That matter needless, of importless burden, Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down, What is here called speech that beguil'd attention, is in the text a bond of air; i. e. breath, or words that strongly enforced the attention of his auditors. In the same poem we find a kindred expression: 66 Feast-finding minstrels, tuning my defame, "Will tie the hearers to attend each line." Again, more appositely, in Drayton's Mortimeriados, 4to. no date: "Torlton, whose tongue men's ears in chains could bind." The word knit, which alone remains to be noticed, is often used by Shakspeare in the same manner. So, in Macbeth: 66 to the which my duties "Are with a most indissoluble tie "For ever knit." Again, in Othello: "I have profess'd me thy friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness." A passage in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, 1589, may illustrate that before us: "Whether now persuasions may not be said violent and forcible, especially to simple myndes, in special I refer to all men's judgement that hear the story. At least waies I finde this opinion confirmed by a pretie device or embleme that Lucianus alleageth he saw in the portrait of Hercules within the citie of Marseilles in Provence; where they had figured a lustie old man with a long chayne tyed by one end at his tong, by the other end at the people's eares, who stood afar off, and seemed to be draven to him by force of that chayne fastened to his tong; as who would say, by force of his persuasions" Malone. Thus, in Chapinan's version of the 13th Odyssey: "He said; and silence all their tongues contain'd "(In admiration) when with pleasure chain'd Steevens. 1 Thou great, and wise,] This passage is sense as it stands; yet I have little doubt that Shakspeare wrote 3 2 Agam. Speak, &c.] This speech is not in the quarto. Johnson. expect -1 Expect for expectation. Thus, in our author's works, we have suspect for suspicion, &c. Steevens. Hector's sword had lack'd a master,] So, in Cymbeline: gains, or loses, "Your sword, or mine; or masterless leaves both -" Steevens. But for these instances. The specialty of rule hath been neglected: What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded, 8 The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center,9 Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, 5 The specialty of rule-] The particular rights of supreme authority. Johnson. Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.] The word hollow, at the beginning of the line, injures the metre, without improving the sense, and should probably be struck out. M. Mason. I would rather omit the word in the second instance. To stand empty, (hollow, as Shakspeare calls it,) is a provincial phrase applied to houses which have no tenants These factions, however, were avowed, not hollow, or insidious. Remove the word hollow, at the beginning of the verse, and every tent in sight would become chargeable as the quondam residence of a factious chief; for the plain sense must then be there are as many hollow factions as there are tents. Steevens. 7 When that the general is not like the hive,] The meaning is,— When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each particular resorts with whatever he has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage? The sense is clear, the expression is confused. Johnson. 8 The heavens themselves,] This illustration was probably derived from a passage in Hooker: "If celestial spheres should forget their wonted motion; if the prince of the lights of heaven should begin to stand; if the moon should wander from her beaten way; and the seasons of the year blend themselves; what would become of man?" Warburton. 9 the planets, and this center,] i. e. the center of the earth, which, according to the Ptolemaic system, then in vogue, is the center of the solar system. Warburton. By this center, Ulysses means the earth itself, not the center of the earth. According to the system of Ptolemy, the earth is the center round which the planets move." M. Mason. Amidst the other; whose med'cinable eye And posts, like the commandment of a king, Sans check, to good and bad: But, when the planets, What plagues, and what portents? what mutiny? Commotion in the winds? frights, changes, horrors, 1 Corrects the ill aspécts of planets evil,] So, the folio. The quarto reads: 2 Corrects the influence of evil planets. Malone. But, when the planets, In evil mixture, to disorder wander, &c.] I believe the poet, according to astrological opinions, means, when the planets form malignant configurations, when their aspects are evil towards one another. This he terms evil mixture. Johnson. The poet's meaning may be somewhat explained by Spenser, to whom he seems to be indebted for his present allusion: "For who so liste into the heavens looke, "And search the courses of the rowling spheres, "And eke the bull hath with his bow-bent horne "That they have crush'd the crab, and quite him borne "So now all range, and do at random rove "Out of their proper places far away, "And all this world with them amisse doe move, "And all his creatures from their course astray, "Till they arrive at their last ruinous decay." Fairy Queen, B. V, c. i. Steevens. The apparent irregular motions of the planets were supposed to portend some disasters to mankind; indeed the planets themselyes were not thought formerly to be confined in any fixed orbits of their own, but to wander about ad libitum, as the etymology of their names demonstrates. Anonymous. 3 · deracinate —] i. e. force up by the roots. Se again, in King Henry V: 66 the coulter rusts "That should deracinate such savag'ry." Steevens. The unity and married calm of states4 Quite from their fixure? O, when degree is shak'd," The enterprize is sick! How could communities, And the rude son should strike his father dead: And appetite, an universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power, 4- married calm of states-] The epithet-married, which is used to denote an intimate union, is employed in the same sense by Milton: 66 Lydian airs "Married to immortal verse." Shakspeare calls a harmony of features, married lineaments, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. iii. See note on this passage. Steevens. 5 O, when degree is shak'd,] I would read: 7 So, when degree is shak'd. Johnson. The enterprize-] Perhaps we should read: Then enterprize is sick! Johnson. brotherhoods in cities,] Corporations, companies, confraternities. Johnson. 8 dividable shores,] i. e. divided. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, our author uses corrigible for corrected. Mr. M. Mason has the same observation. Steevens. 9 — mere oppugnancy:] Mere is absolute. So, in Hamlet: things rank and gross in nature "Possess it merely." Steevens. 1 And make a sop of all this solid globe:] So, in King Lear: · I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you." Steevens And, last, eat up himself. Great Agamemnon, Follows the choking. And this neglection of degree it is, That by a pace3 goes backward, with a purpose And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot, Agam. The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses, What is the remedy? Ulyss. The great Achilles,-whom opinion crowns The sinew and the forehand of our host,Having his ear full of his airy fame,7 Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent Lies mocking our designs: With him, Patroclus, Breaks scurril jests; And with ridiculous and aukward action (Which, slanderer, he imitation calls,) 2 this neglection -] This uncommon word occurs again in Pericles, 1609: if neglection "Should therein make me vile," Malone. 3 That by a pace-] That goes backward step by step. Johnson. 4- - with a purpose It hath to climb.] With a design in each man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior. Johnson. Thus the quarto Folio-in a purpose. Malone. 5 bloodless emulation:] An emulation not vigorous and active, but malignant and sluggish. Johnson. 6 our power-] i. e. our army. So, in another of our author's plays: 7 "Who leads his power?" Steevens. his airy fame,] Verbal elogium; what our author, in Macbeth, has called mouth honour. Malone. |