“So much I must affirm our power exceeds th’ inhabitant.” (Il. ii. 110.)
Mr. Hooper’s note is “inhabiters, viz. of Troy.” “Inhabitant” is an adjective agreeing with “power.” Our power without exceeds that within.
“Yet all this time to stay,
Out of our judgments, for our end, and now to take our way
Without it were absurd and vile.” (Il. ii, 257.)
A note on this passage tells us that “out of judgments” means “against our inclinations.” It means simply “in accordance with our good judgment,” just as we still say “out of his wisdom.” Compare Il. iii. 63,
“Hector, because thy sharp reproof is out of justice given, I take it well.”
“And as Jove, brandishing a star which men a comet call, Hurls out his curled hair abroad, that from his brand exhals A thousand sparks.” (Il. iv. 85.)
Mr. Hooper’s note is “‘Which men a comet call’—so both the folios. Dr. Taylor has printed ‘which man a comet calls.’ This certainly suits the rhyme, but I adhere to Chapman’s text.” Both editors have misunderstood the passage. The fault is not in “call” but in “exhals,” a clear misprint for “exhall,” the spelling, as was common, being conformed to the visible rhyme. “That” means “so that” (a frequent Elizabethan construction) and “exhall” is governed by “sparks.” The meaning is, “As when Jove, brandishing a comet, hurls out its curled hair so that a thousand sparks exhale from its burning.”
“The evicke skipping from the rock.”
Mr. Hooper tells us, “It is doubtful what this word really is. Dr. Taylor suggests that it may probably mean the evict, or doomed one—but? It is possible Chapman meant to Anglicize the Greek αἴξ; or should we read Ibex, as the αἴξ ἴξαλος was such?” The word means the chamois, and is merely the English form of the French ibiche. Dr. Taylor’s reading would amaze us were we not familiar with the commentators on Shakespeare.
“And now they out-ray to your fleet.” (Il. v. 793.)