For death-like dragons here affright thee hard: 30 35 Tell thee with speechless tongues and semblance pale, And by those fearful objects to prepare For... hard] for the terrors ath here face you with cruel asDaniel conjectures, " For death, dragons, here affrights"; and er, affront for affright. Malone ed the hyphen which is wanting Ff. countless] infinite. As Malone the poet was probably thinking e stars, the "countless eyes" of en (line 73). which... ut desert can win. 33. And which ... die] and use, without desert, your eye pres to reach that fruit, you must h, head and body. The word has been considered a difficulty and Collier conjectured "all thy e head," which is little more than ense; and Bailey, shapes. But ilkins's Miseries of Enforced Mar gain] which noth 40 45 riage, Act ii. (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix. once. 34. sometimes] sometime, Shakespeare has both "sometimes" and "sometime" in this sense. 40. For going . . . net] from running yourself into death's snare: for, literally, to prevent, or, from fear of. Clarke remarks that on is here for the more usual "in," because driving headlong on to the net as well as entering headlong into the net is thus implied. 41. who hath] For the second person of the verb when the antecedent is in the third person, see Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, § 247. 44. to what I must] to inevitable death. For to we should have expected "for". 1 Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it, error. woe, Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did: 50 And all good men, as every prince should do; My riches to the earth from whence they came, you. Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow. Ant. Scorning advice, read the conclusion then; 48, 49. Who know . . . did]" The meaning," says Malone, "may be 'I will act as sick men do, who having had experience of the pleasures of the world, and only visionary and distant prospect of heaven, have neglected the latter for the former; but at length feeling themselves decaying, grasp no longer at temporal pleasures, but prepare calmly for futurity"." Though some modern editors accept this explanation, I cannot believe that see heaven embraces anything like so comprehensive an idea. Mason conjectures "now in the world see (or seek) heaven"; Staunton, "know the world's heaven"; while Delius for but would substitute "by". Reading "their" for see, I would render the lines, "I'll make my will, then, and, as is done by sick men who know the world as their heaven, but feeling. did, will bequeath,' etc. Compare 2 Henry VI. II. i. 19: "Thy heaven is on earth". ... 55 gh. Of all, 'say'd yet, may'st thou prove prosperous! Of all, 'say'd yet, I wish thee happiness. Nor ask advice of any other thought [He reads the riddle.] I am no viper, yet I feed On mother's flesh which did me breed; 60. 'say'd] Percy conj.; sayd Qq 1, 2, 3; said (the rest). of all, 'say'd yet] of all who as yet made this attempt. Of = he is not one of those who as yet made it; but the Grecism ommon one. Compare, e.g., A immer-Night's Dream, v. i. 252; eth, v. iv. 8; Paradise Lost, iv. assume the lists] enter the lists ake up the combat. 63. Nor ask courage] ens quotes as the source of words book iii. of Sidney's dia: "Whereupon asking adof no other thought but faithsse and courage, he presently ed from his own horse," etc. thought] prompting. : a 65. I am... breed] For us myth as to the death of the nt vipers, Topsell, Historie of gSerpents, refers to Herodotus. passage in question (iii. 190) runs “ νῦν δ ̓ ἐπεὰν [αἱ ἔχιδναι] θορνται κατὰ ζεύγεα καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ ᾖ δ - τῇ ἐκποιήσι, ἀπιεμένου αὐτοῦ τὴν ν ἡ θήλεα ἅπτεται τῆς δειρῆς καὶ σα οὐκ ἀνίει πρὶν ἂν διαφάγῃ. ὁ ἡ ἔρσην ἀποθνήσκει τρόπῳ τῷ εἰρη, ἡ δὲ θήλεα τίσιν τοιήνδε ἀποτίνει σενι· τῷ γονέϊ τιμωρέοντα ἔτι ἐν αστρὶ ἐόντα τὰ τέκνα διεσθίει τὴν ρα, διαφαγόντα δὲ τὴν νηδὺν αὐτῆς Thy ěkdvσiv moléeтal." So Aris=, Mirab. 165: "TоÛ TEρKVOû ĔXEWs 60 65 τῇ ἐχίδνῃ συγγινομένου, ἡ ἔχιδνα ἐν τῇ I sought a husband, in which labour 70 [Aside.] Sharp physic is the last: but, O you That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts, If this be true, which makes me pale to read it? 75 79. on whom . . . wait] This, says Malone, " means no more thanhe's no honest man, that knowing," etc., and so Clarke. But surely the idea is that of some creature perfect outwardly, but vile inwardly, who awaits the coming of a visitor. To receive the welcome of such a creature, no one worth the name of a man will make the slightest approach. In gate there is a blending of the literal and the figurative. 81. viol] a stringed instrument of the violin type. Shakespeare mentions the base viol and the viol-degamboys (or viol taken between the legs in playing). 81. sense] probably here the uninflected plural, as in Macbeth, v. I. 99; Othello, Iv. iii. 95. Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music, Would draw heaven down and all the gods to hearken; But being play'd upon before your time, Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime. . Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life, As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expir'd: . Great king, Few love to hear the sins they love to act; 'Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it. Who has a book of all that monarchs do, 85 90 He's more secure to keep it shut than shown; 95 Mason refers to Massinger's Unnatural Combat, iii. 4, when Beaufort, betrothed to the daughter of the incestuous father, touches her hand. 88. our law] the law I have laid down on this matter. 93. braid] probably only an aphetic form of abraid, upbraid. Marston, Antonio and Mellida (pt. ii.), 1. ii. 209, and The Malcontent, IV. 236, has imbraid in the same sense; and Greene, Alphonsus, ii. 2, “darst thou abraid me in my land”. 96, 97. For vice itself] for the noising abroad of vicious deeds resembles the action of that chartered libertine, the wind, which, in giving itself free way, blows dust in men's eyes. 97. to spread itself] the indefinite infinitive. |