Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Masters of the people,

Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter-

That’s thousand to one good one—when you now see

He had rather venture all his limbs for honour

Than one on’s ears to hear it? Proceed, Cominius.

 

-Menenius

Coriolanus                              Act II, Scene ii, Line 96

 

Well, I know what’s going on, but this is a hard line Than one on’s ears to hear it? I can only assume that on’s is on his. Menenius is asking the senators how can Coriolanus flatter the masses (of which one in a thousand is any good) when he’d rather be venturing all his limbs for honour (fighting for his country) than one of his limbs on his ears to hear it?

Ummmm, gonna need to look at my book that has the footnotes. I’ll try to get back to you later today.

Update (day two): Okay, very simple explanation. Than one on's ears to hear it is one of his ears. It's of, not on. So that makes it easy. He'd rather venture all of his limbs for honour than venture one of his ears to hear about that honour. Comprendez?

I know, you thought I was gonna give you some crappy pic of my ear. Well I thought about it, that's for sure. But these are far more interesting. This is a Roman aqueduct we saw in Spain. In the first pic you can see a bird at the very top. I believe it's a common crane, but don't quote me on that. In the second pic you can see the bird better and you can also appreciate the detail in the construction of the aqueduct and get an idea why it's still here even though it was built in Coriolanus's time. 

Forget about Coriolanus and all the other generals, I think it's the builders and the engineers who deserve all the honour. What do you think?