10 strive for make their way towards (in a competition)

  11 painted favours colourful love-tokens from their ladies (who, by implication, may also be ‘painted’)

  12 start burst into activity (OED v. intrans. 2a and f)

  13 east wind proverbially the east wind was ‘good for neither man nor beast’ (Tilley, 729). The men were not only as fast but (to their competitors) as lethal.

  14 lazy clouds clouds left behind by the wind rather than driven by it.

  15 in … wanton leg a variation of ‘in the twinkling of an eye’, suggesting the element of playfulness that Palamon likes to think their victory involved

  16 Outstripped The image conflates two ideas: the speed of their victory, probably at running, and the extent to which they excelled even the praise they received (as the Daughter said in 2.1.27–8). Cf. ‘she will outstrip all praise, / And make it halt behind her’ (Tem 4.1.10–11).

  17 have Dyce suggests had, but Palamon has moved from memory into the more immediate historical present.

  * * *

  3 war; yet] Brooke subst.; warre yet, Q

  18 twins of honour one of many references to twins in the sense of equals

  19-20 horses … us a common comparison (Neptune was god of both horses and the sea)

  21 red-eyed … war Mars (the planet got its name because of its red appearance, and the god was often associated with the colour of blood). Coriolanus’ eye is ‘red as ’twould burn Rome’ (Cor 5.1.64).

  22 *Ravished snatched from

  like age … rust will be destroyed by lack of use as much as they would have been by age and excessive use. Seward compares ‘We shall grow old men and feeble, / Which is the scorn of love and rust of honour’ (The Lover’s Progress Dyce, 11: 2.1).

  23 those gods … us Juno and Athene, traditional enemies of Thebes

  25 blast destroy; used especially for violent weather conditions

  26 hopes ours (that we might again enjoy such triumphs) or those that others had built on our youthful promise

  28 too-timely too early, killed by the return of winter weather, an image probably suggested by blast at 25

  29 heaviest most melancholy

  31 This personification of love might refer either to the wife or the embraces. Arcite is hardly the martialist that he will later become; rather, he here transforms Palamon’s martial imagery into the language of Venus: cf. 1.1.174–6.

  32 issue offspring

  33 figures copies

  34 glad gladden

  34-5 like … arms a variation on the proverbial ‘Only the Eagle can gaze at the sun’ (Dent, E3)

  * * *

  21 wore] Seward; ware Dyce; were Q 22 Ravished] Seward; Bravishd Q

  37 fair-eyed maids Cf. 2.5.29.

  38-40 In 1.2.80–1 the two men complained that Justice seemed blind and deaf. Here, paradoxically, Arcite imagines that curses will make Fortune, traditionally blind, see again, and be ashamed.

  40 all our world Cf. the Daughter’s account of them at 2.1.25, which gives a stoic meaning to the same words.

  42 tells counts, numbers

  43 vine shall grow poetically suggests both spring and looking forward to the autumn harvest

  44-5 perhaps echoing the imaginary epistle from the imprisoned Richard II in Heroical Epistles by a friend of both Shakespeare and Fletcher, Michael Drayton (first pub. 1597): ‘There pleasant Sommer dwelleth all the yeere, / Frost-starved Winter doth inhabit heere’ (Drayton, 2.67–8). Seward suggested that Milton recalled the TNK passage in ‘Thus with the year, / Seasons return, but not to me returns … Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose …’ (Paradise Lost, 3.40–3).

  48 hallow call (in a special tone designed to be heard at a distance)

  49-51 whilst … darts The Parthians were said to shoot backwards while retreating. As Seward explains, two ideas are conflated: ‘the Bristles and Darts sticking on his back [are compared] to the Arrows on the Archer’s Shoulder, and the frequent and furious Turnings of the Boar to the Parthian’s turning to shoot as he flies’. Palamon, though elegiac like Arcite, is nostalgic for war rather than love.

  51 well-steeled overlaid, pointed or edged with steel

  uses exercises (sports and war)

  53 In us … perish They will lose their skill at such activities; perhaps, too, all excellence in such things will die with them.

  54 lastly Seward suggested lazily, but Davenant’s adaptation (see t.n.) gives what must be the intended sense.

