The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.1040 Wednesday, 22 November 2006
[1] From: Stephanie Kydd <
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Date: Tuesday, 21 Nov 2006 13:35:47 -0800 (PST)
Subj: Re: SHK 17.1033 Timon of Athens Crux
[2] From: Markus Marti <
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Date: Wednesday, 22 Nov 2006 08:23:33 +0100
Subj: Re: SHK 17.1024 Timon of Athens Crux
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Stephanie Kydd <
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Date: Tuesday, 21 Nov 2006 13:35:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 17.1033 Timon of Athens Crux
Comment: Re: SHK 17.1033 Timon of Athens Crux
I agree that this passage does not need emendation, but I can't help but
notice that the Folio's comma has been misplaced. The correct F1
transcription is:
It is the Pastour Lards, the Brothers sides,
The want that makes him leave...
"Him" is clearly a singular objective pronoun, and there is no
corresponding singular nominative subject except "Pastour" - which could
possibly mean "shepherd" (OED), not "pasture". A possible reading of the
line as punctuated could therefore be that "the Brothers sides" (i.e., the
"Twin'd Brothers" of good and ill fortune, who are two "sides" of the same
coin, as it were) are both "the Pastour [that] Lards" (i.e., the
prosperous shepherd who feeds and cares for his flock) and "The want that
makes him [the Pastour] leave" [stop, quit, desist from his careful
husbandry].
- Stephie Kydd
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Markus Marti <
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Date: Wednesday, 22 Nov 2006 08:23:33 +0100
Subject: 17.1024 Timon of Athens Crux
Comment: Re: SHK 17.1024 Timon of Athens Crux
I wonder why a "SUNDAY" should be blessed; is it the day of marital
duties?
>O blessed breeding Sunday, ...
but otherwise I think the whole passage refers to two (twin) brothers, one
only some seconds elder and thus "naturally" (by cultural convention)
endowed with "fortune", one younger (or "natural" like Edmond in Lear I.2)
and therefore "poor", but both of the same origin and therefore -
according to this argument and to "common" (not ideologically influenced)
sense - "equal" (if "nature" or "fortune" were not that unjust).
>It is the Pastour, lards the Brothers sides,
>The want that makes him leave: ..
whether the pasture lards a "rother" (Collier) or a "wether" (Sisson) or
some other grass eater, does not matter at all - they would only be a
metaphor for the older "brother" anyway, so why "bother" (or "brother")
about "brother" or "rother" at all, why not leave "brother"? "leave" is
more problematic, but I think "lean" ("leane" instead of "leaue") is a
good and obvious emendation...
unless we think that Shakespeare alludes to "Winnie-the-Pooh", chapter 2,
where Pooh (the younger brother, in that case) "leaves" [sic] Rabbit (the
older brother or the "pasture", in that case) because Rabbit's "larder"
[cf. "lards"] is empty:
<PROSEQUOTE>
Pooh always liked a little something at eleven o'clock in the morning, and
he was very glad to see Rabbit getting out the plates and mugs; and when
Rabbit said, "Honey or condensed milk with your bread?" he was so excited
that he said, "Both," and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added, "But
don't bother about the bread, please." And for a long time after that he
said nothing... until at last, humming to himself in a rather sticky
voice, he got up, shook Rabbit lovingly by the paw, and said that he must
be going on.
"Must you?" said Rabbit politely.
"Well," said Pooh, "I could stay a little longer if it -- if you -- " and
he tried very hard to look in the direction of the larder.
"As a matter of fact," said Rabbit, "I was going out myself directly."
"Oh well, then, I'll be going on. Good-bye."
"Well, good-bye, if you're sure you won't have any more."
"Is there any more?" asked Pooh quickly.
Rabbit took the covers off the dishes, and said, "No, there wasn't."
"I thought not," said Pooh, nodding to himself "Well, good-bye. I must be
going on."
</PROSEQUOTE>
In Pooh's case it is "want that makes him leave", but those who know the
story also know that he can't leave before he gets lean.
Markus
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