I’ll show you how t’observe a strange event.

Your lord sends now for money.

 

-Titus

Timon of Athens              Act III, Scene iv, Line 18

Titus is one of several servants waiting to talk to Timon. They are all servants of Timon’s friends who have come to collect money that Timon borrowed. Timon is hiding inside his house because he is broke and has no money to pay them. These fellows know that. One says

        ‘Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon’s purse;

        That is, one may reach deep enough, and yet

        Find little.

But when Titus talks about a strange event in Today’s Totally Random Line he is alluding to the fact that Hortensius, one of the other fellows there, is looking to collect a debt for his lord, whilst his lord wears jewelry that Timon gave him.

That’s the story of Timon of Athens: Timon is generous to a fault to all his friends. In the process of being so generous, he borrows from some of his friends, and now they don’t care about his generosity, they just want their money back. Great friends, eh?

When will people learn that there are things in life more important than money. Well, okay, some of them do cost a little bit of money, but you get the picture.

 

The exile of her minion is too new;

 

-Cymbeline

Cymbeline                       Act II, Scene iii, Line 45

Cymbeline is talking to Cloten, his stepson, about his daughter Imogen, and no, Imogen did not have a little yellow guy in overalls (though that is pretty funny to imagine that she did). In this context, minion means darling, favourite, or select one (this is before Disney got a hold of the word), and it refers to Imogen’s huband Posthumus. Imogen has married Posthumus, a fellow that her father didn’t select, so Posthumus has been banished. Meanwhile Cloten, Imogen’s stepbrother and all around ne’er-do-well, is working on nabbing Imogen for himself. Not gonna happen.

Here's a pic of Patrice with two of her minions. It's early in the day, so they haven't gotten into their blue overalls yet. As you can see, they're intent on helping her out with drinking her coffee. Very helpful the minions can be.

 

Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy

Can do all this that he hath promised?

 

-Duke Senior

As You Like It                 Act V, Scene iv, Line 1

I like Orlando’s answer, probably more so than the question. 

 I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not;

As those that fear they hope, and know they fear. 

What do you think of that? Actually, that does take a little bit of thought, doesn’t it? Well then, I suppose we should meditate on it.

This boy promised that he could get enough height on this watermelon toss and I did believe him. I had no fear that he could do it.

 

 

The painful warrior famoused for fight,

After a thousand victories once foil’d,

Is from the book of houour razed quite,

And all the rest forgot for which he toil’d:

 

Sonnet 25                                        Third Quatrain

 

It’s been a while since we looked at a sonnet. Let’s see the whole thing.

        Let those who are in favour with their stars

        Of public houour and proud titles boast,

        Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars,

        Unlookt for joy in that I honour most.

        Great princes’ favourites their great leaves spread

        But as the marigold at the sun’s eye;

        And in themselves their pride lies buried,

        For at a frown they in their glory die.

        The painful warrior famoused for fight,

After a thousand victories once foil’d,

Is from the book of houour razed quite,

And all the rest forgot for which he toil’d:

        The happy I, that love and am beloved 

        Where I may not remove or be removed.

Oi, this is a tough one. Wait, no it’s not. As soon as I read it again and took a closer look it became very clear.

 

Q1.  Let the lucky ones have fame, not me.

Q2.  Fame is fleeting, and their glory will fade.

Q3.  The warrior who wins a thousand fights is remembered for the last one that he lost, and then he’s forgotten.

I’m happy because I love and am loved, and I have no fame to lose.

 

Pretty simple, eh? And I like it. C’est moi!

Since the sonnet is about me - unfamous, lover, and loved - I guess I had no choice. I had to give you pic of me. Simple as that.

C'est moi!

 

 

 

A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count

That died some twelvemonth since; the leaving her

In the protection of his son, her brother,

Who shortly also died: for whose dear loss,

They say, she hath abjured the company

And sight of men.

 

-Captain

Twelfth Night          Act I, Scene ii, Line 36

It’s a long answer to Viola’s short question of What’s she? This is, of course, a bit of a setup scene where we, the audience, are given some basic information about some of the players that we are about to see.

Wouldn’t it be nice to occasionally have the opportunity to watch a setup scene for the play that is our own lives? I suppose we do? I mean, we do run into people like the captain here who give us info about someone we are going to be meeting. Yeah, never mind. Skip that comment. I don’t know what I was thinking. I'm afraid that my  mind is a little bit scattered this morning. 

But speaking of scattered minds, and going back for a moment to the book I've been reading: I was learning yesterday that it was said that Will wrote in such a fashion that he never had to rewrite; that what came out on the paper on the first shot is what we have today. That's almost inconceivable to me. Ben Jonson, another writer in Will's time and someone who knew Will, apparently found this upsetting, perhaps partly out of jealousy? I dunno. I find myself jealous of anyone who could do that. Is that ability an indication of a laser focused mind (as opposed to my scattered one)? Or is there something else going on there? I don't know, but it's interesting to think about.

Now here's a perfect example. We're talking about writing, and I'm giving you a picture out of my Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio of hummingbirds. What's up with that? Well, I'll tell you. I looked out the window as I was writing this and I saw, naturally, a hummingbird. It's September 19 and I hadn't seen one in several days so I thought they had migrated, but apparently not. See? no focus at all, let alone laser focus. Oh well. 

 

Pray ye, sir?

 -Menas

Antony and Cleopatra            Act II, Scene vi, Line 111

Is that right? is probably what we would say today instead of Pray ye, sir?

In this scene Antony, Octavius and Lepidus have just concluded a treaty with Pompey. These four have all gone off to feast, and we are left with Menas and Enobarbus talking to each other. These are two old veteran soldiers from rival sides; Menas serves Pompey, and Enobarbus serves Antony. Since they are part of this truce meeting they are happy to just talk to each other. Enobarus just told Menas that Antony married Octavius’s sister, to which the latter replied Pray ye, sir?, and Enobarbus says ‘Tis true.

They spend a few minutes talking about the leaders and what’s really going on in general, and then they head off to the feast.

And that's about it.

I wanted to find a pic of someone saying Is that right? So here's my grandmother with my brother Dave. Now, truth be known, Gram was just proper enough, the descendant of Brits, that she would actually have been capable of saying Pray ye, sir? But whether she was saying, Is that right, or Pray ye sir, Dave has obviously become distracted with something else and is oblivious to her completely. Dave always did have a pretty limited attention span, God love him.

 

 

O, Warwick, Warwick! I foresee with grief

The utter loss of all the realm of France.

 

-Duke of York

King Henry the Sixth Part I            Act V, Scene iv, Line 111

Well, we’re near the end of Henry VI, Part I. York is correct in that the Brits will lose most of what they have in France, but not in this play. That will take place in Henry VI, parts II and III. The French agree to a truce, later in this scene whereby the Brits maintain control of most of France, for now. But it’s clear to us, whilst not so much to the Brits, that the French have no intention of honoring this truce. In the meantime, there’s only one more scene in this play and that’s the act where we’re back in London and Suffolk is telling King Henry about the wonderful French bride he’s found for him. 

Ooh la, la.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to rail on for one more day about this book I'm reading. This map is on the back of the inside cover. It's a pretty good indication of what the book is going to cover, which is what was going on with the theater scene in London and how Will fit into it. 

It's really interesting. At least, I think it is.