  55 Children … ignorance contrasted with the ‘twins of honour’, 18

  58-60 I see … together The asymmetrical syntax blurs the rhetorical climax. Arcite sees two possible comforts (or, if the gods grant them, blessings): the opportunity of exercising the virtue of patience and the fact that they are together.

  58 mere absolute, pure, and hence rising as to the top of a mixture

  59 hold maintain

  60 enjoying experiencing (probably with some sense of pleasure)

  63 main very great. OED a. 6a and b, cites examples in H8 and Fletcher’s Mad Lover.

  64 twined twyn’d in Q; cf. twyning cherries at 1.1.179. Both usages are ambiguous and may refer either to twinning or twining. But twinned fortunes would have been born at the same time, whereas Palamon seems to mean only that their fates are mutually dependent.

  66 gall of hazard bitterness (OED sb. 1, 3a) or suffering (OED sb. 2, 3b) inflicted by Fortune

  68 sleeping as calmly as if he died in his sleep; similar to the proverbial ‘to go to one’s grave like a bed’ (Dent, B192.1)

  69 uses perhaps referring to Palamon’s complaint in 51–3

  * * *

  54 lastly] Q; at last Davenant; lazily Seward 64 twined] (twyn’d) Q; twinned Seward

  73 ways paths. Cf. ‘the perfect ways of honour’ (H8 5.5.37) and see 1.1.104n.

  75 like women Though these lines have been taken as evidence of Arcite’s misogyny, the comparison probably means ‘as if we were women’ (RP).

  76-9 What … another If one man can possess any good thing he is capable of imagining, two can imagine still more (cf. R2 5.5.6–9).

  77 Can be can exist

  86 surfeits See 1.1.190n.

  90 consume goes (like part and crave) with might in 89. Arcite means that they might be killed in the quarrels of others; it never occurs to him that they might themselves quarrel.

  91 Crave Though frequently emended (see t.n.), the phrase is clear: Arcite fears, not the envy of others, but his and Palamon’s succumbing to (becoming acquainted with) the vice of envying or imitating despicable people, like those described in 1.2.

  * * *

  91 Crave] Q; Reave Seward; craze (Theobald); carve (Sympson); cleave (Mason); Raze (Heath); Grave Dyce

  96 wanton sportful, capricious (OED a 3a and c). By contrast with Arcite’s contemptus mundi speech, Palamon offers exaggerated, fanciful praise of prison, recalling the Daughter’s description in 2.1.31–5.

  98 abroad outside

  everywhere at random

  99 like a beast Palamon redefines ‘free’ as ‘wild’, ‘homeless’.

  100 a more content a greater content, perhaps also ‘a more content version of the court’. Cf. Davenant: ‘I here enjoy a Court: I’m sure I find / A greater satisfaction’.

  102 sufficient qualified, capable (pronounced with four syllables)

  103 gaudy shadow the reflection of something trivial

  104 As the world has no lasting value, it passes with time.

  105 had we been would we have been old if we had grown old

  109 they Creon’s courtiers

  110 their … curses Cf. ‘Give out you lie a-dying, and if you hear the common people curse you, be sure you are taken for one of the prime night-caps’ (Webster, DM, 2.1.18–20).

  111 I would I want to (probably pronounced I’d)

  112 record stressed on second syllable

  113 there cannot ‘Be’ is understood.

  117 To … eternally The best-known paradise of love and friendship was Spenser’s Faerie Queene, 4.10.25–7.

  *SD Probably this is when Palamon first sees Emilia (he has certainly done so by 122). Arcite’s ‘Speak on, sir’ follows a pause in which he waits for Palamon to speak.

  118 SP *The last line of Arcite’s speech in Q; all editors since Seward have agreed in assigning it to Emilia. Q’s reading is not impossible: the two men have agreed that the prison is their world and Arcite might gesture towards the garden as he speaks, thus unintentionally drawing Palamon’s attention to the two women. However, giving the line to Emilia provides her with a less abrupt opening and reinforces the sense that she, like the young men, lives in a world of her own.

