Chapter CXLIII: Act V

SC. 1. "Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and _thou_ idol."

* * * * *

"Thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet."

As he elsewhere, it might appear, calls him _brach_, Hanmer's reading _harlot_ would seem to have been the poet's word. But on the other hand, in the Honest Whore, _varlet_ is used as synonymous with _punk_, of a woman in man's clothes. "'Tis a _male varlet_ sure, my lord, for a woman's tailor never measured him."

* * * * *

"They say he keeps a Trojan drab, and uses the traitor Calchas'
tent. I'll after _him_."

The word _him_, requisite for the metre, had been lost.

* * * * *

SC. 2. "A juggling trick, to be open secretly."

The 4tos and folio read 'secretly open.'

* * * * *

"And yet the spacious breadth of this division
Admits no orifice for a point as subtle
As Ariachne's broken woof to enter."

This is a curious instance of a copyist's or printer's transposition. (Introd. p. 61.) It is downright nonsense; but read

"As subtle as Arachne's broken woof,
Admits no orifice for a point to enter,"

and what excellent sense emerges! 'Subtle' (or, as we should now write, _subtile_), used also by Chapman (Odyss. x. 296) of Circe's web, is _subtilis_, 'fine-spun'; and the 'broken woof' is the web torn by Minerva; 'admits' is allows of, _i.e._ contains; for 'orifice' the originals have _orifex_. As Shakespeare was a great reader of Golding's Ovid, Ariachne could never have been _his_ word. A perfect parallel to the embarrassed structure of this passage is offered by

"That have sod their infants in--and after eat them--
The brine they wept at killing 'em; then if."
Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 3.

Which should be:

"That have sod their infants in the brine they wept
At killing 'em, and after eat them; then if."

(See on Cymb. i. 7.) The meaning of this very obscure passage is, that there could not be now even the slightest doubt of Cressida's infidelity, incredible as it might seem. 'Instance' in the following lines is, proof.

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SC. 3. "It is as lawful
For we would count give much to as violent thefts."

This is pure nonsense. The first 'as' cannot be right, and it probably gave origin to the second. I read with confidence,

"It is unlawful
For we would give much count to violent thefts."

In my Edition I read '_so_ to,' but it is needless. 'Count' is account, importance, value.

"Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves."
Meas. for Meas. ii. 2.

TIMON OF ATHENS.