation.

IV.iii.533 (381,3) thou shalt build from men] Away from human habitations.

V.i (382,5) _Enter Poet and Painter_] The poet and the painter were within view when Apemantus parted from Timon, and might then have seen Timon, since Apemantus, standing by him could not see them: But the scenes of the thieves and steward have passed before their arrival, and yet passed, as the drama is now conducted within their view. It might be suspected that some scenes are transposed, for all these difficulties would be removed by introducing the poet and painter first, and the thieves in this place. Yet I am afraid the scenes must keep their present order; for the painter alludes to the thieves when he says, _he likewise enriched poor straggling soldiers with great quantity_. This impropriety is now heightened by placing the thieves in one act, and the poet and painter in another: but it must be remembered, that in the original edition this play is not divided into separate acts, so that the present distribution is arbitrary, and may be changed if any convenience can be gained, or impropriety obviated by alteration.

V.i.47 (384,6) While the day serves, before black-corner'd night] [W: black-cornette] _Black-corner'd night_ is probably corrupt, but _black-cornette_ can hardly be right, for it should be _black-cornetted night_. I cannot propose any thing, but must leave the place in its present state. (1773)

V.i.101 (386,8) a made-up villain] That is a villain that adopts qualities and characters not properly belonging to him; a hypocrite.

V.i.105 (386,9) drown them in a draught] That is, _in the_ jakes.

V.i.109 (388,1)

But two in company-- Each man apart, all single and alone, Yet an arch villain keeps him company]

This passage is obscure. I think the meaning is this: _but two in company_, that is, stand apart, _let only two be together_; for even when each stands single there are two, he himself and a villain.

V.i.151 (388,3) Of its own fall] [The Oxford editor alters _fall_ to _fault_, not knowing that Shakespeare uses _fall_ to signify dishonour, not destruction. So in _Hamlet_,

_What a_ falling_ off was there_! WARBURTON.]

The truth is, that neither _fall_ means _disgrace_, nor is _fault_ a necessary emendation. _Falling off_ in the quotation is not _disgrace_ but _defection_. The Athenians _had sense_, that is, felt the danger _of their own fall_, by the arms of Alcibiades.

V.i.151 (388,4) restraining aid to Timon] I think it should be _refraining aid_, that is, with-holding aid that should have been given _to_ Timon.

V.i.154 (389,5) Than their offence can weigh down by the dram] This which was in the former editions can scarcely be right, and yet I know not whether my reading will be thought to rectify it. I take the meaning to be, We will give thee a recompence that our offences cannot outweigh, _heaps of wealth down by the dram_, or delivered according to the exactest measure. A little disorder may perhaps have happened in transcribing, which may be reformed by reading,

--_Ay, ev'n such heaps And sums of love and wealth, down by the dram, As shall to thee_--

V.i.165 (389,6) Allow'd with absolute power] _Allowed_ is _licensed_, _privileged_, _uncontrolled_. So of a buffoon, in _Love's Labour lost_, it is said, that he is _allowed_, that is, at liberty to say what he will, a privileged scoffer.

V.i.139 (390,7) My long sickness/Of health and living now begins to mend] The disease of life begins to promise me a period.

V.i.211 (391,8) in the sequence of degree] Methodically, from highest to lowest.

V.iii.4 (393,2) Some beast read this; here does not live a man] [W: rear'd] Notwithstanding this remark, I believe the old reading to be the right. _The soldier had only seen the rude heap of earth._ He had evidently seen something that told him _Timon was dead_; and what could tell that but his tomb? The tomb he sees, and the inscription upon it, which not being able to read, and finding none to read it for him, he exclaims peevishly, _some beast read this_, for it must be read, and in this place it cannot be read by man.

There is something elaborately unskilful in the contrivance of sending a soldier, who cannot read, to take the epitaph in wax, only that it may close the play by being read with more solemnity in the last scene.

V.iv.7 (394, 3) traverst arms] Arms across.

V.iv.8 (394,4) the time is flush] A bird is _flush_ when his feathers are grown, and he can leave the nest. _Flush_ is _mature_.

V.iv.18 (395,7)

So did we woo Transformed Timon to our city's love, By humble message, and by promis'd means]

[T: promis'd mends] Dr. Warburton agrees with Mr. Theobald, but the old reading may well stand.

V.iv.28 (395,8) Shame, that they wanted cunning, in excess/Hath broke their hearts] [Theobald had emended the punctuation] I have no wish to disturb the means of Theobald, yet think some emendation nay be offered that will make the construction less harsh, and the sentence more serious. I read,

_Shape that they wanted, coming in excess, Hath broke their hearts._

_Shame which they_ had so long _wanted at last_ coming in _its utmost_ excess.

V.iv.36 (396,8) not square] Not regular, not equitable.

V.iv.35 (397,9) uncharged ports] That is, _unguarded gates_.

V.iv.59 (397,1) not a man/Shall pass his quarter] Not a soldier shall quit his station, or be let loose upon you; and, if any commits violence, he shall answer it regularly to the law.

V.iv.76 (308.,3) our brain's flow; Hanmer and Dr. Warburton read,

--brine's flow,--

Our brain's flow is our tears; but we any read our brine's flow, our salt tears. Either will serve. (see 1765, VI, 276, 6)

(399) General Observation. The play of _Timon_ is a domestic tragedy, and therefore strongly fastens on the attention of the reader. In the plan there is not much art, but the incidents are natural, and the characters various and exact. The catastrophe affords a very powerful warning against that ostentations liberality, which scatters bounty, but confers no benefits, and buys flattery, but not friendship.

In this tragedy are many passages perplexed, obscure, and probably corrupt, which I have endeavoured to rectify, or explain, with due diligence; but having only one copy, cannot promise myself that my endeavours shall be much applauded.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

(403,1) It is observable, that this play is printed in the quarto of 1611, with exactness equal to that of the other books of those times. The first edition was probably corrected by the author, so that here is very little room for conjecture or emendation; and accordingly none of the editors have much molested this piece with officious criticism.

I.i.70 (406,2) Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!] [W: my] _Thy_ is as well as _my_. We may suppose the Romans in a grateful ceremony, meeting the dead sons of Andronicus with mourning habits.

I.i.77 (407,3) Thou great defender of this Capitol] Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was sacred.

I.i.168 (410,5) And fame's eternal date for virtue's praise!] [W: In] To _live in fame's date_ is, if an allowable, yet a harsh expression. To _outlive_ an _eternal date_, is, though not philosophical, yet poetical sense. He wishes that her life may be longer than his, and her praise longer than fame.

I.i.309 (414,6) changing piece] Spoken of Lavinia. _Piece_ was then, as it is now, used personally as a word of contempt.

II.i (421,8) In the quarto, the direction is, _Manet Aaron_, and he is before made to enter with Tamora, though he says nothing. This scene ought to continue the first act.

II.i.9 (421,9) So Tamora--/Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait] [W: her will] I think _wit_, for which she is eminent in the drama, is right.

II.i.116 (425,2) by kind] That is, by _nature_, which is the old signification of _kind_.

II.ii (425,3) _Changes to a Forest_] The division of this play into acts, which was first made by the editors in 1623, is improper. There is here an interval of action, and here the second act ought to have begun.

II.iii.8 (427,6)

And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest, That have their alms out of the empress' chest]

This is obscure. It seems to mean only, that they who are to come at this gold of the empress are to suffer by it.

II.iii.72 (430,9) swarth Cimmerian] _Swarth_ is _black_. The Moor is called Cimmerien, from the affinity of blackness to darkness.

II.iii.85 (430,1)

_Bas._ The king, my brother, shall have note of this. _Lav._ Ay, for these slips have made him noted long]

He had yet been married but one night.

II.iii.104 (431,2) Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly] This is said in fabulous physiology, of those that hear the groan of the mandrake torn up.

II.iii.126 (432,3) And with that painted hope she braves your mightiness] [W: cope] _Painted hope_ is only _specious_ hope, or ground of confidence more plausible than solid.

II.iii.227 (435,4) A precious ring, that lightens all the hole] There is supposed to be a gem called a carbuncle, which emits not reflected but native light. Mr. Boyle believes the reality of its existence.

II.iv.13 (438,5) If I do dream, 'would all my wealth would wake me'] If this be a dream, I would give all my possessions to be delivered from it by waking.

III.i.91 (443,8) It was my deer] The play upon _deer_ and _dear_ has been used by Waller, who calls a lady's girdle, _The pale that held my lovely_ deer.

III.i.216 (447,1) And do not break into these deep extremes] [We should read, instead of this nonsense,

--woe-_extremes_.

i.e. extremes caused by excessive sorrow. But Mr. Theobald, on his own authority, alters it to _deep_, without notice given. WARB.] It is _deep_ in the old quarto of 1611, (rev. 1778, VIII, 510, 8)

III.ii (450,2) _An apartment in Titus's house_] This scene, which does not contribute any thing to the action, yet seems to have the same author with the rest, is omitted in the quarto of 1611, but found in the folio of 1623.

III.ii.45 (452,3) by still practice] By _constant_ or _continual_ practice.

IV.i.129 (458,6) Revenge the heavens] It should be,

_Revenge_, ye _Heavens_!--

_Ye_ was by the transcriber taken for _y'e_, the.

IV.ii.85 (461,7) I'll broach the tadpole] A _broach_ is a _spit_. I'll _spit_ the tadpole.

IV.ii.99 (462,8) Coal-black is better than another hue,/ In that it seems to bear another hue] We may better read, _In that it_ scorns _to bear another hue_.