16–23 O quisquis … Ulciscar: adapted from Seneca’s Thyestes: ‘O cruel judge, whoever you are, that give new punishments to those already dead: you who lie in fear beneath the hollow cavern, always frightened the mass will fall upon you; you who shudder in the gaping jaws of the ravening lions, and the awful Furies who tangle you in their nets. Listen to the words of Antonio: “I shall revenge”
26 astoning: paralysing
51 downy: feathery
61 Pythagorian: the ancient Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, believed in the transmigration of the soul across animal and human bodies
62 transmigration: theory that soul can pass at death into an animal’s body
62 fleet: move
72 hell-strained: 1602 hell-straid
73 surquedries: arrogances, prides
4 Buss: Kiss
7–8 Venit … quidem: Seneca’s Thyestes: ‘At last revenge has come totally into my hands’ (Marston substituted ‘revenge’ for Seneca’s ‘Thyestes’)
16 accordance: agreement, harmony
23 races: cuts
29 flag: delay, lose energy for
31 Stay: Stop
44 half-clammed: half-stuck together
51 pury: decomposed
67 heave: raise
69 dropsies: insatiable thirst
6 cockall: ideal (with bawdy implications)
11 Aristotle’s Problems: popular medical/science book: The problems of Aristotle with other philosophers and phisitions. Wherein are contayned diuers questions, with their answers, touching the estate of mans bodie, with editions in 1595, 1597 and 1607
31 untruss: unfasten
31 points: clothes’ fastenings
39 murr: attack of catarrh
41 tobacco: considered a medicine for moist humours
57 sometime: formerly
24 ignorance: Maria did not know of Piero’s crimes
2 elate: lofty
3 trans-shaped: transformed (i.e. having lost his position)
4 critic: fault-finder or harsh judge
6 Rheum: Mucus
8 coxcomb: fool’s cap
19 babbled: talked foolishly or childishly
19 canonical: authoritative
22 apocrypha: spurious
24 Machiavel: Machiavelli’s political philosophy for rulers was ruthless pragmatism
26 intelligence: spies
31 drunk: unreliable
42 chub-faced: chubby-faced
45 wizards: wise men
46 innating: that which endows
48 zany: mimic
58 Poring: Searching
63 motion: mention
63 habit: outfit, disguise
66 hoop: circle
OSD bare: bareheaded
15 choice: excellent
37 unvulgar: unusual
39 SD Ficto: In an artificial or feigned manner
44 routs: bands
45 leaks: weak points
46 unsalted: unseasoned
50 siddow: tender
53 galleass: heavy warship
55 Dud-a: Baby or nonsense talk
56 monopoly: topical allusion, since the royal granting of monopolies, or economic rights over certain commodities, was a subject of controversy
OSD still: soft
1 confluence: assembly
3 flux: discharge
7 illustrate bloods: illustrious families
18 felt’st: acknowledged
24 unnooked: ingenuous?
38 Supreme efficient: Prime mover, God
42 decocting: devising
43–4 In me … ista: from Virgil’s Aeneid: ‘Turn the sword on me, o nobles. Neither he nor she has done anything’
48 threefold guard: Cerberus, three-headed guard dog of the underworld
50 pulsive: propulsive
52 high-knolled: high-peaked
52 Appennine: Italian mountain range
56 reeling: changeable
70 pluck: pull or jerk sharply
71 entreats: pleas
75 wedges: pieces of wood or metal hammered into a crack to force it open
77 rived: split
81 inundation: flood
87 dinged: dashed
107 scud: move quickly
108 cote: pass by, outstrip
120 God’s fut: God’s foot (oath)
123 malapert: impudent
126 nap: pile on cloth
134 Marry muff: Expression of contempt
164 unrespective: unheeding
179 guiltless: that he is not guilty of
179 subtle: crafty
181 mart: centre of trade
187 ope: open
192 sweet: embrace
194 stay: defer
198 Lethe: underworld river whose waters induced forgetfulness of the past
198 quaint: ingenious
198 conceits: fanciful tricks, entertainments
200 exequies: funeral ceremony
OSD solus: alone
9 high-lone: without support
11 blaspheme: challenge heaven
15 ooze: wet mud, slime
23 Golgotha: place of Christ’s execution
OSD thwart: across
10 Non … assentio: Seneca’s De Providentia: ‘I am not a slave to God, but assent to him’
19 jars: discords
31 spokeshaves: carpenter’s finishing tool
32 maw: stomach
35 apostate: characterized by moral or religious unfaithfulness
36 baulks: hinders
38 painted: coloured, feigned
48 philosophy: i.e. the stoicism previously expressed
84 saw: saying
87 pinion: bird’s wing
89 involve: join together
90 Gordian knot: legendary knot sliced through by Alexander the Great – hence, a difficult problem requiring a decisive solution
92 Hecate: goddess of magic
95 Etna: volcano in Sicily
95 Pelorus: Sicilian promontory
1–2 Venit … sceleribus: Seneca’s Octavia: ‘The day has come, that time when he pays back the foul mind for its crimes’
4 Vindicta: personification of revenge
8 Wheal: Suppurates, gathers
8 mellow: ripe
10 chap-fallen: with the jaw sagging, as in death
1 murrain: plague
7 shotten herring: a fish that has spawned, i.e. a person exhausted and depleted
10 rarely: splendidly
8 racked: strained, tortured
17 crudities: indigestible food
49 beaver: helmet face-guard
55 tire: dress
2 drooping: miserable
9 unpartial: unbiased
11 fain: gladly
19 Io: joyful song
19 Hymen: goddess of marriage
20 Lyaeus: in Greek mythology, Bacchus, hence soothing through wine
22 lavoltas: lively dances
4SD measure: stately dance
17SD music houses: part of the Paul’s theatre building
18 suckets: sweetmeats
23 Marry: Expression of surprise or outrage
24 gainsaid: denied
25 forbear: leave
30 fall to: eat
48 cates: dainty food
51SD condole: lament
8 undaunted: fearless
14–15 Hercules … pollution: one of his labours was cleaning the Augean stables
17 approvements: actions of proving guilty
19 Beadrolls: Catalogues
34 lodge: the physical body
37 verge: within the boundaries
39 Antonio: 1602 And.
60 condolement: sorrow
71SD Antonij vindictae finis: The end of Antonio’s revenge
Chettle uses Lucibel, Lucibell and Lucibella; ‘Lucibell’ (2.2.18–5.3.40) has been standardized to ‘Lucibel’ (as 5.3.9)
2 schisms: divisions
4 resoundings: ringing, echoing
5 ha’t: Q hate
/>
5 hearse: dead body
6SD ope: open
8 execute: Q excuse
15 antedates: precedes
18 scion: shoot, twig
22 blast: Q blest
23 promont: cliff, headland
26 celestial fires: lightning
31 sergeants: officers
35 swallow: throat
40 leviathan: sea-monster
41 balena: whales
43 fleeting: drifting
44 cormorants: seabirds; also greedy, rapacious persons
48 amazed: perhaps a stage direction
50 trothless: faithless
56 cell: room or dwelling
61 name: reputation
74 stir: disturb
79 serpents: crocodiles
81 invictive: invincible; vindictive
99 anatomy: skeleton
108 inly: internal
113 certainly: actually
126 choice: excellent
130 conspictious: Lorrique’s nonsense word – perhaps combining ‘conspicuous’ and ‘auspicious’
131 hability: ability
134 benison: blessing
149 Pomer: Pomeranian region of the south coast of the Baltic sea; Q power (emendation Jowett)
152 foemen: enemies
158 Prithee: I pray thee
163 under-shades: underworld
164 Rhadamantine: of Rhadamanth, one of the underworld’s judges; cf. Spanish Tragedy, 1.1.33
174 Except: Unless
179 sovereign: Q forraigne
187 twins of light: eyesockets
191 Thou: followed by a long space, perhaps indicating the setting-copy was damaged or illegible
216 ruth: pity
218 Etna: volcano in Sicily
8 entertain: entertainment
23 timeless: untimely
36 Wittenberg: famous German university
39 corsive: corrosive
45 sable: black
48 sound: Q soun; straits
51 ’snails: God’s nails (oath)
65 many: Q mee, and
69 mead: meadow
79 playfellow: companion
82 land-way: Q land away
88 proportion: form, shape
93 swabber: sailors of low rank
94 cock: ‘a small ship’s boat’ (OED)
96 Roomer: avoid, steer clear
103 Marry: Expression of surprise or outrage
109 houghed: disabled by cutting calf tendons; hamstrung
109 hoffed: drove or ran off
121 shift: change of clothing
137 jealous: protective
2–3 Mercury … Marsyas: Marsyas was flayed by Apollo (not Mercury) after beating him in a flute-playing contest; see also Spanish Tragedy, 2.1.16 and note
3 quacksalver: fraudulent doctor
4 mountebanks: charlatans who sold supposed remedies
7 silly: deserving of pity
20 pass: surpass
20 Thyestes: Seneca’s play in which Thyestes is served a dish of his own children’s flesh
20 Tereus: punished for raping Philomela by being served a meal of his own son, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
21 Jocasta: Oedipus’s mother killed herself on discovering she had married her own son
21 Jason’s jealous wife: Medea killed her children in revenge for Jason’s abandoning her; see also Antonio’s Revenge, 3.2.10
36 sanguined: bloodied
37 Rhamnusia: Nemesis
1 bestir your stumps: get moving
2 tilter: combatant in a tilt: a fight on horseback with lances with the aim of unseating the opponent
6 hobby: pony; hobby-horse
8 stone-mares: presumably Jerome’s ignorance: an impossibility, derived from stone-horse = uncastrated stallion
10 grass: spring
12 half-pike: small weapon
19 hazard: endanger
23 picktooths: toothpicks
24 barbers: served as dentists
26 patent: exclusive right
27–8 cum privilegio … solum: ‘with exclusive right to print’
31 nap: pile on fabric
37–8 Mirror of Knighthood: popular chivalric romance translated from Spanish
38 Mirror of Magistrates: popular work of didactic history
40 casting-bottle: bottle for sprinkling perfumed waters
43 omnia bene: ‘all is well’
45 cashier: dismiss
47 congés: farewells
47 quid sequitur: ‘what will follow’
48SD Hautboys: Oboes
64 unknighted: i.e. in the tilt
69 Machiavel: Machiavelli’s political philosophy for rulers was ruthless pragmatism
0SD [Rodorick]: Qz Rodorigo
11 colour: excuse
14–15 Priam’s firebrand/At Sparta: Hecuba, wife of Priam of Troy, dreamt she would give birth to a firebrand, predicting the destruction of Troy. Paris, their son, abducted Helen from Sparta, precipitating the Trojan War
16 Lacademons: Spartans
17 tongues: languages
38 art: cosmetics
64 my: Q your
66 Sophy: Persian ruler
75 mad: merry
92 jousts: Q iusts
97 careers: races, gallops in tournaments
106 covered: prepared the table
0SD solus: alone
12 point-vice: exact
15 moiety: reward
31 complot: conspiracy
88 rival: partner
89 secrecy: plotting
101 honey: flatter
102 prefer: promote
118 stranger: foreign
119 devices: heraldic insignia
119 caparisons: ornamented horse-cloths
122 Philip’s son: Alexander the Great, referring to the defeat of Darius at Marathon
137 Belike: Probably
138 crossed: thwarted
145 smit: struck
170 fain: gladly
177 strumpets: a strumpet is ‘a debauched or unchaste woman’ (OED)
180 tush: expression of contempt or disapproval
8 love’s … mother: i.e. Venus
26 caitiff: captive
40 worms: snakes
42 Morpheus: god of dreams and sleep
57 clip: embrace
107 deceived: Q deceased
162 King of Kings: God (e.g. Revelation 17:14)
168SD Moritur: Dies
197 home: the grave
226 measure: stately dance
230 Thirl: Pierce
240 balmed: embalmed
256 raped: plundered
260 wreak: revenge
0SD scarf: sash
0SD scurvy: shabby, contemptible
1 beray: sullied or dirtied, apparently Stilt’s mistake for ‘array’
1 invocate: call upon
2 folks: Q Foulks
7 mortality: ‘morality’?
11 controversity: controversy (Stilt and Old Stilt glossed in quotation marks below)
14 defacing: ‘gracing’?
17 rheumatic: stiff
18 kit after kind: like your father (proverbial)
19 exprobations: rhetorical expressions of reproach
20 dissembly: ‘assembly’
23 stinger: one who goads or stabs
23 tickler: one who provokes
23 wormer: one who pries into secrets
27 Hoffman: Q Sarloys: there is confusion with this name elsewhere in the scene, but Jowett’s emendation must be right
28 Hoffman: Q Sarloys (see preceding note)
30 cavalieros: knights (may be an allusion to the Earl of Essex, executed in 1601)
33 respectless: ‘respected’
34 unlawful: ‘lawful’
35 declamation: ‘proclamation’
36 resurrection: ‘insurrection’
37 inspires: ‘conspires’
38 naturally: ‘unnaturally’
38 charitably: ‘uncharitably’
48 stand: hold a military position
54 awful: awe-inspiring
55 Typhoean: Typhoeus was a monster in Greek mythology, eventually defeated by Zeus and imprisoned under Etna
62 invisible: ‘invincible’
Five Revenge Tragedies: The Spanish Tragedy, Hamlet, Antonio's Revenge, The Tragedy of Hoffman, The Revenger's Tragedy (Penguin Classics) Page 44