  119 narcissus In the famous myth (see Ovid, 3.339–510), Narcissus, who had rejected all the women who loved him, died of longing for his own reflection in a fountain, finally becoming a flower. Arcite’s earlier regret for the children he and Palamon will never have shows something of this narcissistic longing for a mirror of oneself (compare the urgings of Shakespeare’s first seventeen sonnets). Emilia had described a similar state in 1.3 (her childhood desire to be just like her friend), but here feels superior to it.

  * * *

  117 SD] Leech; not in Q 118 SP] Seward; not in Q 119 SP] Emil. Q

  122 forward go on (speaking)

  123 wouldst not i.e., be hard-hearted. Conversations in which a lady both encourages and reproves her free-speaking lady-in-waiting also occur in MA 3.4, Oth 4.3 and The Maid’s Tragedy, 2.1.

  124 wench girl (not necessarily a social inferior)

  126 mad wild

  127 work embroider

  130 Dainty beautifully

  134 Do reverence bow; kneel; prostrate yourself (as Palamon has perhaps done?)

  * * *

  132 was I] Oxf; I was Q

  137 emblem strictly, a combination of motto (usually in a foreign language), picture and verses, all reinforcing a moral or religious adage. Here, as often, the word applies to the picture alone, much like ‘symbol’ or ‘image’, except that, as Emilia’s subsequent lines indicate, she is also thinking of the kind of fable which emblems illustrated.

  138-43 For … briars For Emilia this is a fable of innocence, like Aesop’s fable of the traveller in the wind and the sun: a young girl will respond to gentle courtship but not to rudeness. Her companion points out that the first kind of courtship is as dangerous to a woman’s honour as the second.

  138 gently pronounced with three syllables: ‘gentily’ (Heath)

  139 blows blossoms

  paints the sun makes the sunlight more beautiful when it touches her; reverses the usual idea that the sun gilds what it touches

  143 base briars This allegory, reminiscent of the Roman de la Rose, ends either with the lover receiving a harsh rejection or with his abandonment to prostitutes, who are not only ‘base’ but leave a sting (disease) behind them. ‘To leave one in the briars’ is proverbial (Dent, B673).

  145 falls with the usual double meaning: falls from the stem / lets herself be seduced. This line may be completed metrically as the two women laugh at the joke, or the pause may point up the relevance of the image of the rose, used later (5.1) to signify Emilia herself.

  147 wanton Emilia’s unintentional echoing of Palamon (96) indicates the mood of this scene, halfway between two meanings of wanton: provocative and merely playful.

  148 extant in existence

  149 The sun grows high Women were reluctant to walk in the sun for fear of sunburning their pale complexions (Emilia is no longer the hardy Amazon of Act 1).

  150 The repetition of near (see t.n.) may be a compositor’s error, but it is also the sort of thing that an author might do. Oxf alters the first near to ‘close’; I agree with Bowers that a less tautological word might be more appropriate, but that the evidence does not justify supplying it.

  art the embroidery mentioned in 127

  152 lie down alluding to the proverb ‘Laugh and lie down’ (Dent, L92). The woman gives a mildly risqué direction to Emilia’s phrase, which Emilia then picks up.

  153 The interpretation of this line depends on whether the Woman’s we means herself and Emilia or herself and the person with whom she wants to lie down. On the first reading, Emilia’s reply acquiesces in a sexual game; on the second, she coldly distances herself from her woman’s affairs. Should well be a misreading of MS wele (or we’ll), as RP suggests, the former interpretation would be more plausible.

  154 beauty From the abstract use of this word at 148, Palamon moves to its other meaning: a beautiful woman.

  158 Beshrew curse (in a mild sense)

  * * *

  150 1near] Q; close Oxf (Taylor)

  159-62 Since any relineation of this passage will leave some part-lines on their own, all emendations (see t.n.) involve interpretation.

  163-5 I will … enjoy her The text here is very close to Chaucer: ‘For paramour I loued her first or [before] thou, / What wilt thou sain, thou wist it not or now / Whether she be woman or goddesse: / Thine is affection of holinesse, / And mine is loue, as to a creature’ (1155–9). Cf. ‘Val[entine]. … and is she not a heavenly saint? Pro[teus]. No, but she is an earthly paragon’ (TGV 2.4.138–9) and Longaville’s claim that, though he has sworn not to love a woman, he is not forsworn since his mistress is a goddess (LLL 4.3.62–3).

  171-6 If … her ‘Palamon’s anger is reflected in his use of thou in place of the more polite and formal you’ (Proudfoot). See above for the use of pronouns as a characterization device. Since Palamon speaks to very few characters except Arcite in the course of the play, the distinction is significant largely for the relationship between them.

  * * *

  159–62] Leech; Proudfoot lines desire her? / liberty; / shall be. /

  173 a traitor As Seward points out, this extreme accusation makes more sense in KT, where Palamon reminds Arcite of the oath each has sworn ‘Neither of us in loue to hindre other’ (1135).

  fellow companion, ally (sometimes used in a pejorative sense, but at this point Palamon is talking of what he sees as the betrayal of a close relationship)

  174 False This word recurs many times in connection with Arcite, culminating in 5.4.92.

  180-1 *In Q this is one line (see t.n.). Bawcutt’s alteration seems justified, since Arcite said ‘I love her’ in 176 and 178.

  182 free noble. A key word in Chaucer, particularly The Franklin’s Tale, which depicts a contest of nobility among three men and ends with the question, ‘Which was the most free, as thinketh you?’ (1623). This tale was dramatized by Nathan Field in one of the Four Plays in One on which he collaborated with Fletcher (c. 1613).

  187 coldly calmly

  187-94 am … alone? For other examples of this sophistical argument.

  190 affections emotions

  * * *

  180–1] Bawcutt; one line Q 181 love her] (Walker); love Q 188 1your] Seward; you Q

  192 cunningly craftily

  193 strangely like a stranger

  195 of her sight of looking at her. Arcite argues that anyone who sees Emilia must love her; therefore if Palamon forbids him to love he must commit the further absurdity of forbidding his friend even to look at the same woman.

  unjust false to the code of honour

  198 let … down lose my honour

  199 if … one In stage battles one fighter often singles out another and warns others to keep away (see 3H6 2.4 and Cor 1.8.1–2).

  201 use thy freedom do what you will. Since Palamon assumes that neither of them will ever be in a position to ask Emilia whom she prefers, he must mean that Arcite is obliged to give way to his prior claim so long as they are both in prison.

  202-3 that … villain probably no specific man. But Fletcher may be thinking of Polynices, the son of Oedipus, who attacked his native Thebes.

  203 branded perhaps with the mark of Cain, equally appropriate to the exiled Polynices

  * * *

  203 be, ] 1711; bc. Q

  205-6 And … truly That is, if Palamon is mad, he is also just in his madness, since Arcite deserves death.

  207 play the child behave childishly

  208 I must, I ought because he is obliged to be loyal to a declaration of love, once made (see 3.6.41–2)

  209 justly He replies to Palamon’s accusation at 195–6.

  214 cutpurse thief. A pickpocket took money out of pockets; a cutpurse cut purses off strings or belts.

  216 to’t the window frame

  219 leap leap into

  220 pitch aim myself, like a ball

  220 SD *Q has Keeper throughout the scene, in dialogue, SPs and SDs. Some editors retain it, on the assumption that he is a different character from the Jailer of 2.1. However, it seems more likely that the discrepancy is another result of dual authorship.

  221 the keeper’s coming If the two prisoners are on an upper level, they might see him approaching below. Alternatively, they might hear him coming. The stage direction for his entrance seems too early if he is to appear at the gallery level.

  * * *

  220 SD] after 219 Q 220+ SD Jailer] 1778; Keeper Q

  222 Do! I dare you!

  224 presently at once

  226 bereave unintentionally ironic in the circumstances

  229 It … marry her clearly indicates comic paranoia

  goodly handsome

  238 as the only luck I would wish for the rest of my life

  239 apricock The old spelling of the word lent itself to sexual innuendo, and the fruit was thought to produce fruitfulness or to have aphrodisiac qualities. Palamon’s language indicates a more sensual attitude towards Emilia than he expressed to Arcite (cf. 244).

  243 Still as whenever

  * * *

  223+ SP JAILER] 1778; Keeper Q