With this, they all at once began to say, Te, pudor, heu violo ;-valeant jam gaudia vitæ ! Ad cœlum et surget sanguine fama meo. In these verses the author seems to have had in view the following lines in Young's seventh Satire: "Ambition, in the truly noble mind, "As in fam'd LUCRECE, who, with equal dread, M. Antonius Časanova, a writer of the sixteenth century, has Quam bene contempto sacrat sua pectora ferro, Thus translated by Thomas Heywood, the dramatick poet: "Before the Act, than after her black stain, "Can any tell? No crime did she commit, "For of all guilt her hand did her acquit. "Her ravisher she slew by that brave stroke, "And from her countries neck tooke off the yoke; "To save thy country, and preserve thy fame." MALONE. Peradventure a certain lady of Basil, whose name those who have leisure or inclination to disport themselves in such researches, may hereafter discover, hath a better title to admiration than the loquacious wife of Tarquinius Collatinus. I have heretofore met with a pretty epigram, of good antiquity, in praise of the aforesaid lady, which, me seemeth, may afford no improper supplement to the remarks that the conduct of the celebrated Roman matron hath produced : Passa torum, non passa virum, Lucretia nostri The face, that map which deep impression bears No, no, quoth she, no dame, hereafter living, Here with a sigh, as if her heart would break, Untimely breathings, sick and short assays, She utters this: He, he, fair lords, 'tis he, Quæ virgo et matrona simul tria lustra peregi, And this remindeth me of another unfortunate lady, whose ill Ille fatigavit tenéram, hic ætate virentem Dum licuit, nolui; nunc, dum volo, non licet uti. O Hymenî, aut annos aut mihi redde virum. AMNER. no dame, hereafter living, 66 By my excuse shall claim excuse's giving.] Ego me, etsi peccato absolvo, supplicio non libero; nec ulla deinde impudica exemplo Lucretia vivet." Liv. lib. i. cap. 58.-No translation of the first book of Livy having appeared before the publication of this poem, this coincidence seemed to me extraordinary; but since the former edition I have observed that Painter's novel fur nished our author with this sentiment. "As for my part, though I cleare my selfe of the offence, my body shall feel the punishment, for no unchaste or ill woman shall hereafter impute no dishonest act to Lucrece." Palace of Pleasure, 1567, vol. i. f. 7. MALONE. Even here she sheathed in her harmless breast Life's lasting date from cancel'd destiny. Stone-still, astonish'd with this deadly deed, The murderous knife, and as it left the place, And bubbling from her breast, it doth divide Who like a late-sack'd island vastly stood Some of her blood still pure and red remain'd, And some look'd black, and that false Tarquin stain'd. 3 About the mourning and congealed face 2 VASTLY stood,] i. e. like a waste. Vastum is the law term for waste ground. Thus, in The Winter's Tale: shook hands as over a vast." Again, in Pericles : 3 66 Thou God of this great vast, rebuke the surges.” a watery RIGOL goes,] A rigol is a circle. So, in King Henry IV. Part II. : a sleep "That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd STEEVENS. And ever since, as pitying Lucrece' woes, Daughter, dear daughter, old Lucretius cries, Where shall I live, now Lucrece is unliv'da? If children pre-decease progenitors 3, We are their offspring, and they none of ours. Poor broken glass, I often did behold 4 If in the child the father's IMAGE LIES, Where shall I LIVE, now Lucrece is UNLIV'D?] So, in King Richard III.: 66 "And liv'd by looking on his images." MALONE. -unliv'd?" The quaintness of this word has only been equalled by another of the same kind in Chrononhotonthologos : "Himself he unfatigues with pleasing slumbers." STEEVENS. I do not perceive any peculiar uncouthness in this expression. What is unliv'd but liveless (for so the word lifeless was frequently written in our author's time)? Thus, in The Comedy of Errors: "But to procastinate his liveless end." The privative un may be joined to almost any English participle. When indeed it is annexed to a word that is itself of a privative nature, (as fatigue,) the word so formed may justly be objected to. But unliv'd does not appear to me more exceptionable than unhoused, unpaved, and twenty more. In Macbeth we meet with unrough: 66 many unrough youths, that even now "Protest their first of manhood." And in King Richard II. we have undeaf: 66 My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear." MALone. 5 If children pre-decease progenitors,] So, in Romeo and Juliet: "To press before thy father to a grave!" STEEVENS. Shows me a bare-bon'd death by time out -worn 7; 6 But now that fair fresh mirror, dim and OLD,] Thus the quarto. The modern editions have-dim and cold, which I once thought might have been the true reading. This indeed is not a very proper epithet, because all mirrors are cold. But the poet, I conceived, might have thought that its being descriptive of Lucretia's state was sufficient. On a more mature consideration, however, I am of opinion that the old copy is right. As dim is opposed to fair, so old is to fresh. MALONE. Old, I believe, is the true reading. Though glass may not prove subject to decay, the quicksilver behind it will perish, through age, and it then exhibits a faithless reflection. A steelglass, however, would certainly grow dim in proportion as it grows old. STEEVENS 7 Poor BROKEN GLASS, I often did behold In thy sweet SEMBLANCE my old age new-born : But now that fair fresh MIRROR, dim and old, Shows me a bare-bon'd DEATH by time out-worn ;] So, in King Richard III.: "I have bewept a worthy husband's death, "And liv'd by looking on his images; "But now two mirrors of his princely semblance "Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death; "That grieves me when I see my shame in him." Again, in our author's third Sonnet : "Thou art thy mother's glass," &c. MALONE. Compare this stanza with the speech of King Richard II. when he commands a mirror to be brought, and afterwards dashes it on the ground. STEEVENS. "Shows me a bare-bon'd death-." So, in King John: "A bare ribb'd death-." STEEVENS. 66 8 O, from THY cheeks my image thou hast torn!] Thus the quarto. The edition of 1600, and all subsequent to it, have: 'O, from my cheeks my image thou hast torn!" But the father's image was in his daughter's countenance, which she had now disfigured. The old copy is therefore certainly right. MALONE. |