The one affrights you, Alike in peace or war. Prow is courageous, valiant. See Chaucer, Spenser, and other old writers. What would you have, ye curs, ye base degenerate animals? ye who are alike (i.e. equally contemptible) in the event of either peace or war: for in war ye are cowardly, and in peace courageous. Thus the speech which was before perplexed, which Warburton seemed to consider as inconsistent, and which Johnson has interpreted anyhow and apparently to save himself from the trouble of enquiry, acquires force and consistency. The emendation is farther warranted by the context. B. Bru. The present wars devour him! he is The present wars devour him! he is grown grown Mr. Theobald says, This is obscurely expressed, but that the poet's meaning must certainly be that Marcius is so conscious of, and so elate upon the notion of his own valor, that he is eaten up with pride, &c. According to this critic then, we must conclude, that when Shakspeare had a mind to say, A man was eaten up with pride, he was so great a blunderer in expression, as to say, He was eaten up with war. But our poet wrote at another rate, and the blunder is his critic's. The present wars decour him, is an imprecation, and should be so pointed. As much as to say, May he fall in those wars! The reason of the curse is subjoined, for (says the speaker) having so much pride with so much valor, his life, with increase of honors, is dangerous to the republick. But the Oxford editor alters it to, Too proud of being so valiant. and by that means takes away the reason the speaker gives for his cursing. WARB. 'Wars devour him!' Warburton is right in marking the first part of the sentence as an imprecation. With respect to the latter part, Brutus, I think, would say, in answer to Sicinius' remark that Coriolanus would buy the modest moon.' He is too proud for that; he will not pass his time thus idly.' By implication, he holds him to be a dangerous man. B. Auf. By the discovery, We shall be shorten'd in our aim: which To take in many towns, was, Totake in many towns-] To take in is here, as in many other places, to subdue. MAL. To take in, is here considered by Mr. Steevens, in too large and positive a sense. By take in the poet surely means, include in the plan of operations, that is, their plan was to make an attack on many towns, in the hope of subduing them. B. 2 Sen. Let us alone to guard Corioli: -for the remove Bring up your army :- -] The first part of this sentence is without meaning. The general had told the senators that the Romans had prest a power, which was on foot, To which the words in question are the answer of a senator. And, to make them pertinent, we should read them thus: 'fore they remove Bring up your army i. e. Before that power, already on foot, be in motion, bring up your army; then he corrects himself, and says, but I believe you will find your intelligence groundless, the Romans are not yet prepared for us. WARB. I do not see the nonsense or impropriety of the old reading. Says the senator to Aufidius, Go to your troops, we will garrison Corioli. If the Romans besiege us, bring up your army to remove them. If any change should be made, I would read. for their remove. JOHN, "For the remove &c.' The passage should be pointed as follows: 'Let us alone to guard Corioli, If they sit down before us. For the remove The meaning of the whole is this: If they sit down before Corioli, we are sufficient to defend it. To show however, that we have taken alarmı, bring up your army." B. Val. Indeed la, 'tis a noble child. A crack, madam.] Thus in Cynthia's Revels By Ben Jonson : -Since we are turn'd cracks, let's study to be like cracks, act freely, carelessly, and capriciously.' Again in the Four Prentices of London, 1632: A notable, dissembling lad, a crack! Crack signifies a boy-child. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note on second part of King Henry IV. Act III. sc. ii. STEEV. A crack,' i. e. a squib-meaning that he had fire. The quotation from Cynthia's Revels, and from the four Prentices, will show that such is its import. B. Mar. If any fear Lesser his person than an ill report; If any think, brave death outweighs bad life. Lesser his person than an ill report] The old copy has lessen; I suspect the author wrote: Less in his person than in ill report. That is; if any one here esteems his reputation above his life. If lesser be admitted, regard or some synonymous word is required, instead of fear, to make the passage sense. MAL. 'Lesser,' i. e. in a less degree. The sense is perfect. in the power of any critic whatever to make it more so. Mar. Please you to march; It is not B. And four shall quickly draw out my command, -Please you to march ; And four shall quickly draw out my command, I cannot but suspect this passage of corruption. Why should they march, that four might select those that were best inclin'd? How would their inclinations be known? Who were the four that should select them? Perhaps, we may read : -Please you to march ; And fear shall quickly draw out of my command, It is easy to conceive that, by a little negligence, fear might be changed to four, and least to best. Let us march, and that fear which incites desertion will free my army from cowards. JOHN. Please you to march, &c.' This passage has not been understood by any of the commentators. Four' should be printed foure, the old word for eagerness; and which is here personified. The French say paix fourée-peace suddenly clapt up. Out my command' should be inclosed in parenthesis and written thus, (oust my command,') i. e. ' independent of my command.' The meaning of the whole will be- Please you to march, and eagerness or impetuosity for the attack will show, independent of my command or influence, which are the then best inclined to the service.' Oust is from the old fr. word oustre-without, independent of. B. Auf. Wert thou the Hector, That was the whip of your bragg'd Wert thou the Hector, progeny, That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny,] The Romans boasted themselves descended from the Trojans; how then was Hector the whip of their progeny? It must mean the whip with which the Trojans scourged the Greeks, which cannot be but by a very unusual construction, or the author must have forgotten the original of the Romans; unless whip has some meaning which includes advantage or superiority, as we say, he has the whip-hand, for he has the advantage. JOHN. That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny.' misinterpreted. To whip, to graft: a term in the Romans boasted of being descended from the might well enough be called the grafter of them. is not expressive of a living agent; but such common with Shakspeare. B. Whip' is here gardening. As Trojans, Hector Whip, it is true, inaccuracies are Auf. Officious, and not valiant!