[123], [28]. And . . . man: And consider it, though left headless, as a completely formed man.
[123], [36]. vertuous treasurie: stock of virtues.
[124], [46-53]. Not so . . . mens hate. An adaptation of Seneca's Agamemnon, 64-72:
Non sic Libycis Syrtibus æquor
Furit alternos volvere fluctus,
Non Euxini turget ab imis
Commota vadis unda, nivali
Vicina polo;
Ubi, cæruleis immunis aquis,
Lucida versat plaustra Bootes,
Ut praecipites regum casus
Fortuna rotat.
These lines, with those immediately before and after, are more loosely adapted in Kyd's Spanish Tragedie, iii, 1, 1-11.
[126], [23]. this embodied shadow: this spirit while it had bodily form.
[126], [24-27]. With reminiscion . . . of art. Cf. [iv, 2, 158-61].
[127], [41-53]. Terror of darknesse . . . greater light. After Bussy's statement in [ll. 29-32] we should expect him to immediately summon the Prince of darknesse, Behemoth. But ll. 41-46 are apparently addressed to the sun-god, who is invoked to put to flight night and mystery. Then as an alternative, in ll. 47-53, Behemoth, to whom darkness is as light, is bidden appear. Dilke substitutes oh for or (the reading of all Qq) at the beginning of l. 47. If this change be right, the invocation commences at this line, and ll. 41-46 are merely a preliminary rhetorical appeal for more illumination. But in this case there is an incongruity between such an appeal and the summoning of the Prince of shades, who sees best where darkness is thickest. Lamb in his Specimens retains the reading of the Qq, and says of the passage: "This calling upon Light and Darkness for information, but, above all, the description of the spirit—'threw his changed countenance headlong into clouds'—is tremendous, to the curdling of the blood. I know nothing in poetry like it."
[130], [103]. all the signes: i. e. of the Zodiac.
[131.] [Intrat Umbra Frier . . . Tamyra.] The Ghost of the Friar enters and discovers, i. e. reveals to view, Tamyra, who since the close of v, 1, has remained wrapped in the arras, or, as the variant stage direction in A here puts it, wrapt in a canapie.