[1] Ἀστὴρ, ab ἄω, luceo.
[2] Ἀνάστερος, obscurus.
Can there remain a doubt, therefore, that Shakspeare intended the passage to read as follows, which, requiring neither addition nor alteration of the text as transmitted to us—saving one slight change of "as stars" into "asters,"—must be perfectly intelligible to every reader, especially if accompanied by the simple note of explanation which I subjoin to it:—
"In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets
Asters with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun,[3] and the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,