-you have sham'd me In your condemned seconds. -you have sham'd me In your condemned seconds.] You have, to my shame, sent me help, which I must condemn as intrusive, instead of applauding it as necessary! STEEV. You have sham'd me In your condemned seconds.' The passage is evidently corrupt: so that any attempt at exposition must, with the present reading, be unsuccessful: I alier it thus-putting a full stop at shamed me. Officious and not valiant! you have sham'd me. In! ure-condemned seconds." Away! hapless, ill-fated assistants. Ure is fate, fortune, with the earlier writers. When the stage direction is remembered- Marcius fights till they [the seconds or assistants] be driven in breathless,' the change which is easy, depending principally on sound, will be admitted, I believe, as right. The original expression is wanting not only in strength but meaning., B. Lart. O general, Here is the steed, we the caparisons! Here is the steed, we the caparisons!] This is an odd encomium. The meaning is, this man performed the action, and we only filled up the show. JOHN. Here is the steed, we the caparisons.' Dr. Johnson observes, that this an odd encomium. It is, indeed, so very odd a commendation, that I am persuaded the passage is corrupt. On well considering the expression, I think we may, without any great hazard, read: Here is the stede; we the comparisons!' Stede,' in old language, is stay, support. By we the comparisons!' he means we who would willingly be compared with him, who would gladly vie with him-the emulators of his glory. Thus the words of Lartius, which now present to us nothing but a ludicrous image, become pertinent and strong. The blunder is such as the earlier editors, from what we have seen of them in other instances, may easily be supposed to have made. The language, as it now stands, certainly does not belong to Shakspeare. B. Mar. When drums and trumpets shall I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be A coverture for the wars! -When drums and trumpets shall, &c.] In the old copy: I' the field, prove flutterers, let courts and cities Be made all of false-fac'd soothing. When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk, Let him be made an overture for the wars :- All here is miserably corrupt and disjointed. We should read the whole thus: —when drums and trumpets shall I' th' field prove flatterers, let camps, as cities, Be made of false-fac'd soothing! When steel grows An overture for the wors! The thought is this, If one thing changes its usual nature to a thing most opposite, there is no reason but that all the rest which depend on it should do so too. [If drums and trumpets prove flatterers, let the camp hear the false face of the city.] And if another changes its usual nature, that its opposite should do so too. [When steel softens to the condition of the parasite's silk, the peaceful hymns of devotion should be employed to excite to the charge.] Now, in the first instance, the thought, in the common reading, was entirely lost by putting in courts for camps and the latter miserably involved in nonsense by blundering hymns into him. WARB. The first part of the passage has been altered, in my opinion, unnecessarily, by Dr. Warburton; and the latter not so happily, I think, as he often conjectures. In the latter part, which only I mean to consider, instead of, him, (an evident corruption) he substitutes hymns; which perhaps may palliate, but certainly has not cured, the wounds of the sentence. I would propose an alteration of two words: when steel grows Soft as the parasite's silk, let this [i. e. silk] be made The sense will then be apt and complete. When steel grows soft as silk, let armour be made of silk instead of steel. TYRWH. It should be remembered, that the personal him, is not unfrequently used by our author, and other writers of his age, instead of it, the neuter; and that overture, in its musical sense, is not so ancient as the age of Shakspeare. STEEV. When drums and trumpets shall.' The reading proposed by Warburton appears to be right. Mr. Steevens remarks that overture, in its musical sense, is not so ancient as the age of Shakspeare; and this, he no doubt says by reason of the expression-let hymns be made the overture' &c. But overture is not employed by the Poet in a musical sense, but merely as forerunner, precursor. The meaning is, In such a state of things, let hymns which are usually found in peace, invite to war. The alteration suggested by Mr. Tyrwhitt is feeble; and cannot be admitted by any one conversant with the language of Shakspeare. B. Cor. I mean to stride your steed; and, at all times, To undercrest your good addition, To the fairness of my power. To To undercrest your good addition.] A phrase from heraldry, signifying, that he would endeavour to support his good opinion of him. the fairness of my power. Fairness, for utmost. WARB. To undercrest your good addition.' Warburton has here, I think, mistaken the sense. By good addition,' we are not to understand him as speaking of the good opinion of Cominius, but of the surname or rather agnomen which had just been bestowed on him. Neither does undercrest' appear to signify support; but on the contrary to keep down, to hinder from becoming too assum ing. Fairness' should no doubt be farness, a word formed by Shakspeare and used by him to express as far as, to the extent of. |
