The Complete Plays (89 page)

76        
This even they use
: The custom on this evening is. This observance
of a vigil for the saint's day (2.5 July) seems to be invented. The Elizabethan liturgy for the day following St James's includes a reference to ‘a boiling pot' from Jeremiah 1:13, which may be relevant both to the pot of porridge and to the cauldron in which Barabas dies (5.5). One tradition recalled that the besieged Knights of Malta expected relief (which did not come) on St James's day (Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens,
The Oxford Companion to the Year
(1999), p. 306). In
The Massacre at Paris
, ‘a friar of the order of the Jacobins' (23.23–4) invokes the saint as he murders King Henry (24.33).

85        
pot
: For Q's
plot
.

92        
'tis better… spared
: It's better to do this than to spare (them).

93        
by the eye
: ‘In unlimited quantity' (
OED
4b).

98        
great Alexander… died
: According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great was poisoned.

99        
Borgia's wine
: It was commonly thought that Pope Alexander VI was poisoned by his son, Cesare Borgia, in 1503.

101      
In few
: In short.

103      
Stygian pool
: The Styx, one of the rivers of the underworld.

104      
fiery kingdom
: I.e. hell.

112–13  
Flanders mares
: Belgian horses; also, a euphemism for promiscuous women, which Ithamore directs at the nuns.
with a powder
: Quickly, at once (punning on the poisoned powder).

114      
horse-pestilence
: (?) A horse disease.

Scene
5

11        
shalt
: Thou shalt.

32        
profitably
: (i) For a good cause, (ii) for financial gain.

Scene
6

5          
fair Maria
: A ‘ghost' character whose introduction hints at the friars' lasciviousness.

12        
ghostly father
: Spiritual confessor.

18        
desperate
: I.e. have no hope of salvation.

22        
contract
: Betroth.

29        
Set down at large
: Written down in full.

31        
work my peace
: Obtain absolution.

35        
degraded
: Defrocked.

36        
sent to the fire
: The prospect of being burnt alive for transgressing canon law is an elaboration invented by Marlowe (Bawcutt 1978).

42        
exclaim on
: Denounce.

49        
crucified a child
: An example of the anti-Semitic myth that Jews
crucified Christian children as part of a ceremony which derided the crucifixion.

50        
in shrift
: In confession.

ACT 4

Scene
1

1          to: Compared with.

6          
swell
: I.e. become pregnant.

14        
royal
: Splendid.

21        
Cazzo, diabole
: Two Italian oaths, meaning ‘penis' and ‘devil'.

22–3  
caterpillars
: I.e. parasites.

25        
God-a-mercy, nose!
: Ithamore is ironically impressed by Barabas's sense of smell.

30–46  
Barabas… Lodowick
: Barabas keeps interrupting the friars until they hint at the murder of Mathias and Lodowick.

58        
A hundred… ta'en
: I.e. I have charged 100  per cent interest on a loan.

61        
lost
: Damned.

78        
banco
: I.e. bank. The Italian form suggests the institution was still exotic.

99        
rogue
: Q's
goe
is plausible, but the emendation seems necessary in light of the next line.

115      
the Turk
: I.e. Ithamore.

123      
turned
: Converted.

138      
order
: Religious practice.

144      
see him… heels
: I.e. see him hanged.

146      
girdle
: A friar's rope belt.

150      
Confess… hanged
: Tilley C587.

152      
have
: For Q's
save
.

155      
print
: Marking (caused by the noose).

165      
proceed
: Prosper.

182      on;'s: Of his.

208      
particular
: Detail.

Scene
2

7          
man of another world
: Ghost.

14        
critical aspect
: Malign influence, as of a star.

16        
freehold
: I.e. pitch (where Pilia-Borza picks pockets).

17        
conning
: Memorizing.

neck-verse
: One could escape hanging by claiming ‘benefit of
clergy', which involved the reading of a verse from the Vulgate Bible (usually Psalm 51).

17–18  
friar's execution
: I.e. Jacomo's.

18        
hempen
: Alluding to the hangman's noose.

19        
Hodie… tnihi
: Latin, today your turn, tomorrow mine.

20        
exercise
: Act of devotion, at the execution.

23–4  
hempen tippet
: An ironic allusion to the priest's stole, i.e. the rope.

25        
cure
: Parish.

39        
Turk of tenpence
: A poor Turk (apparently Marlowe's coinage).

44        
family
: Household.

stand or fall
: Here used with sexual innuendo.

47        
foully
: Punning on the sense ‘dirty', not ‘clean'.

59        
partridges… eggs
: Cf. Pliny,
Historia Naturalis
X, 100.

8        3
use him in his kind
: Treat him according to his nature; also meaning, ‘to treat harshly', from the proverb, to ‘use someone like a Jew' (Tilley J52).

91–101  
Content
… my love
: A parodie invitation to love, ending with a quotation of Marlowe's own lyric, ‘The Passionate Shepherd to his Love'.

94        
painted carpets
: Bright flowers (the metaphor is comically literalized).

108      
beard
: Q's
sterd
looks like a corruption from
stared
, line 107.

118      
grey groat
: Small silver coin worth about fourpence.

119      
ream
: Approximately 500  sheets of paper (punning on ‘realm, kingdom').

133      
runs division of
: I.e. Bellamira is well practised in kissing; here, ‘division' refers to the exquisite musical variations created by dividing the long notes into short ones.

Scene
3

5          
coupe de gorge
: French; i.e. I'll cut his throat.

12        
catzerie
: Cheating, trickery (apparently Marlowe's coinage from
cazzo
: cf. 4.1.21n).

14        
husband
: I.e. a pimp.

19        
want'st… thy tale?
: Is anything missing from the sum you demanded?

28        
what… for you
: I.e. the 100 crowns that Ithamore has demanded

(4.2.123) for the bearer of the letter.

31        
make… away
: Kill him.

51        
as unknown
: As befits one to whom I have not been introduced (ironic politeness).

63        
demand
: Not in Q.

Scene
4

1          
pledge thee
: Drink to you.

4        
Of
: On.

5        
Nay… none
: Q ascribes the line to Pilia-Borza.

10        
Rivo Castiliano!
: Italian, River of Castile!; possibly used here as a drinker's cry, calling out for Spanish wine.

A man's a man
: Proverbial (Tilley M243)

23        
snickle hand too fast
: Since a snickle is a snare or noose, this difficult phrase seems to mean ‘with the quick hand of a poacher (or hangman)'.

30        
Love… long
: Proverbial (Tilley L559).

31        
incony
: Fine, delicate, sweet (with a bawdy pun on ‘cunny' = female genitalia).

40        
A vôtre commandement
: French, at your command.

46        
cat's guts
: Lute strings.

48        
Pardonnez-moi
: French, pardon me.

49        
now all be in
: All the strings are now in tune.

54        
fingers very well
: Plays the lute with skill (punning on ‘filching').

56        
runs
: Plays a rapid sweep of notes.

73–4  
the elder… hanged himself
: Judas reputedly hanged himself from an elder tree.

75–6  
Great Cham
: The Great Khan, the title applied both to the ruler of the Tartars and Mongols, and to the emperor of China.

77        
masty
: (?) Fattened on mast (pig food).

87        
The meaning… meaning
: Ithamore is drunkenly knowing.

ACT 5

Scene
1

4          
hovered here
: I.e. Calymath's ships are anchored offshore.

20        
cannot out-run… constable
: Proverbial (Tilley C615).

29        
he
: Not in Q.

41        
I'll
: Q reads
I
, which fails to emphasize Barabas's continuing defiance.

49        
passed
: Passed judgement.

61        
Well fare, sleepy drink
: Barabas gives thanks to the effectiveness of the sleeping potion.

80        
poppy… mandrake
: Soporific drugs (cf. Shakespeare,
Othello
3.3.334–7)

86        
sluice
: The island's drainage sewers; Q's
truce
is clearly incorrect.

91        
vault
: I.e. the underground drainage system.

Scene
2

0.1   
SD
Alarms
: Sounds of battle, trumpet calls.

22        
entrance
: The first step.

33        
Whenas
: Seeing that.

40–42  
ass… thistle tops
: Not from the
Fables
of Aesop (N), but from the emblem tradition, where it symbolizes the rich man who does not benefit from his riches.

42        
snap
: Feed.

44        
Occasion's bald behind
: In Renaissance iconography, Occasion or Opportunity was depicted as a bald-headed woman with a long forelock of hair which one had to seize as she passed by.

63        
for me
: As far as I am concerned.

68        
got my goods
: Acquired my wealth.

73        
remediless
: In a hopeless state (qualifying ‘Malta').

81        
outhouse… city
: Building outside the city walls.

84        
pretendest
: Intend, offer.

cast it
: I.e. formulate a plan.

106      
Ottoman
: Turkey.

107      
about this coin
: Undertake to collect this money.

121      
My policy… prevention
: ‘I hate to have my cunning plots revealed in advance' (Bawcutt 1978).

Scene
3

8        
countermured
: For Q's
countermin'd.
Cf. 1.3.21.

9        
toward Calabria… Sicily
: I.e., Sicily protects die eastern approach to Malta.

10        
Where
: For Q's
When.

Dionysius
: (N) Here recalled as anodier island tyrant.

11        
Two lofty turrets
: Probably the forts of St Angelo and St Elmo which stood at the entrance of the harbour of Valletta.

16        
great Ottoman
: The Sultan.