Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

If you’ll avouch ‘twas wisdom Paris went,-

As you must needs, for you all cried, ‘Go, go;’

If you’ll confess he brought home noble prize-

As you must needs, for you all clapt your hands,

And cried, ‘Inestimable!’- why do you now

The issue of your proper wisdoms rate,

And do a deed that fortune never did,-

Beggar the estimation which you prized

Richer than the sea and land?

 

-Troilus

Troilus and Cressida              Act II Scene ii, Line 89

 

That’s the argument for not surrendering up Helen to the Greeks to put an end to the siege of Troy. Priam, the king of Troy, is in conference with his sons, Hector, Troilus, Paris, and Helenus (yes, Helenus is a guy). The Greeks have sent a message that if the Trojans give up Helen now, all will be forgiven and the Greeks will leave. Hector and Helenus are in favor of giving up Helen. Troilus and Paris are not. As a reminder, Paris is the one who went and stole her from the Greeks in the first place.

I listened to the whole scene this morning (it’s only a little over 200 lines) and it’s very interesting. Hector and Helenus are arguing that reason dictates they should give up Helen; she’s just not worth all these people dying for. Today’s Totally Random lines, which is one long sentence, is the crux of Troilus’s argument.

There’s a couple of other things in this scene, though not in today’s line, that bear mentioning. One is the term cormorant war, and the other is the phrase Whose price hath launcht above a thousand ships. The former uses the word cormorant, a diving bird that feeds on fish, to mean all devouring. I thought that was pretty cool. The latter is, I suppose, the actual line that is commonly remembered as the face that launched a thousand ships. It’s Troilus who says

        Is she worth keeping? Why, she is a pearl,

        Whose price hath launcht above a thousand ships,

        And turned crowned kings to merchants.

 So the next time you hear someone talking about the face that launched a thousand ships, you can give them the full, correct rendering. 

Addendum: The Google has just informed me that the face that launched a thousand ships is a direct quote from Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, written around 1604. Since Will wrote Troilus and Cressida around 1602 (both dates are approximate), I think we can assume Will inspired Marlowe’s line. And we’ll leave it at that.

This is the Great Cormorant from my Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio. Does he look all devouring? I think he does, a little bit.