Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens (60 page)

16
how … go
how things stand now

18
so
in the same situation

20
pieces
gold coins

24
With … heart
welcome with all my heart

29
Nor … men
“swallows, like false friends, fly away upon the approach of winter” (proverbial)

31
stay
delay

32
if … sound
i.e. if your ears can feed on rough music

33
presently
imminently

34
it … lordship
that you do not resent the fact/that you do not view it to have been harsh and unfriendly

38
what cheer
how are you

38
banquet
i.e. table, place settings etc. since dishes are still forthcoming

41
so … beggar
i.e. too poor to help you

44
cumber
encumber, burden

46
covered dishes
suggesting lavish hot food

47
cheer
food

54
upon what
for what reason

56
toward
forthcoming

57
old man
i.e. the old Timon

58
hold
last/prove to be true

59
will
i.e. will tell

60
conceive
understand

61
spur
eagerness

62
diet
food

63
city feast
formal banquet, where people sit according to rank

64
require
demand/deserve

67
reserve still
always keep something back

72
a score
twenty

73
as they are
i.e. no better than women really are/not wearing makeup/not falsely representing themselves

74
tag
rabble

82
knot
group

82
mouth-friends
men whose friendship is all talk/men who can be won with feasts

82
Smoke
steam/dishonesty, swindling

83
Is your perfection
sums you up perfectly/is your consummate skill/is your foremost virtue

84
stuck and spangled
pinned with jewels and sparkling

86
reeking
steaming

89
trencher
wooden plate

89
trencher-friends
friends won with feasts

89
flies
i.e. parasites

90
Cap … slaves
i.e. always doffing their caps or bowing in a sycophantic manner

90
vapours
i.e. insubstantial, worthless men

90
minute-jacks
i.e. overly punctilious in their attentions

90
jack
figure of a man that strikes the bell on a clock, usually every quarter of an hour

91
infinite
endless/worst possible

93
Soft
wait a moment

93
physic
medicine

95
be
let there be

96
Whereat
at which

98
Of
by

100
quality
nature

101
Push!
exclamation of impatience

103
humours
moods

104
sways
control

111
upon my bones
intuitively/because of the bruises incurred by the stones

Act 4 Scene 1

4.1
Location: outside the walls of Athens

2
girdles in
encircles

3
Matrons
married women

3
incontinent
sexually unrestrained

5
grave
wise/dignified

6
minister
govern

6
steads
places

6
general filths
common whores

7
green
young/innocent

8
Do’t
change/have sex

8
eyes
i.e. sight

8
hold fast
i.e. hold on to money

10
trusters
those who trust you/creditors

10
Bound
under contract to serve for a specified time

11
Large-handed
grasping

12
pill
plunder

13
o’th’brothel
i.e. a whore

14
lined
padded

16
Religion
devotion

17
Domestic awe
respect given to home and parents

17
neighbourhood
neighborliness

18
instruction
teaching/knowledge

18
mysteries
crafts, trades

19
Degrees
social ranks

19
observances
ritual, ceremony

20
confounding contraries
ruinous opposites

21
incident
liable to afflict

23
for stroke
to be struck

23
cold
stiffening/caused by a chill

24
halt
limp

25
liberty
licentiousness

27
strive
contend, wage war

28
riot
debauchery

28
blains
sores, blisters (perhaps venereal)

29
bosoms
i.e. bodies (the image is of sowing seed in the bosom of the earth)

32
merely
absolute

32
bear
carry away

34
bans
curses

36
kinder
more caring/more natural, showing more kinship

37
confound
destroy

Act 4 Scene 2

4.2
Location: Timon’s house, Athens

2
undone
ruined

4
Let … gods
may the gods hear me/as the gods are my witness

6
house
household

6
broke
bankrupt/broken up

8
take … arm
i.e. support him in his misfortune

12
familiars … fortunes
those who were his close friends when he was rich

14
picked
robbed, emptied

15
dedicated … air
beggar dedicated to life in the open air

16
all-shunned
avoided by everyone

17
fellows
fellow servants

18
implements
furniture, utensils

19
livery
servant’s uniform

21
bark
ship

22
dying
i.e. sinking, doomed

23
surges
waves

26
latest
last

29
knell
funeral bell

33
glory
magnificence/vainglory

38
pomp
ceremony, splendor

38
what state compounds
that constitutes magnificence

39
painted
i.e. superficial, false

41
blood
disposition

44
still mar
always ruin

46
wretched
poor/miserable

48
flung
thrown himself

48
seat
center/place of residence

49
monstrous
unnatural

50
to … life
any of life’s necessities

51
command
purchase

52
inquire
find

Act 4 Scene 3

4.3
Location: woods near Athens

1
breeding
i.e. breeding infection

1
draw … humidity
the sun was thought to draw putrid vapors from the earth

2
sister’s orb
i.e. the moon (the earthly region
below
which was thought to be corruptible, unlike the heavens above)

4
residence
gestation, time spent in the womb

5
dividant
separable

5
touch
test/afflict

5
several
different

6
Not … nature
i.e. not even human nature, which is subject to all afflictions, can experience good fortune without feeling contempt for others’ misfortune

9
Raise me
promote, elevate

10
bear contempt hereditary
endure contempt as though it came with their position (or birth)

11
native honour
treated as if he was born with honor

12
pasture
i.e. fortune, sustenance, what one gets in life

12
lards
fattens

13
want
lack of

14
purity of manhood
human integrity

16
grece
step, stair

17
smoothed
made easy/smoothed by flattery

17
pate
head

18
Ducks
bows

18
golden
i.e. wealthy

18
oblique
indirect

19
level
direct

20
direct
straightforward

22
semblable
likeness

23
fang
seize, maul

24
of
from

24
sauce
flavor

25
operant
potent, effective

27
votarist
one bound by a vow

28
clear
innocent, pure

28
this
i.e. the gold

32
lug
haul away

35
knit
bind

36
hoar
whitish-gray (the color of the scaly skin characteristic of
leprosy
)/puns on “whore” (leprosy was often confused with syphilis)

36
place
appoint to positions of high status

37
knee
homage, the right to be knelt to

39
wappened
sexually exhausted

40
spittle house
hospital

41
cast … at
vomit at the sight of

41
this
i.e. the gold

41
embalms and spices
preserves and perfumes (as one might a corpse)

42
th’April day
i.e. youthful freshness

43
common whore
i.e. because frequently trodden upon or plowed (both euphemisms for sex)

43
odds
discord, conflict

44
rout
company, gathering; plays on sense of “defeat, overthrow”

45
Do … nature
act in accordance with your true nature

45
quick
fast/alive

46
go
keep going, be able to walk

46
thief
i.e. the gold

47
keepers
owners/jailers

48
for earnest
as a deposit, a pledge

48
Drum and Fife
a drummer and a player of the fife (a flute-like instrument, often used for military music)

50
canker
cancer/canker-worm (which eats plants and flowers)

54
Misanthropos
“man-hater” (Greek)

56
something
somewhat, a little

58
strange
unacquainted, ignorant

61
gules
red (heraldic term)

62
canons
rules, edicts; plays on “cannons” (large guns)

63
fell
fierce, cruel

65
cherubin look
angelic appearance

66
lips rot off
suggestive of the rotting effects of syphilis

70
wanting
lacking