Mojo, The Bard, & Me

Come, go we, then, together. [Exeunt]

-Troilus

Troilus And Cressida                        Act I scene i, line 117

There are only five words in this line, and there are four punctuation marks; three commas and a period. How is that even possible?

Come

Go we

Then

Together

I think it’s the ‘then’ being set apart that really throws me. But, well, I’m not sure. And don’t get wrong; I’m a big fan of the comma. A comma can go an awful long way in terms of adding clarity to a sentence, and I personally use a lot of commas. But three commas with five words?

 

This is the famous cat and the rat, caught and mummified in the Christ Church Cathedral organ in Dublin, Ireland. I doubt that either one of these two said 'Come, go we, then, together' before getting stuck in the organ. Nonetheless, they certainly went together.