matter > theme, subject
7 And boastful men so oft abashed to hear? 8 Been they all dead, and laid in doleful hearse;
Been > [Are] hearse > coffin; tomb, grave
9 Or do they only sleep, and shall again reverse?
reverse > return
304.2
If they be dead, then woe is me therefore:
2 But if they sleepe, {o^} let them soone awake:
For all too long I burne with enuy sore,
4 To heare the warlike feates, which Homere spake
Of bold P{ae}nthesilee, which made a lake
6 Of Greekish bloud so oft in Troian plaine;
But when I read, how stout Debora strake
8 Proud Sisera, and how Camill' hath slaine
The huge Orsilochus, I swell with great disdaine.
1 If they be dead, then woe is me therefore:
be > [are]
2 But if they sleep, O let them soon awake: