Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Why, how now, captain! What do you in this wise company?—How dost thou, Apemantus?

-Page

Timon of Athens                    Act II, scene ii, line 74

Interestingly enough, we’ve been in scene six times before. It would seem that we should be quite familiar with it, and in truth, we are. It’s the scene where the servants of several of Timon’s debtors come looking for money, and where Timon finds out for the first time, from his servant Flavius, just how poor his financial situation is.

Today’s line is from a section of the scene where the debtors’ servants are talking to Apemantus whilst they wait for Timon to show up. Today’s Totally Random lines are the first words of a Page who shows up. He’s addressing the Fool as Captain. The Fool and he appear to be acquaintances. Apemantus’s reply in the next line is

Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer thee profitably.

I couldn’t figure that out until I found a note that said answer thee profitably means chastise thee. So a rod is his mouth would be a stick to beat the page with?  I guess. It’s a little bit weird, but I’m guessing the vernacular made more sense to a sixteenth century group than it makes to us.

And here's the part where you jump in and say See! Shakepseare’s stuff is written in Old English (it’s not) and nobody in 2022 can be expected to understand this stuff (they can and do)!

But, okay. I’m not in a mood to argue with you. So, just okay.

Speaking of wise company, how about these two? This is my niece and my nephew. The former lives in Australia now, and the latter in Japan, but Laura is up visiting from down under, and I'm going to see her later today at a family picnic. So I'm looking forward to that. Truth be known, I don't know what her feelings about Will's works are, but I'm not sure it matters.