The Works of Christopher Marlowe Volume II Part 85

[448] Old ed. "cunning."

[449] Cf. _t.i.tus Andronicus_, iii. 2 (a great part of which I attribute to Marlowe):--

"Thou _map of woe_ that thus dost talk in signs" (l. 12).

[450] Old ed. "aire."

[451] From this point to the end of the scene Marlowe follows Virgil very closely.--Cf. aen. i. 321-410.

[452] Old ed. "Turen."

[453] Greene (in _Orlando Furioso_) uses the same form:--

"Thou see'st that Mador and Angelica Are still so secret in their private walks, As that they trace the shady _lawnds._"

[454] "Quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis Ludis imaginibus."

Virg. _aen_. i. 407-8.

[455] Scene: Carthage.

[456] Old ed. "Cloanthes."

[457] For what follows cf. Virg. _aen._ i. 524-78.

[458] The expression "buckle with" occurs twice in _1 Henry VI._, and once in _3 Henry VI._: nowhere in Shakespeare's undoubted plays.

[459] Old ed. "Vausis."

[460] Dyce proposes "all" for "shall." Retaining "shall" the sense is "we would hope to reunite your kindness in such a way as shall," &c.

[461] Scene: Juno's temple at Carthage.

[462] Virgil represents the tale of Troy depicted on a fresco in Juno's temple.

[463] Perhaps a misprint for "tears."

[464] aeneas is not shrouded in a cloud, as the reader (remembering Virgil) might at first suppose. Ilioneus fails to recognise aeneas in his mean apparel.

[465] Old ed. "meanes."

[466] We must suppose that the scene changes to Dido's palace.

[467] Old ed. "viewd."

[468] "An odd mistake on the part of the poet; similar to that which is attributed to the Duke of Newcastle in Smollet's _Humphry Clinker_ (vol.

i. 236, ed. 1783), where his grace is made to talk about 'thirty thousand French _marching_ from Acadia to Cape Breton.' (The following pa.s.sage of Sir J. Harington's _Orlando Furioso_ will hardly be thought sufficient to vindicate our author from the imputation of a blunder in geography:

'Now had they lost the sight of Holland sh.o.r.e, And _marcht_ with gentle gale in comely ranke,' &c.

B. x. st. 16.)"--_Dyce_.

The pa.s.sage of Harington seems to amply vindicate Marlowe.

[469] This epithet alone would show that the pa.s.sage is Marlowe's.--Cf.

_Edward II._ v. i. l. 44,

"Heaven turn it to a blaze of _quenchless fire_!"

[470] We have had the expression "ring of pikes" in _2 Tamburlaine_, iii. 2. l. 99.

[471] Mr. Symonds has an excellent criticism on this pa.s.sage in _Shakespeare's Predecessors_, 664-5. He contrasts Virgil's reserve with Marlowe's exaggeration; and remarks that "even Shakespeare, had he dealt with Hector's as he did with Hamlet's father's ghost, would have sought to intensify the terror of the apparition at the expense of artistic beauty."

[472] Armour.

[473] Old ed. "wound." The emendation was suggested by Collier.

Shakespeare certainly glanced at this pa.s.sage when he wrote:--

"Unequal match'd Pyrrhus and Priam drives, in rage strikes wide; But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword The unnerved father falls."

Very slight heightening was required to give a burlesque turn to this speech of aeneas.

[474] Old ed. "Fawne."

[475] Old ed. "And after by that."

[476] Cease speaking.

[477] We must suppose that Venus had borne the sleeping Ascanius to Cyprus.--Cf. Virg. _aen_. i. 680-1:--

"Hunc ego sopitum somno super alta Cythera Aut super Idalium sacrata sede recondam."

[478] Sentinels. The form "centronel" (or "sentronel") occurs in the _Tryal of Chevalry_ (1605), i. 3:--"Lieutenant, discharge Nod, and let Cricket stand Sentronell till I come."

[479] Old ed. "Citheida's."

[480] Grandson (Lat. _nepos_).

[481] Scene: a room in Dido's palace.

[482] The same form of expression occurs in the _Jew of Malta_, iii. ll.

32, 33:--

"Upon which _altar I will offer up_ My daily sacrifice of sighs and tears."

[483] "_I.e._ (I suppose) twisted."--_Dyce_.

[484] "The blank verse, falling in couplets, seems to cry aloud for rhymes."--_Symonds_.

[485] Ballast.