[let higher Italy
(Those 'hated, that inherit but the fall
Of the last monarchy) [see, that you come
Not to woo honour, but to wed it]
[Hammer: Those bastards that inherit] Dr. Warburton's observation is
learned, but rather too subtle; Sir Tho. Hanmer's alteration is merely
arbitrary. The passage is confessedly obscure, and there-fore I may
offer another explanation. I am of opinion that the epithet _higher_ is
to be understood of situation rather than of dignity. The sense may then
be this,_Let upper Italy,_ where you are to exercise your valour, _see
that you come to gain honour, to the_ abatement, _that is, to the
disgrace and depression of those_ that have now lost their ancient
military fame, and _inherit but the fall of the last monarchy_. To
_abate_ is used by Shakespeare in the original sense of _abatre_, to
_depress_, to _sink_, to _deject_, to _subdue_. So in Coriolanus,
--_'till ignorance deliver you.
As moat_ abated _captives to some nation
That won you without blows_.
And bated is used in a kindred sense in the Jew of Venice.
--_in a bondman's key
With _bated_ breath and whisp'ring humbleness_.
The word has still the same meaning in the language of the law.
II.i.21 (37,9) [Beware of being captives, Before you serve] The word
_serve_ is equivocal; the sense is, _Be not captives before _ you serve
in the war. _Be not captives before you are soldiers._
II.i.36 (37,1) [I grow to you, and our parting is a tortur'd body] I
read thus, _Our parting is_ the parting of _a tortured body._ Our parting
is as the disruption of limbs torn from each other. Repetition
of a word is often the cause of mistakes, the eye glances on the
wrong word, and the intermediate part of the sentence is omitted.
II.i.54 (38,3) [they wear themselves in the cap of the time, there,
do muster true gait] [W: to muster] I think this amendation cannot
be said to give much light to the obscurity of the passage. Perhaps it
might be read thus, They do _muster_ with the _true gaite._
that is, they have the true military step. Every man has observed
something peculiar in the strut of a soldier, (rev. 1778, IV,35,8)
II.i.70 (39,4) [across] This word, as has been already observed, is
used when any pass of wit miscarries.
II.i.74 (39,5) [Yes, but you will, my noble grapes, as if] These
words,_my noble grapes_, seem to Dr. Warburton and Sir T. Hammer,
to stand so much in the way, that they have silently omitted them.
They may be indeed rejected without great loss, but I believe they
are Shakespeare's words. _You will eat_, says Lafen, _no grapes.
Yes, but you will eat such noble grapes_ as I bring you, _if you
could reach them._
II.i. 100 (41,8) [I am Cressid's uncle] I am like Pandarus. See Troilus
and Cressida. (see 1765, III,310,2)
II.i.114 (41,9) [wherein the honour Of my dear father's gift stands
chief in power] Perhaps we may better read,--_ wherein the power
Of my dear father's gift stands chief in_ honour,
II.i.144 (42,1) [When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd] I do
not see the import or connection of this line. As the next line
stands without a correspondent rhyme, I suspect that something has
been lost.
II.i.159 (43,2) [Myself against the level of mine aim] I rather think
that she means to say, _I am not an impostor that proclaim_ one thing
and design another, _that proclaim_ a cure and aim at a fraud: I
think what I speak.