_Passage in Troilus and Cressida._--Would MR. J. PAYNE COLLIER, whose
name I have often seen among your contributors, have the kindness to
inform me whether any light is thrown, in the emendations inserted in
his folio edition of _Shakspeare_, 1628, on a line which has always
puzzled me in Ulysses' speech in council, in Scene 3. of Act I. of
_Troilus and Cressida_? The passage runs thus:
"How could communities,
Degrees in schools, and brotherhood in cities,
_Peaceful commérce from dividable shores_,
The primogenitive and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,
But by degree, stand in authentic place?"
It will be seen that the third line, according to the usual
pronunciation of the last word, is defective in scanning; that, if
derived from _divido_, the vowel in the penultimate syllable would be
_i_ and not _a_; and that, even if intended to express the word
_divided_, as suggested by one of our commentators, would be too vague
and inexpressive.
Might I suggest that the derivation is not from the word _divido_, but
rather from a compound of the words _divitiæ_ and _do_; the expression
"riches-giving shores" not only completing the sense of the passage, but
forming a compound not uncommon with our immortal bard.