Imatges de pàgina
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SCENE IX.

The Roman Camp.

Alarum. A Retreat is founded. Flourish. Flourish. Enter at one fide, CoмINIUS, and Romans; at the other fide, MARCIUS, with his arm in a fcarf, and other Romans.

COM. If I fhould tell thee o'er this thy day's work,

Thou'lt not believe thy deeds: but I'll report it,
Where fenators fhall mingle tears with smiles;
Where great patricians fhall attend, and fhrug,
I' the end, admire; where ladies fhall be frighted,

4 If I should tell thee &c.] So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch: There the conful Cominius going up to his chayer of ftate, in the prefence of the whole armie, gaue thankes to the goddes for fo great, glorious, and profperous a victorie: then he spake to Martius, whofe valliantnes he commended beyond the moone, both for that he him felfe fawe him doe with his eyes, as alfo for that Martius had reported vnto him. So in the ende he willed Martius, he should choofe out of all the horses they had taken of their enemies, and of all the goodes they had wonne (whereof there was great ftore) tenne of euery forte which he likelt beft, before any diftribution fhould be made to other. Befides this great honorable offer he had made him, he gaue him in teftimonie that he had wonne that daye the price of prowes above all other, a goodly horfe with a capparison, and all furniture to him: which the whole armie beholding, dyd marvelously praife and commend. But Martius ftepping forth, told the conful, he most thanckefully accepted the gifte of his horfe, and was a glad man befides, that his feruice had deferued his generalls commendation: and as for his other offer, which was rather a mercenary reward, than an honourable recompence, he would none of it, but was contented to haue his equall parte with other fouldiers." STEEVENS.

And, gladly quak'd,' hear more; where the dull

Tribunes,

That, with the fufty plebeians, hate thine honours,
Shall fay, against their hearts,-We thank the gods,
Our Rome bath fuch a foldier!-

Yet cam'ft thou to a morfel of this feaft,
Having fully din'd before.

Enter TITIUS LARTIUS, with his power, from the

LART.

purfuit.

O general,

Here is the steed, we the caparifon : 6

Hadft thou beheld

MAR.

Pray now, no more: my mother,

Who has a charter to extol' her blood,

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When she does praise me, grieves me. I have done,
As you have done; that's what I can; induc'd
As you have been; that's for my country:
He, that has but effected his good will,
Hath overta'en mine act.9

• And, gladly quak'd,] i. e. thrown into grateful trepidation. To quake is ufed likewise as a verb active by T. Heywood, in his Silver Age, 1613:

"We'll quake them at that bar

"Where all fouls wait for fentence." STEEVENS.

Here is the feed, we the caparifon:] This is an odd encomium. The meaning is, this man performed the action, and we only filled up the show. JOHNSON.

7

8

a charter to extol-] A privilege to praise her own fon. JOHNSON.

—that's for my country:] The latter word is used here, as in other places, as a trifyllable. See Vol. III. p. 190, n. 7.

3

9 He, that hath but effected his good will,

MALONE.

Hath overta'en mine act.] That is, has done as much as I have done, inasmuch as my ardour to ferve the ftate is fuch that I have never been able to effect all that I wish'd.

COM.

You fhall not be

The grave of your deferving; Rome must know
The value of her own: 'twere a concealment
Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement,
To hide your doings; and to filence that,
Which, to the fpire and top of praifes vouch'd,
Would feem but modeft: Therefore, I befeech you,
(In fign of what you are, not to reward

What you have done,) before our army hear me.

MAR. I have fome wounds upon me, and they fmart

To hear themselves remember'd.

Сом.

Should they not,*

Well might they fefter 'gainst ingratitude,

And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses, (Whereof we have ta'en good, and good store,) of

all

The treasure, in this field achiev'd, and city,
We render you the tenth; to be ta'en forth,
Before the common diftribution, at

Your only choice.

MAR.

I thank you, general;

But cannot make my heart confent to take
A bribe, to pay my fword: I do refuse it;
And ftand upon my common part with those
That have beheld the doing.

[A long flourish. They all cry, Marcius! Marcius! caft up their caps and lances: COMINIUS and LARTIUS, stand bare.

So, in Macbeth:

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"The flighty purpofe never is o'ertook,

"Unless the deed goes with it." MALONE.

not to reward

What you have done,)] So, in Macbeth:

"To herald thee into his fight, not pay thee." STEEVENS, Should they not,] That is, not be remembered. JOHNSON.

MAR. May these fame inftruments, which you profane,

Never found more! When drums and trumpets fhall 3

3 When drums and trumpets shall &c.] In the old copy: when drums and trumpets shall

I' the field, prove flatterers, let courts and cities be
Made all of falfe-fac'd foothing.

When feel grows foft as the parafite's filk,

Let him be made an overture for the wars :

All here is miferably corrupt and disjointed. We fhould read

the whole thus:

when drums and trumpets shall

I' th' field prove flatterers, let camps, as cities,
Be made of falfe-fac'd foothing! When feel grows
Soft as the parafite's filk, let hymns be made

An overture for the wars!

The thought is this, If one thing changes its ufual nature to a thing moft oppofite, there is no reafon but that all the reft which depend on it should do fo too. [If drums and trumpets prove flatterers, let the camp bear the falfe face of the city.] And if another changes its ufual nature, that its oppofite fhould do fo too. [When feel foftens to the condition of the parafite's filk, the peaceful hymns of devotion fhould be employed to excite to the charge.] Now, in the first inftance, the thought, in the common reading, was entirely loft by putting in courts for camps; and the latter miferably involved in nonfenfe, by blundering hymns into him. WARBURTON.

The first part of the paffage has been altered, in my opinion, unneceffarily by Dr. Warburton; and the latter not fo happily, I think, as he often conjectures. In the latter part, which only I mean to confider, inftead of, him, (an evident corruption) he fubftitutes hymns; which perhaps may palliate, but certainly has not cured, the wounds of the fentence. I would propose an alteration of two words:

66

when steel grows

"Soft as the parafite's filk, let this [i. e. filk] be made "A coverture for the wars!"

The fenfe will then be apt and complete. When fteel grows foft as filk, let armour be made of filk instead of fteel. TYRWHITT. It should be remembered, that the perfonal him, is not unfrequently used by our author, and other writers of his age, instead of

I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be
Made all of falfe-fac'd foothing! When fteel grows
Soft as the parafite's filk, let him be made
An overture for the wars! No more, I fay;
For that I have not wash'd my nose that bled,
Or foil'd fome debile wretch,-which, without

note,

Here's many elfe have done,-you fhout me forth
In acclamations hyperbolical;

As if I lov'd my little fhould be dieted
In praises fauc'd with lies.

Too modeft are you;

Сом. More cruel to your good report, than grateful To us that give you truly: by your patience, If 'gainst yourself you be incens'd, we'll put you (Like one that means his proper harm,) in manacles,

it, the neuter; and that overture, in its mufical fenfe, is not fo ancient as the age of Shakspeare. What Martial has faid of Mutius Scævola, may however be applied to Dr. Warburton's propofed 'emendation:

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STEEVENS.

Si non erraffet, fecerat ille minus. Bullokar in his English Expofitor, 8vo. 1616, interprets the word Overture thus: " An overturning; a fudden change." The latter fenfe fuits the prefent paffage fufficiently well, understanding the word him to mean it, as Mr. Steevens has very properly explained it. When fteel grows foft as filk, let filk be juddenly converted to the ufe of war.

We have many expreffions equally licentious in thefe plays. By freel Marcius means a coat of mail. So, in King Henry V1. P. III: "Shall we go threw away our coats of steel,

"And wrap our bodies in black mourning gowns?" Shakspeare has introduced a fimilar image in Romeo and Juliet: Thy beauty hath made me effeminate,

"And in my temper foften'd valour's fteel.”

Overture, I have obferved fince this note was written, was used by the writers of Shakspeare's time in the fenfe of prelude or preparation. It is fo ufed by Sir John Davies and Philemon Holland.

MALONE.